April 2025 – Really Right

Can We Fix the Homeless/Mental Health Crisis? Yes

We, as a society, can all admit one thing, we have a massive growing crisis in homelessness, specifically folks with major mental health issues. When I reference mental health issues here, I’m not talking about the folks who begged a doctor to be put on a pill, I’m talking specifically about the ones you see in bigger cities. More specifically the ones on the streets with no family/friends/support system in place.

A couple disclaimers here for the brainwashed on both the left and right.

I think we can all agree that the sanitariums were filled with horror and abuse while still recognizing the need for proper mental healthcare. Closing these hospitals to send folks to the streets was not humane or compassionate. I will add Reagan was likely not at his best when it came to this, but after seeing the photos, I do not blame him for shutting them down. (See also O’Connor v. Donaldson 1975—Editor)

In addition, when I suggest bringing back these sanitariums, they are not for the child with autism, or the guy with a Trump bumper sticker. I’m talking about the person who is an obvious threat to themselves or others.

To understand this problem fully, you must grasp what actually causes it. Mental health and drug/alcohol addiction are two of the biggest causes, understandable they are not mutually exclusive. The next two are exiting both the foster care system and prisons. Again, those are not mutually exclusive.

The mental health part is some people need real help, and their parents/family are tired of trying. They turn 18 and leave the house. The person does not seek treatment or keep with treatment leading to life on the streets. Drugs and alcohol, specifically dependance on both, are another leading cause. There is a reason marijuana was called a gateway drug by law enforcement, it leads to cocaine, meth, or other harder drug use. How many times have you been witness to a homeless person coked out of their mind on hard drugs/booze stumbling back and forth between the sidewalk and oncoming traffic or “acting the fool” as the kids say? They vandalize, defecate, urinate, destroy, and take over public areas and become a nuisance. Sadly, none of the above are enforceable/jailable offenses because we have decriminalized so much in this country. Prison is not the answer anyway, treatment is, but in states like California, unless it’s ordered by a judge, you can simply sign yourself out and away you go. Exiting prison and the foster care system again likely leads someone to unsavory things such as drugs and alcohol abuse. At 18, you are no longer a foster kid, and the government money quits coming in. For the incarcerated, they likely do not have family that want them around so to the streets you go. In both cases finding a roof over your head or employment will be hard. Again, you take up unsavory things and get hooked. Alcohol and drugs make you dependent, you lose the ability to function without them, then you seek out higher doses or newer, stronger euphoria’s.

Do not get me wrong, city leadership is also a massive contributor to the mental health/homeless crisis. San Francisco, Los Angeles, Oakland, and Sacramento to name a few in California, have embraced these types and allowed them to destroy the once proud cities they were. Try going to Golden Gate Park or Civic Center in San Francisco, you will find the world’s largest open air drug market stuffed with addicts hunched over on the sidewalk. Try coming to Sacramento and walking down K or L Streets just beyond the new basketball arena, and several blocks from the State Capital. You are taking your life into your hands at all hours of the day or night. It’s scary and not safe. Last week I was there, a mentally ill homeless person had a switchblade in his hands, crisscrossing between traffic threatening folks. Yup.

So how do we fix this you ask?

I think every hospital should be required to have a mental health and wellness floor. The Methodist (Dignity Health) hospital in south Sacramento does. I understand fully this would be funded by taxpayer dollars, in no way do I want to see government grow in size but realize this is the private sector with a small bit of government oversight. The hospital already has people capable of caring for these folks and they want to see the treatment through then discharge the person AT THE APPROPRIETE TIME! Take two and call me in the morning, or we held you for the 48 hours needed to satisfy the judge, hasn’t worked and doesn’t work. Time to try something else. I understand some people likely will never walk out, that is not necessarily a bad thing.

No more Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) in this issue. This is nothing more than a grift for the local elected, their families, or relatives. Setting up tiny home communities seems like a good idea, but it is only giving the crackheads more blow. Ditto for “needle exchanges” and the like. These people just profited on the backs of those in the most need.

