[Saigon, 3/29/24] In Wasco, CA, a man was run over by a train so, of course, his severed leg was promptly retrieved by another to chomp on. Just hours earlier, this opportunistic cannibal was observed buying beer and snack at a local store. You can’t say he isn’t bold or lacks initiative. Everyone in the neighborhood knows him. Though homeless, he’s never caused trouble.
It is interesting how landlord-tenant law has been exploited by some homeless (please let us avoid that idiotic euphemism "the unhoused" as if that somehow mitigates the misery of the situation )in an effort to obtain shelter here in America. Apparently in some states if a dwelling is unoccupied and a "squatter" moves into the property and claims it and then the rightful owner returns, say, for example, from a two week vacation, the squatter may be recognized by the law as a tenant now and the legal owner must go through legal process to evict the squatter; the rightful owner can't simply tell the squatter to leave. They have to go to court and get a notice to "pay or quit" and then a thirty day notice etc. I've seen a video (the veracity of which I can't be certain) in which the owner of a home is being arrested and put in hand cuffs for trying to remove a squatter from her home without formal legal procedure.
Another interesting phenomenon is de facto legalized shoplifting in California. I've seen videos of commercial stores being ransacked by roving groups of young thieves while security personnel simply watch and do nothing. Apparently there is a policy among some retailers in the state to let the theft of less than $1000 of merchandise to simply go. Apparently a number of retail stores have simply closed down certain outlets due to rampant shoplifting. The last time I was in Sacramento a Rite Aid pharmacy I would often shop at had closed apparently for that reason. https://www.hoover.org/research/why-shoplifting-now-de-facto-legal-california
It seems the proletariat are starting to find ways, however perverse, to fight back against a system here in The States that they recognize as increasingly unfair and unjust in which the poor and poverty are increasingly viewed by the establishment as a de facto crime. The proletariat see the unholy triumvirate of Bill Gates, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos with almost a trillion dollars between them while the proletariat have their food stamps cut-off without the Constitutionally required procedural Due Process of a notice and hearing. Something is indeed "rotten in [the United States of] Denmark."
Common' Linh! Americans admire "bold" people who "take the initiative"; (sounds like some platitude out of a business administration class or "How to Win Friends and Influence People" I know you're being sarcastic). It's just that when one is homeless in America (or "unhoused " as the Woke idiots apparently euphemistically say perhaps thinking this disgraceful problem will just go away quietly if they just give it a new name) one is invisible to society .
When you're homeless (pardon me! "unhoused" and perhaps unhinged, too) the only "bold initiative" one can resort to is consuming the limb of some dumb schmuck who apparently was too stupid (or stoned or drunk which is something I have to be careful of) to get out of the way of a barreling freight train.
I spent a number of months "unhoused" under the powerful California sun (they don't call it the "Golden State for nuthin'!) and at the end of that time I was ready to start gnawing on a few disembodied or dismembered limbs myself. What else could I do?! Everyone in America just wants the homeless to dry up and blow away. The idea of actually finding them housing (or making affordable housing available) is way too complex. And besides, there's no money in it. "Show me the money!", man. And when one is homeless, there ain't no money to show, bro. (Why am I talking like this? I hate people who talk like this, bro!)
I recall one time riding public transport in Sacramento (can't recall if it was a bus or the Light Rail) when a driver was being trained. I overheard the trainer say to the trainee something to the effect that, "Eventually it's going to happen; someone will be on the tracks and you won't be able to stop in time; so be prepared in advance..." It seems some of the considerable homeless population in California prefer the quick death of being struck by a train to the slow death of homelessness. Oops! Sorry, "unhousedness." Now if that isn't "boldness" and "taking the initiative" then I, for one, don't know what is!
Two thumbs up for that last photo. The frill on the shorts; the purse; the flowers on the flip-flops. That's a contest-entry pic! "Yeah, I'm slaving away under the mid-day sun of Phnom Penh, but I'm doing it in style, baby!"
You sometimes post this kind of stuff but other times marvel at places you enjoy where people are going about their lives relatively normally (in spite of the various issues going on all over the world).
Do you think people should NOT be enjoying calming normalcy (of sports or whatever) and just dreading the incoming nuclear war?
How exactly should people be living in these times if not trying to get by?
Appropriately this happened just before Easter Sunday when many good and pious Catholics go to Easter mass to partake in the physical metaphor of eating the body of Jesus as represented by the Holy Communion wafer. (My mother always told us boys, "Don't chew it! Just let it melt on your tongue!) Not unlike the late, great George Carlin's mother (Carlin was great, I don't know anything about his mother other than that she too was Catholic) sternly warning him as a child, "Get your hands out of your pockets!"
You've got to love those Catholics. They're always good for a laugh or two.
On the downside, I don't think I'll ever be able to sit down to a dinner of leg of mutton again. Seeing as how California often sets trends for the nation perhaps this will become a trendy form of dining: train wreck el fresco with severed limb de jour. Ummm, delicious!
"Similarly, Americans can’t imagine Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Jose or El Paso as being anything but red, white and blue. History, though, is a process, and it’s accelerating."
