November 22, 2021

"Eighty looters ransacked a Nordstrom store in California's Bay Area on Saturday night, injuring at least three employees in a raid that lasted less than a minute."

"The large group,wearing ski masks and carrying crowbars, rushed the Walnut Creek store, stole an undetermined amount of merchandise and fled in their vehicles. During the theft, two Nordstrom workers were punched and kicked, while another was sprayed with pepper spray. All three individuals were treated for their injuries on scene.... The brazen robbery comes as Bay Area businesses reduce their hours due to a spate of brazen shoplifting incidents. Locals are also slamming woke San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin over his failure to prosecute thefts. San Francisco has also seen an uptick in property theft since a local law downgraded the theft of property less than $950 in value from a felony charge to a misdemeanor in 2014. Store staff and security now tend not to pursue or stop thieves who have taken anything worth less than $1,000.... Although most of the raiders managed to flee, police managed to arrest at least two of the suspected looters...." 

The Daily Mail reports. 

ADDED: Jeff Bezos looks on warily....

127 comments:

tim in vermont said...

I hope none of them crossed state lines to do it, because that would be really bad.

rehajm said...

Economic theme O’ the day: People respond to incentives.

rehajm said...

Eighty Looters Now Qualified to Run Joe Biden’s Office of the Comptroller of the Currency

mezzrow said...

You can't have anarchotyranny without some anarchy, can you?

Now show me your vax passport, or get in the squad car.

I don't know where things go from here, but they won't just sit on this spot and do nothing. Progressive "thought leaders" have to be looking at the news of the day in horror, don't you think? That's my reaction, and we DO share a common humanity.

Don't we?

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Evil Trump used to say "Law and Order."

Therefore, we cannot have law and order.

walter said...

All involved become keenly aware of inflation.

Lucien said...

Well, I guess they got more than $950 worth of stuff, so the cops are allowed to look into it. It would be a shame if a lot of the thugs who did this were affiliated with an organization that could fall within the scope of RICO. Could this be domestic terrorism?

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Why should the police bother?

The corrupt leftists who rule CA encourage lawlessness, and the thieves will be out on the streets in no time at all anyway.

Jersey Fled said...

Nothing says social justice like looting a Nordstrom.

Lyle Smith said...

Leftists, especially leftist racial minorities can no longer be disciplined by the government... because it is now white supremacist to do so. And if you try to defend yourself and a kill some of them in self-defense you are a white supremacist and the government will try to convict you of murder.

0_0 said...

Walnut Creek is across the Bay and over the hills (well, through the tunnel) from SF. It is a high end hoity toity small city that has nothing to do with Chesa Boudin.

But it is still California.

Temujin said...

Crime is such a growing, hot business sector in San Francisco and the surrounding areas now. (not to mention Chicago, LA, Seattle, etc- name a Democratically run city). It's so hot as a 'business' sector that it's gotten professionalized. Syndicates hire groups to steal en masse, then bring the goods back to a central location from where they can sort through and send back out into the marketplace on their own. Discounted in price, but all cash, no tax, large volumes of goods.

Chesa Boudin must be looking on with pride.

As for society at large: You get what you vote for.

Temujin said...

PS- can you think of any serious business person, or a major corporation, who would invest and risk their monies, time of life, efforts, sweat and tears to start a business or open another property in San Francisco? Or Seattle? Or Portland? Or downtown Chicago?

The Magnificent Mile in Chicago, once one of the grandest streets in the USA is sitting with blocks of storefronts for lease now.

Anyone want in?

Again- you get what you vote for.

DUSTER said...

Call me when the looting of Cabela's or Bass Pro Shops is in the works.

jaed said...

Someone should note that while Walnut Creek is in the Bay Area, it's nowhere near San Francisco. It's a prosperous suburb that's maybe a 40-minute drive away, and SF weirdness normally does not affect it directly in any way.

Enigma said...

Phone-driven flash mobs are not new, and an urban thing for maybe 15-20 years now. As text messages are easily tracked and as group members can be easily found, this is pretty straightforward case and a crime committed by extremely naïve participants.

The important take-away is the thin ice phenomenon and larger downstream economic consequences. If a DA protects or does not prosecute, they will be paid back with far greater economic losses in future decades. SF has already lost businesses, residents, and retailers due to high prices, homeless camps, drugs and feces on the streets, and this type of crime. Bad reputations are hard to shake, and these events will exaggerate the negative consequences of the eventual collapse.

rhhardin said...

It stands for gathering nuts and berries in a hunter/forager society. If we're going back to those rules, slavery ought to be reintroduced too.

rhhardin said...

The trouble with holding up Amazon delivery trucks is that you get so much useless stuff. A jar of rubber cement, etc. Stick with the brick and mortar stores.

gadfly said...

rehajm said...
Eighty Looters Now Qualified to Run Joe Biden’s Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

Amazing capitalization used to insult Professor Saule Omarova of Cornell Law School despite her service in Treasury as a special advisor on regulatory policy to the Under Secretary for Domestic Finance in the Dubya administration.

