Tag: homelessness

The Ayaan Hirsi Ali Podcast #35

Michael Shellenberger on the Political Realignment

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Hosted by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
With guest Michael Shellenberger

Ayaan speaks with Michael Shellenberger about the drug addiction crisis taking over major U.S. cities. They also discuss the results of the Virginia elections, the potential of a political realignment and the COP26 conference.

Michael Shellenberger is the founder and president of Environmental Progress and is the author of Apocalypse Never and San Fransicko.

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Californians: You Have a State to Save

Clifford A. Brown
Clifford A. Brown
3816804
 

Larry Elder long used the tag line “America, we’ve got a country to save” with his daily radio show. Now he is running to save his state. Born and raised in California, Larry Elder has spent a lifetime refining his position on a wide spectrum of issues. The depth of his thought, his command of relevant fact, and his ability to communicate clearly and confidently was on display in the nearly hour long reporter round table hosted by the Sacramento Bee. Contrast Larry Elder’s performance with the incumbent governor’s defensive, hostile response to tough questions by a media assumed to be in his corner.

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The Ayaan Hirsi Ali Podcast #22

Christopher Rufo on Critical Race Theory

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Hosted by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
With guest Christopher Rufo

Ayaan speaks with Christopher Rufo about his first encounter with critical race theory (CRT), why it is so dangerous, and what is really going on in American schools. They also discuss Christopher’s experience as a documentary film maker, homelessness in San Francisco, and the decline of cities in America.

Christopher Rufo is a senior fellow and director of the initiative on critical race theory at the Manhattan Institute. He is also a contributing editor at City Journal where his writing explores a range of issues including critical race theory, homelessness, addiction, crime, and the decline of cities on America’s west coast.

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Walk-Ins Welcome w/ Bridget Phetasy #118

Ayaan Hirsi Ali Is All For Compassion, But Doesn’t Want To Be Assaulted Explicit

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Hosted by Bridget Phetasy

Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a research fellow, former member of the Dutch parliament, and author of the new book Prey: Immigration, Islam and the Erosion of Women’s Rights. She shares her story with Bridget and discusses fleeing an arranged marriage, seeking asylum in the Netherlands, the methods women in oppressive countries have developed to cope with or avoid being harassed, and the failure that occurs in our society when women don’t feel safe. She and Bridget have a fascinating conversation ranging from the homelessness problem in the US, to the effect the failure to assimilate the refugees in European countries is having on public safety – especially for women, and the fact that any conversation about these topics is considered taboo and likely to get you slapped with the label of classist, racist, or Islamophobic. They cover why critical race theory is a toxic ideology, how individuals are no longer being held responsible for their own actions, “white flight,” how men don’t have the same experience of feeling like prey, where feminists have gone wrong, and why America has done more things right than wrong.

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Federalist Radio Hour

How Seven Nights Homeless Made This Colorado Mayor A Better Leader

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Hosted by Tristan Justice
With guest Mike Coffman

On this episode of The Federalist Radio Hour, the mayor of Aurora, Colorado, Mike Coffman, joins The Federalist’s Western Correspondent Tristan Justice to discuss his time camping as a homeless person for a week to learn more about the complexities of homelessness in his community and how to address it.

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City Journal's 10 Blocks

San Francisco’s Lockdown Burdens

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With guest Erica Sandberg

Erica Sandberg joins Seth Barron to discuss how San Francisco’s small-business owners are handling the city’s latest lockdown, how new outdoor dining facilities became a magnet for the homeless, and whether California public officials who violate Covid restrictions will face political consequences.

Find the transcript of this conversation and more at City Journal.

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Dispatch from Seattle, Homelessness and Crime Edition

RushBabe49
RushBabe49
2413
 

Recently, the Seattle City Council voted to override the mayor’s veto of a budget that drastically cut funds for the Seattle Police Department, and stopped funding the city’s “Navigation Team,” which did outreach to the increasing number of unsheltered people in the city. The Navigation Team’s effectiveness was hampered by its requirement that the homeless who were offered shelter could accept, or reject that shelter. Most rejected.

Today, we see some of the results of the city council’s actions, even before the budget is effective: Seattle’s Denny Park is riddled with crime, drugs, and homelessness.