Put aside your political, religious and pre-existing beliefs about this issue. Trust me republican readers, there are folks with these issues in rural areas, they just get swept up and sent to the bigger cities since they “have the infrastructure to help them.” Trust me democrats you know the big cities are buying Grey Hound bus tickets to “pass them along” to other cities as well. Both sides get over yourselves. One can also be a compassionate Christian/religious while also agreeing some people are far too gone to be allowed to live in civilized society. What did you do for your aging parents/grandparents? When they could not drive anymore you became their ride, when unable to take care of themselves, they transitioned from their home to a senior living system. It’s not cruel, it’s a matter of life. At some point someone else may need to carry the proverbial cross. Just because this didn’t work 50 years ago doesn’t mean it cannot work now. Let’s try something slightly different, rather than a sanitarium, make it a floor in an actual hospital! That means oversight from hospital administrators and actual doctors, not a medieval dungeon type of place in a secluded, blighted part of town. Let’s try something out… maybe my idea is not adequate but at least it’s a plan.

The status quo is failing, and getting worse, some areas are becoming flat out not visitable in this country.

The Chief

PS: One last time for the folks on the far left/right who possess an IQ slightly above room temperature, this does not apply to the homeless person living in their car, the family of 4 living in a tiny home, the person with autism, or the guy with a MAGA hat on. It’s for the folks way too far gone for conventional treatment.

Cancer Countdown: March to Oblivion

Halfway through April my wife’s health is continuing to decline. She is in pain much of the time. In addition, breathing is becoming more difficult. Morphine and oxygen are now regular parts of her care. She grows weaker by the day. Food consumption continues to decline. When you vomit part of whatever you eat, you decide to eat less just to avoid the futility of a meal. While she liked the promise of what the esophageal stint would do, the truth is it has had the opposite effect that was promised; namely, she is eating less than before. Meals are poached eggs, popsicles, oatmeal, and an occasional yogurt.

Cancer continues to spread. She is developing lumps of cancer just under her skin on her back and chest. One area that bothers her a lot is a lump of bone sticking out of her right side near where she had an incision to open her chest cavity and pull her stomach into her chest. This surgery was done 3 ½ years ago.

While she likes the relief that comes from taking a bath, her days of climbing the stairs to get to the tub are over. Last time she took a bath she had to rest multiple times to get up the stairs. She then had to rest before getting in the tub. The handrail that I installed is helpful but presupposes that a person has the strength to hold on while traversing the stairs.

Her dad is arriving in a few short days to help. Sadly, he knows how this will end but chooses to be here anyway. I’m glad he is coming.

I was hoping that she would make it until mid-June, our 22^nd anniversary, but at this point I think it’s all over before then. I generally know her last wishes, but we have yet to work out the details of the memorial service that she wants in Elk Grove. We are doing three activities/services: Funeral in Bonners Ferry, Graveside service in Elk Grove, and a memorial service.

My parents are flabbergasted that my wife wants a proper Christian burial and then a memorial service. They think the body is trash to be burned and tossed away (or scattered). It’s just one of many disconnects that modern Christians believe even though the Bible teaches the opposite. My problem with them is that they don’t care what the Bible says on the issue and no amount of contrary evidence is allowed into their world. Oh, then they start hitting me with the cost angle. I’m like, so what. Even if nobody helps pay for this, I can use the insurance money to cover the expenses.

When the kids do make it here one last time, I hope she divides or distributes the bulk of her possessions. After things are settled, I would like to load the pickup and start delivering mom’s stuff to the kids. I don’t want to have all that stuff warehoused here until I too am planted in the grave. It’s not fair to put that on someone else later.

The truth is that much of what my wife has collected isn’t worth a plug nickel. For her everything is about sentimental value and nobody shares her sentiment. Today’s generation doesn’t care about real silverware, or fine China dish sets, or Depression era glassware, or mass marketed children’s books from the 1960’s. The Bible says that you should leave an inheritance to your children’s children but how can you when they aren’t getting married and making babies. The oldest is trying to check this box but the two boys are stuck in Andrew Isker’s Trashworld as happy as pigs in slop, just playing video games and passing the time away.

