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Mystic William's avatar

My City, very virtuously, has declared it to be a nuclear weapon free area. We also had a city council member try to ban Poinsettias at Christmas; he was offended because they were ‘too Christian’.

Shortly after Victoria declared itself a nuclear weapon free city a US Warship had to enter our stunning harbour. City Council sent a stern letter demanding to know if it had nuclear weapons aboard as if it did it would be requested to leave. The warship said ‘none of your business’.

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Chris Bray's avatar

Now THAT'S funny

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HWSr.'s avatar

And to think I’ve been bringing nukes to Victoria for decades. Oops!

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Mystic William's avatar

Well. Now you know not to. No excuses anymore.

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Connect The Dots's avatar

😂

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Mystic William's avatar

They should put up signs as you enter the city. ‘Please do not bring nuclear weapons into our city. We are a nuclear free zone.’ I should start a petition.

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Orwell’s Rabbit's avatar

Victoria…sigh. A vast collection of the most insufferable people I’ve ever met had homes there (present company exempt, I assume).

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Mystic William's avatar

It is pretentious beyond parody.

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fiendish_librarian's avatar

Victoria is basically a meme of oblivious, out-of-touch and sanctimonious Boomers and progressives bloviating about everything and anything while ignoring the increasing growth of junkies and disorder downtown.

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Orwell’s Rabbit's avatar

I had no idea that there was this secret group of Victoria-haters like me out there. I’ve only ever heard raves about Victoria from others, while I secretly gag and roll my eyes. Oh, Butchart Gardens, and tea at the Empress, and the harbor area with all the house boats… So “darling”…

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Occam's avatar

Boomers ftw

The generation who had so many benefits, now hoarding their way of life to the ruin of every subsequent generation. That elbows up crowd who elected Carney has behaved despicably and the rest of us suffer for it.

(Realizing not all boomers are guilty of this, but they hold the keys to the kingdom at the moment).

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Pat Robinson's avatar

Victoria, where if you turn your head at an outdoor patio a crackhead will steal food off your plate (happened to me at the Earl’s).

Victoria, where they proudly declared a climate emergency and yet on their website they brag about all of the foreign tourist visits and all the money they are spending to attract more.

All of which arrive via some form hydrocarbon transport.

We don’t have to make up retarded things about them, they do it for us.

Moron is just too small a word as is hubris.

Although there is a simplicity to short words.

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Ottonemo1's avatar

Victoria BC?

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Mystic William's avatar

Yes

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lhw's avatar

Side splitting laughter over here! Good golly, that is hilarious! The absolute hubris of these people is ASTOUNDING.

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Richard Parker's avatar

'Victoria, Lights and Leads'

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Flippin’ Jersey's avatar

I don’t want to be cynical, but I believe the guv of CA is planning on running for president in 2028, no? So maybe, juuuuuuusssssst maybe, he’s putting pressure on his cronies to clean shit up? Ya know, make it look like he’s kinda, sorta competent? A bit, maybe?

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Chris Bray's avatar

You couldn't stop him from running if you locked him in a basement.

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Flippin’ Jersey's avatar

If I were JD Vance, I’d have a T-shirt made showing a collage of Newsome’s “greatest hits.” Him at French Laundry sans mask, a homeless encampment vista, Pacific Palisades burnt out, the high speed rail to nowhere, etc. He’s gotta Trump it up a bit, market himself, throw some punches.

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CB's avatar

"Worked" for Biden.

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David Roberts's avatar

Actual LOL! True. Yep. True.

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Richard Parker's avatar

Lock him *out* of his hair dresser; campaign ends instantly.

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Mitch's avatar

they'll just fly in someone from NYC and shut down LAX while he gets his haircut...been done before.

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Mulheisen's avatar

Don't forget his dentist.

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Beezy Steder's avatar

Quick! Someone get the jeeps! We’ve got a rally to make!

