The Gadsden Rev is based just outside of Portland, Oregon — about 20 miles away, in fact. Oregonians know already to stay out of downtown, but there’s substantial evidence that Portland’s burgeoning homelessness industry is expanding outward.

I stopped a day ago for a burger at a local Burger King, and as I pulled into the drive thru, a group of about five homeless were setting up a tent at the entrance to the drive thru lane. I asked the owner if he was aware, and he held up his hand, heavily bandaged, and said “Yes, I have to fight them every night to get them to leave, and they just come back the next day.”

When I pressed him for more info (I was the only customer there — who wants to tangle with mentally ill vagrants?) he told me that he routinely calls the police to remove them from his private property, and they don’t even respond any longer.

A local WalMart store recently closed. The last time I was there, there was an open-air drug market in front of the store with nearly fifty homeless. Most were high, there was open drug use going on. One man was idly sitting by the entrance digging with his fingers into a two-inch wide wound on his leg, high out of his mind.

Here’s a rough/real perspective from the viewpoint of a vlogger who walks through downtown with prominent social worker Kevin Dahlgren. It’s hard to watch, but it’s the reality Portlanders face every day.

I’d say we’re living in a third-world city, but the truth is that most third-world cities have it better than some parts of Portland. Downtown, with the exception of highrises with gated and guarded entrances, is shut down. The Columbia river that borders Washington state is lined with rusted hulks of ancient campers & RV’s, parked nose to tail.

I do not understand how Portland’s left-brainwashed voters can look at this and see it as working, let alone compassionate. We have to do something, and we have to do it soon.