We drove through Esmeralda County, Nevada, which turns out to have 720 people in 3,600 square miles. Still going north. Future idea: road trip to the ten least-populated counties in the United States.
Chris, do yourself a favor. Maybe outmigrate that hellhole and come out here to South Dakota. California and especially Los Angeles doesn't deserve you. True that.
Seconded! I would stop and buy you a beer on my way to visit my family near Erie. North East PA is a lovely little town too, by the way. If you like snow and grapes, you are set.
Titusville, Oil City, Tionesta etc. are all names burned into my head from the 5 hour car trips with my dad up to North East as a kid. Lots of the small towns in the middle of the trip get a bit muddled, but those in the last hour or so were as gleaming mile markers :D
We’re still pretty rural in Upper Bucks and Lehigh Valley too! If you ever stop in at the Erie or Venango Cooperative Extension office, tell them I said hello!
Same thing happening up here in western Washington. It was nice up here in the early ‘90s when I moved here for my residency training but Seattle (and Portland) are trying hard to be as crappy crazy as LA and SF. At some point the Left Coast states will lose enough taxpayers that they will become insolvent, and of course then they’ll try to get a federal bailout. At which point I pray that my wife and I will be in a sane state that tells CA et al to pound sand.
You moved here for "residency training"? In GloboPharma Algorithm Delivery Services herding human biology for profit while pretending it's "health" "care"?
And you think OTHER people are the problem?
Damn. You need to do some sand-pounding yourself, "Doctor."
Yep, I see that happening in Western Oregon after escaping a rotting CA 30+ years ago. I would love to leave the Marxist west coast ghetto created by Democrats, but I’m married to a man who is married to the land. Thank goodness he is cute. 😊
I love that road-trip idea. We're increasingly concerned about losing the farm to developer/government pressures, given a looming generational shift, so one of our pastimes is musing over options of any place to move that's not likely also to reach this peak of sadness in our lifetimes. Low density is a huge factor in my mind, and, since Yellowstone I guess, Montana and Wyoming are full (besides, too cold).
Happy for you, Chris! Our favorite road trips are off of hwy 395 in Ea Oregon. A lot of people don't realize well over half our state is desert/high desert, and it makes for many wonderful "roads less traveled".
I’d say come to NY but this state is definitely no better. Some of us call it “California Junior” or “Little California” It’s a shame because there are really beautiful areas here. (Plus your mom wouldn’t be too happy with me…although bring her too! I miss her!)
My outlaw daughter-in-law moved to Alaska for a job about 2 years ago and loved it. Only stayed for a year; her husband wasn't a fan. But she and her daughter were thrilled. They were in a place only accessible by plane. Everything was flown in: water, fuel, food. She was just mentioning last week how she'd love to go back. We're all in the Greensboro, NC area now. I'm just realizing that God had a purpose in moving me away from CA in the late 70s when He did. My sister's still in the Central Valley, at least in a fairly decent neighborhood with good people around her. Letting go of my love of the place has been hard, but not anymore. It's destroyed, not the land or people that I loved and remembered anymore. It's been won in a war the good people weren't even allowed to fight. There are no words. And now those people want our country.
Yes. Homer is absolutely stunning (esp on a clear day) and still a pretty quiet place. The whole Kenai peninsula is awesome. We had a dinner at a restaraunt in Homer that was incredible. Nice surprise.
We actually planned to move right over the line to Nevada or Lake Havasu. Then PGE made an announcement every employee must live in California. So we're stuck here for now.
I'm very much enjoying your writing in 'County Highways' on Point Reyes. How I long for long form investigatory journalism. You show readers why this matters. And how people did work with, not against, other ways of being to fit the peieces together for the betterment of all. Not in silos, not just more for ME ME ME, not black or white, but within an encompassing culture. We have to start over. We know how.
A number of my friends who live in San Diego county are now actively considering leaving the west coast fro Texas, Florida or similar. These are people who have lived all their adult life there if they didn't grow up there or nearby. And San Diego seems (relatively) sane thanks to the military presence and associated hangers on.
It's just one little thing after another that makes life expensive and troublesome. Living costs are higher as are taxes, government services are shitty, government regulations make it hard to do business profitably. As one of them told me, there's only so much that "the climate is wonderful" can counteract. There seems to be no way to remove the political grifters who make it worse because too many people vote for them (are they legit votes? maybe? but either way there seems no way to successfully challenge them)
Thanks to CARB it appears that there will be a 64cent increase in gas taxes if the empty head in the governor's office signs it. Plus the closure of the last refinery and no pipelines going to CA.... gas will be over $8/gal. Will Blackrock buy up all the homes for pennies as the last sane humans flee?
