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Comment by gamblor956 | Hacker News Reader

SCOTUS and 9th Circuit judges would feel (and rule) quite differently if they were confronted with unbathed, tweaking drug users jerking off in front of them and their children every morning, refusing treatment and shelter because they'd rather be high than housed.

The best solution is probably to redirect a number of the homeless to their tony neighborhoods. We would likely have rulings overturning shit decisions like this one in days.

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There are other laws against those things. We don't need one against sleeping outside.

In its infinite wisdom, the 9th Circuit has also decreed that we cannot force homeless drug users into rehab against their will, or to commit mentally ill homeless for treatment unless they represent an immediate danger to themselves or others...though the first sign of that is usually when they kill themselves or some innocent bystander, like has happened a dozen times in the past year.

How often have people who have the comfort of homes killed people during the course of the past year?

I'm sure that's a gross exaggeration. In any case there have only been 33 homicides in SF in 2019, which is down by about 20% vs. the prior year.

You're talking about people.

Regardless of if they are annoying you, you shouldn't try to treat this like a pest-control situation.

I urge you to re-think your position, with the understanding that they are real in the same way you are.

They’re often people who simply refuse to participate in society in a very basic way... which is fine but I also think that I have some right to personal safety as much as they do. LA has experienced Typhus outbreaks in their homeless camps. They absolutely trash huge sections of most cities. Crime and disease are a huge issue in those populations.

Homelessness should be combated with compassion and understanding. We have a responsibility to provide shelter, food, and ways out of homelessness for people.

Vagrancy on the other hand should be met with something else. We have the right as a society to ensure that our cities and public spaces work for everyone.

It's a gross misrepresentation to replace 'killing some innocent bystander' with 'annoying'.

I'll remember that the next time a homeless guy tries to attack me on a run, like one did this past weekend. I should give him flowers and kisses instead of punching him in the face.

That's just amazing!

Considering there are more than half a million homeless in the United States, the sound of that many people furiously masturbating must truly be deafening!

Not to mention the vast underground supply chains necessary to keep that many people constantly high and on drugs. For next to no money! How efficient!

I might spend a few weeks in the US to witness this unbelievable spectacle when I use up the remainder of my paid leave.

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