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The California Homeless Urban Brushfire Fire Season Begins

The Elephant in the Room
The Elephant in the Room
1414
 

Vacant lot on residential street near Downtown Los Angeles set ablaze after homeless encampment catches fire on the night of August 19, 2020.

As the only member of my family living in California – specifically, Los Angeles – I have to deal with the common misconceptions of the state: No, one does not go up to celebrities and start talking to them, even just to say how much one likes their work. No, locals generally don’t go to Hollywood; it’s an overpriced, touristy hellscape of traffic with no parking. And no, even if one does go to the beach (many don’t – that hellscape of traffic with no parking thing again), people only swim on the hottest days because the ocean here is icy cold.

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City Journal's 10 Blocks

Trouble on the Upper West Side

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Hosted by Seth Barron
With guest Nicole Gelinas

Nicole Gelinas joins Seth Barron to discuss recent violence on New York’s Upper West Side, why the decision to house homeless men in nearby hotels isn’t good for them or their neighbors, and the risk that the city faces of losing wealthier residents due to quality-of-life concerns.

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City Journal's 10 Blocks

Farewell, San Francisco

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Hosted by Brian C. Anderson

Michael Gibson joins Brian Anderson to discuss San Francisco’s ongoing struggle with public order and his decision to leave the Bay Area for Los Angeles—the subject of Gibson’s story, “America’s Havana,” in the Spring 2020 issue.

“Even before the current Covid-19 pandemic,” writes Gibson, “San Francisco was a deeply troubled city.” The city ranks first in the nation in a host of property crimes, and its high housing costs make it prohibitively expensive for low- and middle-income families. Even tech companies are now considering relocating their operations; any significant exodus of such businesses would be a serious blow to the city’s economy.

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About Those Other Immunocompromised People?

Clifford A. Brown
Clifford A. Brown
125
 

While much is being made of the course of COVID-19 in Italy, it is worth remembering a couple of things as we focus our efforts in the United States. It appears that the same disease which we are now encountering found a very different population and medical readiness in Italy.

1. Italy has been committing demographic suicide for decades. Italy is down to 1.3 live births per woman. A major author wrote a decade ago that the big Italian family was a myth today, that an Italian child is most likely to grow up with no siblings and only one first cousin. So, it should be no surprise that Italy’s median age is already over 47. That is, Italy was already vulnerable to a disease that especially threatens the elderly because that is where their population has been shifting. The same holds for much of Europe.

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Member Post

Clifford A. Brown
Clifford A. Brown
118
 

The Examining Politics podcast, featured on Ricochet, brought Dr. Drew Pinsky back to my attention. He is furious with professional journalists creating panic, inducing real harm, and blinding the public to real public health information. He observes that Facebook reflects far more rational responses, while Twitter is a cesspool, wildly hyping panic. I remember Dr. […]
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Trump Supports Helping the Mentally Ill

Susan Quinn
Susan Quinn
5414
 

We have failed the mentally ill of this country. In trying to save government money, we have watched them become subject to increasing job loss, homelessness, imprisonment, emergency room treatment, substance abuse, or vulnerable to violence. How did this happen and what is being done?

The Institutes for Mental Disease (IMD) exclusion began in 1965 as part of the Social Security Amendments Act of 1965, which created Medicaid and Medicare. Here are the basics of the exclusion:

The IMD exclusion prohibits the use of federal monies through Medicaid for any care (including non-mental health services) provided to patients from 21 to 65 years old, in mental health or substance abuse residential treatment facilities with more than 16 beds. A facility is determined to be an IMD based on its ‘overall character,’ or the totality of whether the facility is a licensed psychiatric facility, is under the state’s mental health authority’s jurisdiction, specializes in providing psychiatric care or treatment (based on the proportion of staff trained in psychiatric care), or whether more than 50 percent of patients are admitted to the facility for mental health care.

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City Journal's 10 Blocks

Skid Row’s Addiction Epidemic

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Hosted by Brian C. Anderson

Christopher Rufo joins Brian Anderson to discuss drug addiction and homelessness in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Skid Row, the subject of Rufo’s story from the Winter 2020 Issue of City Journal, “The Moral Crisis of Skid Row.”

