#2. Housing Aid in the USA

[obynotec]

How to get Rental assistance in USA. 2023

Are you struggling to keep up with your monthly rent in the United States? With rising living costs, many individuals and families find themselves facing the daunting challenge of housing affordability. The good news is that rental assistance programs exist to provide crucial financial relief to those in need. In this comprehensive guide, we'll walk you through the essential steps to access rental assistance in the USA. Let's dive into the details, ensuring you have the knowledge and tools to secure the support you deserve.

1. Understand the Types of Rental Assistance Programs

Before embarking on your journey to secure rental assistance, it's vital to grasp the diversity of programs available. Rental assistance in the USA comes in various forms, such as federal, state, and local initiatives, as well as non-profit organizations. Knowing the options will help you identify the most suitable program for your unique situation.

2. Determine Your Eligibility

Each rental assistance program sets specific eligibility criteria. These criteria often revolve around factors like your income, family size, and housing situation. Carefully review the requirements of the program you intend to apply for to ensure you meet them.

3. Research Available Programs

Your search for rental assistance should begin with thorough research. Explore government websites, online resources, and reach out to local community organizations to discover the programs available in your area.

Don't know where to start?

Click here

4. Gather Required Documentation

Most rental assistance programs necessitate the submission of certain documents with your application. These documents can include proof of income, lease agreements, identification, and more. Prepare these documents in advance to streamline the application process.

5. Submit Your Application

Depending on the program, you may have the option to apply online or in person. Regardless of the method, ensure that you provide accurate information and complete all required forms meticulously. Be patient as you await a response; processing times can vary.

6. Follow Up and Stay Informed

After submitting your application, don't sit back and wait. Follow up with the relevant authorities to check the status of your request. Staying informed and engaged in the process can help expedite your application.

7. Seek Additional Resources

If you face challenges during the application process or require more immediate assistance, consider reaching out to local social service agencies, housing counselors, or non-profit organizations. They can often provide guidance and support.

Conclusion:

Navigating the process of obtaining rental assistance in the USA may seem overwhelming, but it's a lifeline for those facing housing insecurity. By understanding the types of programs available, ensuring eligibility, conducting thorough research, and meticulously completing your application, you can significantly increase your chances of receiving the assistance you need.

Remember, you are not alone on this journey. Many organizations and resources are dedicated to helping individuals and families secure stable housing. In your pursuit of rental assistance, persistence and determination are your greatest allies. You can unlock the door to financial relief and housing stability.

If you need my recommendation. Please click on the Access below.

ACCESS HERE

[thethief1996]

Israel has just bombed a hospital where hundreds of wounded and refugees were taking solace. Journalists in Gaza have reported there was hardly a single body whole in the aftermath (If you can stomach it, there's a video of a father holding what remains of his child). At least 500 people killed by IOF soldiers, who planned this action, got into an airplane and dropped that bomb willingly. The deadliest attack in five wars, according to the Ministry of Health.

Israel has denied ownership of the attack and said it was a misfired Hamas rocket. Originally, they celebrated it on their social media, saying they had destroyed a Hamas target, treating the deaths like an unfortunate collateral. After international backlash, they posted videos to their social media claiming it was a Hamas rocket. The video, though, shows a second explosion 40 minutes after the airstrike, and they edited it our of their tweet in a pathetic attempt at covering up.

Israel has said multiple times that they were going to bomb hospitals. They told doctors to evacuate and leave their patients to death because they were going to bomb, namely: Al Shifa, Shuhada Al Aqsa and the Quwaiti Hospital. Al Shifa housed at least 10.000 refugees and wounded, and worked as a hub for the press because it was one of the only hospitals that still had working generators. Medical crew worked with sirens blaring to signal the hospitals were not empty. This was a purposeful massacre. These people died hungry, thirsty and in pain because of the Israeli government's cruelty.

CNN and other media outlets already tried to pin the blame on Hamas, parroting back the pathetic propaganda being sold by the IOF. Even in death, Palestinians can't be respected and are used to further their own oppression. These people's deaths are not going to be in vain. Within our lifetimes, Palestine will be free.

Take action. The Labour Party in the UK had an emergency meeting today after several councilors threatened to resign if they didn't condemn Israeli war crimes. Calling to show your complaints works.

FOR PEOPLE IN THE USA: USCPR has developed this toolkit for calls

FOR PEOPLE IN THE UK: Friends of Al-Aqsa UK and Palestine Solidarity UK have made toolkits for calls and emails

FOR PEOPLE IN GERMANY: Here's a toolkit to contact your representatives by Voices in Europe for Peace

FOR PEOPLE IN IRELAND: Here's a toolkit by Voices in Europe for Peace

FOR PEOPLE IN POLAND: Here's a toolkit by Voices in Europe for Peace

FOR PEOPLE IN DENMARK: Here's a toolkit by Voices in Europe for Peace

FOR PEOPLE IN SWEDEN: Here's a toolkit by Voices in Europe for Peace

Protests in support have already erupted in Beirut, Madrid and Rabat in response to the shelling of the hospital. Join your local protest and raise your voices. For people in the US, Israel has just asked for additional $10bi in aid on top of the annual $3.8bi already given to them. Palestinians are asking that you refuse this loudly, with their every breath.

Here's a constantly updating list of protests:

Global calendar

USA calendar

Here are upcoming events:

WASHINGTON, DC: Outside Congress on 18/10 at 12 PM

WASHINGTON, DC: NATIONAL MARCH in front of the White House on 4/11 at 12 PM

SAN DIEGO: 2125 Pan American E Rd. (Spreckles Organ Pavillion) on 18/10 at 7 PM

NEW YORK: 72nd st. And 5th ave., Brooklyn on 21/10 at 2 PM

NEW YORK: CUNY Grad Building on 18/10 at 2 PM

NEW YORK: Oct 18, 5pm, Steinway & Astoria Blvd.

DALLAS: 1954 Commerce Street (Dallas Morning News Building) on 19/10 at 3 PM

[CAR RALLY] KITCHENER-WATERLOO: Fairview Park, 2960 Kingsway Dr. on 18/10 at 6 PM

KITCHENER-WATERLOO: CBC Building, 117 King St. W on 19/10 at 5 PM

HOUSTON: Zionist Consulate, 24 Greenway Plaza on 18/10 at 4 PM

OMAHA: 72nd St & Dodge St on 18/10 at 6 PM

SAINT PAUL, MN: Oct. 18, 5:30pm. State Capitol, 75 Rev Dr Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

BALTIMORE: Oct 20, 6pm. Baltimore City Hall

DUBLIN: Leinster House, Kildare Street, Dublin 1 on 18/10 at 5 PM

THURLES: Liberty Square on 19/10 at 7 PM

LURGAN: Market Street on 21/10 at 3 PM

PORTO ALEGRE: Rua João Alfredo, 61 on 18/10 at 19h

RIO DE JANEIRO: Cinelândia on 19/10 at 17h

RECIFE: Parque Treze de Maio on 19/10 at 17h

MANAUS: Teatro Amazonas, Largo de São Sebastião on 19/10 at 17h

SÃO PAULO: Praça Oswaldo Cruz on 22/10 at 11h

FOZ DO IGUAÇU: Praça da Paz on 22/10 at 9h

TSHWANE: Belgrade Square Park, Jan Shoba Street on 20/10 at 10 AM

VEREENIGING: Roshnee Sports Grounds on 21/10 at 14h30

Feel free to add more resources

[motherofplatypus]

Record of Genocide

[Part 2]

An opening:

The List:

Upon Children:

Beheading baby

Shot a kid that's running away

Shot a kid (again)

Shot a 6 years old 355 times

Slit a kid's throat

Creating a 14 pages long list of killed children under 1 year old

Bombed a pregnant lady that her fetus expelled from her

Burn a student alive

Torturing and sexually abusing civilians, including children

Blow a child's head until their brain splattered on the ground

Killing newborn twins, not even 4 days since their birth

Death toll from October 15th 2023 to July 6th 2024. 16k+ were children.

Released a dog to attack civilian (kid version)

44% of killed victims are children.

Killed a man's entire family, including his children

Harris' supporter harassing a baby

Killed a child when he was at the market with his mother

Killing an 8 years old girl along with 36 of her family members

US participation in genocide upon children

Assraeli soldier took a bike from a kid and throw it in the trash

Assrael killed a man's son (1)

Assrael killed a man's son (2)

Assrael killed a man's daughter

Assrael killed a man's daughter (2)

Assrael abused a 12 years old girl in prison, the youngest female to be held in prison

Assrael killed a mother's 3 daughters and her sister

Assraelis mocks children who lost their limbs and murdered

Assrael killed a mother's child

Upon Palestinian In General:

Killing Christians.

