Things Are Not Looking Good At All!

Folks, even though I have not been blogging like I used to does not mean that I am not aware of what is going on. I know only too well since I am out on the streets, daily. And I see the mess that has been deliberately let loose on humanity; those of us who are just trying to make it from one day to the next.

Stellantis announces hundreds of layoffs for white collar workers during ‘mass firing’ call

OAK PARK, Mich. (FOX 2) – A mechanical engineer knew something was wrong when the rumor mill at work began to spin: layoffs were incoming. 

They had begun to trickle into the office a couple of weeks ago. Then, around 8 p.m. on Thursday, about 400 workers at Stellantis got an email telling them not to come into the office on Friday.

Instead, it would be a mandatory remote work day. They were also told to attend an operational meeting at a designated time. That’s when the news dropped.

“It was a mass firing of everybody that was on the call,” the employee said.

I have been telling Americans that America is not owned by Americans anymore. Guess where Stellantis is headquartered? Amsterdam. Americans have been sold out by corporations that have merged with other corporations and all of them are headquartered overseas.

What are those people going to do who just got fired from Stellantis? Some of them may eventually end up on the streets, homeless like the man in the next picture.

Again, this is going to become all too familiar. In fact, it already is. Those who have been sitting, basking in the glow of their white-collar jobs are now having the rug pulled from underneath them. There were signs of what was coming and since many of those people knew what was coming and tried to prepare for it by initiating a job search, as you can see, the job search did not go very well since many had to remain at their jobs until they got a zoom call telling them not to come back to work.

Another sad situation is what’s going down with Tyson Foods since that company has been in the news lately over firing legal American workers and hiring illegals to take their place. And even though Tyson Foods is touted as an American-owned company, the Chinese are the majority stockholders and so in essence, it is a Chinese-owned company masquerading as an American-owned corporation.

Tyson Foods Sells Majority Stake To Chinese Company – CMHI

by Vallery – SEPTEMBER 29, 2022

“The China-based Shandong Bao Shuan Group has purchased a majority stake in the American chicken company, Tyson Foods. Shandong Bao Shuan will now own 79.5 percent of Tyson Foods, while the American company will maintain a 20.5 percent stake. This is the first time that a Chinese company has acquired a major American food producer. The deal was completed on Monday, and it is valued at $8.55 billion.”

As you can see, the plot thickens!

Tyson Foods Faces Boycott After Report Claims Company Hires Migrants

Tyson Foods is facing boycott calls following a report that the company planned to hire migrants to work at its factories.

Now, even though Tyson Foods retracted a statement regarding hiring illegals after having fired legal Americans, the fact remains that Tyson Foods has not been upfront about who owns the company and so it is not a stretch of the imagination to believe that Tyson Foods would not lie about whether or not it was planning to fire legal Americans and hire illegals. It has been done before. And I have covered that on this very blog. Archive to your heart’s content.

HUL Announces Mass Layoffs: Over 7,000 Jobs To Be Cut, Magnum Ice Cream Business To Get Separated – Check Details

FMCG major Hindustan Unilever (HUL) is set to lay off 7,500 employees and the company announced the separation of its ice cream unit into a standalone business as part of a cost-saving initiative, The company said in a press release that it is planning to complete the restructuring by the end of next year.

Are you beginning to get the picture?

Amid mass layoffs across the US, Dollar Tree announces nearly 1,000 Family Dollar store closures

Many of the stores to be closed are located in rural areas and impoverished towns and cities. The Family Dollar chain has 8,000 stores in the US and Canada and is owned by Dollar Tree, one of the largest discount chains of its kind. In many areas of the country, a Family Dollar store represents the only option for groceries and other goods, with larger supermarkets several hours’ driving away.

What is going on?

The full list of major US companies slashing staff this year, from IBM to Google and Microsoft

A slew of companies across the tech, media, finance, and retail industries made significant cuts to staff in 2023. Tech titans like IBM, Google, Microsoft, finance giants like Goldman Sachs, and manufacturers like Dow all announced layoffs.

2024 is looking grim too. And it’s only March.

Nearly 40% of business leaders surveyed by ResumeBuilder think layoffs are likely at their companies this year, and about half say their companies will implement a hiring freeze.

And yet, the Biden Administration has been secretly flying illegals into the U.S. for quite some time.

Biden DHS pressed for answers on 386,000 immigrants flown directly into US cities

EXCLUSIVE — House Republicans are pressing the Biden administration to provide information about a government phone app that allowed immigrants outside the United States to apply for permission to fly into the U.S. to be screened for admission.

In a letter sent to President Joe Biden and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Friday, 18 GOP lawmakers demanded information on the “advanced travel authorizations” program that has allowed immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela to enter the U.S.

Has anybody figured out what the hell is going on yet? All I know is that the sheer numbers of newly homeless are skyrocketing. And laws are being passed in different states to criminalize homelessness as with the recent laws about to hit the books in Florida, whereas it is against the law for the homeless to sit and rest on sidewalks, parks and in other public spaces.

A look at how the new law banning Florida’s homeless from sleeping in public works

Florida’s homeless will be banned from sleeping on sidewalks and in parks and other public spaces under a law signed Wednesday by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Remember these pictures?

Florida has just made that a criminal act. As if those who are inside a tent on the sidewalk can help their plight when you can see for yourself that mass homelessness is going to be the result of endless layoffs coming down the pike and so LEGAL Americans are all going to be sitting up in prisons all across America while illegals are working for peanuts at Tyson Foods, Unilever, Smithfield Meat Packing Plants, Chipotles, Taco Bells, Days Inn, Extended Stay Americas and the list is also endless.

Americans are being replaced which is why illegals coming into America were not met with masked health officials insisting on rolling up their sleeves and injecting them with Covid bioweapons as in what happened to millions of LEGAL Americans. Is this the “Great Replacement?” Are your votes even going to matter come November? Will you even have a home come November since a pink slip is about to meet you via a zoom call from your “former” employer? The writing has been on the wall for quite some time now and even though there has only been about four years to prepare for this. Is anyone ever really ready for the bottom to completely fall out?

Laws are soon coming to a city, hamlet, burg, village, township near you that will make it a criminal offense to prop a tent up when you have been fired from your job and evicted from your home. And when that happens, there goes your health because take it from me, I am still trying to recover lost sleep from when I was homeless for eight months last year. I do not think that I shall ever be the same, in fact, I am certain of it and yet despite all hell, I am out on the streets every single day, helping the homeless when and where I can. The next picture is what today is looking like and I was out there helping the homeless.

It is much worse now and will continue snowing at least until Tuesday morning. And if I can dig myself out, I will be out in search of those who need rescuing from homelessness and the snow tomorrow. I hope that those of you who read this will never need help from those of us who are trying to help the homelessness. May you never experience homelessness.

Tonight, it will not be a fit night out for man nor beast, but man will surely be outside in the midst of a deep and unrelenting snowstorm. Have mercy!

A Silent, Cold Embrace!

 

 

Fluffy white and soft,
it blankets me this night.

Hidden by powdery flakes,
are stiffening limbs of ice.

Gently caressing my face,
and melting in my mouth,
a silent, cold embrace,
it hides the ugly truth,
that I lie on concrete, hard.

No dreams I’ll ever know,
with open, staring eyes,
buried beneath the snow.

Written by,
Shelby I. Courtland
© 2013 Shelby I. Courtland

I pray none of you who read this will ever experience homelessness. I pray you don’t!

 

 

SIGH! It’s Just Another Day!

It’s Just Another Day!

I feel the cold wind blow.
They’re calling for more snow.
A homeless person stumbles by.
The sight just makes me cry.

