Frank Niceley #wingnut

Frank Niceley #wingnut americanindependent.com

Tennessee state Sen. Frank Niceley used the false claim that 'Hitler decided to live on the streets for a while' as an illustration of someone who turned his life around after homelessness.

A Tennessee Republican state senator on Wednesday cited Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler as a positive example of someone who was able to make a life for himself after experiencing homelessness.

Sen. Frank Niceley used the example to voice his support for a Tennessee Senate bill that would criminalize encampments or soliciting on public property, making it a misdemeanor to camp, for example, under highways or bridges. The bill would provide for a $50 fine and a sentence of 20-40 hours of community service.

"I wanna give you a little history lesson on homelessness," Niceley said in a speech on the Senate floor in support of the legislation. "In 1910, Hitler decided to live on the streets for a while. So for two years, Hitler lived on the streets and practiced his oratory and his body language and how to connect with the masses and then went on to lead a life that got him in the history books. So a lot of these people, it's not a dead end. They can come out of this, these homeless camps, and have a productive life ... or in Hitler's case a very unproductive life. I support this bill."

S.B. 1610, the bill criminalizing encampments, ultimately passed in the Tennessee Senate by a vote of 22-10, and now heads to GOP Gov. Bill Lee's desk for signature.

19 comments

Wow, if that’s not a double or triple dose of awful! No, Hitler was never homeless per se, he was actually a bit of a flaker, with a generous pension for the time from his parents which he used up, that allowed him to live (without a job) pretty well all things considered. He therefore had all the time in the world (until much later at least) to let himself fall into antisemitic conspiracy theories en vogue in early 20th century Vienna. Later on, when that dried up, he lived in a house specifically for poor people, but never was homeless.
That bit of historical revisionism is strike one.
Using Hitler as a positive example for anything, that’s strike two. Guy was a fucking megalomaniac who orchestrated the death of millions. He should be regarded as nothing but a horrific loser quite frankly.
Strike three then is the implicit connection made between the homeless and Hitler. Even if it was accidental (let’s hope so), it is horrible.
So yeah, you are out.
Oh and that bill is awful in and of itself. But what do I expect from Republicans at this point.

You’d think people would understand the optics of using Hitler as a positive example of… well, anything really.

I've lived too long, and I'm not even joking. What happened to the good old days when Americans considered Hitler the bad guy?

I don't know what pisses me off more: the insane revisionism of history, or the fact the Republican party seems to be bent on crushing the little guy's face with a boot forever.

I warned them what will happen if they continue with this bullshit. My warnings fall on deaf ears. So I don't give a shit what happens at this point.

Even aside from the Hitler stuff, I completely fail to follow the reasoning of this. People can “can come out of this, these homeless camps, and have a productive life”…OK yeah, sure. As a person who has BEEN homeless, I agree completely. But how in the flying FUCK do you go from that to “outlaw homeless camps!” That sounds more like an argument AGAINST a bill like that.

Hey, here’s a crazy thought: Instead of criminalizing homelessness, how about building more/better homeless shelters?

Oh, by the way…according to Wikipedia, this guy is a “birther” and a climate change denier, because of COURSE he is…

I don’t think becoming a totalitarian leader causing a genocidary world war is something to emulate.

Veracity of the statement aside (I’m not anm historian, so I’m going to trust that ChrisBP747 is correct), if you use Hitler as a positive example you need to scratch away the “crypto”-part of being a crypto-facist.
Also, how does criminalizing homelessness solve or even just mitigate the homelessness problem? Like, people aren’t homeless because that is such a great way to live, people are homeless if they have no other option. Why not give them an alternative option if homelessness actually bothers you?

Frank Niceley

Frank’s not being very nice here.

Well, at least this republican is honest about the fact that he considers Hitler a role model? Most of them act like they don’t when in reality they do.

You would think so buuuuut, the sheer amount of blatant pride people have about their ingorance an bigoted stupidity here in Tennessee is so openly demonstrated here.

It hurts my brain.

@TheKingOfRhye #122957

I'm stuck in Tennessee and I just got back into a roach motel after a stint of Homelessness. Lemme tell you about being homeless here.

The few secular state run services are streached woefully thin. Much of what the state should be running is operated by religious, christian, charities.

I had spent several months living in a babtist operated shelter and fuck me saideways, I was asked to not "act Pentacostal" during mandatory nightly chapal services. Neverind the fact I never paid aloud during ANYTHING. Then there are the million other rules we had to abide by..... Curfew that made it impossible to work, mandatory religious services, mandatory church....

This is the shit that started my walk away from organized church Christianity.🤷

@ArkBien #122993

Damn, that sucks. For a while, I was at a shelter that was run by a church, but they were actually pretty cool with everything. The Sunday church service was kinda mandatory, in that if you didn't go there, you couldn't come back to the shelter until later, but no one seemed to care if you just sat in the back the whole time and didn't really pay attention or do anything. The only friction I had with anybody there was a few times I got into a little bit of arguments with some of the more religious folks staying there.

@TheKingOfRhye #123001

The one i was at had manditory participation. You cpuldnt even bring your own bibles into the chaple.

"Let's outlaw homeless camps so we can create more people like Hitler!" isn't the selling point you think it is, Frank.

WOW! Next time I do see a homeless person, I will now probably end up thinking: at least he didn't end up like Hitler. Better to be a sidewalk artist.

What a dumbass bill. Like people are going to stop being homeless because you criminalize it. Why don't you just cut out all the little steps and just send people out to round them all up and execute them, we all know that's what you're going for.

Well, since the most homeless people won’t be able to come up with $50, they’ll end up being sentenced to community service. Which, I suppose, could possibly be beneficial if it ends up with them learning a skill or making contacts to get a job. Of course, that doesn’t address the question, just as I’m sure SB1610 doesn’t, of what happens to the homeless after their camps are criminalized. Maybe Tennessee just plans to bus them to a nearby border and kick them over it, so they become some other state’s problem.

@ChurchyLaFemme #123117

Homeless people are already used to clean up parks here.

Should we add #elitist?

@ChurchyLaFemme #123117

Well, it seems they will just take vagrants and put them in buses bound for the nearest state.

@ArkBien #123130

Hell, some states even have squatter’s laws that state people can reside on most public land as long as they offer no nuisance, and either improve or at keep clean the area they’re residing in. Camp in an underpass? Don’t block traffic, and keep the litter clear, and you’re pretty much golden.