Bookworm Room

Conservatives deal with facts and reach conclusions; liberals have conclusions and sell them as facts.

Bookworm Beat 12/20/18 — the border wall edition

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I went overboard in this Bookworm Beat, covering the border wall, Syria, Antisemitism, Europe’s fall, science, Michelle and Melania, media bias, and much more.

border wall lawless government DACA Illegal immigrants illegal aliens illegal immigration borderGood walls make good neighbors. Trump did it — he got the House to include $5 billion in the budget bill to build the border wall. I was actually worried that he wouldn’t fulfill a core promise he made both to get elected and to put Chuck and Nancy in their place by saying he’d shut down the government before walking away from the wall.

Yay, Trump! Of course, now I’m worried what the execrable Jeff Flake will do in the Senate.

If you want a reminder about why the Left is fighting the wall with everything it has, despite voting for it some years ago, and strongly criticizing illegal immigration at the same time, Victor Davis Hanson explains: Put simply, a wall destroys the Democrats’ base.

Federal judge opens borders. It’s great that Trump got funding for the border wall. It’s not so great that, just yesterday, Judge Emmet Sullivan, the same guy who erroneously excoriated Lieut. Gen’l Flynn as a “traitor,” decided that America has no borders:

Judge Emmet G. Sullivan — who a day earlier had excoriated former Trump National Security Adviser Michael Flynn — ordered the government to allow migrants with iffy claims to be given a full chance to make their case for asylum.

And he ordered the U.S. to un-deport plaintiffs in the case who already had been ousted under the new policy, saying they deserve to be brought back and allowed to claim asylum.

“Because it is the will of Congress — not the whims of the executive — that determines the standard for expedited removal, the court finds that those policies are unlawful,” Judge Sullivan wrote.

His decision overturns a move by former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who had tried to block asylum claims of migrants who said they faced gang violence or domestic abuse back home.

I am sorry that, for so many people, the world is a terrible place. I know that I’m singularly fortunate that sixty years ago my parents, after waiting patiently for years to get visas, legally immigrated to America allowing me to be a citizen of and grow up in this great country.

I also know that life is unfair and that we don’t make it more fair by destroying ourselves. The Leftists are demanding that we import into America the pathologies that have plagued Latin America for hundreds of years. I’m not willing to be a part of that suicide pact — although I don’t know what I, personally, can do to take away the gun the Left is figuratively placing in America’s mouth, with its finger on the trigger.

On withdrawal from Syria, I’m conflicted. Although I suspect a lot of Americans didn’t even realize we still had around 2,000 troops in Syria, it’s proving to be a hot button issue now that Trump has announced a troop withdrawal. His stated reason is that he promised we’d be in Syria to defeat ISIS and, having defeated ISIS, it’s now time to leave.

I think this was a good decision for a few reasons. First, Trump did what we keep asking our leaders to do, which is to state a clear objective and then, when that objective is achieved, to announce “victory!” and to withdraw. No quagmires for President Trump.

Second, as I noted, I bet a lot of Americans didn’t realize we even had troops in Syria. In other words, this was not a war that the nation supported. It was an “action,” the purpose of which was not obvious to most Americans. I firmly believe that you cannot endlessly demand that a nation send its blood and treasure to foreign shores without being able to articulate why. Without ISIS, no one was articulating a why, so Trump did the right thing by pulling our troops out.

Third, as long as the Western world refuses to tackle the problem of Islam head on, and without an imminent threat from a concerted non-government army such as al Qaeda or ISIS, these far-away battlefields are just band-aids. It makes no sense to send young men to die in Syria or Afghanistan to kill people who our leaders refuse to acknowledge are terribly dangerous. Again, without a clearly articulated purpose, why are our boys and men being sent to die?

Fourth, outside of Israel, which is a beacon of light, freedom, and innovation in a backwards, benighted region, I think the whole of the Middle East can go to Hell. I want them to leave us alone and I want them to leave Israel alone, but otherwise I don’t think we should be doing business there. Trump, by unleashing America’s energy sector, has cut the tie that bound us — namely, oil dependency.

