Democratic Rep. Cuellar carjacked in Washington, DC



U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) was carjacked Monday evening in the Navy Yard area of Washington, D.C., roughly a mile away from the U.S. Capitol.

Police indicated the incident took place around 9:30 p.m. at New Jersey Avenue and K Streets, reported the Washington Post.

"As Congressman Cuellar was parking his car this evening, 3 armed assailants approached the Congressman and stole his vehicle. Luckily, he was not harmed and is working with local law enforcement," Jacob Hochberg, Cuellar's chief of staff, said in a statement.

DC Alerts indicated that the suspects were black males wearing all-black clothing and had stolen a white Honda with Texas tags, which Hochberg indicated has since been recovered.

According to the New York Times, the congressman's iPad and iPhone had also been taken.

The U.S. Capitol Police reportedly now have investigators working with the Metropolitan Police on the case.

In response to Cuellar's carjacking, Utah Sen. Mike Lee wrote, "My friend, @RepCuellar (D. TX), became the victim of a crime tonight in what's considered a nice part of D.C. D.C. is dangerous. Something's gone terribly wrong here—for far too long. Congress has the sole power to make D.C.’s laws, and must intervene."

Tom Fitton, the president of Judicial Watch, similarly suggested that "this crisis in our nation's capital is, under the US Constitution, the responsibility of Congress. DO SOMETHING!"

Cuellar, a supporter of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act who has family in law enforcement, is the latest victim of a trend in the Democrat-run city that is getting aggressively worse.

Metropolitan Police Department records indicate motor vehicle theft is up 106% this year over 2022, with 5,398 reports of stolen vehicles.

Most types of crime are actually up in the city such that even the consulate for crime-ravaged Mexico has warned its nationals to "take precautions" in the city due to "a significant increase in crime in areas previously considered safe," reported ABC News.

Murders, of which there have been 215 already this year, are up 37%. Sex abuse is up 3%. Assaults with dangerous weapons are up 2%. Robberies, of which the city has seen over 2,600 in 2023, are up 68%. General theft is up 22%. Arson is up 125%.

Cuellar's carjacking is not the first time in recent months that a Democratic lawmaker has fallen victim to the crime now devouring D.C.

Rep. Angela Craig (D-Minn.) was attacked inside the elevator of her apartment building in February, reported Politico.

The deranged attacker, later identified as 26-year-old Kendrick Hamlin, entered the elevator along with the congresswoman, did some push-ups, then began punching Craig in the face and grabbing her neck. Craig reportedly escaped by dousing the suspect with hot coffee and then bolting.

Hamlin, accused of also attacking the two police officers who ultimately arrested him, pleaded guilty in June to assaulting Craig.

Other workers on the Hill have similarly been caught up in the worsening trend.

One of Sen. Rand Paul's aides was "brutally attacked in broad daylight" in March, reported NPR. The staffer, Phillip Todd, was stabbed multiple times and would likely have perished had it not been for the intervention of a friend.

The Hill reported that a staffer for Republican Rep. Brad Finstad (Minn.) was attacked in June outside his home, blocks away from the U.S. Capitol building.

The staffer, left with minor injuries, told MPD that "while walking home two males wearing black hoodies pushed him to the ground and pointed a black hand gun at him."

After D.C. marked its 200th murder earlier this month, Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser, who has been at odds in recent months with soft-on-crime leftists on the D.C. Council, said the District was having a "bad year," reported the Washington Times.

This "bad" and ostensibly ever-worsening year might have something to do with the precedent set in 2022 by Matthew Graves, the Biden-appointed U.S. attorney for the District, who the Washington Examiner indicated had declined to prosecute nearly 70% of the people arrested by police.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Target to shutter 9 stores in Democrat-run cities on account of unrelenting crime



Target is pulling up stakes on select stores in crime-ridden, Democratic cities, joining the host of other retailers looking for greener pastures.Evidently the company's efforts to lock aisles of products behind security glass wasn't a winning solution.

