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You obviously don’t understand the concept of limited government. Yes, the Republicans support limited government — not small government. You will note that small government is not listed anywhere here — but limited government is.
Republican Party (United States) – Wikipedia
Limited government, incidentally, is a concept favored by liberals. I’m guessing you didn’t know that either. The Magna Carta, the U. S. Constitution, John Locke (liberal philosopher) and his Two Treatises of Government reasoned that men would voluntarily join a social contract, or a “commonwealth,” one in which the powers of the government were restricted to only what the people allowed it to do.
Limited government – Wikipedia
Here’s a century of federal spending. I don’t see any evidence that Republicans held back — ever. So I guess I don’t know what you’re talking about.
Trump sends military to Portland and authorizes full force. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-09-27/trump-orders-us-troops-to-portland-authorizes-full-force i feel so much safer now with the party of small government and states rights sending the Gestapo and the military.
The Geheime Staatspolizei (German State Police) were (a) German, (b) secret police, and (c) disbanded in 1945. There is literally nothing to connect them with anything in present-day America. The only reason to continue claiming that Americans are identical to WWII German war criminals is to both desire and cause literal physical attacks on American politicians of the party you don’t like.
Congratulations. You got your wish. Multiple prominent Republicans and Christians attacked. You must be proud.
BTW, Mexico has an enlightened approach to property taxes. Mexican property taxes are due in March. If you pay in February, you get 10% off. If you pay in January, they knock of 20%.
And yet I have 20-something’s that work for me who own homes and nice cars. I’m thinking the American dream is dead if you think the dream is to own nyc or Silicon Valley real estate as a young person with a normal job. If the American dream is to work hard for a chance to own property and make a good life for yourself, I’d argue it’s still alive. It’s just that if you live in a bastion of greed you have to deal with monetization of everything.
Both of my kids turned out fine and have their piece of the American dream. But you have to agree that it is much, much more limited than it was for our generation and certainly the generation prior to that one.
Zohran is inheriting a $12 billion city deficit in a city which has the highest taxes in the country. Can’t wait to see how he addresses it.
His comptroller said that overwhelming spending is the problem, so of course Mamdani wants to increase taxes on the rich…
I’m 63 years old, and I’ve seen a lot of bizarre things in my life, we all have. Kamala Harris as Presidential candidate, for example. But politically speaking, I cannot conceive of a more bizarre possibility than that of AOC running for President, much less her actually being President.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez vs JD Vance: 2028 jockeying begins
More bizarre than Hillary Clinton. HRC was a Yale grad, married to a successful former President. More bizarre than obviously senile Joe Biden. More bizarre than Mike Dukakis and considerably more bizarre than Gavin Newsom.
She is the lowest of low watt bulbs, who didn’t even know the three parts of the U. S. Government when she entered office as a bartender-turned-politician. She drove an enormous potential employer away from her district and has Socialist tendencies.
Part of me wonders how this could happen here. But given the erosion in academic standards and the propensity for low-information voters to buy into political BS, well maybe I shouldn’t be surprised.
Like Mamdani now getting hammered because none of his deputy mayors are Black:
Zohran Mamdani dinged in New York Times report for ‘problem’ of not having Black deputy mayors
FWLIW, Mamdani had almost no support from Black voters. Sounds like Latinos are unhappy that only one of his five deputy mayors are Latino.
That freak show of a Mayor in Seattle won’t allow money losing grocery stores to close.
She wants corps. to give a 90 day notice for closures. WARN act is already 60 days for 100+ employees. And she wants government grocery stores.
This hits home for me, a little bit. My dad owned a grocery store in Santa Cruz, a health food store essentially. Had about 8-10 employees at any one time. I worked it, my stepmother worked it. Operated on decent margins, but the grosses weren’t very high and given that Dad’s lease was a percentage of the gross, he was fine with that. Never made a ton of money, but was profitable, in no small part due to his business acumen.
Four points:
- Mayor Wilson says grocery stores should not be allowed to only sell food to those who can afford it. Right. That’s why there are SNAP benefits.
- Most grocery stores operate on very narrow margins. There are plenty of discount stores that are extremely efficient; Dollar General, Food4Less, DollarTree, Save-A-Lot, WinCo, Grocery Outlet (and United Grocery Outlet), to say nothing of Costco, Target, and WalMart (there are 20 of those alone in Seattle). And Mayor Wilson? There are 214 grocery stores in Seattle’s city limits that include grocery stores, outlets, supermarkets. That doesn’t include corner stores, bodegas, farmers markets, drug stores…there are 493 stores in Seattle that have permits which allow retail sales of groceries, including 41 farmers markets, 20-40 drug stores, 200-300 corner stores, on top of the 214 grocery stores. Seattle is 84 square miles of land mass, that averages six stores per square mile.