Right now gas prices here in ruralish Japan are roughly $5/gal when I do the conversion. A quick check suggests that this is more or less the same price as California. But here relatively few people have hour drives to work or expect to drive 100 miles to some event most weekends which people in California do so we can cope with that kind of price. Moreover Japan has cut gas taxes to keep prices at around this level because the authorities know that higher gas prices mean generally higher costs of living and the Japanese government would prefer the economy remain reasonably healthy
I'm a longtime San Diego resident--what we call a near-native around here. I don't understand how voting works in CA. Mail in voting is the obvious fraud route, and I have speculations but no proof. Somehow San Diego clings to being the most sane large city left in America, but that seems mostly inertia. Most of our elected politicians are homosexuals, although not the public clowns that Democrats in the House of Representatives are. Others are of the typical Newsom/Pelosi comfy upper-crust type like Sara Jacobs, the heir to the Qualcomm fortune. I'm old and retired and no longer high income, so most of the insanity rolls on past me like debris in the gutter. Still, unlike the rest of CA, we actually have a functional trolley. Our police responded appropriately to the George Floyd protests, and we had no riots. Last Winter, our city and county actually put out all the fires rather than let them burn huge swaths through the city.
Still, I shake my head, and wonder how long this can go on.
Fellow San Diegan here. My husband grew up here and I’ve lived here for over 20 years. We plan to move out of state once our youngest graduates from high school. While not LA, there is still crime and rampant homelessness and our mayor and city council are corrupt and only care about virtue signaling, not helping constituents. The beaches are flooded with sewage from Mexico. The road quality is worse in some places than Tijuana. My teenage son has grown up seeing things I couldn’t imagine seeing at his age - open drug use, mentally ill people screaming at all hours of the night outside our condo, etc. We make very good income and yet can’t afford to buy a home. For all of this, we pay the highest taxes in the country. I can’t wait to leave.
I live in WA State. It was so beautiful when I moved here. Now the roads are littered with a volume of trash I have never seen anywhere before, and the sidewalks have 2 ft tall weeds growing in them and the cement is crumbling. Some places, it looks like a third world country here.. and this is supposed to be the land of the environmentalists. What a joke. I cannot wait to retire and move to FL.
Amy, Sorry to hear that, but I certainly can't blame you. I'm an ancient boomer, and my wife is buried here, so I'll stay until they haul me out feet first and toss my coffin on top of hers. My best friend grew up in Portland and had always planned on moving back when his kids got on their own and he retired. A couple of years ago, I asked him if that was still his plan, and all he could do was shake his head no. Moving is not a thing for me even if my "City in Motion" continues to devolve around me. I wish you the best wherever you end up, hopefully someplace that still values freedom.
As for me, I'll just remain a voice crying in the wilderness--or the one yelling, "Get off my lawn!" :)
During BLM riots they still managed to take over parts of SD frwys. And burn 2 banks in La Mesa. There is some hope happening with ReformCalifornia and the Freedom people taking on the state against mandatory school vaccines - again. But it's a slow, slow slog. The city is bankrupt and can't figure out what to do. Parking will soon be pay, even on Sundays and all hrs. They're trying to charge for beach parking. Seems all govt, whether feds, states or cities, cannot figure out how to budget. Perhaps we should do a full investigation on every politician and if they have not run their own finances well, have not had to work for their money, or have any type of debt other than house, then they cannot hold office.
True, but La Mesa is its own city with its own police force and, of course, its own politicians even if it's right next to San Diego. As to the rest of your observations, they're all sadly true. Also SD is going to start charging for trash collection and more for water delivery. But I'm sure they'll have plenty of money for bike lanes and Gay Pride celebrations, but nothing for maintenance on the Convention Center that hosts huge revenue producers.
Not sure you have the right solution, but we need more folks like you thinking outside the box.
Chris , enjoy your road trip. This current riots is more of same from 2020. You’re not missing anything.
Theater kid Governor Slick and his moronic AG, Rob ”Liver Lips” Bonta, are now suing the Trump administration for sending in the National Guard to Los Angeles because Trump is interfering with the ongoing destruction.
The local corporate news insists on calling the riots “protests,” and continually proclaim the riots as “mostly peaceful.” If you tell a lie often enough, people will believe it’s true.
There are several communists on the LA City Council besides EunicesHernandez: Nithya Ramen, Hugo Soto Martinez, Marqueece Harris Dawson. Let them have the city, along with that dope Karen Bass. Together they will speed along the final demise of Los Angeles, which is inevitable. We can’t waste our precious time thinking about it anymore. Los Angeles will collapse and there’s nothing we can do about it.
If the solid citizens, though few, would stop fighting back and get the heck out, the end and lessons therefrom would come sooner. Devoutly to be wished
Perfect comparison. My oldest did his graduate project at NUST in Bulawayo. Mugabe attended the graduation ceremony and walked within eight feet of my son. He had an eerie sensation, maybe what Chris thinks being near Newsom must feel like.
It is the eerieness of being near someone who doesn't seem to be of this reality, but of somewhere else. As if they are at an angle to existence itself, not just unnatural or anti-natural but completely beyond comparison or contrast.
“And this is the week I stopped caring. I remember this place when it had people who cared about it, but anyway.” I deeply feel this statement. I don’t like it. But I really and truly get it. Dang it.
I guess you haven't heard that Gaven Newsom is willing to be arrested to show how much he cares about (the destruction of) his community. Now theres a real leader!
