Homelessness Surging In 1 City Despite Doling Out Hundreds Of Millions

 SCANDALS U.S.

URBAN DISTURBANCE

Has faced recent criticism for piloting a 'Managed Alcohol Program' costing $5 million

By Around the Web
Published May 17, 2024 at 4:50pm

Will Kessler
Daily Caller News Foundation

The number of homeless people in San Francisco jumped compared to two years ago, despite the city spending hundreds of millions of dollars to address the issue, city data shows.

The total number of homeless people in San Francisco rose 7% to 8,328 in a one-night measurement in January 2024 compared to the same in 2022, reversing the 3.5% decline recorded from 2019 to 2022, according to the city’s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing. 

Funding for homelessness from the city increased to $676 million in the 2022–23 fiscal year, up from $284 million in 2018–19, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

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Despite the total number of homeless people rising, the number of unsheltered people fell 1% in January compared to the same time in 2022 as the city prioritizes providing housing, increasing the number of beds available by 28% since 2019, according to the department. 

The number of people living in their vehicles in January has jumped 37% since 2022, and the number of people living in shelters has spiked 39%.

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“We are working every day to move people off our streets and into shelter, housing, and care,” San Francisco Mayor London Breed said in a press release following the survey. 

“This is safer and healthier for people on our streets, and it is better for all of us that want a cleaner and safer San Francisco. 

Our City workforce is dedicated to making a difference, and we will keep working to get tents off our streets, bring people indoors, and change the conditions in our neighborhoods.”

Breed is facing a tough reelection bid coming up in November later this year, holding just a slim lead over her more moderate opponents, according to The San Francisco Standard. 

The mayor’s unfavorability numbers are currently high and could rise higher if homelessness remains an issue.

San Francisco had a smaller jump in homelessness than the state of California as a whole, which had a 20% increase in the total number of homeless people compared to 2019, according to the department. 

California voters narrowly approved $6.4 billion in funding across the state for the construction of housing and treatment beds to accommodate homeless people with mental illnesses.

The increase in funding for homelessness follows a new business tax that was approved by San Francisco voters in 2018 and is specifically designed to provide funding for new housing units, rental subsidies and mental health services, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. 

An individual or family needs to earn $51.25 per hour to afford a one-bedroom apartment in the city.

To address low housing availability and high costs, Breed has launched an initiative called “Housing for All” that aims to build 82,000 new homes over the next eight years through expediting housing approvals, reforming housing regulations and more. 

The city approved just seven new housing permits in the first two months of 2024, well behind what it would need to reach its goal.

There were just 2,024 new housing units built in all of 2024 in the city, the worst gain in a decade and a 30% drop from the year before, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. 

High interest rates and elevated construction costs are among the reasons for the slow growth..

San Francisco has relied heavily on non-profits to combat homelessness despite concerns about how effectively the funding is being used, with the city’s attorney in early May accusing one nonprofit, the Providence Foundation, of stealing $100,000 of public money meant to address the issue. 

The Providence Foundation has received around $100 million in contracts from the city.

The city has faced recent criticism for piloting a “Managed Alcohol Program” costing $5 million that gives free beer, wine and vodka to the homeless to help recovering alcoholics.

Breed’s office deferred the Daily Caller News Foundation to previous statements.

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Biden's Climate Agenda Running Into A Wall Of His Own Making

 MONEY POLITICS SCANDALS WORLD

'American consumers' will pay for his new tariffs

By Around the Web
Published May 17, 2024 at 11:45am

By Will Kessler
Daily Caller News Foundation

President Joe Biden’s administration unveiled tariffs this week aimed at boosting domestic production of green energy technology, but the move could end up hamstringing his larger climate goals.

The tariffs announced on Tuesday quadruple levies for Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) to 100% and raise rates for certain Chinese green energy and EV components like minerals and batteries. 

Biden has made the transition to green energy and EVs a key part of his climate agenda, but hiking tariffs on those products to help U.S. manufacturing could jack up prices on the already costly products, slowing adoption by struggling Americans, according to experts who spoke to the DCNF.

The risks posed by hiking levies on green technology expose the inherent tension between Biden’s climate agenda and his efforts to protect American industry, which often struggles to compete with cheap foreign labor. 

Items on his climate agenda typically raise costs, and requiring companies to comply could make them uncompetitive on the world stage.

“These tariffs are a classic example of the Biden administration’s left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing,” E.J. Antoni, a research fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Grover M. Hermann Center for the Federal Budget, told the DCNF. 

“The inability to import Chinese-made EVs due to prohibitively high costs will necessitate importing raw materials and parts for EVs from China. 

Since automakers can’t afford to build and assemble the vehicles here, prices will have to rise. 

In other words, American consumers will pay the cost of this tariff, not the Chinese.”

