Home Chat Room Archives Vox Populi Archives Vox Populi – 02-27-2026

Vox Populi – 02-27-2026

February 27, 2026

Vox Populi, our weekly live chat about the week’s events begins tonight at 7:00pm.

AdLib5 hours ago

I will be on the move this evening, I may be able to pop in and out or may not so if I’m not here, have a great Vox and I’ll see you next Friday!

AdLib5 hours ago

Well, I popped in. I will hang for a bit. See what else is poppin’.

choicelady

3 hours ago

good evening everyone

twilson117

3 hours ago

CL how are you?

twilson117

3 hours ago

I TW – I think it’s mostly just you and I. I’m fine. How are YOU and MA?

choicelady

3 hours ago

I’m doing fine, as you no doubt know we had a major storm here got a fair bit of snow some places more than others, reminded me of 78

twilson117

3 hours ago

Oh, no! I recall ’78 though I didn’t live there then. I knew a few people in RI and paid attention, and it was pretty grim then. Hope things are not QUITE that bad.

choicelady

3 hours ago

So what did you think of Trump’s SOA and the People’s State?

twilson117

3 hours ago

Hello…I am still alive….although worn out.

MurphTheSurf3

3 hours ago

From the snow aspect it depends were you are as you know

twilson117

3 hours ago

TW – I didn’t really listen much to either of them. The People’s State was predictable and not at all on point relative to him.

choicelady

3 hours ago

MURPH!!!

choicelady

3 hours ago

Murph how are you good to see you.

twilson117

3 hours ago

Thank you all I miss you very much.

MurphTheSurf3

3 hours ago

TW – I do know snow levels are highly varied!

choicelady

3 hours ago

Murph – we miss you, too. Can you bring us up to speed? What I got in emails was actually very encouraging.

choicelady

3 hours ago

CL we got a fair amount here in Shrewsbury I suspect in some area more than others, but the south shore really got hammered.

twilson117

3 hours ago

Murph good to see you and you are doing good stuff my friend.

twilson117

3 hours ago

Tw – I read that. Read TF Greene in Cranston RI got OVER 3 feet. THAT is wicked.

choicelady

3 hours ago

Up to speed…..so much has happened……I have become a bit of a crusader.

MurphTheSurf3

3 hours ago

Murph – “Become”??? I think you were born that way.

choicelady

3 hours ago

CL yes the did, closer to the water

twilson117

3 hours ago

That’s always the factor – water.

choicelady

3 hours ago

Murph you have a big heart.

twilson117

3 hours ago

I have so little open time now….at 75 …I am probably pushing my luck but others are in such need.

MurphTheSurf3

3 hours ago

Well, I did fine at 75. I’m older now, and I’m back at the Y getting back into shape because you are so correct – people are in such need. If I falter, where will they be? So I’m getting my aging self back into better strength and endurance.

choicelady

3 hours ago

I used to do 45 minutes-hour at the Y, Thirty minutes today nearly killed me.

choicelady

3 hours ago

We had a couple come to us earlier this week….brought by the sheriff’s deputies…..deputies told us that they were found in a broken down truck in a WalMart parking lot. They did not seem to be able to talk….discovered that their vocal cords had frozen and were no longer functioning. Got them to doctors – no telling what can be done.

MurphTheSurf3

3 hours ago

So please catch me at least up – how, after the debacle w the powers that be did you still manage “The Ranch”.

choicelady

3 hours ago

Well I can get away with calling both of you youngsters.

twilson117

3 hours ago

Thanks for the encouragement.

MurphTheSurf3

3 hours ago

TW – I know PPO and I are about to be 80. So from your photo you are younger. If not, you sure wear it well.

choicelady

3 hours ago

The Ranch came about because the sheriff’s dept and a couple of churches needed a spot like mine.

MurphTheSurf3

3 hours ago

CL 78 and that is an old picture.

twilson117

3 hours ago

We are a temporary home with open intake 2-7 aiming to move people from here to something more permeant.

MurphTheSurf3

3 hours ago

CL I should say will be 78 on the real independence day July 2

twilson117

3 hours ago

TW – then you’re still a young’un to PPO and me.

choicelady

3 hours ago

Murph – that’s PERFECT. I am so glad you persisted and the sheriff has your back.

choicelady

3 hours ago

Murph – that is perfect. That is what is needed, and you’re doing it. I hope the two you took in can be helped.

choicelady

3 hours ago

We can give shelter to 50 or so….the number varies because those with families expand our numbers.

MurphTheSurf3

3 hours ago

That works. I am SO HAPPY for you!!!

choicelady

3 hours ago

I am happy too but very tired.