Demanding the rights to rape

Burning people alive

A concentration camp

Torturing civilians (featuring French people)

Destroying churches, hospitals, and schools

Bombing schools

Bombing civilians in their tents

Admitance of ethnic cleansing

Banning maternity kit and anaesthetic

Disguising as civilian to kill civilians

Destroying humanitarian aids

Released a dog to attack civilian

Bombing refugee camp

Stealing houses from their owner

Deliberately destroying properties in Lebanon (confirmed by UN peacekeepers)

Bombing school where people take shelter

Celebrating Trump's victory by shooting at homes in Gaza (featuring Trump's supporter)

Killing an entire family in a targeted attack

A Knesset member sending death threats in hospital

Using AI to kill more people

Publicly announcing annexation of Gaza

UNICEF spokesperson talked about the horror Assrael committed upon civilians

Targeting civilians in Safe Zone

Destroying humanitarian aids

Assraeli blowing up praying site

UK surgeon explains what Assrael did in Gaza

Assraeli glorifying the crimes their fallen soldiers committed

A son breakdowns during praying for his father that's killed by Assrael

A doctor's testimony of what Assrael did

The bodies of the people Assrael killed

Assrael bombing UN-run school, killing 10 people

Upon Lebanon:

Blows up an entire village in Lebanon

Assrael bombed Lebanon near a school

Assrael targeting civilians in Lebanon, killing at least one child

Assrael bombed a suburbs in Lebanon

Assraeli destroying an entire village in Lebanon

Assraeli killed 2 doctors and orphaned their child

Destroying praying site in Lebanon

15 paramedics in Lebanon murdered by Assrael

Upon Non-Palestinians:

Killing WCF workers (3 from UK, 1 from US, 1 from Australia, 1 from Poland, and 1 from Palestine.)

Attacking UN workers, killing 3 children during their attacks

Killing a medical worker through torture

Killing journalist (this is only two of 100+ journalists they've killed)

Beating and torturing journalist (featuring American journalist)

Attacking WFP workers

Bombing a UN shelter (featuring India)

Assaulting civilians in Athens

Ally in genocide (featuring USA)

An ambassador signing bombs before being dropped on civilians (featuring USA)

Killing animals

Ramming a police deliberately but no consequences (featuring USA)

META's complicity in genocide

Targeting family homes in Beirut

Assrael journalist demanding more violence, deaths, and river of blood

Bombed a residential building and killed 7 people in Syria

Harassment upon the people in Amsterdam

Property damage to assault people in Amsterdam

Assraeli physically attacked a woman

Biden's inappropriate answer to journalist who asked about the hostages

Assraeli hooligans singing song of death threats in Amsterdam

Assraeli hooligans attacking French people

Assrael genocide impact on animals

Justifying targeting civilians (featuring Germany)

Assraeli inciting violence on TV

The Pope calling Assrael as terrorist

AIPAC openly bragging about buying the US elections

Assraeli harassing a Christian tourist and defiling his cross necklace

Assraeli using genocide as tourist attraction

How US's "threat" on Assrael went

Where the US put their own people compared to Assrael

This is not a complete list.

[mariacallous]

Last weekend, former President Donald Trump posted another anti-immigrant screed to Truth Social. It would have been unremarkable ― at least, graded on the Trumpian curve of extreme xenophobia ― except for one word.

“[We will] return Kamala’s illegal migrants to their home countries (also known as remigration),” he wrote. “I will save our cities and towns in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and all across America.”

Many people might have glossed over his use of “remigration.” White nationalists did not.

“#Remigration has had a massive conceptual career,” Martin Sellner — leader of the Austrian chapter of Generation Identity, a pan-European white supremacist network — tweeted in his native German. “Born in France, popularized in German-speaking countries and now the term of the hour from Sweden to the USA!”

It was a succinct and accurate history from Sellner, a 35-year-old who typically trafficks in vicious lies and conspiracy theories, particularly about Black and brown people. He has been at the vanguard of pushing “remigration” — a euphemism for ethnically cleansing non-white people from Western countries — into the popular political lexicon in Europe.

Now Sellner was seeing his favorite little word all grown up, moving overseas in service of the 45th president of the United States, who has promised to implement the largest mass deportation of immigrants in U.S. history if elected back to the White House in six weeks’ time.

Trump’s use of “remigration” is the latest instance of the GOP’s intensifying anti-immigrant rhetoric in the run-up to November’s election, underscoring the degree to which one of America’s two major political parties is sourcing many of its talking points and policy ideas directly from neo-fascists.

“Trump’s rhetoric about ‘remigration’ has its origins in the international far-right,” Jakob Guhl, a senior manager of policy and research at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, explained to HuffPost in an email. “The term remigration was popularized by groups adhering to Identitarianism, a pan-European ethno-nationalist movement, as their policy to reverse the so-called ‘great replacement.’”

“The great replacement theory is a conspiracy theory which claims that ‘native’ Europeans are being deliberately replaced through non-European migration while suppressing European birth-rates,” he continued. “This theory has inspired numerous terrorist attacks, including the Christchurch massacre, where 51 people were killed, as well as attacks in Poway, El Paso, Halle, Buffalo, and Bratislava.”

Pat Buchanan, the onetime presidential hopeful and former aide to President Richard Nixon, used the term “remigration” to whitewash his own call for ethnic cleansing as early as 2006, in his racist tract “State of Emergency: The Third World Invasion and Conquest of America.” But the term’s journey into the Trump campaign’s vernacular more likely got its start in November 2014, when 500 far-right activists gathered in Paris.

The inaugural Assises de la Remigration, or Annual Meeting on Remigration, was organized by Generation Identity. Its featured speaker was Renaud Camus, the travel writer-turned-philosopher who coined the term “great replacement” in his 2012 book by the same name. Camus’ book built off the work of another French author, Jean Raspail, who wrote “The Camp of the Saints,” an extraordinarily racist French novel that depicts a flotilla of feces-eating brown people invading Europe.

“The Great Replacement is the most serious crisis that France has witnessed in 15 centuries,” Camus told the crowd, eliding many bloody episodes in the country’s history, including a pair of world wars that killed nearly 2 million French people. For Camus, “remigration” was the best solution to the imagined crisis of the “great replacement,” the two terms essentially joined at the hip.

Camus and his fellow subscribers to identitarianism “have always been quite clear that the objective of ‘remigration’ is to create greater ‘ethnocultural’ homogeneity,” Ruhl told HuffPost. “For them, culture and ethnicity are inseparable, and they view (white) European identity as being fundamentally threatened by the presence of migrants ― necessitating drastic, far-reaching responses.”

According to a study by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, the term “remigration” was “used over 540,000 times between April 2012 and April 2019” on Twitter, particularly from accounts in France and Germany. Usage of the term skyrocketed after the Annual Meeting on Remigration in Paris. Camus himself was one of the main promoters of the word online.

As “remigration” became an increasingly discussed term, militant far-right groups adapted it as their own. In 2017, police in France arrested 10 far-right activists over a suspected plot to kill politicians and migrants and to attack mosques. Officers found a shotgun and two revolvers in the home of the group’s ringleader, who’d sought to create a militia, according to a post on Facebook, to kill “arabs, blacks dealers, migrants, [and] jihadist scum.” Per French investigators, the group, known as OAS, was formed to “spark remigration.”

The term made an appearance in Canada, too, where a far-right fight club called Falange — named for the fascist group that served under the Spanish general Francisco Franco during the Spanish Civil War — put signs with the word “Remigration” across Quebec City.

And that same year in the U.S., the group Identity Evropa — modeled after Generation Identity in Europe — burst into the public consciousness for its participation in the deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. Identity Evropa’s proposed policies included “remigration,” and when its members marched in Charlottesville, they invoked the “great replacement” concept, chanting “You will not replace us.”

Back in Europe, in March 2019, Sellner started a channel on the chat app Telegram called the “European Compact for Remigration,” the beginning of a campaign, he announced, to influence far-right parties across Europe to support “de-Islamisation” and “remigration.”

That same month, a white supremacist in Christchurch, New Zealand, livestreamed himself walking into two mosques and opening fire, killing 51 Muslim worshipers. He’d posted a genocidal screed online before the shooting. Its title was “The Great Replacement.” Nevertheless, one week after the shooting, Sellner’s Generation Identity group in Austria staged a protest against the “great replacement,” again calling for “de-Islamisation” and “remigration.”

A couple of months later, it emerged that the shooter in New Zealand had communicated with Sellner only a year prior, donating over $2,300 to Sellner’s white supremacist group. “Thank you that really gives me energy and motivation,” Sellner wrote to the shooter in an email.

“If you ever come to Vienna,” Sellner added, “we need to go for a café or a beer.”

