Philadelphia officials reportedly charged 72 people, including five minors and a social media influencer dubbed &#8220;Meatball,&#8221; in connection to widespread thefts from several stores <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/looters-ransack-philadelphia-stores-after-police-officers-charges-dismissed-in-fatal-shooting" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ransacked</a> across the city in late September.
&#8220;The DA and the courts need to make sure these people pay a price for what they did,&#8221; Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/philadelphia/news/philadelphia-looting-2023-update/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>, according to CBS.
Civil unrest in Philadelphia broke out on September 26 when dozens of people engaged in a flash mob-style looting spree fueled by social media where they smashed their way into stores and stole bags of merchandise from retail shops, including Foot Locker, Apple, and at least 18 state-run liquor stores, authorities <a href="https://apnews.com/article/philadelphia-store-mob-thefts-teenagers-f2351d631f691aa081233b1df1bee54d" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>.
Following the night of chaos, authorities were already in process of making dozens of arrests.
Assistant District Attorney Clint Orem, the acting chief of the District Attorney&#8217;s Office&#8217;s charging unit, reported on Monday that 67 adults and five minors have been charged — most of which are burglary and theft charges.
&#8220;A robbery charge, a burglary charge, a theft charge, receiving stolen property,&#8221; Interm Philadelphia Police Commissioner John Stanford said last week. &#8220;Whatever we can possibly apply to this situation, we&#8217;re going to apply it.&#8221;
&#8220;Philadelphia is not going to be the place that you can come and do this type of behavior,&#8221; he added.
Stanford said he believes the alleged thieves were part of a &#8220;caravan of individuals&#8221; coordinated through social media to hit different locations citywide.
He singled out social media influencer Dayjia Blackwell, who goes by &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/social-media-influencer-who-livestreamed-philadelphia-looting-arrested-charged-with-6-felonies" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Meatball</a>,&#8221; as a possible leader of the group after she appeared to cheer on looters while livestreaming as they ransacked Philadelphia stores.
Blackwell, 21, was later arrested and charged with six felonies, including burglary, criminal trespassing, conspiracy, criminal mischief, riot with the intent to commit a felony, and criminal use of a communication facility. Authorities also charged her with two misdemeanors for allegedly receiving stolen property and hazardous conditions/physically offensive and set at $25,000, which she posted Thursday morning.
The looting in Philadelphia came hours after murder charges against former Philadelphia police officer Mark Dial were dropped. Dial was charged in the fatal shooting of Eddie Irizarry, who was holding a knife by his right leg, during a traffic stop last month. Philadelphia Municipal Judge Wendy Pew dismissed all charges, including a murder count, against Dial, determining that the shooting was justified, according to NBC 10.
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Stanford attempted to distance the rioting that eventually broke out from the protests earlier in the day, calling the looters &#8220;opportunists.&#8221;
&#8220;This had nothing to do with the protests. What we had tonight was a bunch of criminal opportunists,&#8221; Stanford said.
&#8220;These were not protesters, these were criminals,&#8221; he added.
Zach Jewell contributed to this report.

Generic police lights and crime scene tape

Philadelphia Authorities Charge 72 Individuals, Including Social Media Influencer ‘Meatball,’ In Connection To Citywide Looting

Philadelphia Authorities Charge 72 Individuals, Including 5 Minors And Social Media Influencer 'Meatball,' In Connection To Citywide Looting

Black Lives Matter

burglary

Looting

Pennsylvania

Philadelphia

It looks like spending a little time in the slammer has self-proclaimed Philadelphia-area influencer &#8220;Meatball&#8221; regretting her decision to livestream looting and other mayhem that occurred in the City of Brotherly Love earlier this week. That decision has left her grandmother &#8220;ashamed&#8221; of her granddaughter, whose real name is Dayjia Blackwell, but maintains that Meatball has a certain business acumen that can be used for good.
On Thursday, The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/social-media-influencer-who-livestreamed-philadelphia-looting-arrested-charged-with-6-felonies" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that Meatball was arrested during her livestream of the looting as large groups of mostly teenagers damaged and robbed multiple stores in Philadelphia. The 21-year-old Blackwell was hit with six felony counts as well as two misdemeanors and was seen crying in her mugshot.
During the stream, Meatball boasted, &#8220;Tell the police they’re either gonna lock me up tonight, or it’s gonna get lit, it’s gonna be a movie.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Philadelphia continues to be in absolute chaos. <a href="https://t.co/hgMphlu8c9">pic.twitter.com/hgMphlu8c9</a>
— Catch Up (@CatchUpFeed) <a href="https://twitter.com/CatchUpFeed/status/1706866005308481589?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 27, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Well, they did lock her up and it turned into a bit of a nightmare for the budding social media star.
Blackwell&#8217;s mother bailed her out of jail, and Meatball told <a href="https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/social-media-influencer-talks-livestreaming-looting-arrest/3656311/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NBC 10</a> that the experience scared her straight.
&#8220;I just prefer, you know, never loot again, stay out of trouble, never go to jail,&#8221; she told the outlet.
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She also said on social media she was &#8220;scared and traumatized,&#8221; adding, &#8220;never again in my life.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WATCH?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WATCH</a> | Influencer Dayjia Blackwell (&#39;Meatball&#39;), who was released after live-streaming her involvement in the looting that took place in Philadelphia, thanks her followers and says that she doesn&#39;t &quot;even know what happened&quot; and that she is &quot;scared&quot; and &quot;traumatized.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/JKqw7f6RV1">pic.twitter.com/JKqw7f6RV1</a>
&mdash; VOZ (@Voz_US) <a href="https://twitter.com/Voz_US/status/1707444575768293548?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 28, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Indeed, the girl&#8217;s grandmother hopes that Meatball becomes a force for good in the world.
Vashti Fields, Meatball&#8217;s grandmother, told Fox 29, &#8220;What goes through my mind, as a grandmother, is I’m very ashamed. I’m very ashamed to see my child there, at that time. Number one, she could have gotten hurt.&#8221;
Fields has bigger dreams for Meatball.
&#8220;I want her to start a business and, most of all, I want her to be a positive influencer,&#8221; Fields said.
Indeed, she added, that Meatball is a &#8220;loving, kind, caring, business minded go-getter.&#8221;
Of course, part of Meatball&#8217;s business includes having an Only Fans account which is nothing but smut and akin to a virtual form of the oldest profession in the world.
It&#8217;s unclear what her family thinks of that career choice.
Meatball&#8217;s mother chose instead to honk her car horn repeatedly when approached by reporters and refused to speak to the press.
Perhaps the real lesson here is that jail can work in steering ne&#8217;er-do-wells on the straight and narrow — contrary to what justice reform advocates state.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Meatball on a Fork, ‘Meatball’ at a fork in the Road

Philly Looting Livestreamer ‘Meatball’ Regrets It All; Grandma ‘Ashamed,’ But Says Jailbird Kin A ‘Business Minded Go-Getter’

