Category Archives: Crime

Crime pays: Ilegals in NYC to receive free taxpayer-funded debit cards

As the invasion continues at our border, the criminal illegal aliens arriving in New York City are rewarded. From The Daily Mail:

NYC begins handing out migrants taxpayer-funded, pre-paid debit cards, with 450 people set to begin receiving up to ‘$18,200-a-year’ payout

From the article:

“Migrant families in New York city have begun receiving prepaid debit cards as part of a controversial scheme that could see them receive up to $18,200 a year. Officials began distributing the cards to the first ten new arrivals at the city’s Roosevelt Hotel shelter on Monday. 

The cards are preloaded with a week’s worth of funds and will be rolled out to 115 families, equivalent to 450 people by the end of the week.

Mayor Eric Adams is pressing ahead with the $53 million scheme, despite a furious backlash amid fears the cards are open to abuse.

The debit cards can only be used at supermarkets and bodegas, the city leader said. A family of four with two children could receive up to $350 per week, depending on the children’s ages.

Participants will also have to sign an affidavit swearing they will only use the cards for food or baby supplies at the risk of being removed from the program.

Read the whole story here.

Anyone with a brain knows that this is unsustainable.

And anyone with a brain knows that you’d better vote wisely in November. Unfortunately, many have not learned this one rule:

DCG

Alabama Supreme Court: Embryos are children

This is really significant, and has already sent the Left into apoplexy.

The Hill reports, Feb. 19, 2024 [red color emphasis supplied]:

Alabama’s Supreme Court has ruled that frozen embryos are children under state law and subject to legislation dealing with the wrongful death of a minor, stating that it “applies to all unborn children, regardless of their location.”

The court issued this majority decision in a lawsuit brought forth by a group of in vitro fertilization (IVF) patients whose frozen embryos were destroyed in December 2020 when a patient removed the embryos from a cryogenic storage unit and dropped them on the ground.

The plaintiffs subsequently filed two lawsuits against the facility, the Center for Reproductive Medicine, alleging that the clinic had violated Alabama’s Wrongful Death of a Minor Act, which applies to unborn children….

The defendant’s motion to dismiss the lawsuits were granted by a trial court that found a frozen embryo did not fall within the “definition of a ‘person’ or ‘child.’” ….

“The relevant statutory text is clear: the Wrongful Death of a Minor Act applies on its face to all unborn children, without limitation,” the court’s decision stated.

The court found that there is no unwritten exception, as the defendants have argued, to the law that applies to “unborn children who are not physically located ‘in utero’ — that is, inside a biological uterus — at the time they are killed.”

The defendants had also argued that considering frozen embryos as children would result in numerous consequences, including making IVF substantially more expensive and preserving embryos more “onerous.” ….

The ruling was issued by Alabama Supreme Court Justice Jay Mitchell, with seven of the other eight justices concurring. Alabama Supreme Court Justice Greg Cook issued a dissenting opinion.

Cook argued in his opinion that it was not within the role of the court to “expand the reach of a statute and ‘breathe life’ into it by updating or amending it.” He argued the law that was written in 1872 would not have taken into account the status of frozen embryos and to argue that the law does would require an explicit amendment from the state Legislature.

Nearly 3 weeks later, the Iowa State House passed a fetal personhood bill, H.B. 2575, which increases the penalty for the nonconsensual ending of a pregnancy, making it a felony and increasing jail time.

Opponents are taking issue because the bill changes the current language from “terminating a human pregnancy” to the “death of or serious injury to an unborn person.” They argue it is another attack on abortion since Roe v. Wade was struck down.

According to the bill, an unborn person is considered “an individual organism the species homo sapiens from fertilization to live birth.”

Under Iowa law, a class A felony is punishable by up to a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole. A person who causes the death of an unborn person “without the consent of the pregnant person” would be guilty of a class A felony.

~E

Another one bites the dust: The North-Face closing hometown San Francisco store

San Francisco is failing. Due to progressive policies (soft-on-crime DAs, open-air drug use, Defund the Police movement, Prop 47, etc.) many businesses have shutdown their stores in San Francisco.

Now goes another:

The North Face is closing its only store in its hometown of San Francisco that’s situated in dying downtown area

From Daily Mail:

“San Francisco shoppers receive another shocking blow as another major retailer is all set to move away from the crime and drug ridden city. 

The North Face officials have announced that they will be closing the doors of their Union Square store on March 31.  Although the rock climbing and camping supply company was founded back in 1964 in this city, the Union Square store is the only location to exist. 

Hailey Albright, a spokesperson for the company said in a statement: ‘The North Face was born in San Francisco, and we have cherished the time spent here, building roots and creating lasting memories.’

The retailer has not provided a clear reason for the closure of the 180 Post Street store.”

