Chicago Mayor Johnson is an advocate of looting. Mass looting. He defends and excuses criminal organized theft as “an outbreak of incredible frustration and anguish” caused by “a failed racist system.” In short, tantrums in the form of mob violence and theft are to be expected. As one overloaded looter shouted to a news crew, "This is reparations!"
Highly organized gangs apparently think it's morally virtuous to steal from large retailers. They are developing extremely sophisticated plans for how to rapidly pillage and plunder major retailers. The best of these plans clean out a retailer in just minutes from invasion to retreat. The stolen goods are then resold online or in the streets, and the total losses are huge and growing, largely because the thieves are praised by virtue-signalers, and ignored by police and judges. Losses to honest businesses? Staggering...and growing.
TARGET reported $763 million in theft loss last fiscal year. They estimate this year's loss to be $1.2 billion. That's only one chain.
Walmart decided to shut 17 of its stores across nine states after CEO Doug McMillon warned in December that theft was the highest it’s ever been around the country and if it did not slow down, stores would have to close.
So far, more than 2,600 businesses have left downtown Portland. An 83-year-old Vietnam veteran felt safer walking the streets of pagan Saigon than he does walking the streets of Christian Portland.
Or maybe Portland is no longer Christian, because Portland no longer hears ethical truth from Christian churches, like, "thou shalt not covet, thou shalt not steal, and thou shalt not kill."
Mr. Trump loves the "high ratings" of a celebrity and election victories for his legacy. A clean and magnanimous victory over Iran might have provided that. But a two-year quagmire will destroy his legacy, his party, our military and much of the younger generation. And Valerie Jarret will be making policy in 2028.
If the President wanted good "optics" in this imprudent and dangerous war, he would have declared an epic victory immediately after the death of the Ayatollah, pulled American assets home, and arranged the equivalent of a ticker-tape parade for them.
But it has been two full days since the decapitation, and young American bodies are being placed in coffins.
"U.S. missile and air-defense interceptor inventories have been severely drawn down by the relentless pace of recent [Iran] operations, revealing that between defending Israel, Ukraine, and itself, the American military is spread too thin. Replenishing these high-end systems can take over a year, analysts say, because production lines are optimized for peacetime and cannot be surged overnight.
"We know for sure that China is thrilled to see America weakened. They will view Iran as Joe Biden viewed Ukraine: as an opportunity to cripple a global rival (the Russian Federation.) Keep an eye out for headlines about Chinese efforts to prolong this conflict."
-- Tucker Carlson
Maybe, at most, a week long. He expected an immediate regime change and then surrender.
Remember the Sand People? Those primitive Houthis? The US spent $7 billion bombing the Houthis over about 6-7 weeks and failed to degrade the Houthis’ ability to attack with missiles.
The problem with Iran is much worse. This week, the US and Israel may burn through the last offensive and defensive munitions, including interceptors. Will Iran surrender at that point, or escalate with their larger arsenal of missiles?
If you are not praying for Pete Hegseth, you should be.