Not nearly as bad an insult, however as: "I don’t know whether to call you 'professor' or 'comrade,'" - Sen. John Neely Kennedy (GOP-LA) because she was born in Russia!!

walter said...

If so inclined, they might be able to track them via sidewalk poop tracks and DNA.

R C Belaire said...

Sad. Another case of getting what you asked for...albeit indirectly.

Amadeus 48 said...

They are having a theft party!

They did the same thing on a smaller scale at Nieman Marcus in Chicago on Saturday.

Who are "they"? You know, "them".

AMDG said...

Works arming themselves with crowbars and pepper spray make this armed robbery?

MartyH said...

I live in Sacramento, about 90 minutes from Walnut Creek. You’d think this would be a top story here. You can’t find the article in the online version of the Sacramento Bee without scrolling past at least a dozen other articles, including three about the Kings firing their coach.

Iman said...

Walnut Creek is across a bridge, the other side of the SF bay, 25 miles from San Francisco.

A brazen crime, to say the least. Sons of bitches.

Sebastian said...

Cui bono?

Besides the looters, I mean. Organized looting has organizers. The organizers read the signals Dems send. They want disorder; they get disorder. Serves racist Amerikkka right.

Maybe the FBI can look into it when they're done persecuting domestic-terrorist parents.

Tina Trent said...

At least one chain store in the outlet mall near us in North Georgia does not allow employees, who are often alone up front, to call 911 when robbing crews swarm in. The manager is required to call the national administrators instead, and then the administrators decide whether they will even report the crime. This is so common that word has gotten around and the store is hit repeatedly. Other stores with different policies are not being mob-robbed.

So. Hopefully these employees class action the pants off the big time socialite designer store owner for endangering their lives by literally turning them into human shields. Eventually, someone is going to get hurt, or worse. There should be consequences for inviting predators to attack your employees and depriving them of police protection with the threat of firing.

This isn’t just happening in California. It’s happening everywhere. And it’s not just terrorist-loving Soros funded DAs: it’s also dirtbag corporations with celebrity owners putting the rest of us in danger.

Abandoning policing leads directly to Waukesha.

rhhardin said...

You never see flash looters running into flash singers.

John Fisher said...

Describing this as happening in the Bay area and conflating it with closing Walgreens in San Francisco is a bit of misdirection. Walnut Creek is a suburban community 25 miles from San Francisco and has not been the scene of any noticeable disruption. This was a deliberate escalation and a warning to all those comfortable Californians well away from Walgreens being closed in San Francisco.

Howard said...

Walnut Creek isn't in San Francisco. The real tragedy is an armed teenager didn't kill a couple of the robbers.

jaydub said...

They're calling it Black Saturday shopping.

retail lawyer said...

The California shoplifting law referred to was passed with a ballot initiative. My neighbor thinks Blacks should be permitted to loot and burn because justice and slavery and stuff. A similar looting occurred in San Jose yesterday, but I think I may have seen white people involved. Good, because the police won't fight it until white people start looting.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Don't insult Crooked Joe and his army of left-wing jack-offs. it offends the gadfly.

tds said...

since the robbers arrived in cars it should be trivial to identify them ... nobody is so dumb to not be aware of that ... yet, they still did it. Interesting

Owen said...

The solution is obvious. Hook Claymores to the display cases.

Iman said...

I’m so thankful to be an American… I love this country and my fellow Americans, but we sure seem to have a sizable amount of parasitic vermin… the takers that give nothing… weak sucks living from crime to crime.

Dude1394 said...

Amazing what happens when we are all forced to wear masks isn’t it. Prior people walking into a store with a mask on were, robbers. Now they are “good” citizens, the best, until they take their crowbars out, smash your display cases and ransack your stores. Can’t catch them on cctv, can’t check them out from across the street and they cannot be tracked/identified while going to/from the store.

I almost think the folks who push these masks and the folks who push reparations are the same lot.

tim in vermont said...

"The real tragedy is an armed teenager didn't kill a couple of the robbers."

In defense of property? Why? That's a pretty sick take.

Fernandinande said...

This is an historic moment! The first achievements by African Americans in diverse fields have historically marked footholds, often leading to more widespread cultural change, so we should celebrate the first Nordstroms in Walnut Creek to be looted by African Americans ...unless they don't have free will.

"...police managed to arrest at least two of the suspected looters...."

I hope they're OK.

Leland said...

Stick with the brick and mortar stores.

What happens when all those brick and mortar stores close from the looting?

Leland said...

a special advisor on regulatory policy to the Under Secretary for Domestic Finance in the Dubya administration.

Hey, 2008 calls in an additional tip for disqualification.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

The left are furious that anyone would dare defend property. ... with a gun.

I myself think it's important to defend property WITH A GUN.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Yo leftists - if you are ever violated by any crime. DO NOT call anyone with a gun to help you.

Cap'n John's Nephew said...

Has Bezos been formally asked to donate?

mccullough said...

