Philadelphia

On The Mean Streets Of America, The Gun Battles Never Seem To End…

June 21, 2021June 21, 2021 by Michael

Did you know that 296 mass shootings have happened in the United States this year? Needless to say, the vast majority of the mass shootings are taking place in our core urban areas, and at this point many of our largest cities are becoming open war zones. We desperately need more law enforcement officers on the streets, and as I wrote about yesterday, even some of our most liberal cities are now racing to “re-fund” the police. Crime rates spiked dramatically all over the nation in 2020, and they are skyrocketing even higher in 2021. But if you think that things have been bad so far, just wait, because we are being warned that “a bloody summer” is on the way…

“The spike in homicides and nonfatal shootings is extremely alarming,” said Miami Police Chief Art Acevedo, who recently left the Houston Police Department and leads the Major Cities Chiefs Association, an organization of law enforcement executives. “One of the reasons we talk about a bloody summer ahead for our country is because it’s already been a very bloody year, a very deadly year for Americans.”

There is usually more violent crime when the weather is warmer, and we have definitely seen that so far here in the month of June.

Mass shootings are considered to be incidents in which at least four people are wounded, and during this past weekend we witnessed mass shootings in New Jersey, Colorado, Indiana, Virginia, Alaska, Louisiana, Minnesota, Texas and California.

They are happening with such frequency now that each one barely makes a blip in the news before the next one happens.

To me, the most disturbing incident during the weekend took place in Chicago…

And in another deadly shooting in the city on Saturday night, two individuals were attacked by a group of men after a crash took place at Humboldt Park, prompting a large crowd to surround Gyovanny Arzuaga’s vehicle.

He and his girlfriend, Yasmin Perez, were attending a Puerto Rican People’s Day parade in the park, Newsweek reported, when a group of two or three gunmen ambushed them and opened fire.

A video of the incident, posted to Twitter, purportedly shows Arzuaga surrounded by a group of men, who leave him lying unresponsive on the ground.

Words cannot really convey the true horror of that attack. If you have not seen the video footage yet, you can watch it right here.

When I first watched it, I could hardly believe what I was seeing.

There has always been violence in our streets, but nothing like this.

What in the world is happening to our country?

Overall, the number of shootings in the city of Chicago is up 18 percent so far this year.

I know that sounds bad, but other major cities are seeing much larger spikes.

In Philadelphia, the number of shootings is up 27 percent so far this year.

It is supposed to be “the city of brotherly love”, but it is rapidly becoming one of the most dangerous places in America.

In Atlanta, the number of shootings is up 40 percent so far this year.

But at least the Hawks are doing well, right?

In Los Angeles, the number of shootings is up 51 percent so far this year.

Crime is now the number one political issue in the L.A. area, and even tourist areas such as Venice Beach are being totally trashed.

In New York City, the number of shootings is up 64 percent so far this year.

As I discussed yesterday, in the Big Apple running gun battles even happen during broad daylight these days.

In Minneapolis, the number of shootings is up 90 percent so far this year.

I spent a lot of time in Minneapolis growing up, because I have a lot of relatives in the area. I can’t believe how far that once beautiful city has now fallen.

But there is one major city that even has Minneapolis beat.

In Portland, the number of shootings is up 126 percent so far this year.

Everywhere you look, there is chaos and violence, and what we have been through so far is just the beginning.

It is almost as if a significant percentage of the population has gone completely and totally nuts over the past couple of years. In this sort of an environment, you never know what some crazy person might do. Here is just one example…

A Bel Air homeowner is in shock after coming face to face with a violent naked man who broke into his house and killed the family pets.

Mat Sabz was home alone Thursday afternoon when his wife called to tell him that security cameras showed a naked man breaking into their home.

You have got to be really sick to want to kill somebody’s pets.

Sadly, right now there are vast numbers of really sick people running around out there, and many of them would kill you and your family without even thinking twice about it.

Up to this point in 2021, a total of 20,729 Americans have died as a result of gun violence, and by the time most of you read this article that number will inevitably be even higher.

Ironically, many of the cities that have the strictest gun laws also have some of the highest murder rates.

