"Dangerous kindness" sums up the problem perfectly. If I point a gun to my head in public, how much will the public pay me to not pull the trigger. It turns out the answer is lots. Indigence, homelessness and drug addiction are proven to be incurable. Yet we throw money at the incurable. I liken homelessness to cancer. Cancer research has long been a mammoth industry complete with institutes, organizations and never ending fund raisers. Despite all the money and resources invested in both homelessness and cancer, they prevail. I am not offering an answer. I am offering what history dictates; money is not the answer.
bandaids and virtue signaling on the symptoms not the disease. Needed: Tough love, zero tolerance , forced structure , forced drug treatment, forced mental illness treatment. That is humane and compassionate not the current ongoing enabling that is a bottom less pit of throwing money at the problem sic the symptoms
The 'silent' gun of communism is pointed at all our heads...that's why 'the state' is in such a hurry to disarm the citizens! It's easier to slaughter unarmed people.☠️
I view the homeless situation as a symptom of a greater problem. LOL Off topic but when I switched from Windows 10 to 11 the new software now begins to finish my sentences.
This is what mail in voting gets us. A political environment so corrupt, where one party rule is destroying everything they say they are fighting for. And the sad part is it won't be fixed. This has been a 40 year problem in this state.
This is a part of why we are headed to the OMC meeting tomorrow. OMC has been to Washington DC to plead for increase payouts for the Medicare services that they perform. Just to bring them the $s for what other hospitals receive. NO HELP coming! And how about those fine reps in Olympia - Washington State is in the bottom 5 states of all 50 for Medicaid payout. And what is 85 % of the OMC revenue? Medicare and Medicaid patients! But Olympia continues and persists! Any wonder the state and county tis broke! Oh BTW Seal St Park denizens were back yesterday, late afternoon.
Is the legal term malfeasance for OMC's lack of action? 60 violations apparently never addressed by the Administrators. Showing a lack of "diligence, action, and accountability". A deliberate cover up of the problems by anyone with knowledge of these problems either working for OMC or those from the community privy to the communications? And to what end? Out there someplace, are there individuals and/or groups of people who have much to gain if OMC is shuttered?
The immediate problem facing us On August 6, is there any way to immediately satisfy the state and keep the doors open. Or have decisions already been made behind closed doors and August 15th is etched in stone. "Just because you are paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't after you."
In Port Angeles alone, of 28 currently registered offenders 10 are transient and/or failure to register (not including Abram, and situations like his are pretty frequent so who knows the real #s). It's frustrating to walk through town early on a Saturday after a work week and see many of them hanging out at the same old spots using their free supplies while pondering how many of my peers will never get to retire as the county taxes us out of any equity we managed to acquire. While PBH says it will not house registered SO, it will prioritize the chronically homeless/addicted. Young single parents and widowed seniors quietly living in vehicles or on friends couches are deprioritized. Like many things in Clallam, priorities are all wrong.
This is a VERY apropos article from Promethean Action. It shows that the problem is widespread, yet NO ONE ever even reduces it-- they just continue to grow it.
Ending the Homeless Industrial Complex: The Washington State Story
Seattle’s homeless crisis is fueled by a powerful nonprofit-political machine that profits from enabling addiction, with little oversight or accountability. A new Trump executive order aims to dismantle this system and restore order to Washington State.
The Promethean article is certainly provocative, but it leans heavily on ideological framing and historical revisionism. Blaming nonprofits wholesale for systemic dysfunction ignores the complexity of addiction, poverty, and housing instability. Reform is needed, yes but dismantling services without viable alternatives risks deepening the crisis.
And let’s not pretend Housing First is still the uncontested gold standard. Even Sam Tsemberis, the originator of the model, has acknowledged its limitations. Communities across the country are already pivoting away from Housing First as a one-size-fits-all solution, recognizing that addiction and mental illness require more than just a roof.
Criticizing yesterday’s failures without acknowledging today’s course corrections is like dragging your spouse through the same tired argument long after the apology’s been made and the behavior has changed. At some point, it's no longer about fixing the problem, it's about nursing the grudge.
Ah yes, the ‘Homeless Industrial Complex’--where the real crime is compassion, and the solution is apparently to criminalize poverty until it disappears. Bold strategy. Let’s see how that plays out.
And let’s remember: punishment alone has never been a reliable deterrent. During the French Revolution, the penalty for even petty theft was the guillotine...and yet pickpockets worked the crowd at executions with impunity. If that doesn’t tell us something about the futility of theatrical justice, what will?
We need accountability, transparency, and real outcomes not a scorched-earth policy that conflates compassion with collapse
Powdermonkey, sure wish you would come down to earth and not write like you are turning in a thesis for an academic degree. We are just everyday people who don't wish to strain our brain to get your point. Too much, too many, too machine like.
Jennifer, I get it...thinking hard. But if reading with comprehension feels like "too much" or "too machine-like," perhaps the issue isn’t my writing but the bandwidth of your reception.
This isn’t academic posturing, it’s precision. I write the way I do because vague platitudes and bumper-sticker reasoning aren’t cutting it in the civic department. I’m not interested in dumbing things down to make everyone feel comfortable. Comfort’s not how problems get solved. Complexity isn’t the enemy, willful oversimplification is.
And for the record: powdermonkeys didn’t pack fluff, they packed force. I’m not here to hand out participation trophies in the marketplace of ideas.
Ah yes, when the powder settles, the puns arrive. Classic diversion tactic: crack a joke when things get too real.
You want realism? Let’s start with this--sarcasm doesn’t solve structural rot. If “short supply” is your diagnosis, then maybe we stop reordering from the same broken inventory. You don’t fix civic dysfunction by mocking momentum. You fix it by showing up with more than wisecracks and cynicism in your toolkit.
So while you’re measuring powder, some of us are measuring policy failures in overdose rates, eviction notices, and empty follow-up plans. If that sounds “too intense,” maybe the problem isn’t the powder, it’s the numbness.
Now, if you’ve got a plan that runs deeper than emoji and ennui, lay it out. But if all you’re packing is punchlines, don’t be surprised when the serious work happens without you.
Puns reflect truth Monkey, are you unfamiliar with the Jester who was given wide latitude to mock and criticize as a way to reduce tension between the rulers and the ruled. You should be thanking me, rather than chastising!
I think you may be focused on the problem rather than the solution, which is to let things be what they are and let the chips fall where they may.
I do have compassion for anyone who thinks they can 'save the world'!
Self-delusion is the most effective kind!
I sure hope the serious work happens without me, 'cause I think we have different ideas about what that might be!😎
BTW, I haven't seen you offer any 'grounded in reality' plan, just a bunch of pointing out problems we are aware of!
It's all theatrical at some point...so what's the solution?...my pockets are already bare...are the wealthy going to step it up and offer more moolah...which also doesn't work?
Criticisms are good...we need them...where does reality fit in?
And who decided that EVERYONE has to be saved?
Only a Godless society would even be worried about dying...it's inevitable for all and a relief for many! 😎
“Only a godless society would worry about dying... it’s inevitable for all and a relief for many.” 😎
This isn’t policy skepticism; it’s nihilism lacquered in smugness. When suffering becomes a punchline and death is pitched as cost-effective closure, we’re no longer debating solutions, we are confronting a cultural pathology.
This attitude isn't just grotesque. It's moral cowardice. It replaces compassion with calculus, humanity with hedging. It doesn't seek to fix what’s broken, it seeks to bury it and call it efficiency.
And let’s be brutally honest: if your proposed fix for systemic suffering is to normalize premature death, you're not offering pragmatism. You’re peddling cruelty.
Compassion isn't a luxury reserved for the religious or the rich. It's the only thing standing between civil society and sanctioned abandonment. If this is the moral framework we’re working with, then we’re not just failing the vulnerable, we’re forfeiting our claim to decency
Didn't know we were keeping score...Mimi, I hear your frustration. But let me be blunt: I voted. I showed up. I hired people off the street, paid them fairly, mentored them, gave them tools to rebuild. For 20 years, I put skin in the game...no op-eds needed.
So when you imply that engagement starts and ends with a theory, I have to ask: how does that square with the receipts? Because moral outrage is easy to stylize, but action leaves fingerprints, and I’ve got two decades' worth.
If you’re questioning my right to speak on systemic problems because I use rhetoric with teeth, maybe the issue isn’t relevance--it’s that sometimes relevance stings.
And death isn't cruelty...it's inevitable and reality...and it's not premature...not one person EVER died prematurely...every one, ever, died at the exact time they did.
