California Doing California Things

[TomC]

Supposedly, J. Edgar Hoover as well. You just never know what "floats somebody's boat".

The part I don't understand is why anyone would care.
If there's a mental image I don't need it's J. Edgar Hoover in ladies undies.
Tom

 

[thebeave]

Supposedly, J. Edgar Hoover as well. You just never know what "floats somebody's boat".

The part I don't understand is why anyone would care.
If there's a mental image I don't need it's J. Edgar Hoover in ladies undies.
Tom

Methinks you doth protest too much.

 

[Colonel Sanders]

I’m thinking there are a lot of high figure GQP donors affected,

People living in $4M houses in LA are more likely to be Democrats though.

Depends which neighborhood. But yes, it is true that Democrats are usually more materially prosperous in life than their Republican counterparts. The latter should spend more time than they do pondering why that might be, instead of just pointlessly griping about it and throwing matches at our pretty houses.

Are most of the Democrats usually more materially prosperous in California? I don't know. But if true it might be changing anyway because of people like Musk and Zuckerburg becoming more and more conservative.

And it should also be noted that California used to be a conservative state not that long ago. I can well remember when Ronald Reagan was your governor.

Reagan left office as governor 50 years ago.

Time flies as we get older (myself included).

 

[Politesse]

I note that California's economy under Reagan's tenure was hardly at its height, and many of his policies have had disastrous long term effects for the state.

 

[TSwizzle]

I note that California's economy under Reagan's tenure was hardly at its height,

Hardly surprising as California's economy is very heavily tech orientated these days.

and many of his policies have had disastrous long term effects for the state.

Perhaps, but the democrats have had ample time to remedy such things. Should Reagan be credited with California's booming tech economy?

 

[Politesse]

I note that California's economy under Reagan's tenure was hardly at its height,

Hardly surprising as California's economy is very heavily tech orientated these days.

and many of his policies have had disastrous long term effects for the state.

Perhaps, but the democrats have had ample time to remedy such things. Should Reagan be credited with California's booming tech economy?

There's a reason nearly all of the Silicon Valley CEOs are Trumpistas today. His presidential tenure was more influential than his governorship, but Reagan's deregulation and tax reform frenzy happened to hit at exactly the right time to ensure that the bounty of the digital revolution would remain largely in the hands of a tiny oligarchic class of billionaire wunderkids and their investors, and they have a natural interest in keeping that gravy train from spilling too much.

 

[Politesse]

As for having ample time to fix the damage, yes, fifty years was more than enough time to fix the damage. So why didn't they? That is a question not just Californians but indeed all residents of so-called "blue states" ought to be asking. Just how leftist are these Democrats, in practice? Many of Reagan's specific actions and policies are today not just tolerated but directly championed by the Democratic Party, and are widely regarded as "Leftist" or even "Marxist" by the new Right. The Mulford Act, for instance, which outlawed carrying guns openly as part of a political protest... is it really Right? Left? Does it have a direction, or is it a hot potato that everyone likes to criticize but no one in the bourgeoisie truly wants to change?

 

[Politesse]

Aw, even the LA Times took notice:

How a law to ban homeless encampments threw a California city into chaos

Like many Bay Area cities, Fremont has invested generously in support services for homeless people. Last month, local leaders decided it's time to be less welcoming.

www.latimes.com

Turns out, arresting all the homeless people for a week, stealing everything they own, and throwing them back out on the street again a few days later, with even less hope and nowhere to go or any legal way to take shelter from the weather has negative social consequences. Who'd have fuckin thought, eh? I thought they "just go away" when you "clean up" the neighborhood! Man, they just don't make penal colonies like they used to.

Crime is spiking. Health is tanking. People are afraid to go outside. But far from being excoriated, to all but a few progressive radicals and a handful of lawyers, the city council is still actively being praised for "taking decisive action" on homelessness, even though their actions were disastrous and didn't solve the problem. What matters isn't solving the problem, only looking like you're doing something. The philosophy of authoritarianism in a nutshell. It's no wonder we're letting this coup just happen.

