an Francisco, the beautiful city earthquakes could not destroy, is corroding from within. A laboratory for degeneracy, it has devolved into an America-hating sanctuary for criminal aliens, drug abusers, panhandlers and prostitutes. An embarrassment to the rest of the state, it provides a sneak preview of liberal culture in full flower.

In the past, San Francisco has caused the U.S. Navy to feel unwelcome, allowed its port commerce and blue-collar industries to shrivel, banned the U.S. military from recruiting in its schools and looked the other way when extremists disrupted and mocked communion in a Roman Catholic church.

More recently, a measure to decriminalize prostitution and weaken laws against human trafficking in San Francisco qualified for the November ballot with over 12,000 signatures and the support of three county supervisors.

We had almost lost our capacity to be shocked by anything that occurs in the benighted city by the Bay. But, then, on June 22, Edwin Ramos, an illegal alien from El Salvador, brutally gunned down San Franciscans Tony Bologna, 48, and his sons, Michael, 20, and Matthew, 16. The three victims were returning from a family picnic when their vehicle briefly blocked Ramos’s car from making a left turn down a narrow street. He methodically murdered all three.

Ramos may have pulled the trigger but the Bolognas died as a direct and inexorable consequence of San Francisco’s liberal policies.

The murderer had twice been convicted of violent crimes but was not deported for either.

A member of the Mara Salvatrucha (also called MS-13) street gang, he earlier beat a man aboard a Muni bus and tried to wrestle a backpack-style purse from a pregnant woman on a city street in broad daylight. In neither case did the city alert federal immigration authorities because Mayor Gavin Newsom has decreed that “immigration status” not be a factor in dealing with illegal alien youth offenders. Later, Ramos was apprehended for carrying a firearm.

According to a report in the San Francisco Chronicle, Ramos’ defense attorney has “gotten several calls from community workers, educators and city service providers who know and work with Edwin. They all expressed support…” These taxpayer-funded “community workers, educators and city service providers” had evidently treated Ramos like an honored guest rather than as an immigration scofflaw. Then again, this is the city that spent $83,000 on an advertisement campaign to encourage illegal aliens to take advantage of taxpayer-funded city services.

Recently it came to light that Newsom had secreted into group homes far from San Francisco juvenile drug offenders who are illegal aliens. Last week, one of these offenders walked away from an unsecured group facility in Atascadero. He was the 12th Newsom-exported criminal alien to have escaped confinement, with 10 still at large. Last December it was uncovered that Newsom had been flying offenders like these back to their homes in Central America rather than exposing them to the risk of federal deportation.

The decline and fall of civilizations is measured in decades and generations. Yet we are observing the dissipation of a great city in months and years.

Hopefully, order, reason and civility will eventually be restored there. Until then, let’s hope that everyone recognizes San Francisco for what it is—a failed experiment in liberalism.