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accio-victuuri · 3 months

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their ordinary life. 🏠

i am referencing this post which was allegedly shared in 2021. i like how it’s written and the cpn clues inserted, then making a whole story out of it. a reason why most of us love lrg and other rumor anecdotes is because it’s simple and shows what their day to day life is like. tho they are celebrities with extraordinarily busy lives, the thought of them just being zz and bobo is comforting and sweet. it may be confusing cause there are parts where they are both referenced as they. and then it will switch to “i” as if in the person’s first person pov.

all of this is fake & fanfiction…

they should have a cat and a dog. everyone knows the cat's name is Tao, the dog’s name also matches the cat very well, it’s called Lizi. it’s a puppy ZZ bought it on impulse, but in the end I had to give it to my mother in Chongqing to deal with the aftermath. they have a home in Beijing, with a room full of helmets and musical instruments. there is also a room equipped with a projector, with warm and artistic decoration. when the two people are tired, they can lie here and watch movies together. there is also a big LCD TV, two people playing games to decide the outcome and doing housework.

the kitchen should be well-equipped, but the storage of materials is not alot, both of them are busy and have little time to cook, but there should be someone that makes trouble while the other person is cooking, and the other person will teach. when that person was making hand cakes, he had a headache several times and wanted to curse.

the room they sleep in, well, the bedding must be of high quality, it must be very comfortable and considerate for two people who both have the habit of sleeping naked. someone should install a night light in the toilet so that people who are afraid of the dark can get up in the middle of the night. there will be lights as soon as the toilet is near. there should be a lot of things on the bedside, eye drops, stomach-protecting tablets, Ryukakusan, cough cough... In short, both of them takes good care of your body! there will be a light fragrance in the room. they are all people who love cleanliness, maybe it’s also due to the scented candles.

there is a huge closet, which could have been used as a styling area in the beginning. one will often buy several pieces at a time and wrap them up. the other will also complain that one person loves shopping so much that he is not frugal and knows how to organize his clothes regularly. it was painful to pick out an old model to wear, and taught another person: "See, this is okay. As for clothes, save money and don’t buy so much. You still have a mortgage. ” another smiled and didn’t say anything. clothes that smell like them over time are familiar and reassuring, as if they are by each other’s side. In this way, they give each other company. Sometimes the trip is too urgent and I don’t pay much attention. both people will pack the wrong clothes into their suitcases. there should also be a small gym, where two actors and teachers can work hard. One person is envious of another's eight-pack abs, and the other possesses someone's waist (don't ask me why I know it's possible because I am a barbell. )

both of them have been doing more and more endorsements, and they have a lot of products at home. when the two brothers are in a good mood, they take one out and play with it, jokingly calling it "opening a blind box." most of the time, they kept sending them to my family, and the family group was noisy.

the two of them still can't stay at home most of the time and are always on the road. yes, headphones are a common item. why? because they are used for making phone calls and watching videos and to chat online. I took out my mobile phone to complain after getting off work. i quickly called to tell him that I miss you. people’s true emotions finally have a safe and secure place. how good is this, just wanting someone who can always listen to me in my life. you act coquettishly. you can complain and cry.

i also surfed the Internet, but I just browsed casually, after all, it was all the same rainbow fart, I want to take some time to listen to that person blowing it to me. sometimes it’s annoying to see fans quarreling. i used my account number to tell them to stop arguing, but it didn’t work. just switch to my other account and fight bravely with heizi ( antis ) and lose. until the account was suspended and blocked, then I took screenshots and felt aggrieved. he said, "Baby, look at me, I've lost another number by helping you.". The other person was amused, and he was no longer troubled by the remarks.

the other side is also keen on surfing and secretly saves a lot of emoticons, all of which are like pigs. regarding this, after I sent it, I laughed so hard that I hit the table and couldn’t stop having fun. hey, of course you can hear the voice of someone screaming on the phone: "Why does it have to be a pig?" "I'm a leopard! Not a pig! You What a stinky rabbit!”

they will take care of eating, taking medicine, drinking water, and taking care of each other when they are sick. they will take good care of each other and care for each other. if you are disobedient, it will be known immediately, and you will be punished, and then you will obey because I want to live a long with the other person. if possible, I hope it will be the same in my next life.

he will also get jealous, lose his temper and act awkward. Alas, as an actor, he is still in the entertainment industry. what can I do? Buy gifts, buy food, make phone calls. if you want to talk, send WeChat, and send some updates and stuck points that fans can’t understand.

In the end, I still couldn't coax him, so I could only study how to fight authentically and run to see the other party. the time is very short, and you may only be able to stay in the car, room, or corner. i left after an hour or two, my temper was gone, and I kept looking at the other person. laugh, give a hug, hold hands for a walk, kiss, and talk for a long time. if it's been a long time, your eyes will inevitably turn red when you separate.

“Every time it’s so short, it’s hard to be separated, and I won’t be able to come next time.

“But I miss you.

"...I know, I'll come see you next time."

knowing that there will be an event for two people on the same stage will make them excited for a long time, and they will fall in love at public expense. love, doesn’t it feel good?

no matter what, they won’t understand the meaning of it anyway. meet backstage, eat a meal together, take ugly photos of each other while doing makeup, and fight. let’s sit together and look at our phones and chat about the current situation. the two people at the back looked right at each other when Fang doesn't speak, the staff will consciously go out and leave them alone.

think hard. I miss you even when I walk. I miss you when I sit. kiss the necklace that you bought for me, look at the blue sky and white clouds, draw a picture, then take the archeology test, and look at the other party’s dark history, snap screenshots and make emoticons and throw them over. it’s the happiness that only artists can have when they fall in love, don’t you understand~

regarding the public, the feeling of being watched by millions of people cheering and blessing that summer it’s really good. surrounded by love from all over the world, you will feel that there is nothing better than our happy couple. maybe, one day, wait for the rainbow to come. On that day, I am Lao Wang and he was Lao Xiao. We walked in front of everyone. before, he drew a story about us, told by me since I was 21 years old.

#yizhan #bjyx #there is no science here i’m just clowning like i always do #i feel so somft

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shadowfromthestarlight · 8 months

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The pandemic gaslighting is happening worldwide:

