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October 31, 2022 - 1:30pm
Last week, 82-year-old Paul Pelosi was attacked in his San Francisco home by David DePape, a local man identified in the San Francisco Chronicle a decade earlier as a “hemp jewellery maker” who lived with a nudist activist. Pelosi, the husband of Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi and a businessman with a fortune estimated at $120 million, suffered serious injuries. He had been struggling with DePape for control of a hammer when police — admitted to the residence by an unidentified third party — rushed in and subdued the assailant, who had allegedly been shouting “Where’s Nancy?” during the attack.
Admittedly, these verified details are certain to provoke additional questions. Other unverified details, including the since-retracted claim by KTVU-TV that DePape was wearing only his underwear when police arrived, have further stoked curiosity, with some suggesting that Pelosi was also in his underwear. This narrative, which calls to mind Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum being found in a Miami Beach hotel room while one of the other two men with him was overdosing on meth, seems to fit a particular script: decadent elites engaging in lurid and depraved antics.
Others have framed it to suit their own ideology. The mainstream media appears to have settled on the just-so story of Right-wing radicalisation, pointing to recent blogs and Facebook posts suggesting that DePape was motivated to act by concerns about Covid-19 vaccines, the “Great Reset,” or QAnon.” Right-wing commentator Ann Coulter threw cold water on theories about DePape being Pelosi’s gay lover or drug dealer, instead emphasising that he was a drug user whose psychotic attack was motivated by marijuana — the dangers of excessive THC in marijuana possibly leading to psychosis having been a recent Right-wing talking point. Meanwhile, Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk was forced to delete tweets linking to an article that suggested that the personal life of Paul Pelosi somehow played a role.
San Fransicko author Michael Shellenberger, who has spent time among the city’s growing homeless population, offered perhaps the fullest portrait of DePape. Shellenberger noted that DePape’s politics consisted of bizarre theories from both sides of the political spectrum — he spoke to angels and claimed “Jesus is the anti-Christ” — and that he was frequently homeless and likely using drugs stronger than marijuana. DePape was an obsessive video game player in his youth in British Columbia before cycling through a variety of sexual partners and living arrangements as he made his way to San Francisco. It was alleged that he even abused his stepsons and stepdaughter during a relationship that ended in 2014.
In the end, the simplest explanation regarding DePape’s presence in the Pelosi household might be that he was a mentally ill person, as an increasing percentage of the city’s homeless are. Despite the rising crime that has affected San Francisco in recent years, Paul Pelosi’s house is neither barricaded nor protected with a large security detail. That DePape, like so many other transients with violent thoughts and lengthy track records of troubled behaviours, might have wandered inside intending to cause serious harm is — if nothing else — an indictment of the society that could offer no remedy for his mental illness.
That said, an explanation like this isn’t going to satisfy people who see DePape as a critical link in whatever narrative suits their partisan needs, whether it be an attack on “MAGA terrorism” or the dangers of marijuana — much less a more elaborate, QAnon-style conspiracy theory about elite deviance.
There are one or two details about how DePape and the police gained entrance to the home that, perhaps merely for privacy reasons, have not yet been resolved, and such gaps in the story will ensure that questioning continues, particularly for those of a conspiratorial bent. Having been silenced in the mainstream media as well as on social media platforms like Twitter, such conspiracy-minded individuals have likely reached a point at which anything might seem true, except for what they’re being told.
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SubscribeI agree with the author that a lot of the explanations for what happened are very self serving to political causes but it would be good to hear someone actually investigate and find out what happened rather than just plonk themselves between the two extremes and assume what happened was the “simplest explanation”.
I heard the shout of ‘Where’s Nancy?‘ was just part of the actual line, and the entire thing he said was:
‘‘Where’s Nancy? Did we leave her back at the Bar?”
But like the third man and so on, it may be just be something someone said……
Neither you nor I know what Depape said. Only Pelosi knows and we have no way to verify that. The situation reeks.
Pelosi and Depepe deserve one another!
We will likely never know the truth. It is bizarre at best to think that this very powerful couple’s house was so easily compromised by a nudist, gay, green party, relatively clean looking druggy. When the media retracts something so quickly, it provides a clue as to what the “appropriate” narrative must be.
The on scene police know what they saw and we can understand their reluctance to speak. Truth may never be known aside from body cams which may or may not survive the FOIA requests. This would have never become known except that Pelosi was badly injured. Since then an effort to cover it up has been ongoing. Paul may need a minder bodyguard given his arriving issues.
You post: “we can understand their reluctance to speak.” Maybe you can, but no one else can. Why should we?
Occam’s Razor needs to be applied here. A homeless lunatic broke into a highly secure home of an incredibly wealthy and politically connected couple. The owner went to the bathroom, but when police arrived, was struggling with the intruder over a hammer. Police “tackled” the intruder, but not before he fractured the skull of the homeowner with said hammer.
