Editor’s note: Actor Steve Buscemi was the victim of an assault on Wednesday, according to his publicist. “Steve Buscemi was assaulted in Mid-Town Manhattan, another victim of a random act of violence in the city. He is ok and appreciates everyone’s well wishes, though incredibly sad for everyone that this has happened to while also walking the streets of NY,” Buscemi’s publicist said, according to Fox News Digital. This assault is part of an increasing trend of violent assaults taking place in New York City, many seemingly at random. Jarrett Stepman explained what’s driving this phenomenon in a commentary piece published on April 2. Here is the piece, republished below. “How many more police officers and how many families need to make the ultimate sacrifice before we start protecting them?” Stephanie Diller asked in a moving eulogy to her slain NYPD officer husband. This past weekend a funeral was held for Officer Jonathan Diller, who was fatally shot during a traffic stop in Far Rockaway, Queens, in March. The event was attended by hundreds of police officers and a few politicians. Some of those politicians, among them New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, weren’t exactly warmly welcomed. That shouldn’t be a surprise, as the top officials in New York seem more consumed by their ideological, banana republic-style crusades against former President Donald Trump and his supporters than in dealing with escalating chaos in the city. One of Diller’s alleged assailants, Lindy Jones, a man who goes by the street name “Killa,” according to the New York Post—yes, really—had at least 14 prior arrests and was out on bail on a gun-possession charge last year. The man who police say fired the gun, Guy Rivera, had more than 20 prior arrests, according to Mayor Eric Adams. That highlights a perverse problem that increasingly plagues New York and other big, Democrat-run cities: repeat offenders being released from jail, committing more crimes, and creating more victims. It’s no accident that Daniel Penny, who inadvertently killed a homeless man while trying to protect subway passengers, faces prosecution but countless, repeat criminals end up back on the streets.  That is leftist “social justice” in action. Oh, but our media gatekeepers of left-wing narratives say that the surge in crime is all fake news, a right-wing conspiracy. People with two eyes and common sense aren’t buying it. “New York City is in the midst of a surge of violent behavior,” wrote City Journal editor Seth Barron on Wednesday. “An NYPD officer was murdered this week on the same day that a man was pushed to his death in front of a subway car. The same day saw multiple, unrelated stabbings in the subway system.” You have to be willfully blind not to notice that more brazen, violent incidents are taking place, often in broad daylight. Barron explained how New York, which became one of America’s safest big cities thanks to the adoption of anti-crime policies a few decades ago under then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani, is now sliding backward. The city is now seeing the “steady and methodical decomposition of the machinery of public order,” Barron wrote. It’s worth quoting Barron at length on how New York is slowly disavowing the policies that allow it to maintain order: The City Council has passed legislation effectively legalizing public drinking, littering, graffiti, and urination. The Council has interposed itself between police and the public with a host of reporting requirements, the intent of which is to dissuade cops from interacting with people in the first place.  Stop-and-frisk, a constitutionally permitted practice, has been virtually eliminated, and the NYPD has been placed under federal monitorship. That’s not all. The city also has passed so-called bail reform and reduced penalties for shoplifting.  How is that working out? New York has had the largest increase in shoplifting of any city since 2019. And most of those crimes are being committed by the same small group of people. “According to NYC Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell, nearly one-third of the city’s shoplifting arrests last year involved just 327 people,” Outkick reported last April. “Collectively, those same 327 people were arrested, released and rearrested more than 6,000 times. That’s more than 18 arrests per person. In a single year.” The problem is not just that crime is increasing in the aggregate sense. It’s the general feeling of anarchy and lawlessness that people now feel because of wrongheaded policies. The crime that perhaps most symbolizes the rapid disintegration of public safety is women getting randomly punched in the face, often while they’re looking down at their cellphones. “I was literally just walking, and a man came up and punched me in the face. Oh, my god, it hurts so bad, I can’t even talk,” said 23-year-old Halley Kate in recent video that went viral. She had a massive lump on her head. Now, I must admit that I secretly harbor fantasies of shoving young people slowly ambling along the sidewalk, looking down at their phones in a state of obliviousness. But as a civilized man, I keep my heart of darkness under control. Not so with a growing number of men who have decided to just unleash haymakers on defenseless, unsuspecting women. Incredibly, it seems that some of the men who have committed these violent assaults have been released without bail, despite prior arrests for violent assault. New York City is becoming sucker punch city, where illegal aliens and criminals come first, and law-abiding citizens and police officers come last. This issue isn’t going to be fixed by having National Guardsmen rifle through women’s purses in the subway system. It gets solved when the people committing crimes are seriously punished for committing crimes. It gets solved when the district attorney holds people responsible for their actions. Unless and until that change happens, New York and plenty of other cities that have been at the forefront of the “progressive” justice movement will suffer increasing anarchy, fear, and violence. The post Actor Steve Buscemi Assaulted in New York. Here’s How the Big Apple Became Sucker Punch City. appeared first on The Daily Signal.

