Movie, its a universal problem that the homeless and the drug abusers are attracted to cities and the more affluent the city the better for them. On a recent trip to Ireland on the first night our Dublin airbnb was broken into and a lot of our stuff including most electronics were stolen. It was all on CCTV and the dummies didn’t even bother to cover their faces. They were picked up the next day in line at the downtown methadone clinic one block from the heart of beautiful downtown Dublin. All the loot already sold. Crossing the River on all the bridges there were countless beggars, mostly Roma people, and most gave a bit, as did we. As we traveled to much poorer Western Ireland there was very little crime and no one asking for a handout. Yes, we need to address the homeless crisis in our country, but an humane way. Why not a trade: a universal basic income payment? OK then you have to stay off the street or be arrested. Basically thats what Germany does- don’t see many beggars there for sure!

Thank you for new insights & observations. I'm told Singapore has no problem.

Pay tens of thousands of dollars to facilitate citizens getting stoned & sleeping all day? Numerous studies are now proving early pot use can destroy up to 10% of an adolescent's IQ, not to mention increased rates of schizophrenia.

Someone convinced the Salseforce CEO to spend $3.5 M studying the homeless, and downplay drug use & mental illness. ... not humane to me to let schizophrenics & severely mentally ill live on the streets.

It seems like our decades long drug use culture, stronger marijuana, stronger, cheaper street drugs (LA AG says to thank the Mexican drug cartels), Open Borders (5M+ illegal immigrants in CA), and family breakdown have come home to roost.

Is the current Roma problem new?

No. Hitler tried too wipe them out. Did not succeed. Roma are a 500 yrear old people. Actually a very endearing people IMHO.

homelessness is an interesting paradox because is it the disease or the symptom of a different disease? Do you go for a curative or palliative treatment? The easy route is to push the problem around by having the police move people along. I grew up in a small county with an annual homeless budget of a few hundred dollars used to dole out one-way bus tickets to Fresno. I saw a story about Salt Lake City, that they took an approach 20 years ago to provide unconditional real housing (apartment beds not shelter beds). Most of the homeless at that time were mentally/physically disabled or addicts, so unemployable. They realized they couldn’t treat those root problems if those people didn’t have a reliable address and they dramatically cut homelessness. But then it came back 5 years ago, though a different group of people. These were working people who had never been homeless before. And they found that these people didn’t need services other than cheaper rent 6 months ago. But if these people stayed homeless more than a few months, they started to develop physical and mental problems that impacted employability. Growing income inequality with the people on the upside spiking real estate prices and then not wanting affordable housing in their neighborhood seems to be a big problem. UBI seems like a good tool for the kit.

You make some fair points on drugs, but maybe the best way to squeeze cartels is to legalize pot and let Phillip Morris grow it. As far as subsidizing people, I’d rather not have to, but it costs like $15k a year to get them in housing, $50-80k to put them in jail. It’s cheaper to let them hotbox an apartment.

If anyone is interested in learning more about what is being done to deal with the homeless issue in Davis specifically, go to https://daviscommunitymeals.org/ They started off in the 90's providing meals to the low income in Davis and have grown to now provide affordable housing, transitional housing, and many more services. I've worked with them in the past and it is a very good group of caring individuals.

States with legal pot actually end up playing into the cartel’s hand. In CA the cartel now have a legal production of good weed. Force growers to sell to them and bypass taxes :).

yeah, you’re right in the current climate, I think because banks and corporations that play by federal rules can’t play. So it’s a cash-only industry of small businesses, which is attractive to organized crime the same way laundromats and bingo halls are. If this was just another product on the shelf at Walgreens, industrial agriculture conglomerates (a cartel in their own right) would exert a lot of pressure on the illegal model.

No expert here, but am tired of "experts" avoiding or hiding basic facts.

It's inhumane how we let our severely mentally ill live on the streets, supported by one key legal ruling?? Some economists say follow the $$ - more $$, more services, more homeless. And just a guess here, but many of the Antifa rioters in Portland & Seattle look like professional grifters. Do we want that here?

We've created our disastrous housing situation. We allowed in over 5 Million illegal immigrants into our state - there goes any past or future low income housing for seniors, disabled, etc. Supply & Demand. Then we recruit highly educated workers from India & China to save Gates & Bezos Millions. Add in the whole social services racket.

San Francisco has taken hits to tourism, and now some hi tech is exiting. One article claimed hi tech ruined CA, and now #50 in where people move to.

the same way laundromats and bingo halls are.

I’m getting off topic but i got a kick out of that statement. A UCD classmate of mine started buying laundromats after HS. He was a smart, hardworking kid who always had a lot of toys. He told me once, “nobody knows how many quarters I make a day.”

If the antifa people looked scummy, how do you rate the capitol rioters in terms of appearance? And I’m not just talking about the QAnon guy with the horns. They mostly looked like homeless people except many of them were overweight, over-tattooed, unshaven and downright dirty looking. They all look like they could use some UBI to me (antifa and cap rioters)!

