Overdose deaths far outpace COVID-19 deaths in San Francisco

Weasel Zippers

Yahoo  " A record 621 people died of drug overdoses in San Francisco so far this year, a staggering number that far outpaces the 173 deaths from COVID-19 the city has seen thus far.

"The crisis fueled by the powerful painkiller fentanyl could have been far worse if it wasn't for the nearly 3,000 times Narcan was used from January to the beginning of November to save someone from the brink of death, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Saturday.

"The data reflects the number of times people report using Narcan to the Drug Overdose Prevention and Education Project, a city-funded program that coordinates San Francisco’s response to overdose, or return to refill their supply. Officials at the DOPE Project said that since the numbers are self-reported, they are probably a major undercount.

"Last year, 441 people died of drug overdoses — a 70% increase from 2018 — and 2,610 potential overdoses were prevented by Narcan, a medication commonly sprayed up the nose to reverse an opioid overdose, according to data from the city Medical Examiner's office and the DOPE Project.

"The crisis is deepening because fentanyl, which can be 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine, flooded the city's drug supply, the newspaper said. Moreover, the coronavirus pandemic has disrupted city services like housing and treatment, and left many people who rely on others to help save them if they overdose to use alone.

"While nearly 40% of the deaths occurred in the Tenderloin and South of Market neighborhoods near downtown, city data showed the epidemic has touched every part of the city. Many people overdosed in low-income apartment buildings and in city-funded hotel rooms for the homeless. Others died on sidewalks, in alleyways and parks around the city." . . .

Are you pro-Israel? Then we'll pan your books on feminism

 Phyllis Chesler

Radical feminists swim in a sea where Linda Sarsour, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, and AOC are heroes, Arab mysogyny is Israel's fault. Op-ed

. . . "I have been documenting the Palestinianization of Feminism and “Progressivism” for the last forty years. It has deeply saddened and enraged me. Radical feminists have gone along with GroupThink in a way that is frightening. It is a measure of how successful all the anti-Semitic/anti-Zionist campaigns have been—the non-stop anti-Israel resolutions at the UN, the non-stop BDS campaigns, the non-stop Arab funding of American universities, and all the non-stop petitions, letters, demonstrations, campus Apartheid weeks—which have had their way with the herd-like intelligentsia." . . .

. . . "For some time now, feminist organizations have presented programs and plenary sessions against the Israeli “occupation” of disputed territories. They cherish only those who hold such views. Most intersectional feminists swim in a sea in which Linda Sarsour, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortex are glamorized and omnipresent and whose views on Israel are genocidal. (“From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” which is code for: “And there will be no Israel.”) Tlaib just retweeted this refrain but it was quickly disappeared. Screen shots have captured it." . . .

Phyllis Chesler, Ph.D, is an Emerita Professor of Psychology and Women’s Studies at City University of New York. Dr. Chesler is a co-founder of the Association for Women in Psychology (1969), The National Women's Health Network (1974), and The International Committee for the (Original) Women of the Wall (1989). She is a writing fellow at Middle East Forum and is a Fellow affiliated at both SPME and ISGAP. Dr. Chesler is the author of twenty books, including the landmark feminist classic Women and Madness, The New Anti-Semitism (2003), Woman's Inhumanity to Woman (2009), An American Bride in Kabul (2013), which won a National Jewish Book Award, A Family Conspiracy: Honor Killing (2018), a Memoir: A Politically Incorrect Feminist (2018), and her forthcoming Requiem for a Female Serial Killer (2020).

The Fight for the Soul of Seattle | A KOMO News Documentary

 “ 'The Fight for the Soul of Seattle” examines the role of Seattle’s City Council in allowing the situation to reach what many experts consider epidemic levels under the guise of a compassionate approach to people who suffer from substance addiction and who commit crimes to feed their habit.

"It documents the heartbreaking condition of people on the streets, and the crushing decisions Seattle entrepreneurs are forced to contemplate as their life savings and dreams are destroyed by theft, vandalism and a dwindling customer base. This documentary also explores potential bold solutions to treat those living on the streets and pair them with agencies and assistance that can provide a clear path away from the endless circle of addiction and crime. 00:03:20 - Seattle eBike store, Brian Nordwell 00:07:20 - Mark Sidran, Former Seattle City Attorney 00:12:16 - Scott Lindsey, Former Public Safety for Mayor Ed Murray 00:14:35 - Ginny Burton 00:17:30 - Tom Wolf 00:20:50 - Seattle PD difficult job 00:29:00 - CHOP, Lorenzo Anderson 00:32:00 - East precinct taken back 00:33:21 - Court house protection 00:37:00 - Former Judge Ed Mckenna 00:49:07 - Seattle City Council, defund police 00:52:20 - Business fighting for survival 00:58:00 - Mental health issues, support 01:06:28 - Drug and homeless epidemic reform 01:13:30 - Travis Berge, repeat offenders 01:20:00 - Kevan Carter Jr.'s mental illness 01:26:40 - What can be done? What's the plan?

