Free Republic

What if Chinese hackers successfully disrupted the entire SNAP network? FBI Director Christopher Wray recently warned America about a possible Chinese cyberattack on our electric grid, transportation centers, and energy facilities that would almost destroy our economy. The impact of such an attack is hardly hypothetical -- countless schools, hospitals and private firms have been hit with such attacks and millions in ransom has been paid to hackers. SNIP In 2020, 27% of SNAP recipients were Black. Like all government programs, it occasionally stumbles. For example, recipients in Georgia recently had their payments delayed due to administrative glitches. Severe weather...

Gov. Kathy Hochul will pledge to crack down on retail theft as part of her 2024 policy agenda, The Post has learned — as fed-up New York business owners continue to plead for help with the shoplifting scourge. Merchants are turning up the heat on Hochul and the Democratic-led state Legislature, calling for stiffer penalties against serial offenders wreaking havoc in their stores. “We’re going to continue living this nightmare if legislators don’t fix this mess,” said Nelson Eusabio of the National Supermarket Association and part of the coalition Collective Action to Protect Our Stores (CAP). Lawmakers representing 213 districts...

New video from the scene of a street takeover turned robbery shows the moments that a car rams the entrance to Ruben's Bakery in Compton before a mob of more than 100 people ransack the store.

A shop owner in Germany was denounced as a racist for complaining about migrants mass looting his store, while a left-wing politician sided with the criminals, saying they were “entitled” to steal.Grocery store manager Gatzke told Bild that the thieves who steal huge bags full of items are usually migrants, with around a third of them being Tunisian.During one incident at the Edeka supermarket in Regensburg, a man stole €140 euros worth of goods, while the manager has also tried to stop thieves stealing groceries worth €300 euros.“In the bag were spirits: vodka and liqueurs again. They are Muslims —...

The incoming House Oversight and Government Reform chairman on Sunday tried to clarify his recent remarks to Rush Limbaugh where he called President Obama "one of the most corrupt presidents in modern times." ... "When you hand out $1 trillion in TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) just before this president came in, most of it unspent, $1 trillion nearly in stimulus, that this president asked for, plus this huge expansion in health care and government, it has a corrupting effect," Issa said on CNN's "State of the Union." Although TARP – the program passed in 2008 intended to strengthen the...

A Los Angeles businessman whose warehouse was looted by a mob of young people who crashed their way through the gate in a stolen car is demanding Democratic leaders take crime more seriously. "I voted for Karen Bass. I voted for Biden. I voted for Gavin Newsom. I’m sick of it," Ryan Baggaley told FOX Los Angeles outside his boarded-up warehouse Wednesday. "It’s like, at some point you have to give me a reason to vote for you again." Baggaley, speaking with Fox News Digital, said he and his three brothers run the family construction business that their father founded...

Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant commented, upon completing an operational situation assessment: "Hamas has lost control of Gaza - terrorists are fleeing south, civilians are looting Hamas bases." Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant recently completed a situation assessment during which he emphasized the progress of IDF forces operating in Gaza. Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant added: "I have recently completed another situation assessment. IDF troops are working according to plan and are fulfilling their missions precisely as a result of the cooperation between air and ground forces, using precise intelligence.' "Hamas isn't capable of stopping the IDF. The IDF is...

The sheriff of California's Sacramento County accused Target leaders of preventing deputies from thwarting shoplifting incidents despite the store requesting help to stymie rampant retail crime. "We don’t tell big retail how to do their jobs, they shouldn’t tell us how to do ours," Sheriff Jim Cooper posted in a lengthy X post Thursday. Cooper said Target, one of the largest retailers in the U.S., reached out to his office multiple times requesting assistance with shoplifters, who the sheriff said were frequently "known transients." The sheriff’s office and Target worked to conduct an operation at the store to nab shoplifters,...

The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) filed a lawsuit against the Manhattan District Attorney‘s office on Thurday over the earlier seizure of a headless bronze statue, estimated to be worth $20 million. The museum stated in its lawsuit that it “does not question that the New York district attorney sometimes gets it right and returns true stolen items to foreign nations. Based on the evidence adduced thus far and the opinions of experts available to the museum, this is not one of those times.” The court filing says the CMA lawfully purchased the “Draped Male Figure” for $1.85 million from...

Donald Trump said that if he were president again the people savagely looting stores would be shot on-site.It comes amid spiking crime in U.S. cities and claims of lax prosecutors – as well as the lowered penalties for shop-lifters that have led to a series of viral incidents in recent years.'We will immediately stop all of the pillaging and theft,' Trump said during remarks at the California GOP's fall convention in Anaheim on Friday.