In Chicago, the number of gang members is more than ten times greater than the number of law enforcement officers, and that is causing enormous problems. The politicians can pass as many laws as they want, but violent criminals are going to remain heavily armed and they are going to retain the upper hand for the foreseeable future.

Of course Chicago is far from alone. Violent criminals are gaining the upper hand in communities all over the country, and meanwhile police officers are resigning in record numbers from coast to coast after being relentlessly demonized by the mainstream media for months on end.

Our society really is coming apart at the seams all around us.

Unfortunately, most Americans still do not understand what is happening. Most Americans still assume that things will eventually “return to normal”, but a “return to normal” is simply not in the cards.

***Michael’s new book entitled “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.***

About the Author: My name is Michael Snyder and my brand new book entitled “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America” is now available on Amazon.com. In addition to my new book, I have written four others that are available on Amazon.com including The Beginning Of The End, Get Prepared Now, and Living A Life That Really Matters. (#CommissionsEarned) By purchasing the books you help to support the work that my wife and I are doing, and by giving it to others you help to multiply the impact that we are having on people all over the globe. I have published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe. I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but I also ask that they include this “About the Author” section with each article. The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions. I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook, Twitter and Parler, and any way that you can share these articles with others is a great help. During these very challenging times, people will need hope more than ever before, and it is our goal to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with as many people as we possibly can.

Why Have Murder Rates Absolutely Skyrocketed All Over America In 2020?

December 29, 2020December 29, 2020 by Michael

We have seen spikes in certain major cities before, but there has never been a year quite like this. In 2020, murder rates have been soaring dramatically from coast to coast, and many are deeply concerned about what our big metropolitan areas will look like if this trend continues into 2021 and beyond. The civil unrest that erupted in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd certainly contributed to the rising numbers, but authorities have been shocked that murder rates have remained so elevated all year long. Americans are killing Americans in record numbers, and nobody seems to have a solution to this growing national crisis.

Let’s take a look at some of the hard numbers. In New York City, the number of murders has risen 41 percent compared to 2019…

The city – heralded as the safest big city in America in recent years – has recorded 447 killings this year as of Tuesday, a 41 percent increase over last year and the largest number since 2011.

The number of people shot has more than doubled last year´s total, nearing a 14-year high.

At one time NYC was considered to be one of the safest cities in America, but those days are long gone.

But at least New York is not as bad as Chicago. In fact, the number of murders in Chicago this year is almost twice as high as the number of murders in NYC…

At least eight people were killed and 30 more were wounded in citywide shootings over the extended holiday weekend, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Monday. Three people were shot and killed on Christmas Day.

“We’re over 700 homicides by gun in Chicago this year and close to 800 total homicides for the year,” Chicago FOP President John Catanzara told Fox News Tuesday. “It’s reaching historic levels, and this when the city council and the mayor’s budget just cut over 600 jobs from the police department’s budget when crime is soaring. It’s ridiculous.”

Out on the west coast, rates of violent crime seem to be rising faster than anywhere else. For example, the number of shootings in Portland is up 116 percent compared to last year…

Fox News reports based on local crime statistics that murders are surging in Portland, Oregon. “As of Christmas Eve, this year’s shootings had surpassed last year’s by more than 116%, with 393 shootings reported in all of 2019.”

2020 numbers dwarf the prior year’s, having reached over 850 shootings. Among these are more single-year homicides than in any year over the prior nearly three decades.

Almost everywhere you look, records have either already been broken or are in danger of being broken.

In Philadelphia, if 15 people get murdered by January 1st they will break the all-time record which was originally established 30 years ago…

A violent night pushes Philadelphia closer to reaching a grim milestone. The city could be on track to surpass the most homicides ever in a calendar year.

The record is 504 homicides which was set in 1990 and with three days left to go in this year the city is has had at least 490.

And in south Florida, the number of murders in Miami-Dade County has already broken the old record by a good margin…

Officials recorded 272 homicides through Dec. 24 across Miami-Dade County, up 31 cases from all of 2019, records show. The year isn’t even over and it’s a recent high — up from 232 in all of 2017, and 252 in 2015.

