Pirates Off a Woke City’s Bow

Ahoy, matey: utter social decay astern! In the latest sign public safety has completely broken down in San Francisco and Oakland, pirates — yes, you read that right — are now terrorizing and plundering the cities’ coastline. Boats are being cut adrift, stolen outright or ransacked and sunk. A community center running a sailing school for kids lost four boats.

The response from cops? Nothing we can do. But don’t confront the perpetrators.

Oh, plus a chestnut from police brass in lefty cities: “Crime is both the perception of crime and the actual presence of crime.” That attempt at gaslighting comes courtesy of Alameda PD chief Nishant Joshi.

Nobody’s fooled. Residents see a likely link between the massive homeless encampments of Oakland’s Union Point Park and the rising maritime crime. Especially since a suspicious number of small craft have been spotted at anchor near the encampments.

It’s ugly, but not shocking, to see that the disorder amplified by San Francisco and Oakland’s woke policies has spread from land to sea. Murders were up in San Francisco more than 36% in 2022 over 2019; for Oakland, that figure was 60%. Burglaries have trended massively upward there as well for all of the past three years, and 2023 looks set to keep that trend going.

Retailers like Whole Foods are fleeing ’Frisco. Businesses staged a strike for public safety in Oakland. That’s not “perception.”

Yet perception does play a role: I.e., if crooks see no consequences for their actions, they grow ever bolder and more dangerous.

If Joshi and the rest of California’s progressive overclass refuse to admit that, MadMax style piracy will be only the beginning.