Despite these revelations, Sellner’s efforts to get far-right political parties to support remigration started to see results in the following years. In 2019, Alternative for Deutschland — which recently became the first far-right party since the Nazis to win a state election in Germany — inserted “remigration” into its list of official policy proposals.

Four years later, an investigation from Correctiv found that AfD members held a secret meeting with neo-Nazis and wealthy businesspeople to discuss the “remigration” of asylum seekers, immigrants with legal status, and “unassimilated citizens” to a “model state” in North Africa. The plan — which bore an unnerving resemblance to the Nazis’ initial idea to mass-deport Jews to Madagascar, before they settled on a wholesale extermination campaign — was Sellner’s brainchild.

That same year, as noted recently by Mother Jones, a jury of linguists in Germany selected “remigration” as the “non-word” of the year. “The seemingly harmless term remigration is used by the ethnic nationalists of the AfD and the Identitarian Movement to conceal their true intentions: the deportation of all people with supposedly the wrong skin color or origin, even if they are German citizens,” one guest juror wrote.

Mother Jones also noted that earlier this year, “an AfD candidate in Stuttgart campaigned with the slogan ‘Rapid remigration creates living space,’ a nod to the concept of Lebensraum used by the Nazis to justify the genocidal expansion into Eastern Europe.”

And finally, this year in Austria, the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe), founded after World War II by former Nazis, and which recently enjoyed success in national elections, called for the creation of a “remigration commissioner” in the country.

Still, very few, if any, U.S. politicians have uttered the word “remigration” in recent years. Trump’s use of the term stateside has coincided with his renewed embrace of dehumanizing language when talking about immigrants.

The former president’s promotion of a false story about Haitian immigrants eating pets in Ohio was classic fascist fare, depicting an entire category of people as savages. And earlier this year, the GOP nominee said immigrants were “poisoning the blood” of the nation. Historians quickly noted that Trump’s language echoed the words of Adolf Hitler. “All great cultures of the past perished only because the originally creative race died out from blood poisoning,” Hitler wrote in “Mein Kampf.”

But who in Trump’s orbit might have introduced him to the term “remigration”? The Trump campaign didn’t immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment. One possible culprit, though, might be Stephen Miller, who served in the Trump White House as an adviser and speechwriter. Miller’s ties to white supremacists are legion, and while working as an editor at Breitbart in 2015, according to leaked emails obtained by the Southern Poverty Law Center, he suggested the website publish articles about “The Camp of the Saints,”the racist French novel that inspired Renaud Camus.

Miller, like Sellner, was thrilled with Trump’s use of “remigration” last weekend.

“THE TRUMP PLAN TO END THE INVASION OF SMALL TOWN AMERICA: REMIGRATION!” he tweeted.

[phoenixyfriend]

Calls for Action, Call Your Reps: 2/21/24

This is USA-specific, as that is the place I live and know.

Find your elected officials.

There are no bills scheduled to be on the floor on the House or Senate this week, though that may change. The chambers are using this time to debate and negotiate changes to the bills that were passed in the other chamber last week.

Suggested verbiage and strategies for calling your elected officials.

Both House and Senate:

Reinstate funding for UNRWA. While the claims made by Israel that employees of the relief agency were involved in Oct. 7th are troubling, THEY are not well supported, and western officials did not do their duty in investigating the claims before cutting funding. This arm of the UN is currently providing food, water, shelter, and medical care to the 2.3 million displaced peoples of Gaza. It is especially disturbing and concerning that the many children of Gaza, who are already suffering due to this conflict, are now having this support revoked. Many sources are also claiming that the evidence is flimsy at best.

UNICEF is reporting that children are dying of hunger in Gaza, as of today (2/21/24).

Urge both Senate and House to refrain from funding Israel, or to at least put some strings on it. The IDF cannot be given funding without some regulations on what they can do with it. They have proven that they are unwilling to take steps to protect civilians.

Sanctions must also be placed on Israel for its continued impediment of aid intended for Gazans, including aid from the US.

Urge for the US to stop vetoing ceasefire demands in the UN. No, the suggested replacement written by the US is not an excuse.

FOR THE SENATE: Urge your senator to put their support behind Bernie Sanders and his motion to restrict funding to Israel until a humanitarian review of the IDF’s actions in Gaza has been completed. Cite it as Senate Resolution 504 if your Senator is right-wing enough to react negatively to the mention of Sanders by name. NOTE: This resolution was TABLED by the Senate on 1/16, but it is being brought back in as conditions continue to escalate.

Passed in the House last week, so bother your senators about it, is H.R. 3016: IGO Anti-Boycott Act. Vote Nay. This appears to be intended to force US companies to do business with US allies instead of participating in boycotts. This appears, to me, to be an attack on movements like BDS. To Dem Reps, argue that this refuses the right of peaceful protest to US citizens. To Republican Reps, argue that this is a dangerous government overreach and that it is not the right of the government to force US citizens to purchase products and materials from specific foreign partners.

Not related to Gaza: It looks like they're gearing up for another push at KOSA. The canned email responses I'm getting are really proud of being FOR KOSA, which is... bad. VOTE NAY.

FOR THE HOUSE: Urge your representative to put their support behind Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s petition for the US government to recognize the IDF’s actions in Gaza as ethnic cleansing and forced displacement, and put a stop to it. ALTERNATELY: recommend that they support House Resolution 786, introduced by Rep. Cori Bush, Calling for an immediate deescalation and cease-fire in Israel and occupied Palestine.

If you wish to support my political blogging, I am accepting donations on ko-fi.

[euchree]

This is a masterpost of the verified families that asked for my help in sharing ther fundraisers, please share their stories, if you can, please donate $5+ that you would've spent on drink or a snack to these Go Fund Mes. Their accounts are all tagged here as well as the posts I made, so go to them and reblog/share to reach more people. Free Palestine and may you all be blessed!

1) Mohammad Atallah @mohammedatallah

GFM:

Mohammad is a SEVENTEEN year old that got shot with an explosive bullet during February of this year. He is in urgent need of a BONE TRANSPLANT, as well as to help thirteen members of his family. Your donations will ensure his operation and the safety of his family, as the funds will be used to pay for medical fees and to rebuild their home. His campaign was shared by @90-ghost here!

He currently has $20.2k over the $82k that he needs. Please help him reach his goal!

2) Asma Ayyad @asmaayyad

GFM:

Asma is 25 years old with a family of eight members. During this genocide, she and her brother lost their houses, she lost her dearest pet cat, and struggle with the bare necessities of life. Her family's health is at risk and she wishes to evacuate and start a new life. The funds will be used to evacuate and provide basic needs such as food and treatment.

Her campaign is vetted in the GazaVetters document, #43.

She currently has $21.7k over the $45k she needs. Please support her fundraiser!

3) Heba Yasmeen and Yasmine Mahmoud @yasminsalahmahmoud

GFM:

Heba is a mother of three children, Lulu, Celine, and Ismail, in which Celine suffers from Chronic Thalassemia (decrease in Red Blood Cells) and blood deficiency and needs urgent treatment. Yasmine is her sister and 21 years old and was studying Health Administration before her dreams were destroyed by the war due to the demolition of her university.

The campaign documents more, and it is vetted through association here.

Their campaign is only at $2.3k over the $40k they need. Please support their fundraiser!

4) Ayman Qandeel @aymanqandeel17

More Under The Cut:

GFM:

Ayman was an engineer who used to work at his father's engineering office, when unfortunately during the war was destroyed along with everything in it. He has seven family members whom he wishes to evacuate to ensure their future. The funds will be used for evacuation and housing expenses.

He is vetted in the GazaVetters document here.

Ayman's fundraiser sits only at €169 over the €50k he needs. Please support his fundraiser!!

5) Baraa and Abed Rahman El-Shaer @bara-belal

GFM:

Abed used to take treatment in order to finally have a child, but unfortunately it was stopped due to the war. His house and workplace were fully destroyed during the bombings, and now that he has moved, he finds no shelter. Water and food are harder to obtain, and cannot provide themselves with daily food. He wishes to evacuate his family of five members, his mother, wife, brother, sister, and younger brother.

He is vetted in @el-shab-hussein and @nabulsi 's Google Sheets, #253 here.

His fundraiser is only at $9.3k over the $50k he needs. Please support his fundraiser!

6) Mahmoud Ayyad @mahmoudayyad

GFM:

Mahmoud has forty-three members of his family that he wishes to evacuate. They currently live in bad conditions and there are diseases spreading. With your donations, he can leave Gaza and build a new house.

He is vetted in @90-ghost's reblog here.

His fundraiser is only at €7.1k over the €55k he needs. Please support his fundraiser!

7) Iman Sadeq @imansadeq96

GFM:

Iman currently resides in Mawasi Al-Quarara in the Southern Gaza Strip with her husband and three year old daughter. They are living with no toilets, difficult weather, and do not have the basics of life. She will use your donations to pay for the family's expenses, and evacuate them.