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A.J.'s avatar

He's overly cocky given his all-vote-by mail and his Recall ballot getting last minute anyone-print-yer-own-ballot-at-home procedure. As long as he and his ilk control voting methods and counting he and his party can win any race in California unless real-time counting data crimes are exposed or threatened to be exposed. I sense some new back room carrot & stick on Bowers and Newsom for their sudden go-along for Trump's demanded SoCal cleanups. Any GOP Presidential candidate would be happy to have Newsom as a Big D opponent. A replay race ofJerry "Moonbeam" Brown.

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A.J.'s avatar

Bingo, Newsom has a new homeless "task force " as of 8/29/2025

https://www.sanjoseinside.com/news/newsom-launches-task-force-to-clear-homeless-encampments

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FuriousIT's avatar

Reagan was the last pol from CA to get to the White House. And he was supposedly a conservative. And that was anyway political light years ago. CA is a different place now. Newsome is far left in a country moving right.

While Newsome has the illegal and dead vote locked up, I think the voting machine rigging and paper ballot ops are not going to be as effective next time around.

Anyway, Vance will likely be his opponent and he is backed by the Tech Master of the Universe with his AI demi-urge so very likely Newsome will be deleted in the next election by some AI hallucination and need to take solace in boxed wine and burning more homeless encampments.

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Brian DeLeon's avatar

But South Pasadena is so charming: Gus’s Barbecue, Bristol Farms, the 110 Freeway…

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Kate Finis's avatar

🤣🤣🤣

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Regina Filippone's avatar

I almost spit out my morning coffee. Hilarious Chris.

This guy had to have more skeletons in his closet than Epstein. There has to be a way to stop him. Please !!

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Mitch's avatar

that's how they won the 2020 POTUS race

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Tmitsss's avatar

Newsom thinks you have the memory of a guppy.

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Eric Brown's avatar

And he’s not wrong, if you’re a normie.

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Mitch's avatar

tbf, that describes his political base.

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James Nick's avatar

That and they can say (for example), “Homeless problem? What homeless problem? Oh that was fixed aaaages ago.”

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Regina Filippone's avatar

Was thinking the same, but I am clinically cynical

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Vito Tuxedo's avatar

“…clinically cynical…” ‼️ Reading that just made me realize that, despite my best efforts to resist it, part of me has become a cynic.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m still glad to hear good news. But I don’t allow myself to believe that it’s somehow indicative of a reversal of the decline in American culture that I’ve witnessed over many decades. As long as we maintain the current political system, freedom is locked into an ever-descending downward spiral.

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Regina Filippone's avatar

Love good news ….after it goes thru the washer and dryer to make sure it’s not bullshit. Good news is a process !!!

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Mulheisen's avatar

"clinically cynical"

Beautiful

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Fabius Minarchus's avatar

This is a Good Thing. Where there is no real opposition from the right, Democrats have to kowtow to their lunatic fringe.

With Trump's popular vote victory coupled with a cabinet that is furthering the MAGA agenda instead of sabotaging it, the Democrats have to worry about appealing to the center again -- finally.

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Josh Passell's avatar

“I do not believe that the solution to our problem is simply to elect the right people. The important thing is to establish a political climate of opinion which will make it politically profitable for the wrong people to do the right thing.” Milton Friedman

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Chris Bray's avatar

Exactly!

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JD Free's avatar

Journalism is about covering important news. With a pillow. Until it stops moving.

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James Nick's avatar

Excellent! Add that to the material I’m, er, culturally appropriating.

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Rick Olivier's avatar

Brilliant!

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Mitch's avatar

fantastic!

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Betsy's avatar

Well done, Mr. Bray. This is on you - in a very good way. My brother and his family live near there and will be very glad to read your essays and see your photos. Thank you.

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cobra kai's avatar

nice post, but lets not throw a "problem solved" party quite yet. i've seen the same homeless encampment clearings here in seattle a hundred times, and a week later it is all back. it requires a continual presence to stop it, something i havent seen yet. instead of spending thousands, posting an officer there for a few months to stop anyone looking to camp, they will spend millions on a "seven agency cleanup", then walk away and do it all again in another year.....

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E. Grogan's avatar

See my post just above, Trump is putting addicts into rehab, those with mental issues into institutions and the rest will be rehabbed for work.

