Free Republic

I have a Ministry to the homeless in my city, and boy this article really Nails the insanity. A couple days ago one guy asked me to charge his tablet because he broke his charger. An hour and a half later he had called the police claiming I stole his tablet. The police officers told him he's no longer wanted downtown for lying about this to them. Now I understand a little more. The newer versions of meth are causing people to be bipolar and paranoid all at the same time along with their inability to communicate. This guy has...

In my new book, San Fransicko, I describe why progressives create and defend what European researchers call “open drug scenes,” which are places in cities where drug dealers and buyers meet, and many addicts live in tents. Progressives call these scenes “homeless encampments,” and not only defend them but have encouraged their growth, which is why the homeless population in California grew 31 percent since 2000. This was mostly a West Coast phenomenon until recently. But now, the newly elected progressive mayor of Boston, Michelle Wu, has decided to keep open a drug scene at Mass and Cass avenues, even...

Abbott Kinney Blvd. is a picture-perfect hidden gem in the Venice neighborhood of Los Angeles, known for its boutique shops and locally owned dining joints. The mile-long strip sings to the tune of upper-middle-class patrons who come to Venice Beach to soak in its peculiar rhythm. The neighborhood’s tight-knit community of homeowners who have lived in the area for decades is proud to reside in this unique nook of town. But over the past year, the community within this stretch of Venice grew even closer over a common frustration: the growing homeless encampments. The issue isn’t new to the city...

The Concert (at a Church) Memorializing Those Who Have Died on the Street, was announced just once in my hearing, on SF Classical KDFC (sister station of KUSC Los Angeles). I think they realized how ridiculous it is because nowhere could the announcement be found on the station calendar or on Google searching the SF Bay area. I think they buried it. This is at the same time that a headline was carried in the (UK) Daily Mail: The rich door and the poor door: Terrified millionaire residents of luxury San Fran condo building hit out after adjoining alleyway becomes...

In this historic fleet news update, we are reporting on the November 2021 sinking of USCGC Alert. For the map of museum ships: https://www.hnsa.org/map-view/ For our previous video on threatened museum ships: https://youtu.be/h_kkoY52JzU To support USS The Sullivans and their efforts to drydock that ship: https://buffalonavalpark.org To support Battleship New Jersey, go to: https://www.battleshipnewjersey.org/v...

Union Pacific railroad said there was a rash of cargo container break-ins as the containers were being hauled by train near downtown Los Angeles, as officials are trying to clear the backlog of cargo at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Thousands of boxes as far as the eye could see were strewn along the railroad tracks near Valley Boulevard and North Mission Road in Lincoln Park in footage captured by NewsChopper4 Monday. Several container doors were wide open - including a FedEx container with boxes tipping over. The section of the track is bordered by homeless encampments...

Read a smattering of national and even international news headlines and you can see it: San Francisco has an image problem. It’s not just conservative media slamming the city. The New York Times, the Economist, even British-based publications like the Independent and Sunday Times have run recent stories on the state of San Francisco, ranging from its highly visible housing issues to its shoplifting problems. “Why San Francisco’s city government is so dysfunctional,” reads a headline from the Economist. “Crime is basically legal in San Francisco,” says another headline from the Daily Mail. The New York Times, meanwhile, just ran...

Three people have been charged with multiple counts of fraud and embezzlement in connection with an alleged scam to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars in public funds meant to help the unhoused, California's attorney general announced Thursday. Two of the three women worked for the Los Angeles-based nonprofit People Assisting the Homeless, known as PATH, which in 2016 received a contract from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority to help transition unhoused people and families into affordable housing. ... Bonta's office last month charged Latoi Pledger, 45, Sareena Stevenson, 44, and Valencia Stevenson, 40, with 56 felonies....

A self-proclaimed “dumpster diver” has shown off her massive food haul after nabbing $1,000 worth of fancy food for free. The woman, who goes by the name Dumpster Diving Freegan on TikTok, rummaged through bins at her local Whole Foods store and found a range of bakery items, a case of baby food, and even loo roll which the store was throwing out. SNIP “And the worst part is, none of this stuff was expired. Everything that I found was at least two days before its ‘best buy’ date and could have easily been donated, frozen, or given to people...

If we keep going down this path, soon we won’t have much of a “middle class” at all. When I first started writing about the economy many years ago, I often wrote about the tens of millions of “working poor” Americans that were enduring so many hardships. But at this point most of the nation now falls into the “working poor” category. That isn’t because wages haven’t been going up. Little by little, wages have been incrementally rising year after year, but meanwhile the cost of living has been absolutely soaring. Paychecks have not even come close to keeping up...

