As prominent progressives deny any or significant crime increase in California, and any relationship between the addiction epidemic & homelessness, the state’s progressive fmr Sen. @BarbaraBoxer has been assaulted — one month after Gov @GavinNewsom was — randomly
Progressives have been insisting that any perception of crime by people in California is all in our heads.
And yet crime is up. The king of crime, homicide, is up. Retail theft is up. People have stopped reporting crimes to police bc there’s nothing the police can do because stealing $950 of stuff is effectively legal, and the DA was elected on a platform of not enforcing shoplifting
I would ask progressives what they hope to get out of gas-lighting the people of Calif. about crime. We’re not stupid. We believe our concerns are legitimate & calling us racist, uncaring right-wingers for expressing upset at rising assaults, thefts, and murders is insulting.
The data do in fact show an increase in homicide and larceny. And to the extent they don’t show as large of a one in shoplifting as we experience can be explained by less reporting and less enforcement.
Everyone — including the gas-lighters — know this perfectly well.
This is the ultimate in gas-lighting. Like rent didn’t rise in Miami and other warm cities as homelessness there declined. Like we’re not in an opioid epidemic. Like drug deaths didn’t rise from 18k in 2000 to 71k in 2019 to 93k in 2020
Gov @GavinNewsom was attacked by a mentally ill homeless man.
Progressives say it’s bc the state lacks money to house people like him.
But how could that be?
“There’s a shitload of money,” acknowledged the governor’s top mental health advisor to me
I would ask Democrats and progressives, including most journalists: how’s the strategy of denying crime, addiction, and mental illness working out for you? Do you think it’s endearing you to the public? Do you think denying, patronizing, & insulting people will work long-term?
If crime is down, then why are the politicians being assaulted, and spending much more on security?
San Francisco’s mayor is spending nearly 50% more, over 2014 levels, even as police are under-staffed and having their budget cut.
Progressives who live on hills here — Beverly Hills, Hollywood Hills, Laurel Canyon, Berkeley Hills, Marin — can escape it
When asked, they say, “I just try to avoid downtown these days” & “I don’t take public transit”
They plant their BLM signs & hope for the best
Naturally, it’s poorer, less white, and more working-class Californians who suffer from the rising crime that well-meaning but cocooned upper income and mostly white progressive Californians created over the last 50 years, and particularly the last 10
“The attack took place just hours after Oakland’s top federal & local law enforcement representatives pledged to take a tougher stance against criminals to deter violence at a Monday news conference”
But if you dare mention a relationship between mental illness, homelessness and violence in California, progressives accuse you of hating mentally ill people and wishing violence against them.
That remains the case even today, weeks after the attack on our weak governor
“We’ve simply come to accept a level of violence in this country that much of the rest of the world can’t even imagine. Ignoring that level of human suffering is hardly progressive, and it isn’t hysterical to say so.”
Wind produced just 46.8 terawatt hours in the first six months of 2021 which is over one-quarter less than the 59.4 TWh they produced in the first half of 2020. Offshore wind generation, too, dropped by 16%, to 11.7 TWh during the period.
Germany is closing nuclear plants this year and next, which will result in more use of coal and natural gas, and thus increase carbon emissions. Of the 56% of electricity that came from carbon-free sources, 24% overall came from nuclear, hydro, & biomass, which are reliable
In face of rising drug deaths and violence, and the failure of local & state elected officials to act, a new California coalition of parents of victims, recovering addicts & neighborhood activists is asking the sheriff of Los Angeles to take wider action
California Peace Coalition is a movement of families and concerned citizens fighting to end the drug death crisis, protect our children, and save our cities through a practical and proven agenda
We will formally launch Noon, Monday, Aug 16 in Sacramento
The cost of natural disasters has been going down since 1990
The world’s leading expert on this is @RogerPielkeJr who testified before the Senate on this 2 days ago
@SenatorTester asked the expert from the Union of Concerned Scientists to counter him & of course she couldn’t
That @SenatorTester & so many people are shocked by what should be commonplace knowledge shows the degree to which activists, scientists, & journalists have brainwashed everyone into thinking the exact opposite of the truth
For decades, Roger has explained that the rising cost of disasters is a consequence of more wealth in harm's way.
He shows people pictures of Miami Beach from 1925 and today. When you factor in rising wealth, which is called "normalizing" the data, there is no trend.
Source: Angus Gunn, Encyclopedia of Disasters, 2007
But weren't past floods due to poverty whereas today's floods are due to excess rainfall?
No. "Whilst the roots of the 1931 flood lay in pattern of environmental history, the proximate cause of the disaster was extremely high levels of precipitation."
Does that mean climate change isn't playing a role in China's floods? No. But its role has to be considered in context of urbanization, better infrastructure, and declining deaths and damages
If climate change is worsening disasters, high-intensity fires, & mass extinction (ie 75% species) then why
- are disaster deaths at their lowest in 120 years?
- do high-intensity fires become low-intensity ones in well-managed forests?
- are 73% of species *not* threatened?
I have been accused of being wrong about disasters, fires, and extinctions, and of course I might be: I have been wrong before. More than once. And I am human.
But when I have been shown to be wrong, I have not only admitted it, I have explained why & how I was wrong, in detail.
I was wrong about nuclear energy. I thought we didn't need it. I thought the waste was a huge problem. I thought many died from nuclear energy accidents.
I investigated why I was so wrong & spoke publicly about it:
People say climate change caused the floods in Europe but the main reason for them was the failure of warning systems, dams, and the public's response.
In truth, deaths & damage from flooding in Europe declined dramatically over last 150 years
The floods in Europe that killed over 150 people in recent days were a result of climate change, many people say. “Deadly Floods Show World Unprepared to Cope with Extreme Weather,” blared the headline of The New York Times.
“‘No One Is Safe.’” Said a German climate activist, “This is the climate crisis unravelling in one of the richest parts of the world.” The country’s interior minister agreed. "This is a consequence of climate change," he said.