Read the whole story here.

No “clear reason” is required on behalf of The North Face.

Earlier this week voters in San Francisco passed two ballot measures to take steps to curb homelessness, drug addiction and crime. The initiatives require drug screening for welfare recipients and give police more surveillance power and less oversight

But it may be too little, too late. After 60 years of democrat rule, it will probably take DECADES to undue the damage progressive polices have created for that city. Y’all learn too late:

DCG

Crime in Houston: Over 260,000 criminal cases suspended due to lack of personnel

Although Texas is still a “red” state, the city of Houston is run by demorats. Houston hasn’t had a republican mayor since 1982. The district attorney for Harris County, Kim Ogg, is a demorat who was backed by George Soros.

Soros-backed DA Kim Hogg

Houston’s current demorat mayor, John Whitmire, came into office last December. When he ran for office he stated, “I know how crime impacts our lives. I have instituted groundbreaking reforms reducing prison populations because we can be tough and smart on crime.”

Lifelong bureaucrat Mayor John Whitmire

Considering what’s been occuring (or not occuring) in Houston during the past eight years, Mayor Whitmire is going to have a lot of cleaning up to do:

HPD says over 260,000 criminal cases were suspended due to ‘lack of personnel’ over 8 years

From Fox 26:

Houston Police Chief Troy Finner has released some new information regarding criminal cases that were suspended. 

Last week, Finner identified 4,017 cases of alleged sexual assault administratively suspended for “lack of personnel” – investigations essentially kicked to the curb back to 2016.

On Monday afternoon, Houston police released a new statement saying:

“Our review of adult sex crime cases suspended with a code of “lack of personnel” has expanded to include all other divisions in the department found to be using that same code. We have determined that department-wide approximately 264,000 such incident reports since 2016 were suspended with this code. That figure represents about 10% of the 2.8 million incident reports filed with HPD in the past eight years. Of those 264,000 reports, about 100,000 of them are property crimes. Our efforts to review sexual assault incident reports and contact potential victims continue. We are also moving additional personnel to other investigative divisions to address these incident reports involving crimes against persons.”

Last week, Finner said he first became aware sexual assault cases were being suspended for lack of manpower in 2021 and ordered the practice stopped. He says an internal investigation is underway to determine why that explicit command was disobeyed.”

Read the whole story here.

Best to avoid large, demorat-run cities. Between their soft-on-crime district attorneys, progressive policies toward incarceration, and overall lack of functional leadership (especially when is comes to addressing public safety needs), no one is safe in these cities.

DCG

Crime in Missouri: St. Louis frees hit & run driver who killed mom and daughter

St. Louis, Missouri has had a democrat mayor since 1949.  The previous Soros-backed district attorney, Kim Gardner, finally resigned in May 2023 after a serial criminal who had violated house arrest 51 times caused a teenage girl to lose both of her legs. Read that whole story here.

Yet since Gardner’s departure, criminals are still able to roam free in St. Louis. Example:

St Louis driver, 22, who killed two Drake fans in horror crash as they left concert is FREED on $20k bail

Victims Laticha Bracero and her daughter Alyssa Cordova

From The Daily Mail:

Horrific surveillance footage captured the moment a mom and daughter were fatally ran down by a speeding motorist running a red light – who has since been released on bail.

Laticha Bracero, 42, and her daughter Alyssa Cordova, 21, were leaving a Drake concert in St. Louis, Missouri on February 14 when driver Monte Henderson, 22, allegedly plowed into them at the intersection. Two other teen girls and a 61-year-old woman were also injured in the crash, which saw Henderson collide with several other vehicles as he blew through the lights. 

Free on bail: Perp Monte Henderson

Police say he was speeding at over 70mph when he allegedly caused the tragedy.

However, Judge Annette Llewellyn ignored a probable cause statement arguing he is a danger to the community, allowing him to be freed on a $20,000 bail, according to STL Today

Judge Annette Lewellyn

Reported court records showed he was freed on Friday morning after posting 10 percent of his $200,000 bondHe is facing two counts of involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action in the deaths of the mother and daughter

Cops say he blew through the stop lights on Olive Street in the center of the city, with the footage showing the red light at the same time he sped past the intersection in his Jeep Grand Cherokee. He was seen travelling at a high rate of speed before initially colliding with the front bumper of another car, which led him to careen into Bracero and Cordova. 

Bracero was pronounced dead at the scene, and Cordova died shortly after being rushed to hospital, police said.” 

Read the whole tragic story here.

Just another reason to avoid large, democrat-run cities that favor defunding their police. And cities with Soros-backed district attorneys who coddle criminals. Your life may depend upon it.

