#Annual Report 2020-2021

[udhyam]

Udhyam Vyapaar works with the often-unseen entrepreneurs chai shop at the corner, our istri walis Their Annual Report 2020-2021 states that they have achieved this goal by providing financial assistance, mentorship and access to resources such as startup programmes, accelerator programmes and incubators.

[thepastisalreadywritten]

A historic gold pendant and chain, believed to be associated with Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon, has been revealed by the British Museum.

The artifact, made of gold and adorned with red and white enamel, was discovered by a metal-detectorist in Warwickshire and reported to the local Finds Liaison Officer of the Portable Antiquities Scheme, who then informed Historic England.

An archaeological excavation was conducted at the site to gather more information about the item and its location, reports Historic England .

Duncan Wilson, Chief Executive of Historic England noted:

A Symbol of Henry’s First Love

Henry VIII was the king of England from 1509 until his death in 1547.

He was well known for his six marriages and his role in the English Reformation, which led to the Church of England breaking away from the authority of the Pope.

Katherine of Aragon was Henry's first wife and was a Spanish princess who was highly respected by the English people.

The couple were married for over 20 years, but their marriage was annulled by the Pope, leading to a long-standing political and religious crisis that ultimately resulted in England breaking away from the Roman Catholic Church .

The pendant, which is heart-shaped and attached to a 75-link gold chain via an enameled “hand,” is thought to date back to the early 16th century, between 1509 and 1533, with the most likely date being around 1521.

The front of the pendant features the red and white Tudor rose symbol, intertwined with a pomegranate bush, which were the symbols of Henry and Katherine.

The back of the pendant features the letters H and K, for Henry and Katherine, in Lombardic script, linked by ribbon and featuring the legend "TOVS + IORS".

According to experts, the pendant may have been produced quickly for a special event, such as a joust, and could have been used as a prize or worn by those participating.

Its design is similar to the horse bards used at a joust in Greenwich in 1521.

Perhaps this was a trinket from a joust in which Henry himself participated.

He was known as a skilled jouster. However, in 1536, he was torn from his horse and injured, knocked unconscious for 2 hours.

The location of this event was unknown until just 2 years ago, when it was revealed to be Greenwich Palace.

Showcasing British Antiquities

The pendant is being showcased by the British Museum to mark the launch of two annual reports, the Treasure Annual Report for 2020 and the Portable Antiquities Scheme Annual Report for 2021.

The Portable Antiquities Scheme, which is funded by the British Museum and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport, records archaeological finds made by the public to advance knowledge and increase public interest in history.

The reports show that 45,581 archaeological finds were recorded in 2021, including 1,085 Treasure cases, with 96% of these discoveries made by metal detectorists.

The counties with the highest number of PAS finds in 2021 were Gloucestershire, Suffolk, and Lincolnshire, with significant numbers also recorded in other counties such as Buckinghamshire, Hampshire, Kent, and Wiltshire.

The discovery of the Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon pendant highlights the significant contribution that everyday people, who enjoy metal detecting as a hobby, can make to the field of archaeology.

By recording these finds, they are helping to deepen our understanding of Britain's rich and fascinating past.

[samvedschool]

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[unknought]

In 2007 the US Department of Housing and Urban Development started reporting homelessness rates:

As you can see in this chart (from Statista) there was a fairly steady decrease in the number of homeless people from then until 2016. It flattened out for a couple years in 2017 and 2018, and then rose in 2019 and 2020. No data was collected in 2021 (due to COVID) and the increase from 2020 to 2022 was negligible, so one might hope based on the data from this chart that the upward trend was flipping around, and that by now by now it might be on its way back down, but this does not appear to be the case.

For 2023 the Department of Housing and Urban Development reported a homelessness count of 653,104. This is a dramatic increase which blows previous annual changes out of the water. It's a 12.1% increase relative to 2022, an 18.7% increase relative to the low in 2016, and the highest absolute number of homeless people since data started being collected in 2007.

So this is one way, at least, in which standard economic metrics being up has not translated to people doing well.

An objection one can make here is that even this new high is only about 0.2% of the national population, and while things may have gotten worse for the people in the very worst of economic straits, this doesn't say much about what things are like for the rest of us.

I agree with this up to a point. (Probably not the implied argument about what we should care about but let's not get into that for now.) It's probably true that homelessness rates don't shed a lot of light on how the median American is doing. But I think they are relevant to the well-being of a lot more than 0.2% of the population.

Even though only a small proportion of Americans are homeless at any given time, there a lot more for whom the threat of homelessness looms very large in their financial considerations, not irrationally. More people who are homeless probably means more people who can just barely make rent as long as they skip a few meals, more people who stay with an abuser because they wouldn't have anywhere else to stay, more people who can't quit their job to find a better one because they couldn't afford to miss a month's rent, more people who can't move out of a mold-infested apartment, more people who are just struggling with anxiety about whether they're going to be able to make rent every month. It also almost certainly means more people couch-surfing and more people who were homeless for part of the year that happened not to include late January, neither of which would be counted in the official statistics.

