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San Francisco's slide into hell under extreme leftism


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2021 Apr 15, 9:51pm   116,176 views  945 comments

by Patrick   ➕follow (55)   💰tip   ignore  

https://www.nationalreview.com/magazine/2021/04/19/chesa-boudins-dangerous-san-francisco/

‘Hey, where are you?” Hannah Ege texted her husband, Sheria Musyoka. He’d left on a morning jog and had been gone for an hour and a half. Hannah was home, taking care of their three-year-old son. She began to freak out. She called and texted and called again. He never answered.

Speeding and drunk — at just shy of eight in the morning — Jerry Lyons barreled through a red light at an intersection in a stolen Ford Explorer. Lyons struck and killed Musyoka, a 26-year-old Dartmouth grad who had moved to San Francisco only ten days earlier with his wife and their son. After clipping Musyoka, Lyons collided with another car, causing an eight-car pileup that sent several other people to the hospital.

The San Francisco police arrested Lyons on multiple charges that morning in February, but this was not the first time he’d been arrested for drunk driving in a stolen car. On December 3, he had been arrested for driving under the influence, driving a stolen vehicle, and driving without a license. Before that, he’d been released from prison after serving time for a grand-theft conviction; in fact, Lyons had been arrested at least seven times in the Bay Area since his release from prison, and his rap sheet goes back a decade. Still, San Francisco’s district attorney, Chesa Boudin, delayed pressing charges against Lyons until a toxicology report confirmed that he had been inebriated, which, more than a month and a half later in January, it did. Lyons then had 14 days to turn himself in to the DA’s office. On the 13th day, he killed Musyoka. While COVID-era difficulties might have accounted for the medical examiner’s slow speed in returning test results, a different DA could have chosen to move forward sooner — taking necessary precautions — and charged Lyons with a DUI based on observable factors alone, such as the results of Lyons’s field sobriety test, his erratic driving in a stolen vehicle, and close scrutiny of his behavior.

Hannah Ege expressed her grief and pain to a local TV news station, railing at the district attorney’s reluctance to lock up repeat offenders. Whom does she blame for her husband’s death? “The DA,” she said. “This freak accident was no freak accident. It was someone who was out in the public who should not have been out in public.”

The Lyons mayhem is not an isolated case in the city by the bay. On New Year’s Eve, a parolee on the run from a robbery — also in a stolen car — sped through a red light, striking and killing two women, 60-year-old Elizabeth Platt and 27-year-old Hanako Abe, who were in the crosswalk. The driver, Troy McAlister, had been released twice by the district attorney in the previous year: the first time because Boudin refuses to pursue three-strike cases, of which McAlister’s was one; the second — as recently as December 20, when the SFPD arrested McAlister for driving a stolen car — because Boudin kicked the case to the state parole officers, who did nothing.

Welcome to San Francisco’s latest idiocy, a new experiment in governance where everything is allowed but nothing is permitted. A paradox, you might say, but take a walk down Market Street, down that great avenue in a great city in a great nation, and note the desolation of the empty streets, the used needles tossed on the sidewalks, and the boarded-up windows on storefronts. Consider that, at various unpredictable times in the last year, it has been illegal — for the sake of public safety during COVID — to run a mom-and-pop corner shop or to serve food at sidewalk cafés. Reflect for a moment that, since time immemorial, it has been illegal to build any new housing, because of the most onerous and confusing zoning laws in the known universe. Mark Zuckerberg can apparently influence national elections by tweaking algorithms, but he is powerless before the planning commission when it comes to building apartments for his employees. The city has banned plastic straws, plastic bags, and McDonald’s Happy Meals with toys. And yet, all the while, drug dealers sell their wares — COVID or no COVID — openly and freely at all hours of the day and night, users shoot up or pop fentanyl in public and defecate on the street, robbers pillage cars and homes with the ease of Visigoth raiders, and the district attorney frees repeat offenders who go on to sow disorder, pain, devastation, and grief. A profound melancholy hangs in the air of this city, punctuated only by the shrieks of a junkie dreaming of demons or by the rat-tat-tat-bam of the occasional firework. (Or was that a gun?) ...

