Great round-up tonight, Chase. It feels like the scales of justice might finally be tipping against Trump and his enablers. Thoughts and prayers to all you Trumpers out there.

Keep on voting, Seattle!

MAGAts giving their
All for The Boss
that's Commendable.

and they thought
we Loved Bernie...

which I DO.
Go, Smokin' Joe!
Spend some MONEY!
Oh and where's whatever-it-take$
Bloomberg when we need him most?

Get out and vote if you haven't already, folks. It's MABA (Make America Blue Again) time!

a society that gaf'd offer dump sites -- or better yet, mobile
RV septic services. they don't become inHumane when they lose their fixed Abode -- at least not in any Christian* World.

but Capitalists have convinced us we Should be more into fattening Golden Calves and worshipping the Wealthy and it's no one's Fault (but you own) 'cause Capitalism is all about the Fairness. and Bootstrappery. and hornschwoggling.

why do we have three times as many EMPTY Homes as we do Homeless? on what Planet does that make any fawking Sense?

the USA's got the Cognitive
Dissonances real Bad.

*Civilized

Given that the protesters are Oregon taxpayers, they will be absorbing the costs of teargas lawsuit litigation and penalties, which just makes attorneys richer and doesn't combat climate change or police brutality.

Which children would Jesus tear away from their parents?

@5 why do you insist on pushing this narrative that people who lose their job or can no longer afford rent then turn to a dilapidated, barely running RV and stealing everything not nailed-down as their solution to their problems?
Normal people don't do that. Joe Schmoe doesn't lose their middle manager job and say, "fuck it this 1988 Itsaca on the side of Occidental Ave is my life now". Most people have friends and family to fall back on, but not the Seattle RV dweller because they have burned all bridges in their lives and with the rest of society. When I could no longer afford to live in the East Bay, I didn't wait until I was penniless to do something about it. I planned ahead, found a place I wanted to live, did the math, found a job, etc. It's not even "bootstrappery", that's just what normal people fucking do! They don't set-up tent on a soccer field and shove a needle in their arm and swing crazy weapons like machetes and nunchuk and flaming sticks at passers-by . I don't blame capitalists for not wanting to fund these dickholes' lifestyle.
And as far as an RV dump station, most of these vehicles are rolling catastrophes waiting to happen if they even move at all so good luck getting a bunch of crap RVs and their high-as-a-kite drivers to dump their shit once a week. Good luck getting a mobile septic to visit all these sites without armed security, even with a fat city contract to do so, which probably wouldn't fly because city council decided armed persons would no longer be doing visits to encampments.

@8 Common sense is not allowed on this blog, haven't you heard?

@ 8,

There's nothing more AmeriKKKan than blaming the poor for their poverty.
Goes hand-in-hand with blaming crime victims for living in ransacked neighborhoods, dressing the wrong way, or being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Congratulations.

@9: The island of Nihau is still private, still owned by the Robinson family I think - Christian missionaries. The inhabitants enjoy a paradise island free from exploitation and development. So to answer your question, they probably feel about it just fine.

@12, maybe not everyone living in an RV is a drug addict, but anyone who knowingly pumps out their shit on city streets is an asshole. Not leaving your shit around in public is something most people have mastered by the age of two and it's not something to be excused. Additionally, people who leave used needles on the ground are assholes and I see no reason to excuse such behavior.

The SPU already provides free pump outs, you just need to give them a call: https://www.facebook.com/SVDPSeattle/posts/seattle-public-utilities-is-providing-free-rv-pump-out-theyll-come-to-you-and-em/3572023046147389/

@15 - Thanks. Every time an accurate depiction of the homeless situation is related on Slog, the "you're-not-in-their-shoes" pious admonishers attempt to guilt trip any meaningful discussion going forward.

@420 Blazeit

You actually nailed it. Most all of us, at some point in our lives, have a support system in place. Friends, family, something or someone to fall back on if we need help. In my own family, I have witnessed how someone can burn all their bridges by behaving in a manner that forces friends and relatives to turn their backs. They refuse to make an honest effort in life. Refuse to accept help for their substance abuse. Refuse to make work and housing a priority, I have one family member who I continue to try help even though he has treated me horribly. Obscene text messages, late night drunken phone calls, damaging and stealing my property. I am the last family member who will speak to him or give him assistance. Unless things change, one day I too will have to turn my back on him. Yes, it is mental illness exasperated by alcohol and drugs. Never the less, at some point, I have to protect myself. It is a very sad situation. The City of Seattle is doing nothing to turn this around. It is not just a lack of housing. It is not the economy. People need to be held accountable for their actions.