People keep trying to relate to me and say they are praying for me. I’m just the passenger on this trip through the valley of the shadow of death. The big blank for me is what happens after all the above is over? Frankly, I don’t need much help until that time at which I’ll be a lost puppy.

Minor update: given the trajectory of my wife’s condition, I think the end is much nearer than I had supposed, barring some intervention, I think she has days remaining and not weeks. I’m curious what my father-in-law will think once he gets to see the situation firsthand.

Why the Trump Tariffs will Backfire

You will have to put the Kool-Aid down for a few minutes for this blog. For the most part I agree with everything President Trump has done, foreign policy issues notwithstanding. While I agree tariffs are necessary to even the playing field globally, I think Trump is going about it wrong.

A little history here first. Every president has punted on the idea of tariffs on foreign nation’s goods except maybe Eisenhower, I as a student of history, think he was going to attempt to try it. Point being it’s a very hard thing to accomplish. Politically if it doesn’t work, you will be a one term President (no bother to Trump here) and your party will lose massive seats in the next election.

Here are the issues facing Trump in this uphill climb on tariffs.

His own party:

Let’s face it, the GOP is good at one thing, claiming a principled stance then reversing course a year later. Check out each government shutdown they created… what did they ever extract? Yeah, my point exactly. These coconuts are more concerned with getting re-elected, not the health of the nation. Their pocketbook, not yours is the goal here.,

NAFTA/CAFTA and other free trade agreements:

These agreements made it, so the manufacturing phase was sent outside the US solely to save money on cheap foreign labor. The premise here was to keep the input costs down and as a result the trinkets we love to buy are dirt-cheap. If labor costs rise in say China, close the factory and move to Bangladesh, Vietnam etc. etc. These trade agreements, unlike most legislative moves today, came through Congress so they likely will need to be reformed/circumvented/repealed.

Cheap foreign labor:

See above, but the point stands, the American worker will cost substantially more, then throw in mandatory benefits (these manufacturing centers will have far more than the minimum to avoid benefits/union forming) suddenly the foreign workers seem better. The cost of your favorite t-shirt to wear won’t be $20, trust me.

CEO/C-Suite/90-day calendar folks:

These folks do not care about the price of the goods you pay for, they could care less about your livelihood or employment status, they are bean counters. The reason the above 2 reasons exist is due to these people. They care only about earnings per share/costs and stock price. That’s all that matters. They get a bonus (except 90 day guys) due to performance. They moved the jobs out of the US to save labor/benefit costs, then they moved them again due to the ability to save $.01 a share. It’s the bottom-line only to these losers. Bringing the jobs back, or the effects of a tariff scare these folks. Again, a falling stock price leads to “how can we fix this?”

American Consumers:

Let’s face it, we love buying cheap crap. We do not care where it is made. Let’s again be honest here, we only care when we hear about product recalls and lead contamination etc. We love buying cheap stuff! It’s a hard sell to say you are going to pay more but it’s better in the long run. Older generations grew up with Blue Light Specials (RIP K-Mart), dollar stores, and everyday low prices. It’s a tough sell.

Foreign Customers:

They are a tough sell; it’s a foreign brand to them when we try to sell our products overseas. They know the names: GM, Ford, Kellogg’s etc. So, we try to buy foreign brands and hide the fact it’s an American company, but I digress. Most foreign countries are fiercely loyal to their domestic products, and they do not trust foreign ones. When people argue when they go to Japan its nothing but Toyota, or BMW/Volkswagen in Germany it’s a national pride thing as opposed to a cheapest price thing. They tariff us to not let us undercut them as well. Canada and parts of the European Union right now are labeling/removing American goods and putting “buy _______ support local” signs on their goods.