How did it come to this? On January 8, 2020, Mayor London Breed swore in Chesa Boudin as the new district attorney of San Francisco in front of a packed house at the Herbst Theater. Boudin won the election by a nose in a runoff, with oily promises to feel the pain of all parties to a crime, both victims and perpetrators. He made pledges to enact “restorative justice” and prison reform through “decarceration.” U.S. Supreme Court justice Sonia Sotomayor recorded a congratulatory video message, which was played at the swearing-in ceremony for Boudin and the crowd. “Chesa, you have undertaken a remarkable challenge today,” the justice said. “The hope you reflect is a great beacon to many.”

The task before Boudin was already monumental. Before he assumed his office, San Francisco ranked No. 1 in the nation in property crime. On average, thieves broke 60 car windows per day, with impunity. In 2014, California voters approved Proposition 47, a reform measure that reduced many felonies to ticketed misdemeanors, such as theft of less than $950 and hard-drug possession. There were more drug addicts on the streets than there were students in the schools. Tent encampments of homeless people had sprouted in every nook and alley and under every highway overpass. Commuters faced a daily gauntlet in the form of an appalling humanitarian crisis in the streets.

But Boudin immediately refused to take any responsibility for these issues. Among his first acts was to fire seven veteran prosecutors who were not on board with his radical views. (Over 30 prosecutors have left during his tenure because they don’t want to work for him.) Next, Boudin abolished the cash-bail system, so offenders are able to walk free after arrest. He rarely brings a case to trial: Out of the 6,333 cases to land on his desk since taking office, he has gone to trial only 23 times. This is one-tenth the rate of his predecessor, George Gascón, who was hardly tough on crime. Since the killing of George Floyd, there has been a shortage of cops, as officers retire in record numbers. San Francisco has also moved to defund the police, with plans to shift $120 million in law-enforcement funding to restorative-justice programs, housing support, and a guaranteed-income pilot, among other ideas.

To where does Boudin’s “great beacon” point? Over the last year, there have been more deaths from drug overdoses in San Francisco than from COVID-19. Walgreens has closed ten of its drugstores in the city because its shelves were being pillaged freely by shoplifters. According to SFPD’s CompStat, compared with last year, arson has increased 52 percent, motor-vehicle theft is up 21 percent, and burglaries have seen a 59 percent increase. One largely Asian neighborhood, the Richmond district, has reported a 342 percent spike in burglaries this year compared with last. Admittedly, some numbers are down, such as those for larceny and robbery. But police attribute these declines to the pandemic, since there are fewer opportunities for would-be criminals to commit such crimes as people shelter in place. One neighborhood association sent a letter in February to Boudin and Mayor Breed, begging them to restore public safety. The association also posted it on the Internet. “Our neighborhood can’t wait another day,” they wrote. “Our homes are repeatedly broken into and robbed. Our merchants suffer unsustainable losses from theft and smashed windows. Employees are threatened with guns. Residents are robbed at gunpoint on our own streets. The sound of gunshots is no longer unusual.” ...

Now, what rough beast slouches its way towards San Francisco? With a district attorney who won’t prosecute crimes, how long will it be until an anxious Google engineer defends himself from being harassed by a madman? Will envious arsonists light the Salesforce Tower on fire as a jacked-up mob courses through the streets burning and looting the Painted Ladies?

A desperate sun struggles through the fog. There may be one ray of hope. The city has recently approved the effort to recall Chesa Boudin from office. Locals could begin downloading signature-gathering petitions on March 12. If 10 percent of registered voters sign the petition, all voters may get the chance to vote the bum out. But even if they do, it will remain tragic for Musyoka, Platt, Abe, and others like them that the day did not come soon enough.


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1   WookieMan   2021 Apr 16, 4:51am  

Drunk driving laws in most states are a slap on the wrist. My SIL has 6, fortunately no accidents or harm to anyone. She's out a license though for 10 years now. Spent 45 days in jail and still has the last one to deal with in May. Probably looking at 180 days in jail and maybe permanent suspension of her license for this next one.

She's a conundrum. Not an actual drunk, just binges when she's pissed off at one of her ghetto boyfriends. She's hot too. I'm not racist, but I think this whole melting pot of races and ethnicities may not be the best route. The black people she's met have changed her.

I mention this because the story above is not at all unique to SF. I'm 0% religious mind you, but we've lost our moral compass bigly. When you have pop music singing about WAP I think we're doomed. 80's and 90's rap gave a platform to complain about "injustices." Some valid. The problem is a whole generation now thinks bitching about everything done wrong to them is an injustice. It creates crime. It creates rebellion. It's been happening in cities across the country for decades now. Social media was gasoline on an already lit dumper fire.

