Violence, Crime, HOMELESSNESS in big City America: WHY is it Escalating?

10/14/2022 7:24pm
Benjamin Franklin:
"I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. In my youth I traveled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer."
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Piston Slap
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10/14/2022 7:29pm
Benjamin Franklin: "I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good...
Benjamin Franklin:
"I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. In my youth I traveled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer."
Nice Matt!!
Piston Slap
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10/14/2022 7:42pm
TeamGreen wrote:
Even-though we’ve got a few people that have gone all Greta up-in-here…& seem to be saying,”How dare you!” (And I’m being awfully damn nice with THIS...
Even-though we’ve got a few people that have gone all Greta up-in-here…& seem to be saying,”How dare you!”
(And I’m being awfully damn nice with THIS picture v. her meltdown pics)

One thing that is being touched on…correctly…sorta….
Is…
Drugs…Fentanyl, Heroin…etc. are at the core of this.
Along with politicians that have spent billions and fixed nothing while virtue signaling their way down the path of Socialistic Identity Politics and, of-course…
Failure.

It’s tough love time: those that WON’T try to rehab, get better, get off the streets…will have to go to jail in order to get off their dependency &, again…GET OFF the streets.

There’s a PROGRESSIVE politician that’s pitched this…in California; and, he’s the most thoughtful & compassionate person I’ve seen when it comes to ACTUALLY FIXING this problem.

Tough Love Time
Yep, agree. Tough love tine indeed.

I've seen bust after bust, million pills here, 100,000 there, fentanyl.

Unknown dosage per pill, but guaranteed to make you incapacitated or kill you, so .....lets get some unknown pills and try to die tonight. . . . .

Eventually all the dopers will die from bad stuff. . . they can't stop it all.

Reminds me of crack in the 80's. . . .

And. . . .tough love works...if not for the addict, for you!

I can attest. . .
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10/15/2022 8:43am
didn't read the thread and i'm sure it's been mentioned, but downtown Austin used to be a really cool area. It now looks like a third world country literally cause the libs in Austin decided to just love on the homeless and leave them alone. it's DISGUSTING what they have done to that town.

Then you have all the "compassionate" DA's not prosecuting crime. It's so sick. So to answer the title: It's because the big cities quit protecting their citizenry and decided to protect criminals instead. Cause feeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelings...
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The Shop

Chance1216
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10/15/2022 9:26am
I think instead of allowing people to have personal use amounts of any drug, aside from weed, the consequences should be very harsh. Jail would not only give addicts time to detox, it would also give them time to rediscover a better reality without drugs.

An addict with a choice of getting clean on their own, without any help or, intervention is going to most likely continue using. Most of the homeless I’ve seen in Seattle, are heroin addicts.
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10/15/2022 10:48am
Chance1216 wrote:
I think instead of allowing people to have personal use amounts of any drug, aside from weed, the consequences should be very harsh. Jail would not...
I think instead of allowing people to have personal use amounts of any drug, aside from weed, the consequences should be very harsh. Jail would not only give addicts time to detox, it would also give them time to rediscover a better reality without drugs.

An addict with a choice of getting clean on their own, without any help or, intervention is going to most likely continue using. Most of the homeless I’ve seen in Seattle, are heroin addicts.
I’m not sure locking more people up is the answer

America has never lost a war as bad as they are still losing the war on drugs
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Bill_Carroll
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10/15/2022 11:57am
How many air bnb in your area? Add all those together with say a medium house number of 4 and I'm sure that would go a...
How many air bnb in your area? Add all those together with say a medium house number of 4 and I'm sure that would go a long way to housing those people. If they could afford the rent or mortgage. Add in the houses in the middle of flip, for sale, sitting on .... plus the price of houses these days. Drugs are a lot of times a consequence of homelessness. A TV station down here did a doco series on actually living rough or homeless for a week or 2? with a cast of celebrities, rich, sporting, self made types. The change in perception by these people in the end was pretty moving.

