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New York City is losing drugstores as retail theft continues to surge. Gotham has logged 21,578 shoplifting complaints this year through May 12, up 5% from the 20,552 thefts during the same period last year. Manhattan has seen 8,896 incidents of retail theft alone. Crime is so rampant, national chains like Target, CVS and Walgreens are closing locations and tempering expansion plans. Target announced at the end of last year the closure of nine stores across four states, including one in Harlem, due to theft.

President Joe Biden on Friday rejected participation in more debates, which former President Donald Trump said Biden agreed to attend. NBC News and Telemundo would have hosted the first presidential event, NBC News confirmed, while Fox News at Virginia State University would have hosted a vice presidential debate at a historically black college. Trump announced the now-defunct agreement Friday. “I have accepted a fourth Presidential Debate against Crooked Joe Biden, this time with NBC & Telemundo,” Trump said: It is important as Republicans that we WIN with our Great Hispanic Community, who Biden has devastated with Crippling Inflation, High Gas...

Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said Friday on MSNBC’s “Deadline” that Democrats need to make the Supreme Court an election issue. Blumenthal said, “What I think we need to do now is put the Supreme Court on the ballot, say that membership on the Supreme Court is going to be a lasting impact of this election, and that the choices as to who will replace the current justices likely will be made by the next president. The choices we make in this election will determine whether or not the Supreme Court really reflects America. As to its plummeting support in the...

ROME — Pope Francis told CBS anchor Norah O’Donnell that conservatives are willfully blind and manifest a “suicidal attitude” in their narrowmindedness. In an interview set to air Sunday on 60 Minutes, the pope asserts that a conservative “is someone who clings to something and does not want to see beyond that. It is a suicidal attitude.” “One thing is to take tradition into account and consider situations from the past but quite another is to be closed up inside a dogmatic box,” he adds. The Pope addresses his conservative critics in the church. “Conservative is one who clings to...

Just what is former Gov. Andrew Cuomo up to these days? It sure seems like he’s gearing up for another run — but under which political party? The first clue is his bid at massive COVID revisionism. In a recent interview, Cuomo claimed he hadn’t forced anyone to close their business or wear a mask, and in fact had no power to do so. Indeed, to hear Cuomo tell it, people all did it voluntarily. Please. For those of us who lived through Cuomo’s New York in 2020 and haven’t somehow had our memories erased, the truth was quite different.

Vice President Kamala Harris has joked about returning to California to run for governor in 2026 when incumbent Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) ends his second and final term. Politico reported on Thursday, in an overview of potential gubernatorial candidates, that the former California Attorney General and U.S. Senator could make a run: Vice President Kamala Harris has joked to friends that she may return to California to run for governor if Democrats lose the White House this fall, taking a page from Richard Nixon, two people familiar with her remarks said.

Almost a dozen Republican lawmakers trekked up to New York City on Thursday to support former President Donald Trump as he faces charges of falsifying business records years ago, brought by a Democrat district attorney in the midst of the 2024 presidential election. The lawmakers included Reps. Andy Biggs (AZ), Lauren Boebert (CO), Michael Cloud (TX), Eli Crane (AZ), Matt Gaetz (FL), Bob Good (VA), Diana Harshbarger (TN), Anna Paulina Luna (FL), Ralph Norman (SC), Andy Ogles (TN), and Mike Waltz (FL). pic.twitter.com/cbb123Vk49 — Jason Miller (@JasonMillerinDC) May 16, 2024 “The cavalry has arrived to the courthouse,” a Gaetz aide...

The House Judiciary Committee passed a resolution on Thursday to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress for failing to disclose audio recordings of President Joe Biden’s interview with special counsel Robert Hur. The full House must approve the resolution, which is largely symbolic, to officially hold Garland in contempt. Republicans maintain a narrow majority in the House to pass the resolution. Garland would follow Eric Holder, Obama’s attorney general, and Bill Bar, Trump’s attorney general, to be held in contempt if the House passes the resolution. Garland defied a final warning in April to comply with a...

The “floating pier” built by the U.S. Navy off the coast of Gaza was completed on Thursday, and connected to the shore by Israel Defense Forces (IDF) troops. President Joe Biden announced the port project in his State of the Union address in March to augment land routes to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza. He promised that there would be no American “boots on the ground”; the U.S. is relying on the IDF to provide onshore security for the port. Today at approximately 7:40 a.m. (Gaza time) United States Central Command personnel supporting the humanitarian mission to deliver additional humanitarian...

Former President Jimmy Carter hasn’t seen any “significant change” in his health, despite his grandson warning again this week that the 99-year-old’s life was “coming to the end,” according to the director of the former commander in chief’s namesake nonprofit organization. Carter remains “at home, enjoying peanut butter ice cream and getting the food he wants any time he wants it,” Carter Center CEO Paige Alexander told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Politically Georgia podcast Wednesday. “It’s 15 months of hospice at this point, and he is fully retired,” Alexander explained. “There really hasn’t been a significant change. I mean, he will...