Yeah. Totally logical. Nothing to see here. Move along.
All questions could be resolved with the release of security and body cam footage. “Funny” how that hasn’t happened.
The disinformation is deliberate. Politicized media has turned America into a nation of well-reasoned cynics. The only opportunity to know the facts would be through a release of the police report including body camera recordings. That’s not going to happen. As we all know the elites must be protected in every and all possible ways.
I agree
lets see the tapes
The SFPD now says there was no unknown–or third–person in the home.
Expect no transparency from the authorities.
‘Nothing to see here, please pass along...’
Police release: ‘There was no third man in the house, and if there was there was nothing unusual about it.’
Astounding Comment by the SFPD. Can they explain how all of the broken glass from the door was on the OUTSIDE of the House?????????????? This appears to contravene the laws of physics.
Was it? Who says so?
It sounds as if the Pelosis would be wise to join the flight from California and settle in Texas or somewhere a bit safer for them – somewhere with a Republican Governor and Attorney General perhaps.
Pelosi spent a lot of time in Florida during the lockdowns as well so it fits her MO.
One thing you could bet and make money on these days is that the most “gratifying” aspects of any hot “breaking” story will turn out to be either entirely false or so embellished and misleading as to be effectively so. There seems to be thousands of people out there who fabricate facts and details almost instantly, for no other reason than to rattle the bars of people whose minds are caged by one radical set of ideas or another.
It’s called click bait.
Pointless article adding nothing of value. Weird sh*t going on with Paul Pelosi is covered up by the authorities and given a good leaving alone by the media (Ghislaine Maxwell’s list, anyone)? Details about Seth Rich’s murder will not be released for 66 years (!) when anyone who would care about it is long dead. Yep, sounds like business as usual in No One Is Above The Law Land.
“A good leaving alone” is a great phrase. The Dog That Didn’t Bark in the Night, indeed.
Why was a $22 Million Dollar home with two of the nations most powerful people so easily accessible? This story doesn’t add up.
This has all the markers of a gay pickup gone bad. This is the second sensational episode that Pelosi has had in a few months which occurs just after 2am when the gay bars close and in which Pelosi is in the company of a young male.
Yes indeed!
I’m curious to see how “injured” Paul Pelosi really is, as I doubt he acquiesced to being beaten half to death so he could give his wife’s political party a bump in the polls before Election Day. Perhaps after the drunk driving rap a few months ago, Nancy decided he was expendable.
Given the “transparency” of things – where is the surveillance video from cameras around the home, police bodycam footage, evidence of forced entry, why did the attacker apparently wait until police arrived to attack, etc. etc. – we’ll never find out. Until after the election, that is :).
Yeah, by now the media would usually be running photos of his injuries, or at least his bandaged self leaving hospital. But then again, he did get taken to the “Zuckerberg” hospital. Now I’m starting to wonder if he was even injured? Perhaps the whole thing is a hoax or a psy-op? It’s all a bit Jussie Smollett if you ask me.
According to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program (UCR) for 2019, which is the last complete year available, 397 people were murdered with hammers, 364 people were murdered with rifles (AKA “assault weapons”) and 600 people were killed by hands/fists/feet. Poor Mr. Pelosi suffered hammers and hands. At least this sad incident highlights the danger of allowing just anyone to own a hammer, and I would assume the Democrats will adjust their priorities to banning hammers, hands and fists, and deprioritize banning “assault weapons”.
This seems a pretty straightforward case of drug and/or mental illness related violence. The only reason it’s newsworthy at all is because the victim is the spouse of someone in the public eye. If this had happened to any Tom, d**k, or Harry, it wouldn’t even make the local news most places. Of course both sides will try to spin it to score political points in the same way they do every other news item.
So which ones had the substance abuse issues? Why did the glass near the door handle not get broken instead one a distance away – why is the glass on the outside? Who is the third guy? Why did Pilosi call the attacker his ‘Friend’ to police? Why was everyone in their underwear? Why are the camera records of this not being released – )you know they must exist)? and it goes on and on….
”This seems a pretty straightforward case”
What sort of place do you live in where this sort of thing is straightforward? Half naked men wrestling over hammers in the middle of the night…
I concede part of the reason this doesn’t seem to strange to me is that I watch a lot of COPS and other real life crime shows and there are some pretty bizarre situations on there. Addicts will do any number of strange things, as will the mentally ill. I live in rural middle America, and two guys fighting in their underwear over a hammer makes me think its some kind of domestic dispute or an addict breaking into a house either by mistake or as a poor attempt at burglary.
U don’t break into a house by mistake.. also burglars don’t tend to stick around after knowing the cops were called
That depends on how intoxicated/high the individual in question is. A normal person usually acts normally. A high person can fall anywhere on a scale of zombie to normal to looney tunes character depending on which combination of drugs and/or alcohol is consumed in what quantity.