How much of an impact does this end up meaning, on how many people? I'm pretty unsure, but here's a suggestive statistic from the Federal Reserve:

> Challenges paying rent increased in 2023. The median monthly rent payment was $1,100 in 2023, up 10 percent from 2022. In addition, 19 percent of renters reported being behind on their rent at some point in the past year, up 2 percentage points from 2022.

It seems at least very plausible to me that claims about how great the US economy is doing merit a substantial asterisk.

[reasonsforhope]

"International climate negotiations have long been haunted by a broken promise.

In the wake of collapsed negotiations at the United Nations climate conference in Copenhagen in 2009, wealthy nations, led by the United States, pledged to provide developing countries with $100 billion in climate-related aid annually by 2020.

The money was meant in part to ease tensions between the rich countries that had contributed the most to climate change historically and the poorer nations that disproportionately suffer the effects of a warming planet.

But rich countries fell short of the target in both 2020 and 2021, deepening mistrust and stymying progress during the annual United Nations climate conferences, which are known by the abbreviation COP.

A new report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, or OECD, confirms what the international organization began to suspect just before last year’s COP28: that wealthy nations finally surpassed the $100 billion goal in 2022.

And while they were two years late delivering on their promise, rich countries partially compensated for their earlier shortfalls, contributing nearly $116 billion in climate aid to developing countries in 2022, according to the latest data available.

That additional funding helps fill the roughly $27 billion gap resulting from rich countries’ failure to meet the $100 billion threshold in each of the two years prior.

“If you underachieved in the first two years, overachieving in the rest of the period is a good way to make up for that, to make amends,” said Joe Thwaites, a climate finance expert at the Natural Resources Defense Council, a U.S.-based environmental nonprofit.

Even $100 billion, however, is far lower than the developing world’s estimated need. United Nations-backed research projects that developing countries (excluding China) will need an eye-popping $2.4 trillion per year by 2030 to transition away from fossil fuels and adapt to climate change.

Serious questions also remain about the quality and accounting of the existing funding. According to the OECD report, more than two-thirds of the public finance in 2022 was provided in the form of loans rather than no-strings-attached grants.

That means developing countries are required to pay the money back, often with interest at market rates...

Such findings are likely to inform talks next week [the last week of June, 2024], as climate negotiators meet in Bonn, Germany, in preparation for COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, at the end of the year. Negotiators need to agree on a new collective goal for climate aid to developing countries this year.

So far, different countries have submitted a range of proposals, with some nations floating $1 trillion annually as an appropriate number. Wealthy countries also want to expand their ranks so that some relatively rich countries that are technically classified as “developing,” like the oil-rich states of the Persian Gulf, can contribute funds toward the goal. Historically, only countries that the United Nations designated as “developed” in the 1990s have been on the hook...

If countries continue to provide a similar level of funding for the next few years, they could make up for the shortfall. “Making up for 2020 and 2021, meeting the goal in those two years, could help rebuild a bit of trust,” Thwaites added...

The report indicated specific progress on funding for adaptation measures like sea walls and disaster-resilient infrastructure, an oft-overlooked area of climate finance. In 2021, countries pledged to double adaptation finance from the $19 billion provided in 2019 to $38 billion by 2025. According to the OECD report, adaptation funding had already risen to $32.4 billion one year after the pledge."

-via GoodGoodGood, June 20, 2024

[afeelgoodblog]

The Best News of Last Week - May 29, 2023

Rwanda’s life expectancy has increased by 20 years in the last 20 years

What did Rwanda change? Three developments stand out: low-cost community-based health insurance plans, national investments in rural health posts, and ramped-up foreign collaborations. In 2020, more than 90 percent of Rwanda’s people had some kind of health insurance. This stands out relative to other low-income countries, where on average 31 percent of people have health insurance.

2. Brandon School Division rejects call to remove library books on sexuality, gender identity

Loud cheers erupted inside a packed high school gymnasium after the Brandon School Division rejected a call to remove books dealing with sexuality and gender identity from libraries. Hundreds of people in Manitoba's second-largest city showed up for the marathon school division meeting, which ran into the early morning hours.

The trustees ultimately voted 6-1 to reject a proposal to create a committee of trustees and parents to review books available in division schools.

3. Lotto winner pledges to fund classrooms in his native Mali

Happiness for one lucky North Carolina resident comes not from newfound wealth from a lottery win, but using those winnings to help schoolchildren -- in this case, from Mali.

Souleymane Sana of North Carolina won $100,000 from a scratch-off ticket. Relocating to the United States from Mali -- a war-torn county in West Africa -- Sana is using his earnings to create a non-profit to help school kids from his hometown.

4. Mountain gorillas rebound thanks to Ugandan veterinarian

In 2018, as their population topped 1,000, they were removed from the critically endangered list and their status upgraded to just endangered. That positive step was due, in no small part, to Ugandan veterinarian Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka. 

Her working home is Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, home to roughly half of the world's mountain gorillas. But early on she also realized that to help the animals and keep them free from disease and poaching, she needed to also help their human neighbours, launching successful initiatives to improve the health and well-being of the people living around the park. 

