Free Republic

An illegal open-air 'flea market' operating in Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's district has popped back up days days after it was raided by police officers. Many of those operating on the sidewalks of Queens are believed to be illegal migrants hawking counterfeit goods and other wares. The sellers have been blocking sidewalks and causing general quality of life issues for the residents of Jackson Heights, Corona, and Elmhurst.

When I was 12 years old, we moved to the Navy base on Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. We moved in the summer and by the time school started I’d made friends and was feeling pretty comfortable. One day during the first week of class, I was sitting in the back of Mr. Scroch’s Social Studies classroom before he arrived. While we waited, some friends and I were messing around, throwing erasers at one another and calling each other names. Then we noticed a man sitting in the front row. We immediately settled down, but I remember ducking my head and yelling...

NYC Now has a $4.4 billion shoplifting economy. Theft is so rampant, retailers are forced to make tough choices... Cash takes a serious look at stores starting to flee the big apple. The fall of a once great city. And one shining mall in the city is now completely vacant due in most part to shoplifting and violent crime.

Plenty of people think Joe Biden's open borders is mainly about millions of illegals rolling into the U.S., while the billions rolling into Mexico's notorious crime cartels as a result is Mexico's problem, not ours. But that's not quite what's going on. Mexico's cartels have grown so big and so powerful from migrant and drug smuggling that they not only threaten Mexico, they are now taking their internecine warfare on the road into the U.S., which now faces a Tijuana-like future. If you recall the sight of all those Tijuana cars burning as that city shut down from cartel warfare,...

A paper at the Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC), founded by researcher John Lott, shows how faith in the police, arrest rates, and crime reporting are all interrelated. The paper is titled " The Collapse in Law Enforcement: As Arrest Rates Plummet, People Have Been Less Willing to Report Crime", published on April 5, 2024. As faith in the police collapses, reporting of crime drops, and so do arrest rates and clearance rates for both violent crimes and property crimes. This has the classic look of a positive feedback loop. The consequences are far from positive. It is not a...

A paper at the Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC), founded by researcher John Lott, shows how faith in the police, arrest rates, and crime reporting are all interrelated. The paper is titled ” The Collapse in Law Enforcement: As Arrest Rates Plummet, People Have Been Less Willing to Report Crime,” published on April 5, 2024. As faith in the police collapses, reporting of crime drops, and so do arrest rates and clearance rates for both violent crimes and property crimes. This has the classic look of a positive feedback loop. The consequences are far from positive. It is not a...

A stretch of Jackson Heights has devolved into an illegal migrant shopping district — an unchecked open-air market where everything from women to stolen goods can be had, The Post has learned. Roosevelt Avenue near 91st Street is littered daily with migrant vendors hawking goods they ripped off from shopkeepers just steps away, while prostitutes proposition passersby at all hours — and frustrated merchants and residents say they’re helpless to do anything about it. “It’s relentless,” said Milton Reyes, who manages Mi Farmacia pharmacy on the avenue. “You should see it on Saturdays. It’s so heavy you can’t even step...

News from the Big Apple these days is as discouraging as it is unsurprising. Who could have imagined that when America’s largest city decriminalized crime, defunded its police, harassed and prosecuted police officers, praised criminals and declared them protected members of an oppressed class, did away with bail, and virtue signaled praise for criminal illegal immigrants, crime might increase and run rampant? We’ve been treated to daily stories of illegals assaulting police officers, thugs pushing people onto subway tracks, sometimes killing them, out of control robberies, carjackings, organized shoplifting, most crimes committed by people with prodigious arrest/conviction records who were...

I am driving through Berverly Hills. I could not believe my eyes how many stores are out of business on Rodeo Dr., Wilshire Boulevard and all around the city of Beverly Hills. It is super depressing even restaurants had to close down after 45 years it feels like Berverly Hills is becoming a ghost town certain streets are totally abandoned

As you’ve probably caught wind of, Joe Biden’s border disaster is really putting America through the wringer. It’s not just the border towns feeling the heat anymore. With Biden’s border invasion cranking up, the ripple effects are hitting every corner of the United States, touching more than just the working and middle classes. Now, even the upper crust of American society is starting to squirm as some fresh “gang” creativity shows up at their doorstep. Trump’s been saying (and getting slammed for it) that we’re not exactly getting the cream of the crop. It’s like some places are just clearing...