Yep. I live in Los Angeles and basically the Angelenos are getting exactly what they're always clamoring for, voting for, virtue signaling for. They have never been shy about their disdain & contempt for those of us who are not fellow Leftists. Hard to care at all knowing that most of the 12,000 homes burned down belonged to people who voted enthusiastically for their revolting Mayor & Governor (not to mention local Boards of Supervisors, etc.) and all of their wonderful policies. F*ck 'em. . . Sitting back and watching it all burn down (literally, this year!!!) really just encourages massive Schadenfreude. [Insert smiley emoji here]
Well, I feel the same way regarding my homeland (Canada). Folks just voted back in the government that spent 10 years making everything worse, and increasing taxes.
Enjoying my time in normal South Korea at the moment. They at least know what a man and woman are..ha..ha.
Yes, China is a large trading partner for South Korea. China is South Korea’s largest export market. I would include culture (K-Pop, TV shows) in the exports.
South Korea is neither communist under the Democratic Party nor fascist under the People’s Power Party. Like Canada and the USA, in my opinion, both major parties suck. However, the country has made huge strides going from poverty to wealth. President Park Chang Hee (conservative), and President Kim Dae Jung (liberal) deserve a lot of credit for the transformation of the country. While Park Chang Hee did violate human rights he built a lot of the necessary infrastructure like highways. Also, his administration was very successful in replanting all the forests. Kim Dae Jung gave Korea equitable and fast internet. He also helped pay off the IMF debt from the 1997 Asian financial crisis.
I lived in South Korea for 15 years, and the country, warts and all, is like a second home to me. And maybe you will like the fact that there is no woke culture wars here despite the Western media trumpeting the 4B movement in South Korea. It is not as powerful as some claim it is. Economics are the key driver for the low birth rate.
I can never quite figure out how the financial garbage happens. Have none of these people ever been poor? Really poor, where you had no way out and had to just cut everything and starve a little? Do none of them understand the value of a dollar? Did none of them have old world parents or grandparents? Have they ever worked all week for beans and begged for overtime to pay the rent? Not to go out, or eat, just to pay rent? Or tuition?
It’s just sickening. There are going to be hard times ahead because nobody, citizens or leaders, can control their appetites. Those of us who are adults (2% of the population?) are going to suffer because of these twats.
Surely you didn’t think Biden opened the border because he likes tacos. The border is a multi-billion-dollar industry that combines drug money with human trafficking money with sex trafficking money with cheap labor money. 10% went to the big guy.
Chris, sorry to see the continued destruction and decline of a state you have lived and invested in for a long time. From seeing clips like the one you included and others on social media CA (along with many other area's of this great country) have gone third world. Seems to me that the whole thing needs to collapse into one stinking mess and then good people, if they see the benefit, will work to rebuild something good again.
As I shared with you in a private message recently I just completed a cross country road trip with my son who was heading to Camp Pendleton for four months of Marine Recon training. I asked him about a news report regarding some protesting outside the gates of the base and he said that was at the southern end, closer to San Diego, and he is further north on the base (from what he tells me Pendleton is a pretty big place).
I was happy/sad to see that Trump has deployed 500-700 (news accounts vary) Marines to support the National Guard and local/federal law enforcement. I seem to remember that they deployed several thousand Marines to the southern border a couple of months ago. Seems like things have been pretty quiet on that front lately so whatever they are doing there is working.
Anyway, our trip started near Jacksonville, NC (Camp Lejeune), Birmingham, AL, Fort Worth, TX, Las Cruces, NM and San Diego, CA. A once in a lifetime experience and some eye opening scenery. We had a fantastic time and the best part was being able to spend four whole days with my son and talk about things. We hit San Diego around 5pm and my son dropped me off at the airport the next morning around 10am. From what I could see it looked like a very lovely place but a little less than 18 hours there was enough for me.
I used to travel cross country with my dad out to Phoenix AZ every summer to visit my grandparents who retired there. We’d go different ways and see different things along the way each time. These are fond memories that I’ll never forget.
One of our travels were during “the long hot summer” of the ‘67 riots. Being a kid, I was only vaguely aware of what was going on in nearly every big city across the country. My dad did an excellent job of shielding me from the news, avoiding trouble and making sure we still had an enjoyable trip.
He'll be good at Pendleton. I remember we were always excited to drive past it when I was a kid, hoping to see them training, maybe catch them doing artillery drills. Then years later, my niece and her husband were living in a development that was on land that used to be part of the base. Mind-blowing.
I grew up in California, then moved to the Greensboro area in 1978. I've driven across country a few times, and it's something everyone should do. It gives you a better idea of how different we all are, but how similar we can be. Unfortunately, a great deal of CA isn't the same country I grew up in, it's a third-world country now.
The area your son is in is beautiful, with lovely beaches, amazing weather, and incredible sunsets. It's completely different than the armpit of NC ;) (We love our military, but they gave them the worst place they could find to put a base.) He'll have lots to tell when he gets home.
From some of his comments and texts he is starting to fall in love with the area. He has been spending time in the San Clemente area and the pictures he sends back are quite stunning. Assuming he qualifies for Recon he could be posted to one of three locations, back at Lejeune where is his currently posted, Pendleton or Okinawa. He has said he wouldn't mind living in CA for a while. I shuddered a little bit and told he and his wife not to have any kids if they were there just in case (only half joking).
