XPost: seattle.politics, talk.politics.guns, sac.politics   
   XPost: alt.society.liberalism, or.politics   
   From: bliss@mouse-potato.com   
      
   On 9/21/23 01:34, useapen wrote:   
      
    > Signs and shouts filled Seattle City Council chambers Tuesday night as   
    > councilmembers voted to approve an ordinance making the use or possession   
    > of illicit drugs a gross misdemeanor.   
    >   
    > "You have blood on your hands," activists can be heard shouting after the   
    > 6-3 vote in a video by journalist Jonathan Choe.   
    >   
    > Critics call it a War on Drugs 2.0, but supporters hope enforcement will   
    > improve public safety and help push addicts into treatment.   
    >   
    > SEATTLE BUS DRIVERS GETTING SICK FROM FENTANYL SMOKE ON CITY BUSES AMID   
    > DRUG, HOMELESSNESS CRISIS: REPORT   
    >   
    > Those who use or possess illegal drugs in the Emerald City can be subject   
    > to gross misdemeanor charges, although the ordinance does encourage   
   police   
    > to prioritize diversion. A gross misdemeanor allows a judge to impose   
   more   
    > jail time than under a regular misdemeanor.   
    >   
    > But the council's bill recommends arrests only when an individual   
    > "presents a threat of harm to others," The Seattle Times reported.   
    >   
    > "I hope that we see a measurable increase in the number of people who are   
    > getting well, who are taking advantage of services and who are   
   getting off   
    > the street," Councilmember Andrew Lewis said, according to KING 5. "And I   
    > hope that we see accountability for people who are declining those   
    > services, who continue to disrupt public services on our streets by not   
    > taking advantage of them."   
    >   
    > Lewis and Councilmember Lisa Herbold both voted in favor of the revised   
    > ordinance after originally voting against it in June.   
    >   
    > 'THEY WERE LAUGHING': WOMAN VICIOUSLY BEATEN AT SEATTLE-AREA GAS STATION   
    > OVER CASH, CIGS AND CANDY   
    >   
    > The city ordinance mirrors Washington state's misdemeanor drug possession   
    > law passed earlier this year after the state's supreme court ruled its   
    > previous felony drug law was unconstitutional. The state law makes drug   
    > use and knowing possession punishable by up to 180 days in jail, a $1,000   
    > fine, or both.   
    >   
    > Councilmember Tammy Morales, who voted against the ordinance twice,   
   called   
    > the bill "ineffective."   
    >   
    > "It adds potential racial harm and makes false promises at a time when   
    > folks are desperate for solutions," Morales said. "This bill is   
    > unnecessary, dare I say performative."   
    >   
    > The bill will take effect 30 days after Mayor Bruce Harrell signs it,   
    > which he pledged to do in a statement after the vote.   
    >   
    > "As soon as this bill reaches my desk, I will sign it," Harrell wrote,   
    > calling the vote a "needed step forward" to address Seattle's drug   
    > epidemic.   
    >   
    > WASHINGTON MAYOR CLAIMS SHE’S BEING HARASSED AFTER CALLING 911 ON ‘FAR   
    > RIGHT’ ACTIVISTS AT WALMART   
    >   
    > There have been 761 fatal overdoses involving fentanyl so far this   
   year in   
    > King County, already surpassing last year's fentanyl deaths, according to   
    > public health data.   
    >   
    > "Fentanyl is tragically killing thousands in our city and around the   
    > country, and we need urgency and innovative solutions to make change,"   
    > Harrell said.   
    >   
    > About a dozen people lined the back of council chambers, holding signs   
    > listing "reasons why we cannot allow [Seattle Police Department] to use   
    > their discretion." One sign referenced a recently released video showing   
    > an officer joking and laughing about a woman who was struck and killed by   
    > a patrol car.   
    >   
    > "Our police department doesn’t care about the law," community member   
    > Alexander Mayben said, according to the Times. "Our police department   
    > appears to be inconvenienced at best by the need to ensure public   
   safety."   
    >   
    > knights-who-say-ni   
    > 14 hours ago   
    >   
    > So the Democrat's said lets decriminalize drug use as it's unfair to put   
    > drug users in jail.   
      
   	No drug user ever got over addiction in Jail, sometimes in prison but   
   never in jail.   
      
    >   
    > Let's give them clean needles to use to enable their drug use.   
      
   	To prevent the spread of HIB-AIDS and other blood-borne   
   diseases like Hepatitis B and C, Mercia and quite a few others.   
      
    >   
    > Let's give them a safe place they can shoot up their drugs.   
      
   	Where they can get medical attention if they overdose.   
      
    >   
    > Let's ignore open air drugs deals on our streets so they can get their   
    > next high.	   
      
   	Because one street level dealer busted is replaced by another   
   desperate person needing money for their lives.   
      
    >   
    > Let's enable them by allowing them to sleep and leave human waste on our   
    > streets.   
      
   	Well that is unwelcome but if they have to live on the street   
   you can expect messiness.   
      
    >   
    > Let's enable them by passing out free food and cash handouts.   
      
   	The hungry must be fed according to Christian Doctrine.   
    >   
    > Let's enable them by making shoplifting legal so they can steal to   
   support   
    > their addiction.   
      
   	I have never heard of that.  Shoplifters by the way can get upset by   
   interference and either be killed or kill others.   
      
    >   
    > Let's show empathy by allowing them to slowly poison themselves to death   
    > on our streets.   
      
   	Well we let the alcoholics do it all the time.  Alcohol is probably   
   still killing more people than Fentanyl.  Fentanyl is the   
   criminal entrepreneurs response to the Narcotics epidemic produced   
   by the pharmaceutical companies promotion of new narcotics formulations.   
      
    >   
    > jimmyhornblower   
    > 14 hours ago   
    >   
    > What's perplexing to me is how all of these people survived the PANDEMIC   
    > with no medical care, masks, vaccines or social distancing.   
   	   
     How do you know that they were unvaccinated?  In San Francisco it   
   seems many contacts of homeless folks are limited.  They were given   
   masks.   
      
    >   
    > If Covid were a real health risk, wouldn't there have been scores of dead   
    > people in the streets?  Yet the homeless population just continued to   
    > grow.	   
      
   	Dead people in the streets in a modern city are removed due to the   
   possible negative effect on public health and sanitation.  Remember   
   what they had to do with dead bodies in NYC during the worst of the   
   early epidemics.  Refrigerator trailors became extensions of the city   
   Morgue.   
   	One of my good acquaintances has had multiple bouts of Covid   
   leading to severe Long Covid so if it does not alway kill it can   
   disable.  He was confined to a nursing home as he recovered from brain   
   surgery to remove cancerous tumors.  His body if he had died would never   
   have been seen on the streets.   
     The homeless population continues to grow because public housing was   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)