Social fascism is rising in California. So is intolerance. And, while we are at it, McCarthyism. What else can we call the drive in the California Legislature to fire the nonsalaried president of the California Fish and Game Commission (Daniel Richards) because he legally hunted a mountain lion in Idaho? From the San Francisco Chronicle story:
Democratic lawmakers may attempt to oust California Fish and Game Commission President Daniel Richards as early as next week following outrage over his legal killing of a mountain lion on a recent Idaho hunting trip. Assembly Democrats on Wednesday were looking into the possibility of a legislative resolution that would remove him from the board, one day after Richards sent a letter to the Legislature, the governor and other state officials defiantly defending the killing, mocking critics for their outrage and saying that – contrary to beliefs that the shooting was purely a trophy kill – he did, in fact, eat mountain lion.
In true Leftist fashion, our intrepid Lieutenant Governor, Gavin Newsom, wants him dismissed because shooting the cougar somehow violated “California values”:
The lieutenant governor wrote to Richards, saying the killing of a cougar doesn’t reflect California values and the incident is a distraction that interferes with commission issues.
What are “California values?” Political correctness. So, if you work for the state and act in legal ways that the reigning Left views as wrong, you should be fired.
A letter to the editor in the Chronicle hysterically branded the hunt a “murder” and compared Richards to a gang member:
He represents the very worst in human nature. Murdering – yes, murdering by way of the almighty gun – a wild animal that wanted only to live its life as nature intended, is indicative of the warped and sadistic mind-set of the hunter, ever the bully, ever the destroyer of what such people consider to be “lesser” forms of life. But to be photographed lifting the torn and lifeless body of a once-beautiful mountain lion and gloating over his “victory” is beyond redemption. This man simply is not civilized. The name of his game is “brutality” – and there’s no difference between his attitude toward life and that of the most vile of gang members.
Gang members kill each other, murder crime victims, innocent bystanders—and children with their stray shots—all the time in the Bay Area. That carnage is equivalent to hunting a mountain lion? Get. A. Grip.
By the way, I loathe trophy hunting as killing for ego, because that is what this really was. But whether I like it or not isn’t the point.
Hey, perhaps in his defense he can point to all the lives of deer he saved by killing the cat. Bambi sleeps more soundly tonight. Good grief.
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
The Church in the Age of Therapy
In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote in The Triumph of the Therapeutic that “Religious man was born to…
Canada’s Deadliest Blind Spot
On September 20, the Daily Mail ran a story with the provocative headline, “Our 83-year-old Christian grandmother…
The Faithful Joy of Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen
Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen seem to have had little in common. She favored rhinestones; he wore…
