An ugly truth…
Tag: homelessness
Panel rules against church leaders who gave bologna sandwiches to homeless
The city of St. Louis did not violate the First Amendment rights of a Christian pastor and his assistant by threatening to prosecute them for handing out bologna sandwiches to the homeless, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday.
Pastor Raymond Redlich, vice president of the New Life Christian Evangelical Center, and his assistant, Christopher Ohnimus, were distributing bologna sandwiches and bottles of water to the homeless in October 2018 when they were cited by a police officer for violating a city ordinance regulating the distribution by temporary establishments of potentially hazardous food, such as meat, poultry, eggs or fish.
Although the city opted not to prosecute Redlich and Ohnimus for violating the ordinance, they nonetheless sued the city in federal court saying the ordinance violates their rights of free expression and religious exercise under the First Amendment.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Nanette A. Baker in St. Louis granted the city’s motion to dismiss the complaint on summary judgment last year, finding Redlich and Ohnimus did not prove that their fundamental right to association was at issue.
The two men appealed that ruling to the St. Louis-based Eighth Circuit, arguing at a hearing in June that the enforcement of the ordinance against them interferes with their ability to communicate their message about God’s love and concern for those in need.
In Wednesday’s ruling, a three-judge panel ruled government regulation of “inherently expressive” conduct – such as distributing sandwiches to the homeless – does not necessarily violate the First Amendment if the regulation furthers “an important or substantial government interest” unrelated to the suppression of free expression.
Homeless getting kicked out of shelters to make room for illegal immigrants in Eric Adams’ NYC
Multiple sources in the Bronx have alleged that New York’s homeless are being kicked out of shelters to make room for the illegal immigrants making their way to New York City.
“I’ve seen a high traffic of immigrants who are seeking political asylum overcrowding these shelters,” a high level Bronx community leader who wished to remain anonymous shared, “our local citizens who have been in these shelters for over 2 years have been kicked out and are sleeping in the streets and not getting the resources they need.”
She went on to share that the homeless population has “increased tremendously” sharing that they are now camping out in the train stations, buses, churches or squatting illegally in front of people’s homes.
Donnie “Kayborn” Rivers, who has run a nonprofit in the Bronx for the past seven years, had a similar story to tell. “You go to the train and there’s a lot of people sleeping on the train too..and i really feel that a lot of that is happening because of the people that’s coming, the immigrants that’s coming,” he said.
He further went on to detail how not only have the homeless population been overlooked by the city, but Mayor Eric Adams was quick to invest time, money and resources for the influx of illegal immigrants making their way to New York.
“The mayor just finished opening up a whole encampment up in Orchard Beach where they’re housing people from another country,” Rivers shared, “but our people still sleeping on the train and still sleeping outside.”
Adams, who invested 150 million dollars into the project, has since scrapped building the camps in the parking of Orchard Beach due to safety concerns.
Residents of the Bronx on Monday, organized a press conference calling out the humanitarian and safety concerns of building the camps in this location.
“It’s inhumane, it’s dangerous and it was not well thought out. I don’t think Mayor Adams even came to look at the site before doing it,” one resident stated, “Did he see that there was a playground there and just didn’t care?” she asked, pointing to the child’s playground located in the same parking lot as the camp.
Lakewood cut down Town Square trees to deter homeless
The township cut down all of the shade trees that once lined Town Square in a controversial move designed to prevent homeless people from spending time there.
Mayor Ray Coles said the decision was made after a recommendation from the Police Department Quality of Life Unit, which the township said was triggered by numerous complaints from residents and township employees about homeless people defecating and urinating in the area.
“They (homeless people) were harassing people, defecating between the cars and residents were complaining,” Coles said.
Claudia Romero, who works in a tax preparation company across from the Town Square, said that one day she found human feces on the sidewalk in front of her office and then submitted a complaint to the township. The township did not say how many complaints it received.
George Carlin on homelessness…
Miami proposes relocating city’s homeless to island near sewage plant
Miami may relocate some of the city’s homeless population out of the streets and into city-sponsored encampments on an island housing a wastewater treatment plant.
Earlier this year, Miami-Dade’s Board of County Commissioners asked city officials to come up with ideas to mitigate its homeless population in the city, according to the Daily Mail.
City Manager Art Noriega called for an encampment to be established on the northern region of the Virginia Key island, one of five locations being discussed, beside a sewage treatment plant and a biking trail. The other four possible locations as options include three parking lots, two of which are located near residential buildings.
The city is considering the proposal that would relocate homeless people, which was recently recorded at 1,525 people, who live on the street in heavily populated tourist areas, like downtown, Overtown, and Little Havana.
The proposal details a plan to establish as many as nine large tents, which can hold up to 22 people, and a parking lot in the northernmost region of the Virginia Key.
Wake up!