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The White House, in its fact sheet, pointed to China artificially lowering its prices and dumping goods on the global market as the justification for the new tariffs in an effort to help protect American businesses. 

China has pumped huge subsidies into its own EV industry and supply lines over the past few years, spawning a European Union investigation into vehicles from the country.

“Tariffs on Chinese EVs won’t just make Chinese EVs more expensive, they will also make American EVs more expensive,” Ryan Young, senior economist at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, told the DCNF. 

“This is because domestic producers can now raise their prices without fear of being undercut by competitors. Good for them but bad for consumers — and for the Biden administration’s policy goal of increased EV adoption.”

Several American manufacturers are already struggling to sell EVs at a profit, with Ford losing $4.7 billion on its electric line in 2023 while selling over 72,000 of the vehicles. 

To ease price concerns and increase EV adoption, the Biden administration created an EV tax credit of $7,500 per vehicle, depending on where its parts are made.

The market share of EVs out of all vehicles fell in the first quarter of 2024 from 7.6% to 7.1% as consumers opted to buy cheaper traditional vehicles instead. 

Growth in EV sales increased by just 2.7% in the quarter, far slower than the 47% growth that the industry saw in all of 2023.

The Biden administration has also sought to use regulations to push automakers toward electrifying their offerings as consumers refuse to voluntarily adopt EVs, finalizing rules in March that effectively require around 67% of all light-duty vehicles sold after 2032 to be electric or hybrids..

“By raising the price — and thereby stunting the deployment — of EVs, the tariffs undermine the Biden administration’s stated goals of reducing carbon emissions (as many U.S. environmentalists and EV fans have recently lamented),” Clark Packard, research fellow in the Herbert A. Stiefel Center for Trade Policy Studies at the Cato Institute, wrote following the announcement. 

“The EV tariffs (and also-announced solar tariffs) would continue the administration’s habit of choosing politics and protectionism over their environmental agenda.”

Despite the subsidies, the 25% tariff that is currently in place for Chinese EVs already prices the product out of the U.S. market, resulting in no Chinese-branded EVs being sold in the country, according to Barron’s. 

Only a handful of the more than 100 EV models being sold in China appeal to American consumers, and none of them can compete under current levies.

“Something like this happened just a few years ago when former president Donald Trump enacted 25% steel tariffs in 2018,” Young told the DCNF. 

“Domestic steel producers raised their prices by almost exactly the amount of the tariff, and America soon had the world’s highest steel prices. 

As a result, car prices went up by about $200 to $300 on average. 

Larger trucks with more steel content increased even more. Now Biden is going to do the same thing to EVs.”

In the year following the increase in steel tariffs under the Trump administration, U.S. Steel’s operating profit rose 38%, prices were hiked 5 to 10% and revenue was up 15% due to reduced competition, according to CNN.

Despite the massive tariff hike on EVs, Biden only raised the tariff rate on Chinese lithium-ion EV batteries and battery parts to 25%, according to the White House. 

The tariff rate on certain essential minerals, like natural graphite, was also hiked to just 25%.

“Despite rapid and recent progress in U.S. onshoring, China currently controls over 80% of certain segments of the EV battery supply chain, particularly upstream nodes such as critical minerals mining, processing, and refining,” the White House wrote in its fact sheet. 

“Concentration of critical minerals mining and refining capacity in China leaves our supply chains vulnerable and our national security and clean energy goals at risk.”

China has broad control over the majority of minerals necessary to construct EVs, possessing nearly 90% of the world’s mineral refining capacity. 

Sources of the required minerals often also have serious human rights concerns, such as the world’s supply of cobalt, which has widespread ties to child labor.

Biden attacked former President Donald Trump during the 2020 election for the broad tariffs that he put on Chinese goods, noting that “any freshman econ student” could point out that the costs of the tariffs would be passed on to American consumers.

EV makers have increasingly struggled over the past year to maintain profits amid stalling demand, with the largest American EV manufacturer, Tesla, reporting a 10% drop in year-over-year revenue in the first quarter of 2024. 

Tesla is one of several EV makers that have announced layoffs in recent months.

“Fortunately, the EV market is still small in the U.S. and Chinese EVs are an even smaller slice of that small pie,” Antoni told the DCNF. 

“Even if the EV market in the U.S. were large, these tariffs would not help the domestic EV industry. 

While consumer demand for EVs would shift to domestic models, an increase in domestic production would rely on very expensive inputs from China, cutting into profits.”

The White House did not respond to a request to comment from the DCNF.