MurphTheSurf3

3 hours ago

Go back over what I sent you. With that many, you do need rules and structures for the good of the community.

choicelady

3 hours ago

CL….I have actually used your “guidebook” as a roadmap for what we are doing here. I refer to it as Libby’s Rules

MurphTheSurf3

3 hours ago

I can only imagine. We now have only 2 people on site, but the tap tap at the front door increases daily. More need, more sandwiches and lunch bags, more money out the door. Everyone has a crisis.

choicelady

3 hours ago

LOL! Murph – that beats “Libby’s Laws” because they are guidelines not manifestos.

choicelady

3 hours ago

CL….you are quite the trooper…I take so much inspiration from youi.

MurphTheSurf3

3 hours ago

Every case is unique, every person is different. All I ask of my folks is mutual respect and pitching in.

choicelady

3 hours ago

CL you’re correct with the idiot in chief more and more people are going to need help.

twilson117

3 hours ago

It is hard to lay down the law to those who have been generally oppressed by the law.

MurphTheSurf3

3 hours ago

Thank you, Murph – and I from you. Now our biggest worry is that the Orange Beast is prepping “work camps” for the homeless. ICE will move to round up the homeless because they will be the labor to replace immigrants.

choicelady

3 hours ago

CL: All I ask of my folks is mutual respect and pitching in….words to survive by.

MurphTheSurf3

3 hours ago

Libby…I had not heard about that…ICE….Trump’s contribution to Black Shirt History.

MurphTheSurf3

3 hours ago

Murph =- PLEASE trust this: On site, whatever you require is so much more humane than ANY shelter or the cops do you have nothing to worry about. I discovered early on, homeless people want to be part of the solution, give back. IF THEY DO NOT, they are not community focused but grifters. Then you give basics and shuffle them off. It’s important that others feel safe from that. And that they are part of the solution.

choicelady

3 hours ago

CL…words to live by…I will be sharing this with our “council” a group of care givers and those being cared for….helpers and residents (long and short term).

MurphTheSurf3

3 hours ago

Yes, there are work camps in Idaho already, others being planned. It’s EASY to get people to support immigrants who are cool, hardworking, wonderful. Not that many advocate for or take care of the homeless. They are less enticing.

choicelady

3 hours ago

Murph are you getting any help from your neighbors?

twilson117

3 hours ago

One of our great strengths is that our neighbors are boosters…they know is better to have a good place for the desperate to go…..it serves them as well as the homeless.

MurphTheSurf3

3 hours ago

Having supportive neighbors – I do, too – is a gift beyond price.

choicelady

3 hours ago

Has Ad been here tonight? Say h hello, if I miss him.

MurphTheSurf3

3 hours ago

He said he’d pop in if he could. No idea what he’s doing. Having fun I hope!

choicelady

3 hours ago

Murph – you ever have a question, feel free to email or call. I’m always here for you and them.

choicelady

3 hours ago

One of my grumpiest, most intolerant, right wing Trumper…..fough the whole thing until the night he drove a mom and her two here and ended up staying on to help them settle in…now he is here all the time.

MurphTheSurf3

3 hours ago

CL…thanks for the offer…..yes, I may need your good counsel.

MurphTheSurf3

3 hours ago

Murph – to see reality in the faces of a woman and her children is to find the heart the Grinch lost. I’m super happy he had that experience and it “took”.

choicelady

3 hours ago

Murph – ANY time. Well, maybe not 3 am. But any OTHER time.

choicelady

3 hours ago

Murph it’s to know people have a place to go in their time of need ‘ the least of us.’

twilson117

3 hours ago

CL…the man lost his wife two years ago….his kids are distant from him…he says he “lost them” and now….well he has purpose now that is changing his heart….GrinchCure.

MurphTheSurf3

3 hours ago

TW – that’s the key. Matthew 25:40. The least of us.

choicelady

3 hours ago

Murph – that’s IT! “Grinch Cure”!!

choicelady

3 hours ago

There is woman pastor who I work with very closely…I suspect that you, Libby, and she are soul-sisters

MurphTheSurf3

3 hours ago

You ever see or read, “A Man Called Ove”? It’s about a bereft widower who has a very thin life and much anguish and anger whose Mideastern neighbor lays siege to him with her kids and gives him heart again? Same issue.

choicelady

3 hours ago

Murph – you’ve mentioned her several times. I already love her.,

choicelady

3 hours ago

Muph – SHE can call me, too, if she wants. I’d just like to know her name which I have totally forgotten.

choicelady

3 hours ago

CL…..I will look for the text……and yes, I suspect that my Revette is your soul sister.

MurphTheSurf3

3 hours ago

I think we are from what you’ve said.

choicelady

3 hours ago

Thanks for the offer…..I will ask if she might want to take you up on the invite….she is very cautious…..but I will suggest that there would be great value in making connections.