Fifth, to the extent Iran is a threat, let the Sunni nations fight it. We can provide support for those nations (weapons, advice, etc.), but they should be their own front line. Making them the front line also forces them to make nice with Israel, because, as the Muslims say, “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.”

For more on all these points, I suggest reading this post from Daniel Greenfield. [Read more…]

Bookworm Beat 12/18/18 — the new car edition and open thread

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This Bookworm Beat isn’t actually about new cars. It’s about the Steele Dossier, Islamic terrorism, crazy California, Europe’s coming collapse, & much more.

Bookworm Beat Woman Writing American Left's FascismNo, I don’t have a new car, but I need one soon. I want a small SUV with all-wheel drive. My current top contenders are the Subaru Crosstrek and the Mazda CX-5.

If you have opinions or information about either of those cars, or about comparable cars, I’m all ears. I’ve already spent time researching and driving the two cars, but I’m somewhat frozen, as is always the case for me before a big expenditure. That freeze seemed to extend to blogging today, but I’m ready to go now.

We always knew it, but know Steele confirms it. It’s been obvious for a long time that the whole Steele dossier, complete with unverified, and impossible to verify, scandalous information about Trump, was a fake. We also learned that Hillary paid for it. For the first time, though, I think Christopher Steele has stated, under oath, precisely why Hillary paid for it:

British ex-spy Christopher Steele, who wrote the Democrat-financed anti-Trump dossier, said in a court case that he was hired by a Democratic law firm in preparation for Hillary Clinton challenging the results of the 2016 presidential election.

He said the law firm Perkins Coie wanted to be in a position to contest the results based on evidence he unearthed on the Trump campaign conspiring with Moscow on election interference.

Let me rephrase that: Hillary paid money for a British man to collude with the Russians by introducing to America disinformation intended to bring down a properly elected American president. Somehow the mainstream media keeps missing the biggest scandal in the history of American elections.

Oakland Muslim assures everyone it was a joke. Sometimes we’re told that murderous Muslims are insane . . . and sometimes we’re told that they have senses of humor so deep and refined that ordinary people just can’t understand them when they joke about killing 10,000 people in the Bay Area and, in fact, try to work with ISIS to make it happen: [Read more…]

Bookworm Beat 12/5/18 — the American Left’s fascism

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Taking a hard look at the American Left’s fascism (its silencing speech, antisemitism, and moral depravity), with room for some fun and uplifting news too.

Bookworm Beat Woman Writing American Left's fascismThe Flynn sentencing memo shows collusion. No, I haven’t gone crazy. Instead, I agree with Joel Pollak, who says the memo highlights that the real collusion, which took place between the media, the Deep State, and the Obama administration:

In fact, the most explosive piece of information in the sentencing document is not about collusion with Russians, but about the collusion between the media, the intelligence services, and the outgoing members of the Obama administration.

The document begins its recitation of Flynn’s offenses by citing information that had appeared in the Washington Post from a leaked, classified surveillance transcript in which Flynn’s name had been “unmasked”:

Days prior to the FBI’s interview of the defendant, the Washington Post had published a story alleging that he had spoken with Russia’s ambassador to the United States on December 29, 2016, the day the United States announced sanctions and other measures against Russia in response to that government’s actions intended to interfere with the 2016 election (collectively, “sanctions”). See David Ignatius, Why did Obama Dawdle on Russia’s hacking?, WASH. POST (Jan. 12, 2017).

That information, the document suggests, led the FBI to interview Flynn on Jan. 24, 2017 — the conversation in which he did not (according to Comey) lie to them, but which landed him in trouble.

The government had the surveillance transcripts, and it knew what Flynn had told the Russian ambassador. But the Post‘s intervention was crucial in setting the trap in which to ensnare Flynn and turn him into a government witness.

Mueller’s sentencing document does not mention the fact that the information published in the Post was illegally leaked to the press by the intelligence services. And the reason that happened was that the outgoing Obama administration changed the rules on the sharing of classified surveillance among government agencies, weakening privacy protections, probably intending that such information be more difficult to keep secret, and easier to leak.

Moreover, someone in the Obama administration — we do not yet know who, though it had to be someone senior  — “unmasked” Flynn’s name to make sure he was exposed.

