Nice story.
Chess is not a crime!
Sort:
the real crime is not the chess, but that everyone only has the atention on the proxy wars and dont care for the big things anymore....
its ingenius, i mean thing about it you want the atention shifted, just order something hilarious here and something crazy there and all of a sudden....
all cats are playing with furballs
Interesting how the country that affords the biggest standing army in the world cannot even afford to give homeless people a home.
Xilmi wrote:
Interesting how the country that affords the biggest standing army in the world cannot even afford to give homeless people a home.
And isn't it interesting that New York City, where all the richest people in the world have apartments and condos, can't afford to to provide apartments to homeless and poor people.
i still would rather live in america though
Xilmi wrote:
Interesting how the country that affords the biggest standing army in the world cannot even afford to give homeless people a home.
In the US.
Most "homeless" people have food and shelter (at least for the night) that is provided to them primarily by charitable organizations but also the governement. Admittedly the availability of these shelters is not uniform.
The food and shelter is usually given by these private charities with few or no strings attached. So the "homeless" are then free to play chess all day if they wish - as some appearantly decide to do. Again it is just a matter of where.
DrFrank if I had to pay the rent rates of New York City I, and most of America would likely be homeless too.
niceforkinmove your knowledge of homeless conditions in the USA is lacking.
This story is largely bogus, please stop spreading it around. We have a few threads on it already.
1) There's no "ban". Setting up tables along a public sidewalk requires a permit, for chess or any other activity...
2) Chess players have never been there "every day"...the numbers of players and frequency of chess games at this location are wildly overstated.
The details of this story are inflated to be incendiary and attract eyeballs.
Xilmi wrote:
Interesting how the country that affords the biggest standing army in the world cannot even afford to give homeless people a home.
If every homeless person were given a home for free then think about the number of people who currently have a job, who would stop working.
"Chess is not a crime!"
The way I play it, it is! 
macer75 wrote:
Xilmi wrote:
Interesting how the country that affords the biggest standing army in the world cannot even afford to give homeless people a home.
If every homeless person were given a home for free then think about the number of people who currently have a job, who would stop working.
Oh their Money could just be taken and they could Be put to prison
TetsuoShima wrote:
macer75 wrote:
Xilmi wrote:
Interesting how the country that affords the biggest standing army in the world cannot even afford to give homeless people a home.
If every homeless person were given a home for free then think about the number of people who currently have a job, who would stop working.
Oh their Money could just be taken and they could Be put to prison
?
Interesting comments , friends!
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"Crack" down on the drug dealers & the people who are breaking the law. Pry a cop who stinks @ chess & got beat down as a boy for bein a little puke ...
In every country there should be as many social workers as there are standing army and police officers.
Just like police officers they should patrol the streets looking to help people.
Savage wrote:
ProfessorProfesesen wrote:
In every country there should be as many social workers as there are standing army and police officers.
Just like police officers they should patrol the streets looking to help people.
Great idea. Public sector parasites leeching off the taxpayer is something we definitely need even more of.
+1
Savage wrote:
ProfessorProfesesen wrote:
In every country there should be as many social workers as there are standing army and police officers.
Just like police officers they should patrol the streets looking to help people.
Great idea. Public sector parasites leeching off the taxpayer is something we definitely need even more of.
LIke the Walton family?
Dozens play chess in public to defy SF crackdown
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - At least for an afternoon, the chess players were back at the usual spot they've occupied for years along downtown San Francisco's busy Market Street.
But instead of hustling a dollar here and a dollar there with deft openings and clever traps, the mostly homeless players and their supporters were playing Sunday in defiance of a recent police crackdown and ban on the public games. And they were backed by a brass band and several homeless advocates who helped organize the three-hour "chess-in" under bright, blue skies on a hot San Francisco afternoon.
Earlier this month, police confiscated chess gear, tables and chairs at the site.
Police said the games had begun to attract illegal gambling and drug sales to the area adjacent to a cable car terminal, which is a popular tourist destination. Nearby merchants had also complained about an increase in illegal activity.
"We don't mind the chess players and would like to have them back," said Cody Hunt, manager of an electronics store in front of which the games were played. "But lately, the games have attracted loud dice games and open drug deals, and nobody needs that."
The chess players argue that the police response to the illegal activity that took place near the games was heavy-handed and indiscriminate.
"Have the drug deals stopped because chess has been banned?" said Andrew Resignato, a San Francisco resident who would play a game along Market Street occasionally. "It was an excuse to move homeless people away from here."
San Francisco police didn't return a phone call Sunday.
Police Capt. Michael Redmond told the San Francisco Chronicle last month that he agreed the chess players themselves weren't the problem. But others used the games as a shield for illegal activities. Redmond said arrests and complaints from merchants increased in the area.
"It's turned into a big public nuisance," Redmond said. "I think maybe it's a disguise for some other things that are going on."
Hector Torres Jr., a homeless man who scratched out a living renting his chess equipment, tables and chairs to Market Streets players, said the games were a San Francisco tradition that attracted all sorts of players from all walks of life.
Torres and others said it's unclear whether regular games will resume in their usual spots, someplace else or disappear forever.
"Chess isn't a crime, and we aren't criminals," Torres said as he knocked over his king in resignation of a game. "San Francisco is about this kind of stuff. About diversity and differences. We just want to play chess."