Joined: 27 Oct 2014 Age: 39 Gender: Non-binary Posts: 25,452 Location: Right over your left shoulder
21 Jun 2021, 11:34 pm
This isn't the first time Republicans have pushed something like this.
_________________ Watching liberals try to solve societal problems without a systemic critique/class consciousness is like watching someone in the dark try to flip on the light switch, but they keep turning on the garbage disposal instead. 戦争ではなく戦争と戦う
Joined: 6 May 2008 Age: 67 Gender: Male Posts: 59,827 Location: Stendec
22 Jun 2021, 8:59 am
Giving money to homeless people is like giving food to stray animals. More and more of their kind will come around looking for handouts; and sooner or later, they will attack someone for not giving them a handout or simply attack someone for being in "their" territory.
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No love for Hamas, Hezbollah, Iranian Leadership, Islamic Jihad, other Islamic terrorist groups, OR their supporters and sympathizers.
Joined: 19 Feb 2019 Age: 57 Gender: Male Posts: 1,363 Location: Tulsa, OK
22 Jun 2021, 9:16 am
The Director of Our local homeless shelter has gone on TV and radio telling people to never give money, only food. Money goes to drugs and drug addiction is almost universal among the homeless population.
Joined: 6 May 2008 Age: 67 Gender: Male Posts: 59,827 Location: Stendec
22 Jun 2021, 11:35 am
magz wrote:
Advising people against giving money to the homeless is most welcome but making laws against it is plain wrong.
Look at it this way: If I give five dollars to someone, and a cop busts me for it, all I have to say is, "I did not know he was homeless". Most of the handmade cardboard signs I see refer to the person's need to pay rent, buy groceries, purchase medicine, or something like that. I rarely see a sign that says, "Please Give: Homeless". Maybe it is due to the anti-vagrancy laws in my area.
_________________
No love for Hamas, Hezbollah, Iranian Leadership, Islamic Jihad, other Islamic terrorist groups, OR their supporters and sympathizers.
San Francisco had active political efforts to "clean up" downtown by pushing the homeless population outside of city limits. One aspect of this was making it illegal to give food to the homeless.
So what does my father do? Make a mission of giving food to the homeless, with a videographer nearby. When the cops showed up to arrest him, he walked into a fountain so they would have to get wet if they wanted to arrest him. It's just one of the wacky stories I grew up with. I think the cops just waited for him to get bored and then cited him when he left the fountain on his own. (Having visible TV cameras is helpful in avoiding police violence - I recommend it.)
It's true that doing something philanthropic or simply person-to-person helping does make the giver "feel good." So what? Why is that a bad thing?
It's better that you voluntarily give someone money that they then use for booze or drugs, than have them robbing and burglarizing to get that same money.
Joined: 6 May 2008 Age: 67 Gender: Male Posts: 59,827 Location: Stendec
22 Jun 2021, 11:54 am
Whenever I hear or read something referring to homeless people using drugs, I remember this Hoyt Axton / Steppenwolf song "Snowblind Friend" (audio only):
Lyrics:
You say it was this morning when you last saw your good friend Lyin' on the pavement with a misery on his brain Stoned on some new potion he found upon the wall Of some unholy bathroom in some ungodly hall
He only had a dollar to live on 'til next Monday But he spent it on some comfort for his mind Did you say you think he's blind?
Someone should call his parents, a sister or a brother And they'll come to take him back home on a bus But he'll always be a problem to his poor and puzzled mother Yeah he'll always be another one of us
He said he wanted Heaven but prayin' was too slow So he bought a one way ticket on an airline made of snow Did you say you saw your good friend flyin' low? Flyin' low Dyin' slow...
_________________
No love for Hamas, Hezbollah, Iranian Leadership, Islamic Jihad, other Islamic terrorist groups, OR their supporters and sympathizers.
Joined: 27 Oct 2014 Age: 39 Gender: Non-binary Posts: 25,452 Location: Right over your left shoulder
22 Jun 2021, 12:30 pm
Joe90 wrote:
In the UK there are people who sit around on the street posing as a homeless person just to get money for hard drugs, which leads to crime.
I'd imagine committing crimes to acquire that money leads to more crimes than panhandling for it, unless panhandling is criminalized.
_________________ Watching liberals try to solve societal problems without a systemic critique/class consciousness is like watching someone in the dark try to flip on the light switch, but they keep turning on the garbage disposal instead. 戦争ではなく戦争と戦う