So while we do not yet know Mueller’s next moves, what the Flynn sentencing document reinforces is the that the Russia collusion investigation was tainted from the start by a crime committed against Flynn himself — with the collusion of the media, the deep state, and Obama’s loyalists.

Read the whole thing here.

Meanwhile, Benjamin Weingarten reminds us, again, that while Inspector Bob “Javert” Mueller took Flynn down for unintentionally lying about something he’d forgotten, which the FBI knew because of illegally unmasking, people guilty of massive, intentional perjury go completely free. After detailing how Clapper blatantly lied to Congress with no repercussions, as compared to the full-bore attack against Flynn, Weingarten discusses D.C. perjury: [Read more…]

An evening with Mark Steyn, Victor Davis Hanson, and Steven Hayward

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I’m still vibrating from the excitement of an evening hearing Mark Steyn, Victor Davis Hanson, and Steve Hayward, something I try to share in this post.

Thanks to a kind friend, last night I once again had the inestimable pleasure of attending PRI’s annual gala. This year, Mark Steyn was the keynote speaker, Victor Davis Hanson received the Sir Antony Fisher Freedom Award, and Steven Hayward was the master of ceremonies. Honestly, for someone who is a political junkie and a total fan girl when it comes to good writing and effortless erudition, it doesn’t get better than that.

I hadn’t planned on taking notes because I always flatter myself that I’ll remember what was said. By the time that Hayward had made several hysterical jokes about San Francisco politics and Hanson had made a brief, but powerful, acceptance speech when he received the Sir Antony Fisher Freedom Award, I realized that, if I wanted to share anything with you, I’d better start writing things down. This belated realization is why I can only dredge up a few of the funny, pertinent things Hayward and Hanson said, but can give you fairly complete rundown of Steyn’s speech.

Naturally, because I’d convinced myself my memory was enough, I hadn’t brought any paper to the gala. I therefore ended up scribbling my notes on the little folded name cards PRI put by each place setting at the table.

Even notes, though, are inadequate to conveying the evening’s intellectual content. I can only liken what the three men said to a continuous cascade of verbal diamonds, with me trying to reach in and grab the most pertinent or funny. Given the number and velocity of those falling diamonds, I know that I missed more diamonds than I captured. I hope, though, that the following gives you some idea about being in the same room as three of the best political writers and thinkers working today.

Steven Hayward opened the evening by talking about the political insanity that characterizes San Francisco. Those were some fast falling diamonds, and I wasn’t yet taking notes, so I only caught two to share with you. The first was that “San Francisco is well on its way to making itself a work free drug place.” If you’re like me, and just about everyone else in the audience, it took you a beat before you realized that, not only was Hayward describing accurately San Francisco’s political trajectory, he was having fun with the mantra that employees are in a “drug free work place.”

The second Hayward joke that I caught was his statement that, when he’s in San Francisco, he feels like “bringing a Smith & Wesson to a Smith & Hawken’s city.” What I found especially funny about that joke is that the foo-foo, high falutin’ Smith & Hawkens, which once sent out catalogs that were the gardening equivalent of a J. Peterman Company catalog, now markets itself through Target. I’ll get back to you when I figure out whether that’s a “how the mighty have fallen” thing or a “wow, talk about profitable broad-based marketing” thing.

Victor Davis Hanson was up next, but he spoke with such brevity that by the time I got my brain in gear to grab those verbal diamonds, he’d already finished speaking. VDH mostly wanted to remind us about the importance of Sir Anthony Fisher’s institutions, which are all over the world acting as advocacy centers for free markets and free thinking. He did say, however, that California is becoming a dangerously bifurcated state economically and politically, a point that cropped up again throughout the evening. [Read more…]

If you’re an absentee voter, don’t forget to mail in your ballot

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In California, if you’re a conservative, your choices are very limited — but you should still vote, just to remind Progressives that you’re out there.

I voted. You should too. (And a reminder to California voters that my suggestion for U.S. Senate, given that we are denied the right to do write-in votes, is to vote for Kevin de Leon. Yes, he’s a very hard Leftist, but Dianne Feinstein is too — and as she showed during the Kavanaugh hearings, her seniority in the Senate gives her way too much power.)

vote voter voted

#TravisAllenWriteIn — California voters should write in Travis Allen for Senator *UPDATED*

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With Dems revealing their unfiltered totalitarianism, and no Republicans on the California senate ballot, write in Travis Allen’s name for U.S. Senate.