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Kathy Christian's avatar

It's what gives necessity to their jobs.

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A Whip of Cords's avatar

This is ALL of American government…. Create a problem so it can solve the problem ( and most likely enrich the government actors).

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Bill Lacey's avatar

Wait? So Xi Jinping is visiting again?

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Brandon is not your bro's avatar

Bill Lacey never forget

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Wayne Johnson's avatar

If they are still gone a month from now, it may signal a true shift. If they just relocate to the AV or San Berdo, it's for show. These folks need intervention and right now! But I'm hopeful Trump may be getting some action.

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E. Grogan's avatar

I've seen Trump say that those with drug/alcohol addictions will go to rehab centers for treatment; those with mental illness will go to institutions. They have a place for homeless as well and I'm guessing it's to get them shaped up for some kind of jobs so they have to work for an income not just live off the govt.

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Rikard's avatar

For the sake of comparison and to show that this is a universal problem not related to resources or anything material, I have a little tale to tell:

Where I used to live down south, there was huge former industrial lot overgrown with a miniature forest and full of shanties of course. Anything from a dozen to close to hundred people squatted there, druggies and disabled and mentally ill and so on, the usual mix of misery.

The lot was located in an area that used to be outside the city but now was inside, raising the property-value, and the city would regularly force the homeless to move away from the lot. Until...

The owner wanted to sell it and the city invoked "right of first refusal" (I think that is what it's called in English - the city had first dibs on making an offer) and when the owner quite rightfully refused because the city wanted to buy it at the value the lot had had when the industry was shuttered, suddenly the homeless-encampment was no longer cleared away.

Even worse, suddenly gypsies started to use it as a camp-site. In short order, close to a hundred illegally entered gypsies squatted there in caravans. (If you're thinking about the camp scenes from the movie 'Snatch', let me tell you that those scenes are unrealistic - real gypsies are far filthier, more hostile and can give Palestinians a run for their money as a gang of violent criminal scum.)

When the property owner tried to get the police to oust the gypsies, all of a sudden lefty protestors showed up around the campsite. And the police told him they couldn't do anything until the Office of Taxation had served notice to every individual squatter that they were in fact squatting. And the Office of Taxation said the property owner first had to serve each individual notaised notcie to give them a chance to move. And...

It went on for several years like that. I don't know how it ended since it was still ongoing when I moved.

Reason I mention this is, could there be stuff like that going on in LA and elsewhere in the US? I thought of it given how you reported on state/federal agencies using private proxies to run farmers off of the land they lease - maybe there's some real estate shenanigans behind letting Morlocks run rampant like you and others have shown, doing some real reporting.

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Dena's avatar

Nah - CA just uses fire to confiscate private property.

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JasonT's avatar

That is not an unreasonable scenario. It's only slightly less scurvy than the Kelo fiasco.

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Brian Nelson's avatar

Because I’m a little, petulant, man-child—I’m concerned this will give normies good reason to vote for the status quo leftist regime…

Instead of taking the win, my mind immediately went to ‘we cannot let these people stay in power’.

I’ll take a knee, drink water, touch some more grass, and choose the gratitude and optimism Chris demonstrated with this post.

Fingers crossed.

bsn

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Mitch's avatar

you have company...I thought the same thing.

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Bandit's avatar

You slay me sometimes, Brian.

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John Anthony's avatar

The five ring circus called The Olympics is coming. Gotta practice tidying up.

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Susan Kelly's avatar

Where did they all go, and what did they do when they got there?

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Chris Bray's avatar

I suspect there were some temporary housing vouchers, so ask again in a week. Looked around for displaced encampments and didn't see them.

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Navigator18's avatar

I've worked in big city emergency rooms since 2012. When encampment are cleared, roughly 20-40% of the displaced wander into the emergency rooms. Then they shack up in the parking garages for a few nights, then back to the original site. The abscesses, gangrene, withdrawals, and violence when the zombie hordes arrive is always soul-crushing. The quantity and quality of human degradation and suffering is beyond anything the average citizen can fathom.

