@2 the free stale pastries and drip coffee dregs were at closing, my friend. Or did you see your "seemed to be" guy actually receive free anything?

Cafe Vita isn’t known for good coffee. Their Olympia store closed down, and it couldn’t happen fast enough.

If 2 is wondering why he only saw homeless folks there, it’s because the coffee is so bad the only way to get anyone to drink it is to give it away for free. Even then, the only people who will have any are those who can’t afford anything else.

Look, attacking homeless people really is the lowest level you can sink to. This really no moral depths beyond that. Kick a puppy, and we’ll, at least you didn’t kick a human being is something that can be said for you. But attacking the weakest and least able to protect themselves is a sign that you’ve got no moral compass left. It’s just one sidestep from there into full blown psychopathy.

Before you check yourself in to Western State, use that Theory of Mind to imagine how it must feel to be so hated that people get fired just for giving you food. Even if it’s crappy food nobody else wants, There is no substantive difference between you and those homeless folks, not one bit.

And you’d better be careful, because anyone can wind up where they are. Even you. And someday, if you tempt fate too much, you might. Won’t it suck when you get there if you encounter the same psycho bullshit you just expressed here?

@3 Mtn Beaver- that's not the extent of it in the full story. They were complaining about the employees giving away free coffee gift cards to homeless people who then come in, during the day, and hang out in there drinking coffee.

I don't know what the solution is here- homelessness is a serious problem and for sure they have every bit as much a right as anyone else to sit inside and drink coffee. It's a problem that we have to address as a society.

If you are running a business, what do you do? How long do you allow a customer to sit there and one coffee? How do you keep your business open if it's full of homeless people? It's sort of like buying cheap goods from China or driving to work. These are not ideal things to do, but in the sort of economy we live in, people have jobs/homes/lives- average people can't live their lives as if they are in a different sort of society. It's not small cafe owners causing the problem, not individual consumers. So what do you do? Just not run a business in an area with a lot of homelessness? Start discriminating? Every one of us are going to have to face this problem- richer people will just move away. People who live and work in these neighborhoods are going to have to figure out how to handle these problems, even though they aren't the ones who created them.

nice post EmmaLiz. I always appreciate it when people acknowledge how devilish difficult some of these intractable social problems are.

“richer people will just move away”

Then who are they going tax?

It's amazing how much vitriol there is for people in poverty and those who would empathize. If the public could direct even half of that energy toward the root of the problem we could maybe actually begin to confront it. It's no coincidence that homelessness has become so pervasive while consumer debt is at record levels and income inequality has climbed to its highest point in fifty years. Yet somehow people are convinced that the problem is a failing of Middle Classers who are just lazy. If they had just bought fewer avocados everything would be hunky dory. It's delusional and self-defeating.

How long before Jason Antebi, aka Jason Rantz, rants about this story?
Or maybe it's already happened.

" even half of that energy toward the root of the problem"

Yep, it's the dope, dope.

"It's no coincidence that homelessness has become so pervasive"

Except it's not. the past ten years has a seen a national drop in homeless numbers except in west coast, liberal cities with tolerant drug use laws. Go figure.

"national counts have generally trended downward over the last decade. Since 2007, the year HUD began collecting this data, homelessness decreased by 15 percent. This number masks more substantial subgroup progress over this time period. Most notably, veterans’ homelessness has dropped by 38 percent since 2007. Amongst people in families, there has been a 23 percent decrease. And chronic homelessness among individuals has fallen by 19 percent."

SOURCE: HUD

A good life lesson is that if people who look like the folks pictured tell you to do something, you should do the opposite.

@5: The only person here who has talked about "attacking the homeless" is you. The rest of us are discussing a protest over a local business firing workers for stealing products and giving them away, in violation of their employer's policy.

As for your attacks on the business in question, it has existed in that spot, in that form, for decades now, so it appears many Capitol Hill locals do not agree with you. Perhaps you can attack them next?

@12 "How long before Jason Antebi, aka Jason Rantz, rants about this story?
Or maybe it's already happened."

Yeah, it's more or less already happened:

https://mynorthwest.com/912713/cmon-krispy-kreme-donate-your-misshapen-doughnuts/

@7 " People who live and work in these neighborhoods are going to have to figure out how to handle these problems (the homeless], even though they aren't the ones who created them."