It isn't grotesque or moral cowardice...it's reality and moral courage to accept what reality is...only someone who has no faith in life eternally changing form and evolving or devolving would call it grotesque or cowardly...You and no one else can 'fix' anything here.
Free will is a mixed blessing at best but you cannot 'save' anyone, ever...if they are 'saved' it's by their own choice with support from Spirit...you are arrogant to think you can 'fix' the world in any way, shape or form...it is the way it is for a reason and 'you can fight with reality but you lose...but only 100% of the time.' Byron Katie
I fight with it and lose all the time but I know the truth of it. I struggle against injustice and fraud and all criminal activities but I am powerless to change anything...does that mean I won't express myself?
Probably not, I am too human, still!
We already have an uncivilized society and sanctioned abandonment.
Your moral framework doesn't account for the reality that most of these severely ill and addicted CLEARLY WANT OUT!
So, to make some one stay and suffer is NOT compassion or decency.
It is cruelty in it's most devious form.
BTW, what exactly is the problem with nihilism...it's also reality!
Where is your working plan for redistributing wealth and housing , feeding, clothing, treating 8 billion+ (mostly ignorant) people on a smallish finite planet which is 2/3 desert on the land masses and mostly a large saline pond, with limited and shrinking fresh water...who's delusional?😎
Yeah, and the real problem with revolution is no one knows where and when to stop the killing...but humanity has always been collectively insane.
See YT, 'After Skool' channel: How-An-Entire-Population-Becomes-Mentally-Ill.
We will never rationalize our way through or out of this situation...sociopaths and psychopaths always seek and gain power because they will do things a moral/ethical person will not...they congregate in political positions and public and private institutions, removed from 'the common folk' whom they despise and see only as a necessary evil by which to meet their ends.
It may be cynical but it's the reality of 'this world'.
Almost no one in positions of power, at any level, is the least bit interested in common sense, rational discourse, sharing power, truth, justice, liberty, accountability or any higher value ideology.
I hope you come up with a formula that works...best of luck!🍀
The simple facts: homeless shelters have rigid rules, rules that do NOT allow someone to get back on their feet after a setback. My experiences (getting friends out of the cycle) is that: shelters don't allow their addresses to be used for unemployment/welfare/aid/resumes for job searches, etc.; many shelters, especially those attached to religious organizations, require a "breakfast attendance" (usually between 8-9am) and then a curfew of 9pm. This doesn't allow ANY outside employment because most businesses require a start time between 8-9, and all retail employment requires a worker to stay until closing (9pm). They do not allow computer use on premises. The library (from my experience) tried to discourage "the homeless" from using computers without a library card (unobtainable because of the lack of address, see above). Checking out and reading books was out. But they were given bus transit passes, for unlimited bus (and BART) riding all day.
When someone was sick, they were told to not come to the shelter.
So, they'd get sicker, and ride public transit longer, to maximum vector (spread of disease).
Likewise drug use was never discouraged, just "not where we can see it". (Which to me, subtly encouraged use.) People just being "warehoused" don't really have any purpose in life. They weren't allowed to "help" at the shelter. They weren't required to have any real purpose at all.
Meanwhile SSRI use was insane -- and promoted, and heavily mandated for some. (SSRIs for "depression and anxiety" also tend to make people more compliant.) There were also drugs for ADHD (basically speed, they drugs were never the cutting-edge ones). ADHD drugs were heavily pushed on kids, yet when these youth were emancipated, they were told "they didn't need the drugs". (A huge number of Meth users were ADHD diagnosed/treated kids.)
Once those people were booted after their 90-day per year maximum, there was no follow up, except to go to a free clinic, that was always packed to the rafters. (You could arrive at opening, wait all day, then get a "chit" for priority the next day, but no "guarantees".) People stopping SSRI's cold have "discontinuation syndrome" (flu-like symptoms, sleep disturbances, nausea, dizziness, mood changes, inability to concentrate, gastro disturbances, anxiety, irritability, agitation, and aggression, often suicide). There is ZERO follow up, and no way to refill a prescription, of course, people turn to whatever they can get: street drugs.
Oh yeah, this one shelter discouraged people from "flushing" after each use (to reduce water use) so all toilets would be flushed only 3 times a day (no matter how many people used them). Of course the plumbing backed up regularly. Showers were only allowed once a week. Handwashing was not encouraged. Laundry had to be done off premises (there was no parking for "tenants") and the nearest laundromat was blocks away. It seemed to me this was creating the "great unwashed" that would be even less able to integrate with society.
When I sat down with the charity running this place I was told "this is the model we were TOLD to take, and the rules we HAD to impose, to stop chaos". I was also told to mind my own business because I wasn't "an expert". I tried writing some articles about it, but, couldn't sell the articles. No one cared, literally.
I routinely moved friends into my house, so they could get jobs, and get into section-8 housing, get services, get into the non-free/sliding-scale clinics, etc. All but one has been ultimately successful (that one is, again, living in her car, four children later.... there is no helping some). There is only so much one person can do. (And only so much one person can tolerate. Not everyone wants help.)
I came to the conclusion that the shelters have, for a long time, been following the Learned Helplessness Experiment, by psychologists Martin Seligman and Steven Maier (1960s) where there are two groups of dogs that sit in closed cages, half get random electric shocks to their feet. They protest, they protest, and then finally they are silent. Once silent, even if the cage door is left open, the dogs just lay and accept the shocks. The others had levers in the cage that will stop the shocks. They will always try and escape the cages, but they would have horrible trauma, and long-lasting distrust. Huh.
The depressive effect of the homeless-industrial complex is the lack control in one's life that leads to further chronic homelessness. Trapped with no way to better the situation makes people give up. Add drugs to the mix.. great. Add severe mental illness -- to prey upon the others, and then the morally deficit (people who would rob their own grandmother) and you have people trapped in an industry of "Homeless care".
It's why nothing should be 'for free' and shelters should change their models to help people get REAL HELP, to integrate back into the workforce, etc. Giving someone a free home when they haven't had to even wash a dish for years is just insanity. Why do we see "homeless" sitting around doing nothing all the time?
We have always had homeless in this country. ALWAYS. But heck, they were not sit-on-your-ass, entitled, do-nuthin's before. Even the train-riding Hobo was more active, and industrious, on a bad day. This is a problem of our own making.
Too true...a problem of our own making! Love your work!😊
We have had a 'generation gap' for about 150 years +- but now we have a chasm between generations...too much has changed too fast and our priorities of God(or whatever you call the Great Intelligence), Family, Country have been eroded away and we are more fractionated than ever...inevitable when we 'do our own thing' with and anything goes attitude, I guess.
Anyway, thanks for your experienced and thoughtful responses and thanks for tolerating my often 'radical' expressions also based on thought and experience.🤗
There’s no denying that many shelters are built on bureaucratic rigidity masquerading as structure. Your account of administrative failure, the address loopholes, employment barriers, sanitation negligence, is damning and essential. But documenting dysfunction shouldn’t turn into excusing disdain.
Learned helplessness may apply, but be careful it doesn’t become learned contempt. Suggesting that people who’ve endured this cycle are “entitled do-nuthin’s” doesn’t provoke reform--it props up the worst kind of caricature: that suffering creates laziness, and misery is a lifestyle choice.
Shelters designed like holding pens don't foster initiative, they manufacture despair. Stripping someone of agency and dignity doesn’t teach resilience. It teaches surrender.
And the idea that “nothing should be for free”? Fine, let’s debate incentives and dignity. But if we can offer billionaires tax shelters, surely we can offer actual shelters without turning them into behavioral correction camps.
We haven’t always had this kind of homelessness; not this industrialized chaos, not this abandonment camouflaged as order. And blaming the trapped for being trapped is how you end up defending the cage.
Real help doesn’t start with scorn. It starts with systems designed to do more than recycle trauma and call it care.
Certainly we can offer incentives. People need carrots (and sticks) to stay motivated.
But, au contraire, we HAVE had this level of homelessness in our past, or would have, if plans had not been put in place. In the 1800s we had zero "welfare" help for widowed women/children, and disabled. Vagrants could sleep in police stations at night "vagrant rooms" were the homeless shelters. There wasn't much else. There WERE hospitals for the mentally affirmed, and orphanages for children. There were some homes for wayward women (but they were aimed at training them to do factory work).
Largely, if there wasn't family, many were left to their own devices (to starve).
After the Civil War (1870's) there was massive homelessness called 'itinerant tramps' that wandered in search of work. The view, until recently wasn't the "lack of housing" but the lack of JOBS.
