Free Republic

TikTok star Brandon “Boogie B” Montrell was shot and killed by a stray bullet Friday while Christmas shopping in New Orleans with his grandmother, his heartbroken mom revealed — as she railed against the leaders of the Democrat-run city. Montrell’s mother confirmed Saturday that the 43-year-old social media personality and comedian was the man killed while sitting in a car parked in the Rouses grocery store in the Warehouse District around 4:07 p.m. the afternoon before. The devastated mom blasted crime in Louisiana’s most populated city — and the leaders who need to “do their jobs.”

It is common for gun control zealots to bloviate about how the United States is such a violent country, and others such as Canada’s dictator in chief Justin Trudeau using the crime rate in the United States as justification to seize firearms from his citizenry. And yes, the United States is ranked third when it comes to our murder rate. Now, want to know a dirty little secret? If you remove the following cities—Chicago, Detroit, Washington, DC, St. Louis and New Orleans—from the equation, the land of the free and home of the brave slips all the way down to...

The New Orleans Advocate reports: "NBC News anchor Brian Williams, who apologized on the air Wednesday night for lying about an experience covering the Iraq War, is now facing scrutiny over his gripping accounts of Hurricane Katrina, the disaster that burnished his nightly news bona fides almost a decade ago. Williams’ account of seeing a body float by in the French Quarter — which remained largely dry — and even a claim of catching dysentery from drinking Katrina floodwaters have raised eyebrows among bloggers and elsewhere since he took it on the chin this week over a claim that he...

Mosaic of the three times Our Lady of Prompt Succor saved New Orleans. General Jackson and his men may be seen in the bottom right. I took this photo of the mosaic at the Ursuline Convent in New Orleans in 2019. Andrew Jackson was a study in contrasts. By most accounts, he was hot tempered and had a tendency to violence. In his youth, he engaged in most of the vices common to young men of that time: drinking, carousing, and engaging in every form of gambling known to man. He apparently had a passion for cock-fighting. He got...

Gov. Kathy Hochul is now openly spreading absurd conspiracy theories about crime, claiming Republican “master manipulators” and “data deniers” want you to falsely think red states are safer than blue ones like New York. Of course, she’s the real data-denier “Master manipulators,” she said Sunday, “have this conspiracy going” to “convince people in Democratic states that they’re not as safe.” But “the safer places are the Democratic states.” Her plunge in the polls has her resorting to bald-faced lies: She knows Democratic cities — Philadelphia, Chicago, New Orleans and, yes, New York — drive up state murder rates, as crime...

Joe Biden appeared to suggest on Wednesday that airlines were engaging in racial discrimination when they charged a premium for seats with more legroom, saying that “people of color” were most impacted by the additional fees. The president was addressing what he referred to as “junk fees” — from concert ticket “processing fees” and additional booking fees tacked on by resorts and hotels to fees charged by airlines to guarantee a seat with a little more space between the purchased seat and the seat directly in front of it — and he argued that those fees disproportionately impacted those with...

Mayor LaToya Cantrell to repay $30k in city money spent on first-class flights . She had justified it by saying flying economy was 'unsafe' for black women .. City policy requires her to find cheapest fare or reimburse the expenses . Cantrell also admitted living rent-free in the apartment located in the city's Upper Pontalba building on Jackson Square . ... The city's Metropolitan Crime Commission sent a report to the city council Thursday asking for an investigation into Cantrell's use of the apartment . ... LaToya Cantrell, the controversial Democrat mayor of New Orleans, has said she will repay...

A federal appellate judge confirmed that he will no longer consider graduates of Yale Law School for clerkships, citing the school's alleged penchant for "cancellation of views." Judge James C. Ho of the New Orleans-based 5th Circuit Court of Appeal spoke to the Kentucky Chapters Conference of the Federalist Society last week and openly criticized the so-called intolerant practices trumpeted by Yale Law and its graduates. "Yale not only tolerates the cancellation of views — it actively practices it," said Ho, a University of Chicago School of Law graduate who was nominated to his federal judiciary post by then-President Donald...

A spokesperson for Starbucks says they will close their popular Canal Street location after nine years due to safety and security concerns. Several other Starbucks locations will remain open in New Orleans and neighboring Canal Street business owners say they have no intention of joining the national chain in evacuating the area. On Oct. 3, the coffee shop will close its doors for good. Without providing details on specific incidents, Starbucks spokesman Sam Jefferies says “challenges to personal safety and security, racism, a growing mental health crisis, and issues magnified by COVID are challenges playing out within our stores.” “I...