Philly Looting Livestreamer 'Meatball' Regrets It All; Grandma 'Ashamed,' But Says Jailbird Kin A 'Business Minded Go-Getter'

influencer

Police

Social Media

A social media influencer who appeared to cheer on looters while livestreaming as they <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/looters-ransack-philadelphia-stores-after-police-officers-charges-dismissed-in-fatal-shooting" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ransacked Philadelphia stores</a> Tuesday night was arrested and charged with six felonies.
Dayjia Blackwell, who goes by “Meatball,” was arrested during her livestream of the looting as large groups of mostly teenagers damaged and robbed multiple stores in Philadelphia, The Philadelphia Inquirer <a href="https://www.inquirer.com/news/dayjia-blackwell-tiktok-philly-vandalism-20230927.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. The 21-year-old Blackwell was also hit with two misdemeanors on top of her six felony counts and was seen crying in her mugshot.
Authorities charged Blackwell with burglary, criminal trespassing, conspiracy, criminal mischief, riot with the intent to commit a felony, and criminal use of a communication facility, The New York Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/09/28/philadelphia-influencer-meatball-livestreamed-lootings-charged-with-6-felonies/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. The two misdemeanor accounts were receiving stolen property and hazardous conditions/physically offensive. The social media influencer’s bail was set at $25,000 which she posted Thursday morning. 
During her livestream, Blackwell called out the police and challenged them to arrest her. 
“Tell the police they’re either gonna lock me up tonight, or it’s gonna get lit, it’s gonna be a movie,” she said, according to the Post. 
“This is what happens when we don’t get justice in this city,” Blackwell added. 
As dozens of looters robbed a liquor store, Blackwell can be heard shouting repeatedly, “Everybody must eat!” 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Philadelphia continues to be in absolute chaos. <a href="https://t.co/hgMphlu8c9">pic.twitter.com/hgMphlu8c9</a>
&mdash; Catch Up (@CatchUpFeed) <a href="https://twitter.com/CatchUpFeed/status/1706866005308481589?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 27, 2023</a></blockquote>
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The social media influencer, who has nearly 190,000 followers on Instagram, over 465,000 followers on TikTok, and has an OnlyFans account, was arrested after police allegedly tracked her on social media to seven different locations in the city Tuesday night. 
<a href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-9096" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://onelink.to/dwapp&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1695926598117000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2JMKlkoIbMtWiT_W63aMnH">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP</a>
“We were able to link some things on social media,” Interim Police Commissioner John Stanford <a href="https://www.inquirer.com/news/dayjia-blackwell-tiktok-philly-vandalism-20230927.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> at a news conference. “We had a group that was making their way through the city. Quite naturally, you have followers who are going to see this and start to come out, and think they have an opportunity to get something.”
The looting in Philadelphia came hours after murder charges against former Philadelphia police officer Mark Dial were dropped. Dial was charged in the fatal shooting of Eddie Irizarry, who was holding a knife by his right leg, during a traffic stop last month. Philadelphia Municipal Judge Wendy Pew dismissed all charges, including a murder count, against Dial, determining that the shooting was justified, according to <a href="https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/murder-charges-dropped-for-philly-cop/3653907/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NBC 10</a>.
Stanford attempted to distance the rioting that eventually broke out from the protests that took place earlier in the day, calling the looters “opportunists.”
“This had nothing to do with the protests. What we had tonight was a bunch of criminal opportunists,” Stanford said.
“These were not protesters, these were criminals,” he added.
Blackwell wrote in one post to her Instagram followers, “What we doing tonight behind this injustice tap in?”
More video footage of the looting showed a large police presence outside of a Lulumelon as numerous people ran out of the store carrying stolen clothing. The footage also shows police detaining at least four looters on the ground outside of the store. Police said that over 100 juveniles and young adults were involved in the looting. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
🚨<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BREAKING?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BREAKING</a>: Large Crowds of people have started Riot and Loot multiple stores as Citywide Rapid Response has been Activated
📌<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Philadelphia?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Philadelphia</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PA?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#PA</a> 
Philadelphia Police have activated a citywide rapid response following large crowds of people gathering and rioting, and engaging… <a href="https://t.co/ronKIax9rO">pic.twitter.com/ronKIax9rO</a>
&mdash; R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) <a href="https://twitter.com/rawsalerts/status/1706840403717017608?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 27, 2023</a></blockquote>
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Mugshot: Dayjia Blackwell

Social Media Influencer Who Livestreamed Philadelphia Looting Arrested, Charged With 6 Felonies

Crime

Hours after murder charges against a former Philadelphia police officer were dropped on Tuesday, large groups, mostly made up of teenagers, looted multiple stores in the city. 
Police started receiving calls around 8 p.m. Tuesday night about a large crowd moving into Center City, the main dining and shopping scene in downtown Philadelphia, NBC 10 <a href="https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/large-crowds-of-juveniles-loot-multiple-stores-in-center-city-police-say/3654732/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. The crowd eventually turned riotous, ransacking a Foot Locker, Lulumelon, and an Apple store, among other businesses, before at least 20 were arrested. 
Video footage of the looting showed a large police presence outside of a Lulumelon as numerous people ran out of the store carrying stolen clothing. The footage also shows police detaining at least four looters on the ground outside of the store. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
🚨<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BREAKING?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BREAKING</a>: Large Crowds of people have started Riot and Loot multiple stores as Citywide Rapid Response has been Activated
📌<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Philadelphia?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Philadelphia</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PA?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#PA</a> 
Philadelphia Police have activated a citywide rapid response following large crowds of people gathering and rioting, and engaging… <a href="https://t.co/ronKIax9rO">pic.twitter.com/ronKIax9rO</a>
&mdash; R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) <a href="https://twitter.com/rawsalerts/status/1706840403717017608?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 27, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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<a href="https://t.co/jIHy4uv8oC">pic.twitter.com/jIHy4uv8oC</a>
&mdash; Dixie (@OSiiNT) <a href="https://twitter.com/OSiiNT/status/1706858262325276886?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 27, 2023</a></blockquote>
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Another video recorded live and uploaded to social media shows dozens of people looting a liquor store as the person behind the camera says, “That’s what I’m talking about. Everybody must eat.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Philadelphia continues to be in absolute chaos. <a href="https://t.co/hgMphlu8c9">pic.twitter.com/hgMphlu8c9</a>
&mdash; Catch Up (@CatchUpFeed) <a href="https://twitter.com/CatchUpFeed/status/1706866005308481589?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 27, 2023</a></blockquote>
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The Philadelphia stores were looted after murder charges were dropped against former police officer Mark Dial for the fatal shooting of Eddie Irizarry, who was holding a knife by his right leg, during a traffic stop last month. Philadelphia Municipal Judge Wendy Pew dismissed all charges, including a murder count, against Dial, determining that the shooting was justified, according to <a href="https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/murder-charges-dropped-for-philly-cop/3653907/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NBC 10</a>. 
Leftist Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner vowed to appeal the judge’s decision.
&#8220;Special Investigations Unit prosecutors will be filing an appeal of this decision to the Court of Common Pleas by the end of today,” Krasner’s office said. “In keeping with our oath to seek justice, we will move to have all criminal charges, including Murder, reinstated against this defendant.&#8221;
Following the judge’s move to drop the charges against Dial, people initially gathered to peacefully protest the decision. Acting Police Commissioner John Stanford sought to distance the rioting that eventually broke out from the protests that took place earlier in the day. 
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&#8220;This had nothing to do with the protests. What we had tonight was a bunch of criminal opportunists,&#8221; Stanford said.
“These were not protesters, these were criminals,&#8221; he added.
Police said that over 100 juveniles and young adults were involved in the looting, and authorities are still trying to determine how many businesses were affected by the night of crime. 
Retail thefts and carjackings have spiked in the “City of Brotherly Love” over the past year, according to police department data, Axios <a href="https://www.axios.com/local/philadelphia/2023/08/14/philadelphia-violent-crime-decline" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. Through August 6, car thefts were up 105%, and retail thefts rose 34% while overall property crime spiked 24% compared to the same period in 2022.

Looters Ransack Philadelphia Stores After Police Officer’s Charges Dismissed In Fatal Shooting

Shooting

U.S.

