#Collection Agencies in the USA

[mnscredit]

Debt Collection in the United States: Most debt collection agencies in USA work on a contingency fee basis, where the cost is usually a percentage of the total amount owed.

[bispinster]

collections agencies are the scum of the earth, ruthlessly harassing and haranguing people who have medical debts for services and/or operations that they needed to live or improve their quality of life. it’s fucked up

[freightbrokeralarm]

REDCARGO USA LLC (MC# 1646625)

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[sfsolutionsllc]

medical debt collection agency

SF Solutions is a specialized medical debt collection agency with a patient-first approach. Trusted by healthcare providers, we’ve successfully recovered millions of dollars in medical debt while ensuring full compliance with patient privacy regulations. Our expert team works diligently, providing efficient solutions that respect both your business and your patients' needs. Visit us now at https://sfsolutionsllc.net/medical/

[daily-dragon-drawing]

In just one week we have collectively raised over $1,000 in aid going towards Gaza!!

In total I received receipts for 30 donations over the past week, and you will see the rest of those dragons posted over the course of this week. I cannot convey how grateful I am to everyone who donated, no matter the amount.

Nothing gives me more hope than knowing there are other people who care about the lives of others, who are willing to do their part in the struggle against genocide and occupation.

If you weren't able to donate for a dragon last week, please still continue to fight for Palestine however you are able. Continue to speak out, protest, boycott, pressure your politicians, and donate if you have the means.

Keep this solidarity going by continuing to do everything you can, whenever you can to help those fighting to survive a genocide.

Places to Donate:

eSims for Gaza

Palestine Children’s Relief Fund

United Nations Relief and Works Agency

Medical Aid for Palestinians

Operation Olive Branch

Non-Monetary Actions:

Contact your reps to demand a ceasefire (USA)

Join a protest in your area (worldwide)

Join a protest in your city (USA)

Do this Daily:

[mariacallous]

As president of the United States, Donald Trump threatened the federally issued licenses of television broadcast outlets that displeased him. In 2017, after NBC News reported a dispute between the president and his military advisors about the size of the nuclear arsenal, the president launched a series of tweets:

These 2017 tweets did not specifically suggest that he would have the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which issues the airwave licenses, revoke them on his order. Instead, they appear to echo the 1972 tactics of Richard Nixon, who, displeased by coverage from the Washington Post, encouraged a third party to file a challenge at the FCC (which ultimately went nowhere).  

In response to the 2017 tweets, the Trump-appointed chairman of the FCC, Ajit Pai, took a firm stand. “I believe in the First Amendment,” he said. “Under the law, the FCC does not have the authority to revoke a license of a broadcast station based on a particular newscast.”   

Now, in 2024, as a presidential candidate, Donald Trump has reasserted that broadcasters who displease him should lose their federal airwave licenses. A September 2023 post on Truth Social accused NBC of “Country Threatening Treason.” He added, “Why should NBC, or any of the other corrupt & dishonest media companies, be entitled to use the very valuable Airwaves of the USA, FREE?”

The current Chair of the FCC, Jessica Rosenworcel, responded, “the First Amendment is a cornerstone of our democracy. The FCC does not and will not revoke licenses for broadcast stations simply because a political candidate disagrees with or dislikes content or coverage.”  

However, the ability of future FCCs to stand up to such instructions could be at risk. Candidate Trump has promised, “I will bring the independent regulatory agencies, such as the FCC and the FTC, back under Presidential authority, as the Constitution demands.” While the Constitution never mentions regulatory agencies, bringing the FCC under direct presidential control would surely undercut its independent decision-making.   

But a president of the United States already has powers beyond coercing the FCC. These powers could be exercised not only against broadcasters, but also against those who operate the internet. 

The “Doomsday Book” 

During his presidency, Donald Trump asserted, “When somebody’s president of the United States, the authority is total.” Whether or not presidential authority is “total,” there does already exist a compendium of presidential powers that have been enacted by Congress for use in extreme circumstances.  

Reportedly locked in a White House safe are the secret “Presidential Emergency Action Documents” (PEADs). Colloquially known as the “Doomsday Book,” they are a collection of powers authorized by Congress for the president to use in emergencies. Included in this compendium is Section 706 (codified as 47 USC 606), titled, “War Emergency – Powers of the President,” that is tucked away at the end of the Communications Act of 1934, the statute that created the FCC.  

TIME Magazine reports, “When Donald Trump was in the Oval Office, members of the national security staff actively worked to keep him from learning the full extent of these interpretations of presidential authority, concerned he would abuse them.”   