Their life is not so great.
No home. No dinner plate.
Just rags and aching feet.
And those like you they meet.

They’ve no island paradise.
No fruity drink with ice.
No glorious sunset to see.
They can’t afford the fee.

It’s just another day,
of trying to make a way.
No place to lay their head.
No permanent, stable bed.

Will I turn my back on them?
Console them with a hymn?
Shall I point out God is good?
I really don’t think I should.

Who knows if they believe,
or could possibly conceive
of a deity high above,
who shows such lack of love?

I can’t justify my faith
when I see a homeless wraith.
No sermon could I preach.
No belief within my reach.

Tell the homeless about hell.
Don’t you know they live that tale?
With each day that brings defeat.
Because they’re not one of the elite.

Written by,

Shelby I. Courtland

©2013 Shelby I. Courtland

There is a severe weather alert calling for snow from Sunday morning through Tuesday. Not a good time to be homeless, not that ANY time is a ‘good’ time to be homeless. But when the weather gets really, really bad, it is so much worse to be without a home.

The above poem was the first poem I ever wrote for this blog back in February of 2013 and now it is, 2024, and I am still posting poems, marching through the streets to showcase the homeless dead, been homeless my damn self, and still, I sit here, uselessly re-posting this poem to do what? Hell if I know. But at least when you get no blog from me, that means that I am out on the streets helping those I blog about. Expect less and less blogs from me as there are more and more homeless people to help. Would that there were more who are helping, but, alas, I must take what I can get; those few souls like me who give a damn!

Suicide Is NOT The Answer!!!! Please Don’t Kill Yourself, Black Man!!!!

Please listen to me!!!! Suicide is NOT the answer!!!! Please seek help!!!!!!

 

Dude, your poetry is what drew me to your website, and though I am the last person who could “man” the suicide hotline,” I am going to try my best to encourage you to seek help from a Black psychiatrist/therapist since Black folks have a special kind of situation in America, and if we are suffering through a mental health crisis, heading to a white psychiatrist/therapist is not the answer.

This is your second post in a row about dealing with suicidal thoughts and feelings, and since you have two young children, it is imperative that you get the help that you need. I know that you are considering them since you have mentioned them in both of your recent posts. I also noticed that you did not mention your wife as what was also holding you back from committing suicide. Please try getting your wife to go along with you to a marriage counselor to see if you two can get your marriage back on track since it is quite telling that you don’t include nice thoughts of your wife in keeping you from committing suicide.

I realize that I have been hard on Black men on this blog, and I apologize for that because I need to realize and understand that the Black man in America is in a unique position. He is in a position unlike any other on this planet. The Black man has to maneuver this white supremacy system, all while trying to protect the Black woman, and he often feels as though he has failed not only himself, but the Black woman and children as well. Hurt people, hurt people and though I am not saying that Black men who hurt Black women should get a pass simply because they are hurt individuals as well, it stands to reason that we are all victims of white supremacy and as such, we are under attack, ALWAYS! And that can have a devastating impact on anyone’s mental health.

Your situation is exactly why I refuse to enter into anymore relationships since I have found myself to be at more peace with myself thanks to being alone, but since you have two small children, that would be difficult for you since you and your wife, if you were to separate and divorce, would more than likely fight over who is to have physical custody of the children as opposed to visitation rights. I am pretty sure that you are so overwhelmed at this point since it seems hopeless to remain in your marriage with someone who, for whatever reason, is no longer the person you want to be with, but now, the two of you have two children to consider. Your days are looking long, and your nights seem longer, I am pretty sure. And we are not getting any younger. You may think that since you failed once at this marriage thing, that it will always be that way. Let me tell you something.

I exited a marriage and that is when I had the time of my life, and you can too. When I left my ex, and moved on, I was walking down the street in search of a bank to cash my first paycheck, and finding none, stamped my foot on the pavement, screeched, and from somewhere out of the blue, a man said, “Hit me! Take it out on me!” I turned in the direction of where the voice was coming from, and there stood the tallest, handsomest Black man I ever did see. He was so solid and sturdy, and he was in uniform, and when I came up to him, he repeated, “Take it out on me! Hit me! You can’t hurt me!” I laughed. I told him that I was not going to hit him in the middle of the street and get arrested for assault, and he threw back that beautiful head of his and guffawed. Then he picked me up, and we locked lips like we were never going to let go. When he put me back down, I damn near swooned and had to be captured in his arms again. *wink* The rest is lust filled history. Damn, I am thinking about him now. Those lips!

I typed all of that to let you know that life does not have to be over just because the two of you no longer are as committed to each other as you once were. And even though children are involved, the two of you can sit down like adults, before a marriage counselor, and get help in figuring out where to go from here. As well, you can seek psychiatric help along with therapy to help enable you to process the horrible thoughts that you have been having in wanting to end it all because things did not go as you may have planned. Sometimes, standing at the altar and promising to love, honor and cherish til death do you part, does not happen and your death should not be a result of you feeling that the only way for you to be completely free is to commit suicide. Suicide is never the answer, and your children need you. They would be devastated if you were no longer in their lives. Please, consider seeking help in the form of a psychiatrist/therapist and a marriage counselor. I am taking those two recent posts of yours as a “cry for help,” and this is my response.

And to Black women in America, our men are suffering. We think that they don’t care about us, and some may not, but this particular Black man is suffering, and he is more than likely suffering due to feeling overwhelmed by having to maneuver through a system that is intent on beating him down. We know all too well what he is experiencing since we are subjected to the very same shit!! Sometimes, we need to be the strong one. We need our man to be able to lean on us for a bit. We need to step up to the plate, like we always do and let our man know that he means the world to us. If the Black man is not beating your ass, but is showing signs of strain and anguish, let him know that you are there for him. Help him on his journey to better mental health. We are never going to all be mentally fit and well since we can do nothing to stop white supremacy’s shit, but we can have each other’s back and try and seek help when we need it. We have got to stop being each other’s enemy as that is not the answer. And I have been guilty of this, and I need to stop being the problem as opposed to trying to be a part of the solution. Our Black men need us, and we need them.

Suicidal dude, I am not going to post your name or your website here, but since you used to follow my blog, I am hoping that you still follow my blog, and even if I have not seen you in here in recent years, I hope that, somehow, this post finds you. Dude, your poetry cried out to me, and I have answered it. Please, do NOT kill yourself!!! Please seek help! I beg of you!!!

Utopia!

No darkness. Only light.
Nothing’s dim. It’s all so bright.

No one’s hurting. No despair.
No crime. Love’s everywhere.

No tears and not one fear.
No drunks. No bottles of beer.

No heroin and no crack.
No employee got the sack.

No pain and no disease.
No asthma, not one wheeze.

No enemies, only friends.
No open wounds to cleanse.

No earthquakes. No mudslides.
No threatening ocean tides.

No radioactive mess.
No tainted food we bless.

No lies are ever told.
No human being is sold.

No wars are ever fought.
No fossil fuel is sought.

No poverty. Only wealth.
All secure and in good health.

‘Utopia’, where are you?
I wish I had a clue!

Written by,

Shelby I. Courtland

©2013 Shelby I. Courtland 

Suicidal dude, I sincerely wish that there was some sort of Utopia that I could encourage you to go to, in order to heal, but there is no such place. How I wish! When I wrote the above poem, I was deeply upset about everything that was going on in the world at that time, and you can see that I wrote the poem in 2013, and today, everything is much worse, and that “worse” part is not letting up. I can’t tell you that there is a silver lining, and that this world’s people will ever get it together, I wish I could. I can only say that as long as we have breath in our bodies, the fight, the struggle must go on. If at times, we need help because the task of going on seems too daunting to contemplate, that is when we seek the necessary help to get us through a momentary collapse of all hope. But we must find a way to come out on the other side of hopelessness, despair and anguish and realize that this too, shall pass. It may come again, so please seek help and continue seeking that help even when you feel better because the wolves are always ready to attack. Build your defenses and shield yourself from attack. 