Types like you

WHO NOW GET IT!

And now REALISE that once your at

THe BOTTOM

It's very difficult AND DEMEANING

to CLIMB OUT of


and DRUGS


is their only escape from a shitty cycle
Interesting, I signed up for SBS (Free) but I live outside of Australia so it won't play



Chance1216
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10/15/2022 12:15pm
Chance1216 wrote:
I think instead of allowing people to have personal use amounts of any drug, aside from weed, the consequences should be very harsh. Jail would not...
I think instead of allowing people to have personal use amounts of any drug, aside from weed, the consequences should be very harsh. Jail would not only give addicts time to detox, it would also give them time to rediscover a better reality without drugs.

An addict with a choice of getting clean on their own, without any help or, intervention is going to most likely continue using. Most of the homeless I’ve seen in Seattle, are heroin addicts.
scott_nz wrote:
I’m not sure locking more people up is the answer America has never lost a war as bad as they are still losing the war on...
I’m not sure locking more people up is the answer

America has never lost a war as bad as they are still losing the war on drugs
The only reason I suggest that is, it may be the only way to keep people away from drugs long enough to make them realize the damage it’s doing. Lacking a choice to use and, access to drugs could be the difference. You are right though. It is a losing battle.
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10/15/2022 12:25pm
Chance1216 wrote:
The only reason I suggest that is, it may be the only way to keep people away from drugs long enough to make them realize the...
The only reason I suggest that is, it may be the only way to keep people away from drugs long enough to make them realize the damage it’s doing. Lacking a choice to use and, access to drugs could be the difference. You are right though. It is a losing battle.
Agreed it’s a long road to come back to , I see it as two distinct issues , 1 stopping people starting in that path, and 2 the even harder getting people back to clean and sober and a functioning member of society ,

Portugal seeks to be doing it pretty well with a health based approach rather than a crime based one
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Chance1216
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10/15/2022 12:49pm
Chance1216 wrote:
The only reason I suggest that is, it may be the only way to keep people away from drugs long enough to make them realize the...
The only reason I suggest that is, it may be the only way to keep people away from drugs long enough to make them realize the damage it’s doing. Lacking a choice to use and, access to drugs could be the difference. You are right though. It is a losing battle.
scott_nz wrote:
Agreed it’s a long road to come back to , I see it as two distinct issues , 1 stopping people starting in that path, and...
Agreed it’s a long road to come back to , I see it as two distinct issues , 1 stopping people starting in that path, and 2 the even harder getting people back to clean and sober and a functioning member of society ,

Portugal seeks to be doing it pretty well with a health based approach rather than a crime based one
Drug use from what I saw started in school. In Jr high, a lot of kids were smoking weed. Once high school rolled around a good size portion of those kids were now smoking weed laced with coke or, using meth.
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FLmxer
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Fantasy
10/15/2022 12:58pm
I don't understand how there is so many little baggies of drugs. Watching Kensington on youtube you will often see people pass out with their hands in pockets but as they pass out there hands pull everything out of their pockets and they all have 10 or 20 little bags of drugs falling out. Then others rob them.
There is a few people who do interviews with these people and he asks how much they do a day and its hundreds of dollars worth a day and he asks how they get money and its prostitution or stealing. But the city can't find the source of the drugs? ... then it's the city.
If there is a couple million homeless somewhere and then funds are allocated there of say 10 million. Well the homeless each get one paper bag lunch with an apple and a tuna sandwich, guess who gets the rest? Homelessness is a profitable business for the people who run cities.
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jeffro503
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10/15/2022 2:18pm
Benjamin Franklin: "I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good...
Benjamin Franklin:
"I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. In my youth I traveled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer."
Nice Matt!!
100% this. This is the exact reason why cities like mine ( Portland ) and many other progressive cities fail. They keep babying the homeless to the point where they get basically everything the rest of us get.....that have to work for it.