Two years ago, a 20-year-old student at the University of Chicago named Max Lewis boarded a subway car on the city&#8217;s Green Line. Lewis had just finished another day interning at an investment bank in downtown Chicago, and he was on his way back to his apartment. Then, without warning, a stray bullet tore through the subway car&#8217;s window and hit Lewis in the neck. Doctors quickly determined that Max Lewis had been paralyzed from the neck down. He&#8217;d never be able to eat or walk again. He&#8217;d need a ventilator, forever. But Lewis could communicate with his eyes. By blinking, and using a letter board, he sent this message to his family: “If I have to live like this, pull the plug. Please, seriously.” Doctors took Max Lewis off of life support, and he died in the hospital shortly afterwards.
It&#8217;s a horrifying story. But it&#8217;s not particularly unusual in Chicago. The same weekend that Max Lewis was shot in the neck, at least 100 other residents of Chicago were hit by gunfire, and 18 died. A few days later, Chicago&#8217;s mayor at the time, Lori Lightfoot, gave an extended interview with CNN in Chicago&#8217;s West Garfield Park neighborhood. She was surrounded by bodyguards for the whole thing. Lori Lightfoot did not offer any sympathy to the family of Max Lewis, nor did she propose any solution to the city&#8217;s rampant crime problem. Instead, in the interview, Lori Lightfoot made it clear who the real victim was in Chicago. It was Lori Lightfoot. “I’m a Black woman and I’m a member of the LGBTQ community,&#8221; she said. &#8220;It’s not okay that systemic racism, homophobia, and sexism still exist but I’m going to play the cards that I’m dealt.”
This pattern repeated in Chicago, over and over again, for years, until finally the residents of Chicago had enough of Lori Lightfoot&#8217;s malevolence and incompetence. Earlier this year, Lightfoot became the first mayor of Chicago to lose re-election in 40 years. Lori Lightfoot&#8217;s replacement was a former social studies teacher named Brandon Johnson. Like every other mayor elected in Chicago since 1927, Brandon Johnson is a Democrat. During the campaign, Johnson did not propose any serious solutions to the rampant crime in Chicago. Instead, he ran on a platform of anti-white racism and defunding the police department.
Brandon Johnson took office just over two months ago. One of the first major tests of his new administration came on Sunday night, when a mob began looting stores, fighting in public, and destroying property in the South Loop. This is considered one of the nicer areas of the city, for what that&#8217;s worth. The bar is pretty low, admittedly. Here’s what it looked like this weekend:
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Chicago’s latest “teen takeover” <a href="https://t.co/YBK8t2gwZe">pic.twitter.com/YBK8t2gwZe</a>
&mdash; Jack Elbaum (@Jack_Elbaum) <a href="https://twitter.com/Jack_Elbaum/status/1687124783832416257?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 3, 2023</a></blockquote>
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Notice the media calls this a &#8220;teen takeover,&#8221; which is maybe the most innocuous possible term they could use. It sounds like a birthday party at the local swimming pool. In reality, as anyone can see, it was rioting. And by the way, not all of the criminals were &#8220;teens.&#8221; Many of them were, but certainly not all of them. At least one journalist didn&#8217;t want to whitewash this complete breakdown of public safety in one of America&#8217;s major cities. The reporter asked Brandon Johnson what he was going to do about the mob violence in the South Loop. Brandon Johnson responded by attacking the reporter&#8217;s choice of language. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Mayor Johnson addresses latest Chicago teen takeover for first time" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1tNa3JbCtLQ?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
It&#8217;s the Lori Lightfoot approach. Don&#8217;t blame the criminals. Blame the people who notice the criminals. They&#8217;re the problem, because they use the wrong language. We see this a lot now on the left. It&#8217;s one of the hallmarks of leftism, in fact: This preoccupation with language is everywhere. And every time they fixate on language, it&#8217;s always to obfuscate the issue.  They&#8217;re not trying to be precise. In fact, it’s the opposite of being precise. They&#8217;re trying to confuse as many people as possible.
According to Johnson, the preferred term for what you just saw in Chicago is not &#8220;mob violence&#8221; or &#8220;riot,&#8221; but instead, &#8220;large gathering.&#8221; Yes, a large gathering — you know, like a concert or a Chick-fil-A drive thru. Is there a single person alive who thinks that&#8217;s the most accurate, useful terminology in this situation? &#8220;Large gathering&#8221; implies that nothing criminal occurred at all. A Thanksgiving dinner with 20 people could be described as a &#8220;large gathering.&#8221;
But Johnson insists that&#8217;s the &#8220;appropriate&#8221; way to talk about what happened. Then he says, with no hint of irony whatsoever, quote, &#8220;This is not to obfuscate what has actually taken place.&#8221; But of course that&#8217;s the entire point of what he&#8217;s doing. That&#8217;s why people like Brandon Johnson claim they&#8217;re &#8220;redirecting&#8221; funds from the police, instead of defunding them. It&#8217;s why they use terms like &#8220;gender-affirming care&#8221; instead of talking about double mastectomies and sterilizing hormones. That’s why they call the victims of abortion “Fetuses” instead of “babies.” The objective of Johnson&#8217;s movement, at every turn, is to obfuscate what&#8217;s actually taking place — which is the destruction of the foundational elements of western civilization. That includes the nuclear family, and it includes law and order.
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1198-chicago-mayor-worries-that-we-re-being-too-mean-to-the-thugs-terrorizing-his-city-member-exclusive" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Matt Walsh Show</a></h4>
What&#8217;s actually taking place, although you&#8217;re not supposed to talk about it, is that major cities in this country are careening so quickly towards total disorder that we&#8217;ll probably be seeing Koreans on the rooftops soon. These are not isolated incidents that we&#8217;re talking about. This is a pattern. Here&#8217;s what Chicago looked like back in April, just a few months ago:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
🚨<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BREAKING?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BREAKING</a>: Chaotic Scene Unfolds in Downtown Chicago as Teenagers Vandalize Cars and Gunfire Erupts 
📌<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Chicago?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Chicago</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Illinois?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Illinois</a> ⁰ There is currently a significant police response taking place in downtown Chicago due to a large group of teenagers causing chaos. They have been… <a href="https://t.co/n7xhBpsTKs">pic.twitter.com/n7xhBpsTKs</a>
&mdash; R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) <a href="https://twitter.com/rawsalerts/status/1647457314494971910?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 16, 2023</a></blockquote>
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Another large gathering for you. That’s all it is, remember. A large gathering, like a church picnic. Now, Brandon Johnson, who was the mayor-elect at the time, responded to this violence with a written statement, saying it was &#8220;not constructive to demonize youth who have otherwise been starved of opportunities in their own communities.” Of course he gets this exactly backwards. The job opportunities are leaving these communities because these people are making the communities unlivable. They aren’t starved of opportunities. They are chasing the opportunities away. Any one of these people could walk into the local convenience store and ask for a job. Instead they’d rather loot the place. That’s their choice.