Travis AllenUPDATE: I’ve learned, to my dismay, that California disallows write-ins during the main election. Please go here for a different strategy in California.

When Democrats successfully turned California into an Open Primary state, I argued that this would destroy true democracy in California. Spring primaries are the time during which people in a specific party can elect their standard-bearer. Then, as the election nears, these standard bearers make their case to the entire state based upon current social, political, and economic conditions.

In an open primary state such as California, though, open primaries turn the “primary” into a pre-vote before a November run-off. Aside from John Cox’s unexpected (and delightful) appearance on the gubernatorial ballot, come October and November, when voters start paying attention, Californians do not get to hear conservative voices raised on national issues.

The events of the last weeks reveal something else that’s dreadful about Open Primaries, beyond just silencing conservative voices. If last-minute events show that Democrats are unfit to lead in Congress, concerned Californians have no alternatives other than . . . Democrats. That’s precisely what’s happened in this election cycle.

Up until a few weeks ago, California conservatives had two choices if they wished to have a say in sending a Senator to Congress: Kevin de León, who is an openly hard Leftist, or incumbent Dianne Feinstein, who has always positioned herself as a moderate Leftist. For many conservatives, this Hobson’s choice would have resulted in their picking Feinstein as the lesser of two evils.

Now we know, though, that there is no “lesser of two evils” when it comes to the only choices in California for U.S. Senator. Kevin de León remains as hard Left as ever. Dianne Feinstein, meanwhile, has slipped into the equally evil category. First, she was revealed either as the stupid dupe of a Chinese spy or someone who was complicit in Chinese spying. (She did, after all, make bank on China during those same years.)

Bad as Feinstein’s China problem is, worse was yet to come. The Kavanaugh hearings have exposed Feinstein’s utterly disgraceful, morally bankrupt behavior regarding Christine Blasey Ford’s vague, uncorroborated charges against Kavanaugh. [Read more…]

Bookworm Beat 9/7/2018 — the “won’t that boring Obama ever shut up” edition

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This Bookworm Beat has as its starting points Obama’s self-aggrandizing, offensive speech. Then it gets to the fun and interesting stuff for you to enjoy.

Bookworm Beat Obama Brennan double standards insane leftistsObama as a sleeping aid. I visited my father’s best friend today. The two met in 1935. My father passed away more than twenty years ago, but his friend is still going strong at 98.

He’s a dear man, except when he gets on politics. Then, his inner communist emerges, loud and shrill. He listened to Obama’s speech this morning but when I asked him about it as a conversational gambit, he couldn’t tell me what he had heard. Having looked at the speech myself, I’m not surprised at his failure to discuss the speech. This inability wasn’t due to advanced age. As always, aside from self-aggrandizement and insults, Obama has little to say.

So let’s move on to more interesting stuff, including more riffs about Obama’s many failures:

The Trump economy is still going strong. The economy is booming as it has few times before in American history. In his forgettable speech, Obama tried to own it.

It’s true that Obama presided over a decent stock market, but that was because investors were too afraid to do anything with their money in his hyper-regulatory environment but plant it in the stock market. They didn’t invent things, grow businesses, or hire people. To the extent people had jobs, they were dead-end, low-paying, part-time affairs. And so the economy staggered on for eight long years, without a single serious upward blip.

And then Trump got elected and, magically, the economy started roaring. It roared with even more vigor when Trump got the tax man off the back of businesses (i.e., employers) by bringing America’s corporate tax rate in line with the corporate tax rate in most of Europe. (Yup, all those semi-socialist nations so beloved of the Left had corporate tax rates lower than America’s.)

Based upon the soaring economy, I’m going to venture a prediction. I doubt that many minorities will be able to make themselves pull the lever for Republican candidates. However, I suspect that they’ll passively-aggressively do so by failing to turn out for Democrats. After all, the Democrats did not improve their living standards; at least one Republican has.

