Free Republic

California should have known better than to compel a transition to electric vehicles while encouraging rampant drug use and crime, because everyone knows that copper wire is a go-to for addicts and thieves. From a report by John Nolte at Breitbart News:‘Thieves are targeting high-powered Tesla and other EV charging stations and stealing the heavy cable for the copper metal inside,’ reports San Francisco’s NBC affiliate. ‘In Vallejo, someone cut cables from nine charging stations — leaving Tesla drivers in a bind and causing tens of thousands of dollars in damage and repair costs.’‘I think this is the second time...

3:07 If Democrat-run California wants to force residents into electric vehicles (EVs), Democrat-run California had better start cracking down on crime. Talk about the law of unintended consequences… “Thieves are targeting high-powered Tesla and other EV charging stations and stealing the heavy cable for the copper metal inside,” reports San Francisco’s NBC affiliate. “In Vallejo, someone cut cables from nine charging stations — leaving Tesla drivers in a bind and causing tens of thousands of dollars in damage and repair costs.” “I think this is the second time or third that these have been cut,” a local EV driver added....

Footage shows the moment a not-so-dynamic duo were caught stealing a cash register from a Seattle pharmacy - seconds after walking through its doors. The unnamed male and female suspect were promptly arrested, cops said on Wednesday - releasing the almost unbelievable clip in the process. The video shows a team from the Seattle Police Department approaching the Walgreens the pair had just looted - before coming face-to-face with the 20-year-old female, cash register in tow. 'Woah! Woah! Hey!' one of the officers says, as the woman stops in her tracks. Her 40-year-old accomplice, meanwhile, stands still, similarly dumbfounded. 'Put...

San Francisco residents fed up with rampant crime in California stepped up when a man allegedly tried to steal an expensive laptop from a woman at a small cafe. The incident unfolded on Saturday afternoon at Sana'a Cafe near the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art on New Montgomery Street. Witnesses said the man walked into the cafe, immediately grabbed a woman's Apple MacBook laptop and tried to run away. Video showed one man tackle him and others jump in to help him. 'Most people want to do the right thing.' The man who first tackled the would-be thief was...

A man’s ill-fated attempt to take a joy ride on a boat he didn’t own ended in a watery mess off the shores of St. Augustine, prompting a flurry of activity on social media. According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), Anthony Terry found himself in hot water after allegedly stealing a woman’s $100,000 boat near Conch House Marina. The boat, now afloat but listing heavily, became a viral sensation on Facebook, with images of its accident spreading rapidly. Describing the scene, one eyewitness shared, “He approached my daughter and her boyfriend in his underwear with a...

California Governor Gavin Newsom was called out by a reporter after he continued to dodge questions about blowing the state's $24 billion spending on the homeless. The Golden State's budget deficit is at least $45 billion, a shortfall so large it prompted Newsom to propose painful spending cuts impacting immigrants, kindergarteners and low-income parents seeking child care in a state often lauded for having the world's fifth-largest economy. California spent $24 billion tackling homelessness over five years but didn't track if the money was helping the state's growing number of unhoused people, a damning report says.

DENVER (KDVR) — Each year, U.S. News and World Report releases a report ranking each state on several factors. In the most recent report, Colorado made a top 10 list — for most dangerous states. On Thursday, U.S. News and World Report released the “10 Most Dangerous States in America” list. Each of the 50 states was judged on violent crimes and property crime rates. Colorado was recognized as the third most dangerous state, largely in part because of its property crime rate. The report pulled violent and property crime numbers from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Crime Data Explorer....

Celebrity chef Madison Cowan has relied on soft eviction laws to avoid more than $145,000 in rent payments on his Brooklyn apartment the past four-and-a-half years, his landlord claims. The British-born former champ of the Food Network’s “Chopped” and “Iron Chef” owes 53 months in back rent on a one-bedroom Boerum Hill pad he and his family have occupied since October 2019, according to landlord Gus Sheha. Cowan hasn’t paid a cent of rent since January 2020, relying on legal loopholes like repeatedly appealing eviction orders to remain in the State Street apartment, said the landlord.

A car thief behind the wheel of a Lamborghini in Los Angeles fled the police at more than 100 miles per hour and moments later crashed the vehicle, totaling it and getting thrown hundreds of feet from the wreck. He died at the scene. Thieves are not usually very smart and this guy was no exception. People who have never been behind the wheel of a vehicle like the Lamborghini have no idea how much power these cars have and how easily you can lose control. This man found out the hard way. This happened in April but the footage...

WASHINGTON (AP) — A divided Supreme Court ruled Thursday that authorities do not have to provide a quick hearing when they seize cars and other property used in drug crimes, even when the property belongs to so-called innocent owners. By a 6-3 vote, the justices rejected the claims of two Alabama women who had to wait more than a year for their cars to be returned. Police had stopped the cars when they were being driven by other people and, after finding drugs, seized the vehicles. Civil forfeiture allows authorities to take someone’s property, without having to prove that it...