She is vetted in The ButterflyEffect Project's document here.

Her fundraiser is only at €8.8k/€50k, please help!

[zoesblogsposts]

o 625 words to know in your target language o

There is a really interesting blog called "Fluent Forever" that aids foreign language learners in tricks, tips and techniques to guide them to achieving fluency "quickly" and efficiently. One of the tricks is to learn these 625 vocab words in your target language, that way you have a basis to start delving into grammar with ease as you can understand a lot of vocab right off the bat. Plus this list of words are common across the world and will aid you in whatever language you are learning. Here is the list in thematic order

• Animal: dog, cat, fish, bird, cow, pig, mouse, horse, wing, animal

• Transportation: train, plane, car, truck, bicycle, bus, boat, ship, tire, gasoline, engine, (train) ticket, transportation

• Location: city, house, apartment, street/road, airport, train station, bridge hotel, restaurant, farm, court, school, office, room, town, university, club, bar, park, camp, store/shop, theater, library, hospital, church, market, country (USA,

France, etc.), building, ground, space (outer space), bank, location

• Clothing: hat, dress, suit, skirt, shirt, T-shirt, pants, shoes, pocket, coat, stain, clothing

• Color: red, green, blue (light/dark), yellow, brown, pink, orange, black, white, gray, color

• People: son, daughter, mother, father, parent (= mother/father), baby, man, woman, brother, sister, family, grandfather, grandmother, husband, wife, king, queen, president, neighbor, boy, girl, child (= boy/girl), adult (= man/woman), human (# animal), friend (Add a friend's name), victim, player, fan, crowd, person

• Job: Teacher, student, lawyer, doctor, patient, waiter, secretary, priest, police, army, soldier, artist, author, manager, reporter, actor, job

• Society: religion, heaven, hell, death, medicine, money, dollar, bill, marriage, wedding, team, race (ethnicity), sex (the act), sex (gender), murder, prison, technology, energy, war, peace, attack, election, magazine, newspaper, poison, gun, sport, race (sport), exercise, ball, game, price, contract, drug, sign, science, God

• Art. band, song, instrument (musical), music, movie, art

• Beverages: coffee, tea, wine, beer, juice, water, milk, beverage

• Food: egg, cheese, bread, soup, cake, chicken, pork, beef, apple, banana orange, lemon, corn, rice, oil, seed, knife, spoon, fork, plate, cup, breakfast, lunch, dinner, sugar, salt, bottle, food

• Home: table, chair, bed, dream, window, door, bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, pencil, pen, photograph, soap, book, page, key, paint, letter, note, wall, paper, floor, ceiling, roof, pool, lock, telephone, garden, yard, needle, bag, box, gift, card, ring, tool

• Electronics: clock, lamp, fan, cell phone, network, computer, program (computer), laptop, screen, camera, television, radio

• Body: head, neck, face, beard, hair, eye, mouth, lip, nose, tooth, ear, tear (drop), tongue, back, toe, finger, foot, hand, leg, arm, shoulder, heart, blood, brain, knee, sweat, disease, bone, voice, skin, body

• Nature: sea, ocean, river, mountain, rain, snow, tree, sun, moon, world, Earth, forest, sky, plant, wind, soil/earth, flower, valley, root, lake, star, grass, leaf, air, sand, beach, wave, fire, ice, island, hill, heat, nature

• Materials: glass, metal, plastic, wood, stone, diamond, clay, dust, gold, copper, silver, material

• Math/Measurements: meter, centimeter, kilogram, inch, foot, pound, half, circle, square, temperature, date, weight, edge, corner

• Misc Nouns: map, dot, consonant, vowel, light, sound, yes, no, piece, pain, injury, hole, image, pattern, noun, verb, adjective

• Directions: top, bottom, side, front, back, outside, inside, up, down, left, right, straight, north, south, east, west, direction

• Seasons: Summer, Spring, Winter, Fall, season

• Numbers: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 21, 22, 30, 31, 32, 40, 41, 42, 50, 51, 52, 60, 61, 62, 70, 71, 72, 80, 81, 82, 90, 91, 92, 100, 101, 102, 110, 111, 1000, 1001, 10000, 100000, million, billion, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, number

• Months: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

• Days of the week: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday

• Time: year, month, week, day, hour, minute, second, morning, afternoon, evening, night, time

• Verbs: work, play, walk, run, drive, fly, swim, go, stop, follow, think, speak/say, eat, drink, kill, die, smile, laugh, cry, buy, pay, sell, shoot(a gun), learn, jump, smell, hear (a sound), listen (music), taste, touch, see (a bird), watch (TV), kiss, burn, melt, dig, explode, sit, stand, love, pass by, cut, fight, lie down, dance, sleep, wake up, sing, count, marry, pray, win, lose, mix/stir, bend, wash, cook, open, close, write, call, turn, build, teach, grow, draw, feed, catch, throw, clean, find, fall, push, pull, carry, break, wear, hang, shake, sign, beat, lift

• Adjectives: long, short (long), tall, short (vs tall), wide, narrow, big/large, small/little, slow, fast, hot, cold, warm, cool, new, old (new), young, old (young), weak, dead, alive, heavy, light (heavy), dark, light (dark), nuclear, famous

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for not showing my mom her mail from a government agency?

(submitted march 10th) ✉️🧑‍🦽

i (27nb) live with my parents (50s M+F) and am disabled. due to my disabilities, i have been trying to get on SSI (disability income in the USA). this process takes an extremely long time (i started it last april, 2023, and have still yet to get a verdict) and they check medical records as well as school/work records AND ask for references who know how your disability affects your personal life.

i don't really have anyone other than my parents to act as my references, so i put down my mom as my reference. now, mom knows about my disability and how it affects me, but she refuses to believe it's as bad as it is, and wants me to get a job, even though i can't leave the house most days. she gets annoyed/angry with me when i have to use my cane or other accessibility aids and also makes me do the most chores around the house. this is all the background info.

a couple weeks ago, towards the end of february, mom and i both got letters from social security. i opened mine quickly and responded, and saw hers, but decided not to mention it. after all, when we bring in the mail, we put it all in one place, and mom and dad go through it and deal with the important stuff. the day after the letters came i saw that the disability one had been moved to mom's desk with another important looking letter (looks like some insurance thing), presumably so mom would remember to take care of them later. then she just... never did.

it's been like two weeks. despite how long the process takes, social security DEMAND that you answer them within a few days of receiving their letter, or they'll move forward in their process without a response from you. so the window for mom to answer this letter has almost definitely passed. i never brought it up to her, because 1. i assumed she had seen it and just never gotten back to it, and 2. i thought that her testimony as my "reference" might actually hurt my chances of getting on disability.

reasons i might be TA:

this is mail from a government agency, which is objectively pretty important.

the other important looking letter on top of the disability one hasn't been dealt with either, which might also be time-sensitive.

i'm assuming that my mother wouldn't provide helpful testimony for my case, when she actually might.

reasons i might be NTA(/NAH):

i have very good reasons to believe mom would say my disability isn't as bad as it is, and potentially hurt my case.

she saw the letter and moved it somewhere to deal with later, i didn't hide it from her. she just forgot and i (deliberately) didn't remind her.

social security has mom's phone number too. if they desperately need to speak with her, they can call her (they've called me before in addition to sending letters, so i know this is Something They Do and not just a hypothetical "they could").

by the time this gets spit out of the Processing Vortex™ it's gonna be waaaaaaay too late for the letter(s) to be answered, so this isn't a question of "should i tell her about it?", just "was i a dick for this?"

What are these acronyms?

[deansapplepie]

Inherited | Chapter 1

Summary: You go back home after a long time being far away, unfortunately you’re back for your dad’s funeral. In the middle of the grieving, you re-encounter old friends and also needs to deal with unsolved things from the past.

Warnings: death, mentions of horse accident (not very detailed, but detailed enough for you to imagine), funeral, mentions of corpse, grieving, kinda angsty.

Pairing: Daryl Dixon x f! Reader

Word count: 3,241

A/N: English isn’t my first language so it can have mistakes. Also, I have no knowledge about funerals in USA, so this is basically based on what I see on the movies and what I know from my own culture.

Series Masterlist

Main Masterlist

Chapter 2

Chapter 1: Way back home

Of the reasons you’d come back to the only place you called home, you didn’t expect this to be the one. It was 2 am when you received a call from your dad’s best friend, Hershel, your father was involved in an accident with a new horse. Apparently, he fell from it, hit his head and was trampled by the horse. Daryl Dixon worked for your father and was the one that aided him at the time, unfortunately it wasn’t enough. He was too injured and died that night in the hospital.