- Customer pilferage is an enormous problem in all grocery stores, but employee pilferage is a far worse in government owned stores, because there’s no profit motive. No one’s minding the store, so to speak. Typically, a store manager is incentivized towards profitability. No incentives = no profitability = quality managers and quality employees depart, no one cares if anything gets stolen. I once chased a guy who stole an orange for two blocks. It wasn’t the orange, I wanted the thief to tell his friends you can’t steal from my store. Kansas City had a government-run grocery store, it closed down in less than a year because of these problems.
- In the bad old evil early 1970s, I was 11 years old and living in Pacifica, about as blue collar a town as there was back in the day. My single mom would send me to walk to the Safeway to pick up bacon, eggs and orange juice. Just over three miles each way. Never had an issue at all. Given that Mom smoked three packs a day, I could see why she didn’t want to walk it, even though she would only be in her early 30s. She just wanted me out of the house to get two hours’ worth of time with no arguments between me and my sister.
My dad ultimately sold the store to his store manager, who cratered the business in two years after it was profitable for 19 years.
I am updating the list one final time with the last two closures from San Francisco Centre (two blocks south of Union Square on Market between 4th and 5th). They were down to their final two restaurants, the only businesses operating in the entire mall.
I am also adding 13 businesses that I had overlooked, but with the help of AI, I am adding to the list.
Also, I removed Macy’s, Parc 55 and Hilton Union Square from the list. They announced they would close, then they announced they would stay. Call it the endangered list.
New closings in bold:
- 24-Hour Fitness
- 7-Eleven
- A Miner Miracle Shop
- Abercrombie & Fitch
- Adidas
- Agent Provocateur
- Aldo
- Alessi
- Alexander McQueen
- AllSaints
- Amazon Go
- American Eagle Outfitters
- Amy Kuschel Bride
- Anthropologie
- Archive
- Arc’teryx
- Armani Exchange
- AT&T
- Athleta
- Babette
- Banana Republic
- Bank of America (brand on 1 Market Street)
- Barneys New York
- Bed Bath & Beyond
- Benefit
- Blondie’s Pizza (relocated)
- Bloom Room, The
- Bloomingdale’s
- Bristol Farm
- Brooks Brothers
- Bucherer / Rolex
- Burke Williams Spa
- California Girl Jewelry
- Camper Shoes
- CB2
- Charley’s Cheesesteaks
- Christian Louboutin
- Century Theaters
- Cinemark Multiplex
- Coach
- Coco Republic Furniture
- Cole Haan
- Container Store, The
- Crate & Barrel
- Crunch Gym
- Cuyana
- CVS Pharmacy
- Denny’s
- Diana Slavin
- Diesel
- Disney Store
- Doc Martens
- DSW/Designer Shoe Warehouse
- Ecco
- eDressit
- Ethos
- Express
- Fabric Outlet
- Façonnable
- Farinelli Decorative Arts
- Fires of Brazil Express
- First Republic Bank
- Forever 21
- Forum
- Gallery of Jewels
- GameStop
- Gap, The
- Good Vibrations
- Goorin Brothers
- Green Arcade Bookstore
- G-Star
- H&M
- Harputs
- Hollister
- Huntington
- Icebreaker
- In-N-Out Burger
- It’Sugar
- IWC Schaffhausen
- Izzy & Wooks
- J. Crew
- Jamba Juice
- Jeffrey’s Toys
- Jimmy Choo
- Jimmy Choo Men’s
- Jin Wang Bridal
- Jins Eyewear
- John Varvatos
- Johnny Was
- Jos. A. Bank Clothier
- Journeys
- Jug Shop
- Kate Spade
- Klaus Murer Swiss Jeweler
- Kohl’s (27 closings nationwide)
- KPMG – Leaving their $400 million name building
- L’Occitane
- La Cocina
- La Perla
- Lacoste
- Lego Stores
- Lily Samii Collection
- Longchamp
- Lucky Brand
- Lululemon
- Lush
- Madewell
- Makeshop by Brit + Co.