Suicidal dude, folks on this blog are sick and  tired of hearing me whine about having sat my ass out on the mean streets of Washington, DC for eight damn long ass months due to being rendered homeless thanks to racism since I had paid my rent in full and paid it early for FIVE YEARS and still got put out, but I must draw upon that to let you know that if I could make it through that while damn near in my dotage, you can seek help and make it through these tough times. I was also involved in a major bus accident while homeless and am pushing a walker around and was damn near attacked by a randy goat of a Black man, but I am still sitting here trying to talk you down from off the ledge. And the sights I see on a daily basis since I help the homeless would curl your toes. I am in no way stating that what you are going through is any less than what I have gone through or what homeless people are still going through because your issues seem insurmountable to you at this point, but believe me, there are people who are more than likely near feeling as you feel; hopeless, lost, abandoned and suicidal, but they keep keeping on. Please consider going that route, but just with a bit of help to see you through these hard times.

I wish you good mental health, my brother, from a sista! The next poem that I see from you, I hope that it will be a poem about pushing through and pushing on. Take care of yourself! You are loved, my brother!!!!!

Black History Holds No Fame!

What is there to celebrate? Black history is fucked up and Black people are fucked up and the situation for us has not improved and is not going to.

Black History Holds NO Fame!

Dragged from your native land,
on a floating barge of death.
You built paradise for a thief,
who then plundered all the wealth.

Your name was not your own.
You would never again be free.
To know such hate from them,
as they hung you from a tree.

They say that slavery’s over.
Go forth and earn your keep.
And though you labor long,
you’re valued much too cheap.

You were denied so many rights.
And the vote was not for you.
Though many marched and died,
the court bid that adieu.*

Some think you’ve made great strides
in the face of all that’s wrong.
Yet they herd you into prison,
because they hate that you are strong.

Be wary of their smiles,
for they mean you so much harm.
If you’ve a talent, they’ll exploit it.
All over you, they’ll swarm.

They’ll use you and they’ll kill you.
You’re nothing but a thing,
and when your candle’s burned
you’ll feel ole Massa’s sting.

Don’t ever let your guard down,
and it doesn’t pay to trust.
Shield from them your weakness.
Always show them your disgust.

Black history holds no fame.
And it certainly gets no cheer.
Times have never changed.
They still look at you and sneer.

Written by,
Shelby I. Courtland
©2014 Shelby I. Courtland

These next pictures showcase why there is no need in the world to be celebrating Black History when this shit is going down in the present and is a direct result of Black History. What is there to celebrate??!! Black History led to this!

She is not celebrating Black History Month since she is homeless!!!

When I finish with this blog, you come on up in here and tell me what reasons we have to celebrate Black History Month when Black History should have led us to a better outcome than what we are experiencing, but it did not since take a look at this shit!

This Black woman is not celebrating Black History Month because she is homeless!!!!

If Black History is so great, then why are over 52% of Black families homeless?

This Black woman and her daughter will NOT be celebrating Black History Month since they are homeless. Remember, over 52% of Black families are homeless. This woman and her daughter are more than likely not even included in those statistics.

This Black woman will not be celebrating Black History Month because she is homeless. When I finish with this blog, I want you to tell me, AGAIN, why we are ‘celebrating’ Black History Month.

This formerly homeless Black man is crazier than a bedbug. Being homeless for years sent his mental state into a decline and he holds multiple conversations with the people in his head. I highly doubt that the fog in his mind will clear long enough for him to recognize and celebrate Black History Month. He is too busy still chasing the ‘demons’ away that he encountered while being homeless for so damn long.

This homeless Black woman will not be celebrating Black History Month as she is fighting with the city to leave her alone and let her sleep in a place, she feels the safest. Every single time that I am in the area that she has chosen to sleep at, she can be found sitting on a bench with her head bent, she has damn near been broken from experiencing homelessness.

Poor, homeless Black people sitting up in that fucked up homeless shelter in what used to be known as “Chocolate City.”

The above is a picture of a poor Black homeless woman sitting up in the dining room of a fucked up homeless shelter in Washington, DC. I am sure that none of you have heard about it. It is called Community for Creative Non-Violence (CCNV), also known as the Mitch Snyder Building, named for the man who had a problem with mass homelessness and tried to do something about it. Unfortunately, he committed suicide on the third floor of that building. If you saw the condition of that building, you’d commit suicide in it as well.

A picture from my shelter bed located inside CCNV homeless shelter aka Mitch Snyder building, that was full of bedbugs since I was in the shelter dealing with homelessness due to being put out on the streets thanks to RACISM since I had paid my rent for five years, paid it early and was still given a notice to vacate and with no explanation as to why. When have you ever heard of a tenant getting put out FOR PAYING THE GODDAMN RENT?! So, suffice it to say, I will NOT be celebrating Black History Month!

A homeless encampment full of American descendants of slavery.

This homeless encampment that had Black people heavily represented in it has been demolished by the city. It was deemed to be unsafe; homelessness is unsafe but who the fuck is doing anything about that? Suffice it to say, wherever those people are, they are not in a position to recognize and get to celebrating Black History Month. They are too busy trying to survive winter.

A poor Black homeless woman walking around the 

harbor.

What Toting Luggage Used To Mean

What Toting Luggage Used To Mean

 

It meant going on vacation;
that bucket list destination.
Now, it’s the sign of homelessness,
what little I’m allowed to possess,
since evictions are the norm,
set out to weather every storm.
Night or day, it doesn’t matter,
one by one, my dreams, they shatter.
The nights, they are the hardest.
They say this winter will be the coldest.
There’s no need to tell me that,
I’m a human, I am no rat.
I’ve no fur to keep me warm,
nor a safe spot away from harm.
There’s just this tote to lug around
until I’m lowered in the ground.
That’s what luggage means to me,
and death is my destiny.

Written by,

Shelby I. Courtland

©2024 Shelby I. Courtland

Remember, there was a time when seeing someone carrying luggage meant that they were going on vacation, but now, since so many are homeless, luggage is the sign of homelessness, a new sign of the times. Every single time I go out and take a look around, someone is pulling luggage along with them. They are most definitely not headed to the airport, the train station or to the bus depot, they are carrying what little they possess as they try and figure out where to go and what to do because millions have descended into the ranks of the homeless. It is an epidemic that has gotten outrageously out-of-hand and what’s more, it is deliberate. No one need be homeless, but because greed runs amok, mass homelessness is raging. The next time that you are out and about, take a look around, you’ll see the truth to what I am saying. More’s the pity.

Homelessness Continues To Rise As I Have Been Documenting With Pictures While Taking My Daily Constitutional

As I stated on a previous blog, I walk every single day, regardless of the weather. And it was a mere 26 degrees Fahrenheit when I was taking my daily walk.

Homelessness Continues To Rise Across the U.S.

The homeless crisis is bringing a host of psychological disorders as well. Sadly, the homeless situation doesn’t appear to be going anywhere. 

A 12% Overall Increase

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released a 2023 report showing homelessness has increased by 12% this year.

On one single night in 2023, approximately 653,100 people were sleeping rough or in some form of shelter.

“Six in ten people were experiencing sheltered homelessness—that is, in an emergency shelter (E.S.), transitional housing (T.H.), or safe haven (S.H.) program,” says the report, “while the remaining four in ten were experiencing unsheltered homelessness in places not meant for human habitation.”

