Pelosi case swings again

Paul Pelosi’s assailant has pled not guilty. How this is possible given the confession he is reported to have made to the police, is beyond me.

Maybe it’s just a procedural thing: most Federal cases end in a plea bargain. For surely Agent Minor’s affidavit contains nothing but the truth. As the children’s rhyme goes, ‘The FBI/Will never lie/Cross my heart/And hope to die’ - (please shut up about RussiaGate.) Besides, there is the Mirandized statement to SF’s finest. No, DePape is bang to rights, as we Brits say.

Still some oddities, though.

Where was the security detail protecting the home of the third in line for the White House? Speaking on George Galloway’s show, journalist Faran Fronczak said she drove by the Pelosi residence a couple of weeks ago when Nancy was away and the place had cops all around. Whereas according to Minor’s report DePape had been seen approaching the house by a guard at a neighbouring property, which suggests there was nobody protecting the Pelosi henhouse from the fox.

And cameras: there are a number aimed at the house but it seems nobody was monitoring the feed at that time. I think Galloway said they were switched off but that must be wrong, for the WaPo article tells us the police were able to backtrack and see DePape breaking in (which also apparently scotches Galloway’s puzzlement over glass shards found outside the door - there must have been some on both sides.)

The malicious rumour that Pelosi had picked up DePape in a SF gay bar is a little weird - perhaps I’m naïf but 42 is a bit old for a rent-boy, isn’t it? I discount the ‘underwear’ claim: DePape may be a nudist (another feature of some mentally disturbed people) but I can’t credit the image of Pelosi in bulging Y-fronts or budgie-smugglers; I’ll accept the DA’s explanation of his having been sleeping in ‘pajama shirt and boxer shorts.’ Pelosi is 82 and still walking on the wild side, what with drink-driving and cocaine, so anything is possible; but not this way this time, hey?

Another point not yet explained is how DePape got from his garage home in Shasta Street (if that’s where he started) to the Pelosi’s three-storey residence in Pacific Heights - about 14 miles by foot, according to Google Maps. No mention of a taxi or a lift with a friend, so far; nevertheless, still doable by shanks’ pony.

Galloway has fun characterising DePape as a ‘gay swinging nudist’ and Green Party supporter, but DePape is clearly nuts and has reportedly taken an interest in both left and right wing activism. In a way he reminds me of the crazy Viet veteran Travis Bickle in ‘Taxi Driver,’ cottoning on to anything fringe. We have to be thankful that Pelosi wasn’t murdered.

Maybe the real story is how mental illness seems to be burgeoning in America as the economy continues to unravel. As the left-wing site Jacobin says, in the course of criticising the Dems’ cosying-up to big money (and predicting their electoral losses in a few days’ time):

Everyone needs less of the terrifying precarity that is driving us mad. Families need more security: good jobs, income supports, higher wages. Everyone needs a home, whether that means comfortable and safe public housing or secure, rent-stabilized private housing. But we don’t provide any of that…

Mental illness and economic precarity are two of the leading correlates of crime, and neither can be addressed cheaply. That means problems like this can’t be solved by leadership still wedded to the 1 percent. With their big donors in the real estate industry and the boss class, the Democrats can’t address human needs at a scale that might make inroads in problems like crime.