DCG

Crime in Washington State: Store owner fends off robber with machete

How’s things going in democrat-run Washington State? Here’s a sample:

Fortunately a Tacoma store owner was able to defend himself against a robber who brought a knife to a fight. The store owner whipped out a machete!

Store Owner (on left) defends himself with a machete. Photo courtesy of Tacoma Poolice Facebook.

From MyNorthwest:

“A 70-year-old store owner fended off a knife-wielding robber by brandishing his own store’s defense system — a really big machete.

Naif Qatamin, the store owner, and his wife run Selena One Market in Tacoma. The business has been robbed before, with Qatamin using a stick for protection. A year ago, he upgraded to a machete, slotted right next to the register.

On Feb. 5, the store’s upgraded defense came in handy when a pocketknife-wielding robber walked to the register and announced, “This is a robbery. Do you understand?” Qaatamin understood, and from behind the counter, pulled his machete while saying, “That’s not a knife, this is a knife.”

“He backed up there,” Qatamin told KIRO Newsradio. “He was shocked and fell down right there.”

The suspected robber ran from the store, but was later caught by police. The next day, he was released from jail and returned to the store.

“He stood right there by the door and said ‘I’m going to come back, rob you and kill you.’ I said ‘One step inside and I’m going to fix you up.’ He put his foot down right there and I hit him right here,” Qatamin said, pointing to his chest.”

Read the whole story here.

Thanks to democrats’ soft-on-crime prosecutors, Defund the Police movement, and disdain of all guns, store owners are desperate to protect themselves.

Wise to stay away from the crime-infested blue cities these days. Your life may depend upon it.

DCG

Idiot Hubris – Vladimir Putin Says Alaska Really Belongs To Russia

 

Putin shouts trying to look tough – and failing!

From  The Hill

By Miranda Nazzaro,

The State Department on Monday brushed off reports of Russian Presi ordering his government to look into the nation’s former “real estate” abroad, saying Alaska would be staying in American hands.

Putin signed a new decree last week to allocate funds for the research and registration of Russian property overseas, including that in former territories of the Russian Empire and Soviet Union, Russian state media TASS reported .

The decree, which comes amid Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, did not specifically mention Alaska, though it caught the attention of military bloggers, who argued Putin was using the decree to declare the 1867 Russian sale of the Last Frontier State to the U.S. is illegal.

“Well, I think I can speak for all of us in the U.S. government to say that certainly he’s not getting it back,” State Department principal deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said during a Monday press briefing , prompting laughter from his audience.

The Institute for the Study of War last week noted the “exact parameters of what constitutes current or historical Russia property are unclear.”

“The Kremlin may use the ‘protection’ of its claimed property in countries outside of its internationally recognized borders to forward soft power mechanisms in post-Soviet and neighboring states ultimately aimed at internal destabilization,” the institute wrote in an assessment of the Russian offensive campaign.

It pointed to a Telegram post from a military blogger who suggested Russia could start enacting the law in Alaska and parts of Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia.

Putin, in a 2014 question-and-answer with a studio audience, called the 1867 sale “inexpensive,” and argued people should “not get worked about it.”

“We can calculate the equivalent amount, but it was definitely inexpensive. Russia is a northern country with 70 percent of its territory located in the north and the far north. Alaska is not located in the southern hemisphere, either, is it? It’s cold out there as well. Let’s not get worked up about it, all right?” he said.

While Putin appeared to downplay the sale, Russian lawmaker Sergei Mironov in December hinted at Moscow reclaiming its previous territories in the future.

“Did you want a new world order? Receive and sign. Venezuela annexed a 24th state, Guyana-Essequibo. This is happening right under the nose of the once great hegemon of the United States. All that remains is for Mexico to return Texas and the rest. It’s time for Americans to think about their future. And also about Alaska,” Mironov wrote on X , formerly Twitter, last month.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev joked about the State Department’s response later Monday, writing on X , “According to a State Department representative, Russia is not getting back Alaska, which was sold to the U.S. in the 19th century. This is it, then. And we’ve been waiting for it to be returned any day. Now war is unavoidable,” with a laughing emoji attached.

~ Grif

 

Take a bow, Mayor Bowser: Crime soars in Washington DC

Under democrat rule, crime in Washington DC soared in 2023. Some startling statistics (from MSN):

“The District of Columbia saw a 35 percent increase in homicides, 67 percent increase in robberies, and an 82 percent increase in motor-vehicle theft in 2023. Total violent crime increased by 39 percent, and property crime increased by 24 percent.”

