Canadian police arrested eight teenage girls who know each other through social media for allegedly "swarming" a homeless man on the streets of Toronto and brutally stabbing him to death. 

Three 13-year-old girls, three 14-year-old girls, and two 16-year-old girls have each been charged with second-degree murder in the deadly stabbing of a 59-year-old man living in the homeless shelter system shortly after midnight Sunday, according to an announcement by the Toronto Police Service on Tuesday. 

Police withheld the names of the eight minor suspects under Canada’s Youth Criminal Justice Act, which prevents their publication. The name of the victim was initially held pending next of kin notification. 

At a press conference Tuesday, Det. Sgt. Terry Browne of the Homicide and Missing Persons Unit declined to describe the group of girls as a gang, saying they carried out a "swarming-type behavior." 

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"From what we gathered so far, is that they met each other through social media. They come from varying parts of the city. That’s to say they’re not from one specific geographic location. We don’t know how or why they met on that evening or why the destination was downtown Toronto," Browne said. "We don’t know how long they’ve been acquainted together with each other. But I wouldn’t describe them as a gang at this point." 

"What they are alleged to have occurred that evening would be consistent with what we would traditionally call a swarming or a swarming-type behavior," he added. 

A Toronto resident, the victim had only been living in the shelter system since late fall of this year. 

"He does have a very supportive family in the area, so I wouldn't necessarily call him homeless, maybe just recently on some hard luck," Browne said. 

Three of the suspects have had prior contact with Toronto Police Services, but the other five had no prior contact with police whatsoever, Browne said. "A number of weapons" were secured from the girls at the time of arrest, Browne added, declining to go into more details at that time. 

At approximately 12:17 a.m. Sunday, police responded to a call for an assault in the York Street and University Avenue area. Emergency medical personnel were initially flagged down by a group of individuals reporting the stabbing. The man was transported to the hospital by medics with life-threatening injuries. He was pronounced dead a short time later at the hospital. The eight teen girls were subsequently arrested nearby, police said. 

They appeared at Old City Hall for a 10 a.m. court hearing later Sunday and remanded into custody. Their next court appearance is scheduled for Dec. 29. Police are seeking assistance from anyone who had contact with the suspects that night and are trying to obtain for any video surveillance footage that might have captured the brutal attack. 

The suspects are believed to have first arrived in the area around 10:30 p.m. Saturday and are believed to have been involved in an earlier altercation in the time leading up to the fatal stabbing. 

Kids love Santa. They don’t have to work for the stuff on their Christmas lists; he just gives it to them.

In many states, gratuitous welfare benefits have made that childhood fantasy an adult reality. Professor Casey Mulligan of the University of Chicago and I have found that some families can receive the annualized equivalent of a six-figure income with no one working – and you’re paying for it.

During the pandemic, idled workers received unemployment "bonuses" so high that many were pocketing more than twice what they had been making on the job. Even without these extra weekly payments, unemployment benefits can reach unexpected high levels in many states. In New Jersey, for instance, a family of four with no one working can receive unemployment benefits equivalent to a job paying over $96,000. That’s more than the median household earns in wages and benefits combined.

High unemployment benefits are not unique to the Garden State. In 13 states, a family can receive annualized unemployment benefits worth more than the median household income. The value of unemployment benefits comes not just from their sheer size, but their tax advantages as well. Unlike earned income, unemployment benefits are exempt from payroll taxes, and six states also exempt them from the respective state income tax.

UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS AND OBAMACARE SUBSIDIES OUTPACE MEDIAN INCOME IN SEVERAL STATES, STUDY FINDS

And while the pandemic-related unemployment benefits have ended, the Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare") subsidies have just kept expanding. A program that was sold to the American people as a hand up for the poor has quickly been transformed into a handout for upper income earners.

In some parts of the country, a family of four earning over half a million dollars still qualifies for Obamacare subsidies. Those with a quarter million-dollar income qualify in nearly the entire country.

The annualized value of these healthcare subsidies and unemployment benefits for a family of four can exceed a six-figure income. In Washington state, the amount is more than $122,000, substantially more than many blue-collar incomes.

In fact, it is 32 percent more than the wages and benefits of the median household; 51 percent more than the median secondary school teacher’s wages and benefits; 95 percent more the median machinist’s salary and benefits, and 220 percent more than the median retail associate’s salary and benefits.

But Washington state is not alone. In 29 states, unemployment benefits and Obamacare subsidies are worth more than the wages and benefits earned by the median firefighter or truckdriver. In 14 states, these two programs pay annualized benefits exceeding the wages and benefits of the median electrician.

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While our study examined only two welfare programs that are not means-tested, there is an entire suite of means-tested programs for which many people are eligible, and which together provide a surprisingly high standard of living.

In Loudoun County, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C., you can receive over $25,000 in annual rental assistance alone – and that is just one program. Add to that food stamps, which have just been expanded, and subsidies for everything from education to transportation, and you have not just a robust social safety net but a perverse incentive not to work because even a small amount of income disqualifies you from receiving these means-tested benefits.

Many economists have been scratching their heads, wondering why so many workers are sitting on the sidelines today, despite four-decade-high inflation and the resulting record-high number of unfilled job openings. The expansion of welfare benefits—both in terms of eligibility and size of benefits—has provided a substantial disincentive to working. Businesses must not only compete against one another for workers, but against the dole as well.

While Americans are preparing for the most expensive Christmas ever, they are justifiably frustrated that they are working hard to earn a living while being forced to support so many others who aren’t working. That’s what happens when liberals play Santa Claus with your tax dollars.

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