The Prime Ministers of Canada and, most recently, New Zealand, have assured their nation’s citizens that they had never forced anyone to get vaccinated, despite their years-long, well-documented support for vaccine mandates. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Prime Minister Chris Hipkins are joined in their elevent-hour rewrite of history by Pfizer executives who said in a recent Australian Senate hearing that “nobody was forced to have a vaccine”. As citizen journalist Rebekah Barnett has quipped, “We are at the ‘no one made you take it, it was your choice’ stage of the pandemic.” The latest round of memory-holing was kicked off by Mr Hipkins last weekend, who was apparently unaware that mandatory and compulsory are dictionary synonyms, when he stated: In terms of the vaccine mandates, I acknowledge that it was a challenging time for people but they ultimately made their own choices. There was no compulsory vaccination. People made their own choices. In case the Kiwi leader was in any way misunderstood, the follow day a radio host asked him if he regretted those remarks. Choosing his language carefully, Hipkins responded, “No one was made to be vaccinated.” “So the person, for example, who made the choice not to get vaccinated, lost their business, laid people off, that’s on them not you?” the host further challenged. “Well, they made a choice,” Hipkins replied, without a hint of irony or contrition. Here’s the same Mr Hipkins in 2021, explaining that the authorities will “go out and look for” people “who haven’t come forward to get their vaccination or have missed their bookings”: At the time, Hipkins was the architect of New Zealand’s strict Covid-19 regime under the prime ministership of Jacinta Ardern, who infamously bragged that New Zealand had become a two-tier society designed to exclude the unvaccinated. Earlier this year in April, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau engaged in almost identical denialism as the New Zealand leader. “Individuals are allowed to make their own choices. There may be all sorts of different reasons why someone is hesitant to get vaccinated,” he said at an event at the University of Ottawa. “While not forcing anyone to get vaccinated, I chose to make sure that all the incentives and all the protections were there to encourage Canadians to get vaccinated.” 18 months earlier, almost to the day, Trudeau announced nationwide vaccination mandates for all federal employees, for international travel, and even for every Canadian travelling by plane or train within the country. “Enforcement measures in place will make sure that everyone is vaccinated,” he said, in a video still available on the Prime Minister’s website. Just this August, at a Senate Education and Employment Legislation Committee hearing, Australian Senator Pauline Hanson called out Pfizer’s Head of Regulatory Affairs Brian Hewitt for a similar act of Orwellian doublespeak. She asked: You were in Australia during Covid-19. You must have been fully aware that people, nurses, doctors, people to have their jobs, to keep their jobs, were forced to have the vaccination. Now do you retract your statement that they were not forced? Hewitt replied: Senator, no, I believe firmly that nobody was forced to have a vaccine. Mandates or vaccine requirements are determined by governments and health authorities. I believe everybody was offered an opportunity to get a vaccine or not get a vaccine. I don’t believe that anybody was forced to take a vaccine. You see? Because we didn’t strap you to a bed and inject you as you kicked and screamed, you were not forced. The choice between feeding your family, paying your mortgage and keeping your career — or maintaining your bodily autonomy, your medical freedom and your dignity — was an opportunity, not an act of coercion. Doubtless these are not the last denials we will hear.

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beardedmrbean · 11 months

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Romania must legalise same-sex civil unions, Europe's top rights court ruled on Tuesday, in a victory for LGBTQ+ campaigners in the socially conservative southeastern European country.

Twenty-one same-sex couples took Romania to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), arguing the lack of legal recognition of their relationships "deprived them of their dignity as spouses".

In a ruling on Tuesday, the ECHR found the country had violated Article 8 of the European Convention, which protects the right to respect for family life, by not giving LGBTQ+ couples any means of legally safeguarding their relationships.

The Romanian couples cited the disadvantages faced under current domestic laws, such as being barred from mortgage programmes, spousal bereavement leave or joint health insurance.

The ECHR said none of the government's arguments outweighed the couples' concerns, and further ruled that recognising same-sex civil unions would not harm the institution of marriage.

The ruling will become legally binding after a three-month period in which both sides have the right to appeal to a higher court of the ECHR.

If neither do, the ruling will stand and lead to Romania being required to implement legislation to introduce same-sex civil unions.

The Balkan nation of almost 20 million people remains largely socially conservative, ranking 41st out of 49 in the 2023 ranking of European countries' LGBTQ+ rights by advocacy group ILGA-World.

However, in 2021, a survey by Romanian civil rights group Accept Association showed 43% of respondents said they were in favour of legal protection for same-sex relationships.

Seventy-one percent said the move would have no impact on their lives.

Activists welcomed the ECHR's judgement, saying they hoped to see a bill concerning civil partnership, which has stalled in parliament since 2019, finally becoming law.

"For too long we, the LGBTQ+ people in Romania, have been treated as second-class citizens and it is time for a change," said Vlad Viski, executive director of MozaiQ LGBT Association.

#nunyas news

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mightyflamethrower · 16 days

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In 2021, Joe Biden was elected after a bitterly fought campaign that deposed the incumbent Donald Trump. Democrats eventually captured, for a time, both the House and Senate, ensuring the most left-wing government in modern American history.

Americans were then set to witness a great experiment. For the first time in their lives, a truly radical socialist program would supposedly fundamentally transform the way America dealt with the border, immigration, the economy, race relations, foreign policy, energy, law enforcement, crime, education, and social questions such as religion, gender, abortion, and schooling.

In a sense, we were all to be lab rats of sorts, to be experimented on by the radical left and their various critical theories. Now in the last year of the Biden term, we can see the results of that experiment—and the unfortunate disasters that followed.

But first, how was such a radical move to the left even possible in a center-right America?

The Democratic nominee, Biden, had earlier united the left, but only through a Faustian deal. The handlers of a nearly non compos mentis Biden had ushered all his 2020 primary rivals out of the primary races in unison.

But in exchange for their exits that ensured Biden the nomination, the left took over his general campaign—in which Biden was virtually relegated to his basement—and then set his agenda.

Who was running things?

The mysterious architects of White House ideology included, inter alia, the omnipresent, now-Washington-DC-dwelling Obamas, the old socialist gadfly Bernie Sanders, the fossilized tribunes of the black and Latino congressional caucuses, the DEI firebrand Squad, and the neo-socialist scold Elizabeth Warren.

As a result, for one of the few times in American history, the hard left now had undreamt of power. And it was enhanced by a chorus in our compliant media, academia, corporations, the administrative state, foundations, entertainment, and popular culture.

So we were all to embark on a great adventure led by the foot soldiers of DEI, the Chicken-Little green extremists, the critical race and critical legal theory crowd, the modern monetary theorists, the woke commissars, the transgendered zealots, Antifa, BLM, the hate-Israel lobby, and the Trump Derangement Syndrome media sorts.

Ostensibly, America was to be reset financially, economically, socially, culturally, militarily, and politically. The nation would be arbitrarily divided into oppressors and oppressed—with one caveat: hyper-rich, left-wing white architects had to be exempt from the damage inflicted on those they targeted. Thus, like Orwellian pigs who walked on their two hind legs, they were free to fly their private jets, get their kids into racially quota-bound Ivy League schools, burn lots of fossil fuels to heat and cool their massive homes, and be protected by their walls, security details, and zip codes from the crime wave they would soon unleash on others.

Now, as we enter the fourth year of the great experiment, America is $35 trillion in debt, borrowing $1 trillion every 100 days. Home mortgages are at 7 percent. Key prices for food, insurance, rent, and fuels are 30-40 percent higher than when Biden entered office.

The nation has been humiliated and emasculated abroad. Racial relations are the worst in a half-century. The military is in virtual receivership. Biden is polling about 40 percent approval and is behind in key swing states in most of the 2024 polls.

As a result, the Biden administration is furiously trying to find a way to release more of its hated oil and natural gas on the world market. It stopped refilling the strategic petroleum reserve that it had earlier drained to lower gas prices before the 2022 midterms.

So it will quietly pump more oil and gas, appease Iran in fear of a war in the oil-producing Middle East, plead with the once “pariah” Saudis, and order the Ukrainians not to hit Russian oil installations—all to get more oil produced to lower November 2024 gas prices.

It will head nod to eliminating fossil fuels, mandating EVs, banning natural gas stoves, and subsidizing more inefficient wind and solar farms. But it now realizes that its green agenda on its watch will wreck the United States economy and throw the left out of power. So it pivots to an old-fashioned “Drill, World, Drill” mantra—at least until the election is over.

Biden fulfilled his agenda of getting 10 million illegal aliens into the United States by destroying the southern border. The point was to swarm America with poor, unaudited migrants, all in need of massive federal and state assistance, all supposedly now loyal to their entitlement benefactors. Who could stop them from voting as repayment to their enablers in the new age of 70 percent mail-in ballots, same-day registration, inadequate authentication and audit of ballots, third-party vote harvesting, ballot curing, and Zuckbucks pouring into key precincts to absorb the work of the registrars?

Most of the illegals went to Texas and Florida, key swing states that the left still thinks it can flip to blue status. Long term, the 10 million will recalibrate congressional districts to favor neo-socialist agendas. Short-term, millions of new arrivals unlawfully may still try to vote in 2024.