Many Republicans have pointed out that murder rates seem to be rising fastest in cities that are governed by Democrats. In Atlanta, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms says that she is “open to suggestions” because at this point she is at a total loss for how to stop the dramatic escalation of violent crime in her city…

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, a rising star in the Democratic Party who was recently considered for a position in President-elect Joe Biden’s cabinet, is coming under fire for her administration’s handling of a surge in violent crime in her city.

Saying she was ‘open to suggestions’ on stopping the crime wave, the mayor was on the defensive over the holiday weekend after three people were fatally shot in the city, bringing Atlanta’s homicide count to its highest in more than two decades.

Shall I share more examples, or do you get the point?

To call this a “crime wave” would be a major understatement. Compared to last year, carjackings in Minneapolis were up 537 percent last month.

Just think about that.

When something is rising 537 percent, you are talking about an exponential increase.

Of course it might help if Minneapolis and other major cities were to actually increase police funding instead of decreasing it.

You can put as much money into “mental health programs” as you want, but the truth is that very few criminals will ever be talked out of committing crimes.

What keeps criminals from committing crimes is the fear of being caught and going to prison, and our politicians should never forget that.

Also, the reality of the matter is that so many of our law enforcement resources are being wasted right now. Instead of brutally assaulting a disabled veteran for not wearing a mask, our law enforcement personnel need to be out in the streets battling one of the greatest crime waves that we have ever seen in all of U.S. history.

Our society is literally in the process of melting down all around us. The thin veneer of civilization that we all take for granted on a daily basis is in grave danger, and many believe that very dark days are ahead for our country.

If we are seeing this much violent crime now, what will happen when economic conditions in this country become far worse?

Yes, reform is desperately needed in police departments all over the nation.

But we should be incredibly thankful for the boys in blue, because they are putting their lives on the line for us on a daily basis.

When someone is trying to break into your home, you will definitely want someone to be there on the other end of the phone when you dial 911.

And the way things are going, more Americans than ever will be facing that sort of a scenario in 2021.

***Michael’s new book entitled “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.***

America The Fallen: 24 Signs That Our Once Proud Cities Are Turning Into Poverty-Stricken Hellholes

April 23, 2013April 23, 2013 by Michael

What is happening to you America? Once upon a time, the United States was a place where free enterprise thrived and the greatest cities that the world had ever seen sprouted up from coast to coast. Good jobs were plentiful and a manufacturing boom helped fuel the rise of the largest and most vibrant middle class in the history of the planet. Cities such as Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Philadelphia and Baltimore were all teeming with economic activity and the rest of the globe looked on our economic miracle with a mixture of wonder and envy. But now look at us. Our once proud cities are being transformed into poverty-stricken hellholes. Did you know that the city of Detroit once actually had the highest per-capita income in the United States? Looking at Detroit today, it is hard to imagine that it was once one of the most prosperous cities in the world. In fact, as you will read about later in this article, tourists now travel to Detroit from all over the globe just to see the ruins of Detroit. Sadly, the exact same thing that is happening to Detroit is happening to cities all over America. Detroit is just ahead of the curve. We are in the midst of a long-term economic collapse that is eating away at us like cancer, and things are going to get a lot worse than this. So if you still live in a prosperous area of the country, don’t laugh at what is happening to others. What is happening to them will be coming to your area soon enough.

The following are 24 signs that our once proud cities are turning into poverty-stricken hellholes…

#1 According to the New York Times, there are now approximately 70,000 abandoned buildings in Detroit.

#2 At this point, approximately one-third of Detroit’s 140 square miles is either vacant or derelict.

#3 Back during the housing bubble, an acre of land in downtown Phoenix, Arizona sold for about $90 a square foot. Today, an acre in downtown Phoenix sells for about $9 a square foot.

#4 The city of Chicago is so strapped for cash that it is planning to close 54 public schools. It is being estimated that Chicago schools will run a budget deficit of about a billion dollars in 2013.

#5 The city of Baltimore is already facing unfunded liabilities of more than 3.2 billion dollars, but the city government continues to pile up more debt as if it was going out of style.

#6 Today, the murder rate in East St. Louis is 17 times higher than the national average.