You took the first flight back home in Georgia and now you were in the passenger seat of your best friend’s car. You observed the road, the trees and fences passing, you loved these lands and you’d ha e done everything for life have allowed you to be more time here, to be with your dad… You never imagined you’d not be there when he died, not that you imagined he dying a lot, but you expected him to die of age and for you to be the one taking care of him during his last days. A tear fell from your eye descending your cheek and you simply wiped it away.

“It’s ok to cry, you know?” Maggie said from the driver sit, she didn’t understand why you were trying to put the tough act, and it worried her. “We’re talking ‘bout your dad.”

“I don’t wanna cry…” you said, partly you felt guilty you were not there for him, the person that was with him during his last moments was a man that wasn’t even his son, and you, his daughter were miles away. You felt you didn’t have the right to shed tears for your daddy, even though you had already cried a river when you received the news, on the way to the airport , at the airport, in the plane…

It wasn’t your fault all this distance from your father, the only guilt was life, you guessed. Your parents divorced when you were eight, and your guardianship stayed with your mom. There would have no problem, if she stayed around town or bought a house near his farm, but she didn’t. She wanted a new life, and you couldn’t blame her… well, not now… at the time you didn’t understand it very well.

You moved to New York with your mother, a too big city for your standards. You were used to a small city where you knew everyone and everyone knew you, not the cold big jungle that NY was. It was very difficult adjusting, you hated school… The other kids made fun of you because of your accent and criticized your clothes that wasn’t the style kids of the big city used. You just wanted to go back to King County and go to school with Maggie and Daryl, they were your best friends and you hated life without them. Many and many times you called your dad, without your mom knowing asking for him to take you home and he always told you “I can’t darling, you need to be with your mom.”, he always told your mom afterwards, because you didn’t tell her all that happened at school afraid she would be upset.

Every Summer you’d come back to the farm and spend the whole summer break with your dad, taking care of the farm, treating the animals and venturing in any crazy adventure Daryl or Maggie came up with, sometimes both of them. It was perfect all those times, until your last summer before college… After that, things didn’t really went as you wanted them to.

Soon you could see the place that was going to be forever home for you, the house in the background, the new barn, the old barn… The cows and horses on the field, you could also see many cars, not too many… but the ones you could see were probably from friends, neighbors and the little family that had already arrived. Soon, Maggie parked close to the house and both of you got off the car. Some people were on the porch and they looked at you with pity. Some gave you judgmental looks, because you were never around in the last years, most of them didn’t know you still talked with your dad everyday, or at least 3 times a week when you were very busy. You took your hand baggage from the back seat and made your way to the house, Maggie by your side.

When you were going to start going up the stairs, there he was coming in your direction… not your direction, he was probably coming for Maggie. Daryl Dixon was still handsome, well this was something that wasn’t probably going to change, his hair was longer than last time you saw him, it was an accident... You and your dad were facetiming, he didn’t know and came to talk to your dad creating a very weird situation. He was all in black, and you had just forgotten, how good he looked in this color. He went straight to Maggie’s embrace, you imagined they probably hadn’t seen each other yet. They hugged pretty tight he said something to her that you couldn’t listen and she was also telling words of comfort to him while she caressed his back.

As soon as they parted from their hug, he looked at you and extended his hand. “I’m sorry for your loss.” He said, it was honest, but in the same time it was very distant.

You took his hand in yours and replied. “I’m sorry for yours too, he loved you like a son.” And you stopped there, unable to say anything else or do anything else. In pain because of your loss, and also, because Daryl and you had messed everything up, and both of you were hurt and didn’t know how to fix it.

Before the uncomfortable silence could get even worse, Gleen, Maggie’s husband, showed up hugging you. You had been to their wedding and they had visited you in NY some times. “I’m so sorry, Y/N..” You hugged him back, grateful for him being there. “Give me your baggage, I’m gonna take it inside.”

“Ask Beth where is Y/N’s room. She’ll show you.” Maggie instructed her husband, and then took your hand. “Let’s come in.”

Along the way people came to give you their condolences, some would hug you, others just give you a handshake… and despite you didn’t really wanting to see anyone, you had to face all those people, because it was your dad’s funeral. First, you’d receive people at your home to see him, tell their goodbyes… The next day, you’d head to the church with him, and the last thing, you’d burry him.

“The funerary brought him just some minutes before ya arrived, he’s in the living room. We thought it would be the best place.” Suddenly Daryl spoke by your side, but he didn’t look at you. He felt like he should give you the information, he could always tell Maggie, but it wouldn’t be very correct of him to ignore you completely during this day.

“Thank you.” You said walking in the direction of the living room. You weren’t prepared to see your dad in a coffin, you’d never be prepared for it, but it was inevitable. When you got to the living room there it was, the coffin with your dad inside, but it was closed. There was some flowers around decorating. “Wh-why is it closed?” you asked.

“I think it’s better this way.” He told you, a hand on top of the coffin just as if he wanted to prevent you from opening it. “When it arrived, I opened and I can assure it’s him.”

“He’s my dad.” You were a little offended, maybe it was your grieving, how could Daryl decide if it stays open or closed, was he like a son to your dad? Yes, but you were his daughter. “You can’t make this decision all by yourself and didn’t let me see him.” Your southern drawl appearing a little, you had forced yourself to mask your accent after some time in NY, but when you were nervous or angry… You couldn’t handle it.

“He was trampled by a horse, his face… they did a make up and all, but it’s still not pleasant. Nobody should see him like this, and I think it’s better if ya don’t.” He said, hand still preventing you from opening it. “If ya don’t believe, ask Hershel, he also saw him. Or open it and see by yerself, I don’t care, I was trying to be nice.”

“Daryl…” Maggie warned, reprehended him.

You got closer to the coffin and put your hands on the top of it. Daryl distanced himself and waited for you to open it, or not. You hesitated for a long time, but opted to not open it, if he wasn’t looking like himself… you’d rather remember of him like he was.

During the day, many people came, but they went very fast too. It was the middle of the afternoon, you were sitting on a couch. Beth was hugging you, you hold one of her hands and your head was on her shoulder. Beth was a sweet girl, she was Maggie’s younger sister and was also like a younger sister to you. You all grew together, you even called Hershel an uncle. You heard a door opening in the distance and two pairs of feet walking in the direction of where you were.

You looked at the door and Daryl appeared followed by Aaron, your friend since university and also the closest friend you had back at NY. Immediately you got up and ran to him, he hugged you tightly and you hugged him back.

“I came as soon as I read your message, you should have called me. I could have come with you. You shouldn’t be alone in a time like this.” He kissed your temple and caressed your cheeks, in the other side of the living room Daryl almost rolled his eyes. ‘Really, be all lovely with this dumbass on her father’s funeral’, he thought. Anyone, that didn’t know Aaron and you well, would think you two were a couple, the way you treated each other, how you interacted… Little did they know Aaron was gay, and actually married with a sweet man called Eric. “Eric is coming as soon as he can, he has some things to solve at his office.”

“Really? I love you.” You said hugging him one more time.

Later that day others came, like Rick, his wife Michonne and a woman named Carol, you knew she moved some years ago to a small cottage with her daughter Sophia, but it wasn’t so long ago and you didn’t know her, but you thought it was sweet that she came to give you her condolences and to say her goodbyes to your dad. With the night approaching people stopped coming, leaving only Daryl, Aaron, a distant cousin from your dad and you at the big house. You had dinner and you showed Aaron a room where he could stay, you told him you where going to rest, but you didn’t want to.

You went downstairs, the house was dark except for the flickering light of the candles from the room where your father was. Your cousin was long gone in his room, he was a distant cousin about the age of your father, so having more age he’d sleep early. Daryl was probably in his room in the basement, he lived there since his teenager years, since last time you knew his brother went to jail and he couldn’t take his father shit anymore. Your father took he in, he already passed most of his time in the farm, working and helping since young age, so why not live there? When he was little he would make just little chores, you father saw the situation of his family and didn’t want him to end up like Merle, so after school he’d always come and do small chores, when you were still around you’d make your homework together and your father would help you.

You sat on the couch in the living room, you were exhausted, but couldn’t dare to sleep. It could be silly, but you didn’t want to let your dad alone. “Daddy, I’m sorry.” You sobbed, even though you were always in touch, it wasn’t the same of having you here with him. “I should have come last Christmas. I’m sorry.” Now, that you were alone, you felt like you could cry and express your emotions, you tried to not cry all day, afraid of people judgment, apparently many people thought you didn’t have the right to be sad or to even be there with your father, they could not tell you that directly, but you could hear parts of their whispers and see it in their eyes.

“Ya should sleep, tomorrow is gonna be a tough day. Too late for apologies, don’t ya think?” Daryl was leaning on the doorway, arms crossed.