Back to my SIL. She lives in this alternate cultural reality where they blame everyone else. It's because of who she hangs out with. Her 6 DUI's were the cops fault, not hers. She's not rational about it, so no one discusses it with her anymore. Hence why we now have my nephew and fortunately he was never in the car during any of these events. He has told us he doesn't want to be around black people, but he got enough of the venom in him to believe he's being discriminated against because he's black.

I think cities are toxic at this point. Everything is an entertainment district where they collect all the taxes and have events. The rest of the city goes to shit and eventually the crime sprawls into the "good" neighborhoods. I'll never live in a city/town of 10-20K or more ever again. In small towns the homeowners have the guns, not the criminals. I like it that way.
2   FortwayeAsFuckJoeBiden   2021 Apr 16, 8:32am  

Illegals here or blacks can kill you consequence free. All about beating citizens into obedience, ruling class knows this is rediculous and that’s exactly how they want it.
3   krc   2021 Apr 16, 9:10am  

I will keep pointing out that National Review was wholly and completely opposed to Trump from the very start and actively campaigned against him even in 2016. Trump and "the masses" are not in anyway supported by NR. This is a pretend organization. They want an aristocratic right-wing party with free trade and a large mass of poor people they can control. They were instrumental in support of outsourcing, moving manufacturing overseas, etc...
4   Patrick   2021 Apr 16, 9:18am  

Thanks @krc I didn't know that.

Not trying to support them here, I just thought it was a good article. I've seen for myself how bad San Francisco was, and how much further down it went.
5   Karloff   2021 Apr 16, 9:33am  

Boudin is an accessory to murder.

If one of these perps were to off him, I think it would appropriate to go easy on them and let them off the hook. After all, "it's what Chesa would have wanted."

"Among his first acts was to fire seven veteran prosecutors who were not on board with his radical views. (Over 30 prosecutors have left during his tenure because they don’t want to work for him.)"

This is exactly how these fiends take over the system and why maggots like Soros spend so much money to put specific people into certain positions where they can cause the most damage. The response should be not to back down, but instead fight back. Use their tactics. Pretend you're on the same page as them, then quietly subvert their efforts every step of the way. Eventually they'll realize what's going on, but at least you made an effort instead of giving up and letting them replace you with another commie plant.
6   zzyzzx   2021 Apr 16, 10:54am  

WookieMan says
Her 6 DUI's were the cops fault, not hers


Makes me wonder how many times she drove and didn't get caught.
7   Ceffer   2021 Apr 16, 11:04am  

There seem to be thresholds. Some drunk drivers drive for years without being caught. Some never get caught.

Once they reach a certain point and get caught once, however, they get caught over and over. i remember years ago, when penalties were less than now, one lady got three DUIs in one day. However, they were in three different counties, so they each counted as a first offense (at that time, just a fine, road work, and alcohol lessons) and it took forever for them to coordinate the paper work. Before MADD, drunk driving was just a moderate fine, and even cops drank and drove.

There used to be incredible amounts of paper work mixups in the olden days, made a little better by computers, but semi illiterate and printing press diploma government workers even fuck that up. Sometimes I think they brought all the Filipinos into civil service to have some modicum of literacy and work ethic, with the 'others' simply on government welfare pensions left to shuffle around at will.
8   Onvacation   2021 Apr 16, 11:29am  

Ceffer says
Before MADD, drunk driving was just a moderate fine, and even cops drank and drove.

When I was 16 back in the 70s, I borrowed my friends car and went to a kegger. The party was dead so 3 friends and I filled up our cups and took off.

A couple of minutes later we got pulled over. I was underage, unlicensed, had no ID, was drinking, had open containers of beer, and was driving someone else's car.

The cop made us empty our beers, checked if I was sober enough to drive, and sent us on our way.

I am still amazed I survived high school.
9   FortwayeAsFuckJoeBiden   2021 Apr 16, 11:57am  

Patrick says
Thanks @krc I didn't know that.

Not trying to support them here, I just thought it was a good article. I've seen for myself how bad San Francisco was, and how much further down it went.