The looters will eventually find the Amazon warehouses.

Jersey Fled said...

"The real tragedy is an armed teenager didn't kill a couple of the robbers."

Cute, Howard, but not a particularly apt analogy.

TML said...

"brazen" twice in one sentence?!? How does the writer not go over the text and catch that immediately?

Kevin said...

The looting will stop before it comes to an Amazon distribution center.

tim in vermont said...

I think what Howard meant to say "It's too bad some of the looters didn't try to kill somebody and instead wind up dead." Which is a pretty sick thing to wish for.

Iman said...

An over abundance of Johnny-Too-Bads running our streets.

Doug said...

Can someone on this thread tell me what insurance companies do for/with/ to retailers who countenance this kind of benign neglect, and then file massive claims?

Drago said...

The Poor Man's *** ***** gadfly: "Not nearly as bad an insult, however as: "I don’t know whether to call you 'professor' or 'comrade,'" - Sen. John Neely Kennedy (GOP-LA) because she was born in Russia!!"

Senator Kennedy spoke exclusively of Omarova's associations and her own writings, which include attacks on capitalism, destruction of our energy sector and killing off all private bank accounts and giving them to the govt.

Gadfly's pathetic lies are becoming even more......pathetic.

tim in vermont said...

Howard knows what happened in Kenosha, but safe in his white enclave in Maine, to be fair to Howard, he probably does have to put up with a few French Canadians, he crosses state lines to a Wisconsin blog to encourage more Waukesha style retaliations with his dishonest account of the facts of the matter

gilbar said...

people said...
I almost think the folks who push these masks and the folks who push reparations are the same lot.
...What happens when all those brick and mortar stores close from the looting?


it's Almost, as if THE WHOLE THING, is to make us buy through Amazon (Portal)
Am i saying, that Covid, flash mobs, rioting, and Jan6th were all done by and for Jeff Bezos?

NO! i'm blaming ANN ALTHOUSE!!!
(well, not really; Really i'm blaming Jeff Bezos )

JK Brown said...

"In defense of property? Why? That's a pretty sick take."

Well, this is Nordstroms, but if it were a small business, such an event could wipe the small business owner out and put their family on the street. So, yes, in defense of property, sometimes the theft is an existential threat. Obviously, the "civilized" solution is a functioning police and justice system to impose non-lethal penalties on those who take private property, but if the politicians won't let that happen....

"If history could prove anything at all in regard to this question, it could only be that nowhere and at no time has there ever been a people which has raised itself without private property above a condition of the most oppressive penury and savagery scarcely distinguishable from animal existence."

Mises, Ludwig von (1927). Liberalism

JK Brown said...

"In defense of property? Why? That's a pretty sick take."

Well, this is Nordstroms, but if it were a small business, such an event could wipe the small business owner out and put their family on the street. So, yes, in defense of property, sometimes the theft is an existential threat. Obviously, the "civilized" solution is a functioning police and justice system to impose non-lethal penalties on those who take private property, but if the politicians won't let that happen....

"If history could prove anything at all in regard to this question, it could only be that nowhere and at no time has there ever been a people which has raised itself without private property above a condition of the most oppressive penury and savagery scarcely distinguishable from animal existence."

Mises, Ludwig von (1927). Liberalism

MadTownGuy said...

tds said...
"since the robbers arrived in cars it should be trivial to identify them ... nobody is so dumb to not be aware of that ... yet, they still did it. Interesting"

The photos I saw of the cars from which the known suspects were apprehanded had no license plates on them. The images were not blurred; the empty frame was visible.

Tracking the participants by cell phone activity may prove more useful but I have to wonder if there are apps that hide that info.

Mike Sylwester said...

gadfly at 7:14 AM
... because she was born in Russia!!

How long did she live there? Was she just an infant when her family emigrated?

ga6 said...

You get who you vote for, or refuse to vote.

Ceciliahere said...

A person of color is a person of interest in the Waukesha slaughter by car.

Drago said...

If any of the looters were also child molesters, its likely Howard will be calling for them to have a statue or two erected in their honor.

Besides, its likely Nordstroms was THE go to shopping spot for the Confederacy so they had this coming.

The good news?

In about 60 days Howard will be claiming this looting never even happened.

AndrewV said...

Walnut Creek is about 25 miles East of The City. So if you want to blame a crime tolerate District Attorney then blame Contra Costa County DA Diana Becton, not San Francisco DA Chesa Boudin.

rcocean said...

I love the Bezos picture. Big Tech must love this. Destroying the competition, baby. This shoplifting laws also hurts small businesses, which must accept the losses or pay much higher insurance premiums. No doubt a chain store like Norstrums can live with the looting or thefts under $1000 but many Mom and Pops can't.

And don't blame this on the voters. Blame it on the judges and Newsome. The standard Procedure in Calf -ever since Prop 187 - is for someone to sue to overturn a ballot inititive, and then plaintiffs find a friendly judge and the Calf AG refuses to defend it. And when it loses, they refuse to appeal. So its, DOA.