Some of our home-grown American literature raised the romance of "hobos". Most all of the migrant farmer laborers were white males.
But we had boarding houses (where a widow/widower would rent out rooms in their homes... an early AirBnB scheme) and flop houses (cheap single room lodging, usually derelict hotels) and "trailers for sale or rent". But, in the rush to "revitalize" in the 70's and 80's we tore down the flop houses and, got rid of the trailer parks. Many communities discouraged renting out rooms in private homes. We got rid of the mental institutions, and the orphanages. We stopped housing those who could not help themselves. We ended the "old age homes" for a profit minded "assisted living facilities".
What we have is a confluence of things --- but, the basic premise, for me, is still lack of jobs, and lack of employable labor.
"We, the unwilling, have done the impossible for the ungrateful...we have done so much, for so long, for so little...we are now qualified to do anything, with nothing"! Old military saying.
Mimi, I won’t argue the history you’ve drawn a compelling arc. Boarding houses, flop hotels, institutional care, all removed under the banner of progress but without a contingency plan for those left behind. That vacuum didn’t just open up; it metastasized.
But while you trace systemic decay, I’ve spent two decades trying to plug the gaps; hiring people who couldn’t pass background checks, mentoring folks who were halfway to giving up, and challenging elected officials who treat “homelessness” like a talking point instead of a human crisis. My methods weren’t theoretical--they were operational.
Yes, joblessness and de-skilling are culprits. But they don’t operate in isolation. We built systems that punish instability and reward inertia. I didn’t romanticize hobos, I offered real humans a shot at autonomy. So when I speak out, it’s not from detachment. It’s from immersion.
You highlight carrots and sticks. I offer ladders. Because if shelter isn’t a step it’s just a stall.
The contempt is toward corrupt communist officials who are actively making things much worse by adopting NWO 'save the environment' policies with no public debate or input and nothing but worsening conditions to show for it...it is planned this way...nothing this big happens by mistake or only incompetence.
Best of luck getting laws to strip the wealthy of their hoard and redistributing it with any useful impact...it doesn't solve mental illness, addiction, etc., why don't you research the communist agenda and see if any of that lines up with the problems you see...I totally agree there are better ways, but I have no idea how to implement them and the current implementations are disastrous and getting worse, and I'm not talking Trump, I'm talking local, regional, state level corruption.😬
One might think this is altruism, to take care of our local folks down on their luck! Horsepucky! They specifically attract them with these perks, competing with other Democrat-run cities and counties. The more of a "homeless" problem they can create, the more federal and NGO money flows in, mostly unaccounted for. This means that out of $20M dollars, $13M goes for luxury apartments, $10K goes for pizzas, $10K goes for syringes and boofing kits, another $10K goes for signs and posters telling where the freebies are, $1M goes to food banks, etc, and that leaves about $5.9M to end up in the pockets of politicians and/or spent on other things that the public would never approve of.
No, I don't have data to prove that, but consider: Why else does each Democrat-run county and city roll out the red carpet to ATTRACT addicts and vagrants? Why have all the $BILLIONS spent on this across the country only made the problem worse, not better? Think about it-- this is NOT to help people get their lives together or solve problems, it is SOLELY to get unaccounted-for money to come in. This is how politicians get rich on their public service salaries. It's horsepucky, to put it mildly. It's a "boofing kit" for the taxpayer to get screwed!
If the job of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Olympic Medical Center (OMC)is to oversee its employees, wouldn’t that CEO be responsible for non-compliance with Medicare and Medicaid? If the OMC board of commissioners has not overseen corrections of violations cited by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), than are they doing their job? What are our OMC commissioners actually doing? They are going to hire a firm, at a cost, to pick an interim CEO. Why do we need a board of commissioners at all? Are they there just to approve expenditures?
which is why it should be a requirement that they shadow every job in the hospital (and/or corporation, and/or city/county/state) and get their hands dirty. Wash the floors, clean the vomit, repaint the walls, and, learn what really goes on.
Hell the heads of these organizations MAKE ENOUGH MONEY. (No human is worth what some of these people receive.) If you don't spend the time to know what your employees DO, then you're useless as a boss.
Once the lofty titles (CEO) and high wages inflate their egos, and infect their pea-brains they are lost as leaders.
🤣"Personal reasons". Means 'I have gotten away with fraud, theft, incompetence, theft, corruption and dereliction of duty...but don't take it PERSONALLY!'😱
We are all on agreement I think that giving free drugs to addicts is about as stupid as it gets, if resolving the addiction problem is the goal. This is a classic example of the difference between progressive vs conservative philosophies. Only winning elections can solve this ridiculous philosophy of free stuff without accountability and the notion that taxpayer dollars come from a bottomless well.
Unlimited drugs in collective-isolation would be the most humane way to deal with it, but that is too practical and not so profitable in the long term!
This problem is not going away because it's engineered to be the way it is!
Does anyone feel safe in CC anymore? I don't. It's hard to accept what is really happening, but we do need to be aware so that we can be alert and prepared. Jeff is helping us realize the big changes here and why they are happening. Don't look away and think that will solve the problems. Say something if you see something. Together we can turn things around.
Heck, I lived in California for the majority of my formative years, in areas that were beyond "sketchy". I feel safe EVERYWHERE. Safe isn't a place, it's a state of mind.
The solution? How about some barbed and concertina wire enclosed tent cities ala Sheriff Joe Arpaio? There’s a need (see, I can talk “needs” too) for at least 3 or 4 to separate the different degrees of offenders. I would build them in our National Park just on the south side of the PA bypass I propose.
That luxury housing unit, is it at 2nd and Oak?
Another plank in my solution - run PBH out of Dodge, I mean PA.
You aren't seeing the "beauty" of it. These types of projects are tax-scams, government approved. A REIT (real estate investment trust) invests in building "homeless housing" and in exchange they get a dollar-for-dollar Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC). For every dollar you put in, you get a dollar off your taxes (these are for people who pay hundreds of thousands in taxes each year). Different LHITCs work differently (I haven't researched the tax laws behind them, lately). There are "special needs" and "ELI Basis Boost" and "Expanded Eligibility" Blah blah blah. Its all quite interesting, and beneficial, mostly.
But where there is MONEY there are scams. There is LIMITED IRS OVERSIGHT on these projects and the GEO (government accountability office) is overwhelmed. It's a 'trust us, we're experts" kind of thing.
Inflated housing COSTS (which is why the local luxury housing has dishwashers and probably marble counters? The dog washing station, and electric car hookups -- anything to increase the cost.) It isn't about making sense.
Some of these REITS end a few years after the building is built, and cause the building to sell -- at market rate. So, they return to the non-homeless market.
I don't know the particulars of THIS ONE, but followed some huge scams a few years back in Chicago (the home of the best scams).
ooh look the city still has no takers for someone to build housing on the old pump-house site. The deadlines keep slipping... (meaning a lack of response, in my book). https://www.cityofpa.us/Bids.aspx?BidID=411
All the millions and billions spent resolving homelessness do only one thing — provide nice salaries to professional members of the Homeless Industrial Complex so they can hand out the freebies. In PA, that’s PBH, Rediscovery, Serenity House and some of the staff at NOHN — all well connected to the sources of money, too. TAFY just received a nice grant.
Great analysis and article @Jeff Tozzer, thank you!
I did some related research yesterday of my own time become better informed. I see that there's a notable darth of data related to homelessness/drug abuse/related crime programs outcome targets, metrics/KPIs, and program efficacy. Homeless counts (estimated up to ~300) are measured (by Serenty House), but other critical data is either not reported or simply not collected. Clallam is behind and falling more behind other Counties in this management area. Additionally, having Commissioners (example Ozias) serve on supporting NGOs is highly irregular and is generally not allowed in most States/Counties.
I believe that at the root of the lack of efficacy of Clallam's approach to these problems (like other areas in WA) is an incestuous set of policies and practices that are in a race to the bottom. In corporate America, the race is a race to the top (think Apple phones), whereas in the area of Homelessness/drug abuse/related crime, there is no incentive to solve the problem and put yourself ot your friend out of a job. Perhaps this is what another reader meant by the Homeless Industrial Complex.
Until we also break the endemic and incestuous policies and practices of the groups and NGOs providing support, we can expect Clallam's Homelessness/drug abuse/related crime to slowly increase.