It’s sad man. I remember CA being better. LA is a bum town too now. A man was stabbed by a hobo last month here. It’s shit downhill, while leftists are still orgasming when saying “diversity equity inclusion”. So fucking ass backwards and stupid.
10   WookieMan   2021 Apr 16, 12:53pm  

Onvacation says
Ceffer says
Before MADD, drunk driving was just a moderate fine, and even cops drank and drove.

When I was 16 back in the 70s, I borrowed my friends car and went to a kegger. The party was dead so 3 friends and I filled up our cups and took off.

A couple of minutes later we got pulled over. I was underage, unlicensed, had no ID, was drinking, had open containers of beer, and was driving someone else's car.

The cop made us empty our beers, checked if I was sober enough to drive, and sent us on our way.

I am still amazed I survived high school.

I got two drinking tickets under 21. Not DUI's, just underage drinking at a party and one camping. I was drinking, but I'm not a crazy person when I drink. It was my friends fault acting like cunts and the reason I won't touch hard liquor or even mixed drinks anymore. That shit is the devil.

Never have understood the ass holes that want to fight, scream and be obnoxious when having beers or drinks. Never even understood it in the high school or college years.

I'm capable of having 10 beers (light beers) and no one would know I've had anything or likely above the legal limit. It's nice, but also dangerous as it tempts one to drive. Mind you this is over hours as well. I'm not shotgunning or doing beer bongs. Those days are long gone.

I'd say 35 and under the blame game gets stronger the younger you get. Everything is someone else's fault. And that's why decent places are going to shit. Illegals and the loss of manufacturing jobs that blacks used to work in, along with loss of family and culture doesn't help either.
11   RWSGFY   2021 Apr 16, 1:11pm  

Ceffer says
Some drunk drivers drive for years without being caught. Some never get caught.

Once they reach a certain point and get caught once, however, they get caught over and over.


Don't cop cars have some kind of automatic license plate readers now? I guess once you're in "the computer" as a drunk driver it gives the cop an alert whenever your plates get recognized by the fucking contraption.
12   B.A.C.A.H.   2021 Apr 16, 1:14pm  

SF was already in decline before Breed and London came to power. I made regular day trips to the city for years. Seen the decline year by year.

The cost of rent there is too high for a cop, especially a new hire. Even all the Boudin-stuff not withstanding, the gap between the cops' pay versus the cost of living results in long commutes, adding personal stress to the financial stress. How does that work for a family with children? (answer: it doesn't).

Most of my daytrips to SF were to go to the UC dental school for dental work. Sometimes I'd be in SF early in the morning, or late afternoon/early evening. Those times of day I'd see the Armada of Google (and FB) buses loading/unloading the tsunami of Hipsters in areas along my routes (Inner Sunset for the early AM drive, Mission driving southward to 280 in late PM drive). The vibe of the city came to be dominated by those Hipsters, much like during the dot.com days. But dIfferent this time: the vibe of the homeless is becoming a heavier counterweight to the Hipster Vibe. The recent WFH trend has exposed how fragile-phoney the SF Hipsterdom paradigm was.

Where do financially stressed-out, commute-stressed out cops fit into the milieu? Hardly surprising they have high turnover.

Party On, SF Hipsters.
13   Patrick   2021 Apr 16, 1:35pm  

WookieMan says
I got two drinking tickets under 21. Not DUI's, just underage drinking at a party and one camping.


Lol, as an undergrad at U. Michigan, I was drinking a beer at a party on the street one day, and a cop walked up to me and asked "Is that a beer?"

I said "Sure is" or something like that. But it was a trick question! The right answer would have been to pour it out and say "No sir."

So I got a ticket for $20 or something, a significant amount back when I had almost no money. Lesson learned.
14   Ceffer   2021 Apr 16, 1:38pm  

FuckCCP89 says
Don't cop cars have some kind of automatic license plate readers now? I guess once you're in "the computer" as a drunk driver it gives the cop an alert whenever your plates get recognized by the fucking contraption.

That, and alcoholism is progressive. Once a 'sloppy drunk, sloppy driving' stage is reached, the impaired driving becomes much more obvious. However, you just can't keep some alcoholics from climbing behind the wheel, they just won't do it.

