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‘Q,’ Little Cable Cars, and the Degradation of the City by the Bay
How long before a critical mass of citizens finally say Enough is Enough? Then…?
It would take more adjectives than I know to describe our love for what we, and so many others around the world, regard as one of the most beautiful cities in the world, the very epitome of culture, civilization, culture, natural setting, and a place where My Lady and I have had some of the best times of our life with some of the dearest friends we have ever had. In saying that, I hope to dispel any idea that I feel a sense of schadenfreude in recording the most recent outrage against all The City by the Bay stands for in the minds of so many of us in whose lives it played such a major role and whose memory we hold dear and precious.
This is a story of what happens when those in the “leadership” of the governance apparatus of any political unit simply hands the deed to the property they have sworn to defend and uphold to the lawless in their midst, nay, not only hand them the deed but basically ask what else can we do for you today? Rooms at luxury hotels where you and I would pay $500 per night? Done! Open air drug markets so you can get your absolutely, positively illegal shot any time you want it for free? Done! Rename your status so as to make it sound so much more palatable than homeless— how about “unhoused”? Done! What else can we give you from the treasure accumulated by the fewer and fewer producing citizens of what used to be the most beautiful city in the world before you crapped all over it? Just name it, and it’s yours.
Well, here is what happens when society begins to seriously unravel and one suspects we only know about this one because some enterprising advocate of the “unhoused” was standing by with his or her phone camera; how many other cities are experiencing this very brand of self-help against the ever-encroaching tentacles of barbarity?
Here’s a brief description of what happened when the owner of an Art Gallery in San Francisco had finally just had enough:
The owner of a San Francisco art gallery who was caught on video spraying a homeless woman on the sidewalk with water from a garden hose has been arrested and charged with misdemeanor battery in the incident.
Here’s the incident:
San Francisco man sprays a homeless person with a hose after she refuses to move from the sidewalk. pic.twitter.com/vnBmgJpwEJ
— Catch Up (@CatchUpNetwork) January 11, 2023
The DA in San Francisco immediately leaped to the defense of the all-important “unhoused” community:
San Francisco police on Wednesday arrested Collier Gwin, the gallery owner who was captured on video spraying a homeless woman with a garden hose after he said she refused to move from a sidewalk he was cleaning.
Gwin will be charged with misdemeanor battery “for the alleged intentional and unlawful spraying of water on and around a woman experiencing homelessness” on Jan. 9, District Attorney Jenkins said in a statement released after she had reviewed evidence from the San Francisco Police Department.
“The alleged battery of an unhoused member of our community is completely unacceptable,” Jenkins continued. “Mr. Gwin will face appropriate consequences for his actions.”
You now have both sides of the issue. One cannot but feel pity for the very tragic and indescribably pathetic image of the “unhoused” woman, known as “Q” in the neighborhood, pleading with the man in the video. Watching a human suffer that way brings a strong and natural sense of deep pity and remorse. However, the question remains: just how far can you expect the civilizing elements of our society to be pushed before they start pushing back in defense of their (not the “unhoused”) property?
To me, Mr. Gwin represents very possibly (probably?) the leading edge of what can be expected when a great Nation like ours begins its final descent into decline, a phenomenon noted by minds about one million more powerful than mine such as, for example, Roger Kimball, Victor Davis Hanson, and others.
Where do you stand on this issue and the incident itself? Am I being too doomsday-oriented in my view of the matter, or should this be seen as just another minor incident in the unfortunate decline of another of our great cities? I would be most interested in your opinions on the matter.
In the meantime, as always,
God Bless America!
Published in General
This should show you the 240v models at Home Depot, at least. One I looked at heats about 10,000 BTU. I didn’t check all of them.
https://www.homedepot.com/b/210/240/N-5yc1vZ1z0qhx9Z1z0ugem/Ntk-elasticplus/Ntt-electric%2Bfireplace?NCNI-5&sortby=bestmatch&sortorder=none
Not knowing much about them I took a look at the Lowes web site. It looks like a lot of them max out at about 5000 BTU. I saw one that was over 8000 BTU. How big a room can be before 5000 BTU just isn’t enough, I have no idea.
Thanks for the advice. Will check out Lowe’s. But no City Inspectors giving me notices yet. Maybe I will get out of Dodge before that happens.
When local subreddits address my city’s homeless situation, the conversation inevitable turns to Ronald Reagan, who, in contravention of all logical thought and expert opinion, threw wide the asylum doors and burned them to the ground once the inmates had fled. Then the conversation faults the War on Drugs for trying to stop the flow of drugs that got people hooked, which was bad, and then it turns to Big Pharma, which increased the flow of drugs and got people hooked, which was bad. The reason no one is doing anything to solve the problem today is because of Capitalism and progressive-in-name-only politicians who do not provide free shelter for all without behavioral conditions, and a guaranteed basic income.
Until those things are provided, everything the homeless and drug-addicted do is excused.
Only until? I think it will be after, too.
Electric fireplaces (like electric stoves and electric furnaces) depend on the continuous availability of electricity. When the electric grid fails (or is turned off in the case of parts of California), there is no alternative – no backup.
Who do you approach. The chief of police, the mayor, etc? The inmates have taken over the asylum.
How do you tell the difference between the homeless and the officials?
Never enough. That’s their credo; so far it has been fabulously successful. Try to show them one single reason why they should give up when they have amassed so much by their greed and grasp. Good luck with that! Our only hope is for the day when they start turning on each other but God only knows how long that will be; it sure as hell won’t happen in my lifetime.
I happened to take another look at the post and this line reminded me of a nagging question I always have when the issue of the homeless, or, equally applicable, the issue of the 5 million “undocumented” “visitors” who are also most definitely “unhoused.”
They always seem to have one thing in common: no “home” but almost always a brand new iPhone, many, I am sure, with all the bells and whistles.
Last I checked, which was rather recently when I got a new iPhone, they are pretty expensive little items.
Where does all this largesse come from? Here’s a possible source: from the same people who funded the 3.5million bucks the FBI paid Twitter to censor the American people and who would have funded the 1 million bucks to pay off Christopher Steele if he could have corroborated one scintilla of the Russia Russia Russia hoax. Guess who, suckers?