by Frank Holmes, reporter
Some things are so clearly true and obvious that only a liberal could deny them.
America’s greatness. The existence of only two genders. The fact that lockdowns don’t cure the coronavirus — and the fact that left-wing, soft-on-crime policies make life easier for criminals at the expense of law-abiding Americans.
For instance, the decision not to prosecute crimes like “minor” theft has led to a crime wave of smash-and-grab burglaries, with gangs bashing up stores and looting everything in sight.
The videos are out there, but America’s all-time queen of denial, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., is even more “out there.” AOC honed in on the endless crime spree that her policies helped put into motion and insisted that Americans should not believe what they’re seeing with their own eyes.
She seems to think businesses are lying to make left-wing mobs look bad.
The Washington Times, America’s conservative newspaper, asked the congresswoman what she thought about the plague of gangs ripping off merchandise from stores to sell on the black market.
She denied they were even happening, and said the video evidence isn’t real.
“A lot of these allegations of organized retail theft are not actually panning out,” she told the Times, without citing any evidence. “I believe it’s a Walgreens in California cited it, but the data didn’t back it up.”
It’s not clear what “data” she’s talking about, but stores in California would probably like to see it.
For instance, on November 26, a mob stole 400 sledgehammers, bolt cutters, and crowbars from a Los Angeles Home Depot store. By the next morning, police reported six or seven new robberies had taken place.
BREAKING:: STREET ROBBERIES TONIGHT — LAPD Calls City-Wide Tactical Alert – Armed Robbery Occurred at Ogden and Melrose Around 7p – Victim Robbed of High Dollar Jewelry, Another Smash and Grab at Boutique Melrose Place Area, Least 4 or 5 more Incidents Frm Hancock Park…(1/2) pic.twitter.com/z3gpTEhqn8
— Melrose Action (@melroseaction) November 27, 2021
The problem is the law, which was changed thanks to Proposition 47. Now, criminals only face serious charges for stealing more than $950. That can be over multiple thefts… but the police have to prove it’s the same person every time, which is almost impossible.
Even if they’re arrested, nothing much happens. Police in Los Angeles arrested 14 suspects who allegedly pulled 11 smash-and-grab robberies — but had to let every single one of them go back on the streets thanks to the state’s super-liberal bail laws.
Retailers nationwide say smash-and-grab robberies from organized gangs have gotten worse every year…and cost them tens of billions of dollars. Walgreens told the Times that the problem its chain is experiencing “has evolved beyond shoplifting and petty theft to the sale of stolen and counterfeit goods online.”
Things have gotten so bad for Walgreens, “security costs at its San Francisco stores have skyrocketed to 46 times that of the national average for Walgreens stores,” according to CNSNews.com.
“Respectfully, the congresswoman has no idea what she is talking about,” said the senior executive vice president of the Retail Industry Leaders Association, Jason Brewer. “Both the data and stack of video evidence makes fairly clear that this is a growing problem in need of solutions.”
“Organized retail crime” is so bad that, for every $1 billion of goods a store manages to sell, there’s $719,548 in organized theft, the National Retail Foundation has said.
These corner store crimes are getting worse: 75% of business owners say organized thefts like these have gotten worse since the beginning of the 2020 riots.
“We feel a little bit like we’re under assault,” said California Retailers Association President and CEO Rachel Michelin.
And the proceeds from those crimes are going to fund some of the world’s baddest guys. “Organized retail crime is leading to more brazen and more violent attacks in retail stores throughout the country. Many of the criminal rings orchestrating these thefts are also involved in other serious criminal activity such as human trafficking, narcotics trafficking, weapon trafficking, and more,” said Steve Francis, Executive Associate Director of the Buy Safe America Coalition.
“Tackling this growing threat is important to the safety of store employees, customers, and communities across the country.”
AOC’s denial is so ridiculous that even fellow congressmen have asked if she is living in a left-wing fantasyland.
“I don’t know what data she is talking about, but you don’t really need much data from (some place) in San Francisco or California. All you need to do is walk down the street to the CVS in Eastern Market,” said Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Ill. “I’ve seen on multiple occasions when I’ve been in there buying things, someone will come in and raid a shelf and walk out.”
The problem is so undeniable that even San Francisco’s radical left-wing district attorney, Chesa Boudin, recently charged nine people for looting high-end stores in the city’s Union Square.
Then again, maybe AOC and her allies just don’t care. Maybe she sees these rampaging gangs are her voters. Maybe she thinks the stores stole all those things through “white privilege,” and this is what they have coming to them.
Remember, this is the same woman who said that she knew why people were looting luxury stores like Gucci in New York City last summer: “Maybe this has to do with the fact that people aren’t paying their rent and are scared to pay their rent and so they go out, and they need to feed their child and they don’t have money so… they feel like they either need to shoplift some bread or go hungry.”
Maybe AOC sees these rampaging mobs as the future of the Democratic Party.
“If she is not concerned with organized theft and increasingly violent attacks on retail employees, she should just say that,” said Brewer.
[READ MORE] Top Dem calls for Ocasio-Cortez’ arrest
Frank Holmes is a reporter for The Horn News. He is a veteran journalist and an outspoken conservative that talks about the news that was in his weekly article, “On The Holmes Front.”