At any rate, it&#8217;s fair to conclude that this is the prepared talking point of Johnson&#8217;s administration, in response to mob violence. Every time his city is besieged by rioters, he&#8217;s going to lecture you for noticing. He&#8217;s going to police your language. Back in April, Johnson was asked about his written statement. Here&#8217;s how he defended it:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Mayor-Elect Brandon Johnson Defends His ‘Controversial’ Statement on Weekend Violence" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-oXhGmUTTKc?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
It&#8217;s hard to believe any elected politician would say something like that. &#8220;They&#8217;re young! They make silly decisions!&#8221; Like setting cars on fire, robbing stores, and beating people up. You wouldn&#8217;t understand. You&#8217;re not a former middle school teacher like Brandon Johnson.
It&#8217;s clear that, like so many other Democrats, Johnson is totally unequipped to handle rampant crime in his city. Leftist ideology has at this point left reality, and all of reality&#8217;s concerns, completely behind. These people aren&#8217;t living in the same universe as normal taxpaying Americans, let alone the same city. They hear about hundreds of shooting victims and they start talking about homophobia. They see a mob of hundreds of people robbing stores and setting cars on fire, and they say it&#8217;s just “silly.&#8221; It’s a fun prank. Like putting a whoopee cushion on someone’s chair. You know, that sort of thing.
That&#8217;s not to confine the problem to Johnson, or Lori Lightfoot. This is now the default position of the Democratic Party in response to mob violence everywhere. We see it anywhere Democrats are in charge, in an entrenched position of power. And it&#8217;s leading to predictable results. This was Compton a few months ago:
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A &#8220;sideshow erupts into looting!&#8221; A huge crowd &#8220;taking part in a sideshow&#8221; suddenly got out of control, according to FOX 11. It sounds so innocuous. Who could have anticipated that the &#8220;side show&#8221; would &#8220;erupt into looting!&#8221; It&#8217;s as unpredictable as your neighbor&#8217;s backyard barbecue &#8220;erupting into a mass shooting!&#8221; What are you going to do?
As it happens, not much. As the anchor said, just one arrest was made. Imagine that. Of course, Chicago and Compton aren&#8217;t the only towns with a George Soros-backed D.A. where these kinds of &#8220;side shows&#8221; are common. We could show you similar videos out of Philadelphia and many other cities. In the case of Philly, a recent episode of mob violence was described by local media as a &#8220;flash mob.” What did this &#8220;flash mob&#8221; do? Did they perform a coordinated dance routine or something? No, they waved guns around and injured police officers. Just an innocent flash mob, our media reports.
Officials and media outlets can condone riots all they want. They can use whatever euphemisms they choose. At some point, stakeholders — people who own shops and homes — will fight back. And indeed that&#8217;s already happening. You may have seen this video from the other day. It shows store owners in California beating a guy with a stick, after he empties out their inventory of cigarettes. Here’s what happened as the thief tried to leave:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Whoop his ass &#8230; 7-Eleven workers stop California man who tried to steal trash can full of cigarettes
By Katherine Donlevy August 2, 2023 9:40pm Updated
Two 7-Eleven workers in California took matters into their own hands and used a stick to wallop a man who tried to steal a… <a href="https://t.co/DpB3IvFfii">pic.twitter.com/DpB3IvFfii</a>
&mdash; SubX.News (@SubxNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/SubxNews/status/1687005122688073728?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 3, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
I have to admit: I’m a sucker for a heart warming video. If you watch the whole thing you’ll notice that the narrator of that clip — the person recording it — starts out on the side of the robber. He tells the store owners that they can&#8217;t do anything, because they&#8217;ll get in trouble. &#8220;There&#8217;s nothing you can do,&#8221; the person says. And it&#8217;s clear why he said that. We&#8217;ve all seen the reports of store employees being fired or arrested because they tried to stop shoplifters. And in this case, the shoplifter claims he has a gun, so there&#8217;s even more reason for these store owners to stay back.
But they don&#8217;t. The store owners stepped up, regardless of whatever personal consequences they might suffer. And then — and this is the key moment — when the robber is subdued, the narrator celebrates. He takes the side of the store owners.
What does that tell us? It tells us that when strong people take action, everyone else gets the message really quick. All it takes is some bravery, and some decisive action, for everyone else to fall in line. Did you ever notice that the riots in Kenosha, Wisconsin stopped after that night Kyle Rittenhouse defended the local businesses, and himself, from the mob? There&#8217;s a reason for that. But the leaders of the biggest cities in this country have no interest in defending their communities or taking any decisive action whatsoever. Instead, they&#8217;re making excuses.
Let&#8217;s go back to that Brandon Johnson press conference from a few months ago — the one where he defends the mob. I mean, one of the press conferences where he defends the mob. Watch what he says about &#8220;root causes&#8221; of violence:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Mayor-Elect Brandon Johnson Defends His ‘Controversial’ Statement on Weekend Violence" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-oXhGmUTTKc?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Brandon Johnson wants to &#8220;eradicate&#8221; the &#8220;root causes&#8221; of violence. What are those root causes? He doesn&#8217;t really say in that particular press conference, but you can probably guess. The root causes are white supremacy, and the police, and so on.
What Brandon Johnson didn&#8217;t reflect on is why all this crime and destruction in our cities is so pointless and arbitrary. Why are teenagers gathering to set cars on fire? What exactly are they gaining from that? Why are they gathering by the hundreds, for no apparent reason, to commit acts of violence? They&#8217;re not stealing food. They&#8217;re not doing it for survival. In many cases they&#8217;re not even doing it for money. This is destruction for the sake of it.
What Johnson and his party will never say — because it&#8217;s true — is that we&#8217;re seeing the results of multiple generations of children raised with essentially no moral formation, no parental guidance, and no sense of purpose. They come from fatherless homes. They&#8217;re taught by unionized employees who would rather be on vacation than in the classroom. They&#8217;re given smartphones before they learn their multiplication tables — if they ever learn them. And then, when they commit serious crimes, the people in charge blame everyone but them.
When Lori Lightfoot says it&#8217;s racist to criticize her, she&#8217;s also saying it&#8217;s racist to criticize the delinquents we see in these videos. But it&#8217;s not. People who form mobs to destroy property are behaving like animals. They should go to prison for a long time. And unless we can say that, we will never address the &#8220;root causes&#8221; that Johnson claims to care about. It&#8217;ll only get worse. More people will get beaten with sticks in 7/11&#8217;s. More college students will get shot on the subway. Eventually, law-abiding citizens won&#8217;t take it anymore. A critical mass of voters will demand the El Salvador solution: suspend civil liberties, round up the criminals and throw away the key. That’s the way these things always go. The lesson of history on this point is very clear: people can only take so much.

