Things Biden and the Democrats did, this week #7
Feb 23-March 1 2024
The White House announced $1.7 Billion in new commitments from local governments, health care systems, charities, business and non-profits as part of the White House Challenge to End Hunger and Build Healthy Communities. The Challenge was launched with 8 billion dollars in 2022 with the goal of ending hunger in America by 2030. The Challenge also seeks to drastically reduce diet-related diseases (like type 2 diabetes). As part of the new commitments 16 city pledged to make plans to end hunger by 2030, the largest insurance company in North Carolina made nutrition coaching and a healthy food delivery program a standard benefit for members, and since the challenge launched the USDA's Summer EBT program has allowed 37 states to feed children over the summer, its expected 21 million low income kids will use the program this summer.
The US House passed a bill on Nuclear energy representing the first update in US nuclear energy policy in decades, it expands the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and reduces reducing licensing fees. Nuclear power represents America's single largest source of clean energy, with almost half of carbon-free electricity coming from it. This bill will boost the industry and make it easier to build new plants
Vice President Harris announced key changes to the Child Care & Development Block Grant (CCDBG) program. The CCDBG supports the families of a million American children every month to help afford child care. The new changes include capping the co-pay families pay to no more than 7% of their income. Studies show that high income families pay 6-8% of their income in childcare while low income families pay 31%. The cap will reduce or eliminate fees for 100,000 families saving them an average of over $200 a month. The changes also strength payments to childcare providers insuring prompt payment.
The House passed a bill making changes to the Small Business Administration’s 8(a) program. The 8(a) is an intensive 9 year program that offers wide ranging training and support to small business owners who are socially and economically disadvantaged, predominantly native owned businesses. Under the current structure once a business reaches over 6.8 million in assets they're kicked off the program, even though the SBA counts anything under $10 million as a small business, many companies try to limit growth to stay on the program. The House also passed a bill to create an Office of Native American Affairs at the SBA, in order to support Native-owned small businesses.
The White House and HUD announced steps to boost the housing supply and lower costs plans include making permanent the Federal Financing Bank Risk Sharing program, the program has created 12,000 affordable housing units since 2021 with $2 billion and plans 38,000 additional units over ten years. As well as support for HUD's HOME program which has spent $4.35 billion since 2021 to build affordable rental homes and make home ownership a reality for Americans. For the first time an administration is making funds available specifically for investments in manufactured housing, $225 million. 20 million Americans live in manufactured housing, the largest form of unsubsidized affordable housing in the country, particularly the rural poor and people in tribal communities.
The Department of Energy announced $336 million in investments in rural and remote communities to lower energy costs and improve reliability. The projects represent communities in 20 states and across 30 Native tribes. 21% of Navajo Nation homes and 35% of Hopi Indian Tribe homes remain unelectrified, one of the projects hopes to bring that number to 0. Another project supports replacing a hydroelectric dam in Alaska replacing all the Chignik Bay Tribal Council's diesel power with clear hydro power. The DoE also announced $18 million for Transformative Energy projects lead by tribal or local governments and $25 million for Tribal clean energy projects, this comes on top of $75 million in Tribal clean energy projects in 2023
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg put forward new rules to ensure airline passengers who use wheelchairs can travel safely and with dignity. Under the planned rules mishandling a wheelchair would be a violation of the ACAA, airlines would be required to immediately notify the passenger of their rights. Airlines would be required to repair or replace the wheelchair at the preferred vendor of the passenger's choice as well as provide a loaner wheelchair that fits the passenger's needs/requirements
The EPA launched a $3 Billion dollar program to help ports become zero-emission. This investment in green tech and zero-emission will help important transportation hubs fight climate change and replace some of the largest concentrations of diesel powered heavy equipment in America.
the EPA announced $1 Billion dollars to help clean up toxic Superfund sites. This is the last of $3.5 billion the Biden administration has invested in cleaning up toxic waste sites known as Superfund sites. This investment will help finish clean up at 85 sites across the country as well as start clean up at 25 new sites. Many Superfund sites are contained and then left not cleaned for years even decades. Thanks to the Biden-Harris team's investment the EPA has been able to do more clean up of Superfund sites in the last 2 years than the 5 years before it. More than 25% of America's black and hispanic population live with-in 5 miles of a Superfund site.