Jill Biden’s Doctorate Is Garbage Because Her Dissertation Is Garbage

 National Review

"Her dissertation is not an addition to the sum total of human knowledge."

"You can tell someone is smarting from an inferiority complex when he insists on being addressed as “Dr.” on the basis of holding an academic doctorate rather than being a physician. Ph.D. holders who have genuine accomplishments don’t make you call them “Doctor,” which is why you never hear about “Dr. Paul Krugman” and “Dr. George Will.” None of the professors I knew at Yale, even the ones who were eminent in their fields, insisted on the title, and I think most of them would have scoffed if someone had addressed them as “Dr.” The only reason you ever hear the phrase “Dr. Henry Kissinger” is that Kissy grew up in title-mad, airs-and-graces Germany, where people are awed rather than dismissive even if you insist on a triple-serving title (“Herr Professor Doktor”).

"Insisting on being called “Doctor” when you don’t heal people is, among most holders of doctorates, seen as a gauche, silly, cringey ego trip. Consider “Dr.” Jill Biden, who doesn’t even hold a Ph.D. but rather a lesser Ed.D., something of a joke in the academic world. President-elect Joe Biden once explained that his wife sought the degree purely for status reasons: “She said, ‘I was so sick of the mail coming to Sen. and Mrs. Biden. I wanted to get mail addressed to Dr. and Sen. Biden.’ That’s the real reason she got her doctorate,” Joe Biden has said.

. . . Mrs. Biden until recently taught English composition at NoVa, a small community college in Northern Virginia. To justify addressing her as “Dr.” would require a generous view of what constitutes an “academic,” and judging by the writing skills evinced by her students (“She very bad teacher and it is hard to pass class. I RECOMMEND NOT TAKE THIS PROFESSOR”), they emerged from her tutelage lacking mastery of even very basic grammar. As for the contents of the dissertation, which she cobbled together from a few secondary sources and some vapid interviews and questionnaires she sent around at the campus where she worked before her husband became vice president, Delaware Technical Community College, I’ll go over them in detail in my next column.

 Tucker: The level of shilling for Biden is nauseating

Georgia on our mind

 Georgia's Senate candidates campaign with Farrakhan's man in Atlanta  "When people tell you who they are, believe them.  "Which brings us to Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, the two Georgia Senate candidates who claim to be Democrat Party 'moderates' in a bid to win Georgia's Jan. 5 runoff and effectively control the U.S. Senate. " . . .

. . . "That 'Marion' character at the bottom, is Nation of Islam chief Louis Farrakhan's man in Atlanta, according to a report by Townhall's Bronson Stocking." . . .

"This isn't the doing of moderates, this is the alliance of rabid anti-Semites. Ossoff and Warnoff are revealing themselves for the extremist personalities they are, and it's quite possible that when word gets out, they will be politically goners.

"Atlanta's voters should let neither of them anywhere near the Senate. "

Never-Trump To 'Never-Republican': How 1 GOP Group Plans To Hand Georgia To Dems

Warnock

Surprise: Stacey Abrams SUSPECTED of Voter Fraud  . . . "Even though Democrats have been caught cheating in the presidential election, they show no signs of fear. Now let’s see how Raffensberger handles things going forward. Frankly, we are well past time for perp walks and imprisonment of these Leftist skank rats."

SUDHIN THANAWALA, Associated Press  In Georgia, Warnock brings faith and activism to the arena  "In 2008, when Barack Obama was under fire for a sermon his former pastor delivered years earlier, the aspiring president distanced himself from the preacher’s fiery words that channeled Black Americans’ anger over racism.

"The Rev. Raphael Warnock defended Jeremiah Wright. “When preachers tell the truth, very often it makes people uncomfortable,” he said on Fox News." . . .

What Happens to Israel When Democrats Are in the White House?

 Tevi Troy

A history and guide to the coming Biden years

. . . "Harry Truman himself, however, had some sympathy for the position that the Jews had a right to return to their ancestral homeland, and he was willing to put up with some internal strife to hear the other side of the argument. On May 12, 1948, Truman asked his aide Clark Clifford to make the case for recognizing Israel, with Marshall making the case against. Marshall went first and focused on the geostrategic elements of the situation, particularly the likelihood that the Arabs would defeat the outnumbered Israelis. Clifford, a skilled trial lawyer, then made his case—and Marshall could not contain his anger. His response was dismissive and ad hominem. “I don’t even know why Clifford is here,” Marshall complained. “He is a domestic adviser, and this is a foreign-policy matter. The only reason Clifford is here is that he is pressing a political consideration.”

