A Necessarily – Amiss Christmas Missive

Tags

Christmas, food for thought, Homeless, Poverty, remember the less fortunate, Veterans

It is unfortunate that those with an agenda has made Christmas all about commercialism, profits, material desires while ignoring those in need and/or leaving those in need to the care of the government.

News alert:  The government doesn’t give a damn and any talk of suffering by poverty stricken and homeless Americans have become talking points pulled out every 2, 4 or 6 years to rack up votes.

Here in New York City, those very same bureaucrats have declared war against individuals and entities that, from their heart and on their own reach out to the homeless and poverty-stricken, the result of which leaves the unfortunate even worse off.

Please don’t ignore them this Christmas season.  Remember our veterans, many of whom are homeless and living beneath the poverty level.  Keep in mind that  a new television, Playstation 4, computer, toys or skis is not at all what Christmas is about.  

One solitary act of kindness and/or a moment of caring does not cost a dime.

The Hermit Chronicles

Editor’s note: This was first published back on Christmas Eve of 2009. The world was a dramatically different place back then. Accordingly, it has been nuanced over the years since its first publication. The message it intends to convey, however, is timeless.

No matter where you go or what you do, at this time of year, you cannot avoid the marketing and advertising “blitzkrieg” that has transformed the Christmas season into some horribly disfigured mutation of the original point of the holiday. Thanks in large part to the political correctness movement, and this idea that public displays of religion and faith… most especially Christian religion and faith… are now considered offensive to the smaller numbers of non-believers, and should be constrained wherever and whenever possible.

All the while, as this unwinnable cultural Civil War rages on, there are vast numbers of innocent bystanders out there around the world silently suffering through a sadness or anguish or heartbreak or loss that those cultural Civil warriors could scarcely comprehend let alone personally endure or overcome.

Each of us – from every faith and lack thereof – would be well-served by the reminder that, for some, the Christmas holiday season is not necessarily a happy or joyous time of year. It should inspire you to take pause, long enough to see beyond the gadgets and baubles and trinkets and consider the lives and circumstances of our less fortunate brothers and sisters around the world. It should encourage you, as well, to be just a little more humble, a little more generous, and a whole lot more kind… not just to your friends, families, and loved ones, but to the nameless & unfamiliar faces of “your tired, your poor, your huddled masses” that you encounter as you walk freely about the cabins of your everyday lives[…]

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NOTE:  Allow me to introduce you to patriot Haystack, proprietor of the website, The Hermit Chronicles.  When you have a moment, stop by and say hello to Haystack.

 

Rich Tech Guy Wants ‘Riff Raff’ Off the Streets: “I Shouldn’t Have to See Despair of Homeless”

Tags

Disparity, Elitists, Homeless, Poverty, San Francisco

 

Ah, the Progressive elites who created this mess now wants the fruit of their labors and social engineering policies removed from their sights.

SHTFplan.com by Mac Slavo

Homeless in San Francisco, California courtesy of Shani Heckman, Flickr – creative commons.

It has long been a debate as to whether social reformers should fight to end poverty, or simply rid the world of poor people.

Many elitists have dreamed of depopulating the hopeless and destitute, or found realistic ways of sending them to forgotten places. But most of these kinds of people stopped publicly saying such things many decades ago.

But with an ever-widening wealth gap, and many failed policies, the homeless and the poor are growing in size and represent the tip of the iceberg for tens of millions of people who are beyond struggling in this country.

Now, a software entrepreneur in San Francisco has made waves across the Internet after writing an open letter calling on the mayor and police chief to effectively sweep the homeless populations and “riff raff” off the streets. As CBS San Francisco:

A San Francisco tech entrepreneur’s lament over homeless and drug-addicted “riff raff” plaguing his adopted city has earned him some international notoriety as a tone-deaf tech bro.

Justin Keller, described on his LinkedIn profile as the founder of server software firm Command.io, published what he called an open letter to Mayor Ed Lee and Police Chief Greg Suhr. In it, Keller described how encounters with homeless people ruined his recent get-togethers with his parents and girlfriend.

