By Sherman Frederick/Properly Subversive
Some whacko breaks into Nancy Pelosi’s gated mansion in San Francisco, brains her husband with a hammer, and yells “Where’s Nancy!” Paul Pelosi will make a full recovery and everyone sends their sympathies to the family. Crime is traumatic and welcome to the club.
Some immediately tried to make political hay out of this episode, attempting to turn this into a scary bedtime story about the coming civil war in America.
The Associated Press spun it this way: “The ambush was a particularly savage reminder of the extremism that has coursed through American politics in recent years, adding to a sense of foreboding with the Nov. 8 election nearly at hand.”
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) – the poster girl for political toxicity – was more plain in a Politico report less than 24 hours after the attack:
“A far right white nationalist tried to assassinate the Speaker of the House and almost killed her husband a year after violent insurrectionists tried to find her and kill her in the Capitol.”
Not to say there isn’t a divide in American politics today. But this episode doesn’t look like a sign of some kind of well-oiled purge.
The guy didn’t even know Nancy wasn’t home. It looks more like everyday life in the purgatory that has engulfed the once great city of San Francisco.
The Pelosi assailant was a homeless drug addict from Canada who lived for a time in a container in Berkeley, spouted extreme “green” rhetoric, engaged in “nudist activism” (whatever the hell that is), and parroted mindless right-wing conspiracy theories.
In other words, he’s the kind of misfit criminal San Francisco loves to coddle.
Guys like this are everywhere in the Bay Area. They are camped out on sidewalks and parks, riding public transit at night to keep warm, and, let’s be honest, they commit crimes ± big and small — every day. If this crime didn’t occur at the Pelosi house, it would not have made the news.
It was only a matter of time before the rich — sheltered behind their gated communities and private security — experienced the edge of hell in which San Francisco has slipped.
TIME TO VOTE
By the time you read this, the election will be upon us. As the pundits like to say, the only poll that matters will be taken on Tuesday.
Unfortunately, the votes won’t be cast only on Tuesday. A significant number of votes will have been cast months in advance of Election Day. It’s called “early” voting and it’s a bad thing.
The senatorial race in Pennsylvania illustrates why it should stop. The Democrat in the race suffered a stroke during the primary, but won anyway. He stayed in the race for the General Election by claiming that he’s fine, recovering well, and 100% capable of doing the job.
He lied.
We know this because last week he debated his opponent. It was clear to anyone not hopelessly partisan that the stroke rendered him seriously impaired.
Yet, some 645,000 Pennsylvanians cast votes before seeing the grim truth.
That’s a problem. “Early” voting needs to be restricted to only those who absolutely need it.
ONE MORE THING
– My wife makes us put $5 in a “Find Jar” every time we make her find something in the house we can’t locate. After 13 months of saving, we’re going to Reno to buy a new Ford Explorer.
– There’s a gang systematically shoplifting clothes in size order. Police believe they are still at large.
– I quit my job at the cloning factory. I don’t know what to do with myselves.
And, that’ll do for the first 10 months of 2022. It’s November already, can you believe it? Thanks for reading and until next week avoid soreheads, laugh a little and always question authority.
“Properly Subversive” is commentary written by Sherman R. Frederick, a Nevada Hall of Fame journalist and co-founder of Battle Born Media, a news organization dedicated to the preservation of community newspapers. You can reach him by email at shermfrederick@ gmail. com,