About Last Week… Save SF – Give Xi a House There!

Well, we learned from the recent APEC conference that, if they want to, the state and the city can clean up San Francisco.

We also learned that protesting against a murderous dictator bent on destroying the United States is frowned upon…in the United States.

But the key lesson learned is how San Francisco can stay clean and livable – just have Xi Jinping move in.

Considering the billions spent on shelter programs, “harm reduction” strategies for drug users, and all of the other joyously tragic (but very lucrative for their administrators) programs the city has in place to “help” the homeless and the addicted, the use of just a tiny portion of those funds to buy Xi a house would be money well spent.

Because if the city will clean itself for his visit, imagine what it would do if he lived there?

It wouldn’t even have to be full time – he could simply pop over now and again and if he didn’t tell City Hall in advance they would have to keep things neat and tidy all the time.

But even if he did give San Francisco a heads up to his visit, that would work, too.  Just think about how you clean your house before relatives (especially those who might leave you something in their will) come over or right before you have someone in to do some work or even before you have a Merry Maid stop by – you cannot let those people know (especially the maid) what a slob you are so you clean and clean.

Speaking of cleaning up, it seems the state, the feds, and the City of Los Angeles weren’t that interested in doing so over the past few years when it came to certain under freeway space rentals (one has to wonder where exactly money goes.)

Despite Governor Gavin Newsom and Mayor Karen Bass immediately shifting a kind of blame to the I-10 property lessee, it has become clear now that all and sundry regulators involved knew exactly what was stored there and knew the homeless people living there had a habit of starting fires and yet did nothing about it.

As to the compa ny that leased the property from CalTrans (waiting for the day when they will have to change their name to make room for a Department of Transgender Services,) it appears they do deserve some of the blame for the fire.  But it must be pointed out quite clearly that not paying your rent does not automatically mean you are at fault for a fire on the property, as Newsom, Bass, et.al. went to great pains to imply.

Side note – I wish I could rent from the state – do anything you want on the property and not get evicted despite years of not paying rent?  CalTrans sound like the best landlord ever.

And the wailing and gnashing of teeth of officials in the immediate aftermath of the ABSOLUTELY NOT AT ALL CAUSED BY A HOMELESS PERSON AND NOT RELATED IN ANY WAY TO THE HOMELESSNESS ISSUE AND IF YOU THINK THAT YOU, SIR, ARE WORSE THAT HITLER fire was rather quickly replaced by a “look how hard we worked – we’re getting the freeway open in a few days!” self-congratulatory lovefest.

Was the fact that it was not as bad a problem known early on?  Quite possible, and that would allow officials to doom and gloom for a day or two before riding in White Knight-style and claim buckets of credit.

It could be true, especially considering the all-important maxim from the British political comedy “Yes, Minister,” a show everyone with even an inkling of an interest in how government really works should watch from beginning to end:

“Never believe anything until it’s been officially denied.”

Seems a bit far-fetched, but – considering the astonishing lies of the past few years – the really sad thing is that now the public has to think that way.  It’s the only way of keeping from going mad.

Speaking of going mad, I came across a clip from another amazing TV show, “Mystery Science Theater 3000,” that, while it has absolutely nothing to do with government at all, for some reason seems to me to summarize how exactly government works in California:

Thanks for reading the Globe!