Unfortunately, Los Angeles no longer fits the description of red, white and blue.
Linh, just apply for a NON-O immigrant visa here in Thailand. No more border runs! .. just a visit to the immigration man every quarter 😉
p.s. thank heaven for strict immigration laws in these parts 🙏
It is interesting how landlord-tenant law has been exploited by some homeless (please let us avoid that idiotic euphemism "the unhoused" as if that somehow mitigates the misery of the situation )in an effort to obtain shelter here in America. Apparently in some states if a dwelling is unoccupied and a "squatter" moves into the property and claims it and then the rightful owner returns, say, for example, from a two week vacation, the squatter may be recognized by the law as a tenant now and the legal owner must go through legal process to evict the squatter; the rightful owner can't simply tell the squatter to leave. They have to go to court and get a notice to "pay or quit" and then a thirty day notice etc. I've seen a video (the veracity of which I can't be certain) in which the owner of a home is being arrested and put in hand cuffs for trying to remove a squatter from her home without formal legal procedure.
Another interesting phenomenon is de facto legalized shoplifting in California. I've seen videos of commercial stores being ransacked by roving groups of young thieves while security personnel simply watch and do nothing. Apparently there is a policy among some retailers in the state to let the theft of less than $1000 of merchandise to simply go. Apparently a number of retail stores have simply closed down certain outlets due to rampant shoplifting. The last time I was in Sacramento a Rite Aid pharmacy I would often shop at had closed apparently for that reason. https://www.hoover.org/research/why-shoplifting-now-de-facto-legal-california
It seems the proletariat are starting to find ways, however perverse, to fight back against a system here in The States that they recognize as increasingly unfair and unjust in which the poor and poverty are increasingly viewed by the establishment as a de facto crime. The proletariat see the unholy triumvirate of Bill Gates, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos with almost a trillion dollars between them while the proletariat have their food stamps cut-off without the Constitutionally required procedural Due Process of a notice and hearing. Something is indeed "rotten in [the United States of] Denmark."
Common' Linh! Americans admire "bold" people who "take the initiative"; (sounds like some platitude out of a business administration class or "How to Win Friends and Influence People" I know you're being sarcastic). It's just that when one is homeless in America (or "unhoused " as the Woke idiots apparently euphemistically say perhaps thinking this disgraceful problem will just go away quietly if they just give it a new name) one is invisible to society .
When you're homeless (pardon me! "unhoused" and perhaps unhinged, too) the only "bold initiative" one can resort to is consuming the limb of some dumb schmuck who apparently was too stupid (or stoned or drunk which is something I have to be careful of) to get out of the way of a barreling freight train.
I spent a number of months "unhoused" under the powerful California sun (they don't call it the "Golden State for nuthin'!) and at the end of that time I was ready to start gnawing on a few disembodied or dismembered limbs myself. What else could I do?! Everyone in America just wants the homeless to dry up and blow away. The idea of actually finding them housing (or making affordable housing available) is way too complex. And besides, there's no money in it. "Show me the money!", man. And when one is homeless, there ain't no money to show, bro. (Why am I talking like this? I hate people who talk like this, bro!)
I recall one time riding public transport in Sacramento (can't recall if it was a bus or the Light Rail) when a driver was being trained. I overheard the trainer say to the trainee something to the effect that, "Eventually it's going to happen; someone will be on the tracks and you won't be able to stop in time; so be prepared in advance..." It seems some of the considerable homeless population in California prefer the quick death of being struck by a train to the slow death of homelessness. Oops! Sorry, "unhousedness." Now if that isn't "boldness" and "taking the initiative" then I, for one, don't know what is!
Two thumbs up for that last photo. The frill on the shorts; the purse; the flowers on the flip-flops. That's a contest-entry pic! "Yeah, I'm slaving away under the mid-day sun of Phnom Penh, but I'm doing it in style, baby!"
You sometimes post this kind of stuff but other times marvel at places you enjoy where people are going about their lives relatively normally (in spite of the various issues going on all over the world).
Do you think people should NOT be enjoying calming normalcy (of sports or whatever) and just dreading the incoming nuclear war?
How exactly should people be living in these times if not trying to get by?
Appropriately this happened just before Easter Sunday when many good and pious Catholics go to Easter mass to partake in the physical metaphor of eating the body of Jesus as represented by the Holy Communion wafer. (My mother always told us boys, "Don't chew it! Just let it melt on your tongue!) Not unlike the late, great George Carlin's mother (Carlin was great, I don't know anything about his mother other than that she too was Catholic) sternly warning him as a child, "Get your hands out of your pockets!"
You've got to love those Catholics. They're always good for a laugh or two.
On the downside, I don't think I'll ever be able to sit down to a dinner of leg of mutton again. Seeing as how California often sets trends for the nation perhaps this will become a trendy form of dining: train wreck el fresco with severed limb de jour. Ummm, delicious!
"Similarly, Americans can’t imagine Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Jose or El Paso as being anything but red, white and blue. History, though, is a process, and it’s accelerating."
Unfortunately, Los Angeles no longer fits the description of red, white and blue.