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JasonT's avatar

My cousin started his nursing career in a Camden, NJ ER. The hard part was seeing the same folks over and over again for the same impacts of stupidity.

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Dena's avatar

Bless you - I couldn’t do it & not have nightmares. These vagrants know the drill; stay away a few days then return. Until local enforcement gets serious about ending the problems, they won’t end. I’ve not seen any fortitude, just “for show” when it’s to the advantage of some politician’s career. Ferguson,(WA) Newsom, & Oregons governor what’s her name, are now united in an alliance to keep Trump & MAHA health policies out of their states. All in for vaccine mandates.

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E. Grogan's avatar

Trump has plans for those homeless, they will not be back on the streets any time sooner. See my comments above.

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Navyo Ericsen's avatar

It's time we repurposed Black Rock City. That would be a great location for all the homeless encampments in the entire US. It would also take care of Burning Man.

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E. Grogan's avatar

See my comment above.

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ZuZu’s Petals's avatar

You’ve just asked the question that I was going to pose. Do they simply become someone else’s problem? They don’t just disappear into the ether.

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E. Grogan's avatar

See my comments above, Trump has plans for them.

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David Poe's avatar

With so many illegals gone some of them might, possibly, just maybe, get jobs. Don’t laugh.

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Mike Ware's avatar

🤣😂🤣😝

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Mystic William's avatar

Many go home. Many join rehab programs. Many congregate elsewhere.

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Korpijarvi's avatar

I fear that like all the worst things of California, they will wind up in the PNW.

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nymusicdaily's avatar

maybe south sudan with all the palestinians from gaza?

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E. Grogan's avatar

I've seen Trump say several times that those with drug/alcohol problems go to rehab centers, those with mental health issues go to mental institutions and IIRC, those who are simply homeless and not working get training for jobs. He doesn't want anyone simply going back to the same place and doing the same thing - which is creating slums.

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Ryan Gardner's avatar

Yeah, Newsome has really fucked California like he did his best friends wife...

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No name here's avatar

Reads to me more like Newsome fucked his best friend's wife after Trump threatened to and Newsome was afraid she would enjoy it.

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Bandit's avatar

😂🤣😂🤣

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Brandon is not your bro's avatar

Ouch but true RG

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Ryan Gardner's avatar

I know. Ornery

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George Bredestege's avatar

Donald Trump is showing all of us that it is ok to say, “Fuck you, no. Enough is enough, we aren’t doing this anymore.”

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Leonard's avatar

As my mom always threatened when i was 12 “clean up your room or I’ll do it and you won’t get to complain about what i threw away!”

So i did. And one thing i did was put all my baseball cards in an old Lite Brite box. Later the cat peed all over them because mom was lax in cleaning the cat’s box. We laugh about it now but in my teenage years it was a comeback i used from time to time. Not always to my advantage though.

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Rick Olivier's avatar

George, how are yo able to read my mind?!? 😎

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Name Invalid's avatar

I still smell a rat.

Given that there was never a grass roots push for more homeless or any of the blue city woes, it was always a function of an op by elites complete with fawning coordinated media coverage, I have to wonder why the elites made this decision now.

It could possibly be that Trump has given them no choice, and has an upper hand not just in policy but cracking down in the swamp at all levels and locales. The fact that the media has not covered it as "a win" is probably encouraging.

I would like to see an accounting of how many were relocated and where they went. Officially, there are 102 people killed in the Maui fires, though the 2 schools have reported over 1000 kids missing. Cue the fences (which were ready to go) the media blackout on everything except the "can we save the Historic Lahairna Tree?" Methinks it is a coverup for something much more sinister.

There was always a natural order to correct these problems, we are seeing a coordinated effort not to, and now an unexpected coordinated effort.

Occums razor is that the simplest explanation is typically true, and in a natural order of things, like your car not starting, that is often true.

But in the case of evil, time and again, the answer always ends up being "what is the most evil possible solution" as more benign explanations are thrown out after the previous one is debunked.

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Chris Bray's avatar

"Forget it, Jake, it's Chinatown." Always wise to smell a rat.