I agree it's inhumane to put those with mental or other issues on the street (not that 1930s insane asylums worked either). I don't agree with the antifa theories. To some degree, homeless probably do follow resources, which I think makes the case to standardize services across communities to avoid pushing the problem around. I agree we have a housing problem due to a supply/demand mismatch, but I'm not sure I blame it specifically on illegal immigration. I blame it on a proliferation of stagnant low-wage jobs (which, in agriculture are often below legal pay and functionally can only be filled by undocumented workers), coupled with a refusal to build more housing stock. Some locales are out of finite land and water resources, but in others, people who bought high do not want the market to equalize because they will lose money if their property adjusts to its real value. If telework turns out to be here to stay, it may fundamentally change property values by allowing supply and demand forces to work more freely - though there will be a new set of winners and losers in that scenario.

I spent a year living in a trendy 1905-era downtown apartment with no laundry hookups, so I had to use a laundromat. What a... cultural experience. But yeah, they were definitely washing more than clothes there.

The post Jan 6th articles appear to show a real mixed bag of characters and what some argue was American Reichstag.

- BLM / Antifa leaders
- Opportunists out for a stroll through the Capitol, largely non violent
- there are claims the Capitol, which was shut down due to Covid, gave Congressional staff approved walk throughs to citizens... who then showed up on the 6th [planned & coordinated]
- regional law enforcement w a day off, as private citizens
- some Trump supporters
- multiple people claimed white vans of Antifa types were bused to the Capitol; an acquaintance makes the same claim.
- professional Agitators

Rudy Giuliani posted multiple videos of Trump supporters 1) identifying Antifa & stopping them from breaking Capitol windows, 2) MAGA types jumping in front of Capitol security, to protect them at exterior gates, and 3) police & security opening gates & waiving Hooligans inside. (YouTube deleted them.)

I don't believe the shooter (killer?) of the female veteran Trump supporter has been identified.

The 3 other deaths were allegedly a heart attack, a stroke (?), and they've been unable to prove the 3rd death was the result of a beating or fire extinguisher assault.

Wow... please cite your sources for all of the above.

Spoiler alert. He either won't have any or they'll be right wing lunatics.

I mean, saying "Rudy Giuliani posted multiple videos..." is code for "just ignore my entire post because it's complete BS".

If Twitter/YouTube existed in the 40’s - “Guys, Hitler’s lawyer posted some videos that showed that it was actually infighting amongst the Jewish people that led to millions of them being killed in the gas chambers. Hitler didn’t do it. The Jews did it to themselves! But YouTube took down the videos. SUSPICIOUS!”

It doesn't matter if Winnie the Pooh posts it, if there is live footage of guards waiving people in, of MAGA people calling out Antifa, stopping Antifa, and protecting Capitol security guards - it refutes the Fake MSM narrative.

I believe the videos still exist... but Censored MSM. ... pretty bad when Mexico & Europe lecture us about Free Speech.

BTW, why is the MSM protecting the identity of the Capitol killer?

Where was the gnashing of teeth when Antifa & BLM looted, burned, & rioted dozens of cities for months, with dozens of deaths? (Kamala was posting their bail.)

CMT wins the Reductio ad Hitlerum award.

Have you heard none of these?

This is what happens when we lose a free press.

Occam’s Razor would be better applied here.

Either...

It was right wing lunatics who stormed the Capitol with the intention of doing harm to member of the House and Senate and to attempt to overthrow the election, something that a vast majority of people on both sides of the aisle agree on.

Or

There’s a vast conspiracy by Antifa and the MSM media to make it seem like it was right wing lunatics when it was actually Antifa and only super lawyer Rudy Giuliani has the proof (the like the countless number of election fraud lawsuits that he filed and we’re swiftly thrown out by Obama and Trump appointed judges alike).

Decisions, decisions lol

Two points: 1) I am sure you all know by now that the FBI and other law enforcement agencies are and have successfully used personal location data tracking from smart phones to ID many of the capitol rioters. To my knowledge none of the identified people located by this method is an Antifa person. I guess you could argue that since most Antifa people are smartypants lefties, that only they knew to turn off their phones while they were in Washington, and not the “dumb Trumpers”. 2) a shocking story in the NYT today about how this and similar (see facial recognition soft wear, CCTV, etc.) surveillance methods are so wide spread and potentially a very real threat to our privacy and civil rights. Do you know that right now Amazon, Goggle and countless other companies (not to mention the NSA) know where you are and where you have been in the last few days? Church? Strip Club? Laundromat? Worse? They know! Want to reread an excellent book on this subject get “God’s Eye View” by Barry Eisler. SCARY BUT INTERESTING.

John Sullivan is one Leftie who has his own insurgent group, and sold Antifa gear on his own website.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/nypost.com/2021/01/15/who-is-john-sullivan-accused-provocateur-charged-in-capitol-riot/amp/

69Aggie - are you award of the powerful NSA databases which had thousands of illegal third-party contractor searches - all documented - in the zeal to take down candidate / President Trump?

Urgh, it's sad to see this forum devolve in to political nonsense.

Yeah, I agree. Time out on the field.

It's all because of satellite based lasers controlled by students at Sac State's engineering school. Trust me on this.

"Other" category.

The topic is COVID-19. I'm not sure how we went down this rabbit hole...

The nytimes article was picked up by nbc news

I have a family member who is eligible to receive the vaccine but kept getting appointments cancelled and encountering lengthy waitlists due to short supply in the Bay Area. Was able to get her a next day appointment in Fresno area. A bit of a drive but seems to be much better availability at pharmacies along the 99 corridor from Madera to Bakersfield if anybody is currently trying to get one.

I got mine this week in Vacaville via Kaiser. Things seem to be opening up a bit.