Bonus: Sweden cleared the final major barrier to become NATO's 32nd member. The Swedish Foreign Minster is expected to fly to Washington to deposit the articles of accession at the US State Department. NATO membership for Sweden and its neighbor Finland (joined last year) has been a major foreign policy goal of President Biden in the face of Russian aggressive against Ukraine. Former President Trump has repeatedly attacked NATO and declared he wants to leave the 75 year old Alliance, even going so far as to tell Russia to "do whatever the hell they want" with European NATO allies
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Grizzco CEO secretly missing, presumed dead for nearly 2 years
By Audrey Ranid - Splatsville Today
2024-03-29
The wooden sculpture radio formerly in the Grizzco lobby. (6-Frisk/Inkimedia Commons)
Internal documents and messages released in the Occupational Regulatory Commission for Accidents v. Grizzco Industries lawsuit states the anonymous founder and CEO of the company, known as Mr. Grizz, hasn't been heard from since September 9, 2022, and the company has been hiding his disappearance since.
The date of his disappearance coincides with the day the bear sculpture in the lobby was stolen, though it's unclear if the two events are linked.
Grizzco's bear statue stolen, and the internet is heartbroken
Grizzco's beloved bear statue found, though it won't be coming back
The documents also confirm that even before Grizz's disappearance, the company used pre-recorded instructions to guide and train employees, and attempt to pass it off as a live radio feed.
Grizz was known to disappear for a days at a time, and while initially believed to be a regular absence, concerns were raised a week later as "there was no sign of him at all", the documents said.
A month later, a search was conducted in order to locate him. Details of this search were heavily redacted, but at the end of the month long search he was presumed dead.
After two months of internal arguments, higher-ups voted to continue running the company using the image of Grizz as a Mascot, with a new CEO in his place.
3 Grizzco Industries higher-ups step down in a single day
Grizzco, when asked about the new CEO, declined to comment.
The ORCA v. Grizzco lawsuit stemmed from a sudden increase in accidents and complaints of unsafe working conditions from numerous employees from the opening of a new worksite.
Many employees have described working on the site as akin to "blood sports," and the site has been given the nickname "Bonerattle Arena" by employees, due to the large number of salmonids "watching and cheering."
Everything you need to know about ORCA v. Grizzco
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Icarus Part 8
Hey, guys! The plot is plotting and coming along. I've just had a rough week last week and really didn't get too far on any of my works but the omegaverse sequel. So I'm chomping through my backlog (which is a good thing, I promise, that's what it's for).
In this Steve has to deal with the not fun side of the music business, but Eddie is there to soothe the way.
Pt 1 Pt 2 Pt 3 Pt 4 Pt 5 Pt 6 Pt 7
****
Steve chewed on his nail as he looked over the contract for the tour they were going to be headlining for Corroded Coffin. It came with their usual anonymity clause.
The part Steve wasn’t sure about was the part where the guys and his roles on the tour to hide that they were part of the band.
Spence being a medic made sense. He was medically trained as an EMT and kept up on his certification even after they made it big.
Simon’s made sense too. Eddie had seen him as a roadie that night, so him continuing that was fine.
It was Shane and Steve’s that concerned him. He didn’t want to PA for The Fallen because then Dustin and his friends would want things like backstage passes and VIP tickets.
Things Steve didn’t want to do because that would get them too close to the action and he worried they would notice that they wouldn’t see Abbadon and him in the same place and put two and two together.
Shane’s role was that of an advance person. Someone that rode into town first to make sure everything was as it supposed to be according to their rider.
Steve loved Shane with all his heart, but he couldn’t think of a worse “job” for him.
Plus it wouldn’t make sense because he wouldn’t be on the same bus as the rest of the band.
He called up Robin.
“Hello!” she chirped her greeting. “What’s up?”
“I’m looking over the contract and they want me to PA and Shane to advance.”
There was silence on the line for a moment or two before Robin said, “I’m on it. I’ll get back to you.”
“Thanks, Celeste,” Steve teased.
He was not surprised when she just hung up on him. He chuckled.
His best friend was working on getting Shane and him in the right roles. On their last tour, Shane and Simon had been roadies and Steve had been an assistant like Robin.
Steve looked back at the contract with a sigh. He set it aside and pulled out his notebook. He couldn’t write lyrics or music, but he could write down his thoughts and feelings.
He wrote about the fear of being discovered, of showing his true self. What people would think of him and his friends. Everyone said that metal fans were among the most welcoming in the industry.
Unless you looked like someone they didn’t approve of. Steve couldn’t remember which 1980s rocker it was, but the dude was papped outside a store waiting for his wife in cargo shorts and Birkenstocks and the internet had a fucking field day.
Like how dare he go to the store not dressed all in black and leather and chains everywhere.
It was no doubt the biggest reason no one had cottoned on to him and his friends being The Fallen. Because why would four preppy guys be the members of the hottest rising metal band right now?