The company is shuttering nine stores across four states: one in New York City's East Harlem neighborhood; three in the San Francisco Bay Area; three in Oregon's increasingly anarchical city of Portland; and two in Seattle, Washington.

A combined 150 stores will remain in the geographies affected by the Oct. 21 closures, reported ABC News.

According to Neighborhood Scout, the chances of becoming a victim of a property crime in these areas is: 1 in 51 in New York City; 1 in 20 in San Francisco and 1 in 17 in Oakland, CA; 1 in 17 in Portland; and 1 in 18 in Seattle.

The company made clear that the reason behind the closure was crime, reported CNN.

"We cannot continue operating these stores because theft and organized retail crime are threatening the safety of our team and guests, and contributing to unsustainable business performance," the company said in a statement. "We know that our stores serve an important role in their communities, but we can only be successful if the working and shopping environment is safe for all."

In May, the woke company's CEO Brian Cornell said he expected theft "will reduce our profitability by more than $500 million compared with last year."

ABC News indicated losses for the company could top $1.2 billion this fiscal year.

The National Retail Federation, the largest trade group for the retail industry, said Tuesday that shrink — a catch-all term for internal and external theft and fraud — cost retailers $112.1 billion in losses last year. In 2021, the cost of shrink was $93.9 billion.

This appears to be an aggressively worsening trend.

"Retailers are seeing unprecedented levels of theft coupled with rampant crime in their stores, and the situation is only becoming more dire," said NRF vice president of asset protection and retail operations David Johnston. "Far beyond the financial impact of these crimes, the violence and concerns over safety continue to be the priority for all retailers, regardless of size or category."

Ever-worsening crime has similarly chased other stores and companies out of Democrat-run cities.

For instance, AT&T announced in June that it would be closing its flagship store in San Francisco — where police have indicated there have been 24,018 reports of larceny theft, 2,039 robberies, 4,186 burglaries, 1,789 assaults, and 40 murders so far this year — citing changing "shopping habits."

TheBlaze previously noted that consumer shopping habits in San Francisco have changed drastically since leftists successfully passed proposition 47 in 2014 — a leftist California ballot initiative that effectively decriminalized thefts under $950.

Cinemark Holdings, Inc. similarly revealed this summer that it too was ditching the crime-ridden and excrement-littered city, shuttering its theater in the downtown Westfield San Francisco Centre mall.

Nordstrom's chief store officer indicated in May it was closing its anchor location in the Westfield mall, citing dramatic changes in the "dynamics of the downtown San Francisco market." Whole Foods also cut and ran.

Crime statistics in neighboring Oakland, which has also done a great job repelling business, paint just as bleak a picture. As of Aug. 27, violent crime was up 19% this year over last year. Robberies are up 30%; rapes, 6%; burglaries, 44%; and motor vehicle thefts, 52%.

Portland too has seen an exodus of business in recent months.

In March, Walmart announced it was closing its last two remaining stores, not long after CEO Doug McMillon warned the company had seen a significant spike in thefts, reported the New York Post.

McMillon told CNBC, "Theft is an issue. It's higher than what it has historically been."

According to the Portland Police Bureau, there were 5,998 burglary, 24,675 larceny offenses, 1,407 robberies, 340 arson, 10,026 assault offenses, and 104 murder reports between August 2022 and August 2023.

Hundreds of businesses, including Starbucks and Nike, have fled Democrat-run Seattle in recent years, again owing to unchecked crime and violence.

So far this year, Seattle had over 25,000 property crimes and 3,470 violent crimes, including 42 murders and 205 rapes, according to the Seattle Police Department crime dashboard.

Police reckon Democratic policies barring judges from jailing or requiring bail for thieves, regardless of how many times the crooks have committed the act, have largely contributed to this problem, reported CNN.