Product Quality:

As stated above we outsource everything to the point quality doesn’t matter. The Craftsman brand comes to mind, rather than stand for a quality product, its cheaply made crap that will break on you during the first job use. This is what happens when the idea that costs must always come down. Foreign and even domestic companies know our products are inferior to theirs.

Globalists:

These folks were the loudest during the Bush years, now they are changing their tune. The issue for people like me is that it’s hard to take someone like Rick Santelli of CNBC seriously when he is outright flip-flopping on this issue. Suddenly he cares about the Chinese/foreign cheap labor? Santelli and his ilk remind me of the older generation, they sent the jobs overseas and were thrilled with cheap costs but now want to do a re-mix because it’s cool. They saw the jobs leave and now are concerned about the future? Yeah, sure! It will be hard to sell this to the folks. Santelli’s final word in an article I read was “Americans will be fine with higher prices on goods” that’s a tough sell to folks when Trump said he would lower the cost of eggs.

Trump is going to have a very hard time closing this deal. While I am rooting for him, I think he went about it all wrong. I would have microtargeted a couple countries and gone from there, take a few victories, and move onward and upward. His problem is that he is going to try for the jugular. While a few countries have potentially given in, most are announcing reciprocal tariffs on our goods. In other parts of the world China is likely moving in, willing to dump their products and fill the consumption gap. This could cause a long-term headache, as we do not want China being a massive superpower.

Additionally, American’s do not have much resolve anything. Turn the clock back a couple generations and buy American was a thing. In the modern day, “Made in USA” means the stickers were put on it here, but not much production is done stateside. Production here is even more outsourced. Right now, during high inflation/low wage growth/raising prices times, American’s do not have the stomach for higher prices. At what point do we as a people say, “put it back to how it was!”

Lastly and my biggest point, when your 401k becomes a 104k in the span of about a week, you tend to not like the guy/party in the White House. It’s one thing to have high prices, it’s another to see your retirement account go away. Again, I hope this works. It’s nice to have a president who doesn’t do politically correct things, but this is going to be a tough sell. How long do we watch chaos unfold in the market before we cave?

Major credit to Trump for trying though!

The Chief

Editor’s Notes:

It doesn’t help that the financial markets, run mostly buy Democrats, don’t understand what Trump is trying to do.
In addition, none in the workforce are old enough to remember when tariffs were used to protect American jobs.
NAFTA was the death null of domestic manufacturing and the triumph of globalism.
Lastly, when you abort 1/3 of all children in your nation for over 50 years, outsourcing is your only viable option to maintain your lifestyle.

Mental Health Crisis Part 3

In this installment I will lay out a solution to our mental health crisis in the country. I again want to inform folks this part of my series is satirical in nature for one reason; none of these options are likely to ever become law. In addition, some will likely think I am being overly mean in my commentary. My point of this series is not to attack those with actual mental illness, it’s the cheating scum who doctor shop so they too can ride the crazy train.

No weapons allowed: This applies to the entire household. Junior gets a diagnosis, it doesn’t matter who owns the guns, they must be turned over to authorities. Any knife that isn’t a serrated blade as well. Too many crazies in the world right now. We have had enough shootings/killings. Can’t take any more chances. Nope you cannot keep it in a safe or at a relative’s house. If you’re on a pill or someone in your household is… it’s gone. This will be made easier when the Sith Lord gets his way and the government maintains a national database for firearm ownership.

Mandatory mental health checkups: once every other week, by a trained, licensed professional. Again, we cannot take chances here. We never know who the next person will be to open fire on a school/business/church etc.

TV viewing capped at one hour a day. Again, this is obvious. With the average person watching north of 8 hours a day, we cannot have you being brainwashed. There is reality, and fantasy land, TV is mostly fantasy land. The news makes people depressed and distressed. Depressed people are the ones who typically go on these rampages.

No more internet privacy: A copy of your browser history will be sent daily to your psychiatric caseworker for review. Anything flagged will have you remanded to the psycho ward. The dark web and other rabbit holes create a massive problem in this world. Remember, you are on a pill. You are not normal. Internet time is also capped at 1 hour daily. Again, like tv, too much brainwashing going on.

