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The Inhumanity Of Donald Trump.

Let's get this out of the way first: like most living, breathing, legitimate voters, I voted for Donald Trump in 2020. I didn't vote at all in 2016. I knew Hillary was fake and corrupt, but I couldn't work out my feelings about Trump back then. I had a nagging feeling he was going to let us down in a big way, so I stayed home. But after four years of watching him at least attempt to do good things for America while the Communists and their Democratic Party allies worked endlessly to tear him apart, my opinion of Trump began to change. By 2020 he had won me over, and I enthusiastically gave him my support and my vote.

But since then my enthusiasm has been slipping away, mostly due to the words coming out of his own mouth. 

Trump's positions on two issues are so callous and insensitive I have to wonder just how decent and moral a man he really is.

The first issue is his unrepentant stance on the covid vaccines. When he announced Operation Warp Speed, even his critics were hopeful the program would be a success. And when the vaccines reached the market in record time, we trusted they would be as "safe and effective" as promised. But it didn't take long before reports began coming in about horrible side effects and deaths among the jabbed. Many of us saw early-on that something was seriously wrong with the vaccines, but the media suppressed the carnage while the government continued its "safe and effective" propaganda. And Trump's support for the vaccines continued even after he left office in 2021. The body count kept growing, with CDC reports indicating tens of thousands of victims of vaccine harm. But Trump didn't warn us. He didn't tell us to stop getting vaccinated. He kept on being a cheerleader for the jabs, even when the death toll surpassed 34,000 people in the US alone, plus hundreds of thousands who were seriously injured but haven't (yet) died.

In late 2021 Trump said "I came up with a vaccine, with three vaccines, all are very, very good.," referring to the Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson shots. He didn't mention the risks. He didn't mention the injuries. He didn't mention the dead.

At a rally in Alabama, Trump told the crowd “I recommend, take the vaccines. I did it. It’s good. Take the vaccines.”

In an interview he told Candace Owens, "People aren’t dying when they take the vaccine.” But people were dying, and people are still dying from Trump's experimental vaccines. And to this day in 2023, he still hasn't acknowledged the harm being done nor apologized to any of its victims or the families of the dead.

As if Trump's insensitivity on the vaccine issue isn't enough, he's now stumbled into another controversy that makes him look cold and out of touch. On April 18 he posted a video on his Truth Social account titled "Homelessness Plan." 

In it, Trump said "the homeless, the drug-addicted, and the violent and dangerously deranged" had ruined America's cities, "turn every park and sidewalk into a place for them to squat and do drugs. When I'm back in the White House, we will use every tool, lever, and authority" to "end the scourge of homelessness and make our cities clean and safe and beautiful once again."

How would he do this? "Working with states, we will ban urban camping wherever possible…. We will then open up large parcels of inexpensive land; bring in doctors, psychiatrists, social workers, and drug rehab specialists; and create tent cities where the homeless can be relocated and their problems identified."

Let's unpack this. He calls homelessness a "scourge", which is essentially saying the homeless themselves are a scourge. We've all seen homeless encampments in big cities and no one would argue that they're good for the communities they exist in. But Trump is implying the homeless aren't quite human and need to be cleared out of the cities in which they live, the same cities where they likely grew up, and still have family, friends, and some level of support. His plan makes poverty a crime, punishable by losing one's right to live freely without government interference. Do the homeless use drugs? Some do, but not all of them. And while drug abuse can cause homelessness, it's also true that homelessness often leads to drug abuse. When people lose hope, they find ways to numb the pain. Are the homeless "violent and dangerously deranged"? No more so than the general population. Most, in fact, prefer to stay calm to avoid any encounters with the police.

I agree that having more doctors, psychiatrists, social workers, and drug rehab specialists would be helpful, but these resources need to be available where people are right now. Rounding people up and shipping them off like cattle to government-run tent cities is inhumane and reminiscent of how the Nazi's treated the Jews and anyone else they considered to be undesirable. Trump's plan completely ignores that the United States has an affordable housing shortage of nearly 7 million homes. It ignores that rents across the country have nearly doubled in the past year while wages have remained stagnant. It ignores that local zoning regulations and building codes, along with inflation, have made the cost of home construction prohibitively high. Cheaper options such as tiny houses and mobile homes are banned in many cities, leaving low income earners few choices other than sleeping in their cars or living in tents. Here in the world's richest nation, we have senior citizens being evicted due to staggering rent increases, with nowhere to go. Trump would force them onto a bus and ship them to a tent city where they would live with all the other undesirables...the drug addicted, the violent, the dangerously deranged.