BINGO! Well said! In fact, it's worse than lacking incentive, the greater the "homeless problem", the more money Clallam County gets from the state and federal governments and NGOs to fix it.... That money (that is likely pocketed and/or spent on different things) would dry up if the "homeless problem" were solved.
Why are there so many multi generational drug addicted, unemployed families in PA? It's like the town breeds addicts and vagrant. Why? Is it the town's communist roots?
The town was conservative when it had well paying jobs...but...the unions were taken over by the communists decades ago, so they are communist in nature, now.
I know a longshore guy who is old and broken but still stays on the roles because he gets well over $100,000/yr whether he works or not.
This is how the communists control everything.
You will vote the way your union tells you to vote and the taxpayers/consumers pick up the tab for all the largesse involved in the unions buying/coercing votes...that's just one arm of the beast.
Further, when the decent jobs go away, addiction skyrockets, families break up, economies are destroyed which paves the way for a gov't addicted grant-reliant society to form around 'welfare' state.
It's hard to see the problem when your pay depends on you not seeing the problem which ever end of the economic spectrum you are on.
It's all diabolically clever and planned and executed.
We have the cheapest electric rates in the 48 states and good leadership could have started building SOME kind of scalable industries but they either had no vision or were unable to attract 'investors' or they just didn't care as long as they 'got theirs'!
I don't know... but nature abhors a vacuum and that's where the NWO globalists come in, using socialism/communism or fascism or any other ism to infiltrate and occupy local gov'ts and thereby take control...gradualism is their specialty...stealth...watch "The Speech That Got JFK Killed", it's all over the 'net'.
BTW: What do Inter-NETS and World-Wide-WEBS do?
Catch things?
What does NSA do? Receive things?
What becomes of ALL the data we scan, peruse, share, etc.?
Just sayin'...we are in the belly of the beast...I sure hope there is a loving God waiting on the other side!😎
Personally, I believe its partly the red carpets rolled out for them-- pizza and boofing kits, free housing, and a generally mild climate. Would you rather be a drug addict here or in Arizona, where you have to endure 115° summers? Or Montana in the winter?
Those of us who have actually studied the evil ways of the criminals who have been working to undermine and destroy America from within, know that these evil infiltrators need to worm their way into government and positions of power (legally and otherwise), to be able to inflict as much damage as possible to our system and communities from within the system~! It is actually a well-known tactic where these embedded criminals infiltrate communities to then drain the public taxpayer funds, while of course skimming off money for themselves and their crony friends, as they fund anything and everything that will bring more harm to the community. Obviously, these criminals know how to bully good folks who dare to question their obvious criminal efforts, so they regularly accuse "us" of the very "evil" things that they themselves are really doing~! Lie, deflect, and blame everyone else~! When Americans have suffered enough, hopefully before there is a complete catastrophe with many injuries and deaths, "we" will come together to throw these criminals of humanity out of office and prosecute them as the treasonous scumbags that really are~! Sincerely, Mike
all the derelict towns that used to be, have everything anyone would want. Only, as a collective group, we have lost our ability to create something from nothing -- we are all too reliant on urban living, corporations, and government.
Even though my wife and I have been in the professional world for many moons, we have always gravitated towards the habit of working on our own projects. We build pole barns, houses, garages, outbuildings, you name it. My wife is a gifted mechanic (gas and diesel) and there is nothing that we are afraid to tackle... We are deeply involved in our Individual sciences as scientists but learning how to get things done is what makes us happy ;-) I can't remember the last bison that I had to hunt down, but as an old horseman I have ridden everything from donkeys to horses and camels~! Ha! We also find ourselves aging "gracefully" (?) so we know what you mean about starting from scratch, but all of the good folks in this community can accomplish great things if we want and/or need to~! Never give up~! Have a great evening~!
MY wife and I often wonder if we were born too late in history, because we are VERY "old school country Spirited" and we love to do for ourselves! We believe in trying to be as self-sufficient as reasonably possible, but we also believe in the community of good folks here who have not lost that sense of working and bartering together to help each other. As this time in history has become more difficult and dangerous, we have seen the good folks make great efforts to come together to help each other and to work together~! On the other hand, we have also seen people who we thought were good folks, turn on each other and take advantage of each other. Difficult times bring out the best in the best folks and the worst in the worst people. We have been very proud of the good folks in our community who know the value of working together, as it once was many decades ago for our ancestors~! Thanks for being such a good part of the community~! Sincerely, Mike
1% of 8B is 80,000,000...so around 80-160 Million psychopaths running around, some of which are in prison...some in public and private offices and A LOT running free!
I think we have a problem!
We don't have enough of ANYTHING to deal with this!
And 'they' have plans to get rid of most of us!
Dilemma, paradox, high strangeness!
"We gotta get outta this place, if it's the last thing we ever do!"😎
If it gets too dark, try calling out for Jesus...you never know...🤗
Definition: Psychopathy, or psychopathic personality, is a personality construct characterized by impaired empathy and remorse, persistent antisocial behavior, along with bold, disinhibited, and egocentric traits.
Mimi, Yikes, the older I get the more I think I'm morphing into one.
Maybe me too! I delineate sociopathy as everything a psychopath would do, except murder, I have known sociopaths but I don't know if I've known true psychopaths. One never knows, they often have a lot of intelligence and charm.
Discernment is our only way to take care of ourselves.😊
Yeah, after I read that, and his other books, I had to look around every office I went into, count heads, and wonder which one was the nutjob. It's a hobby.
Ron, what is this all about? Splain yourself. Are you just advertising? Sounds good, but Clallam County needs support. Not expansion to support outside our county.
"Dangerous kindness" sums up the problem perfectly. If I point a gun to my head in public, how much will the public pay me to not pull the trigger. It turns out the answer is lots. Indigence, homelessness and drug addiction are proven to be incurable. Yet we throw money at the incurable. I liken homelessness to cancer. Cancer research has long been a mammoth industry complete with institutes, organizations and never ending fund raisers. Despite all the money and resources invested in both homelessness and cancer, they prevail. I am not offering an answer. I am offering what history dictates; money is not the answer.
Exactly! These programs are not intended to solve the problems. They're intended to bring in federal money to enrich the politicians.
bandaids and virtue signaling on the symptoms not the disease. Needed: Tough love, zero tolerance , forced structure , forced drug treatment, forced mental illness treatment. That is humane and compassionate not the current ongoing enabling that is a bottom less pit of throwing money at the problem sic the symptoms
AMEN!!!!!! Now, tell that to our Commissioners!
We ain't tellin' them NOTHIN'!
They're tellin' US.......for now!😎
The 'silent' gun of communism is pointed at all our heads...that's why 'the state' is in such a hurry to disarm the citizens! It's easier to slaughter unarmed people.☠️
I view the homeless situation as a symptom of a greater problem. LOL Off topic but when I switched from Windows 10 to 11 the new software now begins to finish my sentences.
Though money may not be the answer because it is often misdirected if located in the correct hands it is a powerful weapon.
This is what mail in voting gets us. A political environment so corrupt, where one party rule is destroying everything they say they are fighting for. And the sad part is it won't be fixed. This has been a 40 year problem in this state.
This is a part of why we are headed to the OMC meeting tomorrow. OMC has been to Washington DC to plead for increase payouts for the Medicare services that they perform. Just to bring them the $s for what other hospitals receive. NO HELP coming! And how about those fine reps in Olympia - Washington State is in the bottom 5 states of all 50 for Medicaid payout. And what is 85 % of the OMC revenue? Medicare and Medicaid patients! But Olympia continues and persists! Any wonder the state and county tis broke! Oh BTW Seal St Park denizens were back yesterday, late afternoon.
60 violations noted by the dept of health doesnt help. Negligence in action
Make sure to include fraud in the mix!😎
Is the legal term malfeasance for OMC's lack of action? 60 violations apparently never addressed by the Administrators. Showing a lack of "diligence, action, and accountability". A deliberate cover up of the problems by anyone with knowledge of these problems either working for OMC or those from the community privy to the communications? And to what end? Out there someplace, are there individuals and/or groups of people who have much to gain if OMC is shuttered?
The immediate problem facing us On August 6, is there any way to immediately satisfy the state and keep the doors open. Or have decisions already been made behind closed doors and August 15th is etched in stone. "Just because you are paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't after you."
OMC wasn’t performing my abortions, so I’ve been told. It hasn’t been providing “gender-affirming care,” either.