Strange, though, there are some alcoholics who drive thousands of times legally intoxicated and aren't caught. Sometimes, a near teetotaler might experiment with a couple of glasses of wine for social purposes and get hauled in.
15   EBGuy   2021 Apr 16, 1:50pm  

Ess Eff lost $8billion last year in tourist dollars (and over 60,000 jobs). The idea that tourists will return in droves with the current state of affairs is tenuous. Will be interesting to see how this plays out.
17   WookieMan   2021 Apr 16, 2:14pm  

EBGuy says
Ess Eff lost $8billion last year in tourist dollars (and over 60,000 jobs). The idea that tourists will return in droves with the current state of affairs is tenuous. Will be interesting to see how this plays out.

They won't. The outdoor mask "mandate" is what turned me off. Wasn't planning to go to SF, but was thinking of going to Tahoe and was actively researching it. And I know Tahoe is different than SF. Likely less restrictive/enforced.

Come to find out here that there was an outdoor mask mandate. Even if it's done, the damage/brainwashing is done. Really have no interest in being bitched at for not wearing a mask outside and I fear that's what would happen if I visit CA.

I'm generally calm and not a physical fighter, though I can, but you'll get a right or left hook to the face if you bitch at me for not wearing a mask outdoors. I don't need to go to jail on vacay, so I'm avoiding CA for now. Biden/Harris will just bail the state out, so either way it's not a big deal for you CA guys.

IL did well under Obama and with Durbin's high ranking in the Senate. People still fled the state in droves. It's happening in CA. The place is just so big it's hard to track. Uhaul has literally been the best resource for measuring the exodus and it was a half assed census last year. Pick a city one way that is popular right now outside of CA. Then compare. People are leaving CA.
18   Patrick   2021 Apr 16, 3:21pm  

WookieMan says
I'm generally calm and not a physical fighter, though I can, but you'll get a right or left hook to the face if you bitch at me for not wearing a mask outdoors.


I never wear a mask outdoors and I go for at least one walk every day.

I think I got only one actual comment, but lots of people have masks on but down, and then pull them up when they see me 40 feet away, as if that's going to do anything. My revenge is to roll my eyes and shake my head.
19   Onvacation   2021 Apr 16, 3:27pm  

Patrick says

I said "Sure is" or something like that. But it was a trick question! The right answer would have bene to pour it out and say "No sir."

I had a couple high school friends who had a case of beer, and were camping on the beach. The cops came after they drank about half and made them open and pour the rest out. One friend decided to try and guzzle one right in front of the police. He got a ticket for underage drinking.

Moral: when a cop asks you to do something the only correct response is to say "yes sir" and immediately comply.
20   B.A.C.A.H.   2021 Apr 16, 3:40pm  

WookieMan says
They won't.


Wookie Man,

SInce my family lives in SJ, when we would go to SF we would fall into the "tourist" category for most times. Because, most times we're doing the same stuff "tourists" do, going to places "tourists" go to. Exception being my dental patient trips to UC dental school, and attending pro sports (though, you'd be surprised: quite a few "tourists" in the stands of those).

Huge numbers of the "tourists" are foreigners. I don't think they care about the politics. To visit or not visit SF, drop money there, is not a political statement for them.

But, they are keen on their safety.

As you point out, much stuff to see in California. If they're concerned about their safety, they will just skip SF and still have a blast in the other places in Northern California.

Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Mayor Breed.
21   Onvacation   2021 Apr 16, 3:47pm  

WookieMan says
Really have no interest in being bitched at for not wearing a mask outside and I fear that's what would happen if I visit CA.

I'm just waiting for the next mask bitch to step up to me on the street!
22   Onvacation   2021 Apr 16, 3:56pm  

I finally got my wife to stop pulling her bandana up when we pass maskers in the park.

Fucking idiots pull their masks up when they are thirty feet away and then pull them back down after passing. They expect you to do the same.

The other day three Asian women, masked, were not paying attention and quickly shuffled out of the way when they met us on the road. I told them, "don't worry, the CDC says 3 feet is enough social distancing now." They laughed.

Biden's gonna let us hang out with a couple friends on the fourth of July. We should have an independence party.
23   Onvacation   2021 Apr 16, 3:58pm  

A big Independence Party!
24   SunnyvaleCA   2021 Apr 16, 4:22pm  

krc says
I will keep pointing out that National Review was wholly and completely opposed to Trump from the very start and actively campaigned against him even in 2016. Trump and "the masses" are not in anyway supported by NR. This is a pretend organization. They want an aristocratic right-wing party with free trade and a large mass of poor people they can control. They were instrumental in support of outsourcing, moving manufacturing overseas, etc...
Victor Davis Hanson was pretty pro-Trump. Alas, he might be the only one worth reading at National Review. Here you go: https://www.nationalreview.com/?s=victor+davis+hanson&sp%5Bforce%5D=1&search-date=anytime&search-date-from=&search-date-to=&orderby=relevance&order=DESC
25   Onvacation   2021 Apr 16, 4:55pm  

SunnyvaleCA says
Victor Davis Hanson was pretty pro-Trump. Alas, he might be the only one worth reading at National Review.