Trump's plan is the most immoral, inhumane, out of touch proposal I've ever heard from a man who seriously thinks he deserves to sit in the White House again. Combined with his shockingly insensitive and unapologetic stance on the covid vaccines, I have to wonder if he truly has the moral character to make America great again.

We need to find out before November 2024.

Your Silence Is Killing People.

The world spent $1735 Billion on war in 2012. It would take approximately $135 Billion to eradicate poverty.

The world's wealthiest people could end poverty but they don't really care about us. And the rest of us could force change if we stopped pretending this problem doesn't exist.

More than 150 million people are homeless, worldwide. More than 600 million people live in extreme poverty, making less than two dollars a day. And more than 3 million children die from hunger every year.

And now you know, what are you going to do to make a difference?

No One Wants To Fix The Housing Crisis.

All over the world people are struggling to find a place to live. I'm not talking about the chronically homeless that have other demons to fight, such as drug addiction, alcoholism, or mental illness. I'm talking about your friends, family members, and even co-workers who have steady income and stable housing histories but can no longer afford to buy a home or rent an apartment. Until just recently, decent homes could be found for sale in the southern United States for under $100,000 for an older property and around $150,000 for new construction. But check out the little house listed for sale in North Carolina at a whopping $275,000. For that price you get a decent sized lot for a city property, but only 2 bedrooms and only a half bath. It doesn't even have a kitchen according to the real estate agent's listing. If you want something with a full bathroom and functioning kitchen, expect to pay $350,000 and up. Way up. I'm sure people living in California think these prices are bargains, but in an area where most people make less than $20 an hour, buying a house that costs a quarter million dollars or more is a fantasy, not a realistic goal.

If buying a house isn't possible, how about renting an apartment? Not so fast! There's a shortage of rental properties all across America, and it's a problem other nations are facing as well. Even though we've just allegedly come through a pandemic with millions of deaths, for some reason every city and town has waiting lists for apartments, and rents have doubled and even tripled. How can all the apartments be full if so many people died from covid? At the same time that rents are skyrocketing due to a lack of available units, businesses are struggling to find enough employees to keep their doors open. If we don't have enough people to fill jobs, how do we have too many people for the available housing? It makes no sense. And don't blame unemployment benefits for the lack of employees. Most of the pandemic relief funds dried up long ago, and some greedy states are even trying to claw back the money they gave out. But regardless, if you go out apartment hunting, here's what you might find:

Yes, a one bedroom apartment that's under 700 square feet will cost you $2623 per month on a twelve month lease. And that's an older property where the same apartment rented for under $800 two years ago. I've seen other apartment complexes renting at $1200 to $1500 per month, almost double their rates from a year ago. Anything under $1000 is probably in a high crime area you'd rather not live in. 

But that's not the worst of it. Many apartments require a full month's rent up front as a security deposit, and some rental companies now "nickel and dime" their tenants with mandatory extra fees for parking, "valet" trash collection, water bills, and usage of amenities such as the fitness room that no one uses. One company even charges $4 per month for pest control, something that should be a part of the basic rent. The greed being demonstrated by landlords is astonishing. In my city, senior citizens have been forced out of apartment complexes in mass evictions after rents nearly tripled. City officials say they're unable to do anything to ease the situation.

And something rarely mentioned is what it takes to qualify to get into one of these overpriced apartments. Landlords have traditionally required proof of income that is 3 times the monthly rent. When average rents were $600 to $800, most working people qualified. But with typical rents being $1500, the income required to qualify is now $4500 per month. Even someone earning $20 an hour would not be accepted as a new tenant in most of the apartment complexes in America. Getting a roommate is an option, but most landlords require all parties on the lease to earn 3 times the monthly rent. They won't accept two combined incomes to reach the 3X requirement.