Now, factor in the massive influx of Illegals, and the numbers are even more astounding.

‘We are not equipped to deal with this’: Migrant surge overwhelms U.S. border

Migrant encounters at the southern border of the United States have reached record levels, overwhelming American law enforcement and leading to a humanitarian crisis.

Thousands of migrants from various regions are arriving daily, driven by violence, desperation, and poverty.

So, the mainstream media is stating that Illegals are motivated to come to America thanks to experiencing poverty in their home countries. Well, what I would like to know is why would Illegals exchange a nice warm climate to sit up in a cold climate, and be homeless? South of the border today in Caracas, Venezuela is going to be a hot ass 82°F and when I took the pictures below this paragraph, the temperature was 26°F and with a wind chill, it was even colder and was snowing. And yet, when I passed by this tent, I heard Spanish being spoken from the occupants.

I took two years of Spanish when I was in high school, and I would have gone even further with studying Spanish, but the Spanish teacher fell off a ladder and died and being from a small town, there was a lack of Spanish teachers to go around. No more studying Spanish for me. However, with that being said, I heard Spanish coming from inside that tent. Was I shocked? No! Because I had been seeing Illegals congregated in this area for months now.

The local metro bus company has shut down this particular bus stop due to the influx of Illegals in the area in recent months, and this particular bus stop was one of the most used. Since people don’t really read anything beyond some text message on a smartphone screen, they refuse to look at the sign that is posted at this bus stop stating that it is closed. And those who refuse to read the sign, are quite bewildered looking when the bus passes by them. But of course, the Illegals are very much well aware of why the buses refuse to stop there, which is why they hang out in this area. 

Every single time I pass by this area, the Illegals are congregated here. They were at the stop during the summer months and now that it’s winter, they are still just standing around as though they are waiting on something. What? I don’t know. But the area already had a huge migrant population from Central and South American countries. I also saw this which is right across the street from where these Illegals are basically, loitering.

To paraphrase, the sign on the van says that they are selling:

Sold tamales, red, green, 6 per tamale, rice pudding and champurrado.

Champurrado is a Mexican drink, typically consumed during the holidays. The van was parked in front of a Mexican restaurant. 

The homeless encampment whereas I heard someone speaking Spanish inside, has been re-erected at damn near the same spot where a previous homeless encampment was demolished.

Tents are lined up again because people have no place to go. I saw Black folks and Illegals, congregated together at this encampment and who knows when the next police sweeps will come in and disband this encampment. And across the street, the garbage has been collecting as the homeless mill around over there as well, near another bus stop. I guess the metro bus company will be weighing whether or not to close that particular bus stop next.

The Black men were standing more together than apart while the Mexicans were also congregated together, for the most part.

This is worse than an epidemic. I keep getting alerts on my computer about cold weather, snow, temperatures dropping, and it was extremely cold when I was out today. I feel for anyone who is out on a night like this, or should I say, morning, since it is 1:12am and I am still trying to put this blog together and it is 29°F with light snow falling. I just glanced out of the window and snow is on the ground. 

I really don’t know why people from south of the border chose to come this way at this time of the year especially since I’ve pointed out that the temperature in their countries is hovering around 82°F and yet, they want to sit out in freezing temperatures, waiting on what? I have no idea especially since they cannot fail to see that there are already folks who are living on the streets and have been for decades.

The homeless Indian encampment that I showcased on this very blog is scheduled to be demolished on January 4th and the claim is that most of the occupants of that particular encampment have been housed. Where that leaves the others? I have no idea, but the city officials decided to keep the encampment open until more could be housed since winters here are brutal. And we just marched the Homeless Memorial March to memorialize the homeless dead, and with folks still sitting out in freezing temperatures, unfortunately, there will be a reason to march next year as well. SIGH!

I Long For A Home

I long for a home, but where is unknown.
Seeds of hope are scattered but are never grown.

Homelessness, it is a state of mine.
Please take a moment and read my sign.

In whatever state, I happen to be,
 you look anywhere, but not at me.

I don’t haunt your thoughts; not at all.
There is a barrier between us, as high as a wall.

It keeps me out and it locks you in.
But that wall, it’s shaky and so very thin.

One day it might crack and let one of us through.
Will it be me or will it be you?

 

Just a little something to think about.

Written by,
Shelby I. Courtland
©2016 Shelby I. Courtland

For the children!

 

May You Never Know

 

May you never know what makes life so dark and gritty.
May you never know the mean streets of every city.
May you never pay the price for what you did not buy.
May you never wonder why your mother has to cry.

May you never leave a shelter, just to go to school.
May you never know why the world can be so cruel.
May you never go to bed with an empty belly.
May you never ask why your home is often smelly.

May you never know hate from those who have too much.
May you never know the stench of poverty from its touch.
May you never know the sordid, seedy side of life.
May you never know only hunger, pain and strife.

May you never know….

Written by,

Shelby I. Courtland

©2013 Shelby I. Courtland

We got money for wars but can’t house the homeless. Biden has not stopped screeching for more money to send to Ukraine to keep that useless shit going against the Russians. This country is over $34 trillion dollars in debt and so how the hell can this shithole provide money for those damn Nazis in Ukraine and for the Zionists to continue to bomb the Palestinians when I would like to know where the money is coming from? Oh, that’s right. They just print money out of thin air. But if we print fake ass money, it is to prison, we go! The government can get away with the shit while the citizens of this corrupt, stolen, thieving shithole can just sit out on the streets and die already! I am so damn tired of the bullshit!! And we just take it up the ass! For the love of!!!!!!

This Homeless White Dude Has Been A Drunk Since Age Seven When He Saw His Cousin’s Brains Blown Out

On a bus today, a white man sat across from me, and for some strange reason, handed me a homemade bracelet and proceeded to start up a conversation. Someone else was sitting beside him, but he chose me to tell his life story to. I couldn’t hear very much of it, but I did catch bits and pieces. And I really don’t believe this actually happened because mental illness among the homeless is real, but on the off chance that his story is true, I’ll tell it as I heard it from him.

He told me that at the age of seven, he went over to his cousin’s house, whom he felt deep affection for, and when he went inside the kitchen, he found his cousin, sitting at the table with a .45 caliber weapon still clutched in her hand, her brains were splattered everywhere and beside her on the kitchen table, was a half full bottle of bourbon. 

He just stood dumbfounded and frightened. Finally, he called his dad and told him what he had found, and his dad told him to take everything of value out of the house so that those piece of shit relatives of his cousin, didn’t get their hands on it. He told me that his dad also said to him, “Bury the body.” 

Now, remember, this dude says that he was a mere seven years old at the time, had just found his dearly beloved cousin with her brains splattered all over the kitchen and he was told by his dad to steal stuff and bury the body. What this man told me he did was to go find some gasoline and then he set the entire house on fire. When his dad arrived, his dad asked him why he had torched the place. He told his dad that he was not strong enough to bury the body. When his dad found him, he was sitting on top of a sawed-off tree trunk, drinking the rest of the bourbon that was left over from his cousin’s bottle. This was the start of a downward spiral of alcohol and drugs, up to present day, and through many years of inpatient and outpatient rehab and back to drink and drugs. He has never gotten over it. 

After that, he took to raising hunting dogs and he told me that one day, he woke up and there was blood all around him. One of the hunting dogs had gone hunting and had savaged a multitude of animals and dragged them back to him. Back to rehab, he went.

This man went on and on and on in that vein and all I could do was stare in open-mouthed dismay. Of course, I handed him some money and told him that I was going to write about his “story” since I showcase the homeless and like to make it personal because people really just don’t care anymore.