Love VDH! I've read a few of his books.

Hansen, and many other public conservatives, hardly question the narrative so that they are still called upon by the main stream propaganda mills.

They, the propaganda mills, pretend the election wasn't stolen, the Wuhan is deadly, Biden isn't demented, and everyone taking an experimental biologic agent is the key to the restoral of our first amendment rights.
26   krc   2021 Apr 17, 10:41am  

SunnyvaleCA says
Victor Davis Hanson was pretty pro-Trump. Alas, he might be the only one worth reading at National Review. Here you go: https://www.nationalreview.com/?s=victor+davis+hanson&sp%5Bforce%5D=1&search-date=anytime&search-date-from=&search-date-to=&orderby=relevance&order=DESC


Sure - not "everyone" writing in that rag can be anti-trump, but it is a telling article the "editors" wrote during the primary in 2016. Their distaste for him was visceral.
https://www.nationalreview.com/2016/01/donald-trump-conservative-movement-menace/

And the ratio of anti-trump to even neutral or pro trump on that site is like 10:1. And it is not that their points are not fair or thoughtful, but they continued the attacks on Trump well into his administration - including calls for impeachment at various times. Many attacks were simply non-sensical.

https://www.nationalreview.com/2021/01/the-trump-impeachment-is-deeply-flawed-but-he-deserves-conviction/
27   WookieMan   2021 Apr 17, 12:20pm  

B.A.C.A.H. says
To visit or not visit SF, drop money there, is not a political statement for them.

I hear you about foreigners. Problem is it's still almost exclusively domestic visitors that go to CA. I'm not trying to bash any individual for wanting to live there. But being the largest state by population, the propaganda pushed on the rest of the country via Hollywood and media is awful. 2 of the top 3 politicians in our federal government are from CA.

I don't know the vibe in CA if you guys like it or not (excluding weather), but the rest of the country is not a fan. There are so many things that are and have come out of CA that are simply trash. I don't care if anyone is gay, but every single show or movie on tv now has a gay person or it's about race. 3-5% of the population identifies as gay, yet everyone has to be subjected to it? All the trans and gender shit is coming from CA. These are mentally ill people. Data shows this. Yet it gets pushed on the rest of the country because of Hollywood.

I know a lot of people moving out of IL. Not one even thought about CA. Anecdotal obviously. But it's usually FL, TX, MT, WI, IN, TN, CO and that's about it. Maybe some AZ or NV. If CA was great, why does a guy like Joe Rogan leave the state with $100m+ of money? Even after state and fed taxes the guy could buy a $50M house in the best area of CA and not deal with the shit.

I get family and all, but follow the money. People with the means to stay in CA don't want to. They can just create their own neighborhoods and lock everyone out. Desert Mountain in Scottsdale/Cave Creek, AZ or Yellowstone Club in Big Sky, MT. These are popping up everywhere. There might not be an exodus of gross population leaving CA, but the wealth is. And it's a huge problem once the stock market corrects at some point.
28   Ceffer   2021 Apr 17, 12:56pm  

Even if you have money, who are you going to hang out with to spend it? People driven insane by propaganda, facilities that make you go through nonsense rituals based on fear, can't travel freely, can't talk freely, realize that a small cabal of wealthy terrorists want you dead so they can revel in the world's resources for themselves, there are no public morals any more, ethics are a laughable memory, so called justice is selective, government has become a dystopian nightmare, you can't trust medicine or the medical establishment who are on board in branding, euthanizing or killing you, society and the media are lying to you relentlessly, you have no meaningful vote even etc. etc. So you sit around your bunker with a few rolex and a fancy car ( that they are also plotting to take away from you), ordering in so you don't have to take a jab calculated to make your life an autoimmune hell until you die?

