Constitutional Vanguard: The Chesa Boudin Recall, and What It Means for Los Angeles
This one took me a while to write (it’s 4000 words), but I hope you like it. It’s a dissertation on two recent massive pieces dealing with crime and District Attorneys in two major California cities. The first piece is about San Francisco, and was published in the Atlantic. The second piece is about Los Angeles, and was published on Bari Weiss’s Substack.
Excerpt from the free portion, about San Francisco:
Bowles describes an open-air safe space on Market Street dedicated to the care and “safe” drugging of addicts. Syringes are distributed to a zombie population of doped-up hoboes, in an area where tourists used to enjoy being sightseers. Nowadays, if some homeless (sorry, I mean “unhoused”) guy ends up bleeding on the sidewalk and an ambulance is called, advocacy groups stand by to advise the would-be patient that he doesn’t have to submit to treatment. He can stay right there in his druggie Shangri-La and die on the streets next month if he prefers. Many take the advice.
Excerpt from the paid portion:
As a personal note, though, I would like to add that cases where gang members are caught with guns are always cases that should get a prosecutor’s attention. We used to call such cases “murders waiting to happen.” It should not come as a shock to any elected D.A. that a policy of leniency to gang members with guns, especially when they have serious and/or violent felonies on their record, means some number of people are going to die as a result.
Become a subscriber and you’ll get to find out what I think of the effort to recall the D.A. in Los Angeles.
This may get lost in the deluge of comments on the Weekend Open Thread, but do read the piece if you’re interested in the topic.
Patterico (f00a00) — 6/25/2022 @ 11:15 amI read the piece and it is excellent. It’s a thorough and insightful analysis of a vexing issue impacting two major regions in California. He does not hesitate to lay blame where it belongs, and lays out clearly his reasoning. Be warned though: it’s simultaneously frustrating and heartbreaking when you stop and consider how many innocent people have been harmed by the policies of two very powerful white guys.
Dana (1225fc) — 6/25/2022 @ 11:40 amI’ve also read it. Great work. Be safe, sir. Good luck with the recall.
felipe (484255) — 6/25/2022 @ 12:08 pmI hope that they didn’t flood the recall with bogus signatures like the left usually does.
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/25/2022 @ 12:47 pmThere is nothing quite like a rich white guy defending the poor and downtrodden.
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/25/2022 @ 12:48 pmI just read the whole Atlantic article. Wow.
Please thank Mrs. P for bringing it to your attention, because it redounded to my edification.
norcal (da5491) — 6/25/2022 @ 2:22 pmPeople aren’t saints. If you want less crime you need good crime prevention, appropriate consequences and, a lot of times, a strong drug and mental health treatment system. We don’t have 2 of those things and losing the one we do have isn’t going to help.
Nic (896fdf) — 6/25/2022 @ 3:30 pmDon’t know how you’re coping day to day w/t Gascon problem, P, but your restraint remains admirable. Brother Bluto may have more pragmatic advice 😉
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uepFO4psgKE
DCSCA (4f9c6a) — 6/25/2022 @ 3:42 pmThat 1st Amendment really is something, isn’t it?
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/25/2022 @ 4:14 pmNcc,
The US actually has very good drug recovery programs. They’re just not the government-run ones. Mental health is another issue, but drug recovery is often a good first, uh, step.
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/25/2022 @ 4:19 pmYou would think I could spell “Nic”
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/25/2022 @ 4:19 pmBe safe, Patterico.
nk (e5c287) — 6/25/2022 @ 4:26 pm@Kevin @11 I haven’t looked at addiction studies in a while but from what I remember, we have a lot of variety of private addiction treatment facilities, but we don’t really get good results from drug treatment and the people laying on the street in SF probably don’t have a lot of access to the private facilities. I would also argue that a lot of drug use comes from a mental health place and if you don’t treat the cause, some other kind of maladaptive behavior will occur.
Nic (896fdf) — 6/25/2022 @ 4:30 pmMany treatment programs, public and private are, imho, aimed at something other than the client’s recovery. Either they are sobriety mills in it for the buck, or they are government-run processing more concerned about fulfilling a program than fulfilling a need.
That isn’t to say that all are that way, and the closer they are to the 12-step world the more likely they are to be helpful. Still, you are dealing with drug addicts who are not the most honest or responsible people in the world, and there’s a lot of money chasing the problem.
In the end, all treatment programs dump their clients into AA, NA, CA or similar, which is where any long-term recovery happens.
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/25/2022 @ 11:49 pmGiven that one of the primary purposes of that post seems to be to encourage people to back the recall and sign the petition, can I suggest that you make this particular post free to the public? It seems like you should be shouting that message with the largest megaphone.
aphrael (70acec) — 6/26/2022 @ 12:20 amI second aphrael’s motion.
felipe (484255) — 6/26/2022 @ 8:33 amThe vote against Chesa Boudin was not as heavy as initially reported. It was not 61% for the recall, but 55% And the lead in the election for mayor ofLos Angeles was reversed, although there will still be a runoff between the same two people. \It’s hard to get votes to change on a large scale.
Sammy Finkelman (b434ee) — 6/27/2022 @ 6:12 amThe problem is that the laws are, at one and the same time, too tough and too lenient, at least de facto. And also stupid.