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Rick Olivier's avatar

Great movie except that Grandpaw gets to keep the (grand)daughter. Who was the director? Oh. Him.

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Name Invalid's avatar

Great movie

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Navyo Ericsen's avatar

Chinatown, LA Confidential, Godfather II, Good Fellas -- they just don't make them like that anymore. The Irishman? Forget it.

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Michael L's avatar

Scorsese seems to have been coasting for quite a while. The Irishman seemed like it was done in his sleep.

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Navyo Ericsen's avatar

It wouldn't surprise me. I think it was supposed to be his swansong. He and his film school buddies Lucas and Spielberg peaked in the 70s-90s. There's some occasional glimpses of his genius here and there. I haven't watched Killers of the Flower Moon. Gangs of New York was probably his last great movie.

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Korpijarvi's avatar

> Given that there was never a grass roots push for more homeless or any of the blue city woes, it was always a function of an op by elites complete with fawning coordinated media coverage, I have to wonder why the elites made this decision now.

You and me both.

> Officially, there are 102 people killed in the Maui fires, though the 2 schools have reported over 1000 kids missing. Cue the fences (which were ready to go) the media blackout on everything except the "can we save the Historic Lahairna Tree?" Methinks it is a coverup for something much more sinister.

I'm still vaguely nauseous over having learned 2+ years ago that there is a Four Seasons resort on Larry Ellison's private island, 9 miles from Lahaina.

Four Seasons hotel like the one that made up the top floors of the Mandalay Bay hotel in Las Vegas.

Where John Pelletier--Maui chief of police in the Lahaina Fire timeline--had previously served as incident commander for the Route 91/LV massacre in 2017.

Have you ever noticed that nobody ever digs into the receipts not only of who is mass trafficking humans per "The Kalergi Plan," as some call it, but who holds the many and various contracts for that?

You don't move millions of people via Star Trek twinklebeam. It's a massive logistics, infrastructure, and basic needs problem. There are contracts and receipts at every single step. Including how the money is laundered.

> the answer always ends up being "what is the most evil possible solution"

What my dad said JFK fought against, and died for: the world is run by organized crime cartels. And they have weaponry and systems beyond what most people could retain their sanity, if they knew about.

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Name Invalid's avatar

It is why all parties victims, normies, intelligence agencies, media, tradespeople, the entire public sector, unions, etc. are very very careful not to look.

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Korpijarvi's avatar

Remember what happened to Danny Casolaro when he looked into the Cabazon Indian Reservation's use for illicit weapons development?

Remember what happened to Don Bolles, who covered the mafia in Arizona, and its racing and booze industries (to which Cindy McCain was intimately attached through her family)?

Ever wonder how two 110-story steel-and-glass towers could disappear without leaving a seismic footprint or a pile of rubble consistent with their mass, and how "fires" all around them "melted" cars and buses but didn't burn paper (much of it next to the "flames"), and how adjoining buildings in the office complex were completely unharmed despite ostensibly being right next to the "collapses"?

Remember those increasingly numerous reports/examples of entire neighborhoods "burning down" and vehicles liquifying...while trees remain standing and leafed out?

Many such cases.

People talk about ayylium disclosure. I just want disclosure of WTH is happening right here on earth.

Or so I think I do, and I may be wrong.

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Name Invalid's avatar

I wish for a critical mass of people asking such questions, until that happens it will only be the deniers, the any vaxxers, the Putin lovers, etc asking questions and nothing will happen…

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Navyo Ericsen's avatar

"The higher you go, the more criminals you find." - Michael Corleone, Godfather II

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Yacheng's avatar

Decline is a political choice. All it takes is one shining example of what the alternative might be for citizens in squalor ridden cities to start pushing back against the tide of rot. Trump has pushed the Left into defensive positions on every 20% issue from the mass immigration invasion, to out of control crime. Threats of federal crime interdiction intervention in blue cities sets up a fight or flight immune response on the Left, so buckle up and prepare to see who bends and who folds, and who truly holds the monopoly on violence.

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