75 thoughts on “Playpen 9.3.25”

  1. I live and practice law in a small city in a county that is considered rural, although almost nobody makes a living here by farming anymore. There are a lot of working middle aged people who are one illness or injury away from homelessness. While there are jobs available in the community those Jobs require physical labor and no one is going to hire a 55 year old with heart disease. They can’t rent a shitty old single wide for under $1000.00 per month in my county.
    I knew a lot of those people when they were in their 30s and they complained about social safety nets because that guy on daytime a.m. radio told them all that money was just going to “welfare queens” and “young strapping bucks” who lived the high life while refusing to work. They voted for Trump 3 times.
    A lot of those people are scared to death now that they are vulnerable and I don’t blame them.
    On the flip side, more rich folks will be able to afford $55 million dollar weddings. Trickle down economics may work in the wedding industry as planned.

    • “They voted for Trump 3 times. A lot of those people are scared to death now that they are vulnerable and I don’t blame them.”

      Interesting. Can you verify that? I’ve yet to meet any Boomer Trump voter that is scared of the future or regrets voting for President Trump. Of all the Trump voters (across all demos, btw) I come across, it’s quite the opposite.

        • “Abuelhawa had previously served time in federal prison for health care fraud and drug misbranding, an ICE spokesperson told the newspaper. He is accused of staying in the U.S. illegally for the past 16 years despite receiving a deportation order in 2009.”

          Okay, you got me Derek, I don’t interact with rehabilitated criminals in the country illegally that can’t vote. Nor do I eat “Trump Burgers” in Texas. I apologise for not hiding in the bushes outside the Trump Burger store to expand my horizons.

      • Could it be that the Trump supporters you know are the wealthier ones rather than the less affluent bunch who feel they are being left behind?

        • Possibly, I don’t believe so. I suspect they are not part of the population where a $1000 emergency would devastate them financially (which I would agree with several of you is a serious inditement on where our economy is) so I figure that pulls them out of some risk categories affecting others . Another thing they all have in common are close, multi-generational families. All of them have relatives to support caregiving and social engagement that might be of greater value than currency in a bank.

      • Exactly. This is BS. Of all the things that never happened, this never happened the most.

        • Respectfully, Anonymous, Derek and I have discussed different points of view but I feel very comfortable with my (and his) honest input in these posts. I ain’t one to BS things, I might be of an opinion that differs but I have a purdy good track record of honesty with this community.

      • I know the people I am talking about. They wear their MAGA gear around.
        You likely live in an area with fewer poor folks than I live in. I sincerely am glad you move in a more economically secure population.

        • Thank you for sharing, it’s enlightening because I live in Athens and just haven’t had any conversations/interactions with Trump supporters that have second thoughts about voting for him. The most negative Trump conversations I have are usually with Never Trump Republicans that have not supported the President since June 2015.

  3. Maybe once ICE is done cleansing the blood of our country, they can start on disappearing all these unhoused. I hear Kampala is nice this time of year. We don’t need all these folks who don’t believe in the prosperity gospel just roaming around on our streets. If only they had tithed more when they had the ability to.

  4. Last year, more than 42,000 people in the U.S. over age 65 were homeless, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Last year? I do believe FJB was running the show last year. I blame FJB and all of his supporters. Every damn one of them.

    • So if the 2025 over age 65 homelessness population increases to a number over the 2024 number you are volunteering for the blame for the increase? Cool. Is FMD the correct attribution next year?

    • That number was at zero on Jan. 6th in 2021 for sure!

      It probably is now at zero, again!!

      And if not, fire and replace the biased counter until the number aligns with our politics.

      I hear that they’re hiring a new deficit counter who will say we’re running a surplus.

      Deficit gone! Winning!

      In other news, Trump shot a world record score of 19 Sunday. 16th tee shot lipped out.

      This was due an improperly cut hole. Greenskeeper and staff have been sent to Uganda on grounds of treason, disloyalty, national emergency, etc…

      I always wanted to live in Pyongyang!!

      • Didn’t take long for J 6 to come up.

        Also, I would submit that Joe Biden has been in DC since the 70s, yet this issue is clearly Trump’s fault because $$ = evil.

        Lastly, there are plenty of charitable orgs that will allow you to donate time, talent and $$ to assist homeless people. Do you guys get involved with any of those? Or do you prefer to just blame the govt?

