"The rash of mass retail thefts over the weekend in the Bay Area represents a new paradigm of crime — carefully orchestrated, entrepreneurial, and apparently driven by social media — that has created formidable challenges for law enforcement." “It was a wild weekend,” Sgt. Ray Kelly, spokesperson for the Alameda County Sheriff’s OfficeKelly said, referring to sprees in Hayward, Walnut Creek, San Jose, Oakland, and San Francisco, where roving bands of thieves swarmed into stores, grabbed as much merchandise as they could carry and escaped in getaway cars." "At least two dozen businesses suffered burglaries or attempted burglaries, in some cases with armed individuals shooting as they tried to break in," according to Armstrong. “We do have intelligence that it’s a collective group of people, multiple groups coming together to commit these attempted burglaries,” the chief said, describing a “coordinated effort,” enabled by social media apps. "Flash-mob-style robberies benefit from power in numbers," said Frank Muscato, a retired Dallas police officer. “You go in there with a mob, you’re not going to get chased,” Muscato said, adding that managers usually tell store employees not to intervene." “This kind of organized rampage through a department store strikes me as very unusual,” Stanford University law Professor Robert Weisberg said. He characterized the people committing these crimes as “very entrepreneurial” as they create a supply chain for fencing operations — dealers who buy stolen goods to resell them at a higher price." "A lot of this merchandise winds up overseas," Thomas Ostly, a former prosecutor for the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office, said." First, it was Walgreen's Drug Stores, but now the criminals have gone upscale--Louis Vuitton's, high-end jewelry stores, and the Union Square shopping district in the heart of San Francisco, as well as other wealthy towns of the Bay Area. You may have seen the videos of up to 80 people using hammers to smash jewelry cases. Yesterday the same thing happened in southern California. Lawlessness abounds. :negative: Surely, our redemption draweth nigh. Surely! TR Sorry, I forgot to link the source: https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Bay-Area-s-wild-weekend-of-retail-crime-16642843.php Although there are many articles about this, especially locally. Not sure how much of this story made the national news. I did see the men hammering jewelry cases on national news. Also, I heard that the criminals deliberately caused traffic jams to keep the police at bay. My husband listens to talk radio. There they are saying it's because of poverty. I don't think so! Truly, as Arthur says, Lawlessness abounds. Here is Portland its just about as bad. I feel for the business owners who are continually victims and the police will do nothing about it. My daughter was at TJ Maxx this past weekend and a lady piled a cart full of clothing and just walked out the door. The clerks said they're told to not do anything about it. I did see an article somewhere this week that all this lawlessness is the perfect setup for the AC. The world grows tired of all the chaos and you know who steps in to seemingly save the day. So glad we're out of here before then. Soon Lord! Please! PLEASE, with a cherry on top and whipped cream! TR Best Buy Crashes As Margins Slide Due To "Organized Retail Theft" "Best Buy had advanced 38% this year through Monday, attaining record levels and outpacing the 28% gain of an S&P 500 index of consumer discretionary companies. Because while BBY channel checkers were right and traffic was indeed off the charts; alas most of that foot was courtesy of thieves." ". . . today's sharp return to reality sent BBY shares plunging as much as 17% to $115.01 in New York trading -- the biggest intraday plunge since the covid crash on March 18, 2020." "We are seeing more and more particularly organized retail crime,” Chief Executive Officer Corie Barry said on a conference call with analysts. “You can see that pressure in our financials . . . . " So, it appears these looting sprees will be affecting the stock market. https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/best-buy-crashes-margins-slide-due-organized-retail-theft Yes, Todd, and you are not the only one who comes to this conclusion. From Prophecy News Watch: "Our civilization is crumbling right in front of our eyes. We have become accustomed to soaring murder rates, mass shootings, extreme degeneracy throughout the entire entertainment industry, violent rioting in our streets and severe corruption on all levels of government." "To a certain extent, a lot of these things seem "normal" to many of us at this point. But the truth is that what we are experiencing is not even close to "normal." We are literally watching our entire society slowly but surely go down the tubes, and it is heartbreaking to watch." ". . . now we have gotten to a point where large numbers of people in industrialized nations all over the globe do not trust their own governments. And once that trust erodes far enough, it may get to a point where entire nations become virtually ungovernable by anyone. . . . We are rapidly plummeting into an abyss of anarchy, madness and chaos, and the days ahead are not going to be pleasant." "Many Bible prophecy scholars speculate that such worldwide anarchy could open the door to civilization crying out for someone to save us from ourselves. Instead of looking to God, society will turn to yet another politician who will offer promises of peace and solutions to the world's problems but instead it will begin one of the most terrible times in all of world history. This period known as "The Tribulation Period" will last 7 years and be instigated by the one known as "The Antichrist." https://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=5084 “Our civilization is crumbling right in front of our eyes. We have become accustomed to soaring murder rates, mass shootings, extreme degeneracy throughout the entire entertainment industry, violent rioting in our streets and severe corruption on all levels of government.” “To a certain extent, a lot of these things seem “normal” to many of us at this point. But the truth is that what we are experiencing is not even close to “normal.” We are literally watching our entire society slowly but surely go down the tubes, and it is heartbreaking to watch.” This is what happens when sin reaches it's zenith and why only Jesus can govern us! California 'smash-and-grab' looting suspects back on the street thanks to 'zero-bail' policy "Fourteen "smash-and-grab" robbery suspects recently arrested in Los Angeles, California, are back on the streets thanks in part to the county's controversial zero cash bail policy, the city's police chief said this week." "During a press conference Thursday, Chief Michel Moore told reporters, “All the suspects taken into custody are out of custody, either as a result of one juvenile, or the others as a result of bailing out or zero-bail criteria," according to Fox News." "On Twitter, the district attorney called the money bail system "unsafe" and "unjust" and vowed to end it altogether. He later told U.S. News and World Report that "eliminating money bail is one of the moral imperatives of our generation." https://www.theblaze.com/news/california-looting-suspects-zero-bail 