Simple question: Do you work in Nancy’s congressional office?
Could someone please explain how a $22 Million Dollar home owned by two of the nations most powerful people so easily accessible? This story doesn’t add up.
That is the one thing that is puzzling. One expects these types of crimes in trailer parks and ghettos, not suburban mansions.
Bit of a snob are you? You might want to read the story of Lord Lucan.
Bravo! These are all the right questions. let’s see if anyone will answer them.
…but given that that DaPerp is from Beserkeley, and that the incident occurred in San Francisco …”straightforward” as used there is in the vocabulary of a non-Euclidean universe
Straightforward case? After MULTIPLE stories about how the cops got it STILL Nobody seems to know how/who opened the glass door for the cops. That’s BS someone knows but are NOT being straightforward. Also, Paul said to the dispatcher that DePape was a FRIEND, even knew him by name but that he didn’t really know him,”..clearly not some random straightforward drug or mentally ill homeless suspect case….
3 things I can guarantee about this incident are this.
1. Clear unedited video from bodycams of officers will either be “corrupted” “unavailable” or were “never turned on” as per every other cover up has been lately regarding high profile politicians.
2. The media will continue to push the narrative that hes mentally ill, or he’s a wacko and continue to dig up and even fabricate or embellish anything about Depape. So that any possible defense or testimony from depape himself will not be heard or allowed in court or it will be stricken from the case or permanently sealed so that its never released to the general public under the guise of the mainstream narrative of him being labeled as incompetent by the media.
3. Also UNEDITED security camera footage located at or around Pelosis house showing depape entering or in the house will also not be released In its entirety…
I basically said the same thing about the camera footage in the comments in another UnHerd article. I hope the poor man doesn’t have an accident or suddenly commit suicide. The author’s viewpoint is amusingly conventional – but he is right about one thing – I pretty much assume that whatever the MSM are saying about political incidents like this – it will be a pack of lies designed to protect the progressive cause.
Epstein didn’t kill himself
One correction, the media will push the narrative that this green party, gay nudist druggy was a MAGA hat wearing supporter of the “vast right wing conspiracy”. (to use HRC’s label)
Keep moving if you know what’s good for you.
According to fbi report they opened the door and were BOTH holding the hammer. The attack happened in front of the police… very fishy
That’s the fact about this incident — no one’s narrative makes any sense.
Why hasn’t the bodycam footage of the responding police officers been released? That would do a lot to discourage crazy theorizing unless it is being doctored to support the official version of events.
Why hasn’t your Brain been laboratorized to stop crazy theories? That would go a long way to people no aint you people no longer saying what a f*****g asshole you are.
Very helpful of you to ensure your posting name matches and confirms the nature of your comment.
Since the story, and especially its details (how did he get in so easily?) are carefully kept from us, there is little sense in speculating. What we all should do is insist on knowing all the details.
What a useless article.
The attack being a result of an unchecked homeless problem that is being fed by terrible local policies seems to fit a political narrative as well. It’s less exciting than the other two extremes, but rampant homelessness is an issue important to many people.
“In the end, the simplest explanation regarding DePape’s presence in the Pelosi household might be that he was a mentally ill person, as an increasing percentage of the city’s homeless are.”
I think what is meant is “as an increasing proportion of those who abuse strongly psychotic-episode producing drugs such as marijuana (among others) are.” This would then remove the stigma from the ‘homeless’ as a generality.
The UK version of this is blaming the ‘poor’ for crime, because to a left-winger poverty produces criminal behaviour, a proposition for which in a life of 69 years I have not found the slightest evidence
If this involved the husband of a prominent Republican congresswomen no doubt the press would already be naming it the hammergate coverup.
Paging Brian Rix
The fact of the matter is that Paul Pelosi is a closeted homosexual, ask anyone in the San Francisco Castro district. DePape and Pelosi were together for half an hour sodomizing each other till something went awry and the hammer incident happened. It would be good if the authorities release the police video to clear up the matter but they are trying to hush it up to protect Pelosi and his homosexuality. Sodom and Gomorrah!
The fact of the matter is that Paul Pelosi is a closeted homosexual, ask anyone in the San Francisco Castro district. DePape and Pelosi were together for half an hour sodomizing each other till something went awry and the hammer incident happened. It would be good if the authorities release the police video to clear up the matter but they are trying to hush it up to protect Pelosi and his homosexuality. Sodom and Gomorrah!
Its sounds like Mr.Pelosi may be a little more light in the loafers than even Nancy thought but the coverup had to be put in place and the blame had to be put on conservative republicans just the same!
Its sounds like Mr.Pelosi may be a little more light in the loafers than even Nancy thought but the coverup had to be put in place and the blame had to be put on conservative republicans just the same!