The vast majority of respondents to the NRF's 2023 National Retail Security Survey appeared to agree with this assessment by police, with 72% claiming that they had seen an increase in the average value per incident in localities that raised minimum felony thresholds and another 67% reporting an increase in repeat offenders in geographies where cash bail was reduced or eliminated.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Another TV news crew reporting on crime in a Democrat-run city gets robbed while filming



Another TV news crew reporting on crime in a Democrat-run city can now provide firsthand testimony of just how bad things have gotten.

A Univision Chicago TV crew was reporting on a string of armed robberies across the city of Chicago early Monday morning when three men wearing ski masks robbed the crew at gunpoint.

The Chicago Tribune reported that the victims, a reporter and a photographer who have not been named, were filming a segment for the Spanish-language TV station near the 1200 block of North Milwaukee Avenue in the city's West Town.

"They were approached with guns and robbed," said Luis Godinez, vice president of news at Univision Chicago. "Mainly it was personal items, and they took a camera."

Raza Siddiqui, president of the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians Local 41, indicated the suspects demanded cash from the 28-year-old and 42-year-old male victims, then rifled through their SUV, stealing a camera, a personal backpack, and two bags containing equipment, reported the Chicago Sun-Times.

"Gratefully, the crew is safe," said Godinez.

The Univision Chicago vice president indicated the station intentionally downplayed the incident in its subsequent coverage.

"We don't want to make the story about us, because there were other robberies that occurred within that same period," Godinez told the Tribune.

WLS-TV reported that a series of armed robberies and carjacking rocked the South Loop and Northwest Side Sunday and Monday, where two to four thugs at a time would mob, sometimes beat, but always rob their victims.

In one of the incidents, a 67-year-old male victim had complied with armed robbers who demanded his property, but the thugs brutalized him anyway, landing the elderly man in St. Mary's Hospital.

WLS noted that there were at least eight robberies inside that 48-hour window, many of them violent.

According to the Chicago Police Department, there have been 6,543 robberies, 4,821 burglaries, and 13,595 incidents of theft reported so far this year.

Alderman Scott Waguespack of the 32nd Ward said, "I think the brazenness of these criminals has gone behind the pale."

The alderman stressed that in addition to supporting police, "We also need people up on top to say, 'The criminality has to stop.' And I'm talking about the mayor."

Leftist Mayor Brandon Johnson, the former teachers' union organizer elected in April, appears averse to tackling crime directly or with proven methods.

Newsweek reported that Johnson has argued that well-funded police forces and throwing criminals in jail won't make Chicago safer. Instead, he thinks more money should be dumped into mental health care, schools, and affordable housing. Additionally, he has supported sending social workers and EMTs to respond to various 911 calls instead of cops — in a city that reportedly has already seen 396 homicides this year and a total of 643 slayings in the past 12 months.

There have been 19,585 carjackings so far this year, accounting for a 227% increase since 2019. Johnson was recently mocked over suing automakers as a roundabout way of addressing the problem.

When pressed last week on what he has accomplished in his first 100 days in terms of combating street crime, Johnson told CBS Chicago 24,000 youths "were employed for summer positions" and that he has been "working with faith community, the business community, the philanthropic community to make critical investments."

Johnson lashed out at CBS 2 political investigator Dana Kozlov when she noted the number of persons employed by the city's One Summer program was likely closer to 20,000 and questioned whether his so-called remedies were "concrete."

According to Neighborhood Scout, the chances of becoming a victim of a property crime in Chicago with Johnson at the helm are 1 in 42. The chances of becoming a victim of a violent crime are 1 in 115.

The Univision reporter and photographer robbed Monday were not the first in the news media to contribute to those statistics by their victimization this month.

A WLS photographer was beaten and robbed in Chicago on Aug. 8 while preparing to cover a news conference on the West Side, reported the Tribune.

Crime reporters in Democratic cities farther afield have similarly had the distance between them and the stories they cover collapse in recent months.

