Posted on 06/16/2021 9:22:07 AM PDT by Kaslin
This week, a video from a San Francisco Walgreens went viral on Twitter. The video depicted a man standing next to his bicycle, loading up a garbage bag with products. The man then rides his bicycle down the aisle, past a security guard, who limply throws out a hand to try to grab the bag; the shoplifter simply brushes past him, then rides out the door.
This sort of thing has become exceedingly common in San Francisco. In late May, Thomas Fuller wrote in The New York Times, "At a board of supervisors hearing last week, representatives from Walgreens said that thefts at its stores in San Francisco were four times the chain's national average, and that it had closed 17 stores, largely because the scale of thefts had made business untenable." Employees at Walgreens had been told to stand aside as shoplifting took place because security officers had been assaulted repeatedly.
All of this is the result of a 2014 California ballot measure that reclassified nonviolent theft as a misdemeanor, so long as the thief took less than $950 worth of material. Thieves quickly hit on a strategy: Hit up different stores for less than $950 worth of stuff. Then, amid the Black Lives Matter protests and riots of 2020, San Francisco decided to crack down on the police. Mayor London Breed announced that booking photos would no longer be released, lest the prevalence of Black and brown faces lead to stereotyping; she announced a $120 million cut to the police and sheriff's department over the next two years, in the interest of "prioritizing investments in the African American community"; in the first six months of 2020, 23 officers resigned from the force.
Property crime has skyrocketed. It's not just shoplifting: burglaries increased nearly 50% year-on-year in 2020, and car theft jumped 34%. Meanwhile, the streets are littered with garbage, and have been for years thanks to lax law enforcement. In 2018, a survey of 153 blocks in downtown San Francisco showed trash on every block, 41 blocks "dotted with needles" and 96 blocks with open human feces.
This form of governance has become all too common. Los Angeles, my former hometown, has steadily declined in terms of livability. Suburban areas have been inundated with homeless vagrants, often openly shooting up, while the police have been directed to do nothing; Venice Beach has become an enormous open-air homeless encampment. Seattle has morphed from the Emerald City into a refuge for those living on the street, regardless of the risks to other citizens.
There is a reason why Americans are fleeing America's major cities. The problem predated COVID-19, and it will post-date it, too. Americans like having a Walgreens in their neighborhoods. They enjoy being able to walk down the sidewalk without severely mentally ill homeless people -- who should be in institutions where they can receive actual care -- urinating on curbs. They should not have to instruct their children to hop over used needles on street corners.
Yet the governance of "compassion" continues. So does the migration away from such foolhardy policy. The top outbound states in America, according to North American Moving Services, were all deep blue: Illinois, New York, California, New Jersey and Maryland. The top inbound states were all red or purple: Idaho, Arizona, South Carolina, Tennessee and North Carolina.
At some point, there will be no more Walgreens in San Francisco. Then we will undoubtedly hear about how this is the product of systemic racism and white privilege; we will hear tell of the brutality of American capitalism. The truth is far simpler: Where Leftist governance reigns, criminality thrives. And where criminality thrives, Americans flee.
Walgreens needs to be educated about social justice and social responsibility.
It is their patriotic duty to have their stuff stolen—don’t know why they can’t figure out this stuff.
;-)
My tagline says it all.
Slavery history gave blacks moral superiority. But it has NOTHING TO DO WITH COMPETENCY. American politics go by moral superiority only
...a misdemeanor, so long as the thief took less than $950 worth of material...
This is a little off topic, but I don’t think it should be a dollar amount in a world of constant inflation. It should be a “minimum wage” multiplier.
The $10000 rule banks have to adhere to was fine when it was implemented, but adjusted for inflation it would be about $90,000 now. Except it’s still 10k. And the Adjusted minimum tax (AMT) was set at an income point that made one rich when implemented. Now it’s not that far above the poverty rate.
Yes, yes, it’s blue vs red. Don’t think any deeper about it.
Democrats talk a good game about being the biggest defenders and protectors of the poor and middle class against the big bad rich people and their corporations. But give them the reins of power over a city or state long enough and they make it too unsafe and expensive to live and survive for everyone except the rich and wealthy.
Note the top ten most expensive cities in the united states to live in. All democrat controlled.
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/080916/top-10-most-expensive-cities-us.asp
Ugh. I’d shoot myself, first. I haven’t lived in a city over 100K in 40+ years, and I plan on never doing it again.
Population 283, not counting the cows, is just about perfect. :)
Trust me, Wealthy People! There is NOTHING here for you to want! Nothing!
“The man then rides his bicycle down the aisle, past a security guard, who limply throws out a hand to try to grab the bag;”
I understand the security guard was a woman. Not much of a match to stand up against him. Maybe some of those women that think they should be entitled to be in combat should volunteer to be security guards in those businesses that are being robbed blind.
“Where Leftist governance reigns, criminality thrives. And where criminality thrives, [Businesses] flee.”
Fixed! Funny how those annoying ‘Food Deserts’ always end up in Blue-governed areas, too. ;)
In a short time there will be no businesses in the major cities.
The Left is systematically making the cities unlivable.
Prohibitive tax rates.
$15 minimum wage.
De-criminalizing crime.
Legalizing public defecation
Soon no civilized person will live in a major city. So, why would anyone own a business there?
Purple soon to be blue?
Socialist cities will eventually become gleaming showplaces, as the homeless, mentally ill, and their compassionate enablers are all systematically shot and cremated to power the street lights for two hours a night. They just have to let the squalor continue long enough for the capitalists to be blamed and overthrown.
Hmmm ... a multi lane canal-lock-like door system that prevents shop lifters from leaving the store while allowing others to leave....
The Democrat could use smaller aborted baby skulls to fill in spaces between adult skulls.
I’ll take the defects and abuses of capitalism and nationalism over the blessings of international socialism any day of the week.
You forgot to add that “Redneck” is now known to be contagious and to avoid those areas for their own good. < ^ . — >
Blue baller demonrats destroy everything they touch…
How many “red” politicians are pro-nationalism? No reason to graft beliefs onto these people.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.