Well, except for those who keep voting for politicians who routinely slash the social safety net, who over the years have de-funded public housing (Nixon), de-funded public mental health networks (Reagan), refused to regulate big pharma and their opioids (most establishment pols of the last 30 years), crowed about the end of welfare (Clinton), and on , and on, and on. So, as you see there is plenty of blame to share. Incidentally (or not), the most vocal anti-homeless type usually voted their entire lives for the politicians responsible for having population chronically "left behind" (nice euphemism).

11: It's much easier to bitch and whine all day than solve problems. The whole point of the right-wingers bitching about homeless is to advance the draconian policies they believe in but don't want to publicly talk about. When you offer positive solution that might actually work, they step up their dehumanization because they know they have no politically palatable solution. Forced detainment, dumping the homeless on some other municipality's doorstep, brutal crackdowns, or, for the real fascists, beatings and executions, aren't viable, so they spend all their energy shitting on the good solutions that happen to cost money.

Nickelback did a takedown of Trump RTing the post with their song. DCMA that!

Canada never forgets.

19: And to be completely clear, the people who hate on the homeless really do hate the homeless. It's not a policy to thing, it's a visceral, even violent disgust.

15: Oh you mean service workers who make minimum wage? Versus some asshole in a $1000 suit?

Hey guys, we should all listen to Trump because he has tailored suits. Obviously working class people are scum because they don't wear ties. This is some top-shelf political thinking here.

"you mean service workers who make minimum wage? Versus some asshole in a $1000 suit?"

$1000 suit? Good luck finding a tailored one that cheap in the US.

FYI Men's Warehouse can make you look like a thousand bucks for under $200. A good suit generally helps with employment growth than, say, green hair, infected lip rings and combat boots, especially after you're 25 when you're supposed to grow up. Just saying.

@22: Looks like someone has some real insecurities about their appearance and job/earnings.

There is a lot you can change right now. Wash the shitty dye out of your hair, take all the hunks of metal out of your face, and stop wearing goth makeup that should have been put down back in middle school.

While you are at it, start doing some cardio and lift some heavy weights once in a while. This will make it less tempting to hide yourself under ill-fitting and frumpy clothing, and it may give you the confidence to improve yourself in other ways.

16,

Denying food to the hungry is violence by mission of inaction. You have a moral duty, whether you accept it or not, to care for the health and well being of your fellow human beings. That duty supersedes store policy.

24: No, I don't look anything like those people and am financially secure, thank you. I'm just not a classist asshole who believes that clothes confer moral or intellectual value. But thanks for projecting.

It's no wonder you're a Trump supporter. You really believe that shit.

" I'm just not a classist asshole who believes that clothes confer moral or intellectual value"

.....unless you're wearing a suit.

"I'm just not a classist asshole who believes that clothes confer moral or intellectual value"

or

"some asshole in a $1000 suit?"

Pick a lane and stick to it buddy.

27: That's just bad faith, and even a troll like you knows it. I don't judge people for wearing suits, and a lot of the people I work and socialize with wear them. I'm simply saying that trusting someone because they wear a suit or dress up is pretty stupid, and not trusting someone because they're dressed down is also stupid. Somehow I'm guessing that truth value is not determined by clothing, and that a statement can be true or false regardless of who says it. Certainly you realize how using someone's clothes to dismiss their argument is a fallacy, right? Did you all fail your freshman introductions to philosophy?

"An asshole in a $1000 suit" isn't a statement about the value of what everyone in a suit says. It's a hypothetical individual and says nothing one way or another about my thoughts or feelings about suits. But keep playing kids. I'm really enjoying this exciting discussion about clothing.

You seem flustered when your very obvious hypocrisy is called out.

31: These pretzels are making me thirsty.

Most assholes having clothes covering them most of the day. That would not be so if I were elected Governor. Among my many policies, which include mandatory nudity and the deportation of Tim Eyman, you will find a consistent vision of Washington’s future as the place you go just to piss off mom and dad.

I was, for example, one of the earliest proponents of municipal marijuana, as well as a strong supporter of vodka fountains in our public parks.

Vote for me in 2020, and together we will make this a pants free society.

33: You have my vote.

But, @33, wouldn't vagrant millionaires start using those vodka fountains, get wasted, and fall asleep on the plentiful tree-shaded park benches downtown?

My fellow Cascadians, vote for me, and I promise you:
A bar in every library!

@33,

Can I at least wear a belt with pockets attached? I need pockets.

Pockets are counter-revolutionary. However, I would allow you to use straps of leather with hooks attached, sort of like an S&M bandolero.