People have often told me that I have something that just draws them to me. I can be sitting out on the street, waiting for a bus and someone will walk pass me and then come back, break down in tears, and tell me how their brother died 10 years ago that day, and they just needed someone to talk to. I was that person. I am always that person. I just wish that I had what it takes to really help people. Maybe I am helping in my own unique and special way, and I just don’t know if I have touched someone in a special way with the gift that I seem to have for drawing people to me. It’s been that way all my life.

As much as I rail against whites and damn near everyone else, when I am out and about, it matters not if the person is white, Black, Mexican or what, if I see them in need, they get a meal and/or money from me, as well as a listening ear. Sometimes, that is all that people need; just to know that someone is willing to really SEE them, listen to them and care.

I have a serious potty mouth on this blog. I am completely aware of that and the reason for that is because this is MY outlet for when I have reached MY limit and in here, I can go off the deep end and who does it really hurt? No one really, because those whom I meet on the streets they know the real me, the caring, kind, thoughtful, compassionate and empathetic me. They don’t get the vitriolic virago who writes this blog. They never get that. I would not subject them to that because as I always call the homeless since I was recently among their number, the “low places” friends. “All of my friends are in low places.” That is where I met many of the people whom I now call, “friend,” out on the streets, in low places.

I can’t make any of you who read this blog of mine, care about the people I write about or showcase on this blog, but I am going to write their stories. I am going to showcase the faces of the homeless because they are not just some stinking, piece of hopeless flotsam, drifting about; they are human beings, just like you, who happen to not have a home. But, once, they too, had a home, however, due to circumstances, they no longer have a home. And dude on the bus told me that the only problem he would ever have with anyone is if he saw them hurting someone, other than that, he does not judge people.

There are so many people like this ‘dude on a bus’ that I have met, have shed tears of rage over the fact that we leave people out on the streets to die, and we don’t even care. Thankfully, though, there are bus drivers who will give these people free rides because oftentimes when they get up on the bus, they ask the driver if they can get a courtesy ride, the driver usually says, “Yes.” If the driver says, “No,” when I’m on the bus, I pay for their ride. Am I wealthy? Y’all know the answer to that, but as long as I have some money on me, if a homeless person needs bus fare, they got it. If they need a meal, they got it.

When I was homeless for eight months, I never begged. I was too stubborn and despite being broke as shit, hungry as hell, I would go days on end without touching a morsel of food or drink, but I survived. One day, I was at Weis Food Market, picking up some water and a few items of food to take back to my hotel, and the water was so heavy, I dropped it on the floor, sighed and bent down to pick it up and a voice said, “I got you!” It was a white lady coming towards me from the other end of the aisle. She bent down and picked the water up, placed it on my walker and asked me if she could give me a ride home. I broke down and cried because I had to tell her that I was homeless and that thankfully, for the next few nights, I was able to afford a hotel. She told me to wait by the exit door for her after I had checked my groceries out and she drove me back to the hotel. She gave me the name and number to her church and told me that she hoped to see me there on Sunday. Of course, I never went since I don’t believe in organized religion. But I will never forget her doing something nice for me.

Another lady saw my homeless signs that I had made to showcase homelessness and she came up to me and asked me if she could buy me lunch, I thanked her profusely and told her that even though I was now ‘housed’, I was on the streets protesting with my signs to bring awareness of the plight of the homeless to the attention of the masses. I still go out on those streets with my signs. Every dime that someone hands me, even though I tell them that I am not panhandling and that I am just trying to keep the fact that mass homelessness is more of an epidemic than people think, I give it back to the homeless. But that’s me.

And so, I told this dude’s story, as much of it as I could catch since a bus is loud and I couldn’t quite catch it all. He told me his name and even though I asked for it again, and he told me, I just couldn’t quite catch it. But I hope he knows that I will never forget him, just as I will never forget any of those whom I met when I was homeless and in my current endeavors to bring the plight of the homeless to the forefront. I will never stop, and it is not just because I could be in that same predicament again since I have been homeless more times than I can shake a stick at, it is because I care!

Be Me Day After Day!

I long for warmth and a touch
from another human being.
I’ve been alone for far too long,
and my humanity is fleeing.

I’ll soon be like an animal.
I’m headed down that route.
I’ve seen so many lose their mind.
there go I, without a doubt.

But I live just like an animal,
when I forage around for food,
and settle down in doorways.
In my pants, the shit has oozed.

I’ve not the niceties of life.
This is my reality.
Can you stomach what I do?
I’ve got no time for pleasantry.

Did you think I’d stay the same,
when I’m outdoors, night and day?
How would you feel if you were me,
just what would people say?

If I’m not human, neither are you,
when your pets are cared for more.
They’re not put out on the streets.
Nor are they ever shown the door.

Will you stop and just consider,
that I shouldn’t live this way?
Can you imagine what it’s like,
to be me, day after day?

Written by,
Shelby I. Courtland
©2014 Shelby I. Courtland

I am also going to add this. When I was coming back home, the bus passed by a stop that has been closed for over a month, and at that bus stop, were dozens of what looked like folks from south of the border. Those people were congregated at a bus stop as though they had no place to go. Buses have been instructed NOT to stop at that particular bus stop anymore and what’s troubling is that this particular bus stop was one of the most used bus stops in the area. One street over from that bus stop is this!

A homeless encampment that has a majority Black population. So, those south of the border, who have come here in hopes of finding a land of ‘milk and honey’, are afraid to congregate in homeless encampments of those who’ve been homeless here for decades. We’ve got segregated homeless encampments. 

The picture below is a homeless encampment of mostly Native Indians. I guess soon, those from south of the border will manage to find a spot and throw up a homeless encampment. The situation is beyond sad for ALL groups.

So, folks, as the poem goes, “Be ‘them’ day after day.” Could you stomach it? Could you survive? Could you maintain your mental health? I hope you never have to find out if you could or not.

 

Today, America Is Celebrating Veteran’s Day While Spending Billions To House Illegals, Thus Leaving Homeless Veterans Out On The Street. So, How Is This A Celebration?

Again, why are we even pretending to be celebrating Veteran’s Day when we are acting hypocritical since we can find money to pull out of America’s ass to spend on housing ILLEGALS while homeless veterans are still on the streets from when they got back from Vietnam and other wars, since this shithole cannot stop finding ways to war with people in THEIR fucking country!

Why Are We Spending Millions Housing Illegal Migrants While Americans Go Homeless?

While December’s winter storm saw U.S. citizens frozen to death in their cars and fallen street side in snowbanks, our migrant-obsessed legislators sent another screw you to the American people in the form of beefed up assistance for illegal immigrants. Year-round, millions of Americans are homeless or one paycheck away from being on the streets. Forty thousand veterans are homeless across the nation, and 40 percent of our homeless population is Black. So there is extra treachery in passing an omnibus spending bill that includes $800 million in grants to build shelters for foreigners and illegal aliens.

Stupid Americans, do you honestly believe that what is going down is by accident? You will wander around today, telling veterans, “Thank you for your service,” as you pass by them while they are holding onto a cup and a cardboard sign, reading, “Homeless, anything helps.” And you’ve made the sacrifice right? You felt great as you mouthed that useless inanity, because it is meaningless when you do nothing about the fact that those who foolishly suited up to fight no enemy of theirs, came back fucked up in the head, seeing ghosts and feeling ‘hexed’, and who are now sitting out on the streets yelling to no one in particular because their mind is now a paralyzing foe since they murdered innocent people and it has just come back to haunt them that they did so.