[Keller wrote]

The city needs to tackle this problem head on, it can no longer ignore it and let people do whatever they want in the city. I don’t have a magic solution… It is a very difficult and complex situation, but somehow during Super Bowl, almost all of the homeless and riff raff seem to up and vanish. I’m willing to bet that was not a coincidence. Money and political pressure can make change. So it is time to start making progress, or we as citizens will make a change in leadership and elect new officials who can.

I know people are frustrated about gentrification happening in the city, but the reality is, we live in a free market society. The wealthy working people have earned their right to live in the city. They went out, got an education, work hard, and earned it. I shouldn’t have to worry about being accosted. I shouldn’t have to see the pain, struggle, and despair of homeless people to and from my way to work every day.

San Francisco’s burgeoning tech industry has been blamed for skyrocketing rents and exacerbating an already intractable homeless problem.

Indeed, it is this Bay Area tech bubble that has increased home and rental prices so much, that some have gone so far as to rent out a tent on AirBNB for an outrageous $1,000/month in a guy’s backyard that offers bathroom access and a good commute route to work[…]

Continue Reading — Rich Tech Guy Wants ‘Riff Raff’ Off the Streets: “I Shouldn’t Have to See Despair of Homeless”

 

Permission to republish granted by SHTFplan and Mac Slavo.

Obama’s refugee crisis leaves thousands of Cubans penniless and stranded in Costa Rica

Tags

Barack Obama, Costa Rica, Cuba, Cuban crisis, Homeless, Illegal Immigration, Mexico, Nicaragua, White House

screenshot

As usual, everything in which Barack Obama involves himself turns to 💩 as is the case of thousands of Cubans hoping to make their way to the United States through Mexico where they can claim refugee status only to find that they have hit a brick wall (well maybe not brick).

Source: Daily Mail.

Nicaragua has closed its borders leaving about 8,000 Cuban “refugees” stranded in Costa Rica without a dime. Their dilemma is no doubt the handiwork of Nicaragua’s left-wing president, Daniel Ortega, who happens to be an ally of Castro (💩 💩 💩 ). (Belize has also closed its borders.)

 

DailyMail.co.uk

Thousands of Cubans are caught in a new refugee crisis triggered by President Obama‘s moves towards ending the embargo on the country, Daily Mail Online can reveal.

As many as 8,000 are living in squalor in Costa Rica where their attempts to reach the United States have stalled, with the central American country facing a growing humanitarian crisis over their presence.

The Cubans are trying to get to the US land border with Mexico, where they will be able to claim refugee status in America, and a rapid path to citizenship.

Thousands have fled the Communist country since Obama and Raul Castro last year ended more than 60 years of frozen relations.

They have moved in a panic prompted by fears that the detente would lead to the abolition of automatic refugee status for Cubans who reach the US land border…

The unforeseen consequence of a move to normalize relations has created a growing crisis in Central America.

In total 8,000 people are stranded in Costa Rica, which has become the final stop in a journey which for most began with flights to Ecuador, followed by long road trips through Colombia and Panama[…]

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UPDATE:

Two days ago, the Costa Rican government announced plans to conduct a test flight next week in which a group of stranded Cubans excluding family units and children will be flown from Costa Rica to El Salvador.

Upon arrival in El Salvador, the Cubans would then be bussed through Guatemala to Mexico and once in Mexico, the Cubans are on their own to make their way to the Rio Grande where coyotes, drug and human traffickers will be eagerly awaiting their prey. [The latter part, my emphasis.]

First Group of U.S.-Bound Cubans Will Leave Costa Rica January 12

Originally, the government had announced that families would be given priority. However, citing security concerns, the first group, totaling 180 people, will not include children or family units. During Wednesday’s press conference, Foreign Minister Manuel Gonzalez stressed that the first transfer is a “test flight” and would not guarantee any additional flights until regional leaders meet to assess its success sometime before January 18.