    • It’s okay. Current guy is firing those responsible for counting such things. You won’t know what you don’t know come this time next year. Maybe you’ll be happier not knowing it.

      • If conservatives are consistent about anything its that an all powerful gubmit can be trusted to shoot us straight.

        If the dictator says the election was stolen, well, that’s the end of the story.

        You know, that’s how liberty and freedom work and stuff.

        Blind faith in authority is what George Washington fought for.

    • So only 0.01% of the US population over 65 years old was homeless? I’d call that a success.

  5. Not to say those folks don’t deserve sympathy, but we should not organize economic conditions for a country of 340 million people based on the outcomes of 0.012% of the population, and for most of which you could probably point to specific causes that have virtually nothing to do with economic policy (ie drug abuse or mental illness).

    There are far better and more effective organizations to deal with homelessness for 42,000 people than the federal government.

    I say this as someone who (reluctantly) voted for Harris last fall despite disagreeing with her on policy more often than not, lest anyone assume I’m a Trump cultist.

    • Arguably, far more than 42k are struggling mightily while not outdoors yet, but why should public policy focus on people when Bull Gates and Elon Musk need more tax cuts?

      Billionaires are the class of people we need the gubmit to cater to economically.

      Should be obvious enough.

      • Class warfare is so tired and busted. I had hoped lefties might back off it some now that Republicans do so much of it. I guess old habits die hard.

        • Why does everything have to be reduced to a label?

          Seems to me pretty elementary that the end result of capitalism is that a few people end up with every gd thing.

          Isn’t acceptable to modulate that a bit so that the wealth created by capitalism gets shared by the society sworn to defend it to the death?

          Or should the not-Elon’s line up to be serfs and be thankful for what they get?

  7. I would definitely go to Gavin on how to solve homelessness. 30 percent of the homeless in the US live there. Of course 24 billion isnt enough to solve it, but that side definitely has the answers.

    Its ok when we “D”o it.

    • I go to Mississippi for my answers. 250 years of conservative rule and it’s practically Nirvana and everyone wants to live there.

      You know the old saying:

      “As Mississippi goes, so goes the Nation.”

  9. DeSanctimonious had Alligator Alcatraz built in 8 days to house 5000 people. We don’t have a homeless and working poor problem due to resources or money. The problem is that we as a collective don’t really give a shit enough to hold those in power accountable. We are a selfish and ignorant society who elect selfish ignorant leaders.

    • I agree that where we choose to use our resources and how we prioritize issues often causes what we later describe as problems. However, there is no doubt we keep electing the same people who consistently misuse our tax dollars. We cannot expect different results from the same self serving idiots. Personally, my wife is already retired and I hope to retire soon myself. We have saved and invested conscientiously our entire lives and have a decent nest egg. We have no debt whatsoever. Not even a mortgage. However, an unexpected illness or some other catastrophic circumstance could still easily wipe us out. That’s the reality of life. We both paid into social security our entire lives. But decades of mismanagement by both parties have that system in trouble. Neither party will attempt to fix it until it becomes a disaster. Every politician says they will preserve SS but they’re all a bunch of pathological liars. Current administration included. So, ending up as a senior citizen who is flat broke isn’t inconceivable. Thankfully we have adult children who like us and are gainfully employed. For now at least.

      • Pretty sure the entire idea of democracy is based on the premise that, at least in theory, we can make responsible choices about how we are governed.

      • I had to laugh at part of your post, about politicians being pathological liars. Burt Jones is campaigning for Georgia’s governorship on the promise of doing away with state income tax. Is he “lying”? I think so, by omission. He’s left out how to make up the 20 billion or so dollar shortfall that would leave the state to deal with.
        It’s either an insult that this Jones guy thinks I’m dumb enough to fall for the pander or scary that he’s dumb enough that he can wave his hand and make income tax go away.

        • Sure, squeeze the balloon in one place and you have to make it up elsewhere. Even Trump admits that. He needs tariffs (taxes) in order to pay for tax cuts. Yet he’s still adding to the deficit despite the tariff revenue. And if the courts strike down the legality of some of those tariffs he’ll need to figure out another way to raise revenue (taxes) or the markets will punish us all in the form of inflation and high interest rates. He may understand transactions but he’s clueless about economics. If Trump succeeds in bending the Fed to his will all hell will break loose. I’ve lived through that nightmare (Nixon). Stagflation sucks and it doesn’t go away quickly.

