Free Republic

Shocking footage played in court showed the moment first responders said that Jordan Neely still had a pulse after former marine Daniel Penny put the troubled homeless man in a chokehold on a Manhattan subway last year.

A judge in Louisiana has temporarily blocked further efforts by state officials to clear homeless encampments in New Orleans — stalling a push that came ahead of three Taylor Swift concerts in the city this weekend. The effort to relocate about 75 people living in tents beneath an overpass near the Superdome began in the days leading up to pop star’s shows, which could draw 150,000 visitors to the stadium. Judge Lori Jupiter granted a temporary restraining order on Friday, directing state law enforcement officials to not “destroy or dispose of the property of unhoused people without judicial process” and...

Voters in Los Angeles are expressing skepticism of Measure A, a ballot initiative that would raise sales taxes in the county to provide more services to the homeless, expanding Measure H, which was passed by referendum in 2017. Measure H raised sales taxes by a quarter of a percent — and the homeless population kept rising. That rise was driven by a variety of factors, but access to generous services — like hotel rooms — may have been one of them. While opinion polls suggest that support for Measure A is near 50%, that is far lower than the nearly...

California has invested a staggering $24 billion over the past five fiscal years to address homelessness, a figure that underscores the state’s urgent effort to curb this intractable crisis. Yet, as this spending has increased, so has California’s homeless population. In the 2021-22 fiscal year, when the homeless population was estimated to be 172,000, California spent $7.2 billion, which equated to nearly $42,000 per homeless individual. The spending includes housing and rental assistance, physical and mental health outreach, case management, and funds to purchase motels and other types of temporary housing. In a scathing report released in April, the California...

Citing safety, authorities are closing two Milwaukee-area public parking lots where people have been living in tents, trailers and cars. “The environments continue to degrade and become less safe every day,” the Wisconsin Department of Transportation said Monday. “First responders including law enforcement, fire service personnel and paramedics are responding to a heightened number of emergency calls regarding dangerous and unsafe activity in and around the lots,” the department said. The lots are park-and-ride lots where people can catch a bus or another ride. The state said it will begin closing two lots and a portion of a third, starting...

Police say a man claimed to have a bomb outside a rally for former President Donald Trump in metro Grand Rapids and that he insisted it was the “real deal” — though it was not. As he appeared in a Grandville courtroom via video linkup from a jail cell Monday afternoon, Steven William Nauta, 65, of Sand Lake, acknowledged he could hear the judge and that he understood the charges against him and his rights. He held his head down for the majority of his arraignment. At one point, he made profane hand gestures, but apologized when the judge warned...

Modern-day grave robbers in Texas have seized unclaimed bodies belonging to veterans and sold their limbs for profit without the consent or knowledge from their grieving family members. Victor Carl Honey, 58, a dedicated Army veteran, who struggled with mental illness, died in September 2022 of heart failure. Honey was among the 2,350 people whose remains were sent to the body donation program at the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort-Worth. However, a month after his death, the Dallas County Medical Examiner's Officer deemed Honey's body 'unclaimed' after they said phones for relatives were disconnected even though...

A fed-up California homeowner developed a 'diversion security' device to prevent homeless people from camping out in his building's carports. Santa Monica resident Stephen McMahon, 76, invented the Blue Chirper motion-activated device that emits blue strobe lights and a cricket noise to dissuade homeless people from getting comfortable. Security footage has captured the device successfully scaring off people who have tried to sleep in the carports when alarm system starts going off. 'I call it diversion security, that is we're diverting them away from our 20-block radius somewhere else,' McMahon told KTLA. McMahon said he has grown frustrated with the...

The United States is reportedly on pace to hit another record in 2024 regarding the homeless population. Preliminary data gathered and reviewed by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) showed the number of people living in encampments, on streets, and in shelters has grown since 2023, the newspaper reported on Saturday. The article noted: The numbers come from more than 250 homeless-service organizations covering cities, metro areas and vast rural areas. They are meant to reflect homelessness as it existed on a single night early this year. The Journal’s count includes about 550,000 homeless people so far, up about 10% from...

Illegal migrants flooding the US are contributing to what could be the highest number of homeless in the country since the data were first recorded, with cities draining their coffers to fund shelters, a report says. At least 550,000 people were reported homeless in January — the same month the US notched the highest number ever of border crossings, according to an analysis by the Wall Street Journal. The disturbing homeless figure was at least 10% more than January 2023, a year that had the highest overall annual tally since 2007, when the government started reporting its own figures, the...