US-NEWS-CHICAGO-MAYOR-CHALLENGES-TB

Chicago Mayor Worries That We’re Being Too Mean To The Thugs Terrorizing His City

Chicago Mayor Worries That We're Being Too Mean To The Thugs Terrorizing His City

Chicago

Matt Walsh

Mayor

Readers Pass

A Portland, Oregon, businessman has launched a legal initiative targeting elected officials in the city and across the country for allowing <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/riots">lawlessness</a> to run rampant over the last three years.
Gregg Schumacher, former president and owner of Schumacher Furs, <a href="https://the-brand-consortium-pr.prowly.com/250213-restore-law-order-inc-launches-national-legal-effort-seeking-accountability-and-reparations-for-crime-lawlessness-and-property-destruction-in-cities-and-states-across-the-us?preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> his new <a href="https://restorelawandorder.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Restore Law &amp; Order</a> legal organization on June 27. The effort aims to recruit business owners affected by the crime and property destruction of the last few years to join as plaintiffs in lawsuits against elected officials for allowing criminal behavior to go unabated.
Rising crime has become &#8220;distressingly normalized&#8221; in U.S. cities, Restore Law &amp; Order said in a press release announcing the effort. The group&#8217;s mission is to hold government officials &#8220;personally accountable for their inaction and violation of constitutional law,&#8221; the legal group said, as they seek to end the &#8220;ongoing deterioration of safety and security that plagues our communities.&#8221;
&#8220;The organization is actively seeking business owners with demonstrable economic losses and damages due to crime and lawlessness to join as plaintiffs in its numerous lawsuits against cities, states, local governments, and elected officials throughout the country,&#8221; the group said.
Schumacher said government officials bear the responsibility for the damage even more than the criminals themselves.
“It is not Antifa, Black Lives Matter, and other radical extremist groups and radical thugs that are the primary cause of riots, homelessness, illegal protests, violence, and crime. It is the corrupt lawless government officials that need to be held accountable,” Schumacher told The Daily Wire.
He blamed left-wing policies for the destruction in cities and said elected officials had violated their oaths of office.
“They have intentionally attempted to destroy Portland and other cities across America, which their far left-wing liberal agenda is the backbone of their cause,&#8221; Schumacher said. &#8220;They’ve imposed radical liberal ideology, which has overwhelmingly had a significant negative result. Many of the government officials throughout the United States violated the personal oath they took to uphold the laws of the U.S. Constitution, which has resulted in billions of dollars of economic damage throughout Oregon.&#8221;
Along with other major cities, Portland erupted into riots in May 2020 after the death of George Floyd while in police custody in Minneapolis. In Portland, the protests lasted for months, continuing through the summer and as late as October.
On just one night in July 2022, vandals <a href="https://www.kptv.com/2022/07/05/windows-more-than-5-businesses-shattered-during-protest-downtown-portland/#" target="_blank" rel="noopener">broke</a> the windows of more than five downtown Portland businesses. Protesters <a href="https://www.wweek.com/news/2020/05/30/portland-looters-raid-apple-store-pioneer-place-and-downtown-shops-until-wee-hours/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">looted</a> stores, set fires, and destroyed private property.
Since COVID, shootings in Portland have <a href="https://www.adn.com/nation-world/2023/02/10/whats-the-matter-with-portland-shootings-theft-and-other-crime-test-citys-progressive-strain/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tripled</a>, homicides have risen from 36 in 2019 to a record 97 in 2022, and car thefts have spiked to 11,000 last year, up from 6,500 in 2019.
The homeless population in Oregon at large has <a href="https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2023/04/oregons-recent-growth-in-homelessness-among-largest-in-nation.html">increased</a> by 23% in just two years, one of the largest increases in the country. Downtown Portland, where many businesses operate, is <a href="https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2023/06/open-air-drug-use-is-at-an-all-time-high-in-downtown-portland-police-turn-to-citations-as-fentanyl-crisis-explodes.html#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20Oregon%2DIdaho,%2C”%20said%20Portland%20police%20Sgt." target="_blank" rel="noopener">notorious</a> for open-air drug dealing, public <a href="https://fox23maine.com/news/local/downtown-portland-businesses-say-homeless-have-been-using-storefronts-as-public-bathrooms" target="_blank" rel="noopener">urination</a>, and petty crime. Foot traffic downtown plummeted during COVID and has remained down as businesses struggle from the riots and pandemic lockdowns.
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Schumacher&#8217;s family business, Schumacher Furs, was established in 1895. It was America&#8217;s oldest fur company before it was <a href="https://www.oregonlive.com/breakingnews/2007/02/schumacher_furs_owner_plans_to.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">forced</a> to close permanently in 2007 after animal rights protesters demonstrated outside the downtown Portland store for about two years.
“It was shocking and heartbreaking watching terrorists systematically destroy the company my family built,” Schumacher said. “Law enforcement failed to intervene effectively, leaving us without the basic protection we deserved.”
“The effects were devastating to our family and the families of hundreds of people we employed, many of which were expert craftsmen who had proudly worked for the company for decades,” he said.
Now, Schumacher wants to prevent what happened to Schumacher Furs from happening to other businesses, he said.

Protests Break Out Across U.S. After Police Shooting Death Of Daunte Wright

Portland Businessman Targets Elected Officials With National Legal Initiative Over COVID Lawlessness

Courts

George Floyd

Oregon

Portland

Riots

The following is the opening satirical monologue from “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1132-the-biggest-lie-of-all" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Andrew Klavan Show</a>.“
Witless New York City Mayor Eric Witless Adams, who made history in January of last year by becoming the city’s first entirely witless black mayor since David Dinkins, has announced his new witless plan to control the city’s swiftly spreading plague of shoplifting by not controlling the city’s swiftly spreading plague of shoplifting. The plan — entitled the Witless Plan to Stop Shoplifting by Not Stopping Shoplifting — includes such witless innovations as giving first-time offenders intervention programs instead of prosecution, and installing kiosks in stores that would connect thieves with social service programs. Mayor Adams announced the plan to reporters in order to distract them while his aides stole their cameras, microphones, and other expensive equipment.
Now I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, “Oh, Klavan, you colossal cascade of curmudgeonly comedy, only you could dream up a Democrat response to crime so insanely ineffective it causes us to laugh ho-ho-ho like Santa Claus right up until the moment we’re gunned down by six youths speeding by in a Trans Am who are then charged with misdemeanor reckless driving and released without bail so they can get back to their day job, which is shoplifting.”
But no, I am not making this up. Mayor Witless called the new witless anti-shoplifting Plan a crackdown, possibly because he was downing crack when he designed the plan. The plan includes giving store employees de-escalation training. And you may ask: what the flying fiddle-de-de is de-escalation training, and how will it not stop shoplifting? Good question. Shoplifting de-escalation training trains store employees so that whenever they see a shoplifter, they get on the escalator and de-escalate to the basement until shoplifters are finished cleaning out the first floor. When the shoplifters leave, the store employees can re-escalate to the first floor and relax by standing in the break room because all the chairs have been shoplifted.
The Witless Plan also includes installing kiosks that connect thieves with social service programs, so the thieves can contact the programs and say, “Hey, look at this cool new kiosk I put up in my apartment after I shoplifted it from the store.”
Another part of the Witless Plan — and I’m still not making any of this up, by the way, so help me — is to establish neighborhood retail watch groups so neighbors can get together and watch retail stores get shoplifted, which is cheaper than going to the movies, so you can use the money you save to buy some t-shirts, which have all been shoplifted, so you can save even more money.
The Witless Plan to Stop Shoplifting by Not Stopping Shoplifting has already been so effective in Not Stopping Shoplifting that witless Mayor Witless is planning to introduce another witless plan to not stop murders. Portions of the plan have already been leaked to reporters by inscribing the details on the sides of bullets and then firing into a crowd of reporters. The Witless Murder Plan includes a new Buddy System in which New Yorkers travel in pairs so that when someone witnesses a murder he can turn to his buddy and say, “Hey, look, that guy just got murdered.” There will also be kiosks erected on street corners where you can apply for a New Buddy when your last Buddy got murdered and you have no one to tell about it.
Witless Mayor Witless says he eventually hopes to put all his witless anti-crime crackdown plans together into one big crackdown plan that will crack down on all crimes by not cracking down on any crimes at all. Under the new Witless Umbrella Anti-Crime Crime Plan, criminals will be able to rob a store, kill a passerby, and assault multiple women and then bring all those crimes to one kiosk and contact an all-purpose social worker, beat him senseless, and steal his wallet. Left-wing critics of the mayor say this plan puts an undue burden on criminals by forcing them to steal wallets when they don’t need wallets because they can shoplift things for free.
Though some people have criticized witless Mayor Witless’s witless plan because it’s witless, Billionaire Evildoer George Soros says he endorses the plan, because he’s evil. Journalists immediately attacked Soros for saying Soros was evil, accusing Soros of being antisemitic, although they praised him for being evil, because they’re evil.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/the-andrew-klavan-show" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Andrew Klavan</a> is the host of The Andrew Klavan Show at The Daily Wire. A popular political satirist and Hollywood screenwriter, Klavan is also an award-winning novelist. His newest novel is <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Strange-Habit-Mind-Cameron-Mysteries/dp/1613163517/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;qid=&amp;sr=" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A Strange Habit of Mind</a>, book two in the Cameron Winter Mystery series.
The views expressed in this satirical article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Fighting Shoplifting.