TheBlaze previously reported that a CNN news team was robbed in San Francisco while reporting on the crime that has begun to define that city.

Despite having personal security on watch, Kyung Lah and Jason Kravarik – senior producer for CNN’s Los Angeles bureau – had their car looted by thieves while they were inside City Hall for a story about crime affecting Asians in San Francisco.

Lah stressed online, "This is ridiculous."

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Iraqi Uber driver who dodged bullets in DC gun battle says the Democrat-run city feels like a war zone — when in fact it might be far worse



An Uber driver in Washington, D.C., fled to the United States hoping to escape the violence in his native Iraq. After nearly catching several bullets over the weekend, Omar Al-Furaiji has concluded he has simply found himself in another war zone.

WTTG-TV reported that Al-Furaiji was driving near the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in downtown Washington over the weekend when his Toyota Highlander SUV was struck by a hail of bullets.

Neither Al-Furaiji nor his passengers caught lead, though the barrage did send shards of glass flying, fifteen pieces of which later had to be removed from his body.

"I thank God I survived," said Al-Furaiji. "For some reason, God saved me."

Video captured by Al-Furaiji's dashcam shows the driver and his passengers ducking amid the crackle of gunfire. A vehicle with tinted windows can be seen slamming into a dumpster behind the Uber. Those inside bail out, with at least one opening fire on persons off-screen.

According to a police report, witnesses indicated at least six gunshots were fired by an individual in an SUV with tinted windows.

Authorities stated one person outside the vehicle had been shot in the back.

Al-Furaiji, who formerly worked in theater while in Iraq, told WTTG that he can't use his vehicle on account of the damage and his stress from the incident, saying, "It's not even a movie. It's like time doesn't exist."

He showed NBC News bullet holes in his windshield, stating, "This is supposed to be my head, if I didn’t bend down or lay down."

One bullet reportedly cut through the left side of his seat. Another slammed through his headrest.

The police report obtained by Fox News Digital indicated the driver had likened D.C. to the war zone he had left behind.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime tracks intentional homicide rates for various countries around the globe. The latest data for Iraq is from 2014, when the Islamic State had taken over much of Anbar province, captured Mosul, and expanded into the northern part of the country.

The murder rate for the capital city of Baghdad recorded for that year was 18.4 (per 100,000 population).

In recent years, a number of Democrat-run cities in the U.S. have far surpassed the reported murder rate in Baghdad at the height of the terroristic caliphate's stranglehold on the country.

Time reported that in 2021, the murder rates for Memphis, Detroit, Atlanta, Dallas, Louisville, and Indianapolis were 48.7, 47.9, 32, 30.5, and 27.1 respectively, adding that data for D.C. was unavailable, although the year-end total was 226 murders.

Last year, D.C. Metropolitan Police reported 203 homicides, which would amount to a murder rate of over 29.4.

Axios reported that the district is on its way to setting a 20-year record, having seen over 160 murders already this year, with 16 slayings between Aug. 1 and Aug. 8 alone.

Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser's district ranks 2 on Neighborhood Scout's crime index, with 100 being safest. The odds of becoming a victim of a violent crime are 1 in 102.

Council member Trayon White appears to agree with the Iraqi Uber driver, stating, "We are in a war zone."

Uber sprayed with bullets in DC; driver who left Iraq says city feels like war zoneyoutu.be

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Democratic daughter of famous musician speaks out after Bob Lee's brutal murder, concedes 'liberal' leaders transformed San Francisco into a 's***hole'



Actress and fashion designer Sara Foster, daughter of the affluent Grammy Award-winning musician David Foster, minced no words when speaking out about tech magnate Bob Lee's brutal murder this week.

TheBlaze previously reported that 43-year-old Bob Lee was rushed to a hospital early Tuesday morning after being repeatedly stabbed on Main Street in SoMa, an entertainment and financial district on the city's east side.

