Armed Activists defy Texas Law to Feed the Homeless

a reply to: awareness10

And some people call this country a "Christian Nation." Yeah right.

Congrats to these armed activistis!

originally posted by: Rubicon3
a reply to: awareness10

I'll probably get jumped on for this, but...can you even imagine how our homeless, hungry, needy people feel when they hear about the plan to bring in thousands of people who basically hate us and GIVING them FREE food, housing, clothing, money, education and medical care?? Especially when these people are potentially dangerous to American citizens? Not to mention their so called religion...you know, the one that actually calls for murder to be perpetrated on "nonbelievers". I cannot even fathom our government wanting to protect , let alone allow this kind of mindset the chance to spread in our nation. I wonder if our founding fathers thought about this aspect when drafting for the petition of Religious Freedom? For hundreds and hundreds of years islam has been described for what it is: a murderous ideology. No, not all Muslims are like that. But the ones that are and want to " breed" majority into our land to overwhelm our laws...sorry, can't support it. America needs to take care of its OWN , then help with others in need. I hurt for our poor and needy and especially our vets when they see all this being put in UN tr place for others. They don't deserve that kind of " get to the back of the line" mentality. If the US can find the resources to provide for refugees, why can't we find it for OUR OWN PEOPLE FIRST?

Nope, you're correct, and i respect you for saying it like it is. If a Mans Family is half starving, is he going to give all his money to someone else and let his Own children starve? HELL NO. That would be assinine of him. Never be sorry for saying it like it is, i'm not.

People need to wake up, Nothing is normal anymore, but in fact fast becoming the opposite. Humans never learn from their faults, they forget quickly and that will forever be the downfall of humanity until they 'wake up'.

Thanks everyone for responding to this thread, i respect your kindness and concern for the world we all share.

...

I agree. No government , State,or Federal, should tax the feeding of the hungry and needy. Helping others should be encouraged rather than discouraged.

originally posted by: jellyrev
lol that moment when politics weren't involved and then someone yells omg it's because texas, rednecks, etc. then you realize it's a typical dem big city.

It's a state law, not a city law..
/raises eyebrow

I believe the very rich should help out with this problem.

Why is it I don't hear about the super rich helping the homeless?

Homelessness is not a choice for many, bad things happened to people, and people don't need to be extorted from governments for personal gain.

What has our government become, take, take, take, to me they are worst than people on Welfare and to lazy to work.

If a government has to resort to legal extortion on the people then perhaps the government has grown to big and cannot support it self. Time to close big parts of the government down, it is draining the peoples pockets.

I know what it is like to be homeless, it happened to me thirty years ago. People look down on you, your not treated equally by the law, people laugh at you. It is shameless that people and government will not work together to solve this serous issue.

There is enough empty houses in this country to take homelessness off the streets, but greed is more important then humanity.

Tax the people for feeding the homeless, how greedy, selfish, and disgusting can our corrupt offices get before the American people wake up, and say NO MORE!

Probably not in my life time.

I said before, do away with EBT and open state supply stores where ANYBODY who trudges thru the front door can get basic food stuffs for free.

All those costly pre-packaged food at the grocery store, that *I* cannot justify, are snatched up by EBT as a giveaway to the food industry, who are big political contributors.

Somehow, all of the thrust to get people fed, but somehow this EFFICIENT system cannot be implemented despite the political will. It's either tons of benefits or none, depending on the wasteful politics.

Same idea in school lunches. All the revenue for $.35c lunches don't add up to much compared to giving it away free. Make a cafeteria setting where there is SOME free meals, and then a-la-carte foods that can charge a premium and subsidize free lunch. Heck, how hard is it to figure it out?!?!

This is a complex issue. First, I didn't see anyone post information on what the law actually states. That would be helpful. Is it a tax, or is there some permit fee? If the latter, is this to insure that adequate measures will be taken for safety, sanitation, and so forth? Those are important. In the area they choose to do this, what affect do the masses of people coming in for the food and supplies have on the homes and/or businesses? In some cases, laws are set simply to encourage homeless people to move along to somewhere else, but we don't see the actual law, so it's impossible to say in this case. Feeding these people, and handing out coats and blankets is great, of course, but have they tried working with the city for some sort of special permit? If they can afford the food, the coats and blankets, and so forth, then they can surely afford some portapotties, security, and the like. Right? There are criminals among homeless people. There are plenty with mental issues. Help doesn't have to be blind.

As for homelessness itself, that's complex as well. There isn't just one cause.

Many are homeless because they lost a job, through no fault of their own, or there was a problem with their housing, and it's closer than a lot of folks want to think, to get to that point. Many who are homeless want to do anything they can to improve their situation. Those people can be helped.

There are others who are homeless because of mental issues. These could be helped, but instead of reforming the mental care system, many were simply tossed out, and are now on the streets. Many of these are indeed veterans, with PTSD issues and others, and that's a serious blot on the nation. If we can afford to support the military, then we can afford to support the vets as well, all of them. This group can be helped, too, if sensible changes are made to the system.

Then there is a third group. There are some who are homeless totally through their own doing. These could fall into a couple of groups. A small number could be of a "hermit" type, and prefer to not be tied down by an address or whatever, just doing what they need to to survive. Then there re some who actually expect someone else to take care of them. Not disabled, not crazy, just lazy and with a real sense of entitlement. I KNOW one like that. Won't work, when he did, too nasty-mouthed to hold a job, or told the employers that their methods were stupid. Doesn't want to work to meet needs, stating that they shouldn't have to pay for rent and food and things like light bulbs, and that their earnings should be for entertainment. That sort, you cannot help. CANNOT. Worse, the total lack of gratitude when someone does try, coupled with stealing from those who try, make it even harder to accept. Someone who will steal from friend and family, who expects all sorts of things, while never doing anything for others when they were able, is the sort that give homeless people a bad name.

