Panhandling Pragmatism & Don Lemon on Women – February 17th, 2023
- Panhandling pragmatism. Here’s an exercise aimed at illustrating a point. Count how many panhandlers on roadways you come across today. Count the number of times vehicles are moving while they’re on the road. Then imagine the increase in risk associated for everyone involved. It’s not complicated. Having people begging for money walking between cars on busy roadways is and has always been a recipe for disaster. This is why those who’ve studied this topic from Palm Beach County Sheriff Rick Bradshaw to me have concluded the same thing. We should never encourage the behavior. It’s not safe for anyone involved. This means no matter how downtrodden one looks or how convincing a sign appears to be, we shouldn’t roll down the window and hand over whatever we intend to hand over. Now this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be compassionate. There are over 3,600 non-profits in Palm Beach County which would gladly take the resources you’d otherwise hand over to those on the street, with far better results in truly helping those in need. If you question that one, here’s one more question to ask yourself. Of the panhandlers you’ll see today, how many have you seen before? Clearly, the donations of yesterday, or in the case of many of the regulars, previous years, weren’t the answer to help address the real needs of those on the streets. If you’re genuinely interested in helping, find an organization or organizations which accomplish what you’d like to see accomplished and make donations directly to them instead. I last addressed this topic last fall when controversy brewed as local governments, from Palm Beach County, to most recently Lake Worth Beach, voted to drop their ordinances against panhandling. As I covered at the time, this wasn’t done out of political activism but instead as a result of...
- A federal court ruling citing panhandling as a first amendment right. The ACLU and related interest groups had taken to suing local governments over these ordinances and cities like Lake Worth Beach had been targeted, leaving them with little choice but to drop them. Now the reason panhandling pragmatism is my top takeaway today is due to what Jacksonville just did. With a proliferation of panhandling problems on the streets of the city contributing to Jacksonville becoming sixth most dangerous city in the country for pedestrian deaths – incidentally eight of the top ten in the country are in Florida – they decided to do something about it. Jacksonville engaged in a six-month study to evaluate the federal court ruling pertaining to first amendment rights with panhandling and citizen safety. They found what they believe to be a lawful compromise. By a bipartisan 16-3 vote of the city council on Wednesday, Jacksonville adopted a new ordinance, entitled Pedestrian Safety, which doesn’t ban panhandling in the city but does ban the practice of physical interaction with individuals outside of a vehicle on roadways excluding law enforcement and first responders. The ordinance provides for citations for both the person outside the vehicle and the person inside the vehicle. This seems like an entirely logical solution, and I believe it could become a new model for governments across the state. I’d encourage the Palm Beach County Commission in addition to city officials throughout the area to investigate what Jacksonville seemingly has accomplished in striking a legal balance on an increasingly important issue of public safety.
- Don Lemon is a moron. This you already knew. But he also may have unintentionally given Nikki Haley a boost to her unlikely presidential bid. Yesterday on his most recent failing venture, the new CNN morning show, when asked about Nikki Haley’s bid for president he said she was past her prime. Quoting the Lemon, Nikki Haley isn't in her prime, sorry. A woman is considered to be in their prime in 20s and 30s and maybe 40s. It depends, just like prime, if you look it up. If you Google it, when is a woman in her prime, it'll say 20s, 30s and 40s. Now, the obvious takes are the obvious takes. And I’m going there in just a minute. But being the analytical sort that I am the second thought that came to mind (the first was that my wife Ashley could both physically and mentally run circles around him), was what a 56-year-old gay man would be doing “Googling” women’s primes. It’s a question worth asking. But to indulge the Lemon I did it. And what did Google say? The top search result, which was from “thehealthyjournal.com” said this: Women's media and pop culture are major contributors to the oft-cited narrative that ages 30-39 are a woman's supposed “prime” — socially, professionally, physically, sexually and emotionally. You’ve got that. Not that women are in their prime in their 30’s but that media (read morons like the Lemon) and pop culture (requires no explanation) say so. In the actual article it specifically states women don’t even reach their mental peak until their 50’s and are generally at their happiest in their 60’s. The Lemon couldn’t even get that one right. But Joe Biden, whom he defends daily, man that guy is prime. Am I right? Nope, nothing sexist to see on CNN here. I think, in reality, what happened is that Don Lemon turned on The View.