I get the "armpit" comment. I was born at Lejeune as my dad was a navy corpsman and was frequently posted to Marine units. I grew up in Aberdeen, MD (Aberdeen Proving Ground army base) and spent about 40 years living in the Baltimore, MD area so I know a few things about armpits. LOL.
"Bulletmore" earns it's moniker nightly ... we live in the city immediately East of APG and as a 4 decade boater, can't imagine living anywhere more than 10 knots from the Chesapeake
A posting at Pendleton would be delightful. My niece's husband was happy there, as she was. San Clemente is an extraordinary place. Hwy. 101 drive from San Bernardino to SF is my favorite in all of CA. With a few exceptions, that area, and some cities inland, are the best areas in CA still. The further north, the safer and more conservative the state tends to be.
As you know, Lejeune isn't about the base, but about Jacksonville. Its location, weather, past cultural history, and current politics haven't helped it be a nice place. I guess it's a typical military town in a remote location, but that's not fair to military families. There's so much more of NC that's enjoyable, family-friendly, scenic, calm, and livable. It's too bad it isn't located closer to the beach or mountains, but that's how I feel about Greensboro.
My niece and her husband, who had been raised in CA, moved back here, just outside Fayetteville, in early 2020. They wanted to raise their three little kids here, and didn't like the path CA was taking politically. He's a second-generation Mexican and wanted a better life for his kids than what's happening there right now. He works at Bragg as a contractor and is much happier here.
Both my cousin and girlfriend were at the base in Okinawa, but that was generations ago. I'd hope it was similar still. They loved being there and had nice things to say about it. It sounded interesting and like it would be a cool adventure for a young family.
He has so many good choices ahead. It's a good service and path for someone dedicated and motivated. I know the service has helped many friends, and they've been proud of their time in the military. Their families have enjoyed the posts too, and felt they gained a lot from the people they met, and the places they were able to see.
Thank you for your insightful comments. I have another son who lives in Cary, NC and that is a fantastic part of the state. It will be interesting to see where our Marine son ends up both short and long term.
I understand. At some point, you have to look seriously at other options. And there are MANY.
CA can't seem to get it. You simply MUST elect competent governance, or you get serious decay. This is the result of serious decay. Same for EVERY OTHER BIG CITY RUN BY DEMS. Does anyone else see a trend here? Move to a Red state, soon. AR, TX, MS, FL will welcome you.
So true. The clip of the devastation in Oakland makes you wonder why the left loves ugliness. Remember, though, it’s “peaceful” as you watch the cars burning and law enforcement officers attacked. Go figure.
IMO, when they are attacking with deadly force, the police should return fire. That might make the rest rethink, if they are capable of thought, trying to kill the officers.
Stay away from the network propaganda dispersion monitors. ABC is representing all of this rioting as protest. The Clintonista-dwarf Stephanopolos comes in comparing the Trump law and order being absent on J6 with “…over 150 Capitol Hill officers were injured…”
Who buys this BS? Oh yeah: Dembot retards with TDS who will continue to support the means to their own suicide.
We drove through Esmeralda County, Nevada, which turns out to have 720 people in 3,600 square miles. Still going north. Future idea: road trip to the ten least-populated counties in the United States.
Chris, do yourself a favor. Maybe outmigrate that hellhole and come out here to South Dakota. California and especially Los Angeles doesn't deserve you. True that.
Or Venango County in rural NW Pennsylvania. We’d love having you.
Seconded! I would stop and buy you a beer on my way to visit my family near Erie. North East PA is a lovely little town too, by the way. If you like snow and grapes, you are set.
We love Erie! And Northeast smells like grapes in late summer.
If you’re driving through here, message me here and we’ll buy YOU a beer in Titusville.
It's a deal!
Titusville, Oil City, Tionesta etc. are all names burned into my head from the 5 hour car trips with my dad up to North East as a kid. Lots of the small towns in the middle of the trip get a bit muddled, but those in the last hour or so were as gleaming mile markers :D
I always marvel at what a small world we live in. If you went from Titusville to Tionesta, you passed our house. Yes, it’s a deal! 😁
We’re still pretty rural in Upper Bucks and Lehigh Valley too! If you ever stop in at the Erie or Venango Cooperative Extension office, tell them I said hello!
Same thing happening up here in western Washington. It was nice up here in the early ‘90s when I moved here for my residency training but Seattle (and Portland) are trying hard to be as crappy crazy as LA and SF. At some point the Left Coast states will lose enough taxpayers that they will become insolvent, and of course then they’ll try to get a federal bailout. At which point I pray that my wife and I will be in a sane state that tells CA et al to pound sand.
You moved here for "residency training"? In GloboPharma Algorithm Delivery Services herding human biology for profit while pretending it's "health" "care"?
And you think OTHER people are the problem?
Damn. You need to do some sand-pounding yourself, "Doctor."
That was uncalled for. People get into medicine to help others. It’s up to us to fix the system.
Sure. You have a great life, K.