5. Imports of ivory from hippos, orcas and walruses to be banned in UK

Ivory imports from hippopotamuses, orcas and walruses will be banned under new legislation to protect the endangered species from poaching.

The Ivory Act, passed in 2018, targeted materials from elephants, but a loophole meant that animals other than elephants, including hippos, were being targeted for their ivory.

6. Solar power due to overtake oil production investment for first time in 2023

Investment in clean energy will extend its lead over spending on fossil fuels in 2023, the International Energy Agency said on Thursday, with solar projects expected to outpace outlays on oil production for the first time.

Annual investment in renewable energy is up by nearly a quarter since 2021 compared to a 15% rise for fossil fuels, the Paris-based energy watchdog said in its World Energy Investment report.

7. Paralyzed man walks naturally, thanks to wireless ‘bridge’ between brain and spine

Gert-Jan Oskam lost the ability to walk in 2011 when he injured his spine in a cycling accident in China. Six years later, the Dutch man managed to take a few short steps thanks to a small array of electrodes implanted on top of his spinal cord that delivered nerve-stimulating pulses of electricity.

Today in Nature, an international team of researchers reports giving Oskam a better fix, a way to digitally bridge the communication gap between his brain and lower body. Brain waves signaling Oskam’s desire to walk travel from a device implanted in his skull to the spinal stimulator, rerouting the signal around the damaged tissue and delivering pulses of electricity to the spinal cord to facilitate the movement. Oskam can now walk more fluidly, navigate obstacles, and climb stairs.

----

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[supersoftly]

Artist Sanmu Chan was stopped, questioned and taken away by police in Causeway Bay on Monday, the eve of the Tiananmen crackdown anniversary, as he sought to partake in some performance art.

A large police deployment had appeared near Victoria Park, a venue that once hosted mass remembrance vigils.

Dozens of uniform and plainclothes police officers were stationed across the shopping district, concentrated around East Point Road, Hennessy Road and Lockhart Road. An armoured police vehicle was briefly seen parked outside SOGO mall.

HKFP reporters witnessed Chan write the Chinese characters for “8964” with his finger in the air, referencing the date of the 1989 crackdown.

He also mimed pouring wine onto the ground to mourn the dead, per a Chinese tradition, before police moved in.

The Tiananmen crackdown occurred on June 4, 1989 ending months of student-led demonstrations in China. It is estimated that hundreds, perhaps thousands, died when the People’s Liberation Army cracked down on protesters in Beijing.

Over 30 police officers took Chan away for questioning and created a cordon to separate the artist from the media.

He was then taken away in a police vehicle a little before 9:30 pm, in a scene similar to his detention last June on the eve of the crackdown anniversary.

It is unclear if he was arrested. HKFP has reached out to the police for comment.

First anniversary since Article 23

Tuesday will mark the first Tiananmen crackdown anniversary since the city passed domestic security legislation, more commonly known as Article 23.

Police invoked the new law for the first time last week to arrest former Tiananmen vigil organiser Chow Hang-tung and six others over alleged sedition. They stand accused of using an “upcoming sensitive date” to incite hatred against the central and Hong Kong authorities through social media posts. Police made an eighth arrest in connection with the case on Monday. Hong Kong used to be one of the few places on Chinese soil where annual vigils were held to commemorate the people who died in the 1989 crackdown. But police banned the gathering at Victoria Park for the first time in 2020 citing Covid-19 restrictions, and imposed the same ban in the following year.

No official commemoration has been held since the vigil organiser, the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, disbanded in September 2021. Currently occupying Victoria Park – historically the site of Hong Kong’s vigils – is a five-day patriotic carnival organised by 28 pro-Beijing groups.

[latristereina]

This heart-shaped pendant associated with Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon was discovered by a metal-detectorist in Warwickshire and now is being unveiled to the public by the British Museum:

“The gold, heart-shaped pendant is attached to a 75-link gold chain via an enamelled ‘hand’.

The front of the pendant is decorated with a red and white Tudor rose motif entwined with a pomegranate bush, the symbols of Henry and Katherine. These stem from the same branch, which at its base has a tail, and sits above the inscription + TOVS + IORS - a pun on the French for ‘always’.  

The back shows the letters H and K - for Henry and Katherine - in Lombardic script, linked by ribbon, again with the legend + TOVS + IORS.

Analysis dates the pendant as early 16th century, from 1509 – 1533 AD with a most likely date of around 1521.

It appears that the pendant was produced rapidly; it may have been used as a prize or worn by people participating in an event. The design of the pendant is like that used on horse bards at a joust in Greenwich in 1521.

It is being showcased by the British Museum to highlight the launch of two annual reports – the Treasure Annual Report for 2020 and the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) Annual Report for 2021.”

source: (x)

[mariacallous]

A growing Christian supremacist movement that labels its perceived enemies as “demonic” and enjoys close ties to major Republican figures is “the greatest threat to American democracy you’ve never heard of,” according to a new report from the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The SPLC, a civil rights organization that monitors extremist groups, released its “Year In Hate And Extremism 2023” report on Tuesday. A significant portion of the report, which tracked burgeoning anti-democratic and neo-fascist movements and actors across America, is devoted to the New Apostolic Reformation, “a new and powerful Christian supremacy movement that is attempting to transform culture and politics in the U.S. and countries across the world into a grim authoritarianism.”