MurphTheSurf3

3 hours ago

BRB,,,,,needed outside……

MurphTheSurf3

3 hours ago

Murph – one key for the Council: homelessness both dehumanizes AND “de-adults” its victims. When you have BEEN an adult and met your responsibilities, dependence is nauseating. Taking charge of your life, helping others, paying forward and back is essential to healthy adulthood. We tend to forget that.

choicelady

3 hours ago

TW – what is the state of homelessness in your neck of the woods?

choicelady

3 hours ago

CL….Brilliant insight. SO many of the homeless have lost so much dignity that acting like an adult is just beyond them.

MurphTheSurf3

3 hours ago

It’s a problem here as everywhere else CL, there shelters and places folks can go, but it’s like every thing else, they are invisible even when people see them.

twilson117

3 hours ago

Giving each person a responsibility they can handle – and it may be graduated – is essential to their self respect. It takes some time now and then. It’s worth EVERYTHING.

choicelady

3 hours ago

TW – you absolutely nailed it. The invisibility is what causes depression and mental health issues, and it’s what leads to drug and alcohol abuse. That is a perfect assessment.

choicelady

3 hours ago

There was some pressure from an ultra-trumper to get “the authorities” to make sure that there were not any “illegals” among our residents and those who just pass through……..one our council members quickly suggested that he try to. just “be” with our guests before slotting them and then condemning them.

MurphTheSurf3

3 hours ago

Murph – one of the men I am most fond of did not trust me for years. He thought I was paid by someone to help. Then he thought I would be too controlling. He learned I helped and outside of pushing him to get medical help, I wasn’t a control freak. He now works for us, watering our plants, and he’s grown in confidence and capacity. He had never in his life hugged anyone, but he does me. He is reliable and quite wonderful and has grown enormously.

choicelady

3 hours ago

CL I suspect we will see it increase as prices continue to rise, and people lose their jobs all why the orange snake continues to lie about how well off everyone is doing. So what you and Murph are doing is working the problem not being part of it.

twilson117

3 hours ago

RW paranoia is a curse. I hope he has been able to get past that hate.

choicelady

3 hours ago

Tw – it will get worse. There is no way around it especially as SNAP and Medicaid are being eroded.

choicelady

3 hours ago

Tw – what I fear is that the need will outstrip me, and our shelter system sucks. It’s not housing but warehousing, and it costs people their belongings and pets and partners. I can take only ONE more person by law. Don’t know what the hell I’m going to do if Dems can’t get SNAP and Medicaid stabilized.

choicelady

3 hours ago

CL that is correct. It is really amazing how a great number of rich people have such hatred for those who are barely surviving

twilson117

3 hours ago

TW I do realize some of it is fear (there but for the grace of Wall Street go I) but some is our emphasis on hyper individualism v community. I have no answers.

choicelady

3 hours ago

Fortunately I live in disorganized rural Missouri……so if I have the support of the local police and neighbors there are no arbitrary limits.

MurphTheSurf3

3 hours ago

Murph – that part I envy!!

choicelady

3 hours ago

Our city ends three blocks east of me then morphs into East Sacramento a VERY upscale area with NO homeless people. None. But they now vote w Midtown (my area) and while Dem, even Berniebots, they HATE the homeless and voted OUT our good City Council member and in a guy who couldn’t care less.

choicelady

3 hours ago

The had Proposition O that imposed a 3 person housing limit for homeless. It was targeted to a good attorney who had a piece of land where he let people camp. Well, three people now can. Big whoop.

choicelady

3 hours ago

Liberals/Progressives are just as sucky about property values as the RW.

choicelady

3 hours ago

CL some people were born just to be a-holes.

twilson117

3 hours ago

Living in a rural area the population is a real mix……from poorest to wealth…often living within a stone’s throw of. each other. I find that this who “have” recognize that doing for the “least” is an investment in their peace of mind.

MurphTheSurf3

3 hours ago

TW – you have defined Life perfectly.

choicelady

3 hours ago

Murph – can you send a delegation up here to remind the rich in the “Fab 40s” (40th street-49th street) that helping not hurting people is a SOLUTION???

choicelady

2 hours ago

I will mention the idea to some of those who are HAVES but are realizing that they are closer to being HAVENOTS than could ever imagine.

MurphTheSurf3

2 hours ago

Murph – that is exactly what many are discovering. Wall Street is very dicey right now. We are heading into deep trouble nationally, and we best be community for one another because it’s a very fragile structure these days.

choicelady

2 hours ago

Murph would I be right in saying some of them got hurt by Trump’s tariff’s ?

twilson117

2 hours ago

TW…..there are NO, NONE, ZERO, NADA signs of Trumpism anywhere that I can see. Yes, and that is because of a combo of enlightenment and getting your your toes mashed.

MurphTheSurf3

2 hours ago

TW – great question. Murph – perfect analysis!!!

choicelady

2 hours ago

I don’t exactly feel sorry for MAGA now with eyes open, but they are discovering he really doesn’t care about ANYONE other than himself.

choicelady

2 hours ago