In Port Angeles alone, of 28 currently registered offenders 10 are transient and/or failure to register (not including Abram, and situations like his are pretty frequent so who knows the real #s). It's frustrating to walk through town early on a Saturday after a work week and see many of them hanging out at the same old spots using their free supplies while pondering how many of my peers will never get to retire as the county taxes us out of any equity we managed to acquire. While PBH says it will not house registered SO, it will prioritize the chronically homeless/addicted. Young single parents and widowed seniors quietly living in vehicles or on friends couches are deprioritized. Like many things in Clallam, priorities are all wrong.
This is a VERY apropos article from Promethean Action. It shows that the problem is widespread, yet NO ONE ever even reduces it-- they just continue to grow it.
Ending the Homeless Industrial Complex: The Washington State Story
Seattle’s homeless crisis is fueled by a powerful nonprofit-political machine that profits from enabling addiction, with little oversight or accountability. A new Trump executive order aims to dismantle this system and restore order to Washington State.
https://www.prometheanaction.com/ending-the-homeless-industrial-complex-the-washington-state-story/
Thanks! I also suggest watching this video on drug addiction and homelessness...straight from a former addict: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=383rzhC1EKE
Please take 5 minutes and read the link. Thanks No One Important for posting. Informative and deeply disturbing.
https://www.prometheanaction.com/ending-the-homeless-industrial-complex-the-washington-state-story/
The Promethean article is certainly provocative, but it leans heavily on ideological framing and historical revisionism. Blaming nonprofits wholesale for systemic dysfunction ignores the complexity of addiction, poverty, and housing instability. Reform is needed, yes but dismantling services without viable alternatives risks deepening the crisis.
And let’s not pretend Housing First is still the uncontested gold standard. Even Sam Tsemberis, the originator of the model, has acknowledged its limitations. Communities across the country are already pivoting away from Housing First as a one-size-fits-all solution, recognizing that addiction and mental illness require more than just a roof.
Criticizing yesterday’s failures without acknowledging today’s course corrections is like dragging your spouse through the same tired argument long after the apology’s been made and the behavior has changed. At some point, it's no longer about fixing the problem, it's about nursing the grudge.
Ah yes, the ‘Homeless Industrial Complex’--where the real crime is compassion, and the solution is apparently to criminalize poverty until it disappears. Bold strategy. Let’s see how that plays out.
And let’s remember: punishment alone has never been a reliable deterrent. During the French Revolution, the penalty for even petty theft was the guillotine...and yet pickpockets worked the crowd at executions with impunity. If that doesn’t tell us something about the futility of theatrical justice, what will?
We need accountability, transparency, and real outcomes not a scorched-earth policy that conflates compassion with collapse
Powdermonkey, sure wish you would come down to earth and not write like you are turning in a thesis for an academic degree. We are just everyday people who don't wish to strain our brain to get your point. Too much, too many, too machine like.
Jennifer, I get it...thinking hard. But if reading with comprehension feels like "too much" or "too machine-like," perhaps the issue isn’t my writing but the bandwidth of your reception.
This isn’t academic posturing, it’s precision. I write the way I do because vague platitudes and bumper-sticker reasoning aren’t cutting it in the civic department. I’m not interested in dumbing things down to make everyone feel comfortable. Comfort’s not how problems get solved. Complexity isn’t the enemy, willful oversimplification is.
And for the record: powdermonkeys didn’t pack fluff, they packed force. I’m not here to hand out participation trophies in the marketplace of ideas.
Accountability, Transparency and Real Outcomes are in short supply if you haven't noticed...so what's your 'realistic', grounded plan?
How much 'powder' did you use? 🤣
Ah yes, when the powder settles, the puns arrive. Classic diversion tactic: crack a joke when things get too real.
You want realism? Let’s start with this--sarcasm doesn’t solve structural rot. If “short supply” is your diagnosis, then maybe we stop reordering from the same broken inventory. You don’t fix civic dysfunction by mocking momentum. You fix it by showing up with more than wisecracks and cynicism in your toolkit.
So while you’re measuring powder, some of us are measuring policy failures in overdose rates, eviction notices, and empty follow-up plans. If that sounds “too intense,” maybe the problem isn’t the powder, it’s the numbness.
Now, if you’ve got a plan that runs deeper than emoji and ennui, lay it out. But if all you’re packing is punchlines, don’t be surprised when the serious work happens without you.
Puns reflect truth Monkey, are you unfamiliar with the Jester who was given wide latitude to mock and criticize as a way to reduce tension between the rulers and the ruled. You should be thanking me, rather than chastising!
I think you may be focused on the problem rather than the solution, which is to let things be what they are and let the chips fall where they may.
I do have compassion for anyone who thinks they can 'save the world'!
Self-delusion is the most effective kind!
I sure hope the serious work happens without me, 'cause I think we have different ideas about what that might be!😎
BTW, I haven't seen you offer any 'grounded in reality' plan, just a bunch of pointing out problems we are aware of!
😊 Jennifer.
It's all theatrical at some point...so what's the solution?...my pockets are already bare...are the wealthy going to step it up and offer more moolah...which also doesn't work?
Criticisms are good...we need them...where does reality fit in?
And who decided that EVERYONE has to be saved?
Only a Godless society would even be worried about dying...it's inevitable for all and a relief for many! 😎
“Only a godless society would worry about dying... it’s inevitable for all and a relief for many.” 😎
This isn’t policy skepticism; it’s nihilism lacquered in smugness. When suffering becomes a punchline and death is pitched as cost-effective closure, we’re no longer debating solutions, we are confronting a cultural pathology.
This attitude isn't just grotesque. It's moral cowardice. It replaces compassion with calculus, humanity with hedging. It doesn't seek to fix what’s broken, it seeks to bury it and call it efficiency.
And let’s be brutally honest: if your proposed fix for systemic suffering is to normalize premature death, you're not offering pragmatism. You’re peddling cruelty.
Compassion isn't a luxury reserved for the religious or the rich. It's the only thing standing between civil society and sanctioned abandonment. If this is the moral framework we’re working with, then we’re not just failing the vulnerable, we’re forfeiting our claim to decency
How many people have you, personally, given a hand up to get out of abject poverty?
Didn't know we were keeping score...Mimi, I hear your frustration. But let me be blunt: I voted. I showed up. I hired people off the street, paid them fairly, mentored them, gave them tools to rebuild. For 20 years, I put skin in the game...no op-eds needed.
So when you imply that engagement starts and ends with a theory, I have to ask: how does that square with the receipts? Because moral outrage is easy to stylize, but action leaves fingerprints, and I’ve got two decades' worth.
If you’re questioning my right to speak on systemic problems because I use rhetoric with teeth, maybe the issue isn’t relevance--it’s that sometimes relevance stings.
We're already deep in cultural pathology Monkey.
And death isn't cruelty...it's inevitable and reality...and it's not premature...not one person EVER died prematurely...every one, ever, died at the exact time they did.
It isn't grotesque or moral cowardice...it's reality and moral courage to accept what reality is...only someone who has no faith in life eternally changing form and evolving or devolving would call it grotesque or cowardly...You and no one else can 'fix' anything here.
Free will is a mixed blessing at best but you cannot 'save' anyone, ever...if they are 'saved' it's by their own choice with support from Spirit...you are arrogant to think you can 'fix' the world in any way, shape or form...it is the way it is for a reason and 'you can fight with reality but you lose...but only 100% of the time.' Byron Katie
I fight with it and lose all the time but I know the truth of it. I struggle against injustice and fraud and all criminal activities but I am powerless to change anything...does that mean I won't express myself?
Probably not, I am too human, still!
We already have an uncivilized society and sanctioned abandonment.
Your moral framework doesn't account for the reality that most of these severely ill and addicted CLEARLY WANT OUT!
So, to make some one stay and suffer is NOT compassion or decency.
It is cruelty in it's most devious form.
BTW, what exactly is the problem with nihilism...it's also reality!
Where is your working plan for redistributing wealth and housing , feeding, clothing, treating 8 billion+ (mostly ignorant) people on a smallish finite planet which is 2/3 desert on the land masses and mostly a large saline pond, with limited and shrinking fresh water...who's delusional?😎
Yeah, and the real problem with revolution is no one knows where and when to stop the killing...but humanity has always been collectively insane.
See YT, 'After Skool' channel: How-An-Entire-Population-Becomes-Mentally-Ill.
We will never rationalize our way through or out of this situation...sociopaths and psychopaths always seek and gain power because they will do things a moral/ethical person will not...they congregate in political positions and public and private institutions, removed from 'the common folk' whom they despise and see only as a necessary evil by which to meet their ends.