War is never the answer to solve ANY problem, but war is always the go to when we dislike what someone else is doing in their country. Never mind the fact that America has descended into hell for millions of her LEGAL citizens, we just forget about that shit since we will not raise a hue nor a cry when we see  the blatant, ‘in our face and what are we going to do about it’ shit from those vile, corrupt criminals in Washington who are handing over our imaginary tax dollars to some ILLEGAL shits while locking up homeless veterans for being homeless and mentally ill, while the Veteran’s Administration has likened wait times for Veterans to get services to Disney Land wait times.

Americans don’t have a problem with that because if they did, you’d be screeching and wailing from every dilapidated bridge to get something done about that shit, but you don’t. You just took your asses to Washington, DC and screeched about some shit that’s happening half a world away between the Zionists and the Palestinians, but you’ve said not a damn thing about what is right in your face. It has been stated that you are closing businesses, left and right to show your solidarity with the Palestinians, but when did you do that shit for the homeless veterans who you “Thank for their service?” Black folks don’t expect you to do a damn thing except what you have ALWAYS been doing, which is to keep your boot on our fucking necks, but the least you could do is SOMETHING about the plight of those whom YOU thank for their service to this fucked up country.

The former soldiers were filled with some fake ass sense of obligation or patriotism or some such foolishness when they decided to sign on the dotted line to kill or to be killed, and for some strange ass reason, had no idea that those who start the wars for them to fight, don’t give a shit about them. They are just a means to an end; the end of someone’s life so that Boeing and Lockheed and other makers of war machines get fucking paid and our so-called, “elected politicians,” get kickbacks and have stock in those companies and so they make out like the damn bandits they are. And then stick it up our asses by dragging millions of ILLEGALS over here and placing them over LEGAL American citizens, including those who agreed to kill or be killed for this worthless ass shithole. You’d never find my ass doing that, but them I’m fucking not crazy, just mad as hell!!!

And for those of you who are veterans, I’ve got a little poem that I wrote in YOUR honor. Enjoy!

War Is Always Such A Blessing!

War is always such a blessing.
It never is distressing or depressing.
I know all too well that this is true.
War has been good for me and you.

You proudly give your lives up for the rich.
For us, life never is a bitch.
In a blaze of glory, you go out.
And really, that’s what it’s all about.

The drone operators are so brave,
as they send little children to their grave.
Since the world has become a battleground,
the drums of war make a lovely throbbing sound.

Teach your sons and your daughters about their duty.
And one day, when they are dead, we’ll make a movie.
It will honor their brave and noble deeds.
The wounded, we shall see to all their needs.

Through war, we bring peace unto this earth.
And though you break out in dubious peals of mirth,
the last laugh will always be on you,
for none of what is written is ever true.

When we put a lethal weapon in your hand,
and send you to die in a foreign land,
your life means nothing, you should know,
but you never give pause, you just go.

War is not only just a blessing,
to us, it is also quite refreshing,
that you are so willingly prostituted,
and it’s all because you are just too stupid,
to understand that if it were not for you,
no drone would ever strike on cue!

Written by,
Shelby I. Courtland
©2015 Shelby I. Courtland

This is How I Truly Feel About The U.S. Military

I had originally posted this as a comment but as strongly as I feel about this, I decided that it needs a blog unto itself.

While you are reading it, I hope that you can feel the disdain that I have for you. I hope that you can sense the contempt that I have for you. I hope that you realize that you are a piece of nasty, stinking, vile ass shit and that you mean less than dirt to me. You think that what you do is honorable. It’s not and I cannot stress this enough! How can “kill by drone” ever be considered honorable? How can killing people who have inferior weapons to yours be an honorable thing to do? How can killing people while you are in THEIR country be considered, honorable? You are not fighting a foreign enemy on American soil and so what business is it of yours as to what goes on in any other country? Why are you in someone else’s country bringing destruction, maiming and death to the country and to its people? You think that there is ‘honor’ in that? Who are you shitting? Yourself? Well, I’m here to enlighten you. You are just a military whore and if you’ve ever read anything from me, then you know that I’ve called you military motherfuckers, useless military whores many times over and I will continue to do so. But I did promise to post a comment of mine and without further ado, read this eloquently worded comment and remember, I mean every goddamn word of it!

They are not heroes! They are military whores! They bend over and get fucked and if they make it back, they decide to bend over again and then if they come back fucked up after having been fucked, well now, let’s put them on a commercial since the Veterans Administration said to them, “Fuck you and get at the end of that non-existent line!” And what does Obama do? Oh, he goes to a military base and salutes his military whores and promises them the moon all the while laughing at their goddamn stupidity and blind obedience. There is always going to be a ‘conflict’ and what a nice, pretty word for war, conflict is, because as long as there are dumb motherfuckers that sign up, conflicts will never cease. War will never cease.

We say we don’t like or want war? Well fucking prove it! Stop signing the fuck up! We don’t want to keep hearing and seeing your sob stories about how sorry you are that you fucked people up for no reason. We are sick and tired of your attempts to gain our sympathy when you had no reason to sign up in the first damn place. No one is forcing you to sign up. That is all on YOU! No one is to blame for your nightmares and your post-traumatic stress and for your depression but YOU! Take some responsibility for what YOU chose to do! I don’t owe you a wheelchair! I don’t owe you a goddamn thing because I didn’t ask you to fucking ‘keep me safe’! Keep me safe from who? What enemy of mine are you keeping me safe from? America IS the goddamn enemy, and you are America’s goddamn willing tool of war! I begrudge you motherfuckers; a slice of moldy bread and I truly mean that!

Now, come on up in here and try my non-existent patience with some patriotic bullshit and see just what the fuck you get for your efforts, you goddamn worthless ass military whores!

So, when you military whores bring your filthy ass eyes all up in here thinking that you are going to read about some whores that are available for you to bend them over and fuck, think again. This is about you, you nasty whores and how you yourselves bent over and got fucked by the likes of Dick Cheney, George W. Bush, Donald Rumsfeld, Barack Obama, Colin Powell, John McCain, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton and all the other filthy warmongers and war hawks that you whored yourselves out for.

And if you bring your whorish ass back from deployment, I am sure that it goes without saying that I won’t be standing on the sidelines of a parade watching you nasty ass whores strut your wide-open asshole all up and down a pothole filled street in this shithole called America. Don’t even think that I am one of the suckers that watch a commercial about ‘Wounded Warriors’ and open my checkbook to send you a goddamn penny. Why should I throw good money after bad? I am already paying for you whores to kill innocent people. I am paying for your goddamn health care. I am paying for the goddamn food that you eat. Yeah, think for one goddamn second that I’m going to hand some more money over to you because you’re now a ‘Disabled Vet’ and the Veterans Administration told you to “Piss off!” Like I’m going to continue to fucking help you? Never fucking think it!

“VA Suicide Hotline! Hold, Please!”

Exclusive: VA suicide hotline workers ripped for failing vets

The VA, has been swamped with calls since opening in 2007. The volume increased from fewer than 10,000 in 2007 to more than 500,000 last year, according to a recent Government Accountability Office report.

A 2010 calculation by the VA estimates that 22 veterans kill themselves each day. The VA, which has not updated that estimate, says the hotline “rescues” 30 veterans from suicide each day.

Wow! The VA is swamped with calls from veterans who need help in dealing with their many issues relative to having been deployed to warzones. The report goes on to say that many VA workers are leaving their post early.

Some workers handle only one to five calls each day and leave before their shifts end even though phone lines have gotten busier, the emails say. As a result, 35% to 50% of the calls roll over to back-up centers where workers have less training to deal with the emotional problems of former service members.

So, the people who are trained to deal with potential suicides handle only one to five calls a day? For real? And after having listened to one suicidal former service member, they are out the door and oh what a great day it is, eh? Then, those who are on backup are sitting somewhere looking cross-eyed for lack of training or know-how in dealing with the ’emotional problems’ that they are hearing from the former servicemen. Go figure!

