Free Republic

The city knows addicts will continue their addiction regardless of what case managers say, so instead they offer a free 'booty bumping kit' as a 'good choice if your veins are hard to hit.'This article contains explicit content about illicit drugs.A self-described “social justice” homeless shelter is using Seattle city funds to feed addicts’ deadly disease. Tax dollars are used to buy heroin pipes, syringes, and “booty bumping kits,” which allow users to rectally inject drugs for a more intense high.The Downtown Emergency Service Center (DESC) operates several low-barrier shelters in Seattle. They serve the chronically homeless population, including those...

JACKSON CO., Or.- Today, a grand jury indicted the man Medford police are charging with lighting a vehicle on fire near Emigrant Lake the same day the Almeda fire sparked. 45-year-old Vance Nguyen is in Jackson County jail on a first-degree arson charge. Today Nguyen appeared before a judge and pled “not guilty.” Police arrested Nguyen after investigating a vehicle that was set on fire near Emigrant Lake. Greensprings firefighters says they found the vehicle in flames, with a propane tank on the top of it. They tell us the direction of the wind that day prevented it from spreading...

CUMBERLAND, Maryland -- Had it not been for the kindness of strangers, Henry McCain would have died the way he led much of his adult life: cold, alone and without a blanket to cover his feet at night. Instead, McCain left this world not a nameless drifter but with dignity, a sense of belonging and a last sip of his beloved ice-cold Coca-Cola. On the morning McCain died, Pastor David Ziler and his wife, Andrea Ziler, went into the hospice room they had created at the homeless shelter they run, gave McCain his medications, cleaned him up and sat his...

Currently residential real estate is predominantly taxed based on its estimated market value. Ad valorum taxation stems from the colonial era when an acre of land far from the Atlantic Ocean was worth less than an acre of land near the Atlantic Ocean. Ad valorum taxation made sense when getting agricultural goods from the hinterlands to coastal city markets was very difficult and expensive. In 2021, ad valorum taxation creates a great incentive for local governments and others to make residential real estate very expensive. This is clearest in California, where it may cost $700,000 to add a new apartment...

The theme song from “Barney & Friends” has been blaring 24 hours a day for weeks on Palos Verdes Street in San Pedro. There are about two dozen homeless individuals who have pitched tents on the sidewalk there, and they say the blaring kids’ music is a not-so-subtle way to get them to move. “It’s psychological,” said Danielle Nunez of Street Watch LA, a mutual aid organization that helps the homeless. “It is to keep people up. They can’t have a quiet space and it’s playing at nighttime so that people literally cannot sleep.” The vacant property is run by...

A Mayor was rushed out of a City Hall in Washington state after protesters ripped down an American flag before storming the building during a rally against plans to clean-up a homeless encampment. Mayor Seth Fleetwood of Bellingham was escorted out of the building to safety Friday morning when a group of around 20 people entered the main lobby, according to KIRO7. Bellingham Police arrived and asked the protesters to leave. Bellingham Police Lt. Claudia Murphy told The Bellingham Herald the demonstrators left when they were told to, no one was injured and nothing was damaged inside the building.

AUSTIN, Texas - Gov. Greg Abbott shared a message to the City of Austin Wednesday on Twitter, saying that if the city doesn't reinstate the ban on homeless camping, "the state will do it for them." Abbott's response comes after members of "Save Austin Now" turned in over 24,000 signed petitions Tuesday, hoping to reinstate Austin’s homeless camping ban by getting it on the May 2021 ballot. The first effort to reinstate the ban was ruled invalid back in August, and they decided to try again starting December 1. "Contrary to what Austin leaders think no one has a right...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Capitol complex temporarily locked down Monday during a rehearsal for President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration after a fire in a homeless encampment about a mile away sent a plume of smoke into the air and caused security concerns.

Federal law enforcement agents have arrested a Florida Man and charged him with trying to organize an armed response to pro-President Donald Trump protesters expected at the state Capitol on Sunday. The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced that the FBI arrested Daniel Baker of Tallahassee on Friday. Authorities say Baker issued a “call to arms” on social media to recruit people in a plot to create an armed circle around protesters and trap them in the Capitol complex “using firearms.” “Extremists intent on violence from either end of the political and social spectrums must be stopped, and they will be stopped,”...

A coalition in California is proposing legislation to boost taxes corporations to raise $2.4 billion for homeless programs.