The true story behind Obama’s Iran deal made me want to cry. Wait! That’s wrong. It didn’t make me want to cry. It actually made Wendy Sherman, the chief American negotiator cry — right in front of the Iranian team. Apparently staying in a super luxury hotel for several days and eating only five star cuisine, weakened her so much that, in the face of their meanie demands, she broke down.

Matthew Continetti has the story and I urge you to read it. Then you can decide whether you want to laugh or cry. All I know is that, having read it, I thanked God once again for President Donald Trump.

Meanwhile, Trump garners praise for his Iraq policy. Obama incontinently left Iraq, giving birth to ISIS and creating an opening for Iran. According to one man at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, while Trump cannot undo the sum of damage Obama inflicted on that beleaguered nation, he’s making really smart decisions:

[T]he real reason why the US is staying put in Iraq is to prevent it from becoming an Iranian client state, as Lebanon has become and as Syria might soon become. The investment of 2,000 troops, most of whom serve as advisors and trainers of the Federal Army of Iraq, is worth its price in gold in achieving this objective compared to the 100,000 American troops who were on the ground before the massive withdrawal in 2010.

[snip]

This underlying quest for independence from Iranian tutelage justifies President Trump’s wager that 2,000 troops might be worth maintaining to prevent the new fall of Baghdad. The least it could do is stave off the Iranians sufficiently for Iraq’s government and citizens to decide for themselves what the nature of their relationship with Iran will be.

The whole analysis makes for fascinating reading. [Read more…]

Bookworm Beat 8/29/2018 — the “bitch is back” edition

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I’m in a snarky mood today and this Bookworm Beat  has a lot to snark about, from McCain’s funeral, to Hillary’s server, to Pontiff scandals, and much more.

Bookworm Beat Woman WritingAgain, my apologies for the delay in getting this post up. Aside from catching up on things that fell behind during my travels, I was also updating What Business Thinks. Please remember to check it out — and let me know if you find the companion blog helpful. Oh! One more thing. If you like the site, please share it with your friends.

And now, back to our irregularly scheduled Bookworm Beat blogging….

John McCain — brave warrior and a-hole. Not only did McCain destroy our one shot to rid ourselves entirely of Obamacare and then use his last breath to attack Trump, he barred the President from his funeral, invited his hard-Leftist opponent Obama to give an oration . . . and excluded Sarah Palin, his loyal running mate.

Props to McCain for bravery in Vietnam, but he’s pretty much been a disgraceful, self-centered weasel since then. Bravery and moral indecency are not mutually exclusively. McCain’s passing is therefore no loss to the American political scene — and I devoutly hope that Arizona’s governor doesn’t yielded to Democrat demands and appoint either his unqualified wife or equally unqualified daughter to fill his seat.

Robert Reich has the intelligence of a garden gnome. Speaking as a seriously height impaired person myself, I feel comfortable saying that, in Robert Reich’s case, his garden gnome stature is commensurate with his intellectual limitations. How else to explain the idiocy behind his demand that we “annul” the 2016 election? My friend Mike McDaniel breaks it down:

Ah, so that’s what Reich is saying!  We’ll just declare Trump’s election legally invalid or void.  We’ll make it ineffective or inoperative!  That should be easy, right?  We’ll just refer to the Constitution, Article II, Section 5, which says:

The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on annulment upon the desires of former minor cabinet officers that worked for the Clintons, because Trump.

That seems pretty clear…what’s that?  There is no Section 5 in Article II of the Constitution?  Well, what’s that got to do with anything? I mean Robert Reich wants to annul Trump, and he’s a past semi-famous Democrat, so what does the Constitution have to do with it?

Read the rest here.

(And no, you’re not imagining it. I am in a bitchy mood. I only had three hours of sleep last night, having arrived home late and been awakened early, and that definitely strips away the Pollyanna gloss I often try to project and leaves the real me, red of tooth and claw.) [Read more…]

Looking for information about California Republican senatorial candidates

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Please help me select a California U.S. senatorial candidate who has a chance of showing up on the November ballot, so voters can hear conservative ideas.