But ultimately, the people of SF are to blame. The Rich love crime, and don't care how much murder, looting, and violence takes place. As long as they PERSONALLY are insulated. Its like Rio with Fog and the Golden gate when it comes to crime. With homeless encampments substituting for black brazillian shanty towns.

rcocean said...

"A person of color is a person of interest in the Waukesha slaughter by car.

we all know its a POC. If the killer was white, we would know his name address, etc. complete with speculation that he was a Trump supporter, domestic terrorist, gun nut, and a white supremist.

The coyness and refusal to name his race means he's POC. Anytime you see this refusal to name the race, its POC. Same with someone being described in MSM as a "Youth" or a "Teen" with no other description.

Conrad said...

What we have in this country right now is a relatively small number of white and black elites -- highly compensated, credentialed people who are in powerful positions in media, government, and academia -- who don't believe America rightfully belongs to Americans. They want to see America's wealth and productive capacity brought under their control so that it can be used to correct racial and other "inequities" while, in turn, empowering a larger band of global elites whose authority would be unconstrained by the U.S. Constitution. However, powerful as they may be, there aren't enough of these elites to effectuate such a fundamental transformation within the U.S. So, they are working hard to bring other groups into the cause. Their biggest immediate targets are blacks, whom they imagine can be stoked to the point of rebellion through endless propaganda about "structural racism"; and nice, liberal, suburban whites, who can be tricked into serving as useful idiots. The folks who are encouraging riots, flash mobs, crime without punishment, etc., hope it will at some point trigger a backlash in the form of a lashing out by white gunowners, the image of which the elites will use to lure even more suburban folks, woman, and idealistic young people to the crypto-Marxist side.

mikee said...

And I still can't find the email list to get in on action like this.
C'mon, man! I've got a pickup truck and need a lot of Christmas gifts for relatives!

Gahrie said...

Can someone on this thread tell me what insurance companies do for/with/ to retailers who countenance this kind of benign neglect, and then file massive claims?

Raise their premiums.

tim in vermont said...

"How long did she live there? Was she just an infant when her family emigrated?"

I know you are trying to entice him to look at the facts, but it's not gonna work. He's got his talking points, and he isn't gonna budge.

walter said...

Scott Adans can see Nordstroms from his house. He buys all his drab tees from there.

Conrad said...

"Walnut Creek is about 25 miles East of The City. So if you want to blame a crime tolerate District Attorney then blame Contra Costa County DA Diana Becton, not San Francisco DA Chesa Boudin."

Two problems with this take: (1) It assumes that the criminals understand which DA is in charge of which jurisdiction, and the geographical boundaries of the respective jurisdictions; and (2) It fails to account for the extent to which the big city DA's policy not to prosecute entire categories of crimes normalizes such a policy, thus encouraging similarly-minded prosecutors in smaller, surrounding communities that they can and should do the same thing.

mikee said...

Penal Code here in Texas:

A person is justified in using deadly force against another to protect land or tangible, movable property: (1) if he would be justified in using force against the other under Section 9.41 ; and (2) when and to the degree he reasonably believes the deadly force is immediately necessary: (A) to prevent the other's imminent commission of arson, burglary, robbery, aggravated robbery, theft during the nighttime, or criminal mischief during the nighttime;  or (B) to prevent the other who is fleeing immediately after committing burglary, robbery, aggravated robbery, or theft during the nighttime from escaping with the property;  and

(3) he reasonably believes that: (A) the land or property cannot be protected or recovered by any other means;  or (B) the use of force other than deadly force to protect or recover the land or property would expose the actor or another to a substantial risk of death or serious bodily injury.

Nordstrom stores in Dallas and Houston might be safer from such looting than the CA stores, at least from rational criminals.

tolkein said...

How long did she live there? Was she just an infant when her family emigrated?
She was born in 1966 in Kazakhstan SSR. She studied philosophy at Moscow State University, winning a V.I. Lenin Scholarship for academic excellence. Her career trajectory took a dramatic turn in December 1991 when the Soviet Union collapsed while Omarova was on a university exchange in the United States.
So, she was 25 when she was stranded in the USA by the collapse of the USSR. I understand she is a US citizen. I doubt people oppose her nomination because she is a minority female immigrant. In this case, I suspect it's her views.

DanTheMan said...

As some wag pointed out years ago, looters never take work boots.

>>In defense of property? Why? That's a pretty sick take.

Tim, do you think armored car drivers and bank guards shouldn't carry firearms?

Michael K said...

The Waukesha killer is a 30 year old black male career criminal who got out of jail two days before he killed those kids. Posted $1000 bond for two felonies.

gilbar said...

Mike Sylwester said...
How long did she live there? Was she just an infant when her family emigrated?


do you seriously Not know that she was sent here By the soviets?
(her cover being that she was "taking classes") and was Trapped here when the USSR collapsed?
Her native SR (KaWhosItstan) refused to let her return...
On account of the fact that she was working for Moscow

wendybar said...