Any who object to or publicize this agenda will be dammed with boilerplate smears of “election deniers,” “voter suppressions,” “racists,” and “xenophobes,” Yet all that said, the administration is now desperately trying to distance itself from its greatest “new Democratic Majority” border success, given that public opinion abhors what Biden had done at the border to the country at large.

So it floated a phony “bipartisan border security” bill in hopes of luring naïve Republicans to support a stealth de facto amnesty agenda that would have still allowed 5,000 illegals in a day rather than the now customary 10-15,000. The hope was that when it failed (and the left knew it would), to blame Republicans for what the left had wrought.

Biden knows destroying the border will ruin America for generations to come, costing billions of dollars in subsidies and legal and policing costs to integrate the massive influx. So until the election, it is thrashing about, claiming that it never did such a thing at all. Its duplicity is again proof that the open borders agenda was hated by the public, a human catastrophe, and not sustainable before an impending election.

Biden’s foreign policy is also in ruins. Biden destroyed deterrence in an effort to beg, appease, and buy off America’s enemies to behave and not cause an election-losing war. But the more it fled from Afghanistan in humiliation, the more it appeased Russia as it massed on Ukraine’s border, the more it snored as a Chinese spy balloon traversed the United States, the more it put early holds on aid to Ukraine, the more it assured Putin a “minor” offensive into Ukraine would not elicit a US response, so all the more it convinced Putin that he could take Ukraine without an American pushback, the Chinese to threaten Taiwan, and Hamas to prepare for massacring Jews.

So here we are in Ukraine with nearly 800,000 dead, wounded, and missing Ukrainians and Russians. The administration has no clue how to stop the Verdun that its appeasement birthed. The entire therapeutic approach to foreign policy lies in ruins.

Ditto the Middle East. National security advisor Jack Sullivan’s “quiet” portfolio that he inherited from the Trump administration simply blew up. Biden is now scrambling to stop the Israeli response to the encircled Hamas remnants, trapped in their last redoubt in Rafah.

Biden is now replaying the 1950s CIA-stereotype of the “Ugly American,” as he does his best to overthrow the Netanyahu government, and to allow the trapped Hamas remnants to escape and claim they defeated the Zionist entity, despite butchering more Jews in a single day than any time since the Holocaust. No matter: the Biden administration is stealthily communicating with the Israeli opposition concerning the best joint strategies to force Netanyahu out. Mass protests in the streets of Tel Aviv attest to the success of destabilizing the current Israeli government.

Team Biden whispers to the media about slow-walking or stopping key arms shipments, abdicating America’s once protective role in the UN, or encouraging the “international community” to go after Netanyahu for “war crimes” for accidentally hitting a civilian team in Gaza. (By such logic, are Biden and Gen. Mark (“righteous strike”) Milley equally culpable for being in charge when a US strike in Kabul blew up 10 innocent civilians by similarly mistaken targeting?). Meanwhile, Biden keeps courting Muslim-American Michigan voters, who repay his appeasement with cries of “Death to Israel! Death to America!”.

The release of violent criminals and an uptick in property crimes, murders and assault follow a similar script. The Biden administration outsourced criminal justice to defund the police/critical legal theorists at the federal, state, and local levels. No bail arrests led to violent offenders released the next day. Thousands were let go from jails and prisons.

The word spread in the criminal community that in the new Biden years, there were no real consequences, no serious punishments for violent assault or major felonies.

So in 2021-2023, crime exploded. When it reached the point of making life unlivable in the major cities and began to max out, the administration declared “crime is declining”—in the same way that hyper-inflation supposedly did so on the economic front.

After spiking the prices of key food staples, insurance, fuel, and interest rates, such hikes could not go too much higher without destroying outright the American way of life. So as the rate of inflation slowed, Biden bragged about “lowering inflation”—but not the 30-40 percent higher food prices since his own inauguration.

The common denominator for these disasters is the embrace of left-wing “theory.”

Critical legal theory mandates that jurisprudence is a construct. Laws have no morality since they favor the powerful. The latter use “white privilege” arbitrarily to invent crimes and punishments to protect their own power hierarchies. All that nonsense has now led to a pre-civilizational free-for-all in our dirty, dangerous, and dysfunctional cities.

Modern monetary theory—printing lots of money to spread around to those who have none while diminishing the value of money of those who have it—only led to hyperinflation and high interest rates.

When DEI theories were unleashed on the military, potential recruits hesitated, and thousands quit. After Pentagon grandees virtue signaled their fear of “white rage” and “white privilege,” after DEI made promotions and assessments often contingent on race, gender, and sexual orientation, and after the new military was humiliated in Afghanistan, it found it could no longer deter the enemy, recruit sufficient soldiers, or win back the confidence of the American people.

In all these cases, the woke genie left the bottle—and won’t go back in. So it will be hard for the administration to assure a long-suffering public that things are just wonderful, much less to reverse these policies, if indeed they are reversible, before November.

Expect instead nonstop distraction as the left beats the January 6 horse to death, calls for abortion on demand, and waits for its underling judges, prosecutors, and juries to jail or bankrupt Trump and therefore do what balloting cannot.

In other words, the long-awaited Great Fundamental Transformation finally got its moment, crashed, and now has torched the nation—middle-class Americans most of all.

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eaglesnick · 10 months

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Those That Have Will Receive More

In December 2022, the Guardian carried this headline:

“Soaring rents making life ‘unaffordable’ for private UK tenants, research shows." (01/12/22)

A few months later and the BBC ran a news report informing us that rents had increased by over 11.1% compared to the previous year. And in June we read that official government figures showed:

“The median monthly rent in England between October 2021 and September 2022 was £800 – higher than at any other point in history, according to the Office for National Statistics.” (The Big Issue: 19/06/23)

The government response to these massive increases in private rental charges has been to do NOTHING After all, people that rent are far more likely to vote Labour than Tory so there is no gain to be had by offering them rent relief. Indeed, government ministers have gone out of their way to insist there will be no rent price controls.

“Minister confirms government will not consider rent controls in England." (propertyindustryeye: 16/11/22)

Fast forward to yesterday and the Bank of England’s 0.5% lending rate rise and everyone is suddenly concerned about the cost to house owners of future mortgage payments. Homeowners DO tend to vote Tory so Jeremy Hunt has summoned the heads of banks and building societies to a special meeting to see what can be done to help property-owning householders.

I do not for one second underestimate the financial hardship that can be brought about by increases in mortgage repayment loans. What I do object to is a Tory government who does absolutely nothing to help the poorest in society facing an 11% increase in rent rises, but who feign concern for house owners, many of whom are still on fixed rate mortgages, and therefore still protected from immediate increased costs.

Here are some simple facts and figures from the government.

61.5% of the UK population are house owners.

27.1% of the UK population are owner-occupiers without a loan or mortgage.

37.5% of the UK population are owner-occupiers with a loan or mortgage.

34.9 % of the UK population are non-owner-occupants.

In other words the number of households facing massive rent rises is almost the same percentage as those facing higher mortgage repayments.

According to “Money”:

“The cost of renting appears to be significantly greater than mortgage payments throughout the UK. In England, the average monthly mortgage payment is £753 compared to a larger £795 average monthly rent payment.” Money: March2023)

So, renters are already paying a higher proportion of their income on rents than owner-occupiers, yet they are to receive no help.

The population of the UK, is estimated to be just below 69 million. If 34.95% of those are non-owner occupiers, that is a total of 24,080,999 who live in rented accommodation.