NO alcohol or drugs: legal or illegal. You will be wearing a monitor. You are on a pill. We need to ensure that nothing interferes with the chemical balance of the body’s systems which the pill is trying to maintain.

Mandatory driving tests twice a year: Behind the wheel. Unlike being innocent until proven guilty, here you need to prove you can drive safely twice a year. Heck, have you seen the size/speed of some of these cars lately? Yikes.

No voting: Again, if you are less of a citizen or crazy… no vote for you.

Mandatory inpatient care: Military style, one weekend a month, two weeks a year. You are under evaluation, not simply going to a doctor and trying to get out of it.

Obviously the above will never be allowed to happen. Truthfully, I do not even believe these would ever be voted in. The premise of this series is not to demean the folks who actually do have disabilities as they are actively seeking help. I am going after the losers in the game of life you see from time-to-time that use the mental health card as a sympathy card. My opinion is if you want the “benefits” of this condition, you must deal with the reality of our situation. In the last few mass shootings in the US, it’s been done by a person with mental illness. In many cases, the FBI has been “right on the tail” of the shooter to no avail. It was too late. We can no longer take a chance. This conservative has heard/seen enough of these. If you want to play the card, you must deal with the consequences. No more shootings.

If these were to pass, watch the number of people with “mental health issues” plummet quickly. The number of folks popping a “pill” will drop drastically. Again, be healthy, be well. Put the tv remote down, stop scanning the internet, none of the news is good. Touch some grass. No, not that kind! Go outside. Be barefoot. Enjoy the world that God made for us and quit being so self-focused and quit sheltering in place to avoid life.

The Chief

March Ends with Horrendous PET Scan

The best thing about March was a four-day visit by the stepdaughter and her husband. The next best thing was the baby show that was supposed to happen months ago. It was put on hold because the mom decided to have her baby a week before the shower. What nerve!

The rest of the cancer story for March was one of decline.

My wife is no longer cooking. The meal tasks have fallen on me. I’m getting really proficient doing poached eggs, but please don’t ask me to eat one. Yuck!

Bathing is another task which has become more complicated. My wife has been experiencing pain in her body; especially, her back. The best temporary relief she can get is from taking a bath. The tub is upstairs. For the last two weeks, she has had to climb up the stairs on her hands and knees. She claims that she is unsure of her balance going up the steps. Afterwards I must help her down the stairs.

She sleeps for much each day and her energy is very low.

Eating is from a limited menu. The last few days have been poached eggs for breakfast and dinner. Juice popsicles, cheese sticks, and yogurt are occasionally consumed as well. Contrary to what we hoped, the esophageal stint has not increased her menu options, only her ability to vomit has improved.

Last Friday, was the PET Scan that would show if her chemotherapy and immunotherapy was working. The results arrived yesterday. The results were even more dire than I could imagine.

Despite treatment, the cancer has spread significantly. My wife has cancer in her saliva glands, her neck, chest cavity, spine and lower back, and pelvic region. She also has cancer in both the left and right lobes of her liver. There are so many places with cancer that they are not listed by occurrence any longer.

I’m not a doctor, I just play one on this blog, but it seems that she has little time left. I think she has two to four months remaining.

Between the cancer and the starving game that she is enduring, it seems just a matter of time before something breaks. I’m trying to persevere and not dwell too much on what’s happening. I can mourn later or at least that is what I’m telling myself. How long until we have to rent a hospital bed and park that in the bedroom?

Update just prior to publishing: Physician’s Assistant says that the doctor told her that treatment is ineffective and is therefore ended. Chemotherapy was cancelled today and forevermore. Also, my wife’s white cell count was too low, and she couldn’t get treatment with that kind of result anyway. We are now on hospice. Clearly a new chapter in this cancer saga.

Also, I contacted the middle child and told him that it’s time for FMLA. He needs to make arrangements to see his mom towards the end of April or first of May.