What do you expect from a rabid Progressive DA who was brought born to two domestic terrorists, and adopted by two other Domestic Terrorists (Bill Ayers and Bernadette Dohrn) that regret that they didn't bomb enough federal building and kill more in the 60's?

Yancey Ward said...

The country is falling apart. These mass, flash lootings aren't difficult crimes to solve, but it will require the locking up with stiff prison sentences the looters themselves. This requires the will to enforce order, and we don't appear to have this will any longer.

I promise you- Louis Vuitton and Nordstrom can't afford these losses any more than mom and pop retailers can- retail is a thin margin business, even in the higher income sections. If this isn't stopped soon, all of these stores in the area will be shut down, but the looters will continue to spread out to the areas not hit by it yet.

Joe Smith said...

'It is a high end hoity toity small city that has nothing to do with Chesa Boudin.'

It's only 'hoity toity' if you grew up in a trailer park. It's an older used-to-be agricultural town that happens to be a suburb of San Francisco and Silicon Valley, so home prices are high, even though most of the houses are modest ranches.

Nothing in the East Bay compares to the snobbery of the Peninsula and Napa Valley.

'The real tragedy is an armed teenager didn't kill a couple of the robbers.'

I agree. All looters should be shot on sight. I'd prefer the cops do the shooting though.

Owen said...

Mike Sylvester @ 8:58: “… Was she just an infant when her family emigrated?”

Are you asking about Saule Omarova? She only left the USSR when it had collapsed. She was already then a graduate of a Soviet institute of advanced “economic” studies and had written a thesis espousing hard-core Marxist policies. She has continued to advocate along those lines.

How could you not know this much?

Joe Smith said...

'Scott Adans can see Nordstroms from his house. He buys all his drab tees from there.'

Don't know, but I once saw Charles Schwab strolling out of that store with a dress shirt. It was kind of weird, but you sort of get used to seeing billionaires once in a while if you live in the Bay Area. And many that you don't even know who they are...

Michelle Dulak Thomson said...

Enh, tolkein beat me to it, gadfly. Omarova was not "born in Russia"; she was born in the Kazakh SSR. But she studied in Moscow, when it was still not "Russia," but the Russian SSR. Given the material of her early diss., it is not unreasonable to ask whether "comrade" is appropriate.

And considering that she has basically proposed eliminating private banking . . . honestly, between her suggestion that everyone ought to have an account with the Federal Reserve, and others' proposals to eliminate cash, one might almost suspect that someone wants all money in the US to be centrally tracked and electronically controlled, or something. Makes one think, nyet? (That was for gadfly, btw.)

Temujin said...

Walnut Creek may not be San Francisco, but it is most definitely the Bay Area, just a quick 20 minute ride from Oakland. Anyone who thought that the crime would stay within the city borders was kidding themselves. East Bay and north- into Marin County are all up for some 'work'.

I'm going to be in the SF and north area in a couple of weeks. I've already been told that, if I have a rental car (which I will have) do not stop to shop in San Francisco. Daily smash and grabs out of rental cars is a regular event. Hell...I'm way ahead of that. I don't intend to stop in the City at all. A City I once loved and lived in (well...north of it anyway). I quit SF a few years ago.

EAB said...

I grew up shopping in that area in Walnut Creek. WC was smart and wooed higher end stores and restaurants years back to become a bit of a shopping and nightlife destination for the East Bay of SF. This isn’t the first time this has happened at that Nordstrom, though. The last time was a smaller group. This seems to be much better coordinated. It’ll keep happening unless they close the particular street in front of the store to auto traffic, which seems likely.

Whiskeybum said...

rehajm said...
Eighty Looters Now Qualified to Run Joe Biden’s Office of the Comptroller of the Currency


Ouch - that's going to leave a mark

gadfly said...
Not nearly as bad an insult, however as: "I don’t know whether to call you 'professor' or 'comrade,'" - Sen. John Neely Kennedy (GOP-LA) because she was born in Russia!!


Sheesh - that's easy. Call her 'comrade'. It's got to be her preferred pronoun (when not before Congress).

Ann Althouse said...

"Walnut Creek is across a bridge, the other side of the SF bay, 25 miles from San Francisco...."

If that's a criticism of my use of the "San Francisco" tag, sorry, but that was a deliberate choice. I'm certainly not making a "Walnut Creek" tag. Only a few cities have their own tag. And the alternative would be to use the "California" tag. I thought SF was more helpful.

Ann Althouse said...

""brazen" twice in one sentence?!? How does the writer not go over the text and catch that immediately?"

Yeah, I know. I almost commented on that.

It's a word that got a lot of attention in the Rittenhouse trial (the judge used it against the prosecutor).

Nice said...

The distinction between Walnut Creek and SF is irrelevant. The main point is that what's been happening in SF is coming to a Town (any Town) near you. They've cleaned out SF, so now they're branching out. It makes little difference what County it is. Any local County that tries to prosecute---the State Supreme Court will overturn it. Newsom has made it clear: crime is legal in CA, no matter the city or county. Voters approve of it by keeping him in office. Enjoy.