"Truman lashed back: “Well, General, he’s here because I asked him to be.” Marshall then stretched the boundaries of appropriate behavior in a meeting with the president by threatening to vote against Truman if he sided with Clifford. Marshall’s shocking comment effectively ended the meeting. “Well, that was rough as a cob,” Truman said to Clifford.'Marshall lost the argument. The U.S. recognized Israel. According to Clifford, Marshall never spoke to him again and would not even mention Clifford’s name for the remaining 11 years of Marshall’s life. 

"Marshall lost the argument. The U.S. recognized Israel. According to Clifford, Marshall never spoke to him again and would not even mention Clifford’s name for the remaining 11 years of Marshall’s life." . . .

Tevi Troy is a presidential historian and former White House aide. He is the author of Fight House: Rivalries in the White House from Truman to Trump.

Praying for Peace In a Biden-Influenced Middle East   "There is hope that Joe Biden will pause before jettisoning policies that have advanced peace in the Middle East more effectively than anything since Camp David in 1978."

Georgia Dem’s anti-Israel sermon resurfaces amid Senate runoff race  ..."One pro-Israel activist slammed Warnock’s remarks as disturbing and full of lies.

“ 'It’s really vile. Don’t tell me he’s a friend of Israel,” said former Brooklyn Assemblyman Dov Hikind, founder of Americans Against Anti-semitism.

"Hikind critiqued the Warnock sermon on his group’s website while also showing clips of the violent protests in Gaza opposing the embassy move.

"He said he was baffled that the reverend would describe the US Embassy opening in Jerusalem as a “tough week.” . . .

Payback Time: Establishment Dems Ambush AOC, Denying Her Prized Energy Committee Position

Legal Insurrection

“I’m taking into account who works against other members in primaries and who doesn’t,” Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) reportedly said prior to the vote to award the key committee position to Rep. Kathleen Rice over Ocasio-Cortez." 

"Freshman New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was snubbed Thursday during a private Democrat committee meeting held to decide a key House Energy and Commerce Committee seat, and it wasn’t even a close vote.

"According to Politico, Ocasio-Cortez lost out to fellow NY Rep. Kathleen Rice in a 46-13 vote, and at points during the run-up to the vote, tensions ran high:

Just before the Steering Committee moved to vote on the Energy and Commerce slots, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her leadership team presented a slate of their preferred candidates for four out of the five seats.

But notably, top Democrats did not choose a nominee for the final seat, which is essentially reserved for a New York member — forcing Rice and Ocasio-Cortez into a head-to-head matchup.

The panel launched into an intense round of speeches on each candidate, with several Democrats speaking up to lobby against Ocasio-Cortez, a freshman member and social media star who is seen as a political threat by many of the caucus’s moderates for her far-left policies.

"The piece also noted that some Democrats who took part in the video conference call spoke against AOC by pointing out that she supported primary challengers to their re-election campaigns:

On the video call, several Democrats called out Ocasio-Cortez’s efforts to help liberal challengers take out their own incumbents, as well as her refusal to pay party campaign dues.

“I’m taking into account who works against other members in primaries and who doesn’t,” Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) said on the call, according to multiple sources. Cuellar successfully fended off a primary challenge from Jessica Cisneros, who Ocasio-Cortez supported.

. . .  

Gov. Northam, It’s Not Up to You to Tell People of Faith How They Can Worship

Jake Lambert   "During a press conference Thursday, Gov. Ralph Northam, D-Va., took it upon himself to tell the faithful not only how they should worship, but also shamed them for wanting to worship with fellow believers. 

“ 'The holidays are typically times of joy and community. We gather together, we celebrate our faith, and we celebrate with family,” Northam said during the press conference. 

"The Democrat governor of Virginia went on to say that people of faith don’t need to be in a church to worship God. 

“ 'But this year we need to think about what is truly the most important thing. Is it the worship or the building? For me, God is wherever you are. You don’t have to sit in the church pew for God to hear your prayers. Worship with a mask on is still worship,” he said. “Worship outside or worship online is still worship.”

"Here’s the thing—it’s more than OK for Northam to share how he chooses to worship. 

"But, the governor of Virginia, or any other politician for that matter, has no business telling others how to worship. " . . .   Source material can be found at this site.

Human Rights Campaign Wants Christian Schools to Abandon Beliefs or Lose Accreditation

"The Human Rights Campaign—a large, influential LGBTQ advocacy group— recently released a policy brief with recommendations for a Biden administration, and the suggestions are alarming."

Russian truther Swalwell steps in it big time with attempted dig at Trump, GOP: ‘Fang Fang says what?’

Tony Branco

BPR  "Rep. Eric Swalwell was mocked online earlier this week for criticizing Republicans and President Donald Trump in the wake of reports that Russian hackers had penetrated key U.S. government systems, likely for some time.