“This isn’t a good time to be an ass Dixon.” You looked at him, how could your best friend become someone so unfriendly? “I’m not leaving my dad alone.”

“Hmm… like ya did all those years? Interesting…” why was he being such a dick, he didn’t even respect your dad that was in the coffin next to you.

“You should go to sleep, there’s probably more than 24 hours that you don’t sleep.” He didn’t told you, but you knew him and you knew he wouldn’t rest or sleep until all of this all over.

“I also dun wanna live him alone.” He simply answered.

He walked to the couch and sat in the other extreme from where you were sitting. Silence heavy on the room. You phone beeped and you took It to see that just now your mom had answered your message, the message you sent in the dawn before you left your home to the airport.

Mom: I’m sorry sweetie. I wish I could go, but Phil’s in a business trip and I can’t leave his bird alone.

“Just say you don’t care about your ex’s funeral, it would be more honest than making a lame excuse.” You talked to yourself, forgetting the man sitting besides you.

You didn’t bother answering her. Instead, you decided to make some prayers for your dad, this was the correct thing to do, not to stress about the lack of support from your mom, or Daryl being an asshole in front of your deceased father.

When you woke up, you were laying in the sofa, cushion under your head like pillow and a thin cover over you. You didn’t remember when you fell asleep, and didn’t even remember someone giving you a cushion or a cover. The only person around was Daryl… but no, it couldn’t be him. Could?

You sat on the couch and rubbed your eyes, when you stopped rubbing them you saw Aaron at the door. “I was just going to wake you up. Good morning Sleeping Beauty.” He said coming to you. “Go clean yourself and change your clothes. We need to take breakfast and head to the church.”

“Ok, I’m going… don’t need to boss me around.”

When you got downstairs to have breakfast, they had already took your father to the church. You ate as fast as you could. You had thought about getting your dad old pick up truck to go, but when you and Aaron got outside, Maggie and Glenn were waiting for you.

“You didn’t need to, I was going to take the truck.” You said once you were already inside the car.

“I wouldn’t let my girl drive in a day like this.” Maggie said her hand reaching you behind her seat and squeezing your leg.

“My girl, you mean.” Aaron joked, since he met Maggie they had this joke between them about who do you belong to.

At the Church the priest did a beautiful ceremony, you were called to say some words which you did with much difficulty and bursted into tears in the middle of it, having Maggie coming to your aid and taking you back to your sit. Then, Daryl was the one that spoke, everyone knew your father’s affection towards him. He was short and objective, he didn’t want to get emotional, but he said beautiful things. Afterwards, you all went to the cemetery to bury your father. When it all ended you were exhausted and wanted to just go home, cry your soul, maybe cuddle with Aaron while you waited for Eric to arrive… But that wasn’t heaven’s or even your dad’s plans.

When you stepped out of the car back in the farm, a beautiful woman, with long black hair approached you.

“Miss Y/L/N, I’m sorry for your loss. I’m Yumiko. I’m your father’s lawyer, and I need to talk to you and Mr. Dixon.” She said offering her hand to shake.

“Ugh… thanks. Do we really need to have this conversation today?” You asked.

“Unfortunately, yes. That was one of your father’s requests when he made his testament.” She said, why did he even need a testament? You were an only child.

“Ok, let’s get inside. Dixon must be somewhere in the house.” You said walking to the entrance.

You sat at the office with Yumiko and Daryl, she got all the documents from her briefcase and then started. “Mr. Y/L/N, left half of his belongings to his daughter Miss Y/N Y/L/N and Mr. Daryl Dixon, he divided everything in equal parts for both of you.”

“I dun wanna anything, ya can pass my part to her.” He said quickly, didn’t even stop to think. Having to share things with you? That was the last thing he wanted and he lived, worked and spent time with your father because he loved him and not because he wanted his belongings or anything.

“There’s one observation about Mr. Y/L/N’s testament, if any of you don’t want or can’t come to an agreement about this. Everything should be inherited by Mr. Negan Smith his nephew.” When Yumiko finished talking you both looked at each other and it was as if you had a conversation in your minds.

“We agree, both of us, right Daryl?” You said without looking from Daryl.

“Yes, we agree.” He said. He thought it would be all kinds of messed up this agreement, but he also knew neither of you liked Negan and you would both hate to see this property in his hands.

[macgyvermedical]

Hi! I saw your post about the NCCC. Can you tell me a little bit more about what it was like? And maybe some certifications or skils I might want to have before applying that would help me be a shoe in? In a year or two I'd like to leave where I am and travel, and then maybe settle down somewhere else after, and this seems like a good way to go about that and simultaneously chase my interests and find things I enjoy. Basically- I've got time to build skills before I want to apply, and I think it'd be a great fit for me, so I'm just curious about any and all information that would help me be more informed and prepared.

What it's like: (note that I served in 2018, so some of this may be outdated information)

Once you're accepted, they place you at one of 4 campuses throughout the USA. You get a duffel bag mailed to you (anything you bring with you has to fit in this duffel) and a plane or train ticket emailed to you. You have to take that plane or train to the campus, because they pick you up in a bus or van from the airport or station.

Once you get to campus, you go through "in-processing" where you get your uniforms, gear, and PPE, get assigned a room and/or bunk, and meet your instructors for training. If you're a Corps Member, you are also assigned a team and meet your Team Leader at this time (though some campuses do this later in training).

Training lasts about 2 months for Team Leaders and about 1 month for Corps Members. You are with the same cohort (called a "Class") for your whole service term, including training. Training includes how to get along as a team, physical training to ensure you're physically capable of the work demanded of you, and specific training on things like how to drive the van, how to use certain tools and PPE, and how to do any tasks associated with your particular role on the team.

Towards the end of training you go on a 1-2 day mini project, where you go through all the motions of a real project (called a "spike"), except that it's really near by campus and it's pretty much for practice.

Then you go on your first real spike. Depending on where it is and what time of year it is, you might live in a tent, in a dorm, in a half-built house, or any remotely suitable housing supplied by the hosting organization. We lived in a conference room once, and once in an old nursing home wing that wasn't being used.

Food is handled by giving a lump sum of money on a card to the team, and you have to figure out grocery shopping and cooking as a team. This is a challenge, but one that usually works out.

For transportation, the team has one 15-passenger van. Gas is paid for by NCCC. If you have a project that requires a lot of tools, you may have a pickup truck too, but this is rare, and you're not allowed to use it for anything other than project reasons. You keep a log of every time you use the van or truck, for any reason, and there is a 25-mile radius from housing that you're allowed to go.

Spikes are between 3-8 weeks long and you do 4-7 of them during a service term. In between you have "transition" where you go back to campus, debrief from your previous project, brief and train for your next project, and catch up with everyone else. At the end of the service term, you have a final debrief, have a life after americorps meeting, learn job skills like writing a resume, etc... and get your plane ticket home.

What you should do to get prepared:

You don't need certifications. If you need to know something for a project they will train you. If you want something I'd say get First Aid or Wilderness First Aid. Getting a little job experience and a lot of volunteer experience will help you a lot more.

[thegreenleavesofspring]

By the way, when I say that the American church has FAILED, this is what I'm talking about:

The email I sent to Focus on the Family a couple weeks ago, identifying information redacted:

Hello,

My name is [redacted] and I followed a link to one of your website's articles - about Biblical discipline - and saw the massive donation solicitation banner at the top of the website, saying any donations would go to families in need.

My mother is very much in need.

She is 61 and severely disabled, mentally and physically. In 2016 she had a stroke, which type has a 70% death rate and of the remaining 30%, the vast majority never recover any cognitive or physical function. She is a medical outlier in that she recovered both - through odds so astronomical it is a blatant miracle she survived at all - to some degree. But now her cognitive abilities are declining, as well as her mobility and eyesight: she is effectively 100% disabled.

She is also currently undergoing an eviction since she can no longer pay rent. She had planned to move into her car, but earlier this week it had an oil/engine failure that will require about $7,000 of work to repair. Her insurance would pay for it, save that she has a $1,000 deductible she cannot afford.

She gets $914 a month in disability.

I am a single mother of three boys five and under; my husband has walked out on us and does not pay child support and I cannot get any legal division to enforce it. I make $1,000 a month, and also do not own a car or have any sort of transportation. I order her groceries online and try to get small expenses for her when I can, and that is the most aid I am currently able to offer.

Right now she just needs her car repaired. But we do not have $1,000 for that deductible.

We have spent weeks calling every phone number and resource in the area and even the state. The churches send us to the government, the government sends us to the NGOs, the NGOs send us to the churches. No one helps.

Your website claims you help families. I looked under the "get help" tab and found nothing of any use, hence this email.

Will you help my family?