In February, an Inspector General investigation revealed that some of the in-coming calls early last year had rolled over to back-up centers and gone to voicemail.

Suicide calls of former service members went to voicemail???!!! Get the fuck outta here! They are actually saying that someone who we all ‘thank for their service to this country’ was in desperate need of some anti-suicide help and their plea for help went to voicemail? Surely, they jest?

I guess the calls went something like this!

Former service member to VA suicide hotline: “Sob! Sob! Hello! My name is John and I just cannot take the fact that I pissed on dead Afghan corpses(dead because I killed them) again and again when I was deployed in Afghanistan and now, my mind is a mess. I realize that I became a military whore for the express purpose of making warmongers ever more richer and I am just not down with that anymore. I’d rather kill myself. And I, uh……what’s that?”

VA suicide hotline voicemail: “Hello! You have reached the Department of Veterans Affairs Suicide Hotline and while we ‘thank you for your service’, your estimated wait time to speak with a suicide hotline representative is 72 hours. So, kindly hold that suicide thought and call us back when we are less busy.” Click!

Here is an idea, forward the calls to the White House! Veterans, if you are feeling suicidal, call your ex-Commander-in-Chief, Barack Insane Obama, he is the reason you are feeling suicidal, Obama and Dick Cheney, Hillary Clinton, George W. Bush, Lindsey Graham and all the other warmongers and war hawks who insist that continuous wars lead to peace. No one should have to listen to your mental problems because you chose to sign on the dotted line to go fuck people up who had done you no personal harm. Now, even the VA is telling you to take responsibility for your own actions. The employees that are walking away from their posts early are telling you that they don’t want to hear you whine and complain about your PTSD, your night terrors and your bouts of depression. I would not want to hear them either. If you called me, I would tell you to go to hell, which is the same thing the VA is telling you to do. When they don’t answer your calls for anti-suicide help, they are telling you to stop bluffing and just ‘do yourself in’ already. They are not your priest and so therefore, have no reason in the world to want to hear your confession before you suck on a shotgun or hang yourself. You should have thought about what it would mean when someone put a loaded gun into your hands. What did you think they wanted you to do with a loaded gun? Sell it at a gun auction? You went through basic training and so you knew what was expected of you and you had every opportunity in the world to disengage yourself from the military before being shipped out to kill or be killed.

Those who you whore yourselves out to don’t give a damn about your mental disorders when you come back for if they did, do you really think that what is going down at the VA would continue to go down? Hell no! It has been stated by the head of the VA that wait times for former service members to receive necessary medical care has been likened to lines at Disneyworld and still you think that someone gives a shit about your problems? Get real! You were just expendable cannon fodder to the warmongers who were only too glad to have you get fucked up to keep the war machine revved up and when you are of no further use to anyone, including yourselves, why, the warmongers want you to just die already. They know what goes on at the VA and yet despite all hell, the VA is synonymous with outrageous wait times, indifferent medical services and unmanned suicide hotlines.

I have some advice for the former service members who are thinking of killing themselves. If this is the route that you feel you must go, then try not to take out innocent people when you kill yourselves. It is the least you could do seeing as how the predicament that you are in, lies squarely on your shoulders. And though it may seem as though I am not sympathetic to your plight, it is because I am not sympathetic to your plight because I have enough sense to know that if I pick up a weapon, that means that I intend to use it. If I don’t pick up a weapon, then I don’t intend to use it and if someone tells me to suit up and board a plane, after having put a gun into my hands, then that means that I expect to kill or to be killed and that is not something that I am willing to do. You refuse to give ‘peace’ a chance and then you wonder why you can find no peace within your own mind? When have you ever known peace and a gun to go hand in hand?

So no, I am not at all upset with the Department of Veterans Affairs for not coming through for you in your time of need because you would not be in need if you had not already lost all of your ‘humanity’ when you decided that the only way to effect peace was to launch a missile, a drone or by using a gun! Deal with the consequences of your own actions…or not!

The above is how I truly feel about the US military and those who served in it. Anyone got a problem with it? I didn’t think so! And what’s more, you motherfuckers are still at it, continuing to add to the number of veterans to NOT support! 

 

It’s Got To Be Bad When The Head Of Homeless Services Gets An Eviction Notice

Folks, what the hell is going on? I was minding my business, as I always do and, of course, stumbled upon yet ANOTHER homeless person, this one with a baby. For the love of!!!! I cannot go ANYWHERE without seeing this!

 

What a horrible sight to see and in November, to make matters worse. That little pink blob in the top corner of the stroller is a baby’s bottle. I felt so ashamed as I came upon them because I was crawling from the liquor store and was chuckling to myself about the great deals I had found on my favorite champagne, when I happened upon this Black lady and her baby daughter, sitting out in the cold this November day. Hypocrite, that I am, the first thing I did was to cover the wine bottles that damn near filled the bag. I asked the lady if I could help her in some way and she asked me if I could use my phone to see if shelter space was available. 

I know shelter hotlines by heart in 5 different states. I called the shelter hotline and they claimed to be full, but I explained to them that this lady is sitting outside with a baby, I was put on hold for damn near 14 minutes and was told that they had availability in one shelter and did she have bus fare. She didn’t have bus fare, but I gave her bus fare and some money to buy some food until she could get herself and her baby to the homeless shelter. I gave her my number and I also told her how to get in touch with an agency that could help her with services for her and the baby and that hopefully, the shelter will also speak with her on available resources, in the hopes that they have not been used up by the illegals that have saturated this country, recently. She did not want her face on camera, but I did tell her that I always post on the homeless to showcase the plight of the homeless and she did not mind me getting a picture a little way off.

Folks, this shit is serious! I wish to piss that I was a millionaire because this lady and her daughter would have been housed by me. Giving someone a bit of money and finding a fucked up homeless shelter for them does nothing to solve their primary issue and that is, they have NO home. And when I got back home and turned on my computer, this is what hit me in the face.

Head of CA homeless services organization says ‘I can’t afford to live’ here anymore in L.A Times column

The head of a homeless services organization in Los Angeles published an opinion column in the L.A. Times this weekend complaining about not being able to afford living in the city anymore.

Author Nathan Sheets declared in the piece that he and his family received an eviction notice and are having to move back to Indiana. His column criticized the California government for doing little to curb homelessness, slamming it for not even giving options to social workers like himself to live there and help the homeless population.

Hollywood, began his column, writing, “In August, my family’s Los Angeles landlord served us with a 60-day notice to vacate… This is the second time in three and a half years we’ve been served with this kind of notice.”

Did you read the part where he says, “In August, my family’s Los Angeles landlord served us with a 60-day notice to vacate… This is the second time in three and a half years we’ve been served with this kind of notice.”

I know the feeling. The very same happened to me back in January of 2022. A new landlord bought the apartment complex that I have lived at for FIVE years, had paid my rent, early and had FIVE years of receipts to back it up and I received a notice to vacate at the end of my lease with the landlord who had previously owned the apartment complex. This was at the very height of when rents started skyrocketing and it took me until May of this year to get ‘housed’ again. 

I get so damn fed up with hearing about how tenants are the problem and landlords are justified in putting tenants out for destroying property, not paying rent and some more shit. That is not always the fucking case. Why do so many assholes have it in for tenants when all of my rental problems have been because of asshole slumlords or racist scumlords? I have ALWAYS paid what I owed. I live by the mantra that two bills are going to get paid; number ONE is the rent and number TWO is the damn electric bill. Every damn thing else is up for grabs. But not all tenants are pieces of shit; shit happens, goddamn it!!

