So we are on similar grounds.

As you've seen, a person with drug addiction doesn't get better over night. But, if said person seeks help and sticks to that help, said person can live a stable life.

However, the person with dimentia, alzheimers, and parkinson's can't just go to AA meetings or stop taking a substance to get better.

How do you know what I am?

You are not a doctor neither, so we must dismiss your posts?

yes, many in the medical field categorize drug addiction as a disease. However, the disease differs in many important respects from the mental illnesses I listed. It doesn't take a doctor to notice that fact. The key word is fact. The only non-fact I have shared was my initial view of withholding empathy for certain homeless people.

How I feel? On what grounds do you label my comments based on feeling rather than empirical observation?

Also, what doctors consider drug addiction the same at all levels to parkinson's, alzheimer's, dimentia, and schizophrenia?

You are clueless.

I have actually spent time with homeless people. Have you? If so you'll find some are military vets. Others are civilizians who choose to live on the streets despite pleas from their family. Some have no option because they burnt bridges. There is no one size fits all.

Opioid addiction is not new. Your post appears to present it as such.

You should reconsider your views. Not all homesless people are the same. Some can, and do, make better choices that lead to a stable income and housing. Others can but don't. Others can't.

Obviously, my initial post "get a job; live where you can pay rent" is directed at people who can do both. Some people can't. They suffer from schizophrenia, parkinson's, alzheimer's, dimentia or another mental illness.

People suffering from drug addiction can get better. This situation differs from people suffering from the aforementioned diseases. Of course, the situation is even more complex when a person with schizophrenia is also an addict!

Earth. How about you?

Sure, but an addict's plight differs from the schizophrenic's.

Addicts can attend meetings. People suffering from schizophrenia, alzheimer's, parkinson's and dimentia can't just get better.... medication only helps them so much.

If you know people with all the aforementined diseases then you will understand this intuitively.

No. You are conflating two different types of phenomena.

Schizophrenia is a disease. People cannot avoid it.

Doctors have categorized drug addiction as a disease. It is avoidable. It can be overcome.

Try to overcome dimentia or parkinson's.

Have you ever known anyone with these diseases? I know addicts who get better then lead productive lives... and know people who eventually die from parkinson's, fade away with dimentia, and live in perpetual care with schizophrenia.

Sure, some addicts end up dead. But with help they can live better lives. The other three diseases differ in all respects. Even if someone takes meds for schizophrenia, said person is never really ok and must continue taking meds.

Yes. But it differs from say schizophrenia. Most people choose to consume drugs. They do so knowing they risk addiction. It is not like other mental diseases like schizophrenia, parkinson's or dimentia.

Get a job; get a place to live. If you can't get either in a certain state then you got to move where you can get both. I have little empathy for people who make poor life choices then continue to make them then seek others foot the bill.

Now, if someone is legitimately plagued by mental illnesses (such as schizoprenia not drug addiction) or physical handicaps then I do have some empathy (especially if their families do not help them). However, people's families need to step up.

You have no right to live anywhere as you please. Either pay rent or mortgage or go somewhere else to do just that.

Hope you find Biz. Good luck!

Not all taxes systems are equal. People HATE California's tax system. Contrary to Good-Expression's claim about the taxes being lower, California has a notoriously bad tax system that negatively impacts more than the wealthy. Plenty of people seek to leave the state because of the system.

I lived in the midwest (specifically, Michigan). The tax system was not as bad. I can say that we felt a change here in RI (sales tax is pretty bad here).

Yes, you have been right about personal income tax... I will not comment about Rhode Island since this state's taxes hold no bearing on taxes in California.

If we focused exclusively in personal income taxes then California's tax system would appeal to most people outside of business owners, corporations, and the rich.

But the government (federal and state) taxes more than income. Taxes can involve sales, property, and other things.

As a whole, California does not rank very well.

https://calbudgetcenter.org/resources/californias-tax-revenue-system-isnt-fair-for-all/

In the link above, the writers feel some tax rates are great (such as personal income, since the writers say it is progressive) but others are bad (such as sales taxes since the writers claim it unfairly hurts poor and working class people).

I was raised in California. I never met anyone who liked the tax system there. Whether poor, working poor, middle class or wealthy, someone has a gripe with the tax system. The links kinda show how people with different political views can view the same system as good and bad for very different reasons.

People walk their dogs across plenty of bay and ocean front beaches. IDK if it's legal but they do it. So maybe that counts as dog friendly.

A lot of dog walkers around PVD too. But not much sidewalk on certain parts of town.

California ranks bad on taxes.

https://taxfoundation.org/state/california/

What are the best places to buy Pho?

yes, please.

Do you use hot water? Probably, right? Do you have a gas furnace or gas stove? If you do then that's why you get charged for gas.

🤣Either way,I enjoyed reading the post. Your writing style is good.

Nodding approvingly? You don't fish much, huh? Boat anglers are some of the grumpiest lot!

I was pleasantly surprised--Shocked even.

The restaurant chain's name and advertising led me to mistakenly believe the food would be awfully bad.

I'm so glad to have been wrong.

You definitely are a real Texan if you enjoy cumin on Mexican food! The Northern Mexicans use it. We don't!

You provoked my foody PTSD with the sauce from a can bit. I had a similar experience in the midwest (Michigan). It was a Sunday morning. I ordered menudo in a small Mexican restaurant (that mostly served Non-Mexicans). Well, the menudo broth tasted like tomato sauce from a can. It was horrible.

Your upbringing (save for the Catholic part) closely resembles a few White kids I knew in California. They were raised around Mexicans and pretty much fit in.

Yeah, culture shock happens. When I first moved here, I complained about the food and stuff. But, I like it here.

Re fruterías, Idk... if there are any in this state, I haven't seen them.

P.S. LOL anchor babies! The soap box type social justicey Chicanos would be soo pissed about that term. In general though, I don't think people outside the border areas use it. Even then, I think many people consider it a put down. Dreamers sounds so damn corny to me that I think its just as bad if not worst than wetback or border buddies or etc. lol

What are your thoughts?

I usually recommend

Al Son de mi barrio on Atwells and La Lupita on Westminster in Providence.

But, I recently ate great Mexican food from California taco shop. I was very skeptical about the place and was pleasantly shocked by the food's quality. It is legit Mexican food. It actually tastes good.

So, my credentials about Mexican food are the following: I am a Mexican who has lived in California and Mexico. My wife is also Mexican and a good cook and very picky. She really liked California taco shop too.

I can only vouch for those three spots. I have eaten Mexican food (e.g.,menudo, etc) from other places and have been very dissapointed. BTW, I have traveled across Texas too (from Eagle Pass all the way up to Oklahoma!).

There is a little gem of a cafe on Mineral Spring Ave in Providence--Ashur Cafe. I love this clean and well lit place.

Ashur Cafe has a mellow atmosphere,good quality service, well-made cofee and other drinks (crepes and hookah too!).