It may be cynical but it's the reality of 'this world'.
Almost no one in positions of power, at any level, is the least bit interested in common sense, rational discourse, sharing power, truth, justice, liberty, accountability or any higher value ideology.
I hope you come up with a formula that works...best of luck!🍀
The simple facts: homeless shelters have rigid rules, rules that do NOT allow someone to get back on their feet after a setback. My experiences (getting friends out of the cycle) is that: shelters don't allow their addresses to be used for unemployment/welfare/aid/resumes for job searches, etc.; many shelters, especially those attached to religious organizations, require a "breakfast attendance" (usually between 8-9am) and then a curfew of 9pm. This doesn't allow ANY outside employment because most businesses require a start time between 8-9, and all retail employment requires a worker to stay until closing (9pm). They do not allow computer use on premises. The library (from my experience) tried to discourage "the homeless" from using computers without a library card (unobtainable because of the lack of address, see above). Checking out and reading books was out. But they were given bus transit passes, for unlimited bus (and BART) riding all day.
When someone was sick, they were told to not come to the shelter.
So, they'd get sicker, and ride public transit longer, to maximum vector (spread of disease).
Likewise drug use was never discouraged, just "not where we can see it". (Which to me, subtly encouraged use.) People just being "warehoused" don't really have any purpose in life. They weren't allowed to "help" at the shelter. They weren't required to have any real purpose at all.
Meanwhile SSRI use was insane -- and promoted, and heavily mandated for some. (SSRIs for "depression and anxiety" also tend to make people more compliant.) There were also drugs for ADHD (basically speed, they drugs were never the cutting-edge ones). ADHD drugs were heavily pushed on kids, yet when these youth were emancipated, they were told "they didn't need the drugs". (A huge number of Meth users were ADHD diagnosed/treated kids.)
Once those people were booted after their 90-day per year maximum, there was no follow up, except to go to a free clinic, that was always packed to the rafters. (You could arrive at opening, wait all day, then get a "chit" for priority the next day, but no "guarantees".) People stopping SSRI's cold have "discontinuation syndrome" (flu-like symptoms, sleep disturbances, nausea, dizziness, mood changes, inability to concentrate, gastro disturbances, anxiety, irritability, agitation, and aggression, often suicide). There is ZERO follow up, and no way to refill a prescription, of course, people turn to whatever they can get: street drugs.
Oh yeah, this one shelter discouraged people from "flushing" after each use (to reduce water use) so all toilets would be flushed only 3 times a day (no matter how many people used them). Of course the plumbing backed up regularly. Showers were only allowed once a week. Handwashing was not encouraged. Laundry had to be done off premises (there was no parking for "tenants") and the nearest laundromat was blocks away. It seemed to me this was creating the "great unwashed" that would be even less able to integrate with society.
When I sat down with the charity running this place I was told "this is the model we were TOLD to take, and the rules we HAD to impose, to stop chaos". I was also told to mind my own business because I wasn't "an expert". I tried writing some articles about it, but, couldn't sell the articles. No one cared, literally.
I routinely moved friends into my house, so they could get jobs, and get into section-8 housing, get services, get into the non-free/sliding-scale clinics, etc. All but one has been ultimately successful (that one is, again, living in her car, four children later.... there is no helping some). There is only so much one person can do. (And only so much one person can tolerate. Not everyone wants help.)
I came to the conclusion that the shelters have, for a long time, been following the Learned Helplessness Experiment, by psychologists Martin Seligman and Steven Maier (1960s) where there are two groups of dogs that sit in closed cages, half get random electric shocks to their feet. They protest, they protest, and then finally they are silent. Once silent, even if the cage door is left open, the dogs just lay and accept the shocks. The others had levers in the cage that will stop the shocks. They will always try and escape the cages, but they would have horrible trauma, and long-lasting distrust. Huh.
The depressive effect of the homeless-industrial complex is the lack control in one's life that leads to further chronic homelessness. Trapped with no way to better the situation makes people give up. Add drugs to the mix.. great. Add severe mental illness -- to prey upon the others, and then the morally deficit (people who would rob their own grandmother) and you have people trapped in an industry of "Homeless care".
It's why nothing should be 'for free' and shelters should change their models to help people get REAL HELP, to integrate back into the workforce, etc. Giving someone a free home when they haven't had to even wash a dish for years is just insanity. Why do we see "homeless" sitting around doing nothing all the time?
We have always had homeless in this country. ALWAYS. But heck, they were not sit-on-your-ass, entitled, do-nuthin's before. Even the train-riding Hobo was more active, and industrious, on a bad day. This is a problem of our own making.
Hence the Homeless/Addicted Industrial Complex.
Suffering doesn't matter...only profit!🤓
Too true...a problem of our own making! Love your work!😊
We have had a 'generation gap' for about 150 years +- but now we have a chasm between generations...too much has changed too fast and our priorities of God(or whatever you call the Great Intelligence), Family, Country have been eroded away and we are more fractionated than ever...inevitable when we 'do our own thing' with and anything goes attitude, I guess.
Anyway, thanks for your experienced and thoughtful responses and thanks for tolerating my often 'radical' expressions also based on thought and experience.🤗
There’s no denying that many shelters are built on bureaucratic rigidity masquerading as structure. Your account of administrative failure, the address loopholes, employment barriers, sanitation negligence, is damning and essential. But documenting dysfunction shouldn’t turn into excusing disdain.
Learned helplessness may apply, but be careful it doesn’t become learned contempt. Suggesting that people who’ve endured this cycle are “entitled do-nuthin’s” doesn’t provoke reform--it props up the worst kind of caricature: that suffering creates laziness, and misery is a lifestyle choice.
Shelters designed like holding pens don't foster initiative, they manufacture despair. Stripping someone of agency and dignity doesn’t teach resilience. It teaches surrender.
And the idea that “nothing should be for free”? Fine, let’s debate incentives and dignity. But if we can offer billionaires tax shelters, surely we can offer actual shelters without turning them into behavioral correction camps.
We haven’t always had this kind of homelessness; not this industrialized chaos, not this abandonment camouflaged as order. And blaming the trapped for being trapped is how you end up defending the cage.
Real help doesn’t start with scorn. It starts with systems designed to do more than recycle trauma and call it care.
Certainly we can offer incentives. People need carrots (and sticks) to stay motivated.
But, au contraire, we HAVE had this level of homelessness in our past, or would have, if plans had not been put in place. In the 1800s we had zero "welfare" help for widowed women/children, and disabled. Vagrants could sleep in police stations at night "vagrant rooms" were the homeless shelters. There wasn't much else. There WERE hospitals for the mentally affirmed, and orphanages for children. There were some homes for wayward women (but they were aimed at training them to do factory work).
Largely, if there wasn't family, many were left to their own devices (to starve).
After the Civil War (1870's) there was massive homelessness called 'itinerant tramps' that wandered in search of work. The view, until recently wasn't the "lack of housing" but the lack of JOBS.
Some of our home-grown American literature raised the romance of "hobos". Most all of the migrant farmer laborers were white males.
But we had boarding houses (where a widow/widower would rent out rooms in their homes... an early AirBnB scheme) and flop houses (cheap single room lodging, usually derelict hotels) and "trailers for sale or rent". But, in the rush to "revitalize" in the 70's and 80's we tore down the flop houses and, got rid of the trailer parks. Many communities discouraged renting out rooms in private homes. We got rid of the mental institutions, and the orphanages. We stopped housing those who could not help themselves. We ended the "old age homes" for a profit minded "assisted living facilities".
What we have is a confluence of things --- but, the basic premise, for me, is still lack of jobs, and lack of employable labor.
"We, the unwilling, have done the impossible for the ungrateful...we have done so much, for so long, for so little...we are now qualified to do anything, with nothing"! Old military saying.
Mimi, I won’t argue the history you’ve drawn a compelling arc. Boarding houses, flop hotels, institutional care, all removed under the banner of progress but without a contingency plan for those left behind. That vacuum didn’t just open up; it metastasized.
But while you trace systemic decay, I’ve spent two decades trying to plug the gaps; hiring people who couldn’t pass background checks, mentoring folks who were halfway to giving up, and challenging elected officials who treat “homelessness” like a talking point instead of a human crisis. My methods weren’t theoretical--they were operational.
Yes, joblessness and de-skilling are culprits. But they don’t operate in isolation. We built systems that punish instability and reward inertia. I didn’t romanticize hobos, I offered real humans a shot at autonomy. So when I speak out, it’s not from detachment. It’s from immersion.
