Updates
- April 18, 8:33 am:
- April 19, 1:49 am:
- April 19, 2:10 pm:
- An update on my observations on homelessness in the previous issue.
In the previous issue, I wrote:
I drive around the San Francisco Bay Area a lot these days and it’s a rare freeway underpass that doesn’t have at least one homeless person with a tent set up. Often there are many tents, all pitched right next to each other, with chairs and other property set around them. I don’t know whether to call them Trumpvilles (it seems a bit early for that), Obamavilles, Bushvilles, or even Clintonvilles, but make no mistake, Hoovervilles have returned.[3]
I guess the homeless have become too visible for the powers that be. The Gilman underpass on I-80 now has a fence (that impedes visibility and makes an already-difficult intersection even more dangerous) to keep the homeless out. On an otherwise vacant lot adjacent to I-880 in Oakland, I noticed an eviction notice for an “illegal encampment.”
All of this underscores my longstanding point that in denying the homeless a place even to legally be, the powers that be effectively deny the homeless their right to even exist. The homeless won’t stop being homeless because they’ve been evicted from yet more locations. But, perhaps, they’ll be less visible. And the needs of the homeless—and their rights—won’t be any less urgent because they’ve been evicted from yet more locations. But, perhaps, we’ll be able to pretend they don’t exist.
We are erasing human beings here rather than helping them. And yes, that’s fascism.
Calexit
Don Thompson, “Calexit backers drop 1 California secession bid, try again,” Minneapolis Star-Tribune, April 17, 2017, http://www.startribune.com/calexit-backers-withdraw-2018-california-independence-bid/419654653/
H-1B Visas
Catherine Lucey and Scott Bauer, “Trump order would target high-skilled worker visa program,” Minneapolis Star-Tribune, April 17, 2017, http://www.startribune.com/trump-order-would-target-high-skilled-worker-visa-program/419664223/
Brexit
If I’m understanding correctly, Theresa May is attempting to solve a problem with her own backbenchers, Tories who would advocate an even harder Brexit than the one she seems to be seeking.[4] Which would seem to assume that newly elected ministers would be more cooperative than the backbenchers she’s seeking to overcome. More seriously, if something goes wrong, it could backfire on May. But May is also seizing an apparent opportunity to substantially increase her party’s parliamentary majority.[5]
Jenny Gross and Jason Douglas, “U.K.’s Theresa May Calls Early Election, Seeking Brexit Leverage,” Wall Street Journal, April 18, 2017, https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-k-prime-minister-theresa-may-calls-general-election-1492510159
Timothy Stafford, “Theresa May’s Risky General Election Plan,” National Interest, April 18, 2017, http://nationalinterest.org/feature/theresa-mays-risky-general-election-plan-20255
- [1]Jenny Gross and Jason Douglas, “U.K.’s Theresa May Calls Early Election, Seeking Brexit Leverage,” Wall Street Journal, April 18, 2017, https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-k-prime-minister-theresa-may-calls-general-election-1492510159↩
- [2]Timothy Stafford, “Theresa May’s Risky General Election Plan,” National Interest, April 18, 2017, http://nationalinterest.org/feature/theresa-mays-risky-general-election-plan-20255↩
- [3]David Benfell, “Probably not the right way to raise graduation rates,” (Supposedly) Daily Bullshit, April 14, 2017, https://parts-unknown.org/reading/2017/04/14/probably-not-the-right-way-to-raise-graduation-rates-daily-bullshit-april-11-2017/↩
- [4]Jenny Gross and Jason Douglas, “U.K.’s Theresa May Calls Early Election, Seeking Brexit Leverage,” Wall Street Journal, April 18, 2017, https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-k-prime-minister-theresa-may-calls-general-election-1492510159↩
- [5]Timothy Stafford, “Theresa May’s Risky General Election Plan,” National Interest, April 18, 2017, http://nationalinterest.org/feature/theresa-mays-risky-general-election-plan-20255↩