99.9% of them on the streets are lazy drug addicts , that keep expecting free shit. And they get it , so why would they stop?
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10/16/2022 12:25am
Dubai is a good example of how to run a country. Zero tolerance for crime.

One of the main reasons why Dubai is such a safe city is because of its strict laws and penalties. There is zero tolerance for crime, which deters many people from even considering committing a crime in Dubai.
The police force is also highly effective in keeping the peace and maintaining order.



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redduk
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10/16/2022 7:26am
TeamGreen wrote:
Why is it happening? Why do the perpetrators get out of jail/not even go to jail? Why/How did we get this "Cashless Bail" BS? Why are...
Why is it happening?
Why do the perpetrators get out of jail/not even go to jail?
Why/How did we get this "Cashless Bail" BS?
Why are there NO Consequences for Crime?

WHO did this?
Who's policies are these?

For reference:

Chicago..the murder rate...those that are committing the murders...
Who are they?
Where are they?
Who's doing NOTHING about it and why?
WHO IS IN-CHARGE of Chicago?

NYC...The Murder Rate...riders on the subway being attacked...MURDERED...
And. yet, the offenders are let back out on the street...virtually IMMEDIATELY?
WTF???
Btw, NCY calls itself "A Sanctuary City"; yet, they're LOSING THIER SHIT over the Recent ILLEGAL Border Immigrants getting brought to their city...
For said "SANCTUARY"...
Again, WHO is running NYC?

Los Angeles...this one I get to see every damn week...
The Homelessness is straight out of a "End of the World" movie set. PERIOD.
Crime? Interestingly, the LAPD and the D.A. seem to be attempting to NOT report/update those stat's as of late.
I wonder why?
Again, WHO is running L.A.?

The list goes on and it actually get's worse...like when you get to cities like Portland...damn.
Seattle? Huh. CHAZ/CHAD...? Anyone? Anyone count the tents and tarps up-there, lately?
Minneapolis? Have they rebuilt all the burned-down neighborhoods from those "mostly peaceful protests"...yet?
St Louis? Home of Defund The Police...? How's it doin' lately?
Detroit?
Baltimore?
San Francisco?
Oakland?
Hell...EVEN DENVER!

And the list goes on...

WHO runs these cities?
WHO made the policies that has these places "sliding down-hill"?
WHO is going to be accountable?

Look, if...unlike me, you haven't seen these places turn to shit wth your own eyes...well, you need to get out there and see it. It is real.

I travel...a lot.
I get to see...a lot.
There was a time I took the family to Manhattan for "show season"...to USC football games...and the like.
But, since the total f'ing inanity that followed George Floyd-come-COVID...etc. ...it seems to have all turned to shit.

Going to these places pretty much ended with 2019..."Pre-COVID" and "Pre-RIOT Insanity".

But, the real point...the real question remains:
WHO let this happen?
WHO LET THIS HAPPEN?
WHO is allowing these criminals BACK OUT ON THE STREET?
WHO is saying your safety does not matter?
HOW are they getting away with it?

I'd love to hear some real answers and see some real accountability.
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Shiftfaced
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10/16/2022 3:58pm
Only users lose drugs.
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Titan1
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10/16/2022 4:33pm
Hard drug addicts always started somewhere…and it wasn’t with hard drugs…be it alcohol, weed, prescription pain killers, etc. i doubt any hard drug user, would say that hard drugs was the first substance that they used….

Maybe it’s easier to try and prevent the gateway substances than to clean up the hard drug addicts?

But with that said, I don’t know that prison for non-violent drug users is working….doesn’t seem like society is getting enough bang for their buck working it this way. So either make prisons harsher (and therefore less expensive)-less amenities, colder/hotter, manual labor, same food every day (like bread and water), one hour out of the cell a day etc-as a more brutal deterrent…or figure out some other consequence that would clean them up, teach them life skills, teach them coping skills, etc so they can get clean and stay clean? Maybe a combination of both…three tries in the detox place, then you’re going to prison and nobody wants to be in prison.
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10/16/2022 8:34pm
Respect, Chance. Glad you made it through.
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early
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10/17/2022 5:46pm
I wonder if this will improve homelssness and addiction in the future. Most of todays adults were growing up in the 70's-2000.