You highlight carrots and sticks. I offer ladders. Because if shelter isn’t a step it’s just a stall.
The contempt is toward corrupt communist officials who are actively making things much worse by adopting NWO 'save the environment' policies with no public debate or input and nothing but worsening conditions to show for it...it is planned this way...nothing this big happens by mistake or only incompetence.
Best of luck getting laws to strip the wealthy of their hoard and redistributing it with any useful impact...it doesn't solve mental illness, addiction, etc., why don't you research the communist agenda and see if any of that lines up with the problems you see...I totally agree there are better ways, but I have no idea how to implement them and the current implementations are disastrous and getting worse, and I'm not talking Trump, I'm talking local, regional, state level corruption.😬
One might think this is altruism, to take care of our local folks down on their luck! Horsepucky! They specifically attract them with these perks, competing with other Democrat-run cities and counties. The more of a "homeless" problem they can create, the more federal and NGO money flows in, mostly unaccounted for. This means that out of $20M dollars, $13M goes for luxury apartments, $10K goes for pizzas, $10K goes for syringes and boofing kits, another $10K goes for signs and posters telling where the freebies are, $1M goes to food banks, etc, and that leaves about $5.9M to end up in the pockets of politicians and/or spent on other things that the public would never approve of.
No, I don't have data to prove that, but consider: Why else does each Democrat-run county and city roll out the red carpet to ATTRACT addicts and vagrants? Why have all the $BILLIONS spent on this across the country only made the problem worse, not better? Think about it-- this is NOT to help people get their lives together or solve problems, it is SOLELY to get unaccounted-for money to come in. This is how politicians get rich on their public service salaries. It's horsepucky, to put it mildly. It's a "boofing kit" for the taxpayer to get screwed!
put out the sugar and the ants will come
unless they are grease ants
How about piss-ants? As in 'knee high to a piss-ant'?😊
Communism in action, Bro!
It ALWAYS ends in a bloodbath of one kind or another.
The god(s) of this world 'at play'!😱
If the job of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Olympic Medical Center (OMC)is to oversee its employees, wouldn’t that CEO be responsible for non-compliance with Medicare and Medicaid? If the OMC board of commissioners has not overseen corrections of violations cited by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), than are they doing their job? What are our OMC commissioners actually doing? They are going to hire a firm, at a cost, to pick an interim CEO. Why do we need a board of commissioners at all? Are they there just to approve expenditures?
White-collar criminals...the most misunderstood and coddled (rewarded) of all.
Put them in the same camps as the insane, violent, etc., since they are part of the same problem!🤗
Whatever happened to segregating the violent and insane from the general population?
Oh, yeah...creeping socialism! How silly of me to forget!😱
Yes, which is why he skedaddled.
Eric, you will rarely see a CEO mingling with the employees. In fact, if their feet hit the wards, it would only be to get to the exit.
which is why it should be a requirement that they shadow every job in the hospital (and/or corporation, and/or city/county/state) and get their hands dirty. Wash the floors, clean the vomit, repaint the walls, and, learn what really goes on.
Hell the heads of these organizations MAKE ENOUGH MONEY. (No human is worth what some of these people receive.) If you don't spend the time to know what your employees DO, then you're useless as a boss.
Once the lofty titles (CEO) and high wages inflate their egos, and infect their pea-brains they are lost as leaders.
Part of the dark agenda...how to profit from destruction/crises!
Nothing happens by accident. Some meta-physicians would say not even accidents are completely accidental!🥸
Can’t get their shoes dirty
They are bean-counters, at best, we are the beans!🫘😎
Mostly counting their own beans!🤑
or eating them, which accounts for a lot of the aromatic hot air.
🤣"Personal reasons". Means 'I have gotten away with fraud, theft, incompetence, theft, corruption and dereliction of duty...but don't take it PERSONALLY!'😱
We are all on agreement I think that giving free drugs to addicts is about as stupid as it gets, if resolving the addiction problem is the goal. This is a classic example of the difference between progressive vs conservative philosophies. Only winning elections can solve this ridiculous philosophy of free stuff without accountability and the notion that taxpayer dollars come from a bottomless well.
Unlimited drugs in collective-isolation would be the most humane way to deal with it, but that is too practical and not so profitable in the long term!
This problem is not going away because it's engineered to be the way it is!
Ground Hog's Day!😱
unfortunately they aren't giving "free drugs" that would offend the Cartels.
Does anyone feel safe in CC anymore? I don't. It's hard to accept what is really happening, but we do need to be aware so that we can be alert and prepared. Jeff is helping us realize the big changes here and why they are happening. Don't look away and think that will solve the problems. Say something if you see something. Together we can turn things around.
Heck, I lived in California for the majority of my formative years, in areas that were beyond "sketchy". I feel safe EVERYWHERE. Safe isn't a place, it's a state of mind.
That's because you're sassy and everyone knows not to mess with you, Mimi.
Well, I did shoot someone, once.
Jeff keeps a glue gun under his pillow.....it was a line he wrote when someone asked him if he felt threatened. It made my day.
And a bedazzler in the nightstand. I'll craft the hell out of anyone who dares wake me before 8am.
I am sure they deserved it.
Maybe she is well-armed.
The solution? How about some barbed and concertina wire enclosed tent cities ala Sheriff Joe Arpaio? There’s a need (see, I can talk “needs” too) for at least 3 or 4 to separate the different degrees of offenders. I would build them in our National Park just on the south side of the PA bypass I propose.
That luxury housing unit, is it at 2nd and Oak?
Another plank in my solution - run PBH out of Dodge, I mean PA.
Are you suggesting we apply common sense and justice to our situation?
How dare you!😂
I'll walk the 'plank' with you!
Root-Hog-Or-Die!
'If we're going along with the crowd, we're probably headed in the wrong direction.'
Unless it's the "Crowd of Truth, Justice, Liberty, Accountability and Tough Love"!😊
You aren't seeing the "beauty" of it. These types of projects are tax-scams, government approved. A REIT (real estate investment trust) invests in building "homeless housing" and in exchange they get a dollar-for-dollar Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC). For every dollar you put in, you get a dollar off your taxes (these are for people who pay hundreds of thousands in taxes each year). Different LHITCs work differently (I haven't researched the tax laws behind them, lately). There are "special needs" and "ELI Basis Boost" and "Expanded Eligibility" Blah blah blah. Its all quite interesting, and beneficial, mostly.
But where there is MONEY there are scams. There is LIMITED IRS OVERSIGHT on these projects and the GEO (government accountability office) is overwhelmed. It's a 'trust us, we're experts" kind of thing.
Inflated housing COSTS (which is why the local luxury housing has dishwashers and probably marble counters? The dog washing station, and electric car hookups -- anything to increase the cost.) It isn't about making sense.
Some of these REITS end a few years after the building is built, and cause the building to sell -- at market rate. So, they return to the non-homeless market.
I don't know the particulars of THIS ONE, but followed some huge scams a few years back in Chicago (the home of the best scams).
SEEE! We've been saying...good one Mimi!😎
ooh look the city still has no takers for someone to build housing on the old pump-house site. The deadlines keep slipping... (meaning a lack of response, in my book). https://www.cityofpa.us/Bids.aspx?BidID=411
Maybe we should rename it "Scamallam County". Still sounds native but with a twist!😎
If you read the automated transcripts from the County and City — Clallam is often written as “Clown County”… to my endless delight.
'O'Bummer' came out of the political machine in Chi-town!
Always thought that was kind of creepy how he just manifested out of thin air...cousin to the Bush family, ironically enough...a den of serpents!😊
Put them all in one pen...and call it 'the blender'!
Is that too harsh?😂
Bartertown?
Animal Farm?😱
All the millions and billions spent resolving homelessness do only one thing — provide nice salaries to professional members of the Homeless Industrial Complex so they can hand out the freebies. In PA, that’s PBH, Rediscovery, Serenity House and some of the staff at NOHN — all well connected to the sources of money, too. TAFY just received a nice grant.
🤑
Great analysis and article @Jeff Tozzer, thank you!
I did some related research yesterday of my own time become better informed. I see that there's a notable darth of data related to homelessness/drug abuse/related crime programs outcome targets, metrics/KPIs, and program efficacy. Homeless counts (estimated up to ~300) are measured (by Serenty House), but other critical data is either not reported or simply not collected. Clallam is behind and falling more behind other Counties in this management area. Additionally, having Commissioners (example Ozias) serve on supporting NGOs is highly irregular and is generally not allowed in most States/Counties.