Project Veritas released a new video today exposing the Executive Director for Atlanta’s Central Outreach and Advocacy Center (COAC), Kimberly Parker, admitting to the organization’s routine practice of registering homeless people to vote using the same address. “So, the majority of the people we serve don’t have an address, so we allow them to use our address if they register to vote and to get Georgia State ID,” Parker said. Watch the video at the bottom of the story. VIDEO AT LINK.................... “Because you have to have proof of residence, and so although we are not a shelter, we do...

As the sun began its afternoon fade, Willie Lyons stepped inside his new Conestoga-style hut, pounded a nail into a beam and hung a coat inside the tiny shelter made by volunteers that will protect him from the elements this winter. Lyons, who is deaf, spent much of Saturday methodically moving his belongings from boxes and bags to become the first homeless person to move into a community of what will be 28 tiny huts that nonprofit Occupy Madison is building and placing at the former Wiggie’s Bar property at 1901 Aberg Ave. on the East Side. As Lyons continued...

A 33-year-old man has been arrested for a fatal shooting near a homeless encampment in Tacoma. Police were called to the encampment near Sixth Avenue and South M Street about 7:40 p.m. Thursday by several people who heard gunshots. They found a 38-year-old man suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. The victim was taken to a hospital, where he died. He has not been publicly identified. As detectives were investigating the scene, the 33-year-old man approached them to advise he’d been involved in the incident. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply....

The city’s homeless student population dipped slightly last year — but advocates warn that the numbers may be skewed due to the coronavirus and could soon skyrocket. According to Advocates for Children of New York, 111,000 children were identified as homeless during the 2019-2020 academic year — a dip of 2.2 percent from the prior term. Of those, about 32,700 lived in homeless shelters while roughly 73,000 were “doubled-up” in temporary housing situations with friends or family, according to ACNY.

by Rod Thomson It seems like a strange matchup, a midsize community against one of the world’s great cities — or once great cities. Other than being in the United States and never seeing snow, there are not a lot of similarities between Los Angeles and Sarasota, Florida. Except about 10 years ago, they both, like most American cities, were facing an increasing homeless problem. The warmth of southern cities, particularly Florida cities, is a major attraction for everyone, and as it turns out there are homeless snowbirds, of a sort. But Sarasota and L.A. took two opposite paths in...

At least two people were killed and others seriously wounded Sunday night in a stabbing rampage at a church here. Police said there were no services going on at the time. They said "unhoused" people had been brought inside to get them out of the cold. San Jose police tweeted around 8:47 p.m. that officers were responding to the Grace Baptist Church. It's near the San Jose State campus, CBS San Francisco reports. They then tweeted that at least two victims had died. Mayor Sam Liccardo said police had a suspect was in custody but police later said that wasn't...

Two individuals have been charged with multiple counts of voter fraud after allegedly submitting fraudulent voter registration applications on behalf of homeless people, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. Carlos Antonio De Bourbon Montenegro, 53, and Marcos Raul Arevalo, 34, were charged in a 41-count criminal complaint filed last week. The pair faces one count of conspiracy to commit voter fraud, eight counts of voter fraud, four counts of procuring and offering a false or forged instrument and four misdemeanor counts of interference with a prompt transfer of a completed affidavit, according to the Los Angeles County...

With cold and wet weather looming on the horizon, several Los Angeles City Council members have asked the city to evaluate the feasibility of using the downtown Convention Center into a temporary homeless shelter.

San Francisco’s hotels and motels are slowly emptying of the homeless people that the city placed there during the Covid-19 pandemic. The city simply can’t afford the $260 per night, per person, price tag of housing approximately 2,000 people—just a portion of the estimated 8,000 people who live on the street. Where will they go? Elected officials have come up with a new plan: turn the whole city into a network of homeless encampments. In June, city officials and departments developed a list of 42 potential sites that could be equipped with spaces for tents and mobile bathrooms. The urban...

Cyclists searching for stolen bikes in Denver's homeless camps Cyclists turn to social media to find bikes By: Jaclyn AllenSep 28, 2020 DENVER -- A homeless camp or a bicycle chop shop? In Denver, they can certainly at least appear to be one and the same. So many bikes have been stolen across the city, some people -- encouraged on social media -- are now going from camp to camp looking for their property. "I would rather have my car stolen than this," said Carter Haun, pointing to his custom mountain bike. "It would be easier to get another car."...