California Is Doubtless Looking Out for Future Voters

Fox News reports on California's $214.8 billion budget:

The budget includes money to give taxpayer-funded health insurance to some low-income illegal immigrants. It also authorizes $2.4 billion in spending to address the state's housing and homelessness crisis....

That isn't the craziest part:

The state would give $650 million to local governments to tackle homelessness and pump $500 million into a tax credit program to spur construction of residential rental units.Lawmakers would spend $5 million on grants to homeless shelters so they can accommodate pets.

If you do not have a home, you do not need us to care for your pet.  Priorities!

Never Ask Why Homelessness is So Widespread

7/14/18 NBC San Francisco:

San Francisco Mayor London Breed, in her first one-on-one interview since taking office, said homeless advocacy groups that receive funding from the city need to better educate the homeless to "clean up after themselves."  

"I work hard to make sure your programs are funded for the purposes of trying to get these individuals help, and what I am asking you to do is work with your clients and ask them to at least have respect for the community — at least, clean up after themselves and show respect to one another and people in the neighborhood," Breed told the Investigative Unit, referencing her conversations with nonprofit groups aimed at serving the homeless.

When pressed about whether her plan calls for harsher penalties against those who litter or defecate on city streets, Breed said "I didn’t express anything about a penalty."  Instead, the mayor said she has encouraged nonprofits "to talk to their clients, who, unfortunately, were mostly responsible for the conditions of our streets."

Please don't ask why this problem developed in the 1970s.

Congratulations! San Diego Has Gone Medieval

I remind my students that medieval European cities were filthy places.  People emptied their chamber pots from the second story to the street, which was often littered with animal carcasses.  Fortunately, most cities limited where tanneries and slaughterhouses could operate.  9/12/17 Fox News:

San Diego has begun sanitary street washing efforts after county officials demanded the city act on a plan to address the “fecally contaminated environment” downtown. The city and county have been wrestling with a way to address an ongoing hepatitis A outbreak that has been linked to at least 15 deaths and 400 hospitalizations. 

On Monday, crews began the effort by spraying down East Village sidewalks with a bleach solution. San Diego mayoral spokeswoman Craig Gustafson said the cleanings are scheduled to occur three times a week, every other week, according to CBS8.

Contrary to the ACLU's fantasy that mentally ill people living rough on the streets are not the government's proper concern, it appears it really is.

Remember This Picture?

We have a more powerful example.  12/16/16 ABC News:

Widely-circulated videos showing Denver police confiscating blankets and tents from the homeless in freezing temperatures are shining a spotlight on the national issue of policing homelessness.

The two videos, posted on Facebook on Nov. 28 and Nov. 29, show police officers taking away survival gear, including blanks and tents, from homeless individuals in Denver and issuing citations for unauthorized camping. The Denver Police Department released a statement Thursday defending its officers and explaining the situation shown in the videos, saying the blankets were collected as “evidence.”

I don't disagree that homeless camping in wrong places are a crime in need of enforcement.  Many of the homeless are mentally ill and part of the blame is on them for not taking advantage of available shelters.   But taking away tents and blankets are evidence?  Arrest them so they aren't going to freeze to death.  And this is after all, a Democrat controlled city.