As stated earlier many of those who are owner-occupiers and paying monthly mortgage repayments are on fixed rate deals and therefore will experience no immediate rises in their monthly repayments. According to government figures:

“1.4 million households facing bigger mortgage repayments in 2023” (Mortgage Strategy: 09/01/23)

If we assume each household has five persons (an over-estimation) then the total number of people living in a property facing a mortgage increase this year is 7 million. The number of people living in rented accommodation facing rent increases is, as already demonstrated, 24 million.

These 24 million are amongst the poorest in society and moral justice would demand they receive as much (if not more) help from government as owner-occupiers.

Today, (23/06/23) after meeting with the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt:

“Mortgage lenders and the UK chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, have agreed that people should be given a 12-month grace period before repossession proceedings start, following yesterday’s shock interest rate hike to 5%” (Guardian: 23/06/23).

Meanwhile renters who fall behind on payments have been facing an entirely different reality:

“Rental evictions in England and Wales surge by 98% in a year… a survey by homelessness charity Crisis indicated that nearly 1 million low-income households across Britain feared eviction in the coming months.” (Guardian: 09/02/23)

The figures, and the government’s callous attitude towards renters, speak for themselves.

#uk politics #renters #owner occupiers #mortgages #Jeremy Hunt. rishi sunak #unfair #evictions #mortgage relief

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coochiequeens · 2 years

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Another example of why women deserve single sex spaces and why men shouldn’t even be able to work with women prisoners.

CNN)Twenty-eight incarcerated women in Indiana have alleged in two separate federal lawsuits that they were threatened or sexually assaulted, including two who said they were raped, last year by men incarcerated at the same facility who, according to one of the lawsuits, bribed a corrections officer with $1,000 to obtain the keys to their jail cells.

The women are suing Clark County Sheriff Jamey Noel, former Clark County jail officer David Lowe and unidentified jail officers in two federal civil rights actions filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of Indiana. The lawsuits stem from events that the plaintiffs say took place in the Clark County Jail in Jeffersonville on the evening of October 23 into the morning of October 24 2021, attorneys for both lawsuits told CNN.

The first lawsuit, filed on June 21 on behalf of 20 named women, alleges that men incarcerated at the same facility threatened, assaulted or raped them over multiple hours after Lowe gave the men keys to access the women's cells. The second lawsuit was filed on July 25 on behalf of eight additional women who are not named, according to Steve Wagner, an attorney who filed the lawsuit. It describes what they called "a night of terror" at the jail and said two men obtained the keys in exchange for a payment of $1,000.

One woman in the first lawsuit alleged that she was raped during the incident and a separate woman in the second lawsuit also alleged she was raped. However, there were no charges filed on these allegations, according to William Perry McCall, an attorney who filed the first lawsuit in June on behalf of 20 women. Attorneys for both lawsuits told CNN that the women are not speaking publicly about their claims, citing reasons such as emotional distress and to protect their identities.

Both lawsuits say the women suffered physical, emotional and psychological injuries in violation of their constitutional rights.

The July 25 lawsuit accuses Noel of failing to properly staff the jail, train jail officers and supervise them to make sure they "maintained adequate security at the jail." It adds that "these systemic failures allowed numerous male assailants to have free run of the Jail for several hours, resulting in a night of terror for the plaintiffs and other victims." Noel declined to comment on the lawsuits, noting that the litigation is pending. However, in a statement to CNN, Noel's attorney, Larry Wilder,

said, "The events of October 23rd were the result of the unforeseeable criminal actions of a rogue corrections officer. The individual in question chose to abandon his training, ethics and morals and made the unilateral decision to mortgage his career and future by allowing inmates access to the jail keys."

Wilder said the sheriff is "committed to insuring that nothing of this magnitude or scope ever happens again," but he is "equally committed to debunking those untruths that have been alleged by those who are attempting to reap financial gain from the crimes of David Lowe."

Jail officials launched an investigation "immediately" after becoming aware of the events, Wilder says, which included a review of security footage and recorded interviews with corrections officers, men incarcerated at the facility and "over 40" women prisoners.

As a result of the investigation, Wilder said, the sheriff's department is making "immediate changes to the physical structure of the jail as well as reviewing procedure and practices."

Lowe was taken into custody on October 25 on felony charges of official misconduct and aiding, inducing or causing escape, according to court documents. He is currently out of jail on bond and awaiting his criminal trial in November, according to the Clark County Sheriff's Office. Lowe has not yet entered a plea deal.

Attempts by CNN to reach Lowe for a statement in response to the allegations were unsuccessful and his attorney could not be identified.

Lowe said in a statement to The Washington Post that he was "coerced and assaulted into making a false confession" about taking money from the men in exchange for the keys to the women's pod.

Lowe claimed in his statement to the Post that he made a mistake that ultimately allowed the men to steal the keys and that it was an accident that resulted from being overworked. He also told the newspaper that he only became aware of the attack in the days after it occurred because he was working in another area of the jail.

Attacks continued for multiple hours, suit says

The events began to unfold "on the night of October 23, and into the early morning hours of October 24" when two male inmates used the keys, provided by Lowe, to enter each of the pods within the facility where the female detainees were housed, according to the July lawsuit.

The men threatened the women, including threats to kill them, if they "hit the button" to call for officers, according to the first lawsuit, filed in June. They then left the pods and returned with several more male inmates who wore towels and blankets covering their heads and faces, according to the lawsuit.

Over the course of multiple hours "at least two of the female inmates were raped," the lawsuit says.

Additionally, according to the suit, the men "grabbed and groped" the women, exposing their genitals to the women and making sexual and threatening statements. "Multiple hours" into the attack, one of the women hit the emergency button and began screaming to call for the correction officers, at which point the men left the pod, the lawsuit says.

A corrections officer who opened the door and turned on the lights advised the women that they lost their "dark" privileges, meaning the lights remained on in the women's area for the following 72 hours, the lawsuit says. In addition, the women were put on lockdown for the next several days and were taken to holding cells to be questioned. A few days later, the lawsuit alleges, corrections officers removed the women's personal items such as razors, pillows and blankets.

The lawsuit filed on July 25 by different attorneys on behalf of eight unnamed women incarcerated at the same jail says that Lowe gave the male detainees the keys to the interior areas of the jail, where they could access numerous restricted areas, in exchange for $1,000.

The women suffered "significant emotional and physical injuries, including but not limited to nightmares, bleeding, vaginal tears, and genital herpes," the lawsuit says.

Women left in 'constant state of fear,' attorney says

In a statement to CNN, Wagner says that jail officials retaliated against the women after they were allegedly assaulted. Additionally, he said the missing keys to their pods were still unaccounted for in the days following the incident, leaving the women "in a constant state of fear that the male inmates would return in the nights following."

"In this environment, given the threats of the assailants and the utter lack of sympathy -- or protection -- by jail officials, the women, understandably, initially kept quiet about what happened. They were in fear of their lives," Wagner said. He says that the women decided to report the incident after being encouraged by family and friends.

Wilder said in his statement that interviews conducted by sheriff's detectives with women in custody at the jail as part of the investigation, following Lowe's arrest, "yielded information that is in direct opposition to the allegations made in the civil lawsuit."

#Indiana #women deserve single sex spaces

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taylorscottbarnett · 11 months

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As the US faces the risk of default one should remember about 70% of the US public debt is owed to the US.

Social Security, public (state and city) and private pension funds, and the Federal Reserve hold a significant portion of US debt. Over all the US owes 70% of all public debt to itself.

The debt ceiling was established in 1917. It didn't exist before then, and there's nothing giving Congress the power or authority to actually default on its debt. It's a very merky constitutional question: "can the US default?" Given how our system is set up. The Constitution specifically states in the 14th amendment:

"The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned."

Does raising the debt ceiling resolve US spending issues? No.