        • Got, I’ll see your Burt Jones and raise you a Buddy Carter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CiYLYzIeno. The original ad ran with the tagline “Buddy Carter: He knows the difference between a man and a woman.” To which I quipped: “From years of looking under the stall doors in public restrooms.” Apparently someone on the other side thought that the tagline was too much and re-issued the ad without it. Now it’s way more subtle in its message.

          • “From years of looking under the stall doors in public restrooms.”

            That made me laugh. Thanks!

  10. That first example in the article about the homeless senior who still has his worthless son with a drug problem in tow says a lot. Even flow.

      • Per usual, it is all about politics with you. Unfortunately homelessness is a complex problem that is not easily solved by voting red or blue or pointing fingers. How about you tell us your solution because I do not have a clue how to solve it.

        • I also don’t have a clue about how to reduce homelessness, but cutting Medicaid, adding work requirements to welfare, cutting SNAP (food stamp) benefits, cutting social security, implementing tariffs (tax on consumers), increasing taxes on the poor and middle class while giving a huge tax cut to billionaire’s (wealth imbalance), deporting immigrants who provide lower cost labor and who pay more often taxes, and a lot of the policies being implemented or proposed by the current administration are, IMO, going to increase homelessness.

        • As with most things you have to begin with the question of:

          Do we gaf?

          If the answer is “yes” I think one thing that we have to address is wealth concentration and how that is impacting the prices of stocks and real estate and how the ripple effect of that is burdening those at the bottom.

          Somehow or another we need to give regular people sufficient economic power to survive.

          I think a good test is this:

          Once people start buying rockets to space, shit is out of whack.

          • I cannot disagree . Especially on that last bit about the rockets. Just not sure how to get there short of eating the rich, or even the middle class who worked and saved all of their adult life, which is how it usually goes.

  11. “Money is the most important thing in the world, but it is a good thing that the poor people do not have any,” – Will Rogers

    As the article points out, many of the homeless suffer from mental/drug issues that could have been curtailed earlier in life if we placed an emphasis on diagnosing and treatment. We don’t. Why?

    Our Christian values teach us to feed the poor and to heal the sick, but currently we seem to be more focused on making more babies, rather than caring for the ones that are already here. Why?

    Norway’s homeless rate( 6.2 per 1,000 residents) is 1/4 that of the US( 23 per 1,000) . France’s homeless rate (3.3 per 1,000 residents) is about 1/7 of the US. Seems like if we wanted to show out against the French (freedom fries) that looking at what they’re doing with regard to the disadvantaged and beating them at it would be a good way to say, “We’re #1” We won’t. Why?

    If only we could get the people that believe prison is the solution for everything interested in the homeless. I reckon a smart fellow could make a profit there, too. But we won’t. Why?

      • Anon, someone throwing a brick from a sea of Guy Fawkes masks makes it hard to know who to follow up with. BTW, how is the weather in Jersey City? I hear it’s nice this time of year.

    • Dude, If you have noticed, I have long been an advocate for no anonymous posts. I think it leads to the vicious slander that the Senator would give short shrift to. There is a way to do it, but I’ll leave it up to the other contributors to detail why it’s not enforced. Thanks for bringing it up

      • Please answer this for me:

        If I give up my anonymity and sign up, who gets access to my email address and IP address?

        • As the process is now, the group on this page, https://gtprefugees.com/about-2/ can locate your IP and mark your comments as spam.
          Of that group, only two (Otis & JP) have access to your email address, as I understand it. If they want to jump in, it would be a good time.

          Rather than worrying about your anonymity, perhaps more care could be taken with civility.

        • Just use an anonymous email. We don’t care if you are really the Pope behind that keyboard. BTW, my name isn’t really Dudemankind but people know me as the same asshole who has been lurking around for years because I use the same unique handle.

        • I make a living in IT. I promise you that anyone who really wants to can find out more about you than you know about yourself even though you post anonymously. There is no such thing as anonymity on the web. However, I have no problem with you not wanting to reveal yourself here. It’s a free country. For now anyway.

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