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Good Friday Morning! Especially to me, who is back this week. I spent one week sick and the next traveling the country. But I’m glad to be back in the saddle this week, and we’ll jump right into it below.
This week, I will sift through some observations I had during my trip. I saw California up close and personal last week, and it blew my mind. And not in a good way. Links to follow.
Quick hits:
- Politico had a very interesting piece this week on the war in Ukraine: “The Biden Administration Is Quietly Shifting Its Strategy in Ukraine. For two years, Biden and Zelenskyy have been focused on driving Russia from Ukraine. Now Washington is discussing a move to a more defensive posture.” For the better part of a year, I’ve written that the White House needed to take any momentum Ukraine built and use that to end the war. Instead, the White House chose the path of total victory over Russia while Ukraine took on more and more losses. Now, the White House is admitting reality. They have to find an end to this war or risk losing Ukraine. Support for continuing the war in Ukraine is waning in both America and Congress. Unfortunately for the White House and Ukraine, Russia realizes this and is gaining leverage from the weakening US hand. That’s why I wrote the US needed to drive a deal when it had a hot hand. Russia is now incentivized to see whether or not it can squeeze Ukraine to death and outlast US/EU support. Biden and the State Department based their entire plan on the hope and optimism of Ukraine toppling Russia; there was never any realism.
- The GOP field is in the process of narrowing even further ahead of Iowa. Vivek Ramaswamy has stopped all ad spending in Iowa and New Hampshire. As Nikki Haley has imploded with poor press answers, her team is admitting what I’ve said all along: they’re trying to make South Carolina the first state she’s competitive in. ABC News said she’s “betting her 2024 bid” on South Carolina. This is precisely what Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio said in 2016. As I’ve repeatedly said, the GOP race has two end spots: 1) Iowa and 2) South Carolina. If Trump wins Iowa, the race is over. If DeSantis pulls off an upset in Iowa, the race will change. Nikki Haley won’t win in New Hampshire; that’s prime Trump territory. At this stage, it seems likely that Haley is staying in the race to help decrease DeSantis’s support and boost her own odds at a VP nod from Trump (which is why there have been so many Haley VP rumors out of Trumpland, even he realizes the math).
Where you can find me this week
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Bidenomics vs MAGAnomics Is A Fight Biden Loses – Conservative Institute
It’s Time For Nikki Haley To Drop Out – Conservative Institute
Hamas Terrorist Threat Is Real. Just Look At The West’s Arrests. – Conservative Institute
Removing Trump For Insurrection Requires A Very High Legal Bar – Conservative Institute
Seeing California’s Third World Poverty Through A Train Window.
As I mentioned at the top, I missed two weeks of writing. The first was due to sickness, where I couldn’t think straight. And the second was because I was traveling. The trip I took was Amtrak’s California Zephyr. For those who don’t know, it’s a trip where you start in Chicago’s Union Station and travel towards San Francisco, CA. That takes you through Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and Northern California.
It’s a beautiful trip. Before taking it, I thought I’d spend time writing on it. But that didn’t happen because once we got into the Rockies, cell phone coverage did not exist. My phone showed a symbol I’d never seen before, a satellite symbol with SOS next to it. No service. At all.
However, I’m not writing a book review on what I did over Christmas break. I wanted to highlight something I saw along the way. I took constant pictures throughout the trip but stopped when we got into the city areas of California. Almost immediately upon entering the suburbs of Sacramento, the fencing along the train tracks was filled with homeless encampments.
And I don’t mean one or two tents here or there. I meant large, four-to-five tent encampments surrounded and filled with trash, with groups of people living there. I passed one set of tarps/tents complete with solar panels next to it. These were not temporary places – they were permanent and everywhere. They started when we entered the outer limits of the big cities, and I never stopped seeing them. This continued for well over 100 miles, with many train stops along the way.
During the last few hours of the trip, we were at the second to last stop in Richmond, California. The conductor announced it was the BART stop, the Bay Area’s public transportation system. We got delayed there because Union Pacific told our train to hold up because one of those encampments had set fire to the tracks. We had to wait to get through, and that got safe and clear.
It wasn’t just along the cities and the tracks, either. Amtrak’s route takes it across the Suisun Bay (following I-680). Then, it turns west, following the coastlines of the San Pablo and San Francisco bays. I was on the correct side of the train because I was treated to endless views of gorgeous bayside sunsets.
But even along the shorelines, the tent camps continued. We waved at people fishing next to their homeless camps along the beach. Two kids jumped up and down from their tents to wave at us. It was apparent these weren’t state parks, either. The piles of trash, grocery carts, and human waste were continuous. The ocean along the shore line was filled with mud and trash for hundreds of feet out into the water, creating this murky mess.
California is a gorgeous state with incredibly wealthy people. I watched an automated taxi drive through downtown San Francisco. It was a converted Jaguar sports car. I stayed in a hotel hosting two white-tie events where the city elites assembled for Christmas parties that evening. And then you walk outside, and a homeless guy asks everyone he passes, including every taxi driver, for a dollar.
Given my readership here, I know you’ve all likely read or even seen pictures of the conditions of San Francisco or even read the stories of how Gavin Newsom and Democrats cleaned up the city for Xi Jinping and the Chinese delegation. I also had, but it was worse than anything I’d read or seen. It’s not an exaggeration to say I saw several hundred homeless encampments – and that’s only covering the areas long the train tracks. When I took an Uber to the airport, they were everywhere there, too.