The first group Cubans will be chosen using the following guidelines: the person may actually be located (any have left the shelters); date of arrival, according to the issue date their immigration visa; and ability to pay the cost of the transfer. For individuals of the ages 13 and above, staying in the shelters near the Costa Rican town of Liberia, the transfer cost is $555. This will cover transportation to the airport; a chartered flight with Avianca airlines to El Salvador; exit taxes for Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Guatemala; non-stop bus transportation, with meals, through Guatemala and into Mexico; and health insurance. For those traveling from the southern region of the country, the cost will be $570. Children between the ages of two and 12 will have to pay $350.

In response to questions regarding plans for Cuban migrants who cannot pay the transfer costs, Costa Rica’s Foreign Minister Manuel Gonzalez said the current plan is in place because the Cuban migrants repeatedly said they could pay. Thus, if this first flight is successful and the plan is extended beyond the initial 180 migrants, another exit plan will have to be put in place for those who cannot pay….

Once in Mexico the Cuban migrants will be granted a 20-day temporary transit visa at no cost. But once they are in Mexico they will have to get to the U.S. border on their own, said IOM’s Costa Rica director, Roland de Wilde. He added that, “It’s important to remember that these migrants left their country voluntarily…In Mexico they will surely find the transportation options that they want. I understand there are many options in Mexico….” (Source: Center for Immigration Studies)

As I said above, eagerly awaiting the Cubans will be coyotes, drug and human traffickers like vultures ready to pounce.

Who to Blame?

 

.…Refugees accuse the White House of ‘insensitively’ offering olive branch to Havana without giving clear indications of what future immigration policy will be towards Cubans.

‘Obama should say categorically what will happen to Cubans. Will we still be welcomed in the United States…who knows?’ said college lecturer Mirtha Vega, who is among the refugees.

‘People got scared and left Cuba as soon as they could and there has been so much panic.

‘America wanted us before and now we simply do not know and that is why this crisis has developed.

‘Obama shook hands with Castro and everybody got scared. There are many people back home who are preparing to leave now for the US if they can manage it….’

💩💩💩

Creedmoor Revival

Tags

Andrew Cuomo, Creedmoor Psychiatric Center, Homeless, mentally ill, Progressive failed social engineering policies, violence

City-Journal by Seth Barron

Governor Andrew Cuomo has a plan to solve the problem of street homelessness in New York City; he wants to put them in Creedmoor, a massive institution for the mentally ill in eastern Queens. During its mid-century heyday, Creedmoor housed 7,000 people in dozens of buildings, many of which are now sitting empty. Cuomo’s proposal was seconded by Queens state senator Leroy Comrie, who said that “the homeless individuals [at Creedmoor] would have an excellent chance of being successful with a complement of services” […]

Continue Reading, click here… Eye on the News

“the homeless individuals [at Creedmoor] would have an excellent chance of being successful with a complement of services” — Yeah sure. If Leroy Comrie is so sure that Creedmoor is an excellent opportunity for the homeless, I suggest he try it out for a month first without cameras, security and buffer zones to ensure the senator a comfortable and peaceful stay.

Andrew Cuomo is simply recycling another failed Progressive policies of decades ago where the homeless, mentally ill among others were thrown into these institutions drugged, abused, committed abuses, etc.

There are already too many instances in New York City today where a poor person with no family takes ill, possibly undergoing surgery which means which means a lengthy stay and during that individual’s stay, he loses his apartment.

Once that occurs (often), the hospital tells the individual that he cannot be released because said individual does not have a place to live.

$$$$$

I know for a fact that King County Hospital in Brooklyn, New York will not release anyone that cannot provide a forwarding address. Proudly boasting of their men’s ward or housing, male patients become prisoners live-ins adult wards of the state, sometimes for years and often until their death, whichever comes first.

 

Creedmoor Psychiatric Center Queens Village NYC

I suspect that Creedmoor with its past will be much worse.

FEAR AND BRUTALITY IN A CREEDMOOR WARD, NYT, 06/18/1984.

No one remembers exactly when it began. But the fear, the beatings, the brutality in a special ward of the Creedmoor Psychiatric Center in Queens did not end until after a mentally ill patient had died while bound in a cloth straitjacket, his throat crushed.

