L.A. Times, October 6, 2014: Yes on Proposition 47:

Proposition 47 would do a great deal to stop the ongoing and unnecessary flow of Californians to prison for nonviolent and nonserious offenses and would, crucially, reduce the return flow of offenders from prison back to their neighborhoods in a condition — hardened by their experience, hampered by their felony records, unready for employment or education, likely mentally ill or addicted — that leaves them only too likely to offend again. [Patterico sez: Whew! Don’t try to read that sentence aloud unless you have excellent breath control.] It is a good and timely measure that can help the state make smarter use of its criminal justice and incarceration resources. The Times strongly recommends a “yes” vote on Proposition 47.

Got that? Proposition 47 will keep people from reoffending, you see.

Fast forward barely more than one year, and we see this in today’s Los Angeles Times:

Unintended consequences of Prop. 47 pose challenge for criminal justice system

Semisi Sina has kept sheriff’s deputies busy in the last year.

The 30-year-old has stolen bicycles from his Hacienda Heights neighborhood. He has skipped out on drug treatment and kept up his meth habit.

He has racked up 16 arrests, earning himself a place near the top of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s list of repeat offenders picked up for theft or drug use. And he says a new law has made it easier for him to commit crimes.

“Now, you can get away with it because of Proposition 47,” Sina said recently in an interview at his parents’ home.

. . . .

Sina said he rejoiced when he first heard about Proposition 47. He said he didn’t start stealing bicycles until the proposition raised the threshold for a felony theft to $950.

“Proposition 47, it’s cool,” Sina said. “Like for me, I can go do a [commercial] burglary and know that if it’s not over $900, they’ll just give me a ticket and let me go.”

Cool, man! Stealing is awesome. Just ask the editors of the L.A. Times!

Thanks to Kevin M.

I don’t want to name names, but it looks like there was a lot of hand-wringing over a Politico hit piece that supposedly showed Ben Carson to be a liar — and then all of a sudden it turned out that it was horsesh[vowel deleted]t.

But before it was revealed to be horsesh[vowel deleted]t, many people who should know better fell for the famous Gell-Mann amnesia effect and decided — based on a lefty hack news organization that had fooled them countless times before — that Carson was through.

Yeah, I don’t think so.

[guest post by JVW]

As anticipated, the Obama Administration today ended the hopes of building the Keystone XL Pipeline from Canada to refineries in states on the Gulf of Mexico. The Administration apparently concedes the argument that the oil will get refined and burned anyway (probably by China) and that the atmosphere will still be, ahem, polluted with just as much carbon as it would have been had the pipeline been built in the United States, but they argue that scotching the plans help position us as a leader in the fight to combat climate change. No doubt China, India, Russia, and Brazil are mightily impressed by our fortitude here.

Anyway, Powerline has a good summary of what the administration is saying and what all of this means. It’s theoretically possible that TransCanada, who owns the shale oil fields, could wait to see if a new President might be willing to resurrect the project, but with all of the remaining Democrat candidates opposed to the idea the company would be better served writing off the U.S. as a partner.

A nice welcome to the hip, young, brand-new Canadian Prime Minister, who supported building the pipeline through the U.S.

– JVW