#7 According to USA Today, the “share of jobs located in or near a downtown declined in 91 of the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan areas” between 2000 and 2010.

#8 Between December 2000 and December 2010, 48 percent of the manufacturing jobs in the state of Michigan were lost.

#9 There are more than 85,000 streetlights in Detroit, but thieves have stripped so much copper wiring out of the lights that more than half of them are not working.

#10 The unemployment rate in El Centro, California is 24.2 percent, and the unemployment rate in Yuma, Arizona is an astounding 25.6 percent.

#11 It has been estimated that there are more than 1,000 homeless people living in the massive network of flood tunnels under the city of Las Vegas.

#12 Violent crime in the city of Oakland increased by 23 percent during 2012.

#13 If you can believe it, more than 11,000 homes, cars and businesses were burglarized in Oakland during 2012. That breaks down to approximately 33 burglaries a day.

#14 As I have written about previously, there are only about 200 police officers assigned to Chicago’s Gang Enforcement Unit to handle the estimated 100,000 gang members living in the city.

#15 The number of murders in Chicago last year was roughly equivalent to the number of murders in the entire country of Japan during 2012.

#16 The murder rate in Flint, Michigan is higher than the murder rate in Baghdad.

#17 If New Orleans was considered to be a separate nation, it would have the 2nd highest murder rate on the entire planet.

#18 According to the Justice Department’s National Drug Intelligence Center, Mexican drug cartels were actively operating in 50 different U.S. cities in 2006. By 2010, that number had skyrocketed to 1,286.

#19 Back in 2007, the number of New York City residents on food stamps was about 1 million. It is now being projected that the number of New York City residents on food stamps will pass the 2 million mark this summer.

#20 The number of homeless people sleeping in the homeless shelters of New York City has increased by a whopping 19 percent over the past year.

#21 As I noted yesterday, approximately one out of every three children in the United States currently lives in a home without a father.

#22 In Miami, 45 percent of the children are living in poverty.

#23 In Cleveland, more than 50 percent of the children are living in poverty.

#24 According to a recently released report, 60 percent of all children in the city of Detroit are living in poverty.

As I mentioned at the top of this article, the decline of the city of Detroit has become so famous that it has actually become a tourist attraction. The following is a short excerpt from an article in the New York Times…

But in Detroit, the tours go on, in an unofficial capacity. One afternoon at the ruins of the 3.5-million-square-foot Packard Plant, I ran into a family from Paris. The daughter said she read about the building in Lonely Planet; her father had a camcorder hanging around his neck. Another time, while conducting my own tour for a guest, a group of German college students drove up. When queried as to the appeal of Detroit, one of them gleefully exclaimed, “I came to see the end of the world!”

For much more on the shocking decline of one of America’s greatest cities, please see my previous article entitled “Bankrupt, Decaying And Nearly Dead: 24 Facts About The City Of Detroit That Will Shock You“.

So are there any areas of the country that are still thriving?

Well, yes, there are a few. In particular, those areas that are sitting on top of energy resources tend to be doing quite well for now.

One example is Texas. In recent years people have been absolutely flocking to the state. There are lots of energy jobs, the cost of living is low and there is no state income tax.

But overall, things are really tough out there. Over the past decade America has lost millions of good jobs to offshoring, advancements in technology and a declining economy.

Last year, the United States had a trade deficit with the rest of the world of more than half a trillion dollars. Overall, the U.S. has run a trade deficit with the rest of the world of more than 8 trillion dollars since 1975.

All of that money could have gone to U.S. businesses and U.S. workers. In turn, taxes would have been paid on all of that income which could have helped keep our cities great.

But instead, our politicians have stood idly by as we have lost tens of thousands of businesses and millions of jobs. If you can believe it, more than 56,000 manufacturing facilities have closed down permanently in the United States since 2001.

We have allowed our economic infrastructure to be absolutely gutted, and so we should not be surprised that our once proud cities are turning into poverty-stricken hellholes.

And this is just the beginning. The next wave of the economic collapse is rapidly approaching, and when it strikes unemployment in this country will eventually rise to a level that is more than double what it is now.

When that happens, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere near our rotting, decaying cities.