Before succumbing to his wounds, he reportedly cried out for help, desperately trying to flag by passersby. He was ultimately ignored and left to die at the end of a long trail of blood.

With Lee's stabbing, there have been 12 murders so far this year in San Francisco.

Foster, 42, shared a screenshot of a New York Post article detailing Lee's slaying in an Instagram story, adding the caption, "I have no words. SF is a complete s***hole. I am a registered Democrat and feel confident saying liberal politicians are ruining cities."

"Disgusting," added Foster. "My heart breaks for this family."

Although she is a registered Democrat who has evidenced socially progressive views online, Foster appears to have grown increasingly disenchanted with leftist leadership and the repercussions of liberals' mismanagement, stressing that "our society is f***ed."

Foster — whose father, the Post noted, is a 16-time Grammy winner who worked with Paul McCartney, Chicago, and Celine Dion — is not the only Californian to recognize a decline in the quality of living and life expectancy under Democratic leadership.

KGO-TV reported that San Francisco, Oakland, and Berkeley together had a net loss of at least 250,000 households from 2018 through the end of 2022. Various other cities in the state similarly saw people flee en masse.

The San Francisco Chronicle conducted a comprehensive survey of over 1,650 people between June and July 2022 to "measure attitudes on what's working, what isn't, performance of city government, the future of the city and more." In that survey, 65% of respondents said the city, run by Democrat Mayor London Breed, was worse than when they first moved there. Only 10% said it was better.

The survey revealed that 37% of current residents plan to be living somewhere besides San Francisco in three years' time.

San Francisco, the location of Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's multimillion-dollar mansion, has a ranking of 2 on Neighborhood Scout's crime index (100 is safest).

So far this calendar year, there have been 660 reported robberies; 591 assaults; 1,373 burglaries; 1,522 motor vehicle thefts; and 53 rapes.

It's not just random acts of unchecked violence that are stacking bodies in the Democrat-controlled city.

San Francisco's Chief Medical Examiner recently revealed that over 130 people died of a drug overdoses in the months of January and February alone, reported KGO.

Despite Lee's brutal murder and alarming crime stats, CNN tweeted Friday, "The stabbing death of CashApp founder Bob Lee has prompted comments perpetuating the notion that San Francisco is dangerous and crime-riddled, but data shows violent crime – especially homicides – are well below that of many other cities of a similar size."

\u201cThe stabbing death of CashApp founder Bob Lee has prompted comments perpetuating the notion that San Francisco is dangerous and crime-riddled, but data shows violent crime \u2013 especially homicides \u2013 are well below that of many other cities of a similar size. https://t.co/H4pBLEtxo0\u201d
— CNN (@CNN) 1680861613

The corresponding CNN article suggests that "the number of homicides in San Francisco is well below that of other cities of a similar size," citing data from the Major Cities Police Chiefs Association shows. Oakland, with its 120 murders and 170 rapes in 2022, is counted separately from San Francisco with its 56 murders and 308 rapes in 2022.

CNN downplayed the city's issues just weeks after one of its own reporters was robbed "again" in broad daylight while covering crime in the city.

While there may be fewer homicides in San Francisco than other Democrat-run cities, there are plenty of dead dreams.

The Daily Mail reported that in February 2022, there were nearly 8,000 homeless persons in San Francisco. With this growing homeless population comes other problems, such as sidewalks encrusted with garbage and littered with human excrement.

The New York Post reported that Bob Lee's friend indicated the murdered tech magnate had moved to Florida because he felt San Francisco was "deteriorating."

Cash App founder Bob Lee's death garners attention from police. What about other SF homicides? youtu.be

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Defund-the-police Democrat calls for more police as her district continues brutal crime spiral: 'I feel betrayed by the department'



Another Democrat has been confronted with the disastrous consequences of the policies she once championed.

San Francisco City Supervisor Hillary Ronen announced last week that she is "begging" for more police officers for her crime-ravaged city, particularly in the district she oversees. This desperate plea comes just a few years after the Democrat called for the police to be defunded and suggested that half-measures amounted to a "slap in the face."