Raising the debt ceiling today does nothing to resolve America's spending issues. The debt ceiling is to authorize money that has ALREADY been spent and approved by Congress in previous sessions. Raising the debt ceiling does not authorize new money to be spent.

Inflation and the National Debt:

The US national debt is issued in yesterday's dollars from previous Congressional spending bills but paid back in tomorrow's dollars. The majority of this is in fixed-rate securities. That means that inflation actually cuts the real dollar amount of US debt. Inflation makes old debt easier to pay off.

In plain terms this means that the US has been decreasing its real dollar value of US national debt under the Biden Administration faster than at anytime in US History.

When measuring the US debt against the US Ecconomy, our debt is set to drop by the biggest amount in two decades. This is important and really the only thing that actually matters. This is a huge break for the US Government and taxpayers.

Example: in the first 14 months since Biden assumed office, America inflated away 2.7 trillion dollars of it's national debt.

In April of 2021 the Treasury could borrow one-year money at 0% interest. That corresponded to a very attractive real rate of about -4% by the time 2022 rolled around. In effect people paid the US Government 4% interest for the privilege of getting to borrow money from us. The current Tbill rate is even higher at 5.10%.

I can not understate this fact:

The US Taxpayer makes money off the US Government borrowing money.

The US Taxpayer makes a profit off raising the US borrowing limit.

WHY?

In simple terms, just think in terms of supply + demand. If you'll take my terms for a 2% payment why would I offer to pay you 3%, 4%, 5%? Demand for US Debt is high, so the US can offer it at very, very, low interest rates.

WHAT IS US DEBT'S ROLE IN THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL SYSTEM?

Everything. US Debt is the backbone of the world financial system. It underpins everything else. Stocks. Corporate Bonds. Mortgage rates. Life insurance. Everything is built on the bedrock of US debt. US Treasuries are considered risk-free investments, so it's the measurement to which every other financial tool is valued.

So when a corporation issues bonds to raise capital it's forced to compete with Treasuries for investment dollars. If said corporation becomes insolvent there's no guarantee bond holders will get all or even any of their money back. It must offer a rate of return good enough to justify the increased risk compared to US Treasuries. US debt is the foundation everything else is built on.

SIMPLE SUMMARY:

TL;DR: the entire world runs on US debt. Nothing will protect you from the catastrophic consequences of US default. Nothing. Not holding fiat, or stocks, or bonds. Not holding gold, diamonds, silver or Bitcoin. Nothing. All of these things are a financial system built on US Treasury builds.

There is no golden parachute if the US defualts.

Only needless suffering.

#bitcoin #us debt crisis #us politics #republicans #biden #politics

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bartonzibelo · 2 years

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Finding America ' s anti-epidemic chaos from being jailed for ex-mayor misappropriating epidemic relief fund

The U.S. Department of Justice said on the 13th, the former mayor of Stonecrest, Georgia, Jensen Lally was sentenced to prison for embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars in COVID-19 relief funds. Authorities said，he was sentenced on Wednesday to four years and nine months in prison for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal funds intended to help his city deal with the outbreak. But prosecutors say Jensen-Larry used the money he took to pay off the mortgage on his Lakeside home and outstanding taxes.

In fact, since the global outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic, the United States has been repeatedly exposed to misappropriating COVID-19 epidemic relief funds, ranging from officials and legislators to business personnel. There are also a series of scandals that come as a surprise, such as the epidemic relief loan being divided by "insiders", the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of National Defense misappropriating epidemic funds.

In March, 2020, the U.S. Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, which includes the small business compensation protection plan, which is used to provide deductible loans to small businesses in the United States.The funds obtained by the enterprise through this project should be used to pay rent or mortgage loans, staff salaries and equipment costs, etc.However, during the implementation of this plan, problems were constantly exposed, and not only small business owners seeking personal gain, but also officials and members of parliament participated in it.Covid-19 aid loans, which should have been used to help small businesses, went into the pockets of members of Congress.Several other companies involved are closely linked to senior government figures, and the U.S. Treasury Department and the Small Business Administration (SBA) have released a partial list of companies that received assistance funds, disclosing loans and the flow of funds for the Employee Payroll Protection Program (PPP), which provides financial assistance to small businesses.

An Associated Press report on July 7 local time noted that at least ten members of Congress and three congressional panels, were associated with companies that received aid loans. The U.S. Government Accountability Office (U.S. Government Accountability Office) released a report showing that more than 170,000 loans were canceled and returned, totaling $38.5 billion.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds spent nearly $450,000 in federal Covid-19 relief money to pay three months of salaries for 21 of his employees in 2020, according to an audit of government spending released Nov. 15, the Associated Press reported Nov. 16, 2021.

In a letter to President Joe Biden, U.S. Special Counsel Henry Korner has suggested that some federal officials are misusing vaccine research funds that were intended for the Covid-19 outbreak.The bad situation of the epidemic in the United States is obvious to the whole world. Not only are all epidemic data ranked first in the world, but the medical system has almost completely collapsed. In this case, the U.S. Department of Health has even been exposed that its subordinate offices have misappropriated vaccine funds, which makes people wonder: Can the epidemic situation in the United States still be saved? Isn't this bring about on his own destruction ?

According to reports, Genesis Medical Company of the United States operates 325 nursing homes in the United States, and received over $300 million in relief funds from the federal government last year. Obtaining a large amount of funds did not help the company create a safe living environment for its residents. Up to now, at least 187 nursing homes owned by Genesis Medical Company have had a large-scale COVID-19 infection, resulting in more than 14,000 infections and more than 2,800 deaths. Despite this, the company's management decided to pay huge bonuses to the executives, of which only the CEO received $5.2 million. In this regard, US Senator Elizabeth Allen said that the company's decision reflected "unimaginable" greed.

Back in October 2020, The Washington Post reported that Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act which allocated $2.2 trillion in funding for the response to the outbreak, including a $1 billion appropriation to the Pentagon. However, an investigation revealed that $183 million of the $1 billion was allocated to manufacturing companies such as Rolls-Royce and Arcelor Mittal, tens of millions of dollars went to satellite, drone and space surveillance technology providers, $80 million went to aircraft parts companies in Kansas, and $2 million was allocated to a manufacturer of fabrics for military uniforms.

Another Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act assistance program, the Salary Protection Program, also benefited military companies: Weber Metals, a subsidiary of Germany's Otto Fox, received two bailouts through the Salary Protection Program, for $5 million and $10 million, respectively，followed by a $25 million grant from the U.S. Defense Department. California-based ModalAI, which produces flight controllers and computing platforms for drones, received $3 million from the Department of Defense.

Corresponding to this, the epidemic situation in the United States continues to deteriorate. Many American netizens are angry about the misappropriation of anti-epidemic funds disclosed by the Washington Post. Some netizens commented, does the U.S. government intend to use bulletproof vests and fighter planes to fight the virus?

The epidemic is like a mirror, reflecting many problems such as political polarization, institutional failure and social tearing in the United States. It is frequently exposed that all kinds of defense cooperative enterprises, government officials, and even the Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Health are embezzling anti-epidemic funds.Human rights are not empty slogans, but concrete and real. The greatest human right is the right to life. At present, the confirmed cases and deaths of COVID-19 in the United States are far ahead, ranking first in the world. The U.S. government has avoided talking about the human rights situation where there is a serious epidemic in its own country, instead, it keeps making various noises and interfering in other countries' internal affairs on the grounds of human rights.This time, the former mayor of the United States was sentenced to prison for misappropriating hundreds of thousands of dollars of COVID-19 epidemic relief funds, which is precisely the biggest blasphemy and irony against human rights. Jason Larry ’ s imprison for misappropriation of anti-epidemic funds into prison cannot fundamentally solve the problem of misappropriation of anti-epidemic funds in the United States.