New Orleans overtook St. Louis as the US murder capital in the first half of this year, as the city struggles with its lowest police staffing level in modern history amid a crisis of officer morale. In the first six months of 2022, New Orleans recorded 41 murders per 100,000 population, a higher homicide rate than any other US city, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of data from the Major Cities Chiefs Association. By comparison, the first-half murder rate per 100,000 was 11.5 in Chicago, 4.8 in Los Angeles and 2.4 in New York City.

by Becca London | 24NewsThe Democrat mayor of New Orleans, Louisiana, said this week economy flights are not safe for black women.In addition, LaToya Cantrell has said she would not repay money spent on a first-class trip from Washington Dulles Airport to Switzerland over the summer, Meaww reported Sunday.“My travel accommodations are a matter of safety, not of luxury,” she claimed during a press conference on Thursday:As all women know, our health and safety are often disregarded and we are left to navigate alone. As the mother of a young child whom I live for, I am going to protect...

The Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) and the New Orleans Health Department (NOHD) are partnering this weekend with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to host the Southern Decadence Health Hub, which will provide free monkeypox and COVID-19 vaccinations and other health services. The Health Hub will be located at the main North Rampart Street entrance of Louis Armstrong Park (801 N. Rampart St.), conveniently located near the French Quarter where many Southern Decadence events and activities will occur. The site will operate between the hours of 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. beginning on Thursday, September 1,...

NEW ORLEANS — In a story first reported by our partners at the Times Picayune, New Orleans Advocate, New Orleans Mayor Latoya Cantrell may be on the hook for close to $30,000 in air travel upgrades. Travel documents obtained by WWL-TV show Cantrell, more often than not, chooses to fly in either business or first class. Metropolitan Crime Commission President Rafael Goyeneche says the city’s long-standing travel policy requires city employees to travel in coach. “We see that she has upgraded her travel accommodations contrary to city policy at the expense of taxpayers,” Goyeneche said. Here’s just two recent examples:...

New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell, who has earned a lot of negative attention for an expensive trip to Paris on the taxpayers’ dime and for appearing to come to the defense a carjacker in court, is the subject of a recall petition filed at the Secretary of State’s office Friday. Cantrell, a Democrat currently presiding over a major crime wave in the city as well as a dwindling police force, did not issue any comment herself but her office released a statement Friday evening. “The mayor is working 24 hours a day, seven days a week to solve the problems...

Let me first tell you this is my opinion. I get really upset when leaders coddle criminals or other folks who cause trouble in our community. It happens from time to time in cities all over the nation. It's happened in Louisiana. But I think what happened in New Orleans this month is so outrageous, I can't really believe it actually took place. Mayor LaToya Cantrell showed up in court to support a 14-year-old carjacking suspect and his mother. This happened right in front of the victims. This teenager used a fake gun to physically overtake the victims and steal...

New Orleans’ LaToya Cantrell is running away with the competition.irst, for those of you who haven’t read all of the previous columns in this space, a definition. What is Weaponized Governmental Failure?Simply put, it’s the process by which urban socialist Democrats intentionally muck up the basic tasks of municipal governance and create such soul-crushing environments that middle-class taxpayers and voters decamp for the suburbs, thus leaving an electorate incapable of throwing off the political machine.My theory is that Weaponized Governmental Failure, or WGF for short, was arrived upon serendipitously. At some point in the 1990s, Democrats noticed that some of...

Two popular gay clubs in the French Quarter are hosting a "vaxxtravaganza" — an outdoor block party to promote public health on Wednesday, Aug. 24 from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. Health officials will be at Oz and and Cafe Lafitte’s in Exile to distribute both monkeypox and COVID-19 vaccines, in addition to providing STI screenings, HIV testing and overdose prevention resources. The event is part of a broader effort to curb the spread of the monkeypox virus as the city gears up for the Southern Decadence festival, which is expected to bring in thousands of visitors for a weekend...

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - Crime victims say they felt victimized all over again when Mayor Latoya Cantrell showed up in court to support a juvenile perpetrator during sentencing. “I was in shock. She wasn’t there for us. She was there for the assailant and his mother. It felt like she supported the crime,” says the victim. “Your own Mayor isn’t supporting you,” says another victim. Both women became victims of the same 13-year-old last September in separate incidents. They say he was one of three young gunmen who threatened and robbed them. “I opened the door, and there is a...

The producer of the Bourbon Street Extravaganza, one of Southern Decadence’s signature events, has canceled the free outdoor concert over concerns about the monkeypox virus. Thousands of revelers were expected to gather Sept. 3 at the corner of Bourbon and St. Ann streets outside the gay bar Napoleon’s Itch to hear dance music diva Jeanie Tracy and other singers. This was to have been the Bourbon Street Extravaganza’s celebratory return after two years of cancellations prompted by the COVID pandemic.

What is the first city that comes to mind when you think of the city with the highest murder rate? For me, it’s Chicago. The cities that frequently make the news due to high murder rates and other violent crimes usually include Chicago, New York City, Baltimore, and Philadelphia. However, a compilation of police data for the month of June from cities with populations of more than 200,000 was put together and the top 31 American cities with the highest murder rates might surprise you.AH Analytics co-founder Jeff Asher listed the top cities with the highest murder rates per capita...