Re: Bad reporting Hazards to Homeless article

On Sat, 13 Apr 2024 14:26:26 -0700
BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:

In article <20240413162248.000059fe@example.com>,
 Rhino <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:
 

On Sat, 13 Apr 2024 12:19:04 -0700
BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:
 

In article <uve3ca$31lpn$1@dont-email.me>,
 "Adam H. Kerman" <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:
 

Uptown viaduct fire reminder of hazards to homeless: 'There
really is no peace'
By Caroline Kubzansky and Rebecca Johnson
Chicago Tribune
April 13, 2024 at 5:00 a.m.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2024/04/13/uptown-viaduct-fire-reminder-of-
haza
rds-to-homeless-there-really-is-no-peace/
 
Despite the headline, we learn IN THE THIRD PARAGRAPH that the
hazard in question to other homeless people was from a homeless
woman who, with either reckless disregard or murderous intent,
set her own tent on fire, which led to all the other tents
catching fire fire. Note that one of the homeless men
interviewed stated that the area under the viaduct is usually
fried, so there are fires set repeatedly.   

 
The 'progressive' media and politicians never give these people
any agency. All of the ills they both experience and commit--
from drug addiction, to crime, to sexual assault-- it's all
visited on them from some outside force beyond their control.
They are *never* held accountable for their own choices or their
own lives. They're treated as if they're helpless infants.
 

If the homeless were allowed agency, there would inevitably be
pressure to hold them accountable for their actions. That would
undermine the "progressive" Saviours who are going to fix
everything with vast new and expensive - and almost certainly
futile - programs to help the poor darlings. It's far better to
just declare them all to be helpless captives of their addictions
and mental health so that "help" can be applied in whatever fashion
the government and their agents in the civil service deem
necessary. Many many billions of tax dollars can then be wasted on
schemes that won't solve the problem but WILL enrich the agencies
that run the schemes.

That headline was misleading, and I'd say who set the fire
should have been stated in the first paragraph.   

 
A misleading headline, a misleading article, in the legacy media?
Surely you jest!
 

In paragraph six, the murder of a well-known homeless man (who
walked without disturbing others rather than just sitting in a
doorway) was conflated. But the crime against him was attempted
murder by someone who was not homeless; he was set on fire while
sleeping. It became a murder as he later died of injuries
sustained.
 
This was just bad reporting entirely. The danger from homeless
encampments under viaducts is that one or more individuals will
set fires, and fires spread. Gee. Fires can even destroy
viaducts. Maybe allowing "permanent" encampments once people
start fires is horrifically bad public policy.   

 
You should have seen the tortured leaps of illogic and linguistic
legerdemain that Newsom and Karen Bass went through to avoid
admitting the fact that it was a vagrant encampment that they let
flourish that was responsible for burning down the 10 freeway back
before Christmas.
 
Nevertheless, the vagrants *were* responsible for the fire. So now
we have vagrants cutting one of the most traveled freeways in the
nation in half. When it was down, there was talk of merchandise
shortages all the way on the East Coast because of the blockage.
 

 
"When it was down...." Am I correct in inferring from your verb
tense that 10 has been repaired and is now flowing normally? How
did they accomplish that so quickly? Infrastructure projects
typically take ages to plan and execute. 

 
Newsom waived all the environmental regulations and bureaucracy
relating to contractor bidding with emergency executive orders. They
had it partially open within a week and completely fixed within a
month.
 
Amazing what can happen when government gets the hell out of the way,
isn't it?
 

I remember reading that a previous Cali governor did that when a major
expressway was damaged by an earthquake (probably the Northridge one).
The road was back up and running in 9 days if I remember correctly.

What's the latest estimate on getting the Key Bridge back up? Seven
years? Ten years?

The White
House declared it a national emergency. This is what vagrants are
now doing and what has been the response? Nothing. Vagrants are
still being allowed to camp under freeways because literally
noting they do is bad enough to inconvenience them in any way.
 
Take down a freeway? Not bad enough.
 
Burn down a forest, destroy a couple hundred homes and kill a few
people? You go ahead and keep camping in the hills. It would be
insensitive of us to bother you. 

 
Who is running for governor this time around? I assume Newsom will
have an opponent or two. Are any of them likely to be competitive?
I keep thinking there must be lots of people in California who are
beyond sick of Gov. Hairgel and would love to see a change. 

 
There is no governors race this year.

Oh yeah; I forgot about the staggered governor elections and thought he
was up for election again.

Newsom is only halfway through
his second term. After that he can't run again so he won't have any
opponents.

At least you have the benefit of term limits in the governorship! Two
more years and he's done forever, at least as governor. Of course it's
pretty obvious he still has Presidential ambitions so you may not have
seen the end of him even after he leaves the governor's mansion....

--
Rhino