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Titan1
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10/17/2022 5:51pm
early wrote:
I wonder if this will improve homelssness and addiction in the future. Most of todays adults were growing up in the 70's-2000. [img]https://p.vitalmx.com/photos/forums/2022/10/17/573478/s1200_divorceupdated_w640.jpg[/img]
I wonder if this will improve homelssness and addiction in the future. Most of todays adults were growing up in the 70's-2000.

Isn’t the divorce rate low because the marriage rate is also low? Less people getting married means less people to get divorced?
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early
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10/17/2022 6:20pm Edited Date/Time 10/17/2022 6:22pm
early wrote:
I wonder if this will improve homelssness and addiction in the future. Most of todays adults were growing up in the 70's-2000. [img]https://p.vitalmx.com/photos/forums/2022/10/17/573478/s1200_divorceupdated_w640.jpg[/img]
I wonder if this will improve homelssness and addiction in the future. Most of todays adults were growing up in the 70's-2000.

Titan1 wrote:
Isn’t the divorce rate low because the marriage rate is also low? Less people getting married means less people to get divorced?
The graph shows rate per married persons, not rate per total population.

IMO people not getting married if they don't want to isn't a bad thing.
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1
10/17/2022 8:35pm
early wrote:
The graph shows rate per married persons, not rate per total population.

IMO people not getting married if they don't want to isn't a bad thing.
Only if the birth rate is dropping as well. Which has its own set of problems
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Titan1
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10/17/2022 10:08pm
early wrote:
I wonder if this will improve homelssness and addiction in the future. Most of todays adults were growing up in the 70's-2000. [img]https://p.vitalmx.com/photos/forums/2022/10/17/573478/s1200_divorceupdated_w640.jpg[/img]
I wonder if this will improve homelssness and addiction in the future. Most of todays adults were growing up in the 70's-2000.

Titan1 wrote:
Isn’t the divorce rate low because the marriage rate is also low? Less people getting married means less people to get divorced?
early wrote:
The graph shows rate per married persons, not rate per total population.

IMO people not getting married if they don't want to isn't a bad thing.
Ah, Gotcha!
early
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10/18/2022 5:25am
early wrote:
I wonder if this will improve homelssness and addiction in the future. Most of todays adults were growing up in the 70's-2000. [img]https://p.vitalmx.com/photos/forums/2022/10/17/573478/s1200_divorceupdated_w640.jpg[/img]
I wonder if this will improve homelssness and addiction in the future. Most of todays adults were growing up in the 70's-2000.

And a counterpoint not good statistic

1
10/18/2022 9:17am
Holy cow. Those stats are staggering yet unsurprising.
early
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10/18/2022 11:11am
Holy cow. Those stats are staggering yet unsurprising.
No big deal, we'll just outlaw abortion in all the states with the most unwed mothers and the problem will take care of itself.
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peelout
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10/18/2022 12:18pm
KennyT wrote:
I’m not questioning your honesty, I’m curious on what cities you are talking about. I do not travel to big cities often as they have always...
I’m not questioning your honesty, I’m curious on what cities you are talking about. I do not travel to big cities often as they have always been my least favorite destinations. I’ve only seen two of them in the past few years and I gotta say they are MUCH worse than they’ve ever been. I will never go to another USC game and my favorite semi big city (San Diego) is getting worse by the day. The homeless are no longer down n out people camping on the streets, a good part of them are violent criminals, who are released hours after they commit crimes. Please give me a heads up on what cities are cleaning things up
early wrote:
Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Detroit, Akron, Youngstown, Pittsburgh, NYC. Mostly rustbelt cities that not even the homeless want to be in. ;) I think they are...
Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Detroit, Akron, Youngstown, Pittsburgh, NYC.

