By David Kamioner | February 23, 2020

If you listen to Bernie Sanders enough, you’re welcome, you will hear him throw out a lot of spurious numbers. One is that 500,000 people sleep in the elements in the nation every night, that we have a half million homeless people in this nation.

He’s either lying or his sources are tendentious. Probably both.

First, the real number depends on how you define the homeless.

Is couch surfing homelessness? If you are staying with a friend between places, are you homeless? If you are not under shelter because you actually don’t want to be —more common than you think— are you homeless? Or do you have to be sleeping under the urban stars to be considered homeless?

MORE NEWS: The five worst presidents in American history

Do you support individual military members being able to opt out of getting the COVID vaccine?

By completing the poll, you agree to receive emails from SteveGruber.com, occasional offers from our partners and that you've read and agree to our privacy policy and legal statement.

Second, the real number is a lot lower. The reason it is publicly high is because the more the homeless the more the funding to those who run the homeless shelters. As the old NASA saying goes, “No bucks. No Buck Rogers.”

It’s a subject I know something about, as I ran a homeless shelter in Philadelphia for U.S. military veterans for over four years. Those questions and their answers defined our programs and operations.

That’s why it is amusing to hear Sanders and the Democrats discover the homeless when there is a Republican in the White House. The funnier part is that the homeless tend to gravitate towards cities where there are municipal services that they can use. And those cities are run by?

Democrats.

So Democrats who cry about the homeless run the very cities where the homeless problem is the greatest. And what do they do about it?

Very little.

MORE NEWS: Ilhan Omar blasts Meghan McCain, accuses her of being a hypocrite for calling out Sanders’ supporters

Why? Because the homeless are very politically convenient to the Democrats. They can point and blame the GOP for it even though the continued presence and growth of homeless populations in Democrat-run cities are a direct consequence of their actions and policies.

In Austin, L.A., San Francisco, New York, Philly, Seattle, Portland, and a host of other liberal bastions the problem gets worse as the Democrats scream about the heartless Republicans.

They would do better to look past their own noses and actually deal with the issue.

This piece originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

Read more at LifeZette:
Somali community leader confirms Ilhan Omar married her own brother
Big Trump rallies are not just about the event numbers
Matt Gaetz confronts Joy Behar – asks if she’s in mourning over death of Democratic Party as ‘Venezuela wing’ takes over

The opinions expressed by contributors and/or content partners are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Steve Gruber.