A law they are trying to suspend, yes -- and due to the migrant crisis. Doesn't change a word I said.

"New York isn't going to have much of a homeless problem because after the winter a large number of them aren't around anymore. The same goes for places in the southwest where routinely gets over 100 degrees."

NYC has a law that requires them to shelter their homeless. Los Angeles does not.

Lets look at the differences between NYC and Los Angeles. NYC has more total homeless than Los Angeles -- but they actually shelter them (they are required to by law). Less than 5k a night are unsheltered (usually between 1k-3k). Los Angeles breaks the bank at 10s of thousands. Hell, we have more death due to exposure on Los Angeles streets than NYC does. A very dark interpretation of how we work here in LA is just to kill them on the streets. Over 2000 die on the street every year here now. In 10 or 15 years, that's a pretty huge number of folks.

"Homlessness is not restricted to the drug addicted mentally ill poor people you know"

It takes up a pretty good chunk of the "UNSHELTERED" homeless population.

" A lot of homeless drug users started the drugs after a while of being homeless"

Yes, many started using drugs after becoming homeless. Many didn't. It really doesn't matter as it is a major BARRIOR to getting out of being homeless.

"And they ended up homeless because they missed a rent payment and were kicked out by overpowered landlords."

It would more accurate to say they ended up sofa surfing with family or friends -- until something caused those bridges to get burnt. Usually substance abuse and theft to support the their substance of choice.

And "Overpowered landlords"? Los Angeles has the worst unsheltered homeless issue. And during covid? NOBODY got evicted. It didn't happen. And the unsheltered homeless numbers grew. Many "landlords" (most of which are retired folks with a single or small number of properties to fund their retirement went broke. That certainly doesn't sound like "overpowered" to me.

It's not the "rent" or "money" issues driving this, but please do go ahead and continue to help that narrative fund failing "harm reduction" programs that haven't stopped the streets of Los Angeles from killing over 2000 folks a year now (most directly related to substance abuse (OD & long term organ damage). Hell, we kill more folks on our streets from exposure than NYC -- and their winters are brutal.

" STILL better to trust the scientists. The alternative is... stupid."

There are more options than a generalized "trust the scientists" vs. "loudest, most obnoxious blowhard in the room"

A few words: "Trust but verify."

Remove trust when verification fails. For not just scientists and "obnoxious blowhard(s) in the room", but any claim you come across. You'll have fewer
"shady, irresponsible shitty scientists" and you'll soften the loud blowhards.

chijo said:

"SNCF was angry because California voters chose a route through the Central Valley, not along the I-5, and the California High Speed Rail Authority was unwilling to go against the will of the voters. You call that a "dysfunctional" government. I call it working as designed."

[citation needed]

Artificial artificial intelligence?

It's like Victor/Victoria -- only with computers.

"Like wtf are Parker Solar probe and Solar Orbiter doing all day?"

Parker just used Venus as a slingshot to get in a position to do more orbits around the sun So might not have been in a position to see much of anything.

Solar Orbiter is currently getting ready for another zoom around the sun inside Mercury's orbit about 1-2 months from now. It's in a position where it could see/report sunspots, but I'm not sure what it's current mission tasks are. And "oh", it'll be pretty close to home (earth) around December. Don't forget to go outside and wave at it.

"Constructor" fleet...

(runs away)

"Which is perfectly reasonable when you're thinking of profiting by your own work during your own lifetime. In your children's or great-grandchildren' lifetime, not so much"

Awesome plan for those artists who don't produce a successful work until their 80s or 90s... How about 50 years or the death of the artist, which ever is the longest?

But do Vulcan's really have a "Rumspringa"? Or is this just a Spock one-off?

Spock with a smile kind of creeps me out.

That said, yeah, this was an awesome episode!

No need to feel sorry. I was born with a "gift". I can look at other people screw up and learn from their mistakes without needing to make that same mistakes myself. In that way, it's like winning the gene-pool super lotto.

I was the first in my family to finish high-school -- never mind go to college (did that too). I had to extract myself from my family. I raised my kids in the dark about how I grew up to break the 'cycle'. It looks like it's working so far. My son looks about ready to go to grad school (likely medical school -- but he's got a lot of options -- he's like a savant with regards to O-Chem -- he can actually visualize how the molecules fold). Daughter is a graphic design major (and published a few webcomics as early as 16).

"It comes down to whether you believe the government has the right to make you healthy in spite of yourself."

Healthy? Or alive? We already regulate risky behavior. Helmets, seatbelts, speed limits, access to fireworks in most locations... I really don't want to list the litany of various government regulations regarding food, beverages, drugs, equipment....

The government clearly has the "right" to keep you from certain 'Darwin awards' -- but some may disagree it should.

What angers me is the rhetoric from the "housing first" maniacs. They are literally helping kill people by only allowing solutions which are far too expensive, far to slow and doesn't address substance abuse in any meaningful way. What they call harm reduction isnt reducing the harm they need to focus on -- nor does clustering a bunch of active addicts in a building (even if they are single occupancy $750k per unit apartments) just surrounds an addict around other addicts which become yet another barrier to recover/sobriety. The version of "harm reduction" being implemented clearly isn't working.

"The truth is though, that until you actually have to deal with an addict and watch the awful progress of the disease, you aren't going to get it."

I was brought up in a household of substance abusers. Tossing up your hands and giving up -- or worse, making it easier to feed their substance habit is not a workable solution. I first got high at 7 years old because my sister (13 years older than me) thought it would be funny.

Free range doesn't work for substance abusing humans. Chickens may thrive, but it kills the humans over time.

California (and Los Angeles in particular) have made getting and using pretty much any thing you want, from booze, to weed to Percocet, to coke to Michael Jacksons "warm milk". And we're killing over 6 people a day on our streets (unsheltered homeless). The vast majority either directly by OD or by long term abuse of drugs or alcohol. That's over 2000 a year -- JUST in Los Angeles -- and just the unsheltered homeless community -- the ultimate 'free range' for abuse.

I don't know what city you are citing as you didn't provide it. I disbelieve.

Los Angeles (city), on the other hand, saw countless businesses damaged or destroyed. Saw countless examples of looting and vandalism. Saw zero people arrested and prosecuted.

Melrose and Santa Monica were hit hard. There's still stretches that haven't fully recovered (riot/looting damage + covid shutdowns? Many businesses didn't have a chance).