Russia used to be Communist, and now it's a kind of far-right dictatorship. But more than that, Russia/China/North Korea/Iran is the kind of alternative to the Western alliance. So a lot of people who hate their lives think that supporting them will lead to a rebuilding of the West along the lines that they support.
Weird projection there. I pointed out A) factual errors in your posts, and B) logical flaws in your thinking. And here's another--crime fell (nationwide but the decline was greater in California) dramatically from the mid-'90s peak to 2013.
Another good move by Newsom, yeah. As I said, if anyone is serious about analyzing his performance and not just "OMG, he has the wrong letter next to his name--he's the devil!" they're going to conclude he's done extremely well. I don't see him as a viable presidential candidate myself, and I doubt he'd get my primary vote, but you can't deny his performance so far.