Free Republic

Tourism is down in the ancient city of Lopburi, and the local monkeys are going ape. Rival gangs of macaques brawl in the streets of Thailand. In one of the more unusual incidents being attributed to the new coronavirus outbreak, a turf war between dozens of street monkeys and temple monkeys broke out in Thailand's historic city of Lopburi on Thursday (March 12). According to city residents, the furry fracas likely resulted from a sharp dip in tourism to the 800-year-old city — and thus a dip in free food offerings to thousands of local monkeys."It’s the summer so usually we see...

Full Title: A Dozen Calif. Church Leaders Indicted For Allegedly Holding People Captive & Forcing Them Into Labor El CENTRO – A dozen leaders of Imperial Valley Ministries, including the former pastor, are charged in an indictment unsealed today with subjecting dozens of mostly homeless people to forced labor, coercing them to surrender welfare benefits and compelling them to panhandle up to nine hours a day, six days a week, for the financial benefit of the church leaders. The defendants were arrested today in El Centro, San Diego and Brownsville, Texas and charged with conspiracy, forced labor, document servitude and...

Just received an e-mail from Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House... Something you may not know Jeannie -- I keep a fast-paced schedule, both when I'm on Capitol Hill and when I'm on the trail for Democrats across the country. People ask what keeps me going. Most are astounded to learn I don't drink coffee. For me, two scoops of dark chocolate ice cream and a little hot water with lemon does the trick. And I'll tell you what keeps our network going: passionate supporters like you Jeannie. Since Trump took office, we've worked against his fear mongering, hateful rhetoric...

The Economics of panhandling The first thing you'll need to do is forget all the bad imagery you have about panhandling. Begging has been around all through history. And will continue to exist, DESPITE do gooder attempts to help those poor unfortunates. Most of whom are not poor or unfortunate. And really don't need or want the help. The basic panhandler is standing on the street. Sometimes with a sign, sometimes not. The basic plea will be that the mark, or citizen is asked to part with his or her unneeded cash. This could be coin or bill, it doesn't...

If you commute on Bay Area Rapid Transit, you’ve likely seen them – women with babies begging for money. The women are often seen swaying precariously on the rolling BART train, baby strapped to their chests, approaching riders with a cardboard sign, such as: “No job, 4 kids, please help for food.” Then there are also men and women who hand out packets of Kleenex along with almost identical typewritten notes. If you don’t donate, they take the Kleenex and the note back. And so they beg, around the stations, and more uncomfortably, on the trains. Are they really as...

An aggressive panhandler from St. Petersburg is in jail after reportedly attacking one of the city's top cops, and it was all caught on camera. There's no shortage of food and foot traffic along downtown St. Pete's Central Avenue. "There's a park behind us, we have the ocean near us, it's a great place to dine, enjoy yourself," said Eric Shippie, assistant manager at The Oyster Bar. But police warn that the busy outdoor dining scene can be a target for street beggars. "I was just thinking this beautiful day just got a lot worse," said Assistant Chief Jim Previtera,...

It has never happened to me like this before. Yesterday, I stopped at a little taqueria just east of Austin to get something to eat. As I was waiting, a big, stocky black guy holding a roll of paper towels under his arm came up to me and asked me if I wanted my windshield cleaned for $1. I said, "No, I'm good." He kept on, saying "Hey, just give me $1. Can't you see I'm trying to work to get money for a taco?" I politely declined, telling him my finances were tight due to car repairs and trying...

A group managed by the Portland Business Alliance plans to replace a controversial downtown billboard that critics argued stereotyped homeless people as drug addicts. The billboard, at Southwest Fourth and Morrison, shows a person holding a cardboard sign that reads "Your spare change funds my addictions." The sign was put up March 1 by Clean and Safe, the nonprofit overseen by the Portland Business Alliance. It is part of an ongoing campaign by the chamber of commerce to discourage people from giving to panhandlers, whose presence can hurt businesses when they set up outside their doors, the chamber said. The...

Maybe people need to start listening to NYC Police Commissioner Bill Bratton when he recently suggested that New Yorkers refrain from giving money to street beggars if they'd like to alleviate the panhandling epidemic brought on by the serially-misguided DeBlasio era.   Of course he was immediately attacked as some sort of heartless monster by the left with hashtags and worse... And while I can't prove how much heart the NYPD's head cop may-or-may-not have, he's got to have one hell of a lot more brains in his head than the 'progressive' NYers now inflicting their knee-jerk' 'caring' on the man: handing drunks...

One of New York City's most well-to-do streets is not immune to the growing panhandling problem. It is a sunny summer morning on E. 29th St. and Park Ave. Business is brisk for panhandlers who zero in on drivers stopped at the light on the busy crosstown route. It's almost like an unofficial toll. There's no shame to them as they panhandle, knowing Fox 5 News cameras are right there. A man who says he's an Army veteran works the corner by day and sleeps in a city shelter by night.