The workers in the so-called secure unit found themselves locked day after day in a hospital ward that came to resemble a penitentiary – but one without bars to separate the staff from men they called inmates.

Nurses and orderlies say they were abandoned by their superiors and forced to make decisions that, under the law, could be made only by doctors. Regulations about medication were ignored, workers say, as were their complaints about dangerous understaffing in a ward that housed the most violent, most severely ill patients at Creedmoor, a huge state facility in Queens Village.

Last month, after several reports of widespread brutality against patients, the secure unit was shut down. The remaining patients have been transferred to other wards while city, state and Federal investigators try to figure out what went wrong there, and why. The investigations began shortly after the death of the 39-year-old patient last March.

Climate of Violence…

Read full article–

Cuomo, de Blasio and company are counting on the ignorance and short memories of New Yorkers.

Visitors from Third World Nations Aghast at Bill de Blasio’s New York

Tags

Bill De Blasio, Homeless, new-york-city, United Nations

Homelessness is one of the many problems that have resurged under New York City’s mayor, Bill de Blasio’s tenure so much so that visitors from third world countries are aghast at what the City has become under de Blasio’s failed progressive reforms.

New York Post by Reuven Fenton, Lorena Mongelli and Bruce Golding

Diplomats from Third World countries say the area around the United Nations is crawling with more vagrants than their impoverished homelands. “America is the one of the richest countries in the world, and New York is one of the richest cities. But there are more homeless people here than there are in Gambia,” said that nation’s attaché Alieu Samba, 74, whose African nation ranks 182nd out of 194 global economies. ‘When officers come here from Gambia for a meeting, they see all these homeless people laying down on benches […]

Click here to view original web page at nypost.com

H/t Jammie Wearing Fools.

LINKS:
http://www.jammiewf.com/2015/third-world-diplomats-shocked-how-awful-de-blasios-nyc-has-become-its-very-shocking-to-see-how-it-really-is/
http://nypost.com/2015/08/19/diplomats-vagrancy-in-nyc-worse-than-third-world-countries/

2012 DNC: Motels in Charlotte force homeless families into streets and shelters by jacking up rates

Tags

Election 2012, Homeless, North Carolina, Poverty, Progressives

Lakia Ramsey of Charlotte was paying about $200 a week at a local motel before local businesses increased their rates because of the Democratic National Convention. Ramsey and her young kids had to move out. Image courtesy of JAMES KEIVOM/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS.

NYDN

“CHARLOTTE — Don’t try to tell Lakia Ramsey the Democratic National Convention is a boon for her city.

The influx of out-of-towners has sparked a crisis for the 26-year-old homeless mom and dozens of others like her.

Eager to cash in on the thousands streaming into town, many down-market motels have jacked up their rates, forcing the homeless families who had been living in them into the streets and emergency shelters.

Ramsey’s home over the past three months had been a dingy, $200-a-week lodge. But she and her 4-year-old son and 2-year-old daughter were abruptly sent packing last week after the motel started charging $150 a night.

‘They kicked me and my kids out like we were trash,’ said Ramsey, who found refuge at a church….”

CONTINUE READING

Steven Cherry at a loading dock where he and his wife Belinda Cherry slept when they were homeless. Image courtesy of JAMES KEIVOM/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS.

Now meet Steven Cherry.  Cherry and his wife, Belinda Cherry, are homeless.  They were residing at the Arlington Suites Motel but have been kicked out to make room for attendees of the 2012 Democratic National Convention who can afford to pay motel rates that have been jacked up.

Arlington Suites, where Belinda and Steven Cherry were staying before they had to leave. Image courtesy of JAMES KEIVOM/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS.

As if being screwed by Progressives is not bad enough, Cherry who voted for Obama in 2008 will again cast his vote for Obama this fall while he waits and wonders when his messiah will arrive to rescue him.

To sit back, wait and do nothing is to one’s own peril and for those who do not know any better, they are waiting for a rescue that will never arrive.