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San Francisco Tag

In 2015, Kathryn Steinle was murdered by Francisco Sanchez, a Mexican citizen and illegal immigrant who had been deported five times prior to killing Steinle. Steinle was shot and killed while walking along San Francisco's Pier 14. “We have been and always will be a city of refuge, a city of sanctuary, a city of love...We promise to be a city that’s always welcoming. There are no walls in our city!” said San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, confirmed the city's sanctuary status. Following her death, Steinle's family filed a wrongful death suit against the city of San Francisco.

I love San Francisco, but now I'm glad I haven't visited it in years. Turns out someone had to develop an online map to help people avoid human feces on the street. How disgusting:
After 20 years of envelope-pushing changes to grow government and ease law enforcement, the once-shining City by the Bay has turned into a place where:
  • Property crime runs amok
  • An online map is needed to track human feces on city streets
  • Discarded syringes are common sightings
  • Public urination is so widespread it has damaged subway elevators and escalators, building walls and power poles

The nation's largest sanctuary cities, San Francisco and New York City, are busily revisiting their budgets in anticipation of President-elect Trump taking office and making good on his pledge to slash federal monies sanctuary cities currently receive. From the federal government, San Francisco gets a billion dollars each year, and New York City gets approximately $7 billion each year.   For some perspective, NYC receives more money from the federal government than the state budgets for Delaware ($4.1 billion), Mississippi ($6.4 billion), New Hampshire ($5.7 billion), Oklahoma ($6.8 billion), South Dakota ($4.5 billion), and Vermont ($5.8 billion). San Francisco is struggling with budget-related problems already, and with Trump's threat of withdrawing up to a billion federal tax dollars, the city is anticipating further budget issues.

Try to imagine for a moment, what would happen if public schools in a conservative community were offered a lesson plan in 2008 which was in any way critical of then President Elect Barack Obama. We all know what would have followed, don't we? Of course, the reverse of this situation never would have happened because the driving force behind this is a teachers union and we all know which party they support. Just remember as you read this, that this is a public school system.

America's next generation of community organizers has launched a new campaign to turn college campuses into safe spaces for illegal immigrants not unlike the model of sanctuary cities. CNN reports:
'Sanctuary campus' protests target Trump immigration policies College campuses have become new battlegrounds over immigration as student protests pick up around the US in the wake of last week's presidential election. At universities across the country, students were walking out Wednesday. Their aim: Pressuring officials to make their school a "sanctuary campus" that limits cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

Sanctuary cities have long been a problem, but the heightened public awareness in the wake of  high profile murders like that of Kate Steinle has prompted Congress to take action (finally).  To that end, Congress has conditioned DOJ grants on compliance with federal immigration law.  For California, this move puts at risk as much as $135 million in federal grants. Fox News reports:
California state and local law enforcement agencies may have to choose between more than $100 million in federal aid and the “sanctuary city” immigration policies that supporters say are humane, but critics say fuel crime. The policies, whether in writing or just in practice, preclude local law enforcement from working with federal authorities when they catch an illegal immigrant who by law faces deportation. The laws have sparked a national controversy in the wake of dozens of murders and other violent crimes committed by illegal immigrants who local law enforcement did not report to the Department of Homeland Security.

In 2015, Kate Steile was killed by an illegal alien who had been deported five times prior to this crime and had a lengthy criminal record; San Francisco's status as a well-known sanctuary city is believed to have contributed to the senseless murder. Kate's relatives are now filing suit. Fox News reports:
Relatives of the woman shot to death on a San Francisco pier last year filed a lawsuit Friday saying the illegal immigrant accused in the killing should have been in custody if not for a series of mistakes by city and federal workers. . . . .  The sheriff at the time of the killing, Ross Mirkarimi, is named in the lawsuit, along with ICE and the Bureau of Land Management. Mirkarimi previously defended the release of the suspect, a repeat drug offender and habitual border-crosser. Frank Pitre, the lawyer for Steinle's family, said the lawsuit points out "failures at every level." "We're approaching the one year anniversary of Katie's death and it is a particularly difficult time for the family."

We have been documenting a clear shift in tactics by anti-Israel campus activists, led by Students for Justice in Palestine joined by other groups. The shift is towards disruption of Israeli and pro-Israeli speakers on campus in order to create a hostile campus environment. We have reported on several such recent disruptions, including at UC-Davis, University of ChicagoUniversity of Minnesota Law School, UT-Austin, Kings College (London), U. Windsor, University of South Florida, and anLGBTQ Shabbat Event in Chicago. Even events that are not disrupted are protested, such as the appearance of actor Michael Douglas and human rights hero Natan Sharansky at Brown University. It happened again yesterday at San Francisco State University, where anti-Israel activists have co-opted student protests over proposed budget cuts. International Business Times reports:

An incident at San Francisco State University captured on a video which is quickly going viral, shows a white male student being confronted by a young black woman who is apparently also a student. The young man is wearing his hair in dreadlocks and the woman tells him this is a form of cultural appropriation, a message he clearly doesn't want to hear. The Washington Free Beacon reports that the incident is being investigated and provides a transcript:
San Francisco State University Investigating ‘Cultural Appropriation’ Incident Captured on Video San Francisco State University is investigating a spat captured on video during which a black female student physically confronted a white male student over the “cultural appropriation” suggested by his hairstyle. A spokesman for the university said that school police were called to the scene of the incident, which was captured on video Monday afternoon...