A large part of enjoying money is having a viable, open, and free society to spend it in. That is currently on hold, unless you can find a microcosm that has escaped these horrors and hole up there in perpetuity.
29   B.A.C.A.H.   2021 Apr 17, 2:36pm  

WookieMan says
Problem is it's still almost exclusively domestic visitors that go to CA


Ha! Obviously you haven't been around to tourist spots here.

The Americans you cite also come to the main tourist places too. It's not unusual for them to be outnumbered by foreigners.

The main attractions in Northern California it has not been unusual for American tourists to be outnumbered by foreigner tourists. I have a bit of insight on it from conversing with some of those we encountered. I like to ask them where they've been, where they plan to go, if they're enjoying their visit, what they liked, what they would recommend, thanking them for coming here. Plus we have friends, relatives, colleagues from abroad (Europe, Australia, Asia) who've made their own such treks and shared their stories with us. Some included visiting with us in their Grand Tour.

There's a bit of a circuit that includes the more or less mandatory LA area, the Coast Road from there to the Bay Area, and Yosemite. It's not unusual for foreigners to outnumber Americans at tourist spots in those places, especially during the "season". Especially, somewhat bizzarely, Death Valley in August with Germans. Some folks may dogleg to other glamorous spots they're interested in like Tahoe, Vegas, Sequioa NP, Wine Country. For these foreigners, those whom I encountered when we were also in-state tourists, and also our friends, it's a Once-In-A-Lifetime "grand tour" of California, much like Americans may make in Europe.

There's lots of fabulous places for locals to visit that are not on the Foreigner Grand Circuit. The relatively few foreigner tourists we may encounter in these places tend to fall into either of these two categories: H1-visa Tech Yuppies making a weekend trip with their overseas-visiting parents, and young backpacker types from Europe or Australia who are touring the Western US till their money runs out. Occasionally some Korean or Japanese kids doing that too. These such fabulous places include Lassen, Humboldt Redwoods, white water rafting in Sierra foothills, skiing/snowboarding, Pinnacles, etc. Mostly all in-state California American tourists, H1's with their visiting parents, and a handful of foreign backpacker types. You'll encounter few non-Californian Americans.
30   mell   2021 Apr 17, 4:48pm  

B.A.C.A.H. says
Especially, somewhat bizzarely, Death Valley in August with Germans.


Did that in August. Must be the partial German blood! What's wrong with death valley in August? Nothing like booking a motel room right in stovepipe wells, jumping into the pools at night then drying within minutes on the rocks with your bare skin. Or a nightly full moon walk to zabriskie point. Must have done!
31   B.A.C.A.H.   2021 Apr 17, 7:02pm  

mell says
Did that in August. Must be the partial German blood!


ha! Death Valley in August. Who'd have thought?

We did it (and yes, a grandparent of mine immigrated from Germany). Had dinner in the saloon/steakhouse in Furnace Creek on a crowded Saturday night. My family appeared to be the only non-German diners in the place. I asked the waitress if it was unusual. She told me that "it's August", like I should know already, that's German tourist time. Yes, she told me, we were there on a typical August night. I still remember, it was 126 F in the shade when we arrived in the afternoon.

A few days later while in Vegas I read in the Vegas Newspaper that a group of three Germans had gone missing in Death Valley that weekend. Their rental car was found at a trailhead. The last they'd been seen was at the accommodation in the early morning. The authorities said it was likely they died of exposure on the trail. Sure enough a day or so later it was reported their bodies were found, died from exposure.

I've told this recollection to folks over the years. Some others have told me they've also been to Death Valley in August. Like me they observed the Germans were the biggest group. Two different German friends of mine included an August stopover in Death Valley on their Grand Tours of California.
32   MMR   2021 Apr 17, 10:05pm  

Patrick says
Mayor London Breed swore in Chesa Boudin as the new district attorney of San Francisco in front of a packed house at the Herbst Theater. Boudin won the election by a nose in a runoff, with oily promises to feel the pain of all parties to a crime, both victims and perpetrators. He made pledges to enact “restorative justice” and prison reform through “decarceration.” U.S. Supreme Court justice Sonia Sotomayor recorded a congratulatory video message, which was played at the swearing-in ceremony for Boudin and the crowd. “Chesa, you have undertaken a remarkable challenge today,” the justice said. “The hope you reflect is a great beacon to many.”



