© GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP / STEPHANIE KEITH
New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez suggested over the weekend that the crime surge in New York City is likely because struggling residents are forced to shoplift in order to "feed their child."
In a virtual town hall meeting she hosted Thursday, some clips of which were
shared by The Hill, the 30-year-old Democratic congresswoman was asked about the troubling uptick in violent crimes overtaking the city.
"Do we think this has to do with the fact that there's record unemployment in the United States right now?" she responded. "The fact that people are at a level of economic desperation that we have not seen since the Great Recession?"
"Maybe this has to do with the fact that people aren't paying their rent and are scared to pay their rent and so they go out, and they need to feed their child and they don't have money," Ocasio-Cortez continued, "so they feel like they either need to shoplift some bread or go hungry."
The New York Police Department (NYPD) has reported a staggering increase in
shootings and violent crimes in recent weeks, as officials warn there's "a storm on the horizon" amid calls for changes.
On Saturday,
the New York Post reported 15 shootings in 15 hours, just one week after the city saw a bloody July Fourth weekend with
44 shootings and at least eight killed.
The congresswoman and vocal supporter of the "defund police" movement insisted, however, that the crime spike is unrelated to the
$1 billion NYPD budget cuts announced by Mayor Bill de Blasio, which have not yet taken effect, she claimed.
The New York Democrat recently
spoke out against the budget cuts, arguing that they don't go far enough to entirely defund the department, and accused de Blasio of using "budget tricks" and "funny math" in the calculation.
When asked later to comment on the issue, the congresswoman told viewers: "When people ask me 'What does a world where we defund the police look like?', I tell them it looks like a suburb."
Reader Comments
Then again AOC is popular enough in NY to win lots of votes, so I'm guessing the voters like this kind of thing and don't mind the shootings or being shot at - not my cuppa tea, but each to their own.
Especially authoritarian dictators used to come up with equally ridiculous excuses and scapegoats. And their followers persecuted and killed millions in consequence.
Considering the source (Fox), I would go for the "insideous" option...
Detroit residents protest after cops kill Hakim Littleton - who pulled gun and shot at officers
A crowd swelled along the line of police tape on Friday afternoon as rain fell near where a man was fatally shot by Detroit police. "Say his name," the crowd yelled, before responding to their own...When will it be time to split the country in half and let the left eat itself?