NYC Mayor Plans To Stop Crime By Not Stopping It At All

Andrew Klavan

New York City

Satire

shoplifting

Theft

In the wake of Hurricane Ian’s devastation, <a href="https://floridapolitics.com/archives/560429-you-loot-we-shoot-gov-desantis-stresses-law-and-order-in-ian-ravaged-communities/">Florida Governor Ron DeSantis recently told reporters</a> that several businesses had painted the infamous warning “you loot, we shoot” on their boarded up store fronts as they prepared for the inevitable criminal aftermath of the natural disaster. But DeSantis had his own warning for looters:
“I can tell you, in the state of Florida, you never know what may be lurking behind somebody’s home. I would not want to chance that if I were you, given that we’re a Second Amendment state.”
And DeSantis wasn’t alone. Florida&#8217;s Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/weather/florida-sheriff-pushes-hurricane-ian-victims-shoot-looters-look-grated-cheese">also made headlines for his warning to criminals</a> looking to take advantage of the devastation wrought by Ian:
“I would highly suggest that if a looter breaks into your home, comes into your home while you&#8217;re there to steal stuff, that you take your gun and you shoot him. You shoot him so that he looks like grated cheese. Because you know what? That&#8217;s one looter that won&#8217;t break into anyone else&#8217;s home and take advantage of them when they&#8217;re the most vulnerable and the most weak.”
Sound bites aside, what actually happens in these communities as they’re rattled by looting and unrest? Just as we&#8217;ve seen peaceable individuals <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/4-times-an-armed-civilian-used-a-firearm-in-self-defense-last-month-alone">commonly use firearms in everyday self-defense</a> and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/5-times-a-lawfully-armed-citizen-stopped-a-would-be-mass-shooter-in-his-tracks">to stop would-be</a> <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/armed-peaceful-citizens-can-stop-mass-shootings-one-just-did-in-indiana">mass shooters</a>, peaceable gun owners also regularly use firearms to defend their lives and livelihoods from destruction and looting after natural disasters and civil unrest.
Here are five such examples:
<h2>1) Orlando Jewelry Store Owner Stops Would-Be Looters in the Wake of Hurricane Ian</h2>
It takes a special kind of depravity to loot in the wake of a natural disaster. And yet, as <a href="https://www.orlandosentinel.com/weather/hurricane/os-ne-hurricane-ian-tracking-lessons-learned-20221008-ghjpgjayobae5kauustz2xxqha-story.html">Orlando recovers</a> from the <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/realestate/hurricane-ian-caused-24206-million-in-damage-in-orange-county/ar-AA137l6H">destruction of Hurricane Ian</a>, four criminals took the opportunity to <a href="https://www.fox35orlando.com/news/2-shot-killed-trying-to-rob-jewelry-store-at-magic-mall-in-orlando-police-say">target a jewelry store in Orlando’s Magic Mall</a> and attempted to ‘smash and grab’ the store.
The store owner, however, was armed. When the four entered, the owner opened fire, striking at least two. One was found dead at the store, the other three got into a car and fled. Police later found the car abandoned, and one more would-be looter dead.
Another store owner in the Magic Mall had <a href="https://www.fox35orlando.com/news/magic-mall-store-owners-warning-for-criminals-theres-a-really-good-chance-youre-gonna-get-shot">this warning</a>: “There’s a lot of concealed license carriers here. So if you come to the Magic Mall and you want to commit a crime, there’s a really good chance you’re gonna get shot.”
<h2>2) Scottsdale, Arizona, Jewelry Store Owners Stop Vandals in their Tracks</h2>
In May 2020, Scottsdale, Arizona, was one of the many cities across the United States to experience violent unrest in the wake of the death of George Floyd. But some Arizonans wouldn’t allow their livelihoods to be destroyed.
After seeing criminals <a href="https://www.12news.com/article/news/local/valley/scottsdale-fashion-square-closes-as-phoenix-prepares-for-more-protests/75-d1895901-0c67-4b60-9064-3df758805f16">break in and loot the Scottsdale Fashion Square mall</a> the evening prior, <a href="https://www.12news.com/article/news/local/valley/business-owner-defends-store-during-scottsdale-looting/75-785f1952-bf9f-4899-84e3-6b66f7f51643">several members of the community armed themselves</a> to protect a local jewelry store from suffering the same fate.
Sure enough, that evening, they watched protesters march down Scottsdale’s 5th Avenue, destroying stores and storefronts along the way.
When the vandals reached the well-protected jewelry store, they were stopped in their tracks. The protesters seemingly decided it wasn’t in their best interest to damage this particular store, and instead staged a performative protest in front of it. The store suffered no damage, and no one was harmed.
The store owner’s son spoke out: “We weren’t here to hurt anybody. We weren’t here to harm anybody. After seeing exactly what happened to the Apple store, this isn’t protesting, this isn’t rioting, this is crime.”
<h2>3) Philadelphia Gun Store Owner Shoots and Kills Would-Be Looter</h2>
Just days after the Scottsdale incident, one would-be Philadelphia looter <a href="https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/south-philly-gun-shop-owner-shoots-kills-looter-police-say/2416373/">didn’t walk away from his attempt to loot a local gun store</a>. Gregory Isabella, the 67-year-old owner of a gun store in South Philadelphia, <a href="https://www.inquirer.com/news/philadelphia-protests-looting-gun-store-south-philly-shot-dead-20200602.html&amp;outputType=app-web-view">spent the night in his store</a> because of multiple break-in attempts over the past few nights.
That evening, Gregory was monitoring security camera footage and saw a group of men use bolt cutters to cut a lock off the store’s gate. They smashed in the back door and went upstairs, where they encountered the armed owner.
One pointed a handgun at Gregory, and Gregory opened fire, striking and killing one criminal and sending the others running. Not only did Gregory protect his life and livelihood, but he also prevented the would-be looters from terrorizing his community with stolen firearms.
<h2>4) Texas Looters Choose the Wrong Neighborhood to Loot After Hurricane Harvey</h2>
In 2018, after Hurricane Harvey wreaked havoc across Texas, <a href="https://www.chron.com/news/houston-weather/hurricaneharvey/article/Hurricane-Harvey-looters-viral-video-John-Nash-12165416.php">a group of looters targeted the Little York Food Mart in Harris County</a>, just north of Houston. While they were trying to take advantage of the unprotected store, Nash John came to its defense. 
Bearing a shotgun slung over his shoulder, the looters quickly ran off as the ex-SWAT Deputy approached the store, preventing the looters from getting away with anything.
“As a former law enforcement officer, I understand it’s not right to steal. I let it be known that I was carrying a firearm. I’m not going to allow them to destroy my community, because this is where I live.”
Nash didn’t just defend the Little York Food Mart, he also helped people in his community escape flood waters and cleared debris so first-responders could reach other stranded residents. Nash shows exactly what a “good guy with a gun” can do for a community in need.
<h2>5) International — Armed South Africans Band Together to Protect Communities Against Looters</h2>
Peaceable individuals taking responsibility to protect their own lives and livelihoods during times of unrest isn’t limited to just the United States — it’s a fact of life in many countries (at least those that don’t prohibit people from possessing the tools necessary for self-defense).
While not the friendliest country towards individual gun ownership, just last year in South Africa, everyday South Africans banded together to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/south-africa-sends-25000-troops-to-help-police-quell-weeklong-riots-that-have-killed-117">defend themselves and their communities against widespread looting</a>.
After former President Zuma was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/07/world/africa/jacob-zuma-arrested-south-africa.html">jailed for failing to respond to a legal summons</a>, violent unrest broke out in South Africa. More than 70 people were killed, thousands were arrested, and the country experienced hundreds of incidents of looting and vandalism.
In response to the violence, South Africans armed themselves with guns and whatever weapons they could find to protect their lives and communities. In southern Johannesburg, taxi operators, who were nearly completely stopped from operating because of the turmoil, used firearms to protect against and scare off looters. Some individuals blocked off streets to prevent plundering in their neighborhoods. Others armed themselves to protect local malls from looting. Some store owners in the mall poured oil on the floors making them too slick for looters to run away.
* * *
All in all, no matter the disaster or unrest, when peaceable individuals are empowered to own the tools necessary for self-defense, they can — and will — protect their lives, livelihoods, and communities from the violent crime that seemingly inevitably follows. From hurricanes to riots, from Florida to South Africa, firearms allow people to take their defense into their own hands and to level the playing field when faced with violent criminals.
Cody J. Wisniewski (<a href="https://twitter.com/TheWizardofLawz">@TheWizardofLawz</a>) is a Senior Attorney for Constitutional Litigation with <a href="https://www.firearmspolicy.org/">Firearms Policy Coalition</a>. His work has appeared in The Washington Times, The Washington Examiner, National Review, The Daily Wire, and more. He primarily focuses on Second Amendment issues but is happy so long as he is reminding the government of its enumerated powers and constitutional limitations.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Looting sign Panama City aftermath Hurricane Michael