Serious crime spiked again last year to levels unseen in nearly two decades, according to internal NYPD data obtained by The Post — even as Mayor Eric Adams has repeatedly claimed that the city’s rampant unlawfulness is just a “perception problem.” For the second year in a row under Adams overall crime was on the rise — driven by a historic surge in assaults, which neared 28,000 for the first time in the city’s publicly recorded history, according to the police department’s rolling report. The report tracks the tally of seven major felony offenses after the time of arrest to...

My hypothesis: The people who run New York City want violent serial criminals to hurt as many people as possible. If I’m wrong, then please offer a better explanation for why they keep releasing the same violent serial criminals again and again and again and again and again.By Daniel Alman (aka Dan from Squirrel Hill)April 2, 2024The police in New York City are doing their job. The police want to protect innocent people from violent criminals. My criticism here is not aimed at the police.But the judges and district attorneys are not doing their job.Here is my hypothesis: The people...

These are the latest victims of New York's 'insane' housing laws that have given way to a wave of absurd squatting incidents where homeowners find themselves forced to go to court to kick out brazen would-be tenants. Denis and Juliya are a married couple who invested $530,000 in a property in Jamaica, Queens, several years ago. On March 5, a broker they were working with visited the property for a site check before allowing tenants to move in and found the locks had been changed.

Downtown Los Angeles has been described as 'third world' after shocking footage revealed a homeless encampment with open fires in the street and trash-covered sidewalks. The startling video, posted to X by Fox News reporter Bill Melugin, shows dozens of homeless people sitting and standing on filthy sidewalks on the corner of San Pedro Street and 6th Street in the Skid Row neighborhood of LA. Some are seen standing around an open fire in the street, just moments away from the Midnight Mission, a $17 million center for the homeless.

Los Angeles County has a credible and viable district attorney's race going, and it may be their salvation. Incumbent district attorney George Gascón could not even reach 30 percent of the vote on March 5, and the level of disgust with him among Angeleans only continues to rise. Gascón's challenger, former federal prosecutor and assistant U.S. District Attorney Nathan Hochman achieved just shy of 16 percent of the vote, but it is enough to be the top two vote-getter and included on the general election ballot.

It’s another horrific, tragic story, the likes of which we’ve been seeing all too often these days. A convict serving a 16-year sentence for a home invasion and aggravated assault was released early in Illinois in early March, and the very next day, he invaded the Chicago apartment of Laterria Smith and stabbed her and her 11-year-old son, killing the boy.The brave youngster was trying to save his mother from the attack, and was stabbed in the chest.The killer, Crosetti Brand, 37, who was previously in a relationship with Smith, was let loose on March 10. He was cut free...

In a recent monologue, Greg Gutfeld focused on some of the high profile crimes that have happened in New York City over the past few weeks and the lame response from the people in charge. Greg talks about the Democrats and their obsession with bail reform and how this places a higher priority on the rights of criminals, instead of law abiding citizens. Despite a lot of talk from Mayor Adams and others, things keep getting worse. Partial transcript via FOX News: So here in New York City, the subway system is running a special lottery, but unlike my used...

New York City Council Member Amanda Farias learned what a social media ratio looks like on Thursday after getting roasted to a crisp for asking why men aren't defending women amidst increased attacks. Farias asked, "Where are the men calling this out" while quoting a post from New York City's "Women's Caucus" decrying the "alarming trend of violence against women." As my colleague Brandon Morse explained, the original post from the "Women's Caucus" was completely tone-deaf, ignoring that their social justice policies are largely responsible for the current crisis. Farias' attempt at piggybacking on their demands was the perfect setup...

Legislators may be off for spring recess, but debates about their bills are still happening outside committee rooms. One spicy intra-party exchange between Democratic Assemblymembers focuses on a measure about retail theft — underscoring the difficult balance for lawmakers responding to public concerns about crime, while not over-policing historically targeted communities.Los Angeles Assemblymember Wendy Carrillo, vice chairperson of the Legislative Progressive Caucus, introduced Assembly Bill 1990, which would allow police officers to make warrantless arrests for misdemeanor shoplifting offenses (as in, items that total $950 or less) if officers have probable cause. Officers do not need to be present when...

If you own a home and don’t want to lose it, keep reading. Homeowners who go on vacation or a business trip, even for just a week, are returning to find their house overtaken by trespassers who fraudulently claim a right to be there. It’s happening to tens of thousands of homeowners from New York City to Atlanta and Los Angeles. When owners call the police, they’re told police can’t help. It’s a civil matter, and they have to file an eviction lawsuit, which can drag on for months or years because housing courts are backlogged. Meanwhile, owners are out...