Life can be tough anywhere for anyone, but especially in a Democrat-run big city that prides itself on wokeness and soft on crime policies that revictimize business owners and residential neighborhoods alike over and over again.
This has been especially notable in iconic American cities like San Francisco, where smash and grabs, car thefts/break-ins, rampant homelessness, street-pooping, and open-air drug use are now the norm, and where there is such disrespect for law and order that even the police department has faced burglary attempts at some of its locations.
Oakland is another one of those California cities run by Democrats that has seen a marked decline in quality of life over the years for residents and business owners. This is thanks in part to Defund the Police advocates and other so-called "community leaders" who demand average citizens be willing to forgo the type of reasonable taxpayer-funded security expectations that they, on the other hand, never would.
The situation in Oakland has gotten wildly out of hand, with even the local NAACP calling out woke D.A. Pam Price and "Defund" activists for the city's rapid crime-based deterioration. California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has even swooped in, sending an additional 120 California Highway Patrol officers to Oakland to assist the cash-strapped police department in combating crime.
But Newsom, as we all know, is part of the problem in the Golden State, something that can be seen when one reads between the lines of the disturbing story about Cybelle's Pizza, an Oakland pizzeria being run by immigrants who came to America for a better life only to face robbers in their restaurant multiple times:
After initially leaping over the counter, a masked robber is pushed back by a worker, who then reaches underneath the counter to grab a hammer. That seems to scare the intruder away.
But within moments, the guy returns. As the worker calls 911 and brandishes the hammer, the man reaches for the cash register.
The two struggle over the register - and that's when a cook hurls a green recycling bin in the robber's direction.
"They were using whatever they have on hand. We're trying to help the cashier, because like we don't want to leave him alone," [owner Elizabeth] Sanchez said.
The story noted this was the fourth time this year their establishment had been targeted. In other incidents, the robbers were unfortunately successful.
Cybelle's Pizza workers in Oakland fend off alleged robber with hammer and trash bin https://t.co/AQQjKUpbMG
— SFGATE (@SFGate) February 6, 2024
Sanchez fears she might have to close the doors on the restaurant - and her American dream:
Sanchez said she and her staff work seven days a week, with no days off. She's frustrated and worries that she might have to close.
"As an immigrant, as a Mexican, this is my American dream. But where is it going? I believe it's going to the trash now," she said.
This is, to borrow a phrase used by my RedState colleague Bob Hoge, Gavin Newsom's vision for America. Happy to welcome all comers, illegal or not, and yet when people go to his state to create better lives for themselves and their families they repeatedly get victimized by criminals and the system to the point they consider giving up on their dream because financially they may have no other choice.
Gavin Newsom could send every single CHP officer he has to Oakland but it's not going to solve the problem. Only a change in city leadership from top to bottom will start the process of turning the tide. Oakland voters need to decide now, not later, if they're willing to continue to put up with this simply to have a Democrat in office or if they really want meaningful change for the better.
There is no middle ground here, only the reality that having woke Democrats in power will only make it worse. That's the truth of the matter. It's just that simple.
Flashback-->> ‘Got Bipped’: Karma Bites Woke Soros-Backed Alameda County DA Pam Price Right Where It Hurts
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