Emerging out of the charismatic evangelical tradition, the NAR adheres to a form of Christian dominionism, meaning its parishioners believe it’s their divine duty to seize control of every political and cultural institution in America, transforming them according to a fundamentalist interpretation of scripture.

NAR adherents also believe in the existence of modern-day “apostles” and “prophets” — church leaders endowed by God with supernatural abilities, including the power to heal. In 2022, a handful of these “apostles,” the report notes, issued what they called the Watchman Decree, an anti-democratic document envisioning the end of a pluralistic society in America.

The apostles claimed they had been given “legal power and authority from Heaven” and are “God’s ambassadors and spokespeople over the earth,” who “are equipped and delegated by Him to destroy every attempted advance of the enemy.”

And who’s the enemy? Basically anyone who does not adhere to NAR beliefs. NAR adherents see their critics as being literally controlled by the devil.

“There are claims that whole neighborhoods, cities, even nations are under the sway of the demonic,” the report states. “Other religions, such as Islam, are also said to be demonically influenced. One cannot compromise with evil, and so if Democrats, liberals, LGBTQ+ people, and others are seen as demonic, political compromise — the heart of democratic life — becomes difficult if not impossible.”

This rhetoric has become increasingly widespread among Republican lawmakers, including former President Donald Trump, who last year referred to Marxists and atheists as “evil demonic forces that want to destroy our country.”

That Trump would use NAR-inspired rhetoric is unsurprising considering his relationship with Paula White-Cain, an NAR figure who delivered the invocation at Trump’s inauguration in 2017 and at the kickoff of his 2020 reelection campaign, as noted by Paul Rosenberg in Salon. White-Cain also delivered the invocation at Trump’s Jan. 6, 2021, “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington, D.C. — the event that eventually became the insurrection at the Capitol.

The attack on the Capitol was largely inspired, the report suggests, by NAR’s theology of dominionism. “NAR prayer groups were mobilized at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as well as supporting prayer teams all over the country, to exorcise the demonic influence over the Capitol that adherents said was keeping Trump from his rightful, prophesized second term,” the report states.

Major Republican figures took part in such events on or around the day of the attack. Mike Johnson, who is now the speaker of the House, joined the NAR’s “Global Prayer for Election Integrity,” which called for Trump’s reinstatement as president, in the weeks leading up to the attack on the Capitol. Johnson has also stated that Jim Garlow, an NAR leader, has had a “profound influence” on his life.

Ultimately, the SPLC report is an attempt to ring the alarm bells about the NAR, ”the greatest threat to U.S. democracy that you have never heard of.

“It is already a powerful, wealthy and influential movement and composes a highly influential block of one of the two main political parties in the country,” the report continues. “So few people have heard of NAR that it is possible that, without resistance in our local communities, dominionism might win without ever having been truly opposed.”

The SPLC’s report, according to a press release, also documents 595 hate groups and 835 antigovernment extremist groups in America, “including a growing wave of white nationalism increasingly motivated by theocratic beliefs and conspiracy theories.”

“With a historic election just months away, this year, more than any other, we must act to preserve our democracy,” Margaret Huang, president and CEO of the Southern Poverty Law Center and SPLC Action Fund, said in a statement. “That will require us to directly address the danger of hate and extremism from our schools to our statehouses. Our report exposes these far-right extremists and serves as a tool for advocates and communities working to counter disinformation, false conspiracies and threats to voters and election workers.”

[invisibleicewands]

Campaign to devolve the Crown Estate to Wales launched

Siarter Cartrefi, in partnership with Beth Winter MP and Liz Saville Roberts MP, will be holding an open meeting, with the support of Michael Sheen, to launch a new campaign focused on devolving the Crown Estate to Wales.

Beth Winter and Liz Saville Roberts will give an update on the Cross Party Bill in Parliament to Devolve the Crown Rights and a short video message of support from Michael Sheen will be screened, before opening up to a discussion on the future of the campaign. The meeting will take place online on 30 January at 7pm.

This event aims to pull together individuals and organisations in a sustained joint campaign that will demand the devolution of the Crown Estate with the profits directed into a Sovereign Wealth Fund, managed by the Welsh Government, for community benefit.

Siarter Cartrefi, the Welsh Housing Justice Charter, is a grassroots organisation that brings together community activists from across Wales, collaborating with third sector, campaign organisations, Welsh Government and others.

In the spring of last year, Siarter Cartrefi co-produced Ten Recommendations to the Welsh Government via a community consultation and Emergency Housing Conference, devolving the Crown Estate was one of them, and was seen as a way to secure a more sustainable future for Welsh communities.

The Crown Estate is a collection of land and assets owned by the Crown, but managed by an independent trust. Its profits are funnelled into the UK Treasury, and 25% of revenues into the Sovereign grant, paid for the upkeep of the royal family.

The Crown Estate in Wales owns about 65% of the Welsh foreshore and riverbed, and more than 50,000 acres of land. In 2020-21, the value of the estate went from £96.8m to £603m, reflecting the value of the land for renewable development and other projects.

