Random Nuclear Strikes

From FerFAL. Go read.

“I had to shoot people! Do you understand what that means?”
Those were the first words said by Jorge Mendoza, manager of an important company in Concepción, when he was finally able to call Buenos Aires.

“I had to shoot people, I had to shoot people” he repeated in a lethargy [sic.] state.
“Its hordes [sic.] killing and robbing, they don’t leave anything standing. And here I am with my wife and two kids, they are terrified. This is worse than the earthquake, we can’t stand it no more, we have no power, no water, no gas, no oil, nothing. We organized with four other neighbors to defend ourselves, no one protects us and we haven’t slept in 3 days, God, someone please do something,” he said. “They are robbing people that travel alone we cant move, we’re damned to hell and no one does anything to help us.”

h/t: ET.

Yes I’m an attorney. No, I am not your attorney, and nothing in this post constitutes legal advice or opinion.

Wendy McElroy highlights one approach being pioneered by the town of Tracey [sic.], California: The city will now impose a surcharge on emergency services that have already been paid for through taxes. Residents of that city will be charged $300 for the fire department to respond to a medical emergency; non-residents will be billed $400 for the same service. There is the option of paying an annual $48 fee for “premium” 911 service.

Note carefully that this is not privatization. Taxes will still be extracted, but tax victims will now have the privilege of paying twice for the same services. If you’re a Tracey resident and see someone having a heart attack, McElroy wryly comments, “you should quickly set a trash bin on fire. Otherwise, by calling for help, your monthly budget may not stretch to include mortgage or food.” Tracey’s political class simpers that the city government is running a $9 million budget deficit. Interestingly, that is exactly the amount spent each year on employee pensions.

–Pro Libertate

Emphasis mine. Tracy’s just over the hills from me; that benighted town was one of the first places to see homebuilding (and thus property tax revenues) explode during the housing boom as Bay Area residents facing starter-home prices of $500k for crack houses in Oakland raced to buy nice new homes in the rural Central Valley. A two-hour commute to SF or San Jose was worth the opportunity to finally own your own home. And it spread from there all the way down to Bakersfield. (The high-speed-rail boondoggle was, for a time, all about expanding to a radius of hundreds of miles the pool of potential commuters to Bay Area jobs.) Of course when it all collapsed, we saw the foreclosure virus spread in reverse. Thus far, the worst seems to have stayed over the hills from our little valley. But you couldn’t get me to live in Tracy now if you paid me.

Yes I’m an attorney. No, I am not your attorney, and nothing in this post constitutes legal advice or opinion.