Despite what The Hallmark Channel would like you to believe about the holiday season, it is far more often true that the weeks in between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day bring out the worst in us.

You see, the holidays are extremely stressful when it comes down to it.  There are immense social and familial pressures to succeed, and to do so in a spectacular fashion.  The purse strings tighten in one aspect of our lives to afford something special in other aspects, and this shuffling can cause a great deal of tumult.  For those already living paycheck to paycheck, these expectations can be absolutely heartbreaking.

And, with the Biden administration’s unwillingness to get inflation under control, some are even turning to flash mobs of crime in an attempt to offset these stressors.

In suburban Minneapolis, a large group of at least 30 people targeted a Best Buy in Burnsville, while a group of 10-12 people, including juveniles, targeted another Best Buy in Maplewood. No one has been arrested in connection to the incidents as of Saturday and there are no estimates on how much merchandise was stolen.

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“Across the board, retailers are getting more concerned with this growing trend. … It is definitely a tough problem to solve, given the organized nature and number of people involved in many of the incidents,” Chris Walton, a former Target executive who co-leads retail blog and podcast Omni Talk, said of the incidents, according to Star Tribune.

This week, one of these herd-looting incidents turned deadly.

The most tragic incident unfolded in California, when an Oakland security guard was fatally shot during an armed robbery while protecting a news crew covering a previous smash-and-grab theft.

“It is with the deepest sadness that I let you know security guard Kevin Nishita has passed away,” said Mark Neerman, vice president of news and news director at KPIX. “He died protecting one of our own, a colleague reporting on the very violence that took his life. I know you join me in sending condolences to his family and in sending thanks to Kevin for standing up for us all.”

Compounding the issue are lackadaisical corporate policies on theft that have forbidden store employees from confronting shoplifters, with larger companies simply comparing the cost of the lost merchandise against the cost of a settlement to those employees who may be injured, (or worse), during such incidents.

Despite what The Hallmark Channel would like you to believe about the holiday season, it is far more often true that the weeks in between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day bring out the worst in us. You see, the holidays are extremely stressful when it comes down to it.  There are immense social and familial pressures to succeed, and to do so in a spectacular fashion.  The purse strings tighten in one aspect of our lives to afford something special in other aspects, and this shuffling can cause a great deal of tumult.  For those already living paycheck to paycheck, these expectations can be absolutely heartbreaking. And, with the Biden administration’s unwillingness to get inflation under control, some are even turning to flash mobs of crime in an attempt to offset these stressors. In suburban Minneapolis, a large group of at least 30 people targeted a Best Buy in Burnsville, while a group of 10-12 people, including juveniles, targeted another Best Buy in Maplewood. No one has been arrested in connection to the incidents as of Saturday and there are no estimates on how much merchandise was stolen. “Across the board, retailers are getting more concerned with this growing trend. … It is definitely a tough problem to solve, given the organized nature and number of people involved in many of the incidents,” Chris Walton, a former Target executive who co-leads retail blog and podcast Omni Talk, said of the incidents, according to Star Tribune. This week, one of these herd-looting incidents turned deadly. The most tragic incident unfolded in California, when an Oakland security guard was fatally shot during an armed robbery while protecting a news crew covering a previous smash-and-grab theft. “It is with the deepest sadness that I let you know security guard Kevin Nishita has passed away,” said…

As with any tragedy that occurs here in the United States, there are political and cultural organizations and individuals looking to spin the Waukesha Christmas parade massacre into something that selfishly behooves their cause, and these suggestions are growing more offensive by the day.

The latest allegation comes from a self-proclaimed “militant” with the Black Lives Matter movement, who believes that the event may be the start of something much larger.

A Milwaukee Black Lives Matter activist said the Christmas parade attack in Waukesha, Wisconsin, appears to signal “the revolution” may have begun.

“I don’t know. Now we’ll have to wait and see because they do have somebody in custody. We may have to wait and see what they say about why this happened,” Vaun Mayes said on Facebook Live on Monday. “But it sounds possible that the revolution has started in Wisconsin. It started with this Christmas parade.”

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Mayes is a well-known activist in Milwaukee. He describes himself as a “Battle rapper, Community activist, Songwriter, Tattoo artist, Militant,” in his Twitter bio, which is accompanied by various hashtags, including “#BlackLivesMatter,” “#BlackLoveMatters” and “#RBG.”

Mayes would go on to parrot a largely-condemned suggestion that the attack was meant as revenge for the verdict in the Kyle Rittenhouse murder trial.

“I said I wasn’t going to speak on no rumors. Y’all are repeating some of the stuff that, you know, that has come up. And I can tell you that the initial person who reached out to me said that they believe that this has to do with the verdict, and so I made an assumption of which side it would be from, but I don’t know,” he added in the video, referring to the not-guilty verdict of Kyle Rittenhouse. The video was filmed at the scene of the parade attack.

These comments speak to a larger issue here in the US, in which many on the left side of the aisle are continuing to turn toward violent rhetoric, and away from the principles of liberty and justice for all.

As with any tragedy that occurs here in the United States, there are political and cultural organizations and individuals looking to spin the Waukesha Christmas parade massacre into something that selfishly behooves their cause, and these suggestions are growing more offensive by the day. The latest allegation comes from a self-proclaimed “militant” with the Black Lives Matter movement, who believes that the event may be the start of something much larger. A Milwaukee Black Lives Matter activist said the Christmas parade attack in Waukesha, Wisconsin, appears to signal “the revolution” may have begun. “I don’t know. Now we’ll have to wait and see because they do have somebody in custody. We may have to wait and see what they say about why this happened,” Vaun Mayes said on Facebook Live on Monday. “But it sounds possible that the revolution has started in Wisconsin. It started with this Christmas parade.” Mayes is a well-known activist in Milwaukee. He describes himself as a “Battle rapper, Community activist, Songwriter, Tattoo artist, Militant,” in his Twitter bio, which is accompanied by various hashtags, including “#BlackLivesMatter,” “#BlackLoveMatters” and “#RBG.” Mayes would go on to parrot a largely-condemned suggestion that the attack was meant as revenge for the verdict in the Kyle Rittenhouse murder trial. “I said I wasn’t going to speak on no rumors. Y’all are repeating some of the stuff that, you know, that has come up. And I can tell you that the initial person who reached out to me said that they believe that this has to do with the verdict, and so I made an assumption of which side it would be from, but I don’t know,” he added in the video, referring to the not-guilty verdict of Kyle Rittenhouse. The video was filmed at the scene of the parade attack.…