Sincerely,

~~~~

I got this in return:

Dear [Redacted],

Thank you for writing to Focus on the Family. Your willingness to share your concerns means a lot to us, and we want you to know we care about you, your dear mother, and your children. 

Our hearts are heavy after reading about the serious financial problems your disabled mother is facing right now. We’re especially concerned to hear that her car has broken down and she has no place to call home. Though we realize you’ve already asked for assistance from churches and a number of organizations, we recommend you contact the Salvation Army. You can visit their website at: Salvation Army: Housing and Homeless Services. We’d also like to mention three more online sources of information: National Coalition for the Homeless,  2-1-1 Get Help,  Catholic Charities USA. We can’t guarantee that they will be able to provide the help you need, nor can we say with certainty that they consistently uphold Christian values and ethics. Nevertheless, we think it would be worthwhile to find out what services are available. Please note that our mentioning these organizations should not be taken as an endorsement by our ministry.

Be assured we’re praying for the Lord to comfort your mother, provide for her many needs, and lead her to a safe place to live. We’re also asking God to surround you and your three young sons with caring people who will offer their support and help you in practical ways. 

Along with praying for you, we invite you to call the Christian counselors on our staff if you think it might be helpful to discuss your concerns with caring professionals. They might be able to offer additional suggestions and useful referral information. To reach them, please call 1-855-771-HELP (4357) any weekday between 6:00 A.M. and 8:00 P.M. (MT). Someone on our staff will ask for your name and phone number in order to arrange for a counselor to return your call as soon as they’re able. This service is available at no cost to you.

[Redacted], we understand you contacted our ministry because you saw a banner on our website indicating that all donations to our ministry are used to help families in need.  In order to provide clarification, we need to explain that the purpose of our ministry is to respond to the spiritual, emotional, and psychological needs of individuals and families. We do this by praying, providing books and other resources, airing broadcasts that address the serious issues many people face, and offering one free consultation with a professional Christian counselor on our staff. The financial contributions we receive are used to accomplish these objectives.

While it’s true that our ministry has been privileged on occasion to provide financial assistance to those experiencing hardships, our capacity to do this is limited as we are primarily a media ministry. Unfortunately, as much as we would like to, we’re not always able to offer monetary aid to the many individuals and families whose needs are brought to our attention. We’re so sorry to disappoint you.

Thanks again for writing to us, [Redacted]. God bless you and your loved ones, and may He always be the strength of your heart and your refuge.

[Redacted]

Focus on the Family

~~~~

I'll hand it to the Catholics. They do try. But their assistance is focused primarily on Catholics - quite understandable - and within their own parishes - equally understandable.

You might as well ask a brick wall for help as any Protestant church. Actually the brick wall probably at least won't - more or less literally - slam a door in your face.

I know good and well that my mother, my family, is not the only one in such dire straits. There is nowhere to turn - least of all our 'brothers' and 'sisters'.

One of these days the leaders of all these churches - these vastly wealthy mega churches and the haughty local churches and all of them - are going to have to answer to Christ about all the blood on their hands of their own people they left to starve and freeze and die in the streets.

(I'd bet good money - if I had any - that they'll have the money to put on a Christmas pageant this year.)

[hells-greatestdad]

// Kas' hot take post for Munday touches on a subject I'm quite familiar with lol

You've unlocked my special interest unskippable dialogue!!

Emotional support animals are not the same as service dogs under USA, ADA law!!! (ADA is Americans with Disabilities Act)

A service dog is a highly trained and well behaved dog that performs at least 2 tasks in aid your disability. (Legally speaking, that is the definition.) They have public access rights. Restaurants, stores, etc are required to allow them inside with you. The dog can be through an organization or owner trained.

An ESA though, is about housing rights. You have a condition of some sort that means you need an animal for your own comfort and mental stability-- so you can request your doctor prescribe your animal as an ESA. And with this, you are supposed to be able to keep your ESA without paying extra housing fees.

As an autistic person with multiple diagnosed mental illnesses, I would be eligible for an ESA. And I actually do need one, but at present, I live with my mom and don't yet need that legal protection for my cat. (I very well probably will in the future, if I move out or something happens to my mom.)

SDs: have legal public access rights. You can take your SD with you virtually anywhere by law

ESAs: do not have public access rights. Businesses legally do not have to let them in!!

Businesses can legally ask 2 questions: (1) is it a service dog and (2) is it trained to aid with a disability

But a lot of people fall for online scams that claim to "certify" your pet as an SD or ESA. And that's a large part of what drives this bullshit

[adrianicsea]

HELP MARK PATTON COVER HIS MEDICAL BILLS!!!

(originally posted january 13th, 2023)

mark patton, an actor and lgbtq+ activist best known for playing jesse in a nightmare on elm street 2, has been hospitalized for complications relating to HIV/AIDS, and his agent has put up a gofundme to help raise the money to get patton to better hospital facilities.

anyone who’s familiar with the elm street movies or mark patton’s history can tell you that he’s had a very rough go of it; after being outed against his wishes in the aftermath of elm street 2’s release, his fledgling career was tanked, and he proceeded to lose many friends and loved ones throughout the AIDS crisis. patton himself contracted HIV and retired quietly to mexico in the late 90s, where he lived in obscurity until a critical and fan re-evaluation of elm street 2 took place in the mid 2010s.

patton has since re-emerged to the convention circuit, where he raises awareness for lgbtq+ people and for HIV/AIDS. he’s a very important queer horror icon, and one who’s very dear to me personally as well. i know i have a pretty decent following of horror fans, so i hope that if any of you have the money to spare, you’ll consider donating to him. even if you can’t, i hope that you’ll share this post!

full gofundme text/description, written by patton’s agent/manager peter valderrama:

[id: three screenshots of a gofundme description. it reads:

Hey guys! This Peter Valderrama, posting for Mark. I have urgent statements here from and about Mark Patton I appreciate if everyone reads carefully I know it is a bit long but it is a serious matter If you can help or share in anyway it is appreciated very much. As Mark Pattons manager, I've been asked on his behalf to help post this Information and get this statement to be seen!

As his fans know very well, Mark takes his events very seriously and values any opportunity to meet with them in person- especially after the last few years with covid seriously crippling those opportunities.,

Mark was truly looking forward to this show for quite some time but sadly his health has taken a drastic turn for the worse.

He has been ill for quite some time now- originally it was thought to be aftershocks of covid and some hefty infections that could potentially be tackled with care and rest. But now it is quite clearly AIDS related ailments that he is managing.

He has been quiet for his own privacy but with the cancellation of his events at the musicbox theater and horror house shop he has decided to release his news in the hopes that his community could help him.

Mark is currently in a Mexican hospital where they speak very little English- and they are completely overcome with covid cases there.. He needs to be transported to an American hospital down there where he can be receive more specialized care in a safer setting. For this, we humbly need to ask for help.

Mark himself has asked in a statement below that we share his current news and ask everyone in the horror community to please help with his fundraiser in any way that they can.

"Basically I am asking for help I will not be embarrassed…. I just want to be healthy and at home with family.

I need to move to American Hospital in Mexico where they can give me the treatment i desperately need.

The American Hospital is $300 dollars a day with nurses, doctors and meds. The Mexican hospital are overwhelmed with Covid and I am too compromised to remain here.

I feel very stupid for being overly optimistic. I thought I would be flying to Chicago today but I promise that when I am well enough to fly to USA I will.

I have faced these medical challenges before and I know I have a lot of fight left in me- but the last few years have been crippling for me financially. I have always lived Month to month and I have been struggling with medical visits since October.

If anyone is able to contribute it would mean a life saving option for me to be recovering in a place that can cater to my condition.

