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This past Thursday the Supreme Court ended the eviction moratorium putting 7.5 million people at risk of homelessness. While the moritorium was extended several times, which was a good thing, the problem is that millions of them are still in the same position they were back in March of 2020.

The people at risk of being evicted need a bailout and the US can afford it. I’m going to show you what that could look like with simple arithmetic. But, first let’s get some perspective on numbers regarding the amount of money the US spent on wars in the last 20 years, and the Wall Street Bailout of 2008. Then, we’ll compare those numbers to the numbers it would take to bailout the 7.5 million people at risk of being evicted. 

The United States spent $6 Trillion in the last 20 years on Friviolous Wars

Several goverment officials and Generals in 2019 admitted that we had no idea what we were doing in Afganastan, or who were even fighting anymore. The Washington Post broke that story in what was known as the Afganistan Papers. Now, anyone who was paying attention from the very beginning back in 2001, realized this was a baseless war.

Sadly, that wasn’t America’s biggest mistake. The US then invaded Iraq in 2003 for no particular reason. They had nothing to do with 9/1l, Bin Laden was not hiding in Iraq and they had NO Weapons of Mass Destructions. And this was known at the time. Weapons inspector’s Hans Blix and Scott Ridder, who were on the ground at the time in Iraq said they had No WMD’s. – Iraq was Not a threat and certainly was NOT an imminent threat. But, the US invaded them anyway. The defense companies made a fortune in the midst of all this blood and death.

The Wall Street Bailout of 2008

Congress approved a $700 Billion bank bailout to stabilize finanical markets in the face of the housing and mortgage crisis. The program was called the “Troubled Assets Relief Program.” Also knon as TARP. That doesn’t even include the quantitative easing program by the Federal Reserve from 2008 through 2014. The Fed deployed over $4 Trillion buying up treasuries to keep interest rates artfically low. Capitalism failed in 2008 if not for this bailout and assistance by the Federal Reserve. And Capitilism is failing most Americans now.

A proposed bailout for the 7.5 million people at risk of being evicted

If the United States wrote a check for $20,000 to each of the people at risk of losing their homes, that would be a total of $150 billion. That’s a big number, right? – But, in 2008 the U.S. wrote a $750 billion check to bailout the banking sector. That’s 5 times greater than what I’m proposing here with the Eviction Bailout. It’s nothing for the US.

Let’s compare the $150 billion Eviction Bailout to the $6 trillion spent between both wars in Afganistan and Iraq. Two wars that should never existed in the first place, killing hundreds of thousands of innocent people and depelting $6 trillion in resources. That’s 40 times more than the proposed $150 billion to bailout 7.5 million peope on Eviction Row.

Bernie Sanders is correct, poverty is a death setence. It’s also a crime to be poor in the United States. I’ll go a step further than Senator Senators, even if you don’t die from poverty, chances are you’ll live a miserable life.

When will the US make poor people in this country a priority? – When wil the US throw money at humanity the way it does with defense, guns, blood and death? America’s values are still inverted. It’s supposed to be “Lives before Profits.” Not the other way around.

I found this coffee mug at a Family Dollar store today. I was very struck by the message. It’s so true.

DriveWithCompassion is hoping for a better tomorrow starting tonight.

Happy Weekend.

When Lucky’s outside, he just owns it. He’s a combination of the the Wolverine and the Lion King. – Anyone that meets Lucky knows they are in the presense of greatness. He’s the only dog I’ve ever known that has presene of mind. Many dogs are smart, but presense of mind is whole other level. Meaning, he strategizes in his head about the things he wants to do.

Sometimes you just walk out of the house and your life changes forever. That’s what happened on May 10th, 2017 in Toa Baja, Puerto Rico. The world wasn’t big enough for Lucky and myself to not find each other. This had to happen.

Please Drive With Compassion. There are stray animals in the street.

Sammy and I used to read the newspaper every Sunday together. He really loved to stay abreast of current events. That’s my coffee over to the left. As we all know, dogs should Not drink coffee.

Sunday is not like any other day of the week. Monday through Friday, it’s work work work. On Saturdays we catch up on personal responsibilities. But on Sundays, we let imagination in the door and back into our lives. On Sundays, we get to be us again. The people we set out to be from the very beginning.

Feel free to listen to the audio version of this post. It’s fun and interesting: Why is Sunday called Sunday Funday.

Florida’s enconomy is probably the number one economy in the United States right now. If not one, it’s number two next to Texas.

My mother is 78 years old and in pretty bad shape. Meals on Wheels of South Florida funded by the Federal Older American Act doesn’t have the funding right now to let her, or others seniors participate in the program. This is a perfect example of how Trickle Down Economics doesn’t trickle down. It simply Stays Up.