Yep, I see that happening in Western Oregon after escaping a rotting CA 30+ years ago. I would love to leave the Marxist west coast ghetto created by Democrats, but I’m married to a man who is married to the land. Thank goodness he is cute. 😊
If you like true crime stories that deal with the Mountain West--basin and range country--look up Claude Dallas.
I love that road-trip idea. We're increasingly concerned about losing the farm to developer/government pressures, given a looming generational shift, so one of our pastimes is musing over options of any place to move that's not likely also to reach this peak of sadness in our lifetimes. Low density is a huge factor in my mind, and, since Yellowstone I guess, Montana and Wyoming are full (besides, too cold).
Happy for you, Chris! Our favorite road trips are off of hwy 395 in Ea Oregon. A lot of people don't realize well over half our state is desert/high desert, and it makes for many wonderful "roads less traveled".
I was about to guess Utah, Great Basin anyhow. Have a good trip.
This was the most depressing thing I’ve read lately. I guess we know … how this ends.
Unless? We. All. Stop. Paying. Taxes. They can’t come after all of us at once.
I’d say come to NY but this state is definitely no better. Some of us call it “California Junior” or “Little California” It’s a shame because there are really beautiful areas here. (Plus your mom wouldn’t be too happy with me…although bring her too! I miss her!)
Heh, making the place I'm about to write about in Japan (just under 10k people in 160 sq miles) seem densely populated
Where's that?
If interested here's the post - https://lessknownjapan.substack.com/p/red-horses-and-a-dragons-head-in?r=7yrqz
Thanks. I'll read it and pass it on to our youngest daughter also, as she and her husband are chronically thinking about emigrating to Japan.
Ohnancho in Shimane
I figure some of them are in Alaska so that'll be hard to drive to
We'll buy a seaplane-car
My outlaw daughter-in-law moved to Alaska for a job about 2 years ago and loved it. Only stayed for a year; her husband wasn't a fan. But she and her daughter were thrilled. They were in a place only accessible by plane. Everything was flown in: water, fuel, food. She was just mentioning last week how she'd love to go back. We're all in the Greensboro, NC area now. I'm just realizing that God had a purpose in moving me away from CA in the late 70s when He did. My sister's still in the Central Valley, at least in a fairly decent neighborhood with good people around her. Letting go of my love of the place has been hard, but not anymore. It's destroyed, not the land or people that I loved and remembered anymore. It's been won in a war the good people weren't even allowed to fight. There are no words. And now those people want our country.
Homer.
Yes. Homer is absolutely stunning (esp on a clear day) and still a pretty quiet place. The whole Kenai peninsula is awesome. We had a dinner at a restaraunt in Homer that was incredible. Nice surprise.
As a Homer ballcap explained, "A nice little drinking town with a fishing problem."
wait a minute, i thought that was Murrells Inlet SC! https://carolinabest.com/shop/ols/products/murrells-inlet-drinking-village-with-a-fish-problem-dri-fit-longsleeve
Well one has to be in NM but the entire state wants to be CA/CO lite. And ABQ is a giant shithole.
We actually planned to move right over the line to Nevada or Lake Havasu. Then PGE made an announcement every employee must live in California. So we're stuck here for now.
I drove 36 hours away from the Soviet. And CarPlay is dogshit.
Wyoming might be a good start. Wishful thinking.
I'm in Death Valley as we speak. Gotta be right up there.
I love it.
We’ll see you in Texas. There are several.
I'm very much enjoying your writing in 'County Highways' on Point Reyes. How I long for long form investigatory journalism. You show readers why this matters. And how people did work with, not against, other ways of being to fit the peieces together for the betterment of all. Not in silos, not just more for ME ME ME, not black or white, but within an encompassing culture. We have to start over. We know how.
A number of my friends who live in San Diego county are now actively considering leaving the west coast fro Texas, Florida or similar. These are people who have lived all their adult life there if they didn't grow up there or nearby. And San Diego seems (relatively) sane thanks to the military presence and associated hangers on.
It's just one little thing after another that makes life expensive and troublesome. Living costs are higher as are taxes, government services are shitty, government regulations make it hard to do business profitably. As one of them told me, there's only so much that "the climate is wonderful" can counteract. There seems to be no way to remove the political grifters who make it worse because too many people vote for them (are they legit votes? maybe? but either way there seems no way to successfully challenge them)
Thanks to CARB it appears that there will be a 64cent increase in gas taxes if the empty head in the governor's office signs it. Plus the closure of the last refinery and no pipelines going to CA.... gas will be over $8/gal. Will Blackrock buy up all the homes for pennies as the last sane humans flee?
Yeah that's another driver for people leaving.
Right now gas prices here in ruralish Japan are roughly $5/gal when I do the conversion. A quick check suggests that this is more or less the same price as California. But here relatively few people have hour drives to work or expect to drive 100 miles to some event most weekends which people in California do so we can cope with that kind of price. Moreover Japan has cut gas taxes to keep prices at around this level because the authorities know that higher gas prices mean generally higher costs of living and the Japanese government would prefer the economy remain reasonably healthy
I'm sure they, blackrock, will.