I know that I am talking to my damn self, but that’s okay because at the end of the day, even though I am probably not doing ALL that I can do to help put an end to homelessness, at least I do acknowledge that there is a BIG, HUGE ass problem and I don’t blame the homeless person for being homeless, nor do I turn away and pretend that they don’t exist. At least I will try and help and that’s more than many of you are doing and that’s a damn fact. I’m out there in the streets. What I’m doing out there, doesn’t matter, but if I stumble upon a homeless person, their plight is going to make it onto this blog. I can’t make you care, but at the same time, if you come all up in here, you are going to be made aware that we have, AGAIN, a BIG, HUGE ass homeless problem here in the states and it was a BIG, HUGE ass problem BEFORE the illegals crawled here! Make sure that you understand this!!

And so, a dedication to the poor homeless souls out on the streets at this very hour!

This Is Not The Life I Choose!

 

….and so, love is not a warm bed,
nor is it socks and shoes.
And I must dig in dumpsters.
But this is not the life I choose.

They shun me and they look away,
and I just shuffle by.
And when I settle in at night,
I shrug and start to cry.

No one could possibly know,
how much pain I shield from them.
by simply looking at the ground,
while I hum a little hymn.

I hold a paper cup.
And I hope for just some change.
There’s a sharp, cold wind tonight,
and my rags, I rearrange.

Will I get noticed on the morrow,
with a welcome from humanity?
And when the shelter closes,
I’m just another absentee.

I’m a leper and a loser,
a reminder that life’s a bitch.
Who out here would notice me?
Most assuredly not the rich.

Written by,
Shelby I Courtland
© 2013 Shelby I. Courtland

Cold Hearts!

Outside the snow is falling and the homeless feel the cold.
The icy touch of winter is here to freeze the young and old.

What they would give to be inside, all cozy, warm and safe.
But they must deal with frozen feet and hands, no heat to chafe.

There are those who claim to have a heart, and to them I say, “You lie!”
A sad world we live in when we leave folks out to die.

Written by,
Shelby I. Courtland
© Shelby I. Courtland

And remember this!

A fire without warmth,
is a fire that burns so cold.
The flames of indifference,
have never warmed a soul.

Written by,
Shelby I. Courtland
©2013 Shelby I. Courtland

I can’t make you care, but I can make you aware!!

For The Palestinian Children Who Have Never Seen A Rainbow!

I feel compelled to weigh in on what has been going down between the Palestinians and the Zionists, but first a poem for the Palestinian children.

I Have Never Seen A Rainbow!

I have never seen a rainbow
nor have I ever smelled a rose.
My home was bombed so many times;
dust clouds my eyes and nose.

I have never held a puppy
nor have I ever played jump rope.
But I have dived for cover many times,
and prayed and held onto hope.

I have hoped and prayed for peace
but war is all I’ve ever known.
I have cried so many times,
since my father and mother are gone.

You, who are in the West!
Have you ever thought about me?
Do you know that I am human?
And that you made me a refugee?

When next you play with your children
and you bring them home a toy,
remember, I’ve never had a teddy bear
because I am not your little boy.

I know that these are only words
and that you can’t see my tears.
But I think that you should know,
you’ve laid waste to my best years.

Written by,
Shelby I. Courtland
©2015 Shelby I. Courtland

And who is paying for those bombs that the Zionists are deploying on the people of the Gaza Strip? I’ll let another poem explain that!

The Bombs Of Billionaires

You tried to shield her from the bombs,
when you cradled her in your arms.

And now both of you are dead.
Is Israel’s thirst for blood now fed?

You loved her ’til the end
that poor child that never sinned.

Innocent blood must be avenged
and I don’t care who I offend.

The cries of the dying all went ignored
while we prayed unto the Lord.

What good are all our prayers
against the bombs of billionaires?

Written by,
Shelby I. Courtland
©2014 Shelby I. Courtland

Why has AmeriKKKa always been on the side of the Zionists? Ever asked yourself why so many AmeriKKKan politicians are JUUUUUU? Who heads the pharmaceutical companies that are manufacturing shit to kill us ALL? The JUUUUUU; the scum sucking, bloodless JUUUUU, that’s who! Millions have been killed by the BILLIONAIRE JUUUUU and unless they are stopped, we are all in danger. The JUUUUUU own AmeriKKKa and they all but own the people on the Gaza Strip that has systematically been stripped from them. Those people are under constant surveillance just as us Black folks in AmeriKKKa are under constant surveillance. The JUUUUUU makes sure that no one is going to match him in power and ownership of the fucking world. The JUUUUU has set himself up as top dog and is poisoning our water, food, air and injecting our bodies with bioweapons; it’s called “Big pharma.” COVID was a test run to see how quickly people would fall in line and too many of you did exactly what they thought you would do. I have never had respect for ANY JUUUUU in my life and the more I learn about them, the more I despise, loathe, detest and outright HATE them. Now, come on up in here FBI, CIA, Homeland Fucking Insecurity and drag my ass out of here for not liking all up and down on a thieving, murdering, bloodless JUUUUUUU!!!

Black folks otherwise known as American descendants of slavery, the Palestinians are fighting for their very survival against an evil so insidious, depraved, brutal, barbaric and some more shit of the like, that it should never have been allowed to slither and crawl all across this fucked up planet that It fucked up! The JUUUU put Hitler to the blush! Why do you think he was trying to get rid of them. He knew what they were about!

The Zionists are our enemy, the same as they are the enemy of the Palestinian people. They took that land from the Palestinians, claimed it for their own and now want to screech and wail and drum up support for getting back a tiny bit of what they have been dishing out. They can dish it out, but don’t want to take it.

A JUUUUU will always run this shithole, walking around with no JUICE in them whatsoever, hence why they are a JUUUUU. Have you seen a JUUUU up close and personal? They are the palest shits that I have ever seen and so I don’t want no shit about how they are pink. Those shits are bloodless leeches, which is why they will latch onto a host and suck it bone fucking dry but still remain bloodless because they are DEAD; dead, bloodless filth! They are not human. They are the ones who are responsible for poisoning the air we breathe, the food we eat and the water we drink. They don’t need that shit because they are already DEAD!!! Now bring your JUUUUU ass on up in here and try and crap a goddamn attitude over this here truth and as I always say, “I will be more than happy to mop the cyber floor with your JUUUUUU ass!!!!!” You got reparations from AmeriKKKa for some shit that AmeriKKKa did NOT owe YOU, but as descendants of slaves, Black people get nothing? Fuck YOU JUUUUU!!!!

Reparations!

Reparations, yes, the Jews received, the Japanese as well.

Yet, those whose skins like mine are told to “go to hell!”

The Holocaust was shocking; that is widely understood.

How can we break the chains of slavery? There’s no way we ever could.

 

Black backs were broke and lashed, and rape was just the thing.

But the Jews, for their misery received what’s due a king.

Internment camps were used to detain the Japanese,

who received compensation soon after their release.

 

Descendants of the slaves are whipped unto this day.

They are used and abused in every single way.

Why were they not rewarded for the slavery of the past?

But the Jews are quite rich; indeed, their wealth is vast.

 

Is it all because of who they are and that their skin’s not Black?

Or is it due to attitudes that slavery’s not a fact?

If you buy yourself a human, you’re a nasty piece of work.

And if you lash his back and maim him, you’re more than just a jerk.

 

The slaves suffered much and they had nowhere to turn.

They were three-fifths of a person; no money did they earn.

A nation took from Indians and built on slavery too.

And with each new generation, their boot will land on you.

Do not speak of recompense, as it blows into the wind.

No descendant of a slave should ever be the white man’s friend.

 

 

Shelby I. Courtland

© 2013 Shelby I. Courtland

I detect NOT one fucking lie!!!!!