The Philadelphia social media influencer arrested while she livestreamed Tuesday night’s looting mayhem fought back tears as she was charged with six felonies.Dayjia Blackwell, better known as “Meatball,” shared her firsthand view of the chaos, in which looters targeted several businesses including Apple, Foot Locker and Lululemon, before being caught. In the videos posted to her Instagram Stories, Blackwell can be heard laughing and cheering on the other looters as she stood by and watched the chaos unfold. At one point during her stream, Blackwell turned to face her camera and challenged the cops to arrest her. “Tell the police...

Philadelphia suffered its second night in a row of mass looting incidents and destructive social media-fueled mayhem on Wednesday, resulting in more than 50 arrests, police said. On Wednesday, groups of thieves, apparently working together, destroyed property in several areas of the city, smashed their way into stores, and stole as much as they could before fleeing, authorities said. Suspects also ransacked more than a dozen state-run liquor stores so thoroughly that the state announced it was closing its Philly locations until further notice. Video on social media also suggested that culprits made off with a Wells Fargo ATM, but...

FOX NEWS - Billionaire Elon Musk, who also owns X, formerly known as Twitter, described videos and images of people, mostly teenagers, looting stores in Philadelphia as "going full Joker."The criminal activity came after, but separate from a peaceful protest that started after a judge dismissed murder and other charges against a white Philadelphia police officer who fatally shot a Black resident, Eddie Irizarry.Those doing the ransacking were not affiliated with the protest, Philadelphia Police Commissioner John Stanford clarified."These were not protesters, these were criminals," Stanford said. "This is disgusting. It has no place in this city." Video on social...

A popular social media influencer known as “Meatball” livestreamed the rabid looting spree that engulfed Philadelphia’s city center overnight, before she was seemingly arrested while cheering on the marauders. Meatball, whose real name is Dayjia Blackwell, shared video and photos on her Instagram Stories gleefully documenting the mass plunder of several businesses, including an Apple store, a Foot Locker, a Lululemon and a liquor store. The content creator with close to 650,000 followers across Instagram and TikTok could be seen laughing, clapping and shouting “Let’s go!” as she witnessed suspected looters fleeing while she was driven across the city.

Desperate survivors in Lahaina are robbing people at gunpoint as they wait for food and shelter in the aftermath of the Maui wildfires, Hawaiian locals said. "There's some police presence. There's some small military presence, but at night people are being robbed at gunpoint," co-owner of a Lāhainā bar called The Dirty Monkey, Matt Robb, told Business Insider. Robb added: "People are raped and pillaged. I mean, they're going through houses - and then by day it's hunky-dory. So where is the support? I don't think our government and our leaders, at this point, know how to handle this or...

Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara unloaded on Mayor Brandon Johnson on Friday for referring to the ransacking of a South Loop convenience store as a teen “trend”—and not a “mob action” — and for telling reporters it was inappropriate “to refer to children as, like, baby Al Capones.” In a YouTube video to the police rank-and-file that focused largely on an independent arbitrator’s two rulings favorable to the union, Catanzara condemned Johnson as the City Hall equivalent of a permissive parent who would rather make excuses for young people wreaking havoc than hold them accountable for their criminal...

I don’t know which is more discouraging: that the Mayor of Chicago actually tried this verbal flim-flammery or that the assembled media at his press conference didn’t erupt in laughter at his attempt to blackwash rampaging looters. He thought he could get away with it, and so far as one can see, he did. Watch this Grabien video, where Mayor Brandon Johnson says: Johnson: “That’s not appropriate. We’re not talking about mob actions, I didn’t say that — hold on a second, okay. Respectfully, these large gatherings —“ Reporter: “That caused damage.” Johnson: “— these large gatherings — just hold...

Police confirmed Wednesday that a group of at least nine men had looted a Gucci store Monday at the Westfield Century City mall in Los Angeles, one of the most popular and upscale shopping centers in the city. Video footage emerged almost immediately: Breitbart News reached out to the management of the mall for confirmation and comment, and received no response. However, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) confirmed the event on Wednesday. The Los Angeles Times reported: The Gucci store at a mall in Century City was robbed Monday by a large group of thieves, in a grab-and-dash heist...

Taking matters into their own hands. (Credit: Joel Fischer/Twitter) It appears some people aren’t going to put up with brazen looters any more.The 1976 film Network had one iconic moment, where Howard Beale, played by Peter Finch, started a social phenomenon by declaring during a live broadcast that his viewers should all shout, “I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not gonna take this anymore!”Looting of retail establishments has become a far worse pandemic than COVID was. Thieves boldly walk in, stuff bags and boxes full of merchandise and stroll out, knowing nothing will be done. Stores are resorting...

In France, a storm is brewing (again), and French President Emmanuel Macron appears to have figured it all out – it’s social media and video games that are to blame for the ongoing riots in France! This came following four nights of rioting initially triggered by the fatal police shooting of a Muslim teenager, Nahel M. Macron’s comments are hardly original, yet they warrant scrutiny from a free speech perspective. One cannot help but raise an eyebrow as President Macron pleads with social media giants to erase the “most sensitive” content pertaining to the rioting. With a wave of his...