- Margaret O’Leary
- Marlowe
- Marmot
- Marni
- Marshall’s
- Mashaallah Halal Pakistani Food
- MCM Worldwide
- McDonald’s (closed after 30 years)
- MedMen
- Mephisto
- Merrell
- Michael Kors
- Mija Cochinita
- Milk Tee
- Miller & Lux Provisions (Tyler Florence owner of Wayfare Tavern closed this patisserie and sister rotisserie cafe. SF gave him a grant of $440k just two years ago to open it)
- New Balance
- Nordstrom – Closing all San Francisco stores, not just Union Square
- Nordstrom Rack
- North Face
- Oak & Fort
- Oakley
- Office Depot
- Old Navy
- Omega
- Ordinary, The | DECIEM
- Panda Express
- Panerai
- Paper Source
- Psycho Bunny
- Puma
- Rae | Costumes
- Ray Ban
- Razer Computer
- RealReal, The
- Richemont
- Ria’s Shoes
- Rims & Goggles
- Rolex
- Saks Fifth Avenue
- Saks Off Fifth
- Samsonite
- Sarku Japan
- Scotch & Soda
- See’s Candies
- Sentiero
- Sephora
- Shake Shack
- Shreve & Company Jewelers
- Starbuck’s (Two closings three more by 2025)
- Steve Madden
- Subway
- Sunglass Hut
- Taco Bell
- Tad’s Steakhouse
- Target
- Ted Baker
- The Body Shop
- Theory
- Thomas Pink
- Tina’s Jewelry
- T-Mobile
- Tourbillon Boutique
- TSE
- TUMI
- Umai Savory Hot Dogs
- Uniqlo
- V Boutique
- Vans
- Veo Optics
- Vilebrequin
- Walgreen’s (closed nine SF stores between 2021 and 2024, twelve more closed in February 2025, two were in Union Square)
- Warby Parker
- Westfield Mall
- Wetzel’s Pretzels
- Whole Foods
- Williams Sonoma
- Wolford
- World of Charms
- Yotel
- Zadig & Voltaire
- Zara
- Zumiez
US talks pose ‘conundrum’ for Greenland, Denmark: Analysts
Vance and Rubio are meeting with the Danish Foreign Minister and the Greenlandic Foreign Minister.
Should be an interesting conversation. I wonder what the U. S. is prepared to offer to Greenland and Denmark. $57 billion each?
Last point on TDS: the Left is intentionally creating a hazardous environment for the Federal government to do its job:
DHS: “These attacks are a direct consequence of demonization of our officers by politicians”
Trump gets shot, 3,200% increases in threats on ICE agents…it’s all the same, all demanded by Lefty politicians who want nothing more than an actual physical war with actual casualties against the Right. The rhetoric of the Right is nothing like the Left’s inflammatory rhetoric.
Mamdani is joining the nurses on the picket line. Here’s the key line:
“The union’s ask would hike the average nurse’s salary from $162,000 to $272,000 per year; it also objects to members being asked to contribute to their pensions, something most private-sector workers must do.”
AYFKM? $272k and the government must foot the pension bill.
What will Mamdani do when he runs out of other people’s money…in about five minutes?
By the way, the contract demand would prevent drunk or stoned nurses from getting fired.
Mayor Mamdani just joined the nurses’ picket line against himself
The most relevant question I keep hearing the Democrats ask themselves is “What do we stand for?” — spoiler alert — there are two answers, one quite ably pointed out by GR “Orange Man Bad.” If that’s all you stand for, then all you stand for is impeding the Federal government:
Minnesota, Illinois sue Trump administration to block immigration surges
The second answer, reflecting P. J. O’Rourke’s definition of the Left as “a compendium of nits and quarrels” is to try to balance many, multiple competing demands that can’t possibly be reconciled. There’s not enough money, and to be frank…there are built-in conflicts, disagreements, prejudices and hatreds between groups on the Left.
An odd result of this competition is that the only thing the opposing Lefty groups can really agree on is that Straight White Men Suck And Cause All Our Problems. Then, they lose an election as they lose both straight white men and men of other races and gender preferences, and wonder how to get them back after decades of telling them that they’re the problem. Enter the “tough-guy Progressives”
The prime of tough-guy progressivism
The problem with fighting the Feds is that they have infinitely more resources to throw at you, and if you have a vengeful President who doesn’t need to be re-elected, he’s only happy to oblige; e.g., “If you think my current ICE commitment is too much, wait until I send 2,000 more ICE agents…”
2,000 ICE agents raid Minneapolis Somali community in ‘largest immigration operation ever’
Not me. They’re owned by a NATO country. Offer to buy it, it’s literally a drop in the bucket.
Trump’s Venezuela, Greenland threats make Canada fear it’s next
Pass on Canada. Except for British Columbia and Alberta, the other provinces are (a) in worse demographic shape than America and (b) have worse public debt problems than America. Quebec is in terrible shape, Ontario not much better. Their national health system has dragged them down among other publicly funded goodies.
At some point, Alberta and British Columbia are going to collectively realize that they are the only working provinces that will be expected to support the other eight provinces and three territories.
Incidentally, one-time, temporary taxes are a joke:
- The telephone excise tax was introduced into the U.S. in 1898 as a temporary measure to finance the Spanish-American War. It wasn’t repealed until 108 years later.
- The federal gasoline tax was passed in 1932 to help get us out of the Great Depression and was meant to expire in 1934. It never went away.
- More relevant: A temporary tax on gasoline in California was implemented in 1923 to fund highway construction. It remains in place today as a permanent source of revenue.
Robert Reich and his supporters are cleverly claiming the money collected — from a mere 200 billionaires! — will mainly go toward funding California’s Medicaid recipients. That sounds worthwhile, except that Medicaid is crashing because 1.7 million illegal immigrants are now enrolled. That is 11 percent of California’s total, at a cost of roughly $10 billion.