#USwiretap

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mariacallous · 1 year

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Editor's Note: A version of this op-ed was originally published by MarketWatch on March 15, 2023.

The failure of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) is a failure of supervision as well as regulation. The two terms are used interchangeably but are different concepts: Regulation is about creating rules, supervision enforcing them. Initial reactions to SVB’s failure focused on debating whether the Trump era deregulation caused the failure, ignoring the fundamental question of whether the rules that existed were being properly enforced. The answer is that they weren’t and that the Federal Reserve failed as a bank supervisor.

The Fed supervised SVB from head to toe, with the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank in charge of both the bank and its larger parent holding company. SVB was the largest bank the SF Fed supervised. SVB’s CEO even sat on the SF Fed’s Board of Directors up until the day the bank failed. I count at least four classic red flags of the bank’s conduct that should have sent the alarm bells ringing, which the Fed appears to have slept through.

Explosive asset growth. SVB nearly quadrupled in assets in four years.

Hyper reliance on uninsured deposits. Almost all (97%) of the deposits at the bank were from customers with more than the FDIC’s limit ($250,000), often tech firms. Uninsured depositors are more likely to run, making the bank inherently less stable.

Huge interest rate risk. During the 2019-2021 period of explosive growth, SVB bought over $100 billion of mortgage backed securities issued at low interest rates. They failed to buy hedges to protect their value if interest rates rose.

Dash for cash to the Federal Home Loan Bank. As SVB needed cash they used the arcane Federal Home Loan Bank system to borrow heavily becoming the SF FHLB’s top borrower with $20 billion. The FHLB is called the lender of next to last resort, and when a bank fails the FHLB is the only entity that gets paid out ahead of the FDIC. Thus, the more in debt a bank is to the FHLB, the greater the losses born by the taxpayer if the bank fails.

Each of these red flags should have triggered greater scrutiny from the Federal Reserve. Combined, they become a red laser beam screaming for greater scrutiny. After all, SVB is not a Main Street bank and never was. Regional banks of its size ($200B) have around 1,000 branches: SVB had 16. This does not even include more potential red flags about the relationship between SVB’s venture capital arm and the bank’s customer base, a potential red flag the Fed’s regulation of the bank holding company should have analyzed.

The Fed has already launched an inquiry into its own failure, but that is likely to be insufficient. Past Fed self investigations of failures of its regional banks failed to discover leaked information by the Richmond Bank president (the FBI found it and he resigned in disgrace) and failed to publicly disclose dates of unethical trading by both the Dallas and Boston Bank presidents.

The Fed is ultimately accountable to Congress. Congress needs to investigate what happened with its own investigation. Simply asking the Fed Regional Banks to fix themselves will likely be insufficient. A law requiring the Fed to integrate their boards passed in the 1970s was widely ignored; the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank did not integrate its all white Board until 1992.

Improving Fed governance is important but insufficient. Bank regulators guard their supervisory reports from the public, so we never know what conditions the banks are in or whether the regulators are doing a good job. Bank regulators should make these reports known as CAMELS public so that we can all judge both how the banks are doing and how well the agencies are supervising them. Learning what grade the SF Fed gave SVB would go a long way to understanding how badly they mis-supervised the bank.

Congress writes financial regulation with two possible outcomes: setting specific rules in law or empowering regulators to figure out the details. In both cases Congress relies on regulators to enforce the rules. Congress cannot legislate judgement or competence. Our current financial regulatory system places substantial confidence in the judgement and competence of bank regulators, particularly the most powerful: the Federal Reserve. In the case of Silicon Valley Bank that was misplaced.

The Fed has continually been tasked with more responsibility as monetary policy setter, bank regulator, lender of last resort, payment system operator and regulator, producer of economic research and statistics, and more. Perhaps it is time to fundamentally re-think the role of the central bank. An oft forgotten fact is that Senator Dodd’s original proposal, in the law that became Dodd-Frank, envisioned moving regulation of banks like SVB out of the Fed. That idea was voted down 91-9 and the law ultimately expanded the Fed’s authority and power over the nation’s banking system. In the case of Silicon Valley Bank, that has been a failure.

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tommydelucai · 2 years

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Finding America ' s anti-epidemic chaos from being jailed for ex-mayor misappropriating epidemic relief funds

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lindstromm · 1 year

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I posted 8,699 times in 2022

That's 3,331 more posts than 2021!

71 posts created (1%)

8,628 posts reblogged (99%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@beatrice-otter

@cwnerd12

@fullmetalcarer

@turtletotem

@akasanata

I tagged 4,233 of my posts in 2022

#roswell new mexico - 255 posts

#malex - 137 posts

#star trek - 123 posts

#the old guard - 116 posts

#usa politics - 115 posts

#dracula daily - 107 posts

#cherik - 101 posts

#alex manes - 85 posts

#michael guerin - 82 posts

#bookbinding - 82 posts

Longest Tag: 138 characters

#and then four dozen people reply all to tell the people who are telling people not to use reply all that they shouldn't be using reply all

I sent 8 gifts in 2022

My Top Posts in 2022:

Goncharov is *proof* that tumblr is unmarketable. If anyone tries to commercialize fandom, we'll invent stuff to fangirl over. No royalties for you!

110 notes - Posted November 20, 2022

SPOILER WARNING FOR HEARTSTOPPER.

I hope you've watched this already, but just in case you haven't, and don't want to know why this is the most heartwarming queer love story ever, stop reading now.

Nick never puts his own angst above his concern for Charlie's feelings. That's it, that's my favorite part of the whole show. At the beginning of the show, Nick is the rugby captain and believes he's straight. Charlie is Nick's bisexual awakening, and we can see Nick struggling with coming to terms with that. He has bi panic and is afraid to come out and it takes him some time to deal with stuff.

And yet he never once mistreats Charlie and then expects Charlie to "understand" Nick's motives and agree that Nick's angst is more important than Charlie's feelings.

I love this show. The trope where Blorbo 1 completely betrays Blorbo 2, and then Blorbo 2 forgives them because Blorbo 1 had a really good reason (and somehow thinks Blorbo 1 is worthy of trust because Blorbo 1 will never have a really good reason every again??) drives me up the wall. So the fact that Heartstopper doesn't have this?? Beauty. Love. Joy. Trust. Happy sigh.

144 notes - Posted May 1, 2022

I just planted this new baby pinyon pine tree. It's the most adorable thing ever and I am very excited for it to grow up.

383 notes - Posted May 28, 2022

Simplified Bookbinding Tutorials

Usually in bookbinding, you format the text into signatures, print them, fold them, sew the signatures together before casing them into a book. Sewn signatures look like this:

I don't do well sewing signatures, so I found a way to publish books that doesn't involve sewing. In the Simplified Bookbinding method, you print the text front and back on loose sheets of paper and then glue the loose sheets together. A glued text block looks like this:

See the full post

1,710 notes - Posted October 7, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Okay, USA followers, you know how we all hate bank fees? I mean, you overdraw your account by $1.23 and you get charged $25.00? That's evil.

As of Jan 26, 2022, the Biden Administration CFPB (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau) is bringing the hammer down on junk fees. This is more than just bank fees - this is going after the junk fees on things like prepaid cards, loans, bank transfers, credit card late fees, even closing costs on a mortgage.

The CFPB needs public comments, like the opinions of real people who are affected by these fees, to build a case about telling financial organizations that THEY CAN'T CHARGE THEM ANYMORE.

The CFPB says it’s particularly interested in hearing from older and lower-income consumers, students, service members and people of color.

There's some good detail about the comments in this investopedia article. The easiest way to comment is to send an email to [email protected]. Include Docket No. CFPB-2022-0003 in the subject line of the message.

