California Finally Sets Up Security Barrier, But It's Not to Protect Americans
Government officials in California apparently had an epiphany that security barriers work, at least when it comes to protecting foreign leaders visiting the state.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported that 10-foot high steel fencing went up over the weekend around the Bay City’s Moscone Center where the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit is taking place.
The security zone is in place to protect the leaders from 21 countries that will be attending the summit, among them Chinese President Xi Jinping, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
The Associated Press reported President Joe Biden will meet with Xi on Wednesday at the summit.
So given the presence of foreign leaders, the federal government, including the Secret Service, no doubt is playing a role in security measures in place.
According to the Chronicle there will be two “vehicle exclusion zones” in San Francisco during APEC, which will last through the weekend.
Pedestrians will be allowed to enter the zones, but excluded from areas nearest the event venues.
San Francisco Police installing security fences around the Moscone convention center where the #APEC summit will take place. #SanFrancisco pic.twitter.com/aFQ1zJJ0BU
— Nico Maounis (@nicomaounis) November 12, 2023
San Franciscans have also noticed that homeless encampments and populations have disappeared throughout the city.
One commented on social media, “San Francisco’s homeless population was entirely cleared out for Xi Jinping. The gov. can easily fix our cities overnight. It just doesn’t want to.”
“San Francisco’s homeless population was entirely cleared out for Xi Jinping. The gov. can easily fix our cities overnight. It just doesn’t want to.” @EndWokeness
“U.S. taxpayers’ money is being used to protect the “safety” of a communist dictator…” @jenniferzeng97 pic.twitter.com/4yCAC6je5O
— Asians for Liberty (@AsiansLiberty) November 12, 2023
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, the former mayor of San Francisco, conceded the clean up of the city was prompted by the APEC Summit, though argued his statewide “Clean California” initiative was actually launched over two years ago in 2021.
“I know folks say, ‘Oh, they’re just cleaning up this place because all these fancy leaders are coming into town.’ That’s true because it’s true, but it’s also true for months and months and months prior to APEC we’ve been having conversations,” he told reporters Friday.
After San Francisco was magically cleaned up ahead of Xi Jinping’s visit, Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom says:
“I know folks say, ‘Oh, they’re just cleaning up this place because all these fancy leaders are coming into town.’ That’s true because it’s true.” pic.twitter.com/gMaKBtRq5f
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) November 13, 2023
“This predates APEC, but APEC is a forcing function and that’s always a positive thing,” Newsom further explained. “Any time there is a large event, it just focuses the mind, keeps everybody on the same agenda and we always want to put our best face forward. But the goal here is it’s not a situational commitment. This is a long term strategy. It began in July of 2021.”
“I mean anytime you put on an event, by definition, you have people over your house you’re going to clean up the house. You’re going to make sure the kids make their beds, take the socks put them in the hamper” he added.
So the city has erected 10-foot barriers and cleaned the place up for APEC.
It’s worth recalling how current San Francisco congresswoman and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi fought then-President Donald Trump over southern border wall funding.
She famously said in 2019, “A wall is an immorality. It’s not who we are as a nation.”
“A wall is an immorality. It’s not who we are as a nation,” remarks @SpeakerPelosi, “And this is not a wall between Mexico and the United States that the president is creating here. It’s a wall between reality and his constituents.” https://t.co/oLbx6jyXzY pic.twitter.com/Gfb9LGUXFS
— CBS News (@CBSNews) January 4, 2019
Apparently, it’s not an immorality when you’re protecting government leaders.
Newsom joined in with the same type of rhetoric saying Trump’s wall was “a giant vanity project that will not make anyone safer.”
Well, walls and fences do work or there would be no need to erect them in San Francisco to secure the APEC venues.
If foreign leaders and their staffs are worth protecting with barriers, the American people are too by finishing and enforcing the border wall.
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