“ 'While Republicans are losing their minds on Trump Island, the United States Government is being hacked. Anyone want to tell the President? Maybe, I don’t know, protect our country and the businesses affected?” the California Democrat wrote on Thursday." . . .

"As for Swalwell, his comment comes amid a scandal of his own involving a Chinese spy known as Fang Fang, a.k.a. Christine Fang, with who he is suspected of also having had a romantic relationship. Republicans have grown increasingly concerned about it because the California Democrat who frequently pushed the baseless Trump-Russia collusion conspiracy is a member of the House Intelligence Committee.

"Following a briefing on the matter by the FBI, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said flatly, “Swalwell should no longer be on the Intel Committee.”

"But it was his focus on the Russian hacking that earned Swalwell mocking scorn from several users online." . . .   Full article.

Kayleigh McEnany says she’ll ‘never forget’ life-changing day cops showed at her door

" White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said in an exclusive interview with the Daily Caller News Foundation that she was doxxed earlier this year during the riots.

"McEnany discussed with the DCNF’s Mary Margaret Olohan at the White House on Wednesday how her life has changed since she entered her role as press secretary in April 2020. The press secretary said she would “never forget” a day when she was at home, shortly after assuming her role in President Donald Trump’s White House, and a policeman showed up at her door.

"The policeman reportedly told her, “Hey, I need to check in on you, we heard there were some rioters that were targeting your home,” McEnany told Olohan. She added that she then found out that her “address had been put up on social media.”

'“I had been targeted in that way,” she said.

" 'I lately get three a.m. phone calls from unknown numbers, and listen to the voicemails, and they are targeting, harassing messages,” the press secretary added. “It’s really unfortunate. I don’t think anyone deserves that whether you are on the right, whether you are on the left, we should have civility in this country, and it’s unfortunate that just wanting to serve your country means that you’re targeted with threats of that nature.” . . .

Ghislaine Maxwell And Her Husband Offer $28.5M Bail Package

 Noisy Room

"NYP: Jeffrey Epstein’s accused madam Ghislaine Maxwell has proposed a $28.5 million bail package — that represents all of her and her husband’s assets — in a desperate bid to spring her from federal lockup, according to a new motion unsealed Monday.

"The suggested package is “exceptional in its scope and puts at risk everything that Ms. Maxwell has — all of her and her spouse’s assets, her family’s livelihood, and the financial security of her closest friends and family — if she were to flee, which she has no intention of doing,” wrote her lawyer Mark Cohen.

"Although her spouse’s name is redacted from the documents, his identity has been widely reported as tech CEO Scott Borgerson.

"The package is composed of a $22.5 million bond co-signed by her and her husband, according to the motion that was filed under seal on Dec. 4." . . .

Laughable: Joe Biden plans to lecture Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro about the virtues of free and fair elections

Monica Showalter  "Free and fair elections?  From a guy whose presidential "victory" was sealed with Venezuelan Smartmatic technology?  Oh, this is going to be a good one, hearing Maduro's response.

"Maduro, like Biden, insists that all was free and fair with the elections in his country.  He's in there despite the shambles he's made of his country, yet somehow Venezuelans can't get enough of him, electing him and his party for six consecutive terms.

"That's garbage.  Venezuela's elections since 2004 have all been plagued by allegations of and considerable proof of fraud.  The fraud is forensic, it's statistical, it's in total ballots cast, and it's in the declarations of disinterested international observers.  It's also visible in the behavior of Venezuela's voters, huge numbers of whom don't bother to vote anymore.

"Now Joe Biden's going to fix things in Venezuela by offering Maduro a deal — an end to U.S. sanctions in exchange for free and fair elections? 

"Maduro is going to be laughing up his sleeve.

"We all know what Biden thinks of free and fair elections, yelling about "threats to democracy" with every successive challenge to his "presidency" and making his first big post–Electoral College vote speech arguing that he somehow legitimately "won."

"Can you imagine Biden, whose coming "presidency" is going to be asterisked forever with allegations of election fraud, telling a guy like Maduro that he's got to hold "free and fair" elections?

"Maduro would laugh in his face." . . .

Must We Respect a Fraudulent President?   . . . "In the long months leading up to the election there was little doubt as to whom the people preferred.  Donald Trump’s rallies drew tens of thousands, while  Biden’s mustered up a few dozen, if that many.

"And then came the election itself.

"By now the allegations of voter fraud -- and accompanying evidence -- are well known.  There are the statistical impossibilities arising from late-night ballot dumps.  The official observers who were prevented from watching.  The corruption was made possible by mail-in balloting.  And then there is the matter of Dominion Voting Systems machines. " . . .

Must We Respect a Fraudulent President?  . . . "In the long months leading up to the election there was little doubt as to whom the people preferred.  Donald Trump’s rallies drew tens of thousands, while  Biden’s mustered up a few dozen, if that many.

"And then came the election itself." . . .