He flipped to a different page and began writing about finding love where you left it. Eddie had always had Steve’s heart, ever since they were thrown together when a freak earthquake that was caused by nearby fracking destroyed almost half the town they grew up in.
Eddie ran the local DND club which Dustin and his friends had been a part of.
Steve had managed to keep all of them safe and Eddie, who had been unsure of the former jock had warmed up to him by the time they had come through at the end of the week long ordeal.
Steve had fallen in love with Eddie’s sense of humor, his dimpled smile, and doe brown eyes.
So he wrote about that too.
By the time Robin had called back he had written so much his hand was cramping.
“Hello, hello!” he greeted warmly.
“Hey,” Robin said. “So I talked it over with their lawyers and ours and I think we’ve go the solution.”
“Hit me with it,” Steve said.
“Right so we have Shane assisting with me,” she said. “He doesn’t have anyone really close to him who would ask for favors and shit, or at least not ones he wouldn’t gleefully tell to fuck off.”
Steve sighed in relief. “That’s good.”
“You were a little trickier,” Robin admitted. “But then I remembered you picked up a couple of CPR certifications in the past and got them to make you medic too. You just have to take the refresher courses while we’re in the studio.”
Steve chewed on his thumb. He had wanted to be an EMT before he met Spence and saw how much it took out of him.
“Wouldn’t it look bad if two medics suddenly vanished for two hours every night?”
Robin chuckled. “You’re assigned especially to the band. So you can’t be called during a performance. I do think of these things you know.”
Steve sighed with relief. “I know you do, I just worry.”
“Worry wart,” she teased. “It’ll be fine. You just have to keep it in your pants while on tour because an EMT dating a rockstar is going to be suspicious as hell.”
Steve rolled his eyes. “You mean like every other tour we’ve been on?”
“Only this time,” she said, voice dangerously low, “you’ve got temptation in the form of one Eddie Munson, the man you’ve been pining over for literal years.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Steve groused. “Am I at least allowed to be seen with Eddie you know, considering we are friends?”
Robin sighed dramatically. “I guess. Just try to keep the PDA to a minimum please.”
“I promise.”
This was going to a very long three month tour.
****
Jim Hopper was a former Marine and he looked it. He was built like a tank with a grizzled appearance and cigar tucked between his teeth. Simon thought that he thought Hopper scared the enemy off just glaring at them and Steve privately agreed.
He was there for two reasons. To deprogram their stage persona and to brush Steve up on his emergency medical training.
Actually they all were learning because it was it interesting. Simon and Shane didn’t need to pay attention for certification, but they did anyway.
“How long do you guys plan to be in the studio this week?” Hopper asked. “I need to know if I need to have someone else pick up my daughter from the airport.”
“They want us to have at least eight hours in the studio a day,” Shane explained. “They want us to get as much done as we can before Corroded Coffin goes on tour so they can at least release a single or two.”
Hopper nodded. “Then I should be fine. She’s a fashion designer in New York and the fashion house she works at is sending her out here to intern at their LA branch.”
“That’s awesome!” Shane said. “Maybe while she’s here we can fan her design our costumes for the new tour.”
Hopper shook his head. “As long as it paid. This internship sure ain’t.”
Robin threw her arms in the air. “Fine! I’ll see what the budget is for that and get back to you.”
Hopper chuckled.
“They have you wrapped around their fingers, girly.”
Robin smirked. “Don’t I know it.”
****
That night Steve called Eddie up.
“Hey, baby,” he cooed.
“Hey, sweetheart,” Eddie greeted back. “How did today go? It was first day with the deprogramer, right?”
Steve curled up on the sofa and tucked his feet under him. “It was okay. He’s a bit scary, but apparently he has a daughter Dustin’s age.”
“The butthead will be pissed he missed that,” Eddie chuckled.
“Yeah,” Steve agreed warmly. “She’s really pretty, too.”
“Don’t get me wrong, Suzie’s a great girl. But we all know here parents aren’t going to let her marry someone ‘outside the faith’ as it were.”
Steve chewed on his thumbnail. “Yeah. I was hoping with them both going home for the whole summer would break them up.”
Eddie scoffed. “It’s good thing talk and text is included in mobile plans these days unlike in early days of yore when mobile plans made you pay for every text message and long distance calling, otherwise their cell phone bills would be through the fucking roof.”
“Tell me about,” Steve huffed. “And he’s going to spending the last week of vacation in Utah with her.”
“Eeee,” Eddie said with a grimace, “is it bad of me that I hope her parents scare him off?”
“Maybe a little,” Steve admitted. “But I just want him to be happy, you know?”
Eddie let out a long drawn out sigh. “Yeah. So you guys got the contract all figured out?”