@17:

Except cops of course - they get a free pass from being held accountable for anything they do, amiright?

@8 -- "why do you [yours, truly] insist on pushing this narrative that people who lose their job or can no longer afford rent then turn to a dilapidated, barely running RV and stealing everything not nailed-down as their solution to their problems?

Boy, you sure extroplated the Fuck outta my comment.
Well done.

when peeps are shoved out into the streets (or under bridges or into parks or WherevertheFuck), why do you Insist they be just like YOU and FIX IT? or, they just magically and miraculously Vanish? Survival of the Fittest? You must be a Republican.

thanks, Repubs, for the Winners TAke ALL ethos currently in vogue.

@15 -- THANK YOU:

The SPU already provides free pump outs, you just need to give them a call:

https://www.facebook.com/SVDPSeattle/posts/seattle-public-utilities-is-providing-free-rv-pump-out-theyll-come-to-you-and-em/3572023046147389/

@19: Sorry you can't entertain tangential observations.

I don't feel the need to insult anyone. I have a better disposition on life than you do.

@23: Oh the LAptOp sTuFF! LOLOLOL
A man who live in California flies all the way to Delaware, drives drunk to drop off three MacBook Pros at a non Apple computer repair shop that's run by a legally blind man who for reasons passing understanding doesn't get a signature but is able to recognize Hunter Biden and then scans through thousands of emails on these three laptops. Shop owner finds a "smoking gun" and then sits on it for months before calling the FBI and (for some reason) Rudy Giuliani. Please dude. How gullible do you have to be?

@22: Sorry to break this to you, but your own passive self-assured righteousness level is quite high.

@26: And even if somehow it were all true at the most it might yield a score or two of Trump votes.

@28: Oh Garb. Never mind.

Being in Hawaii, I thought you would also be fascinated by the mystery of Nihau.

Being held responsible for your actions.

Yes, I agree. And we as a society are now being held responsible for our actions. We could have enacted tax policies that build strong social nets to deal with homelessness, drug use, mental illness, domestic abuse, and other problems. Instead, we vote to give more money and power to a handful of billionaires who hoard their wealth away from society. Thus, we have woefully inadequate social services and therefore destitute people with absolutely nothing left to turn to except homeless tents in parks and under highway bridges, used needles, public defecation, and begging.

When you see a homeless junkie begging you for cash, that is a direct result of YOUR action to vote against a civilized society and instead vote for the interests of billionaire hoarders. It is YOUR responsibility. Own it.

@32: So just what civilized society without homeless junkies would you like to live in? Actually, there's quite a selection (but there are still back room billionaires):

Saudi Arabia
Cuba
Singapore
Dubai
North Korea

@33,

Billionaires control every country on the planet, silly. The US is a more obvious plutocracy, but really every country is, or is in danger of becoming so. Even super socialist leaning places like Sweden have problems with the wealthy trying to ruin everything for more wealth and power.

Where'd you come up with that ridiculous list of countries, btw? You think there's no homeless junkies living in any of them?

@32 there is help for people that want it and seek it out. What do you do though with people who consume an overly large percentage of the resources available thereby making it harder to help more people. Before you dump more money into social services you need to make sure they it will actually be effective. The vast majority of homeless that people think about when they hear that word, like the Travis Berge's, are those who have shown time and again they are incapable of independent living. You could provide them an apartment, meals and a stipend tomorrow and they still wouldn't be able to pay the power bill, would struggle with food insecurity and basic hygiene. Acting like this is just a matter of funding and that taxpayers are all assholes for questioning how that funding is spent is bullshit.

@34: A simple list of totalitarian regimes where the freedom to be a homeless addict is mostly unavailable.

@35: "You could provide them an apartment, meals and a stipend tomorrow and they still wouldn't be able to pay the power bill, would struggle with food insecurity and basic hygiene."

