Free Republic

“We’re talking about sleeping … that is a basic function,” said the nation’s first Black female justice. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson argued that it is “cruel and unusual” to punish unhoused individuals for sleeping in public spaces. “We’re talking about sleeping … that is a basic function,” Justice Jackson said during Monday’s oral arguments in a case that could result in the criminalization of homelessness. On Monday, the Supreme Court heard more than two hours of arguments in the case of Grants Pass v. Johnson. The justices listened to both sides of the case to determine whether...

California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D) administration lost track of the $24 billion in taxpayer funds it spent over the past five years in an attempt to curb the state’s homelessness crisis, an audit has found. The California State Auditor’s report, released on April 9, detailed multiple “gaps” in accountability in regards to how the money was allocated during the 2018-2023 fiscal years. Lead auditor Grant Parks said the state “has not collected sufficient data” to prove that the billions of dollars improved the situation.

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments this month in Grants Pass v. Johnson, which focuses on whether a local government can make it a crime to live outside when adequate shelter is not available. This case has resulted in an inaccurate and harmful framing of homelessness by suggesting that there are only two potential outcomes: Either arrest those who are unhoused or homelessness will become an inevitable and permanent fixture of the urban landscape. But there is a third path: providing subsidized housing with services to people experiencing homelessness. Too often, policymakers ignore the obvious solution to homelessness —...

Joe Biden has been a terrible president — the worst in American history — but that does not mean that his term hasn’t had its share of winners. While the vast majority of Americans have suffered under Joe Biden, some segments of American society have benefitted. Illegal Aliens The top of Biden’s winner list has to be illegal aliens. As the saying goes, what you promote, you get more of. Joe Biden and his surrogates have actively promoted the arrival of more than 7–8 million new illegal aliens since his inauguration, when he overrode Donald Trump–era policies and instituted new...

On Wednesday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) signed a bill into law that bans homeless encampments in the state of Florida.

Once upon a time, America was such a beautiful place. As a nation, we are blessed with great natural beauty, and the shiny, clean cities that we constructed from coast to coast were once the envy of the entire world. But now many of the most beautiful places in America have literally been turned into open toilets. Let me give you an example of what I am talking about. Decades ago, California beaches were so spectacular that tourists would come from all over the world to experience them. But now the beaches in one section of southern California resemble “a...

A San Francisco restaurant chain recently closed its last two remaining locations after 40 years of operation, with the owner citing the city's economic challenges and homelessness. "COVID has been a disease for us, let's put it that way, so it's been difficult, and we tried opening six or eight stores in the beginning in 2021, and it was ugly," Lee's Diner founder and owner Lee Quan told the local ABC 7 in a report published Wednesday. "There was just nobody around—we can't do business." Quan, whose family-owned chain had 16 locations at its height, said after the pandemic, people...

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has come up with an unusual solution for solving Florida's homeless problem: putting people in camps. Although the idea may sound authoritarian or reminiscent of the power-crazed lunacy exhibited during the Chinese coronavirus pandemic, it may actually be a viable solution. The Tampa Bay Times reports that DeSantis is considering approving legislation that would help move homeless people off the streets and place them in specialized camps where they can enjoy access to various services. However, DeSantis confirmed at a news conference in Miami Beach on Monday that the idea was still very much a "work...

How can anyone out there possibly believe that the U.S. economy is doing well? As you will see below, the number of homeless Americans has risen to the highest level ever recorded, and large companies all over the country are laying off workers in droves. As I have discussed previously, the number of Americans that were laid off in 2023 jumped 98 percent compared to the year before, and now during the first month of 2024 it feels like we are being hit by a tsunami of layoffs. It literally seems like someone has turned a fire hose on, but...

A woman may have unknowingly passed the ghost of a supposed ancient Hawaiian warrior while running through a rainforest. Kay Borleis was running the Hawaiian Ultra Running Team’s Trail 100-Mile Endurance Run on the Honolulu Mauka trails in Oahu in January 2019 when she had the spooky encounter. 'To this day, we still don’t know what it was,' said Borleis, a senior art director, in a blog post. The race, known as HURT 100, is a 20-mile loop through the rainforests that participants run five times. Borelis' friend Cassie was running the fourth lap with her when Cassie snapped the...

On Thursday’s broadcast of “NBC Nightly News,” NBC News Correspondent Stephanie Gosk reported on homelessness among students in Los Angeles and stated that increases in the cost of living “and a migrant crisis” are two key factors in a spike in homelessness among students. The segment began with a portion of an interview with Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Alberto Carvalho saying, “We have in excess of 13,000 students who are experiencing homelessness, that number increased by close to 19%.”