“Yeah, I guess,” Steve muttered. “It’s going to be hard being in the studio and taking EMT course to pretend to be medical personnel. Well not really pretending. Both me and one of the other band members have training. Me with being a lifeguard for awhile there and them with being an EMT. But it feels wrong somehow.”
“Is there something else, some other role you can fill?” Eddie asked after a moment or two of silence.
“Not according to Robin,” Steve groused. “She says it’ll be fine and no one will figure it out. And I trust her. Her plans have gotten us through two tours already, one even being overseas...”
“But you’re still worried because I’ll be on the road with you?” Eddie asked gently.
Steve threw his head back and groaned. “God that sounds so horrible of me.”
“Hey, hey,” Eddie admonished. “It’s not. It’s an extra variable you didn’t have to factor in before. But we will make it work.”
“I think the biggest part is that Eddie and Steve have to remain friends until after the tour so everyone doesn’t connect Steve with Abbadon,” he said. “God that sounded pretentious. Talking in third person like some Chad.”
Eddie giggled. “Maybe a little, but I got what you mean.”
“Don’t laugh!” Steve whined. “My dick is going to fall off from the sheer amount of blue balling that’s going to be happening on this fucking tour. Well not fucking actually. I’m going to be in hell!”
“And people tell me I’m dramatic,” Eddie said laughing out loud. “What do you normally do on tour?”
Steve sat up and stretched his feet out in front of him on the sofa. “It’s complicated.”
Eddie snorted. “I don’t doubt that, sweetheart. Are we talking NDAs or fucking with the masks on?”
Steve laughed. “It’s more like no phones, dark room, no staying the night. That sort of thing.”
“I’m betting there aren’t many that agree to that.”
“More than you’d think,” Steve snorted. “Groupies gotta fuck.”
“We’ll figure something out. I won’t let those pretty balls go blue,” Eddie said with a snicker.
“Help me, Eddie-wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope!” Steve cried in a sharp falsetto.
Eddie laughed. “You’re a menace, Steve Harrington.”
“And you love it.”
Warmth just flooded Eddie’s tone when he replied, “I love you.”
“I love you, too, Eds.”
****
Part 9 Part 10 Part 11
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the loona situation
there are some things that i think need to be said in the wake of the dispatch chuu article, and that i haven't seen anyone else directly address.
tldr for those who didnt see: loona had a system with blockberry where they shared costs equally, but revenue 70-30 in bbc's favor. this means that if the cost was $100, and the revenue was $100, loona and bbc each paid $50, but bbc earned $70 and loona earned $30, so loona went $20 more in debt to bbc despite the project recouping all of its expenses. these numbers only get worse the higher the cost/revenue ratio is. loona even pays bbc if there is zero revenue, because they get loona's portion of the cost.
functionally, this means that loona stays in debt. forever. according to bbc's numbers, the loona members - even after all of loona's successes and the fact that it makes a net gain now - are all still around $150,000 in debt to the company after 5 years. this is in addition to the other abuses standard to the idol industry, like starvation and mental abuse.
what i want to talk about is this: a series of facts.
1. many of the girls' families were concerned about the promises bbc made to their trainees and thought loona was a scam at best and a trafficking scheme at worst.
2. yves was promised debut within weeks of joining bbc. olivia hye trained for one day. loona 1/3 was flown all over the world for teeny tiny teaser videos. all of this was pre-debut. many of them talk about it seeming too good to be true.
3. go won and olivia hye have admitted they were already starstruck by older members of loona like heejin before even considering joining bbc. they saw their ads at the bus stop on the way to school. they wanted badly to be friends with them.
4. all contracts are individual. any revenue from one girl was given solely to her and applied solely to her own debt.
4a. chuu is the only member who's escaped her trainee debt. her revenue was not applied to anyone else's debts.
6. when a member is in debt to the company at the end of her contract, she can be compelled to renew to pay it back.
7. loona had the most expensive predebut in kpop history.
8. of the 12 members, only haseul, vivi, jinsoul, and yves were over south korea's age of majority — 19 in international age — when they debuted.
8a. of these 4, only vivi, jinsoul, and yves were 20. haseul had turned 19 less than four months ago.
9. kim lip was 18 when she debuted with 'eclipse.' chuu was 18 when she debuted with 'heart attack.' choerry was 17 when she debuted with 'love cherry motion.' go won was 17 when she debuted with 'one and only.' hyunjin was 16 when she debuted with 'around you.' olivia hye was 16 when she debuted with 'egoist.' heejin was 15 when she debuted with 'vivid.'
9a. yeojin was 14 years old when she debuted with 'kiss later'.
i'm begging at this point.
do not support loona's next comeback.
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