I believe that at the root of the lack of efficacy of Clallam's approach to these problems (like other areas in WA) is an incestuous set of policies and practices that are in a race to the bottom. In corporate America, the race is a race to the top (think Apple phones), whereas in the area of Homelessness/drug abuse/related crime, there is no incentive to solve the problem and put yourself ot your friend out of a job. Perhaps this is what another reader meant by the Homeless Industrial Complex.
Until we also break the endemic and incestuous policies and practices of the groups and NGOs providing support, we can expect Clallam's Homelessness/drug abuse/related crime to slowly increase.
BINGO! Well said! In fact, it's worse than lacking incentive, the greater the "homeless problem", the more money Clallam County gets from the state and federal governments and NGOs to fix it.... That money (that is likely pocketed and/or spent on different things) would dry up if the "homeless problem" were solved.
Jeff I admire your work and tenacity.
Why are there so many multi generational drug addicted, unemployed families in PA? It's like the town breeds addicts and vagrant. Why? Is it the town's communist roots?
The town was conservative when it had well paying jobs...but...the unions were taken over by the communists decades ago, so they are communist in nature, now.
I know a longshore guy who is old and broken but still stays on the roles because he gets well over $100,000/yr whether he works or not.
This is how the communists control everything.
You will vote the way your union tells you to vote and the taxpayers/consumers pick up the tab for all the largesse involved in the unions buying/coercing votes...that's just one arm of the beast.
Further, when the decent jobs go away, addiction skyrockets, families break up, economies are destroyed which paves the way for a gov't addicted grant-reliant society to form around 'welfare' state.
It's hard to see the problem when your pay depends on you not seeing the problem which ever end of the economic spectrum you are on.
It's all diabolically clever and planned and executed.
We have the cheapest electric rates in the 48 states and good leadership could have started building SOME kind of scalable industries but they either had no vision or were unable to attract 'investors' or they just didn't care as long as they 'got theirs'!
I don't know... but nature abhors a vacuum and that's where the NWO globalists come in, using socialism/communism or fascism or any other ism to infiltrate and occupy local gov'ts and thereby take control...gradualism is their specialty...stealth...watch "The Speech That Got JFK Killed", it's all over the 'net'.
BTW: What do Inter-NETS and World-Wide-WEBS do?
Catch things?
What does NSA do? Receive things?
What becomes of ALL the data we scan, peruse, share, etc.?
Just sayin'...we are in the belly of the beast...I sure hope there is a loving God waiting on the other side!😎
Personally, I believe its partly the red carpets rolled out for them-- pizza and boofing kits, free housing, and a generally mild climate. Would you rather be a drug addict here or in Arizona, where you have to endure 115° summers? Or Montana in the winter?
Those of us who have actually studied the evil ways of the criminals who have been working to undermine and destroy America from within, know that these evil infiltrators need to worm their way into government and positions of power (legally and otherwise), to be able to inflict as much damage as possible to our system and communities from within the system~! It is actually a well-known tactic where these embedded criminals infiltrate communities to then drain the public taxpayer funds, while of course skimming off money for themselves and their crony friends, as they fund anything and everything that will bring more harm to the community. Obviously, these criminals know how to bully good folks who dare to question their obvious criminal efforts, so they regularly accuse "us" of the very "evil" things that they themselves are really doing~! Lie, deflect, and blame everyone else~! When Americans have suffered enough, hopefully before there is a complete catastrophe with many injuries and deaths, "we" will come together to throw these criminals of humanity out of office and prosecute them as the treasonous scumbags that really are~! Sincerely, Mike
Somewhere in Nebraska maybe...I like Alligator Alley...we have A LOT of unused space for purposes of justice! A LOT of SPACE! Let's get to it!😎
There is SO MUCH UNUSED SPACE IN THE WORLD!🌎😊
all the derelict towns that used to be, have everything anyone would want. Only, as a collective group, we have lost our ability to create something from nothing -- we are all too reliant on urban living, corporations, and government.
OMG, I hate it when you're right like that!🙃
I have most of the skills it would take but too old to start from scratch and no one to pass any learning on to...oh, well...end of an age!
Better some social 'insecurity' than trying to catch a bison at my age!😊
Ha!
That is funny Robert James~!
Even though my wife and I have been in the professional world for many moons, we have always gravitated towards the habit of working on our own projects. We build pole barns, houses, garages, outbuildings, you name it. My wife is a gifted mechanic (gas and diesel) and there is nothing that we are afraid to tackle... We are deeply involved in our Individual sciences as scientists but learning how to get things done is what makes us happy ;-) I can't remember the last bison that I had to hunt down, but as an old horseman I have ridden everything from donkeys to horses and camels~! Ha! We also find ourselves aging "gracefully" (?) so we know what you mean about starting from scratch, but all of the good folks in this community can accomplish great things if we want and/or need to~! Never give up~! Have a great evening~!
Sincerely, Mike
Very true Mimi~!
MY wife and I often wonder if we were born too late in history, because we are VERY "old school country Spirited" and we love to do for ourselves! We believe in trying to be as self-sufficient as reasonably possible, but we also believe in the community of good folks here who have not lost that sense of working and bartering together to help each other. As this time in history has become more difficult and dangerous, we have seen the good folks make great efforts to come together to help each other and to work together~! On the other hand, we have also seen people who we thought were good folks, turn on each other and take advantage of each other. Difficult times bring out the best in the best folks and the worst in the worst people. We have been very proud of the good folks in our community who know the value of working together, as it once was many decades ago for our ancestors~! Thanks for being such a good part of the community~! Sincerely, Mike
The estimated psychopathy rate is around 1-2%
8 billion of us.
1% of 8B is 80,000,000...so around 80-160 Million psychopaths running around, some of which are in prison...some in public and private offices and A LOT running free!
I think we have a problem!
We don't have enough of ANYTHING to deal with this!
And 'they' have plans to get rid of most of us!
Dilemma, paradox, high strangeness!
"We gotta get outta this place, if it's the last thing we ever do!"😎
If it gets too dark, try calling out for Jesus...you never know...🤗
read: Snakes in Suits by Robert D. Hare -- he insists 1 in 10 people you work with are psychopaths.
Definition: Psychopathy, or psychopathic personality, is a personality construct characterized by impaired empathy and remorse, persistent antisocial behavior, along with bold, disinhibited, and egocentric traits.
Mimi, Yikes, the older I get the more I think I'm morphing into one.
Maybe me too! I delineate sociopathy as everything a psychopath would do, except murder, I have known sociopaths but I don't know if I've known true psychopaths. One never knows, they often have a lot of intelligence and charm.
Discernment is our only way to take care of ourselves.😊
That's 10 times my conservative assertion...now I'm disturbed!😳
We always knew you were, Robert. :-) :-)
Yeah, after I read that, and his other books, I had to look around every office I went into, count heads, and wonder which one was the nutjob. It's a hobby.
Keeps you sharp! I 'scan' like that too but now I'll be busier than ever!😎
Hey, keeps your brain engaged... it's what we have to do from the view on the downside of the hill.
And they all get into politics, it seems! :-)
WASHINGTON STATE HAS 38 COUNTIES ; 36 ARE CONSERVATIVE .
WASHINGTON STATE IS SEVERAL YEARS BEHIND CALIFORNIA, NEW YORK, NEW JERSEY , AND ILLINOIS CULTURALLY, SOCIALLY, AND FINANCIALLY.
HOW MANY OF YOU ON THIS SITE WOULD ASSIST IN FOUNDING (TIME, TALENT, TREASURE) " NEW WASHINGTON STATE"
HOW MANY WANT TO ELIMINATE PROPERTY TAXES?
HOW MANY WANT TO ELIMINATE THE MARXIST UTOPIAN MIRAGE?
Time Talent Treasure.... ITM.
I don't believe that. Clallam, Jefferson, King, Clark. The counties along the I-5 corridor are all liberal.... According to ChatGPT: https://chatgpt.com/share/6893daef-7f7c-800b-b991-94c69c2bf153
20 out of 39 counties are conservative, so that makes MUCH more sense than your data, Ron. Where did you get that?
demon rat party pollster
chatGBT IS WRONG
Then so is Grok: https://x.com/i/grok/share/xcaBfHwWI8bIMZ2qpu5YNp1Vd
OF 38 COUNTIES
32 ARE EITHER PURPLE OR RED
Ron, what is this all about? Splain yourself. Are you just advertising? Sounds good, but Clallam County needs support. Not expansion to support outside our county.