Here is what Section 706 authorizes: 

(c) Upon proclamation by the President that there exists war or a threat of war, or a state of public peril or disaster or other national emergency… the President, if he deems it necessary in the interest of national security or defense, may suspend or amend, for such time as he may see fit, the rules and regulations applicable to any or all stations or devices capable of emitting electromagnetic radiations within the jurisdiction of the United States as prescribed by the Commission, and may cause the closing of any station for radio communication…

The next subsection, using similar “national security” criteria, gives the president authority over the wired networks, such as those that carry telephone and internet service. Section 706(d), in pertinent part, authorizes the president to “suspend or amend the rules and regulations applicable to any or all facilities or stations for wire communication… cause the closing of any facility or station for wire communication… [or] authorize the use or control of any such facility or station… by any department of the Government under such regulations as he may prescribe…”  

The terms “war or a threat of war, or a state of public peril or disaster or other national emergency” are not defined by the Communications Act. Such declarations of national emergency were, however, a go-to solution when Donald Trump was in office. The effort to restrict travel from majority-Muslim countries was justified on national security grounds. Tariffs were levied on foreign steel and aluminum as a national security threat based on their impact on domestic production. When Congress would not give him the funding he wanted for the Mexican border wall, the president simply used a national emergency declaration to reallocate Defense Department funds to build the wall. Reportedly, he even considered declaring that the use of natural gas for electricity production was a national security risk because the gas pipelines could become terrorist targets. 

The power of the Chief 

Candidate Trump, in September 2023, posted that NBC and other “corrupt & dishonest media companies” are “a true threat to democracy and are, in fact, THE ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE!” He declared, “The Fake News Media should pay a big price for what they have done to our once great Country.”  

A 2021 report by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service (CRS) concluded, “in the American governmental experience, the exercise of emergency powers has been somewhat dependent on the Chief Executive’s view of the presidential office.” When he was Chief Executive, Donald Trump explained how he viewed the office: “I have Article II [of the Constitution], where I have the right to do whatever I want as president.”  

The tools to do whatever the president wants—whether at the FCC or in the Doomsday Book—are at hand. As the CRS report concluded, such decisions are dependent “on the Chief Executive’s view of the presidential office.”  

The institution that created these broad powers, the Congress, has an important role as overseer of the authority they have delegated to the executive. Congress constantly holds oversight hearings on the agencies of the executive branch; hearings on the unilateral powers granted to the president are warranted. The threshold question for such hearings should be whether there are sufficient guardrails in place to protect against their abuse, and what such protections should look like. Regardless of who wins the election—Congress should review whether the unilateral powers granted to the president in the 20th century need updating for the 21st century. 

[glendasguidance]

✊ ✿ ♣︎ pick a card ♣︎ ✿ ✊

Messages for You this Inauguration Day (USA)

₊˚ʚᗢ₊˚✧ﾟhow to pick // for entertainment purposes only, and other disclaimers ✧˚ ༘ ⋆｡♡˚

It’s Inauguration Day in the USA, and we’re scared for the years of suffering to come. I made a spread to see how you can overcome fear and organize to create a better world. We’re stronger together. ❤️

spread: Glenda's Guidance // decks: Motherpeace, Nature Meditations by Kenya Jackson-Saulters

Pile 1 → Pile 2 → Pile 3

Inhale & exhale 3x, now pick!

★ free readings ★ support me ★ other pac's ★

★ check out this reading! → USA Post-Election (2024): How can you support yourself, your community, and Earth in the present moment and in the years to come? (for US citizens and non-US citizens - for every Earthling <3) ★

🦋 bottom of the deck / message for all 🫂

the Moon - These are, and will be, wildly confusing times with lots of false propaganda, AI slop and deepfakes, deception, danger, and major anxiety. We can only navigate these rough waters when we are grounded, breathing deeply, following our intuition, and acting strategically. We need to use the tools at our disposal, and review how we keep us safe (cybersecurity / privacy, natural disaster relief, our rights and how to get legal aid, etc). And maybe most importantly we need to keep moving on our path. With faith and community, we will not crumble. Like the phases of the Moon, things are always changing. We will have our defeats, but we will have our victories.

Pile 1

🤝 Are you currently organizing collective power? If yes, what are you capable of? If not, what kind of group / organizing method is most aligned with you?

the Lovers - I believe you are currently organizing, and the causes have to do with: LGBT+ rights, survivors of domestic violence, border crossing, immigration, refugee’s right to passage, reuniting migrant families. If you’re only just getting started organizing, I think these causes (and any cause relating to protecting people’s right to love and connect with one another) will be a good fit for your skills, talents, and passion. All causes are interconnected in some way or another, so if you’re worried about being too focused on 1 cause, it’s okay because you can always collaborate and show solidarity with other causes. If you have fears around doing this work because of a freezing cold 3 letter agency (for example), seek the advice of lawyers and wisdom of elder activists. I believe your group is capable of reuniting families and helping people be out about who they love, and protect their right to marry.

🛠️ What skills and talents do you bring to the creation of a better world?

8 of Cups reversed - You are skilled and talented at bringing history to the surface and to light. Whatever Google Scholar and JSTOR rabbit holes you’ve been going down, keep digging. There are lot of history professors and general how-to-research lectures from universities uploaded to YouTube - so if you don’t know how, they’re a great resource. You understand the importance of cultural diversity. You’re extremely intelligent and clever. You’re jack of all trades and are able to do / work on multiple things at once. Also, be a weirdo, share your special interests, let your freak flag fly. People like it.

😵‍💫 What distracts you from doing the work?