Credential theft is a significant factor in breaches, resulting in 38% of all incidents. Phishing is another route into the enterprise, being associated with 15% of all breaches. The most frequently used entry point for phishing is Web applications, followed by email.The report, which analyses 20,358 security incidents and 10,626 confirmed breaches offered by third-party contributors including the US Secret Service and dozens of other organizations and companies; publicly-known data breaches; and security events mitigated by its own Verizon Threat Research Advisory Center (VTRAC), emphasised the critical role the human element plays in introducing risk into the equation.

On Wednesday, a UNWatch report revealed that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency staff have been stealing humanitarian aid materials meant for Gazan civilians, and reselling the materials at a profit. UNRWA staff are stealing aid and selling it for profit, while those who report it face reprisals, according to numerous reports published by Palestinians in an UNRWA-related chatroom.The posts expose a deep frustration by employees that senior UNRWA employees are engaged in the abuses, and that the agency is doing nothing about it. This comes amid a recent call by UNRWA Commissioner-General Phillipe Lazzarini for countries to increase...

A new California bill has the potential to ban self-checkout options in grocery stores in an attempt to curb retail theft. Senate Bill 1446, introduced by Democratic state Sen. Lola Smallwood-Cuevas, would “prohibit a grocery or retail drug establishment from providing a self-service checkout option” unless conditions such as ensuring that no more than two self-service checkout stations are monitored by one employee are met, according to a summary of the proposed legislation. The bill also mandates that stores access how using artificial intelligence or other technology may cut jobs and “significantly affects the essential job functions of its employees.”...

A nonprofit that provides services to homeless people in San Francisco has been accused of $100,000 fraud and nepotism. The industry built on supposedly helping the homelessness in San Francisco means that those raking in money from donations want to keep the crisis going.

Why is retail theft happening so suddenly and in such large amounts now? Los Angeles County Sheriff Department detectives proudly announced a complex and successful sting this week. A retail theft ring has been caught red-handed, with millions of dollars’ worth of make-up, perfume, pharmaceuticals, and more, stolen from stores in and around California, much of it still bearing store tags. Product has been recovered; at least a dozen locations have been revealed. Multiple fences have been identified, with eight arrests announced at the start, and likely more to follow. They will prove that shoplifting rings were organized to hit...

Paint splattered on floors. Spray-painted messages and screeds covering walls. Furniture moved and overturned. Security cameras disabled. Fire extinguishers missing and entrances blocked by stacks of chairs. “We’ve got our work cut out for us,” a facilities manager at Portland State University said Thursday as he examined the destruction left behind after a three-day occupation by pro-Palestinian protesters in Millar Library.

Moscow puts subsidiaries of German and Italian firms under the control of a Gazprom division, sparking annoyance from Italy and the EU. In a move that is likely to increase tension between Russia and Western Europe, the Kremlin has unexpectedly announced the "temporary external management" of Russian subsidiaries of Italian water heating company Ariston and German appliance maker BSH Hausgeraete. The subsidiaries, Ariston Thermo Rus, and BSH Household Appliances, now come under the management of Gazprom's Household Systems and are now completely under Russia's control. The Executive Order, signed by President Vladimir Putin, which was revealed on Friday and backdated...

Auditors have slammed a homelessness nonprofit in San Francisco for being 'careless and irresponsible' with $240 million of taxpayer money, in the latest scandal to rock California's bloated charity housing sector. HomeRise, one of the city's main providers of homeless housing, 'misused' funds, lacked financial controls and engaged in other practices that 'heightened the risk of fraud,' says a damning city report. It's the latest in a slew of revelations about waste in California's so-called 'homelessness industrial complex' — a gravy train of funders, officials, and shelter owners more keen on swallowing public funds than solving the problem.

Hopefully, this cash can be resurrected. In a heist of Biblical proportions, thieves pilfered about $30 million cash from a Los Angeles-area vault on Easter Sunday – and no one even noticed the empty vault until the next morning. The burglary took place Sunday night at the GardaWorld facility in Sylmar, which handles cash for several businesses in the area, sources told Eyewitness News. The thieves were so stealthy that the safe showed no signs of a break-in from the outside – and the operators of the business were none the wiser until they opened it on Monday, the Los...

Somalia's government said it had suspended and detained several members of an elite, U.S.-trained commando unit for stealing rations donated by the United States, adding that it was taking over responsibility for provisioning the force. The Danab unit has been a key pillar of U.S.-backed efforts to combat the al Qaeda-linked militant group al Shabaab. The United States agreed in February to spend more than $100 million to build up to five military bases for Danab. Somalia's defense ministry said in a statement late on Thursday that it had notified international partners of the theft and would share the outcome...