‘You Loot, We Shoot’: 5 Times Law Abiding Citizens Used Firearms To Defend Against Looters

Florida

Gun Laws

Guns

Ron DeSantis

Second Amendment

Polk County, Florida, Sheriff <a href="https://dailywire.com/news/florida-sheriff-on-active-shooters-shoot-them-so-much-that-you-can-read-the-local-newspaper-through-them/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Grady Judd</a> offered some straightforward advice to residents whose homes or businesses were looted in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian: &#8220;You take your gun and you shoot him, you shoot him so that he looks like grated cheese.&#8221;
Sheriff Judd imparted that wisdom during a <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/weather/florida-sheriff-pushes-hurricane-ian-victims-shoot-looters-look-grated-cheese?intcmp=tw_fnc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Friday appearance</a> on &#8220;Fox &amp; Friends,&#8221; where he noted that a number of bad actors had jumped at the chance to capitalize on the chaos after the storm and steal from homes and businesses that had already been devastated by the high winds and dangerous flooding.
WATCH:
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“People have a right to be safe in their homes…I highly recommend, if a looter enters your home, you grab your gun and you shoot him, you shoot him so he looks like grated cheese.” –<a href="https://twitter.com/PolkCoSheriff?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PolkCoSheriff</a> Grady Judd <a href="https://t.co/UXDdsuqpF8">pic.twitter.com/UXDdsuqpF8</a>
&mdash; NRA (@NRA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NRA/status/1578770487118905344?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 8, 2022</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;Well, I can tell you that I was down there with my colleague, Sheriff Marceno, this weekend. And it&#8217;s total devastation, and people have a right to be safe in their homes,&#8221; <a href="https://dailywire.com/news/we-are-going-to-shoot-you-graveyard-dead-florida-sheriff-lays-the-hammer-down-on-potential-school-shooters/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Judd</a> explained. &#8220;They have a right for their property to be safe even when part of their home may be torn away. And these looters, that&#8217;s unacceptable. Absolutely unacceptable.&#8221;
&#8220;I would highly suggest that if a looter breaks into your home, comes into your home while you&#8217;re there to steal stuff, that you take your gun and you shoot him, you shoot him so that he looks like grated cheese,&#8221; Judd continued, adding, &#8220;Because you know what? That&#8217;s one looter that won&#8217;t break into anyone else&#8217;s home and take advantage of them when they&#8217;re the most vulnerable and the most weak.&#8221;
Judd&#8217;s comments echo the sentiment voiced earlier by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R), who reminded those who might be thinking about looting their neighbors&#8217; homes and businesses that the Sunshine State is a stand-your-ground state.
WATCH:
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Florida is a law and order state. 
Looting and lawlessness will not be tolerated. <a href="https://t.co/8Ma9RuSlPq">pic.twitter.com/8Ma9RuSlPq</a>
&mdash; Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) <a href="https://twitter.com/GovRonDeSantis/status/1576195321297866752?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 1, 2022</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;We want to make sure we&#8217;re maintaining law and order,&#8221; DeSantis said, noting that law enforcement was keeping a particularly close eye on the areas of the state that had been hardest hit.
&#8220;Don&#8217;t even think about looting, don&#8217;t even think about taking advantage of people in this vulnerable situation,&#8221; he said, promising state support in addition to local law enforcement efforts and warning residents that looters could even be taking boats out to the more remote island homes. &#8220;I can tell you, in the state of Florida, you never know what may be lurking behind somebody&#8217;s home. And I would not want to chance that if I were you, given that we&#8217;re a 2nd Amendment state.&#8221;

Hurricane Ian damage in Fort Myers Beach, Fla.

Florida Sheriff Offers Advice To Looting Victims: ‘You Shoot Him So That He Looks Like Grated Cheese’

Florida Sheriff Grady Judd Offers Advice To Looting Victims

2nd Amendment

Hurricane Ian

Sheriff

Florida Governor <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/ron-desantis" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ron DeSantis</a> (R) warned those who are thinking about looting in the wake of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/hurricane-ian" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hurricane Ian</a> that they are putting their lives at risk as the state supports citizens using the Second Amendment.
DeSantis, who made the remarks while speaking in the devastated community of Matlacha near Fort Myers, said that he has seen citizens indicating that they will shoot looters.
“They boarded up all the businesses, and there are people that wrote on their plywood, ‘You loot, we shoot,’” DeSantis said. “At the end of the day, we are not going to allow lawlessness to take advantage of this situation. We are a law-and-order state, and this is a law-and-order community, so do not think that you’re going to go take advantage of people who’ve suffered misfortune.”
&#8220;I would not take that chance,&#8221; DeSantis said. &#8220;Florida is a Second Amendment state.&#8221;
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Governor DeSantis issues a warning to would-be looters: &quot;I would not take that chance. Florida is a Second Amendment state.&quot;
&mdash; DeSantis War Room 🐊 #FloridaStrong (@DeSantisWarRoom) <a href="https://twitter.com/DeSantisWarRoom/status/1575961914101768193?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 30, 2022</a></blockquote>
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Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno, a Republican, said, “We are not going to tolerate — and I mean zero tolerance — when we say anyone that thinks they’re going to thrive on the residents of this county or state when we just took a horrific hit, I can guarantee you that is not going to happen.”
“Most importantly, safety and security as always,” Marceno added. “I guarantee you, we will be out here in full force, and any person that makes that horrific error that thinks they’re going to do something to one of my residents in my county, I guarantee you it’ll be swift incarceration immediately with no tolerance.”
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody shared a video on Twitter showing men who were accused of allegedly trying to loot in Fort Myers.
&#8220;Florida will not tolerate looters taking advantage of #HurricaneIan to prey on vulnerable Floridians,&#8221; Moody tweeted. &#8220;They will be arrested and I have asked state attorneys to seek the longest pretrial detention possible to keep them locked up so they cannot commit new crimes.&#8221;
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Florida will not tolerate looters taking advantage of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HurricaneIan?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#HurricaneIan</a> to prey on vulnerable Floridians. They will be arrested and I have asked state attorneys to seek the longest pretrial detention possible to keep them locked up so they cannot commit new crimes. <a href="https://t.co/ORw0qJ1TbB">https://t.co/ORw0qJ1TbB</a>
&mdash; AG Ashley Moody (@AGAshleyMoody) <a href="https://twitter.com/AGAshleyMoody/status/1575945531331072000?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 30, 2022</a></blockquote>
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DeSantis

Ron DeSantis Delivers Blunt Message For Those Thinking About Looting In Wake Of Hurricane