I'm a longtime San Diego resident--what we call a near-native around here. I don't understand how voting works in CA. Mail in voting is the obvious fraud route, and I have speculations but no proof. Somehow San Diego clings to being the most sane large city left in America, but that seems mostly inertia. Most of our elected politicians are homosexuals, although not the public clowns that Democrats in the House of Representatives are. Others are of the typical Newsom/Pelosi comfy upper-crust type like Sara Jacobs, the heir to the Qualcomm fortune. I'm old and retired and no longer high income, so most of the insanity rolls on past me like debris in the gutter. Still, unlike the rest of CA, we actually have a functional trolley. Our police responded appropriately to the George Floyd protests, and we had no riots. Last Winter, our city and county actually put out all the fires rather than let them burn huge swaths through the city.
Still, I shake my head, and wonder how long this can go on.
Fellow San Diegan here. My husband grew up here and I’ve lived here for over 20 years. We plan to move out of state once our youngest graduates from high school. While not LA, there is still crime and rampant homelessness and our mayor and city council are corrupt and only care about virtue signaling, not helping constituents. The beaches are flooded with sewage from Mexico. The road quality is worse in some places than Tijuana. My teenage son has grown up seeing things I couldn’t imagine seeing at his age - open drug use, mentally ill people screaming at all hours of the night outside our condo, etc. We make very good income and yet can’t afford to buy a home. For all of this, we pay the highest taxes in the country. I can’t wait to leave.
I live in WA State. It was so beautiful when I moved here. Now the roads are littered with a volume of trash I have never seen anywhere before, and the sidewalks have 2 ft tall weeds growing in them and the cement is crumbling. Some places, it looks like a third world country here.. and this is supposed to be the land of the environmentalists. What a joke. I cannot wait to retire and move to FL.
Amy, Sorry to hear that, but I certainly can't blame you. I'm an ancient boomer, and my wife is buried here, so I'll stay until they haul me out feet first and toss my coffin on top of hers. My best friend grew up in Portland and had always planned on moving back when his kids got on their own and he retired. A couple of years ago, I asked him if that was still his plan, and all he could do was shake his head no. Moving is not a thing for me even if my "City in Motion" continues to devolve around me. I wish you the best wherever you end up, hopefully someplace that still values freedom.
As for me, I'll just remain a voice crying in the wilderness--or the one yelling, "Get off my lawn!" :)
During BLM riots they still managed to take over parts of SD frwys. And burn 2 banks in La Mesa. There is some hope happening with ReformCalifornia and the Freedom people taking on the state against mandatory school vaccines - again. But it's a slow, slow slog. The city is bankrupt and can't figure out what to do. Parking will soon be pay, even on Sundays and all hrs. They're trying to charge for beach parking. Seems all govt, whether feds, states or cities, cannot figure out how to budget. Perhaps we should do a full investigation on every politician and if they have not run their own finances well, have not had to work for their money, or have any type of debt other than house, then they cannot hold office.
True, but La Mesa is its own city with its own police force and, of course, its own politicians even if it's right next to San Diego. As to the rest of your observations, they're all sadly true. Also SD is going to start charging for trash collection and more for water delivery. But I'm sure they'll have plenty of money for bike lanes and Gay Pride celebrations, but nothing for maintenance on the Convention Center that hosts huge revenue producers.
Not sure you have the right solution, but we need more folks like you thinking outside the box.
Venezuela has nice weather also.
The climate is wonderful?
I thought it was killing everyone causing the insane climate policies the climate/insane enact?
>> there's only so much that "the climate is wonderful" can counteract
Now illustrated - https://substack.com/profile/13379579-francis-turner/note/c-124740457
Chris , enjoy your road trip. This current riots is more of same from 2020. You’re not missing anything.
Theater kid Governor Slick and his moronic AG, Rob ”Liver Lips” Bonta, are now suing the Trump administration for sending in the National Guard to Los Angeles because Trump is interfering with the ongoing destruction.
The local corporate news insists on calling the riots “protests,” and continually proclaim the riots as “mostly peaceful.” If you tell a lie often enough, people will believe it’s true.
There are several communists on the LA City Council besides EunicesHernandez: Nithya Ramen, Hugo Soto Martinez, Marqueece Harris Dawson. Let them have the city, along with that dope Karen Bass. Together they will speed along the final demise of Los Angeles, which is inevitable. We can’t waste our precious time thinking about it anymore. Los Angeles will collapse and there’s nothing we can do about it.
Enjoy the outdoors. I know I will.
Nithya Fucking Raman, I always end up calling her
Does it ever end up doing any good?
Never
Hey, just people having fun watching cars burn!
That's not a city council, it's an insurgent cadre.
If the solid citizens, though few, would stop fighting back and get the heck out, the end and lessons therefrom would come sooner. Devoutly to be wished
I'm just going to say this:
You can either have Rhodesia, or you'll get Zimbabwe.
Perfect comparison. My oldest did his graduate project at NUST in Bulawayo. Mugabe attended the graduation ceremony and walked within eight feet of my son. He had an eerie sensation, maybe what Chris thinks being near Newsom must feel like.
It is the eerieness of being near someone who doesn't seem to be of this reality, but of somewhere else. As if they are at an angle to existence itself, not just unnatural or anti-natural but completely beyond comparison or contrast.