TheOne Who Is Not Obeyed said...

I would think looting is inherently brazen. How would one loot in a non-brazen manner?

I mean, other than via government mandate?

Joe Smith said...

'And the alternative would be to use the "California" tag. I thought SF was more helpful.'

Or a 'Bay Area' tag.

It wouldn't be city-specific. But if you live here, the 'Bay Area' is definitely a region and something with which locals identify.

The Bay Area is distinctly different from Northern California (too broad) but includes the East Bay (Walnut Creek, Concord), the North Bay (Napa Valley), the South Bay (San Jose, the original Silicon Valley area), and the Peninsula (Palo Alto, Stanford, SF suburbs, Google, Facebook).

tim in vermont said...

"Tim, do you think armored car drivers and bank guards shouldn't carry firearms?"

No. I think that human nature is complicated and that they should carry firearms, to defend their own lives. And that the armored car companies should do everything they can to prevent the need for using them, while making the money as hard as possible to steal. I don't think that the only defense of the money should be the threat of being killed by the guards, let's put it that way.
Of course in an ideal world, there would have been J6 style imprisonments and prosecutions, and people held without bail until every person that can be identified to have participated in the violence ends up behind bars.

Of course that will never happen, because the J6 political prisoners are Republicans, so the standards of evidence and care fro constitutional rights go right out the window, and the rioters are Democrats so the department of Just Us won't do anything like it.

PM said...

1. That'll seal Chesa Boudin's recall. Too bad it's seven months away.
2. Predictably, the SF Chronicle's extensive report DID NOT ONCE use a capital B. The longer it goes on the shorter it will last.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Any chance I’ll spot the word “collusion”, if read this?

Or are we saying we now suspect a new generation of looters which did not fail mind reading in college?

This could be of great scientific importance…. to the Biden administration. 😒

Earnest Prole said...

To offer some perspective, Walnut Creek is the suburb many middle-class Oakland and San Francisco whites fled to fifty years ago during the last round of urban upheaval. There’s nothing hoity-toity about the place. Upper-middle-class Californians are shockingly bourgeois: They go to good public schools, get and stay married, work really hard at their careers, and invest huge amounts of time and money in their children. They believe in meritocracy and the American Dream (for their own children) and view urban poors the same way Victorians did, with more pity than contempt. What they won’t do is tell them how to live.

George Leroy Tirebiter said...

There were two more smash-and-grab's at large Bay Area malls yesterday. One at a Lululemon store in San Jose (expect their techie athletic wear is very popular with S-a-G crews) and another at a jewelry store in Hayward, between SJ & Oakland. And the cops are warning more are planned. Appears time for various Bay Area local PD's equiv of Hank Voight's Intelligence Unit to step in.

wendybar said...

I saw my Sister in Law from San Franscisco this weekend in Rochester....the Walgreens down the street from her was just closed...as are most other stores there. She is devastated. I didn't rub it in her face, that she got what she voted for...but she did. She is a RABID Progressive and she loves Biden, Pelosi, Newsom, and Boudin and voted for all of them. She brags about it. I don't say a word anymore, because I am not going to fight over politics, but deep down, I am laughing my ass off. Good luck selling your multi million dollar home!!

Tina Trent said...

Preventing looting by creating consequences for it is the only way to prevent more of what has already happened: three employees injured by a crowbar-and-gun wielding mob. And every employee and bystander was terrorized. A nearby restaurant was locked down and the customers and employees were terrorized.

This isn’t about property versus lives. Both were damaged by these 80 animals. Would those who whine about letting looters loot like to place their own children between the mob and the property being looted?

WK said...

Eighty looters ransacking....
Five golden rings....and a partridge in a pear tree.....

Joe Smith said...

'Eighty looters ransacking....
Five golden rings....and a partridge in a pear tree.....'

Not until after Thanksgiving...have some mercy.

Earnest Prole said...

One additional irony: With the possible exception of Althouse herself, nothing is whiter than a Nordstrom store.

rcocean said...

"The Waukesha killer is a 30 year old black male career criminal who got out of jail two days before he killed those kids. Posted $1000 bond for two felonies."

These are his only two recent violent crimes. Of course, he's black. Here's my shocked face. We knew he was black from the way the Regime media and police acted. Since the mass killer is black, look for this to quickly fade from the headlines. The only ones that keep in the news are those that push The regime media NARRATIVE.

As for Walnut Creek - it votes Liberal Demcorat like all the Bay area. Its not as crazy Left as SF, Bezerkly or Oakland, but its close. I'll bet at least 51% voted for the shoplifting law.

AlbertAnonymous said...

It’s close enough to SF to fit under that “tag” and No, you definitely don’t want a “Walnut Creek” tag. Let’s hope my hometown doesn’t do anything (or have anything done to it) to deserve more than a post or two, ever. Staying sleepy is preferred.

