Free Republic

Armed bandits robbing migrants at the southern border (USBP Chief Jason Owens) Border patrol agents in California shot and killed a bandit who was robbing other migrants as they crossed into the U.S. from Mexico. Multiple U.S. Customs and Border Protection sources confirmed that a criminal migrant who crossed the border in the San Diego sector was shot and killed by a member of the Border Patrol’s elite Border Patrol Tactical unit, or BORTAC, early Sunday morning. The incident happened in a remote area where the bandits had been seen crossing into the U.S., robbing migrants and returning to Mexico....

Motor vehicle thefts up, arrests down in Chicago... Nearly 30,000 cars were taken from their owners in Chicago last year, yet police efforts to catch the bandits reached record lows... The number of vehicle thefts reported last year is the highest in 23 years..Not only did the arrest rate for car theft fall to 2.6%, but data collected through the Chicago Data Portal showed that it was the lowest level since the city started tracking crime online in 2001. The Chicago Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but the 29,063 motor vehicle thefts reported in...

Burglars have been raiding yachts and houseboats in the Oakland-Alameda Estuary in a surge one resident compared to the pirate movie "Captain Phillips." They steal anything of value, then either sink the ships or dump the remnants of plundered boats miles away in the Oakland Harbor or along its shorelines, said Dan Hill, who lives on his boat like many other families in the 800-foot waterway. Each "attack" can cost the owner thousands to tens of thousands of dollars, Hill said.

A group of bandits broke into more than a dozen homes in ritzy NYC neighborhoods, swiping nearly 10 luxury cars in a cross-borough operation that spanned three months. The car thieves stole a Porsche, Mercedes, Range Rover and other high-end vehicles from driveways in Queens and Brooklyn from June through August, police said. They were still on the loose Sunday night. The gang typically worked in groups of four and three and targeted homes primarily in the affluent neighborhood of Whitestone but also hit houses in Bayside, Jamaica Estates, Holliswood, Manhattan Beach and Bay Ridge. They would strike in the...

A group of bandits broke into more than a dozen homes in ritzy NYC neighborhoods, swiping nearly 10 luxury cars in a cross-borough operation that spanned three months. The car thieves stole a Porsche, Mercedes, Range Rover and other high-end vehicles from driveways in Queens and Brooklyn from June through August, police said. They were still on the loose Sunday night. The gang typically worked in groups of four and three and targeted homes primarily in the affluent neighborhood of Whitestone but also hit houses in Bayside, Jamaica Estates, Holliswood, Manhattan Beach and Bay Ridge. They would strike in the...

Shocking video captured the moment a brazen band of bandits sprinted out of a Gucci store in Los Angeles after swiping thousands of dollars’ worth of luxury items – as a security guard walked helplessly behind them. Nine men wearing hoodies are seen dashing out of the swanky store at the Westfield Century City mall at about 3 p.m. Monday carrying pricey bags and suitcases as onlookers record them on their phones. One apparent store employee wearing a suit calls 911 and makes a feeble attempt to grab one of the thieves during the chaotic incident. And a seemingly nonchalant...

BANDITS have stolen almost two tons of gold worth a whopping £80million from an airport in one of the world's biggest-ever heists. The gold, which was being held in a secure facility, was in the process of being moved through Toronto Pearson International Airport. But crafty crooks somehow managed to intercept the swag that weighed a hulking 1,630kg. The airport is often relied on to transport gold that has been mined in Ontario to bling lovers around the world. Police are now desperately searching for the masterminds behind the extraordinary heist.

"Non-stupid people always underestimate the damaging power of stupid individuals. In particular non-stupid people constantly forget that at all times and places and under any circumstances to deal and/or associate with stupid people always turns out to be a costly mistake." Carlo Cipolla In the 1970s, an economic historian called Carlo Cipolla wrote a provocative article titled "The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity". This week's episode is about his theory of the destructiveness of stupid behaviour and why it is so underestimated and misunderstood.

Zamfara State in northern Nigeria is suffering from a long-term conflict between mostly Muslim Fulani nomadic herders and mostly Christian Hausa farmers. Zamfara has a population of about ten million, of which about 20% are Fulani and other tribal herders. Disputes between herders and farmers have been accelerated by increasing populations, the ability of herders to breed and treat cattle for “tsetse fly” related diseases, and poor and disputed land titles.While numbers are difficult to validate, hundreds, possibly thousands, have been killed and hundreds of thousands have been displaced from their lands and homes. Armed camps in forested areas, kidnapping,...

