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"The first priority of government is to keep its citizens safe. Period. To all the politicians in California and specifically Los Angeles." - Jonathan Hatami
"There is nothing so good that a politician can't make it bad and nothing so bad that politicians can't make it worse." – Thomas Sowell
The current regime in California hates you. They are against your flourishing, let alone having a decent chance of having a moderately prosperous, safe life. You can see this, and you feel this with how expensive they've made living in California. We have the highest state taxes, up to 13.3%, sales taxes nearing 10%, gas prices that are the highest in the country— even surpassing Hawaii— and electric utility bills that are 78% higher than the national average. The median house price in LA, at over $900,000, is three times the national average. The State spent $24 billion on homelessness; it rose 40%. The politicians reduced penalties for violent crime; it's 31% higher in California than in the rest of the US.
However, the squandering of public funds on illegal immigrants, the homeless, and drug addicts, among other things, pales in comparison to the outright disdain for public safety. No Assembly Bill says it is better than AB-1333, introduced by Rick Chavez Zbur of Assembly District 51. Ultra-woke Assemblyman Zbur is now competing with Senator Scott Weiner for the worst legislator in the State.
AB-1333, also known as the 'Self-Defense Reform Act, is a criminal's Bill of Rights over their victims. The Bill essentially says you have no right to self-defense unless you somehow know that the person who broke into your house or is attacking you is going to cause you great bodily harm. If AB-1333 passes, you will only have the right to flee, to run away. What if you have a bad knee and are in a wheelchair, or the door is blocked? According to the Legislative Councils Digest: 'This Bill would eliminate certain circumstances under which homicide is justifiable, including, among others, in defense of a habitation or property. The Bill would additionally clarify circumstances in which homicide is not justifiable, including, among others, when a person uses more force than necessary to defend against a danger.
AB-1333 seeks to nullify the Castle Doctrine, a legal concept that has been known in Western civilization since the age of the Roman Republic. In English common law, the term is derived from the dictum that 'an Englishman's home is his castle.' This concept was established as English law by the 17th-century jurist Sir Edward Coke in his The Institutes of the Laws of England, 1628. The Castle Doctrine essentially allows homeowners to defend their property and loved ones from intruders, even using lethal force if necessary.
Imagine someone breaking into your home with a gun, knife, or baseball bat to steal cash, jewelry, and designer purses. How can you be sure they won’t injure or kill you or your family and simply take your belongings? You can't, because by the time you find out, either you or a loved one could be dead or seriously hurt. ABC 1333 will promote burglaries by requiring homeowners to stand down and be passive victims. Zbur's Bill is just another extension of the ridiculous sanctuary city laws we live under, where city officials aim to protect even the most dangerous illegal aliens who have committed heinous crimes. Now, they want to ensure safety for domestic criminals, crime tourists, and illegal immigrants to rob your home. Naturally, those supporting this Bill will have taxpayer-funded 24-hour security, and they may never face the consequences of their outrageously foolish, unconstitutional, and irrational laws.
The Judeo-Christian tradition is unambiguous about the right to self-defense. It suggests that self-defense is a personal right and a moral duty, especially when protecting others from great harm. The US Constitution is also unambiguous that private citizens have the right to own and bear arms, which is found in the Second Amendment and is widely known. Additionally, the 4th amendment of the Constitution says that people have the right to be secure in their person's houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures and that this shall not be violated.
The Governor, the Mayor, the Board of Supervisors, and the LA City Council have shown no concern about public safety. Their actions show that they wish to inflict as much pain as possible on the stakeholders of this once-great City. The California State Legislature also has a duty to keep citizens safe by enacting sensible laws. However, they pass laws that fail to protect the public and, through decriminalization and the "defund the police" movement, which encourages criminality.
In Los Angeles, you have 4 Council members who have been endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America who specifically demand policies that would defund the police. They are Councilwoman Eunisses Hernandez, Councilwoman Nithya Raman, and Councilman Hugo Soto-Martinez. And now we have a fourth City Councilwoman, Ysabel Jurado, who, during her campaign for City Council, was recorded saying in her run for the City Council in 2024, bluntly declared F**k the police. How does this comport with Angelenos' desire for safety in their homes and neighborhoods?
Governor Newsom refuses to fund Proposition 36 (titled Allows Felony Charges and Increases Sentences for Certain Drug and Theft Crimes), which was initiated by the California ballot proposition and passed by 70% of the voters in the 2024 general election. All 58 California counties voted in favor of it. So why wouldn't the Governor, who is meant to represent all the people of California, support the implementation of this Bill?
The financial impact of Prop 36 on the state budget would be minimal. Roughly 0.005% of the 2025 budget would be needed for full implementation. Moreover, this bill could save the public and insurance companies billions of dollars in lost wages, property damage, and the replacement of valuable items that were stolen. Are they attempting to drive out all the property and casualty insurers in the state?
The only reason a politician might not fully fund Prop 36 could be excessive compassion and flawed reasoning that equates a criminal with a victim of systemic societal oppression. By being a decent, honest, and hardworking citizen, you somehow perpetuate that oppression. Consequently, robbery is viewed as an act of heroic reparations for the tyranny, repression, exploitation, and subjugation that the criminal has presumably endured, according to this misguided, toxic thinking. This decriminalization strategy turns the criminal justice system against ordinary law-abiding citizens.
California legislators, from the Governor on down, have a history of promoting such thinking over the last five or six years. This is most obviously seen with the lack of funding for Proposition 36 in Governor Good Hair's latest budget. The worst State Senator in California, Scott Weiner, has predictably come out against the funding of Proposition 36, saying, "I have a strong objection to the state providing more operational support to local law enforcement." Why? Weiner evidently wants to keep thugs, robbers, hookers, and pedophiles on the street.
Why is there no security? Unfortunately for us, our lawmakers have drunk a heavy dose of Kool-Aid that has been mixed with a toxic elixir of suicidal empathy that makes them abhorrent to the enforcement of normal standards of behavior. Where has the money gone for public safety? There is the squandering of taxpayer money. $9,500,000,000 to illegal healthcare last year. The homelessness industrial complex NGOs spent $24,000,000,000 and are unauditable. It takes funding to have a functioning fire department; it takes money to maintain the fire trucks and the hoses and to train the firefighters. It takes money to recruit, train, and sustain an adequate police force, which should be at least double the current size of the LAPD. It takes money to maintain the jails and prevent overcrowding. It takes funding for security, the court system, and the prisons. None of these are a priority to the majority of our current lawmakers.
There is no thin blue line; there is no margin of safety. Polite society may seem to function in Los Angeles. But if you find yourself in trouble here in Los Angeles, you're on your own. You could be assaulted in the middle of the street. Will the police even show up? Will the fire hydrants work if there's a fire on your block? In Los Angeles and California, you're walking a tightrope without a safety net. You better watch your back.
(Eliot Cohen has been on the Neighborhood Council, serves on the Van Nuys Airport Citizens Advisory Council, and is on the Board of Homeowners of Encino and was the president of HOME for over seven years. Eliot retired after a 35-year career on Wall Street. Eliot is a critic of the stinking thinking of the bureaucrats and politicians that run the County, the State, and the City. Eliot and his wife divide their time between L.A. and Baja Norte, Mexico.)