Tough building codes. And illegal to prescribe heroin or Oxycontin, or their substitutes without enrollment in a drug treatment regimen for which there are no spots in the first place, klet alone volunteers.
But very improvised shelter or congregate living that they dislike and that can endanger them, and safe injection sites maybe with an antidote to overdoses available. Ignoring the fact that people disposed to or used to committing crimes will continue if nothing stops them and that some non-criminal, or at any rate non-intrinsically evil, activity is associated with that.. .
Drug rehab that doesn’t work and creates a dangerous situation for them when they finish because their tolerance has been reduced and the strength of the doses they can get is unknown.
The leftists control the law de facto, and the conservatives the de jure laws, and you get something that nobody can favor.
Sammy Finkelman (b434ee) — 6/27/2022 @ 6:33 amSammy, that’s now 3 elections post 2020 that have received large questionable vote dumps – the 2021 NJ gubernatorial (resulting a flip of results where the GOP candidate had leading margins on par with Youngkin in VA until the next morning), the Chesa recall (6% less but recall still wo), and a flip to a Bass lead over Caruso.
urbanleftbehind (553bd2) — 6/27/2022 @ 7:07 amIn California, most conservatives vote in-person and others vote by mail and their votes are counted last. Nothing nefarious.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/27/2022 @ 11:22 amUpdate:
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/27/2022 @ 11:25 amIn California, most conservatives vote in-person
Thank you Donald Trump.
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/27/2022 @ 11:32 amurbanleftbehind, at 19: i can’t comment on the one of those that’s outside of California, but in California:
(a) this is normal — absentees returned on election day (which have to be checked against the polling place rosters) have leaned left for at least a quarter century.
(b) the number of uncounted ballots is tracked and reported regularly, there are no surprise caches of unexpected ballots.
You’re inferring skullduggery that isn’t there.
aphrael (4c4719) — 6/27/2022 @ 11:32 amRip Murdock — I worked in polling places from 1992-2008. After that, I voted in person up through March of 2020. But now that (a) i’m mailed a ballot and (b) i’d prefer not to wait in a polling place … it’s unlikely that i’ll ever vote in person again.
aphrael (4c4719) — 6/27/2022 @ 11:34 amDrug rehab that doesn’t work
By itself, drug rehab hasn’t worked for millennia. There are solutions, but they are long-term and nobody makes money offering a long-term solution. All they can do is dry one out, getting a person past the physical addiction. But the cause of the addiction isn’t physical and never was.
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/27/2022 @ 11:36 am@24-
Same here. I haven’t been inside a voting booth since the’80s, when my polling location was inside a convalescent hospital. Never again. That and I don’t like long lines or crowds.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/27/2022 @ 11:40 amI would really like to see a study correlating mailed-out ballots with partisan tilt, across multiple states. In CA they mail everyone a ballot. In NM, it’s forbidden by the state constitution. I think that mailed ballots lower the effort needed to vote, and glean votes from less-engaged people. I believe that Democrats believe that this helps them. I wonder if that’s universally true. What is true in CA might not be true in Alabama.
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/27/2022 @ 11:41 amI voted a few weeks ago in person. In part it was because I’d procrastinated about requesting a mail ballot.
Question: if you had to fill out a form, even online, to get that mail-in ballot, would you always be sure to do so? IF you forgot, would you still vote in-person?
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/27/2022 @ 11:43 amYes, and Yes — but, even now when i’m the least engaged i’ve ever been in my life, i’m more engaged than most people I know.
aphrael (4c4719) — 6/27/2022 @ 11:56 amYes/Maybe, depending on how important the election was. Local college district board elections, no.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/27/2022 @ 12:47 pmMeanwhile, the CA Attorney General “accidentally” releases the full database of carry permits, including names and home addresses, type of gun and other identifying information.
https://thereload.com/new-california-ag-website-leaks-massive-trove-of-gun-owner-private-information/
I bet those judges are very unhappy.
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/28/2022 @ 10:44 pmKevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/28/2022 @ 10:44 pm
That right there is an argument for constitutional carry (people not needing a permit to carry). If one doesn’t need a permit, one doesn’t have to provide the government with personal information that can be leaked.
norcal (da5491) — 6/28/2022 @ 11:17 pmLeak of California concealed-carry permit data is larger than initially reported
They’re looking into it and promise strong action. Prediction: no one is responsible and no one is fired. And no one in the office is terribly upset.
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/29/2022 @ 7:28 pmMore from the same article:
Since getting a CCW permit in the metropolitan areas is difficult, the most likely holders are ex-cops, judges and other court personnel. All of these folks take some effort to keep their personal information private (and state law makes their information generally inaccessible). I sure would not want to be a judge who sentenced gang murderers, and have my personal information released like this. After all, there’s a reason that CCW was granted.
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/29/2022 @ 7:35 pmCan the people harmed by this data breach sue the California government?
Will anybody be fired for it?
I think we already know the answers.
norcal (da5491) — 6/29/2022 @ 7:47 pmBe a b1tch if some of those toting judges in on the court of appeals.
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/29/2022 @ 11:03 pm*is
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/29/2022 @ 11:03 pm