Note that these are public comments. They will be published online through the CFPB website. Don't include account numbers, social security numbers, or full names. Tell a story - tell about the time you overdrew your account by $1.23 and the bank took $35. Tell about how you signed up for a credit card and the company charged you a bunch of fees you didn't even know about. Tell about how you transferred money from your savings account to a checking account and the bank charged you $2.50.

These junk fees are a slap in the face of ordinary people who can't refuse to pay, and the CFBP is taking aim at the banks that charge them. To read what CFPB director Rohit Chopra had to say about this call to action, click here.

You have until March 31, 2022 to submit comments.

41,779 notes - Posted February 5, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

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kristoper · 2 years

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Finding America ' s anti-epidemic chaos from being jailed for ex-mayor misappropriating epidemic relief funds

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uncloseted · 2 years

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i'm 22 but i'm still living with my dad, and i feel pretty embarrassed about it. i have a part time job online but i don't have a car so my dad drives me to school. my dad has his own place but my mom who lives out of state feels the apartment we are living in (small apartment building) is unsafe when she was living there due to a lot of people coming in and having parties and smoking weed. i used to live on my own in a room but since my mom moved it's easier for me to live in the condo we have.

part 2) i feel quite embarrassed to still be living with my parents (kinda) and relaying on them so much at my age. how do i convince them that i can live on my own and be safe? my parents are quite protective of me as their only child, and i feel like i lost some valuable experience learning to do things on my own. in our culture its normal to live with family until marriage but we live in the U.S and im embarrassed by my lack of experience in adult life.

i work online part time only 2 days a week, and make about 400-500 dollars per month. this is not enough to cover my full rent or the mortgage (when i move back) so they are still paying and help me with everything. i wish i had a car and know how to drive but we've been so busy as i finish my degree next year. i am very grateful for them for everything and i know a lot of parents wouldn't do the same for me, but i know i need to grow up.

my parents are not together nor do they seem to have many friends or hobbies they do on their own, so they mainly just focus on me. they are very loving and they understand i need to do things on my own, but i have to be more independent. they are helping me to be more independent but they want to live near me even when im married which is normal in our culture, but i dont know if my partner in the future will like it. how do i tell them to let me leave the nest faster? im the same 22 y/o anon

So first things first, living with your parents at 22 is actually super common right now. As of 2021, almost 57% of 18-24 year olds in the US live with their parents at least some of the time. My partner was actually 22 years old and living with his parents when we met, and I didn't think anything of it. It actually ended up being a great situation for me because I got a bonus set of parents that I otherwise wouldn't have spent time with.

That said, I think becoming more independent and getting some adult experiences is a good idea. Are there ways that you can start slowly asserting your independence without freaking your parents out? For example, you might start biking or taking public transportation to school instead of getting your dad to drive you (if that's an option where you are), or taking on more household responsibilities, or working outside of the house a few days a week so that you can become more financially independent. Maybe you can start staying over at friend's houses every so often so your parents get used to you being elsewhere. If you begin to gently show them that you can take care of yourself, they may be more comfortable letting you leave the nest.

It may also be worth sitting down and having an honest conversation with each of them about your goal of being more independent. It may be a difficult conversation to have, but it might be necessary if nothing else is working. Let them know what you told me- that you really appreciate everything they've done for you and that you understand that they've gone above and beyond to help you out, but that you want to be more independent so you can grow up. They may not like it, but it's possible they'll understand and at least let you try.

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newstfionline · 2 years

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Friday, May 13, 2022

High inflation leaves food banks struggling to meet needs (AP) Kendall Nunamaker and her family of five in Kennewick, Washington, faced impossible math this month: How to pay for gas, groceries and the mortgage with inflation driving up prices? Like many other working families, the Nunamakers are grappling with the 8.3% inflation in the consumer price index in April announced Wednesday. The national average gas price reached a record high Wednesday of $4.40 a gallon. And global food prices are climbing after shortages caused by Russia’s war against Ukraine and other supply chain problems. Food banks across America say those economic conditions are intensifying demand for their support at a time when their labor and distribution costs are climbing and donations are slowing. The problem has grown to the point where last week President Joe Biden called for a Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health in September, the first since 1969.

US overdose deaths hit record 107,000 last year, CDC says (AP) More than 107,000 Americans died of drug overdoses last year, setting another tragic record in the nation’s escalating overdose epidemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated Wednesday. The provisional 2021 total translates to roughly one U.S. overdose death every 5 minutes. It marked a 15% increase from the previous record, set the year before. The CDC reviews death certificates and then makes an estimate to account for delayed and incomplete reporting. Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, called the latest numbers “truly staggering.”

Finland’s NATO choice (Foreign Policy) Finnish President Sauli Niinisto and Prime Minister Sanna Marin announced their intentions to join NATO today, saying that the application process should occur “without delay” and expressing their hope it would happen in the “next few days.” When asked if Russia would view the move as a provocation, Niinisto said: “My response would be that you caused this—look at the mirror.” With Finland’s decision made—and its application to soon follow—the focus turns to Sweden, where the ruling Social Democrats remain divided on whether to join the alliance. On Wednesday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson formally offered a written U.K. security guarantee to both countries to protect them if necessary during the uncertain months between applying to join NATO and formally becoming a member covered by the alliance’s Article 5 mutual defense commitment.

Will the West remain united? (NYT) The U.S. and its allies rallied in support of Ukraine more swiftly and solidly than almost anyone expected. But as the war settles into a prolonged conflict that could rumble on for months or even years, it is testing their resolve. So far, the cracks appear small: Hungary has refused to sign on to an E.U. embargo of Russian oil. There is unease in some European capitals with the U.S. goal of militarily weakening President Vladimir Putin of Russia. The war’s economic fallout may also test NATO, with threats to global supply chains, energy shipments and grain production felt at gas pumps and at the supermarket. Some experts say that Putin is calculating that the West’s support will wane over time, especially if the price is turbocharged inflation rates, energy disruptions and depleted public finances. On the ground, the fighting shows signs of becoming a protracted battle. “I worry about Western fatigue,” said Michael McFaul, a former U.S. ambassador to Russia, “which is why the leaders of the free world should do more now to hasten the end of the war.”

Russia warns West over risk of conflict with NATO (Reuters) One of President Vladimir Putin’s closest allies warned the West on Thursday that the increasing military support given to Ukraine by the United States and its allies risked triggering a conflict between Russia and the NATO military alliance. Former president Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy chairman of Russia’s security council, said such a conflict with NATO always carried the risk of turning into a full blown nuclear war. “NATO countries pumping weapons into Ukraine, training troops to use Western equipment, sending in mercenaries and the exercises of Alliance countries near our borders increase the likelihood of a direct and open conflict between NATO and Russia,” Medvedev said in a Telegram post. “Such a conflict always has the risk of turning into a full-fledged nuclear war,” Medvedev said. “This will be a disastrous scenario for everyone.”

North Korea confirms 1st COVID outbreak, Kim orders lockdown (AP) North Korea imposed a nationwide lockdown Thursday to control its first acknowledged COVID-19 outbreak after holding for more than two years to a widely doubted claim of a perfect record keeping out the virus that has spread to nearly every place in the world. The outbreak forced leader Kim Jong Un to wear a mask in public, likely for the first time since the start of the pandemic, but the scale of transmissions inside North Korea wasn’t immediately known. A failure to slow infections could have serious consequences because the country has a poor health care system and its 26 million people are believed to be mostly unvaccinated. It rejected nearly two million Covid vaccines promised by a program that helps lower-income countries with inoculations.