Skeletor said it best:

https://youtu.be/JBGKZv7cB8o
33   Ceffer   2021 Apr 17, 10:46pm  

Chesa Boudin is just another Soros fecal impaction, likely a beneficiary of election fraud. Now, we have to remove all these fecal impactions by petition.
34   WookieMan   2021 Apr 18, 7:46am  

B.A.C.A.H. says
The Americans you cite also come to the main tourist places too. It's not unusual for them to be outnumbered by foreigners.

I guess I don't mean tourist necessarily. But people from out of state on non-work visits. Maybe visiting family and not doing any tourist stuff or CA expats. The west coast and east coast are obviously the easiest to get to for foreigners, so yes, the percentage will be higher.

But given what there is to do in CA having been multiple times and what you list, there should be waaaaay more domestic tourist than foreign. You're kind of arguing my point really that Americans don't like CA. It's a 5 hour or less flight for 100% of mainland Americans. Hell, even Alaska and Hawaii. Americans should outnumber foreigners given the proximity and what you can do there.

Again, this isn't a bash on the beauty of the state and great weather. This is a judgement on politics that come out of your state and how the rest of the country perceives CA. It's not you or any user on this site, it's your government. You guys are just used to it, but let's say I buy a camping chair. The tag on the damn thing says CA thinks this chair could cause cancer. It's like WTF? A chair. Every product the rest of the country buys says you're going to die from it basically because CA says so. It's fucked up.

And again, 2 of our top 3 leaders are from CA and want to implement shit policy. Look at the border. It took all of 2 weeks for it to turn into a shit storm and Harris, the one supposedly heading the issue went MIA and is from CA. Flyover country doesn't want that shit. As an outsider it makes us less prone to go to your once great state. I can stay at the Ritz on St. Thomas for 1/2 the cost of say a nice place in Big Sur and the flight is an hour shorter. Though I'd love to go there. San Diego is probably the only big city I'd physically stay in again and that was still filled with bums as well. I can't even imagine LA or SF since I last went into those cities.

I know most users here are from CA. This isn't a judgement on you. I think it's clear you guys don't like the state level politics either. As an outsider, I'm just explaining what a lot of people think of CA and that it's not a destination for Americans anymore like it used to be.
35   mell   2021 Apr 18, 8:32am  

WookieMan says
B.A.C.A.H. says
The Americans you cite also come to the main tourist places too. It's not unusual for them to be outnumbered by foreigners.

I guess I don't mean tourist necessarily. But people from out of state on non-work visits. Maybe visiting family and not doing any tourist stuff or CA expats. The west coast and east coast are obviously the easiest to get to for foreigners, so yes, the percentage will be higher.

But given what there is to do in CA having been multiple times and what you list, there should be waaaaay more domestic tourist than foreign. You're kind of arguing my point really that Americans don't like CA. It's a 5 hour or less flight for 100% of mainland Americans. Hell, even Alaska and Hawaii. Americans should outnumber foreigners given the proximity and what you can do there.

Again, this isn't a bash on the beauty of the state and great weather. This is a ...


One has to understand that it was the same open mindedness to technology and progress, people, foreigners, entrepreneurs, that created massive wealth and prosperity for CA and started the long tech lead and reign of SV. It eventually, like always, was coopted by bad actors and ideologies when these initially good ideas were taken to absurd extremes. Eventually there will be a reset. Just leave or find a beautiful enclave, still plenty of those as CA is big.
36   Ceffer   2021 Apr 18, 8:34am  

Barbed wire futures are big in California, but it hasn't reached the stage of land mines yet (except for Vietnam Vet pot farms).
37   B.A.C.A.H.   2021 Apr 18, 3:05pm  

WookieMan says
I know most users here are from CA


It's fun to put in the last word, isn't it?

Enjoy!
38   Booger   2021 Apr 18, 3:32pm  

Fuck San Francisco.
39   WookieMan   2021 Apr 18, 5:54pm  

B.A.C.A.H. says
WookieMan says
I know most users here are from CA


It's fun to put in the last word, isn't it?

Enjoy!

Not sure your point. Collectively I don't think users here want to trash CA. The problem is, is that it is trash now. This really is undeniable. You can be a homer, but there's no denying CA is going to shit. Users from CA on this site say the same thing.
40   B.A.C.A.H.   2021 Apr 18, 5:56pm  

WookieMan says
there's no denying CA is going to shit


Last word. Youdda Man!

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