The estimated annual revenue in 2020-2021 was £8.7m.  As revealed by Cymru Republic, the value in 2023 is £853m.

Since 2016, the Crown Estate has been devolved in Scotland.

Catrin O Neill, founding member of Siarter Cartrefi said: “Devolution of the Crown Estate is a key recommendation from our community consultation work. The people of Wales increasingly see this as a really important cause.

“In the coming weeks we will be working with other campaigners to build momentum behind this fundamental issue. Wales should benefit directly from the profits of renewable energy, and to use this money to address the poverty and inequality in communities across Wales.”

Dylan Lewis Rowlands, member of Siarter Cartrefi said: “Our work on housing in Wales proved that, as the title of our report states, Housing is not just about Housing.

“Housing is a fundamental bedrock of communities, but there are so many inter-related issues that we could not ignore them. We are working on this campaign as a natural next step of our work, and we must win it, for the future of our communities in Wales”

The meeting will take place online, on 30 January at 7pm. Join via the Eventbrite link here.

[udhyam]

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[samvedschool]

State Board Schools in Bangalore South

Samved School is ranked one among the top state board schools in Bangalore South and the top 25 schools of Bangalore South.

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Samved School’s journey began in 1967 as A.V. Education Society with 50 children in a rented building in Jayanagar, Bangalore. We have over 1000 happy children enrolled currently.

It has been accredited by the Department of Education in Karnataka to follow the State’s S.S.L.C. Syllabus from Standards I to X. We are currently rated as one of the top 10 schools in south Bangalore out of 1500 schools.

Click on link to know about our Admission Procedures.

Contact

 No.13, 17th Cross, 20th Main, J.P. Nagar 5th Phase Bangalore, Karnataka 560078

office@samvedschool.in

080 2659 0952 080 2659 0017 080 2649 1248

[anarchywoofwoof]

tomorrow will mark week number 3 without my vyvanse. needless to say, it has not been the easiest 3 weeks of my life.

that being said, this is probably a fitting time to remind everyone that there are quantifiable reasons for the ongoing stimulant shortage, which is projected now to last through 2024 despite federal attempts to remedy the problem.

first, while yes, there has been increased access to medications via telehealth, keep in mind that people with long COVID are using ADHD drugs to treat their symptoms. this is a proven medical approach that has not been accounted for in the ongoing production of ADHD medications.

about 41.4 million Adderall prescriptions were dispensed in the United States in 2021, up more than 10% from 2020, and it's anticipated that number will rise again.

but that is a problem, because US health officials are purposefully hampering production, not having considered the differences in treating an illness such as ADHD vs. disorders that may require opioids:

what’s different about ADHD is that the first-line treatment is a stimulant drug with the potential for misuse or addiction — and so it’s a matter not just for pharmaceutical companies but for law enforcement. The Drug Enforcement Agency has hedged on the side of keeping production of these drugs down to limit the potential for abuse. The fear is that Adderall would follow the same path as opioid painkillers: careless overprescribing would lead to an epidemic of drug addiction — this time, to stimulants.

...

Manufacturers are not mandated to report the reasons for a drug shortage and any public information they do provide can be vague. That has proven true with the Adderall shortage too. However, experts say that the role of the federal government in regulating one of Adderall’s active ingredients makes this shortage distinct. One of the active ingredients in Adderall is amphetamine, and therefore the drug is regulated as a controlled substance under federal law.

...

The DEA also sets annual production quotas for Adderall, as with other controlled substances that have recognized medical uses, based on estimates of legitimate medical and scientific needs, as well as the potential for diversion and abuse. However, those quotas are not well understood; while the agency announced in 2019 that it was allowing for more production of Adderall, given the apparent growing need in the patient population, we still don’t know exactly how much production has been authorized or the limits set for individual companies. “The DEA gives the companies a set amount of raw material ‘quota’ to manufacture these products, but we don’t know which company gets how much,” said Erin Fox, a pharmacist at the University of Utah and leading expert on US drug shortages. “Some companies say they’re short, but DEA says that they haven’t used it all, so lots of finger-pointing.” Indeed, the companies that produce Adderall and its generic version have cited both a shortage of the active ingredients and an increase in demand to explain their ongoing shortages. But another factor, new limits on the dispensing of the drug at US pharmacies, is making the situation worse. In 2022, drug distributors reached a settlement with most states over their role in the proliferation of prescription opioids that helped create an addiction and overdose epidemic. Bloomberg reported this week [in April 2023] that, as part of that settlement, secret limits were placed on the dispensation of controlled substances last July [2022]. That has in turn prevented pharmacists from filling the prescription of every patient who comes to their pharmacy with an Adderall order. According to Bloomberg, in essence, manufacturers are supposed to limit a pharmacy’s supply of drugs covered by the Controlled Substances Act, which includes opioids as well as stimulants. Pharmacists can only fill a certain number of prescriptions over a set period. But there has been widespread confusion over these rules because the pharmacists themselves don’t know what the limits are or when they are approaching them. Sometimes, they won’t know their access to Adderall has been cut off until trying to fill a prescription.

in other words, the ass-backwards failure that is America's "War On Drugs" continues to rage on, this time at a pharmacy near you.

rather than approaching a complex situation that requires a delicate understanding of the plight of the common person suffering with mental health issues or other disorders that affect their daily life, the US Government has chose a brute force, one-size-fits all approach. because when you're a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

as i highlighted above, this problem will continue throughout 2024. in other words, no end in sight.

one side note, as someone who has the (misfortune) of working in the industry: the technology sector is going to feel this at some point, if not already, given their heavy reliance on Adderall to get anything done. the Class War eventually comes for us all, in one way, shape or form. tech bros are going to realize that they aren't as immune as they maybe once thought.