“And this is the week I stopped caring. I remember this place when it had people who cared about it, but anyway.” I deeply feel this statement. I don’t like it. But I really and truly get it. Dang it.
I guess you haven't heard that Gaven Newsom is willing to be arrested to show how much he cares about (the destruction of) his community. Now theres a real leader!
I'm willing to have him arrested, so Gavin and I are on the same side
On that one issue. Quick caveat for you.
I’m voting for Gav to get his wish. Probably cinch the 28 illegal vote.
Profiles in Courage, like scraping off or painting over the T on your Tesla. What a manly man.
I hope they put it in general lock up and everyone has their way with him. He looks like the type that would really enjoy a little beatdown.
A new slogan, “Make Gavin Bubba’s Boy Toy.”
That sounds good to me.
Yep. I live in Los Angeles and basically the Angelenos are getting exactly what they're always clamoring for, voting for, virtue signaling for. They have never been shy about their disdain & contempt for those of us who are not fellow Leftists. Hard to care at all knowing that most of the 12,000 homes burned down belonged to people who voted enthusiastically for their revolting Mayor & Governor (not to mention local Boards of Supervisors, etc.) and all of their wonderful policies. F*ck 'em. . . Sitting back and watching it all burn down (literally, this year!!!) really just encourages massive Schadenfreude. [Insert smiley emoji here]
Well, I feel the same way regarding my homeland (Canada). Folks just voted back in the government that spent 10 years making everything worse, and increasing taxes.
Enjoying my time in normal South Korea at the moment. They at least know what a man and woman are..ha..ha.
Yeah. "Normal" South Korea whose president, dictator, whatever, is cozying up to Xi Jinping. Just another place turning to communism.
Yes, Lee Jae Myeong is a liberal.
Yes, China is a large trading partner for South Korea. China is South Korea’s largest export market. I would include culture (K-Pop, TV shows) in the exports.
South Korea is neither communist under the Democratic Party nor fascist under the People’s Power Party. Like Canada and the USA, in my opinion, both major parties suck. However, the country has made huge strides going from poverty to wealth. President Park Chang Hee (conservative), and President Kim Dae Jung (liberal) deserve a lot of credit for the transformation of the country. While Park Chang Hee did violate human rights he built a lot of the necessary infrastructure like highways. Also, his administration was very successful in replanting all the forests. Kim Dae Jung gave Korea equitable and fast internet. He also helped pay off the IMF debt from the 1997 Asian financial crisis.
I lived in South Korea for 15 years, and the country, warts and all, is like a second home to me. And maybe you will like the fact that there is no woke culture wars here despite the Western media trumpeting the 4B movement in South Korea. It is not as powerful as some claim it is. Economics are the key driver for the low birth rate.
Hopefully you can visit one day.
I can never quite figure out how the financial garbage happens. Have none of these people ever been poor? Really poor, where you had no way out and had to just cut everything and starve a little? Do none of them understand the value of a dollar? Did none of them have old world parents or grandparents? Have they ever worked all week for beans and begged for overtime to pay the rent? Not to go out, or eat, just to pay rent? Or tuition?
It’s just sickening. There are going to be hard times ahead because nobody, citizens or leaders, can control their appetites. Those of us who are adults (2% of the population?) are going to suffer because of these twats.
🙌 Preach!
Surely you didn’t think Biden opened the border because he likes tacos. The border is a multi-billion-dollar industry that combines drug money with human trafficking money with sex trafficking money with cheap labor money. 10% went to the big guy.
Come to Iowa friend.
I still care about California. I'm not sure why, because our asshole "leaders" despise us peons, but I still care.
I care about a small set of shrinking islands within it
Expanding islands bro, expanding
https://www.ktvu.com/news/california-turning-red-which-counties-voted-for-trump
Enjoy the road! Please hit back with your experiences. We need palate cleansers big time.
The footnote is devastating.
“38 percent per person increase in real (inflation-adjusted) state government spending.”
The real looting isn’t at Target, is it?
Chris, sorry to see the continued destruction and decline of a state you have lived and invested in for a long time. From seeing clips like the one you included and others on social media CA (along with many other area's of this great country) have gone third world. Seems to me that the whole thing needs to collapse into one stinking mess and then good people, if they see the benefit, will work to rebuild something good again.
As I shared with you in a private message recently I just completed a cross country road trip with my son who was heading to Camp Pendleton for four months of Marine Recon training. I asked him about a news report regarding some protesting outside the gates of the base and he said that was at the southern end, closer to San Diego, and he is further north on the base (from what he tells me Pendleton is a pretty big place).
I was happy/sad to see that Trump has deployed 500-700 (news accounts vary) Marines to support the National Guard and local/federal law enforcement. I seem to remember that they deployed several thousand Marines to the southern border a couple of months ago. Seems like things have been pretty quiet on that front lately so whatever they are doing there is working.