 

[TSwizzle]

The homeless industrial complex rakes in billions of dollars but hasn't made a dent in solving "the homeless problem",

Homeless services provided by the city of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority are disjointed and lack adequate data systems and financial controls to monitor contracts for compliance and performance, leaving the system vulnerable to waste and fraud, an audit ordered by a federal judge has concluded. The audit by the global consulting firm Alvarez & Marsal found that the city was unable to track exactly how much it spent on homeless programs and did not rigorously reconcile spending with services provided, making it impossible to judge how well the services worked or whether they were even provided. “Billions have been squandered on ineffective bureaucracy while lives are lost daily. This is not just mismanagement; it is a moral failure.”

LA Times

A corrupt and immoral bureaucracy.

 

[Politesse]

The homeless industrial complex rakes in billions of dollars but hasn't made a dent in solving "the homeless problem",

Homeless services provided by the city of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority are disjointed and lack adequate data systems and financial controls to monitor contracts for compliance and performance, leaving the system vulnerable to waste and fraud, an audit ordered by a federal judge has concluded. The audit by the global consulting firm Alvarez & Marsal found that the city was unable to track exactly how much it spent on homeless programs and did not rigorously reconcile spending with services provided, making it impossible to judge how well the services worked or whether they were even provided. “Billions have been squandered on ineffective bureaucracy while lives are lost daily. This is not just mismanagement; it is a moral failure.”

LA Times

A corrupt and immoral bureaucracy.

Your summary does not match the article, which is about the absence of data on program success, not evidence of program failure. Fixing that problem will require more spending, not less. Data does not collect itself.

 

[TSwizzle]

Why you defend this shit and at the same time complain about how people don't get help is beyond me.

 

[Patooka]

Why you defend this shit and at the same time complain about how people don't get help is beyond me.

Agreed. Just not in the way you'd think.

 

[Politesse]

Defend what? I certainly don't endorse everything LA has done to and about the homeless. I believe all citizens of this nation should enjoy equal protection of the law, regardless of their socioeconomic status. Not arrested, beaten, and robbed by their own supposed government just for being unusually poor.

But you still linked to an article and then misrepresented its contents. That's no more helpful.

 

[TSwizzle]

Defend what?

You hand wave away the the grotesque waste as if it’s no big deal.

I certainly don't endorse everything LA has done to and about the homeless. I believe all citizens of this nation should enjoy equal protection of the law, regardless of their socioeconomic status. Not arrested, beaten, and robbed by their own supposed government just for being unusually poor.

Such drama. Most of these people are drug addicts and mental patients and the rest is just a lifestyle choice.

But you still linked to an article and then misrepresented its contents. That's no more helpful.

The L A Times is being too kind to these crooks.

 

[Elixir]

You hand wave away the the grotesque waste as if it’s no big deal.

Is The Waste under your bed?
Who is benefiting from The Waste, specifically?
What individual(s) OWN The Homeless Industrial Complex and how do you know?
Is there a stock ticker symbol?
How does it generate vast profits?
Or are you simply parroting the simplistic idiocy of the Right Wing Propaganda Industrial Complex? (I can name names and give numbers )

 

[Shadowy Man]

Defend what?

You hand wave away the the grotesque waste as if it’s no big deal.

why do you have a problem with hand waving away stuff as if it’s no big deal?

 

[Politesse]

You hand wave away the the grotesque waste as if it’s no big deal.

You wave away the destruction of human lives as though it's no big deal, under the thin pretense of protesting "waste" that you cannot prove was wasteful.

 

[TSwizzle]

You hand wave away the the grotesque waste as if it’s no big deal.

You wave away the destruction of human lives as though it's no big deal, under the thin pretense of protesting "waste" that you cannot prove was wasteful.

Gibberish.

 

[bilby]

Most of these people are drug addicts and mental patients and the rest is just a lifestyle choice.

...therefore spending money to help them is always "waste"?

Could you explain how to get from the premise to the conclusion; Or, if that's not an accurate assessment of your conclusion, what conclusion you are expecting to follow from your premise?

 

[bilby]

Defend what?

You hand wave away the the grotesque waste as if it’s no big deal.

why do you have a problem with hand waving away stuff as if it’s no big deal?

Hey, it's not like Anthropogenic Climate Change; This issue is important.