[ivan-fyodorovich-k]

I will be curious to read the vituperative denials of the validity of this article's analysis, which is pasted below the cutoff:

“Are you better off today than you were four years ago?” That question, first posed by Ronald Reagan in a 1980 presidential-campaign debate with Jimmy Carter, has become the quintessential political question about the economy. And most Americans today, it seems, would say their answer is no. In a new survey by Bankrate published on Wednesday, only 21 percent of those surveyed said their financial situation had improved since Joe Biden was elected president in 2020, against 50 percent who said it had gotten worse. That echoed the results of an ABC News/Washington Post poll from September, in which 44 percent of those surveyed said they were worse off financially since Biden’s election. And in a New York Times/Siena College poll released last week, 53 percent of registered voters said that Biden’s policies had hurt them personally.

As has been much commented on (including by me), this gloom is striking when contrasted with the actual performance of the U.S. economy, which grew at an annual rate of 4.9 percent in the most recent quarter, and which has seen unemployment holding below 4 percent for more than 18 months. But the downbeat mood is perhaps even more striking when contrasted with the picture offered by the Federal Reserve’s recently released Survey of Consumer

The survey provides an in-depth analysis of the financial condition of American households, conducted for the Fed by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. Published every three years, it’s the proverbial gold standard of household research. The latest survey looked at Americans’ net worth as of mid-to-late 2022 and Americans’ income in 2021, comparing them with equivalent data from three years earlier. It found that despite the severe disruption to the economy caused by the pandemic and the recovery from it, Americans across the spectrum saw their incomes and wealth rise over the survey period.

The rise in median household net worth was the most notable improvement: It jumped by 37 percent from 2019 to 2022, rising to $192,000. (All numbers are adjusted for inflation.) Americans in every income bracket saw substantial gains, with the biggest gains registered by people in the middle and upper-middle brackets, which suggests that a slight narrowing of wealth inequality occurred during this time. In particular, Black and Latino households saw their median net worth rise faster than white households did—though the racial wealth gap is so wide that it narrowed only slightly as a result of this change.

A big driver of this increase was the rising value of people’s homes—and a higher percentage of Americans owned homes in 2022 than did in 2019. But households’ financial position improved in other ways too. The amount of money that the median household had in bank accounts and retirement accounts rose substantially. The percentage of Americans owning stocks directly (that is, not in retirement accounts) jumped by more than a third, from about 15 to 21 percent. The percentage of Americans with retirement accounts went from 50.5 to 54.3 percent, a notable improvement. And a fifth of Americans reported owning a business, the highest proportion since the survey began in its current form (in 1989).

Americans also reduced their debt loads during the pandemic. The median credit-card balance dropped by 14 percent, and the share of people with car loans fell. More significantly still, Americans’ median debt-to-asset, debt-to-income, and debt-payment-to-income ratios all fell, meaning that U.S. households had lower debt burdens, on average, in 2022 than they’d had three years earlier.

The gains in real income (in this case, measured from 2018 to 2021) were small—median household income rose 3 percent, with every income bracket seeing gains. But that was better than one might have expected, given that this period included a pandemic-induced recession and only a single year of recovery.

The picture the survey paints, then, is one of American households not only weathering the pandemic in surprisingly good shape, but ultimately also emerging from it in better financial shape than they were going in. And that, in turn, points to the effect of the U.S. policy response to the crisis: Stimulus payments, enhanced unemployment benefits, the child-care tax credit, and the moratorium on student-loan payments boosted household income and balance sheets, helping people pay down debt and increase their savings. In the process, these policies mildly narrowed inequality.

The U.S. government’s aggressive response to the pandemic, including Biden’s stimulus spending, also helped the job market recover all its pandemic-related losses—and add millions of jobs on top. The resulting tight labor market has been a huge boon to lower-wage workers. In fact, because the Fed survey’s income data end in 2021, it understates the income gains for the bottom half of the workforce, and the shrinking income inequality they’ve produced.

Hourly wages for production and nonsupervisory workers (who make up about 80 percent of the American workforce) rose 4.4 percent year-on-year in the third quarter of 2023, for instance, ahead of the pace of inflation. And this was not anomalous: Arindrajit Dube, an economist at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, crunched the numbers and found that real wages for that same sector of workers are not just higher than they were in 2019, but are now roughly where they would have been if we’d continued on the upward pre-pandemic trend.