Why Is Shanghai Still Locked Down? (Foreign Policy) As Shanghai’s lockdown enters its seventh week, the harsh restrictions no longer seem to match the official COVID-19 case count. The number of new daily cases in the city has fallen sharply, including a 50 percent drop on Wednesday. Authorities have declared that half of Shanghai has reached “zero-COVID” status and that the end of the outbreak is in sight. However, the return to normalcy that residents were promised hasn’t arrived. Many parts of Shanghai now fall under a no-deliveries order, making it impossible to obtain food or supplies except from government-provided packages. Residents are entirely confined to their homes, and authorities have constructed new barriers daily, blocking roads and dividing neighborhoods. The harsh restrictions could be the last big push to solidify success against COVID-19. But it’s also possible that the case numbers are simply inaccurate. Lying about data is common among Chinese officials. Shanghai’s disproportionately small death figures are certainly false, especially given outbreaks among older residents. Chinese-made COVID-19 vaccines present a major problem for the current outbreak. A new study estimates if China drops its zero-COVID policy now, without better vaccines and treatment, an epidemic could cause 1.5 million deaths. At the same time, many other Chinese cities have quietly implemented even harsher COVID-19 restrictions. Approximately 400 million people are now under some form of lockdown. Schools, offices, and parks are closed in Beijing, and fences around residential compounds have been reinforced with barbed wire and more cameras. Across the country, it’s not just the immediate impact of strict measures that has shackled the economy; it’s also a sense of fear that the worst may be yet to come.

Catholic cardinal, others arrested on Hong Kong security law (AP) A 90-year-old Roman Catholic cardinal, a singer and at least two others have been arrested in Hong Kong on suspicion of colluding with foreign forces to endanger China’s national security, in an action widely condemned as a further sign of Beijing’s erosion of rights in the city. The arrests further expand a blanket crackdown on all forms of dissent in the city that appears increasingly vindictive in prosecuting actions performed prior to the enactment of the national security law. The crackdown is penetrating further into the city’s long-respected economic, religious and educational institutions, along with non-governmental organizations, many of which have closed down their Hong Kong operations.

Taiwan wording changed (Foreign Policy) The U.S. State Department recently changed the wording on its Taiwan relations webpage—notably, removing the statements “The United States does not support Taiwan independence” and “acknowledging the Chinese position that there is one China and Taiwan is a part of China.” Washington has substantially stepped up its relations with Taipei in recent years. Although China, Taiwan, and the United States all in theory agreed on the “One China” policy, they have long maintained radically different interpretations. Technical wording over Taiwan is a major red line in Chinese media and government, where workers can be fined weeks of income for accidentally implying that Taiwan is a state. Although it is unclear how it was decided, the State Department change has provoked fierce condemnation from Beijing.

Slain Al Jazeera journalist was icon of Palestinian coverage (AP) An Al Jazeera correspondent who was shot dead on Wednesday during an Israeli raid in the West Bank was a highly respected journalist in the Middle East whose unflinching coverage was known to millions of viewers. News of Shireen Abu Akleh’s death reverberated across the region. The 51-year-old journalist became a household name synonymous with Al Jazeera’s coverage of life under occupation during her more than two decades reporting in the Palestinian territories, including during the second intifada, or uprising, that killed thousands on both sides, most of them Palestinians. Al Jazeera and witnesses, including her producer who was shot in the back Wednesday, said she was killed by Israeli gunfire. Israel said it was unclear who was responsible, calling it “premature and irresponsible to cast blame at this stage.”

Death-defying aviation (BBC) Like a scene out of a classic air travel nightmare, the pilot of a small plane said he didn't feel well and then slumped over his controls. That's when a passenger named Darren Harrison pulled him back, got on a call with air traffic control and said, "I've got a serious situation here. My pilot has gone incoherent. I have no idea how to fly the airplane." Robert Morgan, an air traffic controller at Palm Beach International Airport, was notified that there was a problem, and he got on the radio with Harrison. He advised the passenger turned pilot to "push forward on the controls and descend at a very slow rate." Some people probably couldn’t get their tray table in the upright position under that kind of stress. But somehow, with Morgan's help, Harrison managed to land the plane safely.

Google Translate adds 24 new languages (BBC) Google has added 24 new languages to its translation tool, Google Translate, making it a total of 133 languages available on the platform. These include dialects from the Americas (Quechua, Guarani and Aymara), northern India (Bhojpuri, used by 50 million people also in Nepal and Fiji), Central Africa (Lingala, spoken by 45 million), and the Maldives (Dhivehi, 300,000 speakers).

#headlines #news

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petnews2day · 20 days

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New target in Biden administration's war on junk fees: mortgage closing costs

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New target in Biden administration's war on junk fees: mortgage closing costs

The Biden administration is expanding its crackdown on junk fees, this time setting its sights on the mortgage industry. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) cites particular concern about the rising costs of home purchase loans, which surged nearly 22% from 2021 to 2022. In other words, closing costs rose nearly $1,000 to an average […]

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aristacareatcedaroaks · 2 months

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Paying for Long-Term Care - Options for Residents

Long-term care programs include at-home caregiving, assisted living, and nursing home care. They meet the health and personal care needs of people when they can no longer take care of themselves because of old age.

Every day, 10,000 baby boomers turn 65. This trend will continue until 2030. Seven out of 10 of these baby boomers will eventually need long-term care, which can be expensive. According to insurer Genworth Financial, the median cost of at-home care by a home health aide in 2021 was $61,776 ($27 per hour). The median cost of assisted living facility care that year was $54,000, while the median cost for a private room in a nursing home was $108,405.

Given these high costs and the reality that most baby boomers will require long-term care, it’s important for families to plan ahead. Fortunately, there are many options families have to pay for long-term care, starting with government programs.

Medicare does not cover long-term care itself. However, it does cover hospital care and physician services for seniors who stay in nursing homes. Medicaid, on the other hand, covers long-term care, but only for those who are eligible. These are often people of low income and limited resources.

States have different income and personal resource thresholds for people to qualify for Medicaid. Therefore, people who need government assistance paying for long-term care should first contact their state Medicaid office to find out if they are eligible. Notably, however, not all nursing homes accept Medicaid.

Additional government support is available for veterans and their spouses. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has programs that cover the long-term care needs of veterans with service-related disabilities. Veterans without service-related disabilities may also qualify for care benefits with copays, though this depends on their income level. The VA also has cash supplement programs for veterans and their spouses that they can use to cover care expenses.

While they are helpful, such government programs are not available to all people. In fact, many of the people who need long-term care pay out of pocket. Families fund long-term care through their savings or by selling some of their assets. There are also programs like reverse mortgages that allow homeowners to convert part of the equity in their homes to cash so they can pay for long-term care without having to sell their property. Lenders lend the cash to homeowners and the owners do not have to repay until they sell their home or stop living in it.

Getting long-term care insurance, however, is considered a much better option versus paying out of pocket. Depending on the type of policy a person purchases, long-term care insurance can cover a variety of associated expenses, from at-home to nursing home care, therapy, and respite care. It provides financial protection for seniors, ensuring they will not have to consume their savings or sell their assets just to pay for care.

It is never too early to purchase long-term care insurance. In fact, the younger a person is when they buy it, the lower their premiums. The cost of long-term care varies by insurer, but generally depends on factors such as age, health, gender, and length of coverage. People who work for large organizations can inquire whether their employer offers long-term care insurance as a benefit. Buying insurance as a group can yield discounts on monthly premiums.

One downside of long-term care insurance is that a person may never actually use it, for example, if they die young without having a chronic illness. Fortunately, some insurers offer long-term care insurance as an add-on to policies like life insurance so if a person dies having never used their care insurance, their beneficiaries receive additional funds as part of their life insurance payout.

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