There were plants and birds and rocks and things
There was sand and hills and rings
The ocean is a desert with it’s life underground
And a perfect disguise above
Under the cities lies a heart made of ground
But the humans will give no love
You see, I’ve been through the desert on a horse with no name
It felt good to be out of the rain
In the desert, you can remember your name
‘Cause there ain’t no one for to give you no pain
— A Horse With No Name by America
I’ve spent my time here repeating the biblical mantra that nothing is new under the sun. And if you get frustrated about literally anything. Look it up. You will find that history repeats itself packaged in new clothes, from vintage designers, with worn out shoes.
I saw the images and videos from the fourth of July in the ritzy enclave of Newport Beach, California. The first thing I felt, seeing the grocery store completely looted with smashed watermelons all over the sidewalk, was repulsion. Then anger. I envision the starving man, woman, child, dog. It’s always disgusting to see large groups of people going scorched earth on the public — much like the ones who have, for decades, descended on Miami Beach, Florida. City officials announced it was “breaking up with Spring break,” after the chaos peaked from 2021 to 2023.
Fueled by “The Completely Entitled Takeover Culture,” there were two fatal shootings, stampedes through the tourist district and during the 2023 season alone, police made 573 arrests and impounded over 100 firearms.
Last Saturday, Newport Beach police were overpowered by similar crowds of young punks rebel rousers destroying an annual good time for normal beach goers — many who have traveled with their loved ones, for years, to enjoy what others bathe in daily. I am good friends with normal, average income families, who save every dollar to take this holiday yearly.
Not this year. The small beach city, with it’s charming eateries, kitschy coffee hangouts, fancy yachts, mansions lining the bays and boardwalks, and it’s lowkey beach vibe, went to hell.
< Police in Newport Beach, California made 402 arrests over the Fourth of July weekend. The arrests occurred between midnight on July 3 and 6 a.m. on July 5, far exceeding the 60 arrests made during the same period in 2025.
The Newport Beach Police Department reported that large, unruly crowds gathered on the Balboa Peninsula for events linked to a TikTok takeover. Many of the individuals taken into custody were juveniles and young adults from out-of-state > source: wiki
California’s redundant arrest dance called “Catch and Release,” combined with Proposition 47, “reclassifying many low-level, non-violent felonies” which in fact have turned very violent, because if you give an inch they take… “such as petty theft under $950 dollars” (it’s such joy to be shopping while this is going on. We all just keep smiling like clowns. Nothing to see here kiddos! — says mom) and “minor drug possession into misdemeanors” — I don’t have to tell anyone what a circus circle of madness this is. I have personally witnessed jewelry theft in a large department store with the manager screaming not to chase the bandits or call the police. The old fashioned high security doors were, however, triggered, by the sales tags, and all of us were then forced into pitch black for several minutes as all the power went off, locking us inside, while they rode off into the sunset. This actually made me think about the Constitution. And my rights.
A hell no different than Miami was in the Spring — and other places where this new culture, fueled by instantaneous, temporary highs likes, (and often profit $) has given the we-can-get-away-with-it TikTok crowd something to do. And they don’t mind destroying every good thing in their path.
Unlike Leonardo, who would ponder, paint, draw, engineer, experiment, theorize, sculpt, and design — they don’t even absorb the beauty of the wind blowing through the palms, a picnic lunch, bicycles gliding by, the lull of ocean waves, children building sand castles, a good book and the sun on their face. The absolute blessings of life.
Instead they are fueled by a toxic amount of “self” — and the next digital party invitation.
Donned in the latest Nike apparel, carrying expensive phones, cameras, and all the things TSA would have you arrested for — the whole world at their fingertips, they committed the kind of crimes that “street Arabs,” committed in the late 1800s. But worse. The difference? With so many immigrants coming to New York City, it left thousands of children in poverty, often sleeping in alleys, because home was a tenement box of squalor. Children formed gangs with names like the Dead Rabbits and Bowery Boys, ruling neighborhoods like “Five Points.” They were desperate for survival. It was so bad that the Orphan Trains program was developed.
The young flash mobs in America today, raiding large grocery stores, destroying small businesses, decimating front yards, assaulting others, shooting guns, hurling fireworks into crowds, are not starving. But they are starving.
For attention.
And the same power, that allowed human beings, children no less, to live on streets and starve back then, is the same power that has made human beings a colossal drug and digital experiment today, causing a litany of lost souls, often with parents leading the way to the guillotine.
Nothing is new. It’s just packaged differently. It’s confusing and absolutely lacks any kind of moral conviction.
A governing authority that cannot govern, or abide by basic laws/rules, take care of it’s people, provide infrastructure for it’s most desperate, make life over death a priority, will also, inevitably, turn a decent society upside-down. This should never be a “side” issue.
No one wins.
It makes for a feral environment and that’s exactly what we’re seeing in our cities. Extreme desperation packaged in rags, riches, and everything between.
In the 1920s prohibition fueled organized crime. There were street “play groups” that transitioned into violent youth gangs. They were used to feed the powerful mobs, who had (and still have) government in their back pockets.
In the 1950s, after WW2, city centers saw a huge rise in delinquent juveniles. The news would report on “wild” teen gangs, like those in the New York City Fighting Gangs — where turf wars became common. When I was a teen in the late 70s the same was happening in Los Angeles with the Bloods and the Crips. In fact, the Crips came to our school looking for a kid. We were shut down for two days. By the 80s/90s crack cocaine and deindustrialization only lead to more militarized gangs. Gangs we’ve done nothing about. The ones with all the guns.
Why the shock over the same thing?
We have an agenda problem, perpetrated by greed and power, stoking bad behavior.
We always will.
And.. we will always have a counter balance of goodness.
When we witness humanity in trouble, we must take notes, search for truth - like Leonardo da Vinci did. A baby born out of wedlock in 1452, in Vinci, Italy, to a peasant woman and a notary, he was unable to attend a traditional university or enter a common profession, like his father. As a result, he couldn’t read Latin, so he learned through observation by exploring the creative arts — “pursuing knowledge voraciously.”
Unaffected by dogma, da Vinci’s natural environment was ultimately a gift.
A tremendous gift to the world indeed.
It’s never too late to see:
“The sweep of the human face”
“The radiance of Leda” (Leda and the Swan)
“The misshapen features of an elderly man.”
“A fetus curled up in the womb.”
Or ask:
“Where is the soul?”
and the umbra and penumbra of Leonardo…
“What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” — Ecclesiastes 1:9