I wonder at these bizarre, unsupported assertions people live by to prop up their sadistic ideological views against those who struggle.

As a society, we seem to take real pleasure in setting up roadblocks for people, then complain about the obvious result. I recall a few weeks ago a guy lit a fire at a riot, admittedly a stupid thing to do, and was charged with felony arson. The fascists on this site were quick to celebrate this as a "win," but will act shocked 3 years from now when he is homeless and without work because of his felony record. Meanwhile, I and other tax payers are forced to fund these sadistic revenge fantasies by using our scarce taxes resources on a system that loves to take a shit, them leaves it to society to pay the cost of wiping their ass.

We tell drug addicts we don't approve, then offer them long prison sentences and a record as our only version rehabilitation. Once they have been thoroughly dehumanized by our toxic incarceration system, they are now drug user with a felony drug conviction. Their addiction was never addressed, so we now can add homeless and no job to their problems. I a classic version of "wet sidewalks cause rain," we then blame their homelessness on the drug addiction. Our solution is and always has been bigger police budgets for more cops, harsher penalties and more stigma around crime. Local media is there to celebrate this as a "win" at the time of arrest, but never does the footwork to show the long term cost because that might upset their friends in the police department.

Policing is only one area where we take this "increasing harm will improve outcomes" solution to our problems.

We do this over and over. The homeless are our current favourite whipping post. Not since the failed theory of broken window policing have we seen a society victim blame with such strident self-righteousness. It's disgusting and as far as I can tell it's only getting worse. At some point you realize many people don't want solutions, they want a group they can minimize to feel better about themselves.

And they wonder why there is rioting in the streets.

@35,

"there is help for people that want it and seek it out."

No, there isn't. Homeless programs across the country are strapped for resources.

As usual, the response from people who stigmatize the homeless is that they've tried nothing and they're all out of ideas.

@39 I’d honestly love to hear your suggestions then. Take the tragic case of Travis Berge and tell me how providing for him without any expectations or effort on his part will lead to better outcomes. It’s not that people are sadistic, they just want to see some effort on the part of those who are being supported to actually become part of society again.

@40 imagine how many more people we could actually help if 20% of the population wasn’t using 80% of the available resources.

@41: The suggestions and solutions are included in my original post. If you remove mass incarceration for lifestyle crimes and over criminalization from the equation you are half way there. A common factor with the homeless is a criminal history that makes renting impossible. We can't create the conditions for homelessness, or push people into a position where that is their most viable option, then pretend like it's some crazy fluke that's beyond a solution other than convincing ourselves the homeless enjoy sleeping on concrete in the freezing rain.

If you look at Utah and Vermont, they have both made real progress in addressing homelessness by not pedalling simpleton "they want it this way" narratives while creating roadblocks to solutions. Not coincidentally, neither state over invests in the police state the way Seattle has. Seattle has a long standing addiction to promoting police violence as a solution to just about everything, but twisting arms won't solve homelessness. Making former prosecutor Jenny Durkin mayor is proof just how not interested in solving the problem this city is.

We make a mistake when we approach the homeless as if they materialized out of thin air and now enjoy defecating in public. That's lazy thinking. Without understanding and addressing how Travis Berge reached the point of drowning in a tub of bleach, we will continue reacting to crisis without solving the problem.

The bigger question you should ask about Travis Berge is what police and prosecutors were focusing their resources and attention on during Mr. Berg's crime spree? If they are going to focus all their attention as they have on high profile, but petty lifestyle crime enforcement that increasingly defines their vanity project role in society, we are going to need to increasingly accept that murder, rape and violent crime is no longer part of their agenda

Case in point. This is how the SPD chooses to spend it's time and money while the Travis Berg's continue to commit violent crimes.

https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2019/03/11/39551922/seattle-police-rescue-26-sex-workers-but-did-they-want-to-be-rescued

@41,

"imagine how many more people we could actually help if 20% of the population wasn’t using 80% of the available resources."

My god, what a disconnect

What a lapdog you are to your billionaire masters

How about this:
Imagine how many more people we could actually help if the wealthiest 5% of the population wasn't using 90% of the resources