It’s similar to what we saw last year with the Dow Jones over 30,000, while food bank lines, evictions and people living in tent cities were at all time highs. I am so turned off to Florida that when things are better, I can’t stay in state like this in good concious. It’s literally the Lord of the Flies over here. Even the commercials on the radio always talk of wearing maskes so we can keep the South Florida economy booming. It’s never about the people. It’s always about the money.

Nobody’s disputing the importance of money. What’s being disuted, is the distribution of it. South Florida lacks humanity.

Isn’t Polar Bear exquisite? – He’s the first rescue I’ve had that turned into another species. He was a dog when I orginally rescued him on December 28th, 2018 in Puerto Rico. But, since his arrival to the states in September of 2019, somewhere along the way he beceame a polar bear from the Arctic. Well, that what he tells me anyway.

When he arrived in the states, I think all the news about climate change and the plight of polar bears and other marine life in the Artic, changed his perspective about life. It really resonated with him. As his human dad, I just go along with it now and make up stories of when I rescued him from the Arctic. You wouldn’t believe the things I come up with. Hey, the things we do for love, right?

Please Drive With Compassion. There are stray animals in the street.

Only in NYC can you run into the Statue of Liberty walking around Central Park. That’s what happened to Sammy and myself nine years ago today. We were just two kids kicking it back in NYC. He was 6 years old and I was 43.

As luck would have it, we ran into the real Statue Of Liberty. She was just walking around Central Park. I mean “He” as you can see. Nevertheless, I saw this as a great photo oppotunity. Fortunately, so did the Statute of Liberty himself. He scooped Sammy up off the ground and we captured an instant classic. That’s just how Sammy and I rolled back in the city.

Happy 4th of July to our friends from around the world.

Well, my mother is 78 years old today. I’ve decided to keep Grasshopper and offer him as a present to my mother. Of course we live together, so Grasshopper is really for me. 

This is Not a bubble gum-ish kind of post. My mother and I have not had a happy life together. We don’t have much in common at all. But, our loyalty to each other is unbreakable. We fought very serious wars together in the last 30 years. My mother is a great fighter. Because of her, I am a great fighter. Having said that, fighting doesn’t produce happiness. And having said that, sometimes in life you have no choice but to fight.

In the past 15 months, we’ve spent more time together than we have in our entire lives. They have been hard times. But our time together during the Coronavirus was better than it was in the last 30 years. Maybe that means something. I don’t know. 

I have to give my mother the MVP award for motherhood on Patrick’s death alone. Jo Ann came to Puerto Rico twice, broken bodied and all. And she stayed with me for 6 weeks each time. Despite our overall unhappy relationship, she knew her son was destroyed from seeing his boy die like that. On that alone, I can forget all the rocky times she and I had.  

But, back to Grasshopper here in the picture with my mother. He’s so happy in the house with my wolfpack and I. He’s very bossy too. Despite being so little, Grasshopper pushes himself right to the center of the pack when we’re all together. If they ever tell my story, let them say I walked with giants. Let them see I lived in the time of Jo Ann Smith and Grasshopper. The little boy that could.

Please Drive With Compassion. There are stray animals in the street.

On June 24th at 1:30 am, a residential building just North of Miami collapsed out of the blue. The building had 130 apartments units. As you can see in the picture, half of the building is gone. Apparently there were structural issues due to saltwater corroding the concrete and weakening the support beams of the building.

9 people are confirmed dead. 150 people are missing. I said it’s very reminiscent of 9/11 because the media kept reporting that thousands of people were missing that day. But, we knew what that meant. I hope I’m wrong, but I believe the majority of the 150 people, if not all, didn’t survive the collapse.

I’ve never seen a building just collapse out of thin air before. Nine people conrfirmed dead and 150 are still missing. Yes, hurricanes and othger natural disasters have taken buildings down. But, out of thin air? No, I’ve never seen that before. On this incident alone, I don’t think I’d ever live in an aparment buidling again. I guess the million dollar question is, do the people that live in the adjacent tower, the one that didn’t collapse feel safe living there anymore? Or, event want to live there anymore?

If anyone out here lives in a high-rise building off the water, I’d seriously suggest you inquire about recent inspections and overall safety measures in place. This is a travesty times a million. Absolute devastation. When the dust settles, there has to be accountability. We don’t just move on from something like this!

My biological father died in 1984 when I was 14 years old. I really didn’t know much about him. I heard he loved to ski. I always hated the cold. That’s pretty mcuh all I remember.

Dennis Brown raised me from 14 to 27 years old. He taught me everthing about life and how to be a man. He was my father, best friend, mentor and my martial arts instructor.

My family and I were blessed to have him in our lives. Dennis was a bright light in a sometimes very cold world. He passed on October 5th, 2015 from cancer. I was in Puerto Rico at the time. I spoke to him on the phone the day before he died.

Some beings are so lit up on the insde that they shine on their exteriror. Dennis Brown was like that. Happy Father’s Day in Heaven, Dennis. You made the world a better place.