WC got hit with the same kind of BLM “protest” (complete with broken windows and looting, etc.) that impacted many cities last year. The social media pages that gin up this stuff pitched it as “let’s go F up the white neighborhoods”. Fortunately we still have a police force so it gets met with the appropriate opposition and moves on to an easier target.

Don’t agree that it’s “hoity toity” or whatever phrase one of the prior commenters used, but I guess it’s relative. Certainly not Marin County rich, and not even on par with many of the SF neighborhoods, let alone Silicon Valley in the South Bay. For California it’s middle class. But whatever. Everybody has to judge and label and pigeonhole these days.

This would appear to be more of the same “opportunistic lawlessness” that is dividing us along class, cultural and racial lines.

Senseless, and really needs to stop. Certainly NOT creating any “ social justice reform” and more likely doing the opposite, causing backlash, at least in thought/belief/opinion if not in physical terms. But that may be the intent of some perpetrators/groups.

DanTheMan said...

>>"Tim, do you think armored car drivers and bank guards shouldn't carry firearms?"

>>No. I think that human nature is complicated and that they should carry firearms, to defend their own lives.

So, if robbers come into a bank, and don't overtly threaten anyone, armed guards should not shoot them... because they are just taking property?

How about armed guards at, say, military bases? Can they shoot only to protect people and not property? Under your model, they would not be able to shoot to prevent the theft of an F22 or an M1 tank?

Your blanket statement that you can't use deadly force to protect property is just plain wrong.



Drago said...

AlbertAnonymous: "Don’t agree that it’s “hoity toity” or whatever phrase one of the prior commenters used, but I guess it’s relative."

Well, compared to Vallejo, Walnut Creek is the South of France!

Skippy Tisdale said...

Kyle Rittenhouse is the hero California needs.

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

TheOne Who Is Not Obeyed said...

I would think looting is inherently brazen. How would one loot in a non-brazen manner?

It would never happen in the US! I could see the British Upper Middle Class nonchalantly looting, though.

DarkHelmet said...

I would like you all to consider that property is life. I'll say it again: property is life.

How do we get property? We get property by working, which means devoting most of our waking hours to earning a living which we can then use to buy things: cars, clothing, houses, food, computers, cell phones, etc. Those of us who work are trading hours of our lives for things to keep us alive, to provide us with shelter and transportation, entertainment, education, health care.

When someone steals your property they are stealing hours of your life. Hours you will not get back.

Is it equivalent to murder? No, but it's sort of a mini-murder of sorts. It's death by a thousand cuts.

And don't tell me that the nobody's really getting hurt -- nobody's really losing hours of their lives -- because those looted goods are just owned by 'big corporations' and after all, they're insured! So nobody really out any money.

Except the shareholders who lose a bit of their investment, and all businesses that have to pay more for insurance. Oh, and if it's a small business it just might go under, taking down the lifesavings and dreams of somebody.

So I think a very good case can be made for shooting looters.

Skippy Tisdale said...

"In defense of property? Why? That's a pretty sick take."

You are the problem. If they come into your house to steal your stuff, you can serve them all tea and discus the weather.

I am old enough when it was universally understood in this country that if you were in the process of looting homes or businesses after a disaster (e.g., flood, hurricane, etc.) it was acceptable for you to be shot and killed on-sight. Even as a six-year-old it made sense to me. I sure do miss the pre-1960s.

Skeptical Voter said...

My late sister and brother each lived in the Bay Area (San Francisco, Alameda and Berkeley) for at least 55 years until their deaths. I went to law school at Boalt for three years in the late 60s. The "Bay Area" from Marin and Napa to San Jose and out east through Contra Costa and Alameda counties is remarkably homeogenous in thought and values. It's as though a progressive mindset miasma had settled on either 7 or 9 counties (I've forgotten how many counties) centered around San Francisco Bay. So yes Walnut Creek is part of "San Francisco"--or at least the San Francisco mindset.

And as for what San Francisco itself is today? My wife likes to watch old TV programs--one of them being "Monk" where Tony Shalhoub plays a neurotically fastidious San Francisco detective. I think that if the character "Monk" were around today he'd have a complete nervous breakdown as he stepped into (or on to) the feces littered streets of modern day San Francisco. My last relative (a brother in law) who lived in San Francisco has passed on. Therefore I have neither reason, nor intention to ever set foot in San Francisco again. It's a shame because it was once a pleasant place to visit.

Kathryn51 said...

40+ year Nordstrom shopper/credit card holder here. The Seattle flagship store was trashed multiple times during the multiple "protests" during the summer. Same thing happened to their Bellevue store during the "mostly peaceful" protests (although, I admit - it was opportunists who broke into Bellevue Square while the "official" protest was several blocks away). The owner of Bellevue Square was told by police to NOT allow mall security to intervene. Good friends of ours said - that's it, we're moving to Texas.

After the riots, Nordstrom went Super Woke Overcharge - very few "white" faces in advertising or models. Theyy are also very much into "unisex" or non-binary clothing.
Perhaps they hoped it would create some sort of "shield" from the mob.