Last month, the city council in Charlotte, North Carolina passed an ordinance that included allowing transgendered persons to use bathrooms, locker rooms, showers, etc. for the gender with which they identify. This did not sit well with North Carolinians, nor with their state legislature, and in a special session, the state passed a bill that would make it state law--thus over-turning the Charlotte ordinance--that people can use such facilities only for the gender with which they were born, not the one they identify with or claim to be.  North Carolina governor (and former mayor of Charlotte) Pat McCrory signed the bill into law late Wednesday. https://twitter.com/PatMcCroryNC/status/712825004312829952 Watch the report:

The last time we visited the city of San Francisco, it had just installed open-air urinals because of rampant public urination problem. This sanctuary city was also the focus of national attention when, during a family outing to the Pier 14, Kate Steinle was killed by an illegal immigrant who had a long-term criminal history and had been deported 5 times. In its infinite wisdom, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors has decided that the continuing "quality of life" crisis it is now experiencing can be best resolved by limiting the purchasing freedoms of its young adults.

Despite the success of Mayor Rudi Giuliani's quality-of-life laws, the smart set on New York’s City Council is considering options to ease enforcement of these offenses in the name of "diversity". I would like to offer New Yorkers a glimpse of their future by showing them what is now happening in San Francisco. The Bay Area metropolis hasn't had New York's experience of sensible leadership (albeit for only a brief time); therefore, it is about a decade ahead, in terms of enjoying the consequences of implementing diversity policies instead of those focusing on public health. I foresee that New Yorkers will soon be treated to fabulous, new facilities . . . like open-air urinals:
The first open-air public urinal in San Francisco has been unveiled in the city's Delores Park. The concrete circular urinal was opened in the latest move to combat the destructive scourge of public urination in the city.

We recently reported that San Francisco’s “sanctuary sheriff” lost his re-election bid, defeated in large part because of the release of an illegal immigrant accused of killing Kate Steinle while she walking on the city waterfront with her father. This defeat has helped fuel the launch of an initiative so that California voters can eliminate sanctuary cities in this state:
A California group has launched a ballot initiative to eliminate sanctuary cities, hoping to take power away from state and local lawmakers who have banned their police and sheriff’s deputies from cooperating with federal deportation authorities. “This should be a warning sign to elected officials in other sanctuary cities that the majority are opposed to their refusing to cooperate with federal authorities,” said Ted Hilton, the man behind the new ballot initiative. ...Mr. Hilton’s ballot initiative would effectively overturn the Trust Act, requiring police to notify federal authorities every time they encounter an illegal immigrant. Federal agents could still refuse to deport them, but the state would have done its part. State and local authorities would also be required to comply with federal agents’ requests to be notified when an immigrant wanted by ICE is to be released, and to honor “detainer” requests asking that immigrants be held for pickup.

At a time when a growing number of Americans are becoming more concerned about illegal immigration and border security, wouldn't it make perfect sense for the government to put a sanctuary city advocate in charge of our border? When we told them we we care about jobs and the economy, they gave us Obamacare. When we expressed concern about terrorism, they told us climate change was a bigger threat. Naturally, our concerns about immigration warrant a border chief who doesn't believe in enforcing immigration law. William La Jeunesse of FOX News provides this stunning report:
Sources: Vocal supporter of sanctuary cities on short list to be next head of Border Patrol A former San Francisco police chief and vocal supporter of a sanctuary cities policy is on a short list of candidates to become the new chief of the Border Patrol, according to sources.

When the walloping of liberal policies and their enforcers extends to California, I suspect the effects will reverberate for quite some time. For those of you who enjoy the sweet taste of schadenfreude, there is more to savor. Many will recall the sad death of Kate Steinle in San Francisco, who was shot by an illegal alien released by the sheriff's department under the city's "Sanctuary City" policies. Ross Mirkarmi is now the former sheriff, courtesy of San Francisco's voters:
The San Francisco sheriff who over the summer became embroiled in a national debate over "sanctuary city" policies on Tuesday lost his bid for re-election amid a host of local controversies. Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi, 54, was defeated by Vicki Hennessy, a former sheriff's official who had the endorsement of San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee and the sheriff deputies association. As of early Wednesday morning, Hennessy had received 62 percent of the vote to just 31 percent for Mirkarimi.