California Senatorial CandidateI’m starting to think about my votes for the upcoming June 5 open primary in California. I’ve got most of my votes nailed down, except for Candidate for the United States Senate. I am in love with some of the Republican candidates because, despite very little information, I know that they are courageous. Why courageous? Because they are minorities who refuse to let their skin color dictate their politics. Courage is certainly a virtue in a politician.

I’ve narrowed my top choices down as follows based on their generic conservative politics and the marvelous fact that they’re refusing to be racially categorized:

Other possibilities are these equally generic California Republicans:

  • Jerry J. Laws, who truly understand’s a constitutional federal government.
  • James P. Bradley, who believes climate change is a serious issue (perhaps his Coast Guard background makes him sensitive), but also opposes California’s sanctuary state status and, more importantly, is a serious contender in the open primary — although that may be an outlier, thanks to the fact that he’s shown up near the top of static alphabetical candidate lists. On my ballot, he’s near the bottom.
  • Tom Palzer, the “official” Republican candidate, who has worked in the government, has a lot of urban planning experience, is a veteran, and seems like an all-around okay guy.

[Read more…]

The choice for California governor: John Cox v. Gavin Newsom

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In the battle for California governor, a surprisingly even-handed pro-Gavin Newsom flyer makes an incredibly strong case for voting for Republican John Cox.

John Cox California GovernorIn an ideal world, on June 5, when California voters go to the polls, members of the various political parties would have a chance to select which of the candidates affiliated with their party should end up on the ticket in November. But we do not live in an ideal world. We live in California, which several years ago chose to become an “open-primary” state.

What “open primary” means is “no primary” — party members cannot choose their candidate. Instead, an open primary is a “pre-election election,” with the top two winners facing off against each other in November. As I detailed in a post dedicated to the whole misbegotten scheme, the purpose is to remove Republicans entirely from the California ballot every November.

Sometimes, though, even the best-laid Democrat schemes go awry. In this case, two factors are creating the serious possibility that the Democrat front-runner, Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom, will find himself running, not against a less popular Democrat, but against an actual Republo-Libertarian, businessman John Cox.

The first factor behind this unexpected scenario is that there are a ton of Democrat candidates, ranging from hard Left to harder Left to hardest Left, and they are literally tearing each other apart. While Newsom will undoubtedly end up on the ballot’s top spot, it appears that the other Democrats will divide the vote so much that none will take second place — which leads us to the second factor: The mini-conservative rebellion in California seems to be consolidating around John Cox.

I have to admit that, of the two top Republican candidates, I prefer Travis Allen. This is not meant as a cut at Cox, whom I’d be very happy to see in the California governor’s mansion. I just like Allen’s energy more.

The numbers, however, seem to be supporting Cox, which is, I assume, the reason why Trump just endorsed him. I don’t see Trump’s endorsement as an actual personal preference for one candidate over the other. I think he’s being a pragmatist and is throwing his weight behind the candidate currently most likely to prevail over Democrats other than Newsom for a spot on the November ballot.

What’s clear is that, now that Trump has endorsed Cox, Democrats are worried. How worried? I received an interesting flyer in today’s mail from the Citizens Supporting Gavin Newsom for Governor 2018, which I reproduce below. So that you can understand it, the flyer is a single sheet of 11 x 17 paper, folded in half. If you were holding the flyer in your hand, you would open it and see pages two and three facing each other: [Read more…]

It’s funny because it’s true: You know you’re from California if….

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This “joke” email about California is so accurate that it manages, in fewer than 300 words, to skewer everything crazy about what was once a golden state.

California going to potI did not write the following clever list. Instead, I got it in an email. I share it with you not just because it’s funny (which it is), but because it meets the Homer Simpson definition of funny: “It’s funny because it’s true.”

As you read this list, keep in mind that nothing in it is fake or exaggerated — including the bit about whether pot is legal or illegal, a question I just heard while at a dinner party last night. [Read more…]

The trickle-down lawlessness permeating California hits the streets

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It’s no coincidence that crime is on the rise in California. A fish rots from the head and, when it comes to lawlessness, California is rotten from the top down.