Then I get back this week, and I’m plugging back into the news cycle. I see this story: Pizza Hut to lay off thousands of California delivery drivers in 2024.
The gist of the story is that CA is raising everyone’s wages and making it too costly for companies to keep delivery drivers. There are multiple economic lessons that conservatives and libertarians have pointed out for decades. But after my trip, my first thought was: They’re creating even more homeless people. California is doing everything in its power to create more homeless and make it impossible to have any job at all.
The sheer wealth of San Francisco is astounding. I was dropped off by the JP Morgan Chase building, walked by the LinkedIn building, saw ads for several dozen tech companies whose products I use, and stayed in some high-end accommodations. And yet, my takeaway was watching the images of homeless people living in actual human waste and filth everywhere.
It wasn’t just the fact that people were living in homeless camps everywhere; it was the fact that mountains of trash were everywhere, too. It looked like a trash compactor was dumped everywhere along the train tracks and roads. And you’d look at this and see a backdrop of Sonoma’s gorgeous, rolling hills.
I’ve never seen anything like it. If you’ve traveled, you’ve witnessed blighted areas in a city—or run-down old towns. But nothing compares to the literal third world poverty of what’s going down in California. Some of it was like seeing scenes out of Haiti, with people rummaging around in piles of trash.
What’s striking, too, when you leave and look back on it. Amazingly, none of the prominent Democrats in the state are interested in fixing the issue. I did not intend to go to California to see the tent cities for myself. I was in it for the fun of being on a train and seeing the country.
It’s impossible to miss the humanitarian crisis happening everywhere in California. Because that’s what it is. Every nationality is represented in trash-filled tent-cities, covering every city near the Bay Area.
I know San Francisco has police because I heard the sirens all night in the hotel. I know they have plenty of wealth because I watched them party all night. I know California has powerful national politicians because they’re trying to debate Republicans on why California is better run than any state in the country.
But after being there, California feels more like a state wasting away under the protection of people who don’t care about its people, resources, or geographic beauty.
As a conservative, I’d naturally question any of the claims of a California liberal. But after seeing, first-hand, the poverty there, I have to ask, what California liberals even care about? It can’t be poverty or lifting people up because they can’t even do that in their own backyard.
California is a beautiful place, and it’s easy to love it. I loved its charm and beauty. It’s a fantastic place. There’s so much there to love. But it’s being drug through the mire of the worst leadership in the country. And it’s not even close. And here’s the comparison. Look at New York and its homeless population. They have an issue, too. But they do actively try to do things to curb it and help people.
California does nothing and is exacerbating the problem. And when you watch the people fleeing the state, it’s hard not to see that the state is dying. That’s an astounding place to be for such a wealthy state.
I say everything here with as much love as possible. I have friends in California, including some who read these missives every week. They’re great people; I don’t blame them for what’s happening across that state. But it is shocking to the senses to see it in person. I took no pictures of the homeless encampments, but it’s forever seared into my memory.
I’ll get back to the usual writing in 2024. But I wanted to share my observations of the political consequences taking place in California. Whatever you think it is, it’s far worse than advertised. Cleaning that up will take a concerted effort. Hopefully, someone in California will take up that challenge.
Links of the week
The Wisdom of Hamas: They understand the war they’re fighting. Many in the West still don’t. – Matti Friedman, The FP
Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert swaps congressional districts as she faces tight reelection campaign – USA Today
Migrant caravan heads toward U.S. southern border ahead of Blinken’s trip to Mexico – NBC News
New York City mayor restricts bus arrivals to stem migrant surge – The Hill
Chicago mayor pleads for federal help as he sounds alarm on border crisis: ‘Country is now at stake’ – NYPost
Chicago, New York, Denver mayors say cities are almost at capacity amid migrant crisis – CBS News
DOJ threatens lawsuit if Texas enforces new border security law – Houston Chronicle
US, Mexico discuss immigration deal as huge migrant caravan advances – Semafor
Fetterman on Carville’s Biden criticisms: ‘Shut the f‑‑‑ up’ – The Hill
A quarter of Methodist congregations abandon the church as schism grows over LGBTQ+ issues – USA Today
Tragic: Obese ‘body positivity’ influencers keep dying young – Washington Examiner
Nikki Haley Claims Civil War Questioner at Her Town Hall Was a Secret Democratic ‘Plant’ – Mediaite
I Saw the Children Hamas Beheaded With My Own Eyes. Shame on Queen Rania – Newsweek
X/Twitter Thread(s) of the week
Sideline reporter eats uses mayo dumped on coach as a dip for French fries.
Second amendment reporters still facing banishment on social media.
Satire of the week
Crest Introduces New Ham And Cheese Whitening Sandwiches – Onion
Investigators Beginning To Suspect Claudine Gay’s Novel ‘Larry Potter And The Sorcerer’s Rock’ May Have Been Plagiarized – Babylon Bee
I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus…While Daddy Was Deployed – Duffel Blog
Mess Woman Left Behind After Getting Ready Officially Categorized as Natural Disaster – Reductress
Ticketmaster Exec Visited By Three Ghosts in the Night Charges Them $18 Service Fee – The Hard Times
Heartbreaking: Gift Card Already Misplaced – The Hard Drive
Man Lost In Netherworld Between Christmas & New Year’s Which Knows No Time Or Date – Waterford Whispers News
Thanks for reading!