This story originally was published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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COVID 'Social Distancing'? 'No Evidence' Supporting 6-Foot Demands

 HEALTH POLITICS WND NEWS CENTER WORLD

WND

Expert admits there was no science used for guidance

By Bob Unruh
Published May 17, 2024 at 4:01pm

Japanese school children sit socially distanced while attending a wheelchair rugby game, Wednesday, Aug. 25, 2021, during the Tokyo Paralympics at Yoyogi Stadium in Tokyo, Japan. (Official White House photo by Cameron Smith)

That COVID "social distancing" demand – spewed out by government officials during the pandemic – marked out 6-foot intervals on store floors for people to wait in line.

And kept school children home.

Among the "real life consequences, according to a federal report, were those catastrophic lockdown of schools, since they couldn't reopen "due to the pressure from teachers' unions to follow this guideline."

It was, according to a report at The Federalist, perpetrated by former National Institutes of Health chief Francis "Collins and crew, including the smug and self-righteous Dr. Anthony Fauci, the immunologist who ran the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for a dangerously long time, made a very good living segregating a society at an unprecedented level. 

The damage done from the scientists’ sign-off on a long and cruel isolation experiment will take a long time to fully measure."

But the whole idea of a "distancing" was based on … no science.

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That's according to Collins himself, whose agency at the time threatened, in an article, "Six feet apart or six feet under…"

Collins was questioned earlier this year in a closed-door session of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, and a transcript recently was released.

Collins was asked if he believed any science or evidence supported the six-feet rule, and Collins said he did not.

"Is that I do not recall or I do not see any evidence supporting six feet?" a COVID subcommittee staff member asked, the report said.

"I did not see evidence, but I’m not sure I would have been shown evidence at that point," Collins replied..

And now, has Collins see any evidence in the interim requiring six-foot distancing?

"No," he said.

The Federal reported, "Youth suicide rates exploded in the wake of lockdown isolation. 

Schoolchildren everywhere were left behind in an arbitrary and unnecessary lost year-plus of education. Small businesses in droves shut down. 

Government bureaucrats stepped all over basic rights, abridging travel, livelihoods, and even worship.

"And they did it all with no evidence."

The Federalist noted Collins also admitted that the idea that the virus, suspected of contributing to more than a million deaths in America, came from a Chinese lab experimenting with those very diseases, is not a conspiracy theory.

The staff member asked, "Putting aside de novo, the possibility of a laboratory or research-related accident, a researcher doing something in a lab, getting infected with a virus, and then sparking the pandemic. 

Is that scenario a conspiracy theory?"

"Not at this point," Collins said.

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Congressman: There's Evidence Biden Was 'Jacked Up' On Drugs

 ELECTION HEALTH POLITICS WND NEWS CENTER

WND

'He screamed for two hours'

By Bob Unruh
Published May 17, 2024 at 12:27pm

Joe Biden waves to the crowd as he prepares to deliver his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in the House Chamber at the U.S. Capitol, Thursday, March 7, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Official White House photo by Adam Schultz)

For an 82-year-old, Joe Biden is reasonably active, and reasonably alert. 

But he often stumbles when he walks slowly, and his speech is often muddled and disorganized.

So how did he, suddenly, become "fiery" for his recent State of the Union?

"Jacked up" on drugs, states Rep. Greg Murphy.

It is the Gateway Pundit that provided a transcript of the interview by Rep. Greg Murphy, R-N.C., with a Fox News host.

Murphy is a practicing urologist.

He said, "I’ll just be very plain and simple. 

I was in the State of the Union address, and Joe Biden must’ve been jacked up on something that day. 

I absolutely believe that from a medical viewpoint, and actually have a little bit of good knowledge that that happened. 

He can’t stand it. 

He can’t stand under the lights for that long, and I don’t think he can keep a concept in his brain that long.

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"It is going to be important that President Trump stays presidential, he did that during the last debate, he did not do that during the first debate. 

That he stays on track, that he shows the American people how much worse they are from four years ago and what this president has done to destroy this country. 

He just has to stay in his lane and act presidential, sometimes he can get off on a wheel, we all know that and love that about him. 

But Biden will falter and falter if he doesn’t have things right in front of him telling him what to do."

Fox News' Maria Bartiromo pinpointed the big question: "What do you mean when you say he was jacked up at the State of the Union?"

Murphy said, "I believe they gave him something to help him sustain the lights and sustain the vigor that he had. 

That was not Joe Biden. I was in there. 

He screamed for two hours. He screamed for two hours. And maybe we can talk offline and I’ll show you something that I think that proves that."

He continued, "I think I can have some evidence that shows he was given something before that."

He said, "Joe is 82, there’s a picture of him taken last week without his make up on. 

And guess what, he looks like an 82 year old. 

You can see his surgical scar on the back where he had his face lift, you can see that very plainly. 

He is being manufactured and puppeteered by the Democratic Party to be president of the United States. 

And I fully believe that has to do sometimes with pharmacology.".

President Donald Trump has suggested that there are occasions where Biden is "jacked up," and others have agreed.