Charity Builds Dozens of Tiny Homes for Homeless on PRIVATE PROPERTY, Cops & Gov’t Destroy All Of It
In 2020, The Free Thought Project reported on the work of two groups, Food Not Bombs and the Sidewalk Project, who raised $16,000 and built 26 tiny homes in Las Vegas for the city’s homeless community. It was an amazing feat put together by a handful of caring people trying to better their community but it came to a chaotic and destructive end when police and city officials raided the camp and destroyed all the homes.
The City of Las Vegas claimed that the destruction of the homes was justified as the city maintains “this right of way for NDOT, the property owner.” Joey Lankowski, who does homeless outreach with Food Not Bombs, sought to remedy this problem of building tiny homes on public property by raising money to purchase their own swath of land on private property.
Since last year, members of Food Not Bombs, the Sidewalk Project, and the New Leaf Community have been working tirelessly, volunteering countless hours of their personal time, to build a community of tiny homes on this newly owned piece of property.
For months volunteers built the tiny homes and allowed the community’s houseless population to live on the property. The community was thriving until earlier this year when the bureaucratic police state set their sights on the project’s private property.
The code enforcement division of the Las Vegas city government claimed that the property was in violation of zoning ordinance NLVMC 17.20.10 which states that the “accessory uses are not permitted” on the private property. According to the notice, a single family residence must be on the property before the tiny homes could be built and heavy fines would follow if they did not get “up to code.”
Since then, the city has waged an immoral war against the tiny home community and levied even more seemingly frivolous ordinance violations.
Seattle Cleared Out Two Homeless Encampments to Prepare for Joe Biden’s Visit
The city of Seattle cleared out two homeless encampments in preparation for Joe Biden’s visit.
Approximately 15 homeless people were displaced by Democrat Mayor Bruce Harrell to make sure the area looked nice for the president on his Earth Day visit.
Jamie Housen, spokesperson for the mayor’s office, told the Seattle Times that the encampments were cleared “so that the city could close the streets and limit access to sidewalks to ensure the safety of the president.”
The homeless people were given two days to move their belongings or have them trashed by Seattle Parks and Recreation.
“Housen said that nine tents and shelter structures were removed from Virginia Street to Olive Way between Sixth and Fifth avenues. Three people staying there left on their own and four others were referred to shelter by the city’s encampment outreach team,” the Seattle Times reported. “Four tents were removed between Lenora and Virginia streets, from Fifth Avenue to Fourth Avenue. Four people there left voluntarily and two others were referred to shelters.”
The city removed several other encampments as well, but claimed that those ones did not have anything to do with Biden’s visit.
‘I’m now full of hate, anger and bitterness’: NYC subway shooting ‘person of interest’ posted unhinged and bigoted videos ranting about ‘killing everything in sight’ and slamming Mayor Eric Adams, homelessness and unsafe subways
The ‘person of interest’ in the Brooklyn subway shooting posted hundreds of unhinged and bigoted videos on his YouTube channel ranting about ‘killing everything in site’ and slamming New York City Mayor Eric Adams, the city’s homelessness crisis and unsafe subways.
Frank James, 62, has been named as a person of interest in the attack which left 10 people with gunshot wounds, with police offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to his arrest.
Police said keys found at the 36th Street subway station in Sunset Park belong to a U-Haul truck in Brooklyn that was rented by James and found abandoned five miles from the scene in Brooklyn.
Authorities are now examining social media videos in which James made ‘concerning’ threats against Mayor Adams and raged against white people, Puerto Ricans, Jewish people, climate change and the police, whilst also decrying the United States as a racist place awash in violence. Officials have since tightened security for Adams.
‘This nation was born in violence, it’s kept alive by violence or the threat thereof and it’s going to die a violent death. There’s nothing going to stop that,’ James said in a ranting video on YouTube under the name ‘Prophet of Truth88’.
The rambling, profanity-filled YouTube videos posted by James, who is black, are replete with violent language and bigoted comments, sometimes against other black people. He is also featured sharing conspiracy theories – such as claiming that the Twin Towers could never have been brought down on 9/11 by planes.
One video, posted April 11, criticizes crime against black people and says drastic action is needed.
‘You got kids going in here now taking machine guns and mowing down innocent people,’ James says. ‘It’s not going to get better until we make it better,’ he said, adding that he thought things would only change if certain people were ‘stomped, kicked and tortured’ out of their ‘comfort zone.’
Several of James’ videos mention New York’s subway. One, posted on February 20, says the mayor and governor’s plan to address homelessness and safety in the subway system ‘is doomed for failure’ whilst another on January 25 criticizes Adams’ plan to end gun violence.
James references psychiatric facilities he has attended in the Bronx and in New Jersey, saying the staff failed to help him and ‘made me more dangerous’.
‘Mr. Mayor, I’m a victim of your mental health program,’ James said in one lengthy video.
‘I’m 63 now full of hate, full of anger, and full of bitterness.’
Hellbound and Down 
You must be logged in to post a comment.