So houses are too expensive and apartments are out of reach. What are the alternatives? You might consider building a tiny house somewhere, since they can built for under $10,000 if you're frugal and creative. You might even have a friend who lets you build your house in his backyard. But no so fast! City, county, and state building codes and zoning laws will almost certainly stop you in your tracks. And if the government doesn't catch you, that nosy "not in my neighborhood" neighbor will certainly turn you in to the authorities so they can fine you and tear down your new home.

That leaves tent cities and homeless encampments, which are also targets of city officials and nosy neighbors. Or you could throw away everything you own and move into a homeless shelter. But you can only stay a couple of months before they tell you to leave, and the shelters are all full anyway.

The lack of affordable housing is a major crisis that's only going to get worse due to inaction by developers and government officials. Developers are only interested in building luxury properties that earn the greatest return on their investments. Governments say they can't afford to build public housing, but often the truth is that property developers moonlight as city council members and they don't want cheap housing built that will suppress the value of the properties they own. Governments build just enough housing so that it looks like they're working on the problem, but not enough to make a real difference. 

And so the problem continues, and it continues to get worse. It's gotten so bad where I live the city has opened a parking lot with security guards where people can safely sleep in their cars at night. Many of these people are single moms with kids who could afford a decent place to live just a few months ago. Apparently the greed of landlords hasn't kept them from getting a good night's sleep in their posh homes overlooking the golf course. They're certainly not sleeping in their cars.

The housing crisis could be solved if governments would get out of the way. People need to be allowed to build tiny homes on small lots. Regulations need to be amended to allow rainwater collection or bulk water deliveries instead of requiring city water hookups or expensive wells. Composting toilets need to allowed as an option instead of requiring a septic tank or city sewer service. People should allowed to live permanently in RV's on private land without the city or county forcing them to move. These changes would make housing more accessible to more people and could ultimately reduce crime thanks to there being less pressure to come up with enough money to get off the streets. 

This is a crisis that is easily fixed if people would just be willing to fix it. Will we do it? Or will we turn a blind eye to the suffering until that suffering becomes our own?

American Leaders Let Nation Rot While Sending Billions To Ukraine.

Americans are suffering through record-high inflation and a housing crisis that is making people live in tents. Many families now call their car their home. Depression and desperation have driven people to use hard drugs to numb the pain. Deaths from opioid overdoses and alcohol abuse have devastated families.

The response from the federal government? Send billions of dollars to Ukraine to fight a war that was triggered by the United States and other NATO nations. We're being bankrupted by our own leaders who insanely think they can prop up the western world's crashing financial system by destroying Russia. Our leaders are so demented they've actually suggested a nuclear war might be in our future.

But they have no money and no answers for the problems facing US citizens and the cities we live in. 

Recently I wrote my state's US Senators and the Representative for my district about this horrible situation. Only one of them replied, and he stood by his votes for funding the Ukraine war and he completely ignored my questions about homelessness and the housing crisis. The other two don't even care enough to send a generic response.

Joe Biden has abandoned us. Congress has abandoned us. They work for the international bankers, not us. Their actions make that clear every day.

[video source: Mint Press News - mintpressnews.com]

The Housing Crisis Is About To Explode.

[Homeless encampment in Oakland, California.]

All over the United States, poor and middle class people are becoming homeless due to skyrocketing rental rates, a lack of houses available to buy, and rising property taxes that force homeowners to surrender their properties. Hardworking people who have maintained stable households for decades are now facing the threat of living on the street, and once forced into that dangerous situation, cities respond by tearing down homeless encampments and tossing the last shreds of the victim's property into piles that are sent to landfills. No one seems to care.

If you think it can't happen to you, you might want to think again. In every state rents are rising, often doubling or tripling while wages remain unchanged. Buyers looking for affordable houses are finding that large investment firms are snatching them up in bulk, often paying significantly more than the houses are worth and then turning them into expensive rentals.  And even people who currently hold a mortgage are seeing their property taxes increasing by such large amounts they have trouble paying them, putting their homes at risk of being seized by government revenue departments. Add in rising energy and food costs and we have a crisis that's about to explode.

The American dream seems to be dying, and it looks like a planned demolition. 

In this documentary, filmmakers Aaron and Melissa Dykes of Truthstream Media show you the problem up close, explaining how we got here and how bad things will get if don't find a solution fast.

Click the center arrow to watch the video: