News Brief: The Squishy Liberal Euphemisms Big City Dem Mayors Use to Sell Criminalizing Homelessness
Added 2022-03-30 18:52:19 +0000 UTCIn this News Brief, we examine the convoluted, vague rhetorical labor involved in making purging unhoused populations with cops seem humane and anodyne.
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Show Notes
Adam Johnson | March 26, 2022 | The Column
Adams says he’s kicking homeless New Yorkers out of their encampments. Where will they go?
Jaclyn Jeffrey-Wilensky | March 26, 2022 | Gothamist
The Mainstream Media Is Helping Eric Adams Get Away With a Law-and-Order Crackdown
Alex N. Press | March 14, 2022 | Jacobin
Adam Johnson | March 4, 2022 | The Column
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Comments
This was a distressing episode, of course, but very necessary. Is late capitalism's USA the most cruel, vicious and inhumane society that has ever existed in human history? Every day it appears more and more so. That the Liberals want more $$$ for violent policing, and to "cleanse" the "cancer"-like homeless from the streets is distressing. I'm old enough to remember when there were "moderate Republicans" that had some sane, humane positions. Now the PMC and NatSec Dems are not even nominally as far "left" as the mod R's of the past were . . . okay, late in the broadcast you bring up the Israeli connections and pieces, so I guess we do have a rival. Not a very promising time to be alive, it feels like since the Bush coup in 2000 both parties want to bring the late PK Dick's "Black Iron Prison" society into being. Every day we get closer and closer, and there's no cohesive opposition to the cruelty, misery and deaths. I guess the public is so miserable and frightened, it's me first, & the logic reverses Rev. Niemoller's formula-- if they're hunting down the homeless, they won't get to ME for some time, so guess I should ignore it and be grateful? (Not my attitude, obviously, but I guess that is the majority thought)
Mark Schneider
2022-04-04 19:42:35 +0000 UTCEvery fucking city does this. In Boulder, there is a "Housing First Homelessness Strategy" which does provide free housing to some people, which is good, but it's not NEARLY enough & the politicians say "housing first is how we end homelessness, so we're going to cut shelter capacity by 50% and hire more cops specifically to police homelessness." And then people freeze to death. It's honestly so impressive how these liberals can take something good and make it authoritarian. It's a weird situation to be in as an activist because the Boulder Shelter for the Homeless is fucking trash, but also homeless shelters are necessary harm reduction in lieu of socialized housing.
ACAB
2022-04-02 07:07:03 +0000 UTCmfs like andy schor (my mayor, mayor of lansing) need to be strapped down and forced to listen to this one. this is a very timely episode, I was just messaging him this morning about another $2 million he slapped on the annual budget, while simultaneously destroying encampments all over.
natfos 💌
2022-03-30 18:57:01 +0000 UTC
