Comment Re:America, land of the free... (Score 1) 720
There is virtually no place in the US where someone who is homeless and jobless cannot get enough assistance from city/state/private agency to change their situation.
That may be true now, I have no current experience. 20+ years ago it was definitely NOT true. I suffered greatly being homeless. Hell, I suffered greatly even having a fucking job working 6 days a week being paid $3.35 an hour. Housing was, and is, not cheap. Sharing doesn't do any good if the people you share with refuse to ever pay their fair share.
Fuck it. At that point, crimes of theft are not such a big deal. Everyone needs to eat.
I was in a boat like this, and that's where the prior misdemeanor convictions come from. I was the lead software engineer at a promising startup. I turned to drugs to help me put in the hours. The company eventually tanked, and I was left with a bad habit and no income. I ended up homeless and stealing. I started a blog where I interviewed other homeless people and used the ad revenue to pay for a storage unit to live in.