Six Department of Education employees used “forged permission slips” to take their own kids and grandchildren to Disney World and on other city-funded trips meant for homeless students, investigators alleged. The secret perks robbed some of the city’s most disadvantaged kids of a chance to enjoy the Magic Kingdom — a trip that cost $66,000 for 50 or so adults and kids, a staffer said — and other multiple-day trips in 2016 to 2019 to Washington, D.C; New Orleans; Boston; upstate Rocking Horse Ranch Resort; and Frost Valley YMCA campground, according to a newly released report by the Special Commissioner...

In Dallas, election workers are being directed to apply church addresses to homeless people who are registering to vote. This is certainly a questionable practice. In most states you cannot register from a mailbox, or empty lot, or grocery store, or some place where you do not live. A video from Dallas County, Texas, shows election trainers directing workers to use church addresses to register homeless individuals to vote. The video was reportedly taken on August 24 during election training in the county. The individual reportedly performing the training was from the Dallas County Elections Department. The trainer also shared...

When will Portland learn? There’s a movement afoot in Portland to provide free food to the homeless from front yard refrigerators. Willamette Week thinks it’s a great way “to Be a Better Neighbor”. I don’t. It’s a misguided feel-good effort at charity by naïve social justice warriors that perpetuates their presence while not resolving the situation on the ground. And of course the homeless services complex never shrinks because the client base never diminishes. A while ago I went to a free lunch for the homeless in an underground Portland parking garage. Tables spread out across the center of the...

hey say no good deed goes unpunished. An Oakland, California, City Council candidate, who is running for office on a platform of addressing the city’s homeless crisis and "skyrocketing levels of crime," said she had a bag full of donations stolen by a homeless woman during her campaign kickoff event on Sunday. To make matters worse, she said the police never showed up when she called 911. Charlene Wang, who is running for the at-large seat in the California city, says the homeless woman grabbed the bag — which contained about $1,000 — at Clinton Square Park at around 4...

Patrick Rooney, Founder of Old School (Natural Health / Success / Freedom) interviews Richard Emmons, Publisher and Editor of the Oregon Eagle, about the homeless crisis in Grants Pass, Oregon, which recently won a Supreme Court case, allowing them to regulate overnight camping. The interview is far-ranging, dealing with the background that led to the crisis, the reasons a homeless problem exists, the challenges of solving the issue in a blue state, what Grants Pass City Council has decided to do about it, and most importantly, how drugs have made the current situation almost untenable. https://oregoneagle.com/ Oregon Eagle (Facebook) https://oldschoolus.com...

A neighborhood in Portland has spiraled into chaos as the locals clash with those living in a homeless encampment. Residents in the city's southeast say the area has become like a 'war zone' as tensions continue to rise between locals and the homeless who have lined the streets with tarps and tents. Lacey, a woman living in the encampment, told KGW8 that someone hit her dog with a car, leaving him with a broken leg and an open gash.

From afar, Kamala’s Atlanta rally seemed wildly successful, but a closer look reveals it was falling apart at the seams. The event was more like a rap concert, seemingly designed to attract blacks. However, as soon as the curtains lifted, many black Americans complained about how Kamala’s “ghetto” event made them look bad. Furthermore, many attendees walked out of the arena as soon as the music ended and Kamala took the stage. Now, there are whispers that the Democrats paid homeless people to fill the venue. While we can’t confirm these claims, given the left’s current level of desperation, would...

San Francisco Mayor London Breed has ordered city officials to offer homeless people bus tickets out of town before offering them shelter or housing — a controversial policy that shunts the city’s homeless problem onto other towns. The San Francisco Chronicle reported: Mayor London Breed on Thursday ordered city employees to offer homeless people a bus ticket out of town before presenting shelter or housing as an option. The mayor’s new executive order, which marks a shift from current practices, comes amid an escalated crackdown on homeless encampments after a recent court Supreme Court ruling gave city officials more power...

The Democrats paid teh homeless to fill up the Atlanta Harris for president rally. (see 2 minute video below)https://x.com/ClownWorld_/status/1818862145968480387

San Diego’s mayor announced July 17 a lease deal to convert a commercial building near the city’s airport into a 1,000-bed homeless shelter and resource center, but the city’s budget analyst raised concerns over the cost.“For years, past mayors and city councils have only engaged in ad-hoc, piecemeal, temporary approaches to addressing homelessness,” Mayor Todd Gloria said in a statement. “With this proposal, we are looking to deliver the change that San Diegans want to see with regard to addressing homelessness on our streets.”The 30-year lease, which awaits approval from the city council on July 22, includes a cost of...