The Dow Jones Industrial Average eclipsed 40,000 points for the first time in its history Thursday as Wall Street cheered slowing inflation and potential for lower interest rates. The iconic stock index was up roughly 111 points shortly before 11 a.m. Thursday, reaching about 40,020 points. The Dow was created in 1895 and includes the 30 most prominent U.S. companies as determined by S&P Dow Jones Indicies. The Dow is up 6 percent since the start of 2024 as investors eagerly await Federal Reserve rate cuts, which could add more fuel to the stock market. While the Fed has held...

New York City’s public school system has received billions of dollars in additional funding since 2020 — despite enrollment cratering by nearly 100,000 students during that time, an analysis released Wednesday reveals. Per-student spending at K-12 Department of Education schools is expected to hit $39,304 in the upcoming fiscal year 2025 budget — a massive 26.3% increase, equating to $8,185 more per student since 2020, the “Did You Know” study by the Citizens Budget Commission found. Mayor Eric Adams proposed a 10.2% increase or $2.1 billion more in city taxpayer funding for the Big Apple public school system — which...

A demonic dog inspired him to kill, but now he’s driven by a diary. Son of Sam serial killer David Berkowitz compared his decades behind bars to Anne Frank’s “inspirational” writings — days before the self-proclaimed “father figure” is set to face the parole board. “My favorite book is the Holy Bible. But the most inspirational book for me throughout my years of incarceration is ‘Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl,’” Berkowitz told The Post this week. “Young Anne wrote her diary while in captivity. She shared her heart within its pages,” the 70-year-old wrote from the maximum-security...

Former George W. Bush adviser Karl Rove said Wednesday on Fox News Channel’s “America Reports” that President Joe Biden had to agree to debate former President Donald Trump because his numbers were “bad.” Rove said, “Not surprised there will be debates but I am surprised that Vice President Biden woke up to the fact that he was looking like he was trying to avoid debates. If there had not been debates whoever the American public held responsible for the absence of debates would suffer in the polls. He is finding his numbers bad enough already and probably decided I better...

Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) said Wednesday on MSNBC’s “Chris Jansing Reports” that former President Donald Trump can’t rely on cheering crowds at the upcoming presidential debate with President Joe Biden. Host Stephanie Ruhle said, “There’s talk today about a presidential debate maybe as early as June. I know debates were important to you. They certainly got you a lot of momentum in 2012. Do you think they matter today? In many ways we know a lot about the two people running. do you think it will impact votes, maybe even your vote? ”

CNN is President Joe Biden’s preferred network to host at least one presidential debate, he said Wednesday. CNN’s Jake Tapper and Dana Bash will host, according to Puck News.SCOOP @PuckNews: CNN’s JAKE TAPPER and DANA BASH will moderate the first presidential debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump on June 27. Full details & more scoops in tonight’s edition of In The Room. Subscribe here: https://t.co/aUkyssMv7F — Dylan Byers (@DylanByers) May 15, 2024 Biden’s preferred network, CNN, with sinking ratings, is known to push hoaxes, according to Breitbart News’s John Nolte’s list, “THIS IS CNN”:

Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said Wednesday on CNN’s “Inside Politics” that she would recommend against President Joe Biden debating former President Donald Trump. Political analyst Nia-Malika Henderson said, “Donald Trump is going to throw everything at the wall.” Host Dana Bash said, “Well, on that note, I want you guys to listen to what Nancy Pelosi told our Manu Raju, after hearing about these debates.” On Capitol Hill, Pelosi said, “I myself would never recommend going on with stage with Donald Trump, but the president has it is decided that’s what he wants to do. I think format he has...

President Joe Biden’s campaign demanded a ban on audiences during the proposed presidential debates with former President Donald Trump. The demand appears to be designed to reduce the risk of any Biden protestors attending the event. Anti-Israel protestors often appear at Biden’s public events. In a letter to the Commission on Presidential Debates, the Biden campaign said it was providing notice that it would not participate in commission debates. The campaign said Biden would only participate in network debates. The Trump campaign has yet to sign off on Biden’s proposal. “The Commission’s model of building huge spectacles with large audiences...

Michael Cohen and Rosie O’Donnell have reportedly struck an unlikely friendship, with the comedian texting Cohen “I love you” as he appeared as a witness in the criminal case against his ex-boss, former President Donald Trump. O’Donnell texted Cohen on Monday morning before he took the stand in a Manhattan courtroom, writing, “breathe — relax — tell the truth — u got this — i love u,” according to a report by DNyuz. An hour later, O’Donnell reportedly texted Cohen, “Ur doing great,” to which the former Trump attorney replied, “Thank you and truly love you.”

Credit card delinquencies are on the rise, as research from the New York Federal Reserve shows nearly a fifth of borrowers are “maxed-out.” According the new report, issued by the bank’s Center for Microeconomic Data, household debt rose by 1.1 percent, or $184 billion, in the first quarter of the year, bringing the total to $17.69 trillion. “In the first quarter of 2024, credit card and auto loan transition rates into serious delinquency continued to rise across all age groups,” Joelle Scally, regional economic principal within the household and public policy research division at the bank, said in a statement....