Surprise!

Skippy Tisdale said...

"Their biggest immediate targets are blacks, whom they imagine can be stoked to the point of rebellion"

It's called the Manson Principle.

Moondawggie said...

So it turns out that Bane/The Dark Knight Rises is a modern instruction manual for life in the Bay Area, not escapist superhero fiction?

Who knew?

Howard said...

Why does Drago continually and repeatedly fetishize child molestation and graphic violence?

Sheesh man, keep it to yourself. These cries for help are pathetic.

Skippy Tisdale said...

I forget the film, but it had a scene where a motorcycle gang was terrorizing a neighborhood. It might have been A Bronx Tale. Anyway, the bikers eventually went into the neighborhood's bar and the locals, armed with baseball bats, locked locked the doors and said, "Now yous can't leave." To reiterate, I really miss the pre-1960s.

BUMBLE BEE said...

How about discovery on the Waukesha Killer? A little video to help!

https://redstate.com/nick-arama/2021/11/22/waukesha-suspect-was-on-sex-offender-registry-and-had-disgusting-video-talking-about-charge-n480021

Skippy Tisdale said...

"It's got to be her preferred pronoun"

For the record, mine are "Fuck you" and 'Eat shit".

gilbar said...

Under your model, they would not be able to shoot to prevent the theft of an F22 or an M1 tank?

Let's QUIT mincing around. Under HIS model; they would not be able to shoot to prevent the theft of a MinutemanIII missile
Heck; Under HIS model, the crew of a Trident Submarine would have to exit the boat, and let him take it!

gilbar's eyes close, as he thinks to himself....
...I could Really USE a Trident Sub.... I mean REALLY USE

Achilles said...

Owen said...

Mike Sylvester @ 8:58: “… Was she just an infant when her family emigrated?”

How could you not know this much?

He knows.

This was a misguided Socratic exercise.

You can't teach lefties nuffin.

Rollo said...

Soros gave $275,000 to Diana Becton. He and his groups and associates have been contributing heavily to DA candidates in pretty much all of the most populous counties in the state.

If it matters, Walnut Creek is still Biden country, though only 70%, rather than 90% last year.

n.n said...

How about discovery on the Waukesha Killer? A little video to help!

Milwaukee County Case Number 2021CF004596 State of Wisconsin vs. Darrell Edward Brooks Jr

A known diversitist (e.g. misogynist), domestic abuse, assault, and battery, skipped after posting a $1000 bail, and now held for multiple counts (5 with a diversity of other victims in critical care) of planned (i.e. elective) paraderhood including women and children. His Choice.

Jupiter said...

"So I think a very good case can be made for shooting looters."

The case for shooting is looters is that they're looters. Airtight.

Drago said...

Howard: "Sheesh man, keep it to yourself. These cries for help are pathetic."

Team Howard really isnt having a very good week.

Of course, its still a better week than the family members of US Service members that Howard and pals gleefully abandoned to the Taliban.

Bunkypotatohead said...

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world

Donatello Nobody said...

Tim in VT: occasionally you make sense, but w/r/t looting and life vs. property, you are full of crap. By all means, you feel free to invite the low-lifes violating your property and stealing the fruits of your labor in for tea and crumpets; I’ll take another tack, thank you very much. Looters should be shot in sight, period and no exceptions. I’ll go with Joe and say that I’d prefer the cops do the shooting, but to be honest that’s a bit of a fine distinction with me.

Tina Trent said...

If I was going to waste one bullet and my life, it would be in the Waukesha County District Attorney”s woke office, where the DA set and vocally advocated for policies to eliminate cash bail, thus releasing this murderous, 30 year violent felon animal to the streets for the up-tenth time again, Howard.

But of course I would fire into the ceiling, or the floor, or have blanks. Just like the terrorists of the Sixties and Seventies, of whom this person is a product or a prodigy.

“Free as a bird; guilty as hell … I wish we had planted more bombs.” Bill Ayers, 9/11/2001. New York Times op-ed. Last thing many people read before the planes hit.

This is war. Let’s treat it like one. Let the country divide: there is no country left. I much prefer knowing my neighbors, and we agree on what makes a sane and healthy place to raise sane kids.

Anonymous said...

In England, they used to hang starving 8-year-old street urchins who stole a loaf of bread. I don't want to go back to those days. But I have no problem at all if shopkeepers and homeowners open fire on rioting mobs who are clearly about to torch their property.

"No property is worth a human life"?? Bullshit! Anyone trying to make me homeless deserves a bullet between the eyes.

madAsHell said...

I did not know that Black Friday was a floating holiday!! Think of the bargains!!

CWJ said...

"The Magnificent Mile in Chicago, once one of the grandest streets in the USA is sitting with blocks of storefronts for lease now."

Not true. I was there less than two weeks ago. It's come down a ways from its peak, but if there were any for lease signs, much less blocks of them, I didn't notice. In fact both of us were pleasantly surprised that it was as intact as it was.