Mostly rustbelt cities that not even the homeless want to be in. Wink I think they are all safer and cleaner than they were 20 or 30 years ago.
TeamGreen wrote:
NYC?
Detroit?

As in recently?
i've been to Detroit 2 times in 3 years and am headed back up at the end of the month for the Lions/Dolphins game. downtown has been overhauled, we walk everywhere. sure there are some beggars every now and then but no different to when i go to SLC or Vegas.

don't ask me about outside downtown, i don't dare venture past about a 3 mile radius from Ford Field
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peelout
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10/18/2022 12:34pm
I’ll like to put a large portion of the blame on social media as well as digital communication in general and the culture that has developed...
I’ll like to put a large portion of the blame on social media as well as digital communication in general and the culture that has developed from that. In the 90s and earlier, you had to be pretty legit to be in news/radio/tv/music, but now anybody with an iPhone can easily be an “influencer”. Not only that but the materialistic phony lifestyle that pop culture portrays on people, combined with social media, causes people to do things they wouldn’t normally do otherwise in effort to boast or get attention on social media. This has created countless problems, but this biggest being DIVISION. That’s right I blame social division on social media!

Now get off my lawn!
agree 1,000,000%

i was 19 (40 now) when i got my first cell-phone and it was strictly for work. we didn't have social media. hell, when i was in my 20's i got myspace on a PC and just used it to get laid. i see kids in Elementary with I-phones, snap-chat, Instagram, etc and just shake my head. my wife (against my will) got our 11 year old son an I-phone and within 2-months she confiscated it for good. he was looking at porn, following idiots on snap-chat that do nothing but smoke weed and degrade women (heavy use of calling women bitches was in his texting with friends), and just generally horrible nasty behavior for 2 months. there is no doubt in my mind that it was all created by having access to that bullshit at a too early age.
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Zycki11
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10/18/2022 4:58pm
I’ll like to put a large portion of the blame on social media as well as digital communication in general and the culture that has developed...
I’ll like to put a large portion of the blame on social media as well as digital communication in general and the culture that has developed from that. In the 90s and earlier, you had to be pretty legit to be in news/radio/tv/music, but now anybody with an iPhone can easily be an “influencer”. Not only that but the materialistic phony lifestyle that pop culture portrays on people, combined with social media, causes people to do things they wouldn’t normally do otherwise in effort to boast or get attention on social media. This has created countless problems, but this biggest being DIVISION. That’s right I blame social division on social media!

Now get off my lawn!
peelout wrote:
agree 1,000,000% i was 19 (40 now) when i got my first cell-phone and it was strictly for work. we didn't have social media. hell, when...
agree 1,000,000%

i was 19 (40 now) when i got my first cell-phone and it was strictly for work. we didn't have social media. hell, when i was in my 20's i got myspace on a PC and just used it to get laid. i see kids in Elementary with I-phones, snap-chat, Instagram, etc and just shake my head. my wife (against my will) got our 11 year old son an I-phone and within 2-months she confiscated it for good. he was looking at porn, following idiots on snap-chat that do nothing but smoke weed and degrade women (heavy use of calling women bitches was in his texting with friends), and just generally horrible nasty behavior for 2 months. there is no doubt in my mind that it was all created by having access to that bullshit at a too early age.
Yep, what happened to getting bored and using your imagination and creativity? My bicycle was my life going from friends to friends and if I wasn’t home at sundown or when that porch light was on my ass got ping pong paddled.
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wix
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10/19/2022 3:16am
America is on the decline simple answer. Capitalism unregulated and unchecked with a sizeable population… Those at the bottom of the system simply don’t disappear… Aka LA, NYC, Detroit, Chicago
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10/19/2022 10:08am
Your other burden is asking questions and not providing an equal amount of answers it seems. Why is that? 😁
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