With the flurry of information that goes around before a presidential election, it can be hard to know what's true and what's simply conjecture. One thing is for certain; if CNN is willing to admit that their darling President Joe Biden is doing bad, he's doing very bad. Presidential polling...

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has collected enough signatures to qualify for the ballot in Texas, his campaign said. “Independent Presidential Candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Vice Presidential Candidate Nicole Shanahan today visited the Texas Secretary of State office and turned in 245,572 signatures — twice as many as are required — to gain ballot access in Texas,” RFK Jr.’s campaign stated in a press release. “Today, Nicole and I turned in 245,572 signatures — twice as many as are required — to gain ballot access in Texas. Thank you Lone Star State,” RFK Jr. said. Today, Nicole and I turned in 245,572 signatures — twice as many as are required — to gain ballot access in Texas. Thank you Lone Star State. #KennedyShanahan24 pic.twitter.com/sheMdeVsVd — Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) May 13, 2024 Per Kennedy24: Kennedy is the first independent presidential candidate to make the Texas ballot in more than two decades since Pat Buchanan’s presidential run in 2000. The signature requirement then was just over 56,000, now it’s 113,151. “RFK Jr. has drawn a line in the sand reminiscent of the determination of our Texas forebears,” said National Field Director Andy Griffith. “It’s time Texans declare independence from the limitations of partisan politics and vote for new leadership.” The Kennedy campaign has launched a robust ballot access plan to ensure the Kennedy-Shanahan ticket is on the ballot in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. BREAKING: RFK JR. SECURES TEXAS BALLOT SPOT Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his running mate Nicole Shanahan have successfully gathered 245,572 signatures, ensuring their place on Texas' presidential ballot. pic.twitter.com/TvmCVjQR1S — Kacee Allen (@KaceeRAllen) May 13, 2024 The former Democrat candidate’s campaign said it’s officially on the ballot in six states – Utah, Michigan, California, Delaware, Oklahoma, and now Texas. RFK Jr.’s campaign said it collected enough signatures for ballot access in eight other states – New Hampshire, Nevada, Hawaii, North Carolina, Idaho, Nebraska, Iowa, and Ohio. The Hill reports: The Texas Secretary of State’s Office confirmed it received the petition but could not confirm the number of listed signatures. Texas, which has the second-highest number of electoral college votes with 40 votes, is the 14th state where the independent candidate has claimed ballot access so far. That list also includes California, which has the most electoral college votes in the country with 54 votes. He is the first independent presidential candidate to gain access to the Texas ballot since Pat Buchanan ran for the Oval Office in 2000, Kennedy’s campaign said. While Kennedy, who switched from the Democratic party to an independent last fall, is vying for access to all 50 states, political strategists predict he likely only needs a few significant states to create a “spoiler” effect. Spear told The Hill last week that Kennedy’s campaign is seeking to “pull votes away from disenfranchised votes of both President Biden and President Trump.”

MUSLIM Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has pledged to build 46,000 government-funded, rent-controlled homes EXCUSLIVELY FOR MUSLIMS so they can live near mosques and other Muslims.

By threatening to stop arms shipments to Israel whose funding has already been approved by Congress and threatening to withhold vital information about the location of Hamas terrorists unless Israel surrenders, Joe Biden has demonstrated a gross abuse of power that constitutes a serious impeachable offense.

We have seen many anti-Trump protest votes, but the polls now reflect many more anti-Biden protest votes. Biden promised to bring back decency and peace. He did the opposite. Biden gave us open borders without vetting, a frightening economy, wars, and crazy pronouns while putting males in female sports. Trump’s numbers in the swing states […] The post New Polls Don’t Look Great for Joe Biden appeared first on www.independentsentinel.com.