WND reported when Carole Lieberman, a forensic psychiatrist in Beverly Hills, said in a report at PJMedia the same thing.

"If you look at how Joe Biden usually is — slow and stumbling — compared to how he was during the State of the Union — fiery and angry — these are signs that are typical for someone taking Adderall or any amphetamine," she explained.

Democrats claimed the unusually harsh and verbally strident Biden was just giving evidence he's physically and mentally fit for office.

This, of course, is the president whose capabilities were assessed as "diminished" in a special counsel's report after an investigation into his likely violation of federal law regarding the custody of classified documents.

Lieberman, who has not examined Biden, suggested the evidence is that Biden could have been juiced up on Adderall or another amphetamine.

She described Biden as a "word salad on speed."

The report explained Lieberman pointed out Biden's frequent gestures and hand movements. 

Then there was his slurring of words, which is expected from an octogenarian.

But, she said, his accompany speed suggests he was "psychopharmacology helped."

Lieberman, who works with elderly dementia patients "told the Washington Times that Biden displayed behaviors indicative of stimulant usage to conceal cognitive decline," the report confirmed.

"[Adderall]’s given to focus someone’s attention so if you give it to someone who is not focused and give it to them ahead of a big event like the State of the Union, it will improve their focus. 

But it’s treating the symptoms rather than boosting the brain and it’s addictive so it’s dangerous," she said.

"He couldn’t correct his mistakes. 

He mentioned Moscow in a sentence where it made no sense. 

You could see him try to fix it, but he didn’t know how to correct himself. 

He couldn’t say the correct word. 

Anyone could trip over Laken Riley’s name but he didn’t know how to correct it. 

If he knew enough about her to talk about her, he would know enough to call her by the right name."

The anger and shouting also are concerning signs, she said.

"The emotional volatility is a sign of dementia and was amped up because of the Adderall or amphetamine they gave him. 

He wasn’t just talking loudly. 

He was shouting in a room where everyone could hear him and he had a microphone."

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PAMELA GELLER - TODAY'S HEADLINES

PAMELA GELLER 

TODAY'S HEADLINES

• NY DEMOCRATS KILL ‘LAKEN’S LAW’ BILL IN FAVOR OF THE STATE’S ‘SANCTUARY CITY’ POLICIES
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• CNN’S JAKE TAPPER, WHO CALLED TRUMP’S PRESIDENCY A ‘NIGHTMARE,’ TAPPED TO MODERATE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE
• WASHINGTON POST DER STÜRMER
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• https://gellerreport.com/

Seven Pro-Life Activists Were Sentenced This Week To Federal Prison

 

Hi Friend,   Seven pro-life activists were sentenced this week to federal prison for peacefully protesting a late-term Washington, D.C. abortion facility.   It is a travesty that in our nation's capital, the abortionists who slaughter full-term infants walk free while peaceful pro-life activists who protest their gruesome butchery are thrown into prison.   Lauren Handy, a 30-year-old pro-life activist, was sentenced to 57 months, more than four years.   Joan Andrews Bell, a 76-year-old grandmother who has dedicated her life to saving babies and women from abortion, was sentenced to 27 months in prison; Jean Marshall, 74, was sentenced to 24 months in prison.   John Hinshaw, a 69-year-old pro-life activist, was sentenced to 21 months; Iraq War veteran Jonathan Darnel faces 34 months in prison, and Herb Geraghty and Will Goodman were sentenced to 27 months in prison.   These pro-lifers were found guilty of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act — a law that the Biden administration is weaponizing to jail pro-life Americans who peacefully protest at abortion facilities.

Contact your representative

This is pure political persecution.  Will you take action on behalf of these pro-life activists and urge your elected representatives to repeal the FACE Act?  If we don’t act now, Big Abortion and its allies will forever silence pro-life free speech.   I can’t underscore this enough: the pro-life activists who were sentenced for violating the FACE Act were peacefully protesting.  They were protesting abortionist Caesare Santangelo’s Washington, D.C. abortion facility — the same facility where the bodies of 115 aborted children were discovered in a medical waste bin that ignited the #JusticefortheFive campaign in 2022.   Free speech is the cornerstone of a free society, and this frightening and unjust attack is pure political persecution of pro-life people.   I’m mobilizing my team now to stand up for free speech and the rights of these pro-life heroes by calling on Congress to repeal the discriminatory FACE Act before more pro-life people are arrested.   But we can’t do this alone.  Can I count on you to contact your elected representative right now to urge Congress to repeal the FACE Act?   A person’s pro-life stance should never mean they lose their constitutional right to speak up.  This chilling attack on free speech must be stopped. Here’s the link where you can quickly and securely send a message: https://actnow.io/ARQQhk1   Thank you in advance for your help in this fight. Together, we can ensure that no one loses their right to protest injustice.    For Life, Lila Rose Founder and President

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