How it started

Ronen assumed office in 2017, representing San Francisco's District 9 on the 11-member city board of supervisors. The 47-year-old Berkeley Law graduate was re-elected in November 2020.

During her time in office, she has lent her support to the George Soros-backed leftist district attorney, Chesa Boudin. Boudin, whose parents were members of a leftist terrorist organization, has been accused of overseeing a crime surge in the city.

Whereas in 2016 Ronen campaigned on making "police part of our community," in 2020, she jumped on the BLM bandwagon and pushed for reductions to police budgets.

Amid the devastating BLM riots, Democrat Mayor London Breed proposed a $35 million cut from the San Francisco Police Department's budget over two years. This 2.6% reduction was not enough for Ronen, reported Mission Local.

Ronen called the budget reduction "a slap in the face," saying, "We can't just give lip service to this time and this movement."

She also suggested it would be prudent to get "police out of the business of responding to homeless people for being homeless," to plan on reducing the presence of law enforcement at public schools, and to reconsider having mounted police officers at all.

Ronen underscored that defunding the police was ultimately about repurposing a "system that is rotten to its core."

In August 2020, Ronen clarified her position, tweeting, "I want to make it clear that I believe strongly in defunding the police and reducing the number of officers on our force. For decades we’ve had an imbalance in our city’s budget, with hundreds of millions of dollars going to SFPD to have them do work they are not qualified to do."

None
— (@)

Breed ultimately diverted $120 million from the police and sheriff's departments in 2020.

How it's going

Mission Local reported that Ronen got what she wanted.

The number of full-duty SFPD officers is at 1,514 as of last week, down from 1,840 in 2019 and 1,872 in 2017.

The San Francisco District Attorney's Office indicated that in 2022, only 3.9% of the 58,681 reported incidents resulted in an arrest.

San Francisco scores a 2 out of 100 (100 being safest) on Neighborhood Watch's crime index. The chance of becoming a victim of a violent crime is 1 in 186, and the likelihood of becoming a victim of a property crime is 1 in 20, as a CNN reporter recently discovered.

According to the SFPD, between Jan. 1 and March 12, there were 66 reports of arson; 5,505 reports of larceny theft; 1,062 burglary reports; 428 assaults; 525 robberies; 39 rapes; 1,123 motor vehicle thefts; and 9 murders.

Mission, Bayview, and Ingleside, all overseen by Ronen, accounted for 41% of arson incidents in the city during that time period; 18% of the larceny thefts; 29.8% of burglaries; 38% of assaults; 37% of robberies; 36% of rapes; 50% of motor vehicle thefts; and 66% of murders. At least half of San Francisco's reports of human trafficking this year have also taken place in Ronen's district.

Only In Your State ranks two zones in Ronen's district as among the "most dangerous areas in San Francisco," particularly after dark.

During a Budget and Appropriations Committee meeting on March 15, Ronen implored the SFPD to prioritize police presence in her district rather than spending overtime on an anti-retail theft program, reported Fox News Digital.

"I've been begging this department to give the Mission what it deserves in terms of police presence all year long," said Ronen. "And I have been told time and time and time and time again there are no officers that we can send to Mission."

Despite having previously suggested anything less than a major cut to police budgets was a "slap in the face," Ronen claimed Wednesday she felt the SFPD had let her down.

"It hurts. And I feel betrayed by the department. I feel betrayed by the mayor. I feel betrayed by the priorities of the city," said Ronen.

Amid her efforts to reverse the damage her previous recommendations have inflicted on San Francisco, Ronen is presently championing race-based reparations. She recently noted that she cannot "wait to get to work" implementing recommendations to hand out $5 million to select black residents, cancel their debt, and guarantee their income.

TheBlaze previously reported that Ronen has admitted the city does not have the money for these reparations.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!