Anyway, our trip started near Jacksonville, NC (Camp Lejeune), Birmingham, AL, Fort Worth, TX, Las Cruces, NM and San Diego, CA. A once in a lifetime experience and some eye opening scenery. We had a fantastic time and the best part was being able to spend four whole days with my son and talk about things. We hit San Diego around 5pm and my son dropped me off at the airport the next morning around 10am. From what I could see it looked like a very lovely place but a little less than 18 hours there was enough for me.
Safe travels wherever they are taking you.
I used to travel cross country with my dad out to Phoenix AZ every summer to visit my grandparents who retired there. We’d go different ways and see different things along the way each time. These are fond memories that I’ll never forget.
One of our travels were during “the long hot summer” of the ‘67 riots. Being a kid, I was only vaguely aware of what was going on in nearly every big city across the country. My dad did an excellent job of shielding me from the news, avoiding trouble and making sure we still had an enjoyable trip.
Sounds like a great memory. Hope my son has fond memories of his time with dear old dad. LOL.
He'll be good at Pendleton. I remember we were always excited to drive past it when I was a kid, hoping to see them training, maybe catch them doing artillery drills. Then years later, my niece and her husband were living in a development that was on land that used to be part of the base. Mind-blowing.
I grew up in California, then moved to the Greensboro area in 1978. I've driven across country a few times, and it's something everyone should do. It gives you a better idea of how different we all are, but how similar we can be. Unfortunately, a great deal of CA isn't the same country I grew up in, it's a third-world country now.
The area your son is in is beautiful, with lovely beaches, amazing weather, and incredible sunsets. It's completely different than the armpit of NC ;) (We love our military, but they gave them the worst place they could find to put a base.) He'll have lots to tell when he gets home.
From some of his comments and texts he is starting to fall in love with the area. He has been spending time in the San Clemente area and the pictures he sends back are quite stunning. Assuming he qualifies for Recon he could be posted to one of three locations, back at Lejeune where is his currently posted, Pendleton or Okinawa. He has said he wouldn't mind living in CA for a while. I shuddered a little bit and told he and his wife not to have any kids if they were there just in case (only half joking).
I get the "armpit" comment. I was born at Lejeune as my dad was a navy corpsman and was frequently posted to Marine units. I grew up in Aberdeen, MD (Aberdeen Proving Ground army base) and spent about 40 years living in the Baltimore, MD area so I know a few things about armpits. LOL.
"Bulletmore" earns it's moniker nightly ... we live in the city immediately East of APG and as a 4 decade boater, can't imagine living anywhere more than 10 knots from the Chesapeake
A posting at Pendleton would be delightful. My niece's husband was happy there, as she was. San Clemente is an extraordinary place. Hwy. 101 drive from San Bernardino to SF is my favorite in all of CA. With a few exceptions, that area, and some cities inland, are the best areas in CA still. The further north, the safer and more conservative the state tends to be.
As you know, Lejeune isn't about the base, but about Jacksonville. Its location, weather, past cultural history, and current politics haven't helped it be a nice place. I guess it's a typical military town in a remote location, but that's not fair to military families. There's so much more of NC that's enjoyable, family-friendly, scenic, calm, and livable. It's too bad it isn't located closer to the beach or mountains, but that's how I feel about Greensboro.
My niece and her husband, who had been raised in CA, moved back here, just outside Fayetteville, in early 2020. They wanted to raise their three little kids here, and didn't like the path CA was taking politically. He's a second-generation Mexican and wanted a better life for his kids than what's happening there right now. He works at Bragg as a contractor and is much happier here.
Both my cousin and girlfriend were at the base in Okinawa, but that was generations ago. I'd hope it was similar still. They loved being there and had nice things to say about it. It sounded interesting and like it would be a cool adventure for a young family.
He has so many good choices ahead. It's a good service and path for someone dedicated and motivated. I know the service has helped many friends, and they've been proud of their time in the military. Their families have enjoyed the posts too, and felt they gained a lot from the people they met, and the places they were able to see.
Wish him luck.
Thank you for your insightful comments. I have another son who lives in Cary, NC and that is a fantastic part of the state. It will be interesting to see where our Marine son ends up both short and long term.
I understand. At some point, you have to look seriously at other options. And there are MANY.
CA can't seem to get it. You simply MUST elect competent governance, or you get serious decay. This is the result of serious decay. Same for EVERY OTHER BIG CITY RUN BY DEMS. Does anyone else see a trend here? Move to a Red state, soon. AR, TX, MS, FL will welcome you.
But the majority of the shit that moves away to a red state turns that great state into the garbage they left behind. We don't deserve to be punished.
So true. The clip of the devastation in Oakland makes you wonder why the left loves ugliness. Remember, though, it’s “peaceful” as you watch the cars burning and law enforcement officers attacked. Go figure.
IMO, when they are attacking with deadly force, the police should return fire. That might make the rest rethink, if they are capable of thought, trying to kill the officers.
Preach! The Californians destroyed Colorado.
Stay away from the network propaganda dispersion monitors. ABC is representing all of this rioting as protest. The Clintonista-dwarf Stephanopolos comes in comparing the Trump law and order being absent on J6 with “…over 150 Capitol Hill officers were injured…”
Who buys this BS? Oh yeah: Dembot retards with TDS who will continue to support the means to their own suicide.