Multnomah, Washington, and Clackamas counties have reported 45 cases of the bacteria in December, with nine different strains observed in the Portland metro area since October. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Multnomah County is encouraging residents to watch their hygiene after a boost in shigella cases was observed in Old Town Portland. Shigella is a bacteria that spreads via fecal matter, and creates symptoms that include fever, stomach cramps, vomiting, and diarrhea. It can last anywhere from three to 10 days. “Shigella spreads when one person’s infected poop gets into another person’s mouth through food or water, from objects or surfaces with shigella bacteria...

December 23, 2023/ Francis Menton “Homelessness” is one of my favorite topics because it provides an endless supply of examples of clear, dramatic, and immediate failure of the government programs supposedly intended to assist the poor and vulnerable. All of the big progressive cities follow some version of the same policies, which in summary amount to spending more and more money to provide “housing first” as the obvious solution to homelessness. All of these cities have rapidly stepped up spending over the past decade on promises to the voters to solve the homelessness problem with more subsidized housing; and all...

A recent Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report has cast a shadow over the U.S. economic landscape, predicting a rise in unemployment from the current 3.9% to 4.4% by the end of 2024. This sobering forecast suggests potential job losses for approximately 7.4 million Americans, highlighting the precarious nature of the workforce amidst a contracting gross domestic product (GDP). The CBO attributes the anticipated increase in unemployment to economic adjustments and policy shifts. As the nation grapples with these changes, weaker consumer spending is expected into the next year, along with a contraction in nonresidential investment. These factors are projected to...

The number of homeless Americans rose by 12 percent to a record level in 2023 as President Joe Biden invited several million legal and illegal migrants into homes and jobs. “More than 650,000 people were experiencing homelessness on a single night in January 2023, a 12% increase from 2022,” a Friday report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) said. The data is 11 months old, suggesting that the current homeless number is far higher.

Just in case you're feeling too cheerful, here are ten more statistics to make you consider emigrating to Mars: 1. Paul Bond quotes a poll by the Barna Group: "Nearly 40 Percent of U.S. Gen Zs, 30 Percent of Young Christians Identify as LGBTQ, Poll Shows." (The Gallup Poll shows considerably less SNIP 2. We read in Breitbart that a poll shows that a majority of Americans aged 18-24 say the Hamas massacre of Israeli civilians was ‘justified.’ SNIP 3. A friend of mine moved to Arizona years ago to escape New York taxes. Though that state is overly hot...

Oakland has created an 'unlivable' situation for residents as homeless population explodes, activist saysOpen-air drug markets, narcotic tourism, rampant theft and lax camping regulation have made Oakland "unlivable," a neighborhood advocate told Fox News. "Oakland and San Francisco have become the promised land of milk and fentanyl, and people are coming here," Seneca Scott, founder of Neighbors Together Oakland, told Fox News. "People who are homeless in Oakland now typically are not from here. They're drug tourists." Recently, people have been flocking to "Fentanyl Island" a patch of land between 7th St. and Brush St. in West Oakland which...

Portland lost 6th-most residents in United States over past year.. Multnomah County, where Portland, Oregon, is located, reportedly lost more than $1 billion in income between 2020 and 2021 as a result of residents fleeing the state amid surging crime, homelessness and safety concerns... 14,257 tax filers and their dependents left Multnomah County during the first year of the pandemic in 2020 and took a record $1 billion of income with them. The data showed that higher earners were more likely to leave since their jobs could be done remotely during coronavirus shutdowns, and the average income of people leaving...

Even prominent liberals think the handling of the migrant crisis in Democrat-run cities is “full of *&^%.” Self-styled “old-school liberal” Bill Maher has blasted progressive leaders of “woke” cities — including New York City — as being hypocritical in crying foul over the mass influx of asylum seekers. The HBO host said that sanctuary cities have been “hoist with their own petard” by signaling that they welcome migrants, just to panic and complain when they actually get shipped in from overwhelmed border states. “It’s just a good example of, ‘Could everybody just stop the posturing?'” Maher, 67, asked on his...

Los Angeles Police Department has lost about 1,000 officers since 2019.. The vice president of a Los Angeles police union encouraged officers to ditch the city and find work elsewhere during unsuccessful salary negotiations with the city. Los Angeles Police Protective League (LAPPL) Vice President Jerretta Sandoz ... Sandoz's displeasure comes as the city continues to lose more and more officers who are frustrated with treatment by city officials. Police Commissioner Erroll Southers has called the loss of officers "very, very discouraging," ... Meanwhile, crime and homelessness are spiking in California's largest city. Democrat Mayor Karen Bass signed an updated...