California San Francisco Car TheftI don’t know whether you are aware, but there is an epidemic of car thefts and break-ins taking place in San Francisco. Car break-ins are at record highs:

When my car was broken into last month, I became by my estimate the 26,000th person in San Francisco to meet that fate this year — and that’s just the people who bothered to report the crime. People at every level of the socioeconomic ladder, in every corner of the city, have been affected by this crime epidemic. But, as I’ve learned over the past few weeks, city government is long on excuses and short on plans to solve the problem.

The number of auto burglaries has tripled since 2010, with no signs of slowing. In fact, there were 5,333 more car break-ins by the end of October 2017 than in the same period of 2016, according to Police Department crime statistics.

So are outright thefts:

The Bay Area had the nation’s highest rate of car theft last year — and the problem is getting worse in San Francisco, statistics show.

The rate of auto thefts in the city rose 14 percent in 2014 and is up another 10 percent as of Sept. 1, police records show. If the trend continues, roughly 7,300 trucks, automobiles and motorcycles could be reported missing in 2015 — San Francisco’s highest count in nearly a decade and a more than 80 percent increase from the low point in 2010.

The increase bucks state and regional trends.

Per capita, Oakland ranked second in the nation for stolen vehicles in 2012. The numbers there have steadily dropped during the past few years and leveled off this month. Auto theft fell about 4 percent in California from 2013 to 2014, the most recent statewide figures available.

The police aren’t much help, even when the victim is able to deliver the crime to the police in a neatly wrapped package:

I tell the police we’re following a stolen van. This seems to get some attention at first, but after asking more questions and learning it’s a rental they start slow walking. We have a trainee on the phone and his supervisor is right there telling him what to do.

The supervisor gets a hold of the sergeant, and I can hear her asking for permission to disconnect. They want to end the call. And then I get a call on the other line. It’s the sergeant, I think. He never introduced himself.

I answer: “Hello?”
“THIS IS SFPD, WE ARE NOT GOING TO PURSUE YOUR VAN ALL OVER THE CITY”
It’s in caps because he was kinda yelling. I know there’s no point in arguing about this.
“OK I understand, thank you”
Click. He hangs up.

Here’s another story, which takes place frighteningly close to my home.  A friend shared it with me and authorized me to share with you: [Read more…]

Can Republican Travis Allen become California’s next governor?

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Travis Allen, an intelligent, truly conservative happy warrior has what it takes to put a Republican in the California governor’s office.

Travis AllenI attended a luncheon today at which Travis Allen spoke. He is running for California governor.

I’ve been to many luncheons over the years at which Republican men and women have spoken, all of them seeking some sort of elected office in California. Some were good, and I wrote about their efforts, some were bad, and I didn’t want to embarrass them by writing about them at my blog. However, I didn’t think any of them could actually win in California, a state that, until a few months ago, had a Democrat super-majority in the State Assembly.

Having seen Travis Allen in action, though, I think he might be that rare, true Republican who can win over California. He’s certainly coming along at a propitious time — although things that would normally drive out a government that’s held power for 39 years, here in California might not get the traction one expects. Let me explain.

It’s propitious that Trump’s conservativism, which has done great things for the economy and which appeals to core American values, is winning fans, especially among the all-important Independents. But of course, this is California and even the so-called Independents are Leftists and the media drumbeat is taken for truth, not noise.

It’s propitious that the #MeToo movement has hit Sacramento and Democrats are holding their breath that the other shoe won’t drop, exposing just how sexist and debauched unrestrained Leftism can be. But of course, this is California and we know that Democrat disdain for behavior ranging from merely sexist to actual sexual assault vanishes when Leftist values such as abortion, open borders, and gun control are on the line. A party that can forgive Teddy Kennedy for manslaughter can forgive anything.

It’s propitious that Jerry Brown’s unilaterally-imposed gas tax (12 cents per gallon) has been in effect for several months, and we can see how it raises consumer prices, not to mention the terrible regressive toll it takes on poor people. But of course, this is California and the monied interests are so invested in the imagined horrors of anthropogenic climate change that they’re willing to see poor people suffer from “energy poverty” if it will drive gasoline-powered cars off the road.