Thank you all

Love,

Mark"

end id]

[mostlysignssomeportents]

This day in history

#15yrsago Best practices for economic collapse: Long Now talk https://cluborlov.blogspot.com/2009/02/social-collapse-best-practices.html

#10yrsago San Francisco police beat up and detain Good Samaritans who call 911 and perform first aid on accident victim https://medium.com/indian-thoughts/good-samaritan-backfire-9f53ef6a1c10

#10yrsago Dems appoints RIAA’s man in Congress to House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet https://www.techdirt.com/2014/02/12/another-friend-recording-industry-joins-house-subcommittee-courts-intellectual-property-internet/

#10yrsago Senator Rand Paul sues US government over NSA spying https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/02/us-senator-sues-president-obama-to-stop-nsa-metadata-dragnet/

#5yrsago Who can forget those scenes in Count Zero where they all stand around eating soup? https://memex.craphound.com/2019/02/14/who-can-forget-those-scenes-in-count-zero-where-they-all-stand-around-eating-soup/

#5yrsago Bossfight: Allstate Insurance enters the Right to Repair fight, loans its lobbyists to fight Apple https://www.vice.com/en/article/nex3dz/insurance-giant-allstate-buys-icracked-phone-repair-company-joins-right-to-repair-movement

#5yrsago Installing a root certificate should be MUCH scarier https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/02/powerful-permissions-wimpy-warnings

#5yrsago Ex-NSA whistleblower says she and other US ex-spooks targeted Americans on behalf of UAE https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-spying-raven/

#5yrsago LA Times demands that reporters sign away rights to books, movies and other works they create while working at the paper https://latguild.com/news/2019/2/12/press-release-los-angeles-times-guild-pushes-back-against-managements-proposed-intellectual-property-policy

#5yrsago Even without explicit collusion, pricing algorithms converge on price-fixing strategies https://cepr.org/voxeu/columns/artificial-intelligence-algorithmic-pricing-and-collusion

#5yrsago Most adults are incapable of understanding most online terms of service https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3313837

#5yrsago How Epson’s patent trolling is killing the EU market for replacement ink https://www.openrightsgroup.org/blog/patently-unfair-epson-takedowns-continue/

#5yrsago The Final Version of the EU’s Copyright Directive Is the Worst One Yet https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/02/final-version-eus-copyright-directive-worst-one-yet

#5yrsago Beyond GIGO: how “predictive policing” launders racism, corruption and bias to make them seem empirical https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3333423

#1yrago Nathan J. Robinson's "Responding to the Right: Brief Replies to 25 Conservative Arguments" https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/14/nathan-robinson/#arguendo

[phoenixyfriend]

Calls for Action, Call Your Reps: 2/26/24

This is USA-specific, as that is the place I live and know.

Find your elected officials.

As usual, most of my information on what bills are on the floor comes from GovTrack. I am including some suggested listening/reading (you can find text versions if you google the title and 'transcript') at the bottom of the post. I am also including a current event that is likely to be a very powerful argument, with the right politicians. The event is prefaced with a red warning tag, and followed by event-specific verbiage.

Suggested verbiage and strategies for calling your elected officials.

GovTrack has said that there are still no votes scheduled, in this blog post from Friday: What's Next for Congress? (Feb 23, 2024)

In practice, that appears to mean that they are arguing over the budget to avoid yet another government shutdown. Given that the delays to the budget so far have been tied directly to the Israel/Ukraine/Taiwan military funding and Southern border.

Use this time to call their offices and tell them to vote the way you want them to.

The most immediate and pressing issue at this moment is the famine in Gaza. Widely reported today is that a two-month-old boy recently died of starvation, and the World Health Organization is declaring that it has become famine and a mass starvation event, no longer just a threat of one.

At this time, the three greatest factors in that famine are:

Israeli bombardment (destruction of existing food stores and farming land)

Israeli blockades of the Egyptian border into Gaza, preventing aid trucks from places like the US from reaching people

The cessation of funding to UNRWA, which has been the lifeline to Palestinian civilians for decades, and is currently the best and possibly only chance to save the one and a half million dying civilians

This information is being reported by the WHO, UNRWA itself, UNICEF, and more, along with journalists that are in Gaza at this time.

The other issue, more domestically, is the rising tide of concern for US Reproductive Rights stemming from the IVF ruling in Alabama.

Both House and Senate:

Reinstate funding for UNRWA. While the claims made by Israel that employees of the relief agency were involved in Oct. 7th are troubling, THEY are not well supported, and western officials did not do their duty in investigating the claims before cutting funding. This arm of the UN is currently providing food, water, shelter, and medical care to the 2.3 million displaced peoples of Gaza. It is especially disturbing and concerning that the many children of Gaza, who are already suffering due to this conflict, are now having this support revoked. Many sources are also claiming that the evidence is flimsy at best.

Urge both Senate and House to refrain from funding Israel, or to at least put some strings on it. The IDF cannot be given funding without some regulations on what they can do with it. They have proven that they are unwilling to take steps to protect civilians.

Sanctions must also be placed on Israel for its continued impediment of aid intended for Gazans, including aid from the US.

Urge for the US to stop vetoing ceasefire demands in the UN. No, the suggested replacement written by the US is not an excuse.

Not directly related to Gaza: It looks like they’re gearing up for another push at KOSA. The canned email responses I’m getting are really proud of being in support of KOSA, which is… bad. It is also bad for people outside the US, including Palestine, apparently. VOTE NAY.

Not related to Gaza: Alabama's recent court decision has put IVF services in danger in the state, with multiple fertility clinics halting all related services for any pregnancy that is not yet in progress; there were implantation appointments for last week that were canceled with no knowledge of when they might be greenlit. Push for full spectrum reproductive rights protection (fertility services, family planning, birth control, abortion, and more), and if you have a pro-lifer as your elected official, cite the Alabama ruling as a cause for concern of how the lack of codified reproductive rights protection can impact even those who do want children.

FOR THE SENATE: Urge your senator to put their support behind Bernie Sanders and his motion to restrict funding to Israel until a humanitarian review of the IDF’s actions in Gaza has been completed. Cite it as Senate Resolution 504 if your Senator is right-wing enough to react negatively to the mention of Sanders by name. NOTE: This resolution was TABLED by the Senate on 1/16, but it is being brought back in as conditions continue to escalate.

Passed in the House recently, so bother your senators about it, is H.R. 3016: IGO Anti-Boycott Act. Vote Nay. This appears to be intended to force US companies to do business with US allies instead of participating in boycotts. This appears, to me, to be an attack on movements like BDS. To Dem Reps, argue that this refuses the right of peaceful protest to US citizens. To Republican Reps, argue that this is a dangerous government overreach and that it is not the right of the government to force US citizens to purchase products and materials from specific foreign partners.

FOR THE HOUSE: Recommend that they support House Resolution 786, introduced by Rep. Cori Bush, Calling for an immediate deescalation and cease-fire in Israel and occupied Palestine. ALTERNATELY: Urge your representative to put their support behind Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s petition for the US government to recognize the IDF’s actions in Gaza as ethnic cleansing and forced displacement, and put a stop to it.

Alright, now the current big news story.

Warning: Self-harm, public suicide.

I will preface this with an explanation of a recent event.

The big American news of this week that is being talked about on all political news sources, from BBC to NPR to Al Jazeera, is the self-immolation in DC. A US Air Force service member walked to the Israeli embassy in Washingon DC, set up a Twitch Stream, and stated that he refused to be party to the genocide being committed with the support of his country's government. He then doused himself in a flammable liquid, set himself on fire, and shouted 'Free Palestine' on repeat until the fire grew too great for him to do anything but scream in pain. The man was rushed away to a hospital, but has apparently died since. Twitch has understandably removed the video for ToS violations, but the video has been saved and reshared to other sites since.

To be clear, the airman, a 25yo named Aaron Bushnell, explicitly stated that this was an act of extreme protest, but not as extreme as the current lives of Palestinians in Gaza. Please do not allow people to convince you this was just a random act of mental illness. It was tragic, yes, but this very public, recorded, in-uniform, motive-declared suicide was by all appearances a calculated choice based on centuries of precedent.

If your senator or representative claims to be pro-military, bring this up. Even if they don't, bring it up.

"A service member, someone who presumably has access to more information on what is happening 'on the ground' than the average citizen, someone who has proven their dedication to America, is dying in agony to prove a point: that Israel's actions cannot be condoned, cannot be justified, and most certainly cannot be supported with fourteen billion in military aid."

The above is one possible verbiage you can use when you call.

Today, I would also recommend listening to NPR's Politics Podcast as the episode contains some good information on The Michigan Problem, and the Democracy Now podcast, which has some good interviews on the confirmed famine going on in Gaza. I will note that there are some claims being made in the latter about the US government, including comments by Biden himself, using law enforcement and college administrations to punish pro-Palestine groups, from Students for Justice in Palestine to even Jewish Voice for Peace (notable since one of the major arguments for these actions is that anti-zionists are antisemitic). I am saying 'claims being made' as I have not had time to corroborate this with other news sources, and the other casts I listen to have not mentioned it.

If you wish to support my political blogging, I am accepting donations on ko-fi.

Alternately, I would also suggest that you send any spare money to PCRF (Palestine Children's Relief Fund), UNRWA, or Save the Children Sudan, which has been undergoing an incredibly deadly civil war for a year or so now, but that the US has significantly less involvement in on a bureaucratic level, so IDK what any of us in the US can do to help in that regard. But many of us do have money! So there's that.

[betterthanosvald]

Ah, I do enjoy theatrics. As a humanities/sociology I actually took intro to acting. I aced that class easily. Monologues are something of a second nature to me...I'm sure a few of your pals would agree on that.

While I have studied magic, biology (biochemistry of course), and alchemy, I suppise theres more I could learn. Perhaps on the magic front.

Going backt to the university tomorrow...oh, Ozzy, how I will miss you so badly :(((