The reason for this is simple: Low unemployment has translated into higher wages. As a recent working paper by Dube, David Autor, and Annie McGrew shows, the tight labor markets of the past few years have given lower-wage workers more bargaining power than in the past, leading to a compression in the wage gap between higher-paid and lower-paid workers. Of course, that gap is still immense, but the three scholars found that the wage gains for lower-paid workers have rolled back about a quarter of the rise in inequality that has occurred since the 1980s.

So what should we take away from the Survey of Consumer Finances data, and from Dube, Autor, and McGrew’s work? Not that everything is fine, but that public policy and macroeconomic management matter a lot. Enhanced unemployment benefits, the child-care tax credit, the stimulus payments—these things materially improved the lives of Americans and helped set the economy up for a strong recovery. If the policy response had been less aggressive, the U.S. economy would be in worse shape now. This is something you can see by looking at Europe, where economies are growing far more slowly and unemployment is higher, while inflation is no lower.

Key to this story is the fact that lower-wage workers in particular would be worse off, because they have been among the chief beneficiaries of the low unemployment created by the robust recovery. It’s a useful reminder that stagnant wages are not an inevitable result of American capitalism: When labor markets are tight, and employers have to compete with one another for employees, workers get paid more.

So, even allowing for the high inflation we saw in 2022, no one could really look at the U.S. economy today and say that the policy choices of the past three years made us poorer. Yet that, of course, is precisely how many Americans feel.

Although that pessimism does not bode well for Biden’s reelection prospects, the real problem with it is even more far-reaching: If voters think that policies that helped them actually hurt them, that makes it much less likely that politicians will embrace similar policies in the future. The U.S. got a lot right in its macroeconomic approach over the past three years. Too bad that voters think it got so much wrong.

[intersectionalpraxis]

Heyo! As a Canadian, are there any particular ways we can help Palestine? Also, who are the companies actively shipping shit to israel?

Hello! Thank you so much for the question. I'd first like to take the opportunity to state that the federal government in Canada right now -the Trudeau Government -has been terribly consistent with supporting the IOF. For DECADES -since the creation of the settler state (which should not be a surprise to anyone, of course), Canada has a LONG 'diplomatic' history of being pro-Isnotreal. For folks who don't know/aren't aware, since we often hear about/talk about the US's imperialistic policies and actions against many communities around the world (which, again is understandable given the billions in military aid they give to Isnotreal and the sheer amount of militaristic aggression and violence the US unleashes daily to people they deem a 'threat' to their empire) -but I always remind folks to not forget that Canada is equally awful and problematic.

The Trudeau government, like many MP's across party lines, have supported the IOF and the Trudeau government has denied genocide 'allegations' against Isnotreal at the ICJ. Trudeau is also the one who advocated for a "humanitarian pause," after stumbling on his words a few months ago, and has, from time to time, 'condemned,' the IOF military for going 'overboard' when he trickles in his little empathetic 'we are so concerned for the people in Gaza,' while in the same breath saying the IOF didn't strike hospitals... (side eyes).

These are some recent examples (the first in June, and December of 2023, respectively) -which shows proof that Canada exports weapons to the IOF (but often through the US -the article below addresses this). Since you asked about about which companies are shipping to Isnotreal, the only one I can reference is CN Rail [Canadian National Railway] (which is where some protests have happened), but there aren't any other particular companies I can reference because shipments are done relatively in secret, so there's not a strong/direct paper trail, so to speak. this is an except from the first article below:

"Canada doesn’t normally release many details on defence exports to Israel or other countries. Since 2015, however, the largest annual categories of shipments fall into three categories: bombs, torpedoes, missiles and other explosive devices; aircraft, drones, aero engines, aircraft equipment for military use and electronic equipment; spacecraft and components." "A 2020-2021 study by the House of Commons foreign affairs committee obtained records that shed some light on the goods Canadian firms were seeking permission to export to Israel, including transport vehicles, circuit boards for Israel’s fleet of F-15 and V-22 aircraft and components for radios." "The Canadian-made components that go into each F-35 don’t show up in Ottawa’s records of military goods exports because they are shipped to the United States, where the aircraft’s manufacturer, Lockheed Martin, is based, and Global Affairs Canada does not publish the full value of annual military exports to the U.S."

It is very concerning how the Canadian government operates this way, and we should all be demanding more transparency about arms transfers to the US. Project Ploughshares, the research committee that they spoke about in the first article, is a resource I would look into if you want to learn more about this. They focus on "disarmament efforts and international security specifically related to the arms trade..." I've attached their website below. You can also access previous webinars, reports, and commentary on their page on these topics.

There were 2 successful direct action protests in Canada, one in Winnipeg and the other in Montreal, in November and December of last year, respectively. Both of whom were blocking railways in an effort to raise awareness about Canada supporting and sending arms to Isnotreal.

This also happened recently:

Now, what can be done on our ends? Plenty -sharing and creating posts about what is happening -and telling the world we won't remain silent on the genocide happening in Gaza.