Ron DeSantis To Those Thinking About Looting In Wake Of Hurricane: ‘I Would Not Take That Chance’

Natural Disaster

The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/los-angeles">Los Angeles</a> Police Department (LAPD) has seen enough <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/crime">illegal activity</a> on its streets, announcing that law enforcement will begin taking extra steps to stop the street takeovers that have been plaguing the city.
LAPD Detective Ryan Moreno said on Thursday that those participating in or attending illegal street takeovers will have their vehicles impounded for up to 30 days. According to Moreno, the department usually impounds between five and ten cars on a weekend, but warned that if street takeovers continue, that number will go up.
“We really want to stop this from becoming a new trend where they think that they show up and take over a street or a freeway or any part of the city, that they’re just going to be able to do whatever they want,” Moreno said, <a href="https://www.foxla.com/news/lapd-announces-enhanced-enforcement-to-crack-down-on-illegal-street-takeovers">according</a> to Fox 11.
&#8220;Cars will start disappearing really soon,&#8221; he added.
The announcement comes after a street takeover last Sunday in L.A.&#8217;s Willowbrook neighborhood led to the shooting death of a teenage boy, the Los Angeles Times <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-08-16/teenager-fatally-shot-during-street-takeover-south-los-angeles">reported</a>. L.A. County Sheriff&#8217;s deputies responded to reports of street racing and a shooting to find the young male unresponsive with apparent gunshot wounds.
On the same night, a separate street takeover just over a mile away led to a mob <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ben-shapiro-smokes-gavin-newsom-in-single-tweet-for-running-ads-attacking-florida">looting</a> a 7-Eleven store, stealing food, lottery tickets, and tobacco products. The mob was captured on a video that quickly went viral on social media. Police did not reach the store until the looters had left, per the <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-08-19/lapd-cracks-down-on-street-takeovers-says-cars-will-start-disappearing-real-soon">LA Times</a>.
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Video shows ‘flash mob’ of looters ransack 7-Eleven in Los Angeles<a href="https://t.co/39moaiyfCb">pic.twitter.com/39moaiyfCb</a>
&mdash; Breaking911 (@Breaking911) <a href="https://twitter.com/Breaking911/status/1560615606872834048?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 19, 2022</a></blockquote>
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Street takeovers have also plagued the city’s newly rebuilt $600 million 6th Street Bridge. Last month, the city <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/la-closes-newly-constructed-bridge-4-times-in-5-days-after-people-keep-using-it-for-illegal-activity-tiktok-videos">closed the bridge four times in five days</a> because people continued to use it to perform illegal stunts and record TikTok videos.
At the time, LAPD Chief Michel Moore said the department couldn’t rely on arresting people to stop the trend of illegal activity on the bridge. “We’re not going to arrest our way out of this,” he remarked. “Despite the hundreds of impounds and citations and arrests, we still see the proliferation of this. So I’m asking for the public’s help and support and assistance.”

LAPD

‘Cars Will Start Disappearing Really Soon’: LAPD Pledges To Crack Down On Street Takeovers

Los Angeles Police Department Pledges To Crack Down On Illegal Street Takeovers

California

Los Angeles

Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy pushed back Friday when press secretary Jen Psaki circled back to an earlier question about crime rather than directly answering his immediate question about Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Doocy brought up the continuing investigation into the <a href="https://dailywire.com/news/u-s-intelligence-agencies-dont-expect-to-determine-covid-19-origins-report/">origins of the coronavirus</a> and asked Psaki whether or not President Xi had made any effort to assist — or to provide transparency as to what the Chinese Communist government new about the virus and when they knew it — in the weeks since <a href="https://dailywire.com/news/chinas-xi-jinping-appears-to-mock-biden-with-name-during-meeting-after-biden-denials-over-relationship/">Biden&#8217;s virtual summit</a> with him.
&#8220;We know [Biden] did not press [Chinese President Xi Jinping] to help w/the Covid origins investigations b/c you said that Xi just understands he&#8217;s supposed to be transparent, so in the 2+ wks since, has he helped &amp; been transparent yet?&#8221;
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Doocy: &#8220;We know [Biden] did not press [Chinese President Xi Jinping] to help w/the Covid origins investigations b/c you said that Xi just understands he&#8217;s supposed to be transparent, so in the 2+ wks since, has he helped &amp; been transparent yet?&#8221;
Psaki says she didn&#8217;t say that <a href="https://t.co/Or2Pz7dylf">pic.twitter.com/Or2Pz7dylf</a>
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) <a href="https://twitter.com/CurtisHouck/status/1466849868295593988?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 3, 2021</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;I don&#8217;t believe that&#8217;s exactly what I said,&#8221; Psaki pushed back, adding, &#8220;I believe what I said is we have pressed for this repeatedly, we will continue to, and we&#8217;ll continue to do that at a range of levels. I don&#8217;t, unfortunately, have any updates on the participation or willingness of the Chinese to add and provide additional data.&#8221;
Psaki then pivoted to a question Doocy had asked a day earlier about rampant organized retail theft and whether the administration believed that was ultimately the result of the pandemic.
&#8220;My question was about Xi. It wasn&#8217;t about that,&#8221; Doocy protested.
&#8220;Well, you asked me&#8230;about crime yesterday, so I&#8230;was going to give you a little extra information. I followed up for you!&#8221; Psaki replied.
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Psaki: Since you asked me about crime yesterday &amp; I have a little more information for you?
Doocy: My question was about Xi. It wasn&#8217;t about that.
P: Well, you asked me&#8230;about crime yesterday, so I&#8230;was going to give you a little extra information. I followed up for you! <a href="https://t.co/k6hoBSMlWb">pic.twitter.com/k6hoBSMlWb</a>
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) <a href="https://twitter.com/CurtisHouck/status/1466851184183062532?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 3, 2021</a></blockquote>
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Psaki went on to say that the Justice Department and the FBI had been coordinating with local law enforcement in an effort to curtail the dramatic uptick in &#8220;<a href="https://dailywire.com/news/thieves-target-l-a-area-nordstrom-in-another-smash-and-grab/">smash and grab</a>&#8221; style robberies.
Doocy thanked her for the update, promising to include it in the day&#8217;s coverage, and Psaki replied, &#8220;I look forward to seeing it on Fox later today.&#8221;
&#8220;It&#8217;s on Fox right now,&#8221; Doocy said, pointing to one of the cameras in the briefing room.
&#8220;I bet it is,&#8221; Psaki said before moving on.
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Doocy: &#8220;Thank you for that. We will include that in our coverage.&#8221;
Psaki: &#8220;I look forward to seeing it on Fox later today.&#8221;
Doocy: &#8220;It&#8217;s on Fox right now, I think.&#8221; [Points at the camera]
Psaki: &#8220;I bet it is.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/T0wQ8hRMa4">pic.twitter.com/T0wQ8hRMa4</a>
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) <a href="https://twitter.com/CurtisHouck/status/1466851542338842628?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 3, 2021</a></blockquote>
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Doocy had <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/white-house-press-secretary-blames-increase-in-looting-shoplifting-on-pandemic">asked Thursday</a> whether the White House believed the pandemic was the &#8220;root cause&#8221; of the dramatic increase in crime in recent months.
&#8220;When a huge group of criminals organizes themselves and they want to go loot a store—a CVS, Nordstorm, a Home Depot—until the shelves are clean, you think that’s because of the pandemic?&#8221; he asked.
&#8220;I think the root cause in a lot of communities is the pandemic, yes,&#8221; Psaki said.

Biden

‘My Question Was About Xi’: Peter Doocy Protests While Jen Psaki Circles Back To Question About Crime

Jen Psaki

Peter Doocy

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