It’s propitious that Covered California, the state’s answer to Obamacare has not, in fact, covered California. Instead, especially in rural areas, it’s left many people without their own doctors or even access to medical care. But of course this is California, so it’s no surprise at all to see that political and special interest groups still view socialized medicine as the Holy Grail of politics, which should be advanced at all costs.

It’s propitious (and tragic) that illegal aliens murder people, drive up the state’s poverty rate, and impose welfare burdens on an already financially insecure state. But of course, this is California and it’s racist and unfair to Latin Americans to leave them trapped in their hellhole countries (never mind that there may be cultural and political problems that should be addressed in those countries first, rather than importing them into ours).

It’s propitious that Gavin Newsom is dumb as a rock, rode the Getty coattails to political prominence, and is to the Left of Jerry Brown. But of course, this is California and this pretty-boy Silicon Valley populist, one who sings sweet songs to socialist tech billionaires, is still the odds-on favorite to win.

So, again, while Travis Allen’s timing is propitious, can he overcome the insanity that keeps driving this state further and further to the Left, in the direction of a tall cliff beyond which there is no visible bottom? [Read more…]

The Bookworm Beat 1/31/17 — the quick links edition

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Woman-writing-300x265I’m working on an irritating little project that requires me to explain to a judge in a polite, non-insulting, ego-building way that I forgive him for not reading the facts or knowing the law, and that I just want to lead his brilliant, informed mind to the truth. Thankfully, Wolf Howling sent me a great email updating me on today’s news, so I’ll pass it on to you:

The thought of a civil war with California just warms my heart. The insane part of this is that the progs look to history and read only the parts of it that they find convenient at the moment. Right now, they are reading John C. Calhoun circa 1860.

Amazing news. Apparently the first human ancestor some 540 million years ago was a progressive.

Also an interesting list of famous historical rocks.

How much idiocy and factually incorrect information can be packed into two paragraphs? Quite a lot it seems.

VD Hanson plays political doctor. Finds the progs guilty of gross malpractice. Good.

Over at WUWT, as I’ve said many times, one of the most important things that Trump needs to do is restore scientific integrity.

Sheldon Whitehouse, a very proggy prog, getting shouted down by more hysterical progs for his vote to confirm Mike Pompeo as CIA Chief. The reaction of the hard left is going to end up with a party that is purged and ends up to the left of Marx in four years. That is good news so long as Trump improves the economy significantly.

The EU apparatchiks are quite concerned about Trump’s 90 day order. The author makes a good point at the bottom of the post: If Trump secures the US borders, the people in Europe will be holding Merkel et. al accountable.

And lastly, an interesting First Amendment case challenging the ability of a college and profs to punish students who do not support social justice policies.

Today’s joke: What do you call a deer who can use all four of its legs equally well?

— bambidexterous.

That was all Wolf Howling. From me, Bookworm, you get a PragerU video about the brake the Arab world has placed on its development:

My addition to the video’s analysis is that, throughout history, antisemitic societies have always been more authoritarian than other societies around them at the same point in history. The fact is that authoritarian societies are always going to be antithetical to human development.

Bookworm Beat 12/21/16 — the “election that never ends” edition

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Donald Trump Election 2017Yes, the Electoral College has spoken on the election, but the Progressives’ weeping, wailing, beating of breasts, and rending of garments continues unabated. That’s why you’ll find these articles pertinent, interesting, amusing and, sometimes, frightening.

Don’t attack people from whom you want something. Hillary wanted votes from Americans but she couldn’t help herself. Speaking to a sympathetic audience, she had to attack vast swaths of America’s citizens as a “basket of deplorables,” guilty of a variety of moral sins. She may have graduated from Yale Law but she apparently never learned there the first rule of making your case to a jury: “Don’t attack people from whom you want something.”

Hillary’s most ardent followers haven’t learned that lesson either. They’re so busy pointing at Comey (never mind that he got on the case because Hillary broke the law), Russians (never mind that the DNC and Podesta practically gave their information away), and anyone or anything else that attracts their angry, short attention span, that they’re missing the main lesson: You don’t win by hating voters.

Over at the San Francisco Chronicle, columnist Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez looked at the numbers after the election and decided that an entire section of the City is irredeemable — and darn if he isn’t calling them out on it:

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