Cities of Decay By Chris Knight (Florida)

In my work, I frequently visit large, decaying US cities, such as New York, Los Angles and Chicago; add Baltimore to the list as well, perhaps the worst of the lot. These were once great cities, but migration, diversity politics, Leftism, and runaway crime, has pulled them way down. The only thing that seems to flourish in these cities are gigantic rats, and they are everywhere, boldly feeding on the rubbish and food scraps tossed by people who do not care, and have no sense of the common good, because there is nothing common anymore. Or good.

There is nothing new in the extract below by Christian social critic Michael Snyder, but it is a concise account of the plight of urban decay that is set to grip not only US cities, but also the large ones in Australia as well, such as Sydney and Melbourne, as mass immigration and lack of funds to upgrade infrastructure leads to the same sort of urban disintegration.

What to do? Clearly masses of Left-wing policies, such as mass immigration, and woke laws need to be reversed, and it will not happen overnight, so some places are going to collapse. In any cultural war, there will be casualties. We must try and save what we can.

https://michaeltsnyder.substack.com/p/which-major-city-will-completelyl

"In 2024, virtually all major U.S. cities have certain things in common. First of all, if you visit the downtown area of one of our major cities you are likely to see garbage, human excrement and graffiti all over the place. As you will see below, some of our core urban areas literally look like they belong in a third world country. Most of our politicians don't seem too concerned about doing anything to clean up all the filth, and so it shouldn't be a surprise that rat populations are absolutely exploding all over the country. In some of our largest cities, the total rat population is numbered in the millions. Meanwhile, rampant theft, out of control violence, endless migration, predatory gangs and the worst drug crisis in the entire history of our nation have combined to create a "perfect storm" of social decay that is unlike anything that any of us have ever seen before. Millions of law-abiding citizens and countless businesses have been fleeing America's largest cities, and property values in our core urban areas have been absolutely crashing. We really are in the early stages of a full-blown societal "collapse", and things just keep getting worse with each passing day.

In this article, I want to focus on the three largest metropolitan areas in the United States: New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.

John Williams recently took his camera with him as he walked through downtown Los Angeles, and he described what he witnessed as "hell"…

Decades of failed policies have transformed one of the greatest cities in the entire country into one of the worst.

At this point, theft has become so rampant that even the ultra-progressive politicians in California have come to the conclusion that something must be done.

So several bills that would "crack down on shoplifting" have been introduced in the state legislature…

Shoplifters beware.

The California Assembly has introduced a comprehensive package of seven bills aimed at addressing the rising concerns over retail theft across the state.

One of the key initiatives is Assembly Bill 2943, jointly authored by Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur (D) and Speaker Robert Rivas (D). The bill targets serial retail thieves by introducing a new crime with penalties of up to three years behind bars for possession of stolen property with intent to resell. It also allows for the aggregation of similar thefts from different victims to charge grand theft, under specific criteria.

Hopefully something will get done, because right now a criminal in the state of California can "literally walk into a retail store every single day of the year and steaI $949 worth of merchandise" and never spend a single minute in jail.

Los Angeles has become a paradise for shoplifters, but many would argue that things are even worse in the Big Apple.

As I discussed a few days ago, New York City has "a $4.4 billion shoplifting economy".

And approximately 90,000 packages are stolen in New York City every single day.

This is just one of the reasons why we have seen a mass exodus.

Countless New Yorkers have already left for greener pastures, and lots more are thinking of leaving…

About 7 million New Yorkers plan to leave the state, a new survey revealed this month.

In a new Marist poll, 37 percent of New Yorkers—roughly 7 million people—said they plan to move away. The number was slightly more concentrated among Republicans, as 46 percent said they plan to leave the state compared to just 29 percent of Democrats.

Unsurprisingly, many of those that are fleeing are heading to Florida…

For many, Florida remains one of the top places to move, but Southern states in general have been recording the biggest influx in transplants.

According to Realtor.com, Philadelphia, Miami, Atlanta, Tampa and Orlando remain some of the top locations for New Yorkers to start again.

I wouldn't want to live in the Big Apple either.

The rat problem alone would be enough for me to move.

It just continues to escalate, and politicians are now proposing to use "rat contraceptives" to deal with "the millions of rats lurking in subway stations and empty lots"…

In New York City, the idea to distribute rat contraceptives got fresh attention in city government Thursday following the death of an escaped zoo owl, known as Flaco, who was found dead with rat poison in his system.

City Council Member Shaun Abreu proposed a city ordinance Thursday that would establish a pilot program for controlling the millions of rats lurking in subway stations and empty lots by using birth control instead of lethal chemicals. Abreu, chair of the Committee on Sanitation and Solid Waste Management, said the contraceptives also are more ethical and humane than other methods.

Unfortunately, New York City doesn't have the worst rat problem in America.

That title actually belongs to the city of Chicago…

Chicago has once again been declared the rattiest city in the U.S. according to Orkin's annual ranking.

Los Angeles surpassed New York on this year's list now holding the #2 spot and bringing the Big Apple down to #3, Orkin shared.

Other notable shifts included Houston, which moved 10 spots up to #20, and Charlotte, North Carolina that rose 16 spots to #21.

Somehow, the rat problem in Chicago has gone to an entirely new level in 2024.

In fact, one local resident says that it is now the worst that she has ever seen in her entire lifetime…

A resurgence of rats has gotten out of control in Chicago's Portage Park neighborhood, multiple residents explained Friday as they called for city leaders to take further action.

Diana Gazda, a resident of the Far Northwest Side community for seven decades, said she has never seen an infestation like it.

"We never had a rat problem like this," she stated. "I've been here 71 years in my house."

In addition to being world famous for rats, the Windy City is also world famous for violence.

In Chicago, you can be gunned down at any time of the day or night.

Nobody is safe, and that is especially true for police officers…

A Chicago police officer was shot to death early Sunday in Gage Park on the Southwest Side in what sources are saying was an apparent carjacking.

Officers responded to a ShotSpotter alert about 2:55 a.m. and found Officer Luis Huesca with multiple gunshot wounds in the 3100 block of West 56th Street, a police spokesperson said in a statement.

Huesca, 30, was driving home from work, according to city officials. Huesca, who was still wearing his uniform, was taken to University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

So which of these cities will completely collapse first?

I think that is a very good question.

They are all headed downhill very rapidly, and they are all being run by radical leftists.

Of course the exact same things could be said about dozens of other U.S. cities.

For years, I have been warning my readers about the "cultural transformation" that has been taking place in America.

How we raise our kids really matters.

We have been failing them for decades, and now the consequences can be very clearly seen in the streets of our major cities.

A horrific societal collapse is upon us, and yet this nation continues to refuse to change direction."