No, most do not fit into that third group, thankfully! However, in areas with a lot of homeless, there are issues. Higher crime, people using public areas as toilets, homeless treating actual restrooms like a wild animal would, using the floor, etc, rampant drug use and drunkenness, and other such problems do follow large groups of homeless people. Even if only a fraction are actually responsible, the average person sees this, and looks down on the whole. To truly combat the issue of homelessness, every type needs to be addressed, with solutions that fit. There is no one size fits all solution. Affordable housing is a start, and some sort of job is needed, for those that can work, and treatment for those with mental issues. As for the jobs, make a law that no one with a green card can work if there is a homeless person that can do the job instead, who is a citizen. I am sure a lot of homeless people would be happy to clean a hotel room to pay for a small place to live, but I have seen such positions filled by more non-citizens than citizens. And, no, that isn't racist. That's a simple fact. Lawn care, restaurants, whatever - citizens first. We have to care for our own before trying to care for people from other countries. As others have asked, how can we spend money to bring in and house people from across the ocean, and not have money to house people right here?? Let's train the homeless, and get them jobs, first!

Next, treatment, real treatment, for the mentally ill. Some aren't capable of staying on needed meds, and these people should be in some sort of caring treatment center. Not everyone that worked in these was, or is, some sort of uncaring bully. A very sweet aunt of mine worked in a mental hospital for years. Some real oversight and good management, and people that need the care could get it. It isn't compassionate to turn someone into the street instead of fixing a problem. Those that can manage with help need to be helped. All the welfare dollars, and we have this many homeless people?? We can give free phones out, but we can't house someone? We can pay for health care for employed people, but not house someone, so they can work? The system, as it is now, is set to reward the politicians, and to enslave the people. The homeless fall through the cracks.

Once those two groups are properly helped, the numbers left would be very small. The lazy sort wouldn't be able to hide behind the rest, and would be seen for what they are, and end up forced to change to survive.

Another point is that not all places set up to help are doing their job. There may be some great shelters, staffed by great people, but there are some that are not so great. I know of a case where people were told to come to a shelter, because of bad weather, and when they arrived, no one would even answer the door to let them in. Expected, and that's what they found. I know of people in such a situation that had church members do nothing to help. Shameful, that!

Nice, anyway, to see this group helping, and hopefully they can work out the issues with the city and make things better. Hopefully, they will actually try to do so. There are ways people can help. A church I attended (in Texas, as it happens), many years back, spent weeks gathering all sorts of clothing, used Sunday school rooms to store and sort it, and collected gifts and planned some light snacks. The event was broadcast to the whole area widely, with flyers, balloons, etc, and all were welcome. No paperwork, no qualifying, just come. By the day of the event, the clothing was sorted by sex, size, and, for children's stuff, by age as well. The toy gifts were wrapped and labeled for age and gender, as appropriate. People could come (and come they did!!), sort through for whatever they needed, with helpers, and kids could get a gift, or even gifts. Some collected them for family that didn't show. We didn't ask for proof; we just handed them out. Lots of nice professional clothing, good school stuff, baked goods, and a ton of toys went out. It took a lot of work, and a lot of sacrifice, but it was really something special. Some of these kids, you could tell wouldn't have much of anything.

The DePaul bunch (Catholic, in that case) always did, and I believe still do, a lot for those in need. They even work with businesses, getting employees to participate. So, Texas isn't all bad.

Same kinda thing happens were I am in Florida. My parents and myself used to run a food pantry for the needy at a local Church. Well eventually my parents left that ministry to go into a more "street ministry" where we would go directly to the homeless themselves (there are quite a few "camps" in the wooded areas around us) because many were too sick to get to the Church, to collect their food and whatnot.

Well as we found more and more of them, we started getting food and clothing, as well as soap and so forth. Because of the amount of supplies we had to pack up in my fathers pick up it became something of a problem because we sometimes needed to make multiple trips to unload our goods to them so we started to go to a public park by river as a "staging area" for those who could get there so we would not have to make so many trips to their camps in the woods. (we still go there of course for the ones who cannot make it to the park)

Anyway, the local police started hanging around and would try to run some of them off if they had a beer or something in their hand which is somewhat hypocritical as they allow drinking there for people who are having picnics or whatever. (Or at least over look them drinking there)

The whole thing is messed up everywhere, Christmas eve sealed it for me.
When I was leaving walmart and there was a homeless man there that we know from our ministry just standing outside the store, not begging just existing and the cop is giving him the 3rd degree, asking him if he is panhandling and all that, (which he was not) meanwhile there is a 60 year old woman ringing a bell for the Salvation Army not 15 feet away.

The fact that this has to happen tells you where we are at as a country.

It's #ing stupid, stupid laws enforced by stupid people.

Why are these people in power that make cruel laws? We let them do our dirty work and then pretend we care.

originally posted by: thorfourwinds
Here's some feel good for you.

Anonymous #OpSafeWinter Re-Engaged 2015-2016

Is this what Anon has become? #HipsterTrend?
It seems it is more of a distraction for internet rebells. "We are changing the world by liking this" #HeallYeah!