Happiness Cannot Be Bought with Money
California’s election system, which some might argue is far worse than a military dictatorship in the Third World, took quite a while—days, really—to finalize the results of its primaries. In the end, though, two well-off candidates didn’t fare well in their races.
Saikat Chakravarty, a former chief of staff for AOC who made a name (and money) in tech, seemed to follow Jeff Bezos’ lead, but still managed to lose $10 million in his bid for a House seat. Meanwhile, Tom Steyer, a billionaire who calls himself a “class traitor,” spent over $200 million in his own gubernatorial race. Both candidates are expected to finish in third place, leaving them out of the November general election. I guess this serves as a good reminder of sorts.
While it’s fun to complain about “buying elections,” it turns out it’s not as straightforward as it might seem. Keep that in mind the next time Saikat’s bold former boss laments that Elon’s political donations mark the “literal end of democracy” or something similarly dramatic.
Lay Down the Conspiracy (if You Can Find It)
As media commentators continue to assure us that Nitya Raman’s surge in Spencer Pratt’s L.A. mayoral campaign is completely legitimate—and far less suspicious than a homeless individual in Venice with a suspicious bulge in his jacket—we need to be cautious about blindly trusting them and should recognize some inconvenient truths. For example, thousands of voters are registered in L.A.’s homeless shelters, even though a number of them lack stable housing.
Interestingly enough, a so-called “shelter” where some of these voters are registered recently received a $600,000 grant from none other than Councilor Nitya Raman, who chaired the homeless committee. Now, it’s possible this wasn’t a bribe—perhaps the coordinators just appreciated her policies. After all, she does allow them to camp outside schools.
“Oh, Mom, I Have a Drone.”
A viral clip resurfaced this week showing a San Francisco felon-turned-rapper, Dreamlife Lizzy, telling the rap tastemaker and porn enthusiast Adam 22 that “crime in San Francisco is over.” This, he claims, is due to the presence of Flock Safety’s license plate readers and drones making his preferred activity of drive-bys in stolen cars exceedingly difficult.
“When the risk of getting caught is too high, crime falls sharply,” stated Flock’s CEO Rahul Sidhu in a recent response.
And, well, he seems to be right. Since introducing their technology in 2023, Oakland and Berkeley have seen a 57% drop in car thefts.
Activists, naturally, are not pleased. Will Freeman, a software engineer behind DeFlock—a website that tracks cameras and offers talking points for activists—is at the forefront of the opposition. Hailing from Boulder, Colorado, a place with a violent crime rate 28 times lower than Oakland’s, he argues the technology is both hazardous and ineffective. But even if it isn’t, he insists that further research is necessary. Thanks for that, Will. Now, could I borrow your car?