This is the most updated BDS movement list for you to boycott companies and brands that either profit off of or indirectly support the genocide of Palestinian people:

Oxfam also created this small article about what we can do to help which I find is a great start:

Some of the actions include emailing the Prime Minister (they have a template for you to work with), and I wanted to also include emailing your MP's (Members of Parliament), to demand a ceasefire.

There is also a current petition in parliament right now you can sign -it's a demand to a ceasefire, and also demands an investigation into Canadian arms deals/sells in Isnotreal -and for more transparency into this, generally speaking (you can read everything the MP outlines below). This is open until February 19th, 2024. I may also make a separate post about this too:

There are some petitions on change.org I know people have set up, so you can take a look there of course. There is also a source that Oxfam links -they have a section of current events/resources where you can take action. The most recent national march for Gaza was in December 2023 (it took place in Ottawa, on unceded and un-surrendered Algonquin territory -Parliament Hill), and I am sure more will be planned for those able to attend/what is accessible to you.

I know this was quite long, but I hope this offers some direction and clarity, if not encourages more people to look into some of these topics and issues more deeply. Thank you once again for sharing this today. I will also be updating my page soon.

As always, free Palestine!

[clairaworlds]

Advocates for Youth is doing an HIV awareness campaign, they're encouraging people to share information through social media, and I wanted to share some of their information. The pre-written posts are all for other social media platforms, but I wanted to share it here. a lot of this information is taken directly from their 'social media toolkit' (I will mention when I'm quoting directly from them)

Advocates for Youth Website

HIV/AIDS awareness is very important to me personally, it is an intersectional issue. While a lot of information about HIV/AIDS is focused on the queer community, especially gay men. It is important for everyone to be aware and to learn about STDs and sex ed. It's also important to remember the history. According to the World Health Organization 40.4 million have died of HIV. The condition was associated with queerness, and the queer community was not considered worth saving. As the WHO says "fear stigma and ignorance" it is important to remember that HIV is still an issue, and while there are treatments now not everyone has access to them. Minorities and young people are often at a higher risk for HIV, the idea that certain communities aren't considered worth saving is one that echoes throughout the medical industry. medical abuse, gaslighting, denial of treatment, and malpractice often target disadvantaged groups, increasing the rate of health issues, and leading to medical mistrust.

In the USA, only 38 states require sexual or HIV education (also the district of columbia). 25 states (+DC) require both sexual and hiv education. 18 states require sex ed content to be medically accurate. 4 states prevent religion from being a part of sex ed.

40 states require schools to involve parents in sex ed. 35 let parents remove their kids from sex education programs, and 6 require a consent form to be signed.

(where I got the statistics above + more information on the topic)

all that aside, here's the information from Advocates for Youth.

"National Youth HIV & AIDS Awareness Day (NYHAAD), annually on April 10th, is a day to educate the public about the impact of HIV and AIDS on young people. The day also highlights the HIV prevention, treatment, and care campaigns of young people in the U.S. Today’s young people are the first generation who have never known a world without HIV and AIDS. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that in 2020, young people aged 13–24 accounted for 20% of all new HIV diagnoses in the United States. Young people living with HIV are the least likely of any age group to be retained in care and have a suppressed viral load. Addressing the impact of HIV on young people requires they have access to affirming, culturally competent, and medically accurate resources and tools." (direct quote from Advocates for Youth social media toolkit)

the goal of the this campaign is to share HIV information via social media, they have a bunch of pretty looking graphics for different statistics, but I'm going to put the stats they provide here, because I personally find it easier to consume in plane-text.

"The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that in 2020, young people aged 13–24 accounted for 20% of all new HIV diagnoses in the United States.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that more than half of the nearly 20 million new STDs reported in 2020 were among young people aged 15–24.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that in 2021, only 6% of high school students were ever tested for HIV.

The CDC reports that young people living with HIV are the least likely of any age group to be retained in care and have a suppressed viral load. Advocates for Youth recognizes that addressing HIV in youth requires that young people have access to honest and inclusive information and tools they need to make informed decisions.

The CDC reports that in many cases, young people are unable to access pre-exposure prophylaxis, a daily pill to prevent HIV, without parental consent.

The CDC reports that 35 states have laws that criminalize HIV exposure.

In the United States (US), more than 50% of those accused in reported HIV criminalization cases in 2020 were people of color, a larger proportion than people of color estimated to be living with HIV in the US. Advocates for Youth calls for an end to HIV criminalization for the sake of young people’s sexual health and rights. We also nod the CDC’s call for “the reforming, rescinding, and revising the application of [HIV criminalization] laws for the sake of people with HIV and for the public’s health.”

Guttmacher reports that while 39 states and the District of Columbia mandate sex education and/or HIV education, few require program content to be medically accurate."

(above statistics and attached links were directly copied from Advocates for Youth social media toolkit)

They also have a program with activities that is directed at medical professionals, in regards for HIV prevention

Here's some of their resources, including a tool to 'find HIV prevention services' they are USA focused so I apologize if this isn't helpful.

I know that most of this post was just me quoting directly, but I wanted to share the statistics and information they provided. This is more of an overview, but if you want all the information they shared, Here's the toolkit, and here's the resource targeted more towards healthcare providers. It has all the above information and more.