EXCLUSIVE: New York 2015 - FOUR THOUSAND sleeping on the streets, 80 homeless encampments in the city and beggars making $75 a day as arrests for panhandling and street drinking plunge They are sleeping in front of the Empire State building, sprawled in front of the doors of Macy's, and panhandling outside Grand Central. New York is in the grip of a homeless epidemic so bad that it has raised fears of the city slipping back into the disorder of the 1970s and 1980s. The city's police chief this week said that as many as 4,000 people are now sleeping...

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) took his presidential campaign to the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce this week, where he raised a provocative point about, of all things, panhandling. Benjy Sarlin reported: “If you look at the values that resonate in our community, they are faith, family, patriotism, hard work,” he told host Javier Palomarez, the CEO of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. “Some years ago I was having lunch with a Hispanic entrepreneur in Austin and he asked me a question: He said, ‘When was the last time you saw a Hispanic panhandler?’ It’s a great question…. I’m not sure I’ve...

Today in a pre-trial hearing, an Ohio judge casually agreed with a motion filed by a prosecutor asking to ban a defendant from bringing up the United States Constitution or the constitutionality of the law under which he is charged with a crime. Judge Catherine Barber (or Kathryn Barber), a retired judge filling in for the Xenia Municipal Judge Michael Murray stated “there will be no mentioning of the Constitution” and then laughed when the defendant claimed that uttering words on a public sidewalk constitutes free speech. (The audio of the hearing can be found here: http://bambuser.com/v/5372976). This was in...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Panhandlers in Winston-Salem could soon be required to wear a photo identification badge at all times under a proposal by the City Attorney’s Office. All panhandlers are required by current city ordinance to apply and obtain a free panhandling license. The City Attorney’s Office now recommends adding a photo ID provision into the licensing process and requiring the tag to be worn at all times while panhandling. The ID tag would also include the license’s expiration date. Having ready identification would help the city enforce current panhandling laws according to The City Attorney’s Office, which also cites...

A Saudi woman lived as a beggar most of her life until she was 100 years. When she died, she left behind millions and four buildings. Known as Aisha, the woman had told a neighbour just before her death to give her money to authorities as she had no relatives. Okaz newspaper estimated her wealth at SR five million (Dhfive million) plus four large buildings in the western Red Sea port of Jeddah, where Aisha had practiced her begging profession for more than 50 years. “She had around SRfour million in cash, more than SR one million in gold coins...

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day. I walked out of a WalMart in St. Petersburg, Florida, and I was confronted by a pandhandler. An elderly white gentleman in his mid-60's, neatly dressed and clean-shaven. And he had this cute little doggie on a leash. His spiel was that he only got 500 dollars a month in Social Security, and most of it went for the rent of his kitchenette apartment. He could just barely afford to feed himself. He couldn't afford dog food, so he was panhandling just to get some change to feed his dog. And that little doggie...

Indianapolis offers the full urban deal: great architecture, hot restaurants, famous museums and a walkable downtown. It also has had one of the worst panhandler problems I’ve seen. At almost every street corner, it seemed, someone was squeezing you for money. In August, Indianapolis joined numerous other cities that have attempted to curb aggressive begging. And as has happened elsewhere, the American Civil Liberties Union immediately filed a suit. “The ACLU of Indiana,” its executive director, Jane Henegar, said, “believes in the power of the First Amendment to give everyone a voice, even when those voices confront us with our...

There was an outbreak of reefer madness in Times Square when a panhandler holding an “I Need Money for Weed” sign stabbed a rival holding an “I Need Beer” sign in the head with a pen. Cops quickly cuffed the alleged stabber and charges were pending as they tried to determine what got “Weed” guy’s nose out of joint. “Beer” guy’s injuries were minor. The two choosy beggers began brawling around 10:15 p.m. at 42nd St. near 7th Ave. as dozens of Broadway shows let out, witnesses said. Nearby, Predator and Alien paused from their ongoing war to answer questions...

A well-traveled panhandler who made national headlines last summer when he told an Oklahoma City police officer he'd made $60,000 in a year begging for money was arrested this week in Boise. ... Speegle was in Oklahoma City, where he told a police officer he was too lazy to get a job and didn't need to because he'd made $60,000 last year... The officer told Speegle he needed a $200 daily permit to panhandle, but Speegle suggested the price was within his means.

The city's current panhandling ordinance is rarely, if ever, enforced, according to police and attorneys who spoke recently to city council. Atlanta's anti-panhandling ordinance is "effectively, a worthless piece of paper" and might have to be scrapped or extensively rewritten to make it enforceable, said Michael J. Bond, chair of the City Council's public safety committee. Atlanta has been trying to push back against panhandling for years, partly to appease downtown residents and partly to protect the city's lucrative tourism and convention industries, which bring in hundreds of thousands of visitors and millions in spending and taxes. And then there...