Seattle Public Libraries (SPL) is reporting $434,000 in damage over the last 18 months, citing an increase in loitering, vandalism, and homeless encampments surrounding several of their branches. SPL laid out the most recent data in a memo to Seattle City Councilmember Debora Juarez. That includes reports of $170,000 in damage to the Central library branch on Fourth Avenue, in the form of seven shattered window panels damaged by a pellet gun. Other damage to that branch included one instance where an uninsured motorist ran into the building on its Madison Street side, breaking four large window panes and bending...

More than $4 billion has flowed from City Hall to scandal-tarred shelter operators over the last eight years, accounting for more than a quarter of the money spent by the Big Apple to tackle its homelessness crisis, an examination of city records reveals. The $4.6 billion in contract identified by the Post account for 29 percent of the $15.8 billion in contracts let by the Department of Homeless Services over Mayor Bill de Blasio’s nearly eight years in office. The money has gone out to more than half a dozen shelter operators — including the embattled CORE Services Group —...

Three glistening new buildings in downtown Seattle with 165 studio apartments — originally to be rented at market rates — will instead house the homeless.The Low Income Housing Institute (LIHI) is buying the buildings with taxpayer dollars for about $50 million, with federal COVID-19 relief funds splitting the cost equally. Seattle City Hall is contributing about $25 million, while also using “American Rescue Plan Act” funds. A large portion comes from Washington State’s Department of Commerce.Left-wing Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan, so unpopular she can’t run for re-election, claims the deals will house people quickly and cheaply, compared to the time...

Efforts to clean up a homeless encampment in a Los Angeles park is being stymied by the MS-13 gang, which considers the park their territory.

Hello FRiends, So…many of you know I’m in CT. I’ve been homeless with my Jack Russell since January. I spent some time in Florida but now I’m back. I had some medical setbacks so I’m pretty much starting again. I can’t find a place to live, and we’re going to be out on the street for the winter, which isn’t going to be good. Can anyone steer me toward a rental, pretty much anywhere in the country? I’m hoping for CT or FL, but I’m pretty desperate. Feel free to FReepmail me as well. Thanks everyone.

Messy tents line the streets. Bottles, plastic bags, and all kinds of trash fly in the breeze. People with shabby clothes wander and sit. It is Boston’s “Methadone Mile,” an area that is only a few miles away from the city’s downtown and Financial District.The epicenter of Boston’s opioid crisis and homelessness earned its nickname due to the concentration of service providers, who usually incorporate methadone into treatments of drug addiction. For years, the area has attracted a large number of homeless and addicted people, especially after the closure of Boston’s Long Island treatment facility in 2014.Shelter and service shutdowns...

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Police Department is investigating an altercation Wednesday in Venice involving a group of homeless people and supporters of Larry Elder, Republican candidate for governor. No charges have yet been filed, but the department’s Robbery-Homicide Division is looking into the incident, according to LAPD Officer Lizeth Lomeli. Lomeli said the case had been assigned to that unit “because it’s high profile.”

LOS ANGELES COUNTY, Calif. - An argument between a dad and two homeless people on a beach in Malibu took an extremely violent turn over the weekend, ending with the father losing an eye.The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department responded to a call on Dan Blocker Beach on Sunday. Deputies were told a man was with four family members when they were approached by two suspects, both believed to be homeless.The two homeless people confronted the dad, saying they were not allowed in the area, sparking an argument between the three people. One of the suspects, later identified as Richard...

International firm KTGY architecture + planning proposes re-habit, a plan to convert vacant, big box stores into smaller retail spaces and units to provide housing, employment, and support for homeless individuals. developed by the firm’s research + development studio, the project brings together two ongoing issues in the US, the homelessness crisis and the record number of closing big box stores, such as macy’s JC penney, and sears, repurposing those into self-supporting, mixed-use transitional housing. According to the US department of housing and urban development, the country’s homeless population has increased significantly between 2016 and 2017, counting 553,742 homeless individuals....

VIDEOSuddenly, in the middle of his recall campaign, California Governor Gavin Newsom pretends to care about homelessness... at least while on camera. Newsom is so desperate to avoid being recalled that you can see him having a surreal conversation with a homeless guy in which he clearly doesn't understand what the hell the homeless guy is saying.