Nigeria's Zamfara state will start issuing licences to individuals to carry guns to defend themselves against armed gangs of kidnappers causing havoc in the country's northwest, the state's commissioner for information said on Sunday. Armed gangs are rife across Nigeria's northwest where they rob or kidnap for ransom, and violence has been increasing, where thinly stretched security forces often fail to stop the attacks.The gunmen, known locally as bandits, operate from remote forests in the northwest and their deadly attacks and kidnappings, targeting villagers, farmers and travellers, have increased since the start of the year. Zamfara and neighbouring Kaduna are...

ancy Pelosi looked more like she was on the set of "Contagion" the sequel than the U.S. Capitol building ... as she and her entourage all strolled in wearing masks. The House Speaker arrived Thursday to the nation's capital as the House of Representatives begin debating several coronavirus-related issues and, hopefully, vote and approve the new stimulus package to help the reeling economy and specifically small businesses. The Senate already approved the nearly $500 billion relief bill.

MILTON, WV (WOWK) - The Milton Police Department had a little fun with one of their arrests this week. A masked bandit was taken into custody by Ptl. Scarberry and Sgt. Collins. The bandits were intoxicated on crabapples and yes were both raccoons.

igh above one of the most hotly contested regions in the world, CNN was given a rare look Friday at the Chinese government's rapidly expanding militarization of the South China Sea Aboard a US Navy P-8A Poseidon reconnaissance plane, CNN got a view from 16,500 feet of low-lying coral reefs turned into garrisons with five-story buildings, large radar installations, power plants and runways sturdy enough to carry large military aircraft. During the flight the crew received six separate warnings from the Chinese military, telling them they were inside Chinese territory and urging them to leave. "Leave immediately and keep out...

President Donald Trump called out Democrats in Congress for failing to support a short-term spending bill that would have avoided a partial shutdown of the government. Democrats voted overwhelmingly against the measure Friday night, resulting in the shutdown taking place

As expected, the J-20 stealth fighter made its public debut at the Zhuhai Air Show today. Thought the Chinese government has largely kept silent about the J-20 over its last half decade of flight tests, a pair of the jets went screaming high over the runway at Jinwan Airport before splitting up via a dramatic cross-over break. Then a single J-20 came back for more passes, climbs and turns. Although some spectators may have been a little disappointed that the display did not last longer, or feature a wider flight envelope and aircraft configuration changes (such as a flyby...

Vietnam has discreetly fortified several of its islands in the disputed South China Sea with new mobile rocket launchers capable of striking China's runways and military installations across the vital trade route, according to Western officials. Diplomats and military officers told Reuters that intelligence shows Hanoi has shipped the launchers from the Vietnamese mainland into position on five bases in the Spratly islands in recent months, a move likely to raise tensions with Beijing.

As the result of the international arbitration over the South China Sea dispute approaches, China is undertaking a military drill from July 5 to 11 in the waters around the Xisha Islands. In Western media reports, this exercise is happening "at a sensitive time," because the arbitral result will be announced on July 12. Beijing has announced its position of neither participation in nor recognition of the arbitration. The South China Sea dispute has been greatly complicated after heavy US intervention. Now an international tribunal has also been included, posing more threat to the integrity of China's maritime and territorial...

Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu. (CNSNews.com/Penny Starr) (CNSNews.com) - Paul Babeu, the sheriff of Pinal County, Arizona, says give him half an hour, and he could tell President Obama how to secure the U.S. border with Mexico -- if only the president and other administration officials would listen to him.Babeu joked that he must be on the White House “do not call” list, even though he’s the president of the Sheriff’s Association for the State of Arizona.In an interview with Fox News on Thursday, Babeu lamented the murder of a U.S. Border Patrol agent on Tuesday at the hands...

Given the conventional wisdom that “elitist” derision towards her only makes her supporters support her more adamantly, you’d think savvy Beltway consultants who don’t like her would keep that fact to themselves. And yet. Here’s their answer to the question, “Which voice in your party would you most like to mute?” That’s among “political” insiders, i.e. consultants. Among senators and congressmen polled, she finished second behind “no one,” tied with Michele Bachmann and Glenn Beck, among others. These insiders are the same people, mind you, who earlier this year voted her seventh among Republican governors with the brightest political future...

CARROLL, Iowa -- Police said they had no trouble identifying two men accused of trying to break into a Carroll apartment. Police were responding to a call about an attempted burglary when they pulled over a car matching the alleged suspects' vehicle. Inside the car, officers found two men with their faces blackened with permanent marker. Police said the caller described two men with painted faces attempting to break into an apartment Friday night before driving off. Twenty-three-year-old Matthew McNelly and 20-year-old Joey Miller were arrested at gunpoint after officers were told they might be armed. Neither man had a...