Last October Mayor Muriel Bowser proposed new legislation to address public safety yet residents (and community activists) weren’t pleased with the bill. Due to the ineffectiveness of demorat leadership, the residents are going to suffer many consquences. Here’s one of them, via Daily Mail:

CVS store in D.C. forced to close after being targeted by FORTY-FIVE teenage thieves every day – leaving shelves totally empty

“A Washington D.C. CVS store is shutting its doors after being repeatedly ransacked by thieves, the chain has confirmed. The pharmacy, located in the Columbia Heights neighborhood, went viral last October when videos emerged of it totally stripped of all its products after being targeted by a teen gang.

Staff claim more than 45 schoolkids would go into the store and steal chips and drinks in the morning, after their classes and late at night. It will close on February 29, according to WTTG-TV.

It comes as major retailers are increasingly forced to lock up products such as underwear and socks to clamp down on rampant theft.   D.C. in particular has been hit with a wave of crime among the state’s teenagers.

Reports of retail theft have ballooned in recent years, with experts blaming organized crime gangs for the surge. Data from the Council on Criminal Justice shows there were 8,453 more shoplifting incidents across 24 cities in the first half of the year compared to 2019.”

Read the whole story here.

You know, if residents aren’t happy with new legislation to address public safety, they get what they deserve.

More proof that liberalism is a mental disorder.

DCG

How’s it going in San Francisco? Another large firm plans to leave the city

In July 2022 San Francisco Mayor appointed Brooke Jenkins as District Attorney. She promised at that time to “fight the city’s lawlessness.”

Apparently she’s not fighting hard enough to keep KPMG (accounting firm renting 100,000 square feet) in downtown San Francisco.

From Daily Mail:

KPMG moving out of $400million ‘KPMG building’ in downtown San Francisco with nearby besieged mall loses another tenant as doom loop continues

“Accounting firm KPMG is set to move out of its $400 million namesake building, another high-profile exit from San Francisco’s beleaguered downtown.

The consulting and accounting giant first leased space in the 25-story office tower when the building opened in 2002.  Its name hangs above the entry to the skyscraper where the company currently occupies more than 100,000 square feet. It comes as shoe store Alto prepares to exit San Francisco Centre, the city’s biggest mall, next week.

Businesses and residents have fled downtown San Francisco since the pandemic with groups blaming crimehomelessness and work-from-home keeping people from downtown. 

Nearly 100 retailers in downtown San Francisco have closed since the start of the pandemic, a decline of more than 50 percent, according to a recent report. 

KPMG, a large accounting and financial firm, originally took 90,000 square feet at 55 Second St. in a 10-year contract, marking the second-largest office deal of 2003. It has since grown its footprint to span nearly one-third of the 380,000-square-foot building, leading to it being widely known as ‘The KPMG Building’.

The company is now considering ending its two-decade-long relationship with the building, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. It’s the latest tenant looking to exit the downtown area. 

Now, another business is set to leave the area’s largest shopping center as Aldo moves its store from the San Francisco Centre. The mall lost Adidas last Saturday, as well as other recent losses including Hollister, Lego and J. Crew.”

Read the whole story here.

DA Brooke Jenkins isn’t trying hard enough to fight the “lawlessness” when the statistics from her first full year (2023) indicate that less than 50% of those arrested had cases filed against them and the “filing rate” and “action taken” rate are both declining.

With statistics like that, I guess San Francisco can expect more businesses to leave.

DCG

Cry Harder: Illinois Governor begs Greg Abbott to quit sending illegal aliens to his state

Illinois became a sanctuary state for illegal aliens in August 2017. Texas Governor Greg Abbott is sending illegal aliens to sanctuary states/cities since the border is wide open and a record number of people are illegally entering the U.S. Texcas cannot handle/house/give free stuff to all of them.

And now, surprise, surprise, apparently those who claimed to welcome all have had a change of heart.

Big Mad: Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker

From Daily Mail:

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker begs for Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to stop sending migrants

Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker has begged his Texas counterpart Greg Abbott to stop busing migrants to Chicago as inclement weather is set to hit the Windy City this week.

The Democrat‘s request comes as new census numbers show Chicago has 4,468 more recently-arrived asylum seekers than previously thought, bringing the total number to 34,562.

‘While action is pending at the federal level, I plead with you for mercy for the thousands of people who are powerless to speak for themselves,’ Pritzker wrote in a letter to the Republican send on Friday and seen by the Chicago Sun-Times.

‘Please, while winter is threatening vulnerable people’s lives, suspend your transports and do not send more people to our state.’

Pritzker added that Abbott’s ‘callousness’ in flying or busing migrants to Chicago during the weather conditions was ‘now life-threatening to every one of the arrivals’ as temperatures are expected to plunge.

Gov. Abbott’s office replied by saying he will stop sending migrants to Chicago when the president “secures the border,” and claimed bus drivers were taking extra precautions due to the weather.”

Read the whole story here.

Good on Gov. Abbott!

DCG