“They call Los Angeles the City of Angels,” writes Rufo, “but it seems that even here, within the five-by-ten-block area of Skid Row, the city contains an entire cosmology—angels and demons, sinners and saints, plagues and treatments.” To address the growing public-health crisis, progressive activists and political leaders have relied on two major policies: “harm reduction” and “housing first.” But despite nearly $1 billion in new spending, more people are on the streets than ever—and the crime and addiction are getting worse.

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The Roth Effect with Carol Roth #36

The Homeless Epidemic – What You Don’t Know

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Hosted by Carol Roth

Homeless advocate and Founder of Invisible People, Mark Horvath, joins Carol to discuss the homeless epidemic sweeping the U.S. and what is and isn’t working in the fight against homelessness. Mark shares his own story of going from Hollywood producer to homeless, how he bounced back and why he now gives a face and story to the “invisible people” on the street. Mark and Carol talk about the humanitarian and economic rationale for various homeless solutions and Mark also has a plea for innovators in terms of helping to bring new approaches to dealing with this massive and growing domestic homeless problem.

You can follow Mark on Twitter here, follow Invisible People on Twitter here and learn more about the homeless and what you can do to help at Invisible People’s site. You can also learn about housing first as a homeless solution here.

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City Journal's 10 Blocks

San Francisco’s Homeless Crisis

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Hosted by Seth Barron
With guest Heather Mac Donald

Heather Mac Donald joins Seth Barron to discuss homelessness on the streets of San Francisco and the city’s wrongheaded attempts to solve the problem.

“San Francisco has conducted a real-life experiment in what happens when a society stops enforcing bourgeois norms of behavior,” writes Mac Donald in City Journal. For nearly three decades, the Bay Area has been a magnet for the homeless. Now the situation is growing dire, as residents and visitors experience near-daily contact with mentally disturbed persons.

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In Harris Funeral Homes Supreme Court Case, We Should Ask ‘Am I Next?’

Jay Hobbs
Jay Hobbs
2714
 

“Am I next?” That’s the question that should come to your mind when you think of G.R. & R.G. Harris Funeral Homes v. Equal Opportunity Employment Commission, which the US Supreme Court is set to hear Tuesday, Oct. 8.

And no, that’s not a reference to funeral homes in general—along the lines of “ask not for whom the bell tolls”—but whether or not Americans can rely on what the law says. If the ACLU has its way and defeats Harris Funeral Homes, everyday Americans will face punishment for violating laws that unelected officials have changed out from under them.

That’s at the heart of Harris. Ignoring almost a half-century of precedent—and more importantly, the text of federal law itself—a federal court of appeals effectively redefined “sex” to include “gender identity” to punish a funeral homeowner who was depending on the law to run his fifth-generation family business.

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Utopia Under a Tent or a Waterfall?

Front Seat Cat
Front Seat Cat
2617
 

I had my six-month dental cleaning and check-up. I didn’t expect to see the same hygienist. At my last visit, she was planning a move, possibly to Portland but I told her she may want to re-think that. She got back yesterday and said parts of Oregon were beautiful, breathtaking, the waterfalls, cool breezes, deep emerald green forests and didn’t want to leave. They hiked every day. She grew up here in Florida and is ready for a change. What she wasn’t ready for was Portland. She said she’d never seen anything like it, and was shocked by the enormous homeless population. Tents everywhere. “They don’t bother you, she said, or panhandle”. But “you couldn’t help but feel ill at ease,” walking from the donut shop with a bag of fresh-baked donuts. She walked by a young man at 7:15 AM, shooting up in broad daylight. Drugs that come in from Mexico and China. She said another’s face was beaten to a pulp. The smell was awful. But Oregon she said, was truly breathtaking…

I asked her why has Portland turned into this refuge? Her first answer was the legalization of drugs, marijuana. This seems to lead to stronger drugs and the lack of incentive for work or a better life. We both wondered where they got money for drugs. She said even with the abundance of jobs, they are mostly high-tech and rents have become unaffordable as a result. I asked why don’t they build affordable housing? She said that’s in the works, but you still have to have a job, and the towns don’t have the “budget to build them.” No wins here. She then commented, “I get the concept,” like what they are doing in LA.”

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