King of Swords - I think most of you are really really into social media commentators, twitch streamers maybe? Educational entertainment is great, but for you I think there is a tendency to over rely on someone else speaking up for what you care about (instead of also using your own voice and actions). Watching performative "debates" and the drama of breadtube can be addicting for sure. Try to be self aware about how much you engage with this content. Is it 30 minutes a day, or 5 hours a day? Are you admiring a comrade’s work, or putting them on a pedestal in an act of hero worship? (I’ve done it sooo many times, I get it if you do that)

🌱 Nature Messages 🐛

Give and Take: Plan a visit to a nearby park today, and spend 10 minutes in walking meditation, taking slow, deep breaths and focusing on the present moment. As you walk, look for examples of cooperation and interdependence in nature: A tree providing shade to the plants beneath it. Insects pollinating flowers. A decomposing log giving life to new vegetation. In what ways do you observe nature nurturing itself? When your walk is complete, reflect on the relationships in your life. How do those closest to you nurture and support you? When do you give to those relationships in return?

♥︎ much love - Glenda ♥︎

♣︎★ mutual aid LA -★- mutual aid disaster relief -★- how to create a mutual aid network -★- worldwide mask bloc -★- eSIMs for Gaza -★- mutual aid Gaza ★♠︎

Pile 2

🤝 Are you currently organizing collective power? If yes, what are you capable of? If not, what kind of group / organizing method is most aligned with you?

9 of Cups - I believe you are organizing, or are starting to organize, and the causes have to do with: healing spaces, health spas, retreats, discos and nightclubs. I think your group could make great progress by connecting with your larger community, neighborhood, town, and other similar organizations/groups/coalitions. Personally, I advise that your group make your events and meetings accessible to disabled folks by wearing masks, using air purifiers (you can make them cheaply), and doing fever checks (I’d looove to go clubbing in a covid-conscious space oh my GOD - context: I’m disabled). You’ll gain more comrades in your cause this way. Also, you could maybe host sensory friendly silent disco nights? Just an idea :)

🛠️ What skills and talents do you bring to the creation of a better world?

the Emperor - You are logical and dont let emotions overwhelm you. You’re strategic, wise, and generally apply the scientific method to your daily life and organizing practices. You’re a natural leader, and can handle a lot of responsibility and authority well. You’re action oriented → engaging / teaching comrades and community members about exercise, martial arts, and different types of self and community defense would be a good fit for you, or at least honing your skills in these areas. You could lead teach-ins on home security and cyber security, and you could be great protecting safe spaces from violent reactionaries (like those American veterans who provide security at Pride and drag queen story hours at libraries).

😵‍💫 What distracts you from doing the work?

the Empress - Ok so it’s pretty wild to be that you got both the Emperor and the Empress, and that the artwork of the 9 of Cups and the Empress have somewhat related imagery in the Motherpeace deck (in 9 of Cups it’s people joyfully playing and relaxing at a spa / bath). I take this as needing to avoid overindulging in luxuries, sensory content, and maybe also drugs (no judgement zone) as a means to totally block out the world - to hide in your hole. Alone time and pamper days are great for replenishing our body and soul. But are you resting or hiding? You can rest and relax with your community. You can bring beauty and lavish sensory things, and art into your organizing. Maybe you could host fundraisers doing mehndi, tattoo flash, face painting, or drag shows. You don't have to work so hard in your organizing efforts that you burn the candle at both ends, and then you burnout. Trust people to do what they can do, and trust the quality of training and orientation you've given them. Don't burn yourself out trying to do and nurture too many people and projects, then making you coop up in your hole again.

🌱 Nature Messages 🐛

A Day in the Life: Find a place to sit or stand comfortably. Close you eyes and imagine that you could become any lviing things in nature. What wouls you be? Maybe youre a giant tree int he rainfirest, a dolphin in the sea, or a mountain goat scaling rocky cliffs. Whatever you choose, spend you meditiation embodying that living thing and going through its day. As you come out of your meditation, journal about your experience. How did it feel to emboady this thing? How did you greet the morning? What did you eat? What sounds did you hear? How can you carry that being;s uique energy into your day?

♥︎ much love - Glenda ♥︎

♣︎★ mutual aid LA -★- mutual aid disaster relief -★- how to create a mutual aid network -★- worldwide mask bloc -★- eSIMs for Gaza -★- mutual aid Gaza ★♠︎

Pile 3

🤝 Are you currently organizing collective power? If yes, what are you capable of? If not, what kind of group / organizing method is most aligned with you?

the Hierophant reversed - I don’t think you’re organizing in this moment due to current or recent involvement with a religious group or high control / authoritarian group. You’re going through a process of deconstruction, and focusing on how to leave. The leader in this group, the groups members, and maybe even your family cause you a lot of stress. If this resonates with you, know you are not alone and many many people have experienced what you’re going through. It’s hard. [for entertainment purposes only] Do what you need to do to survive, and trust your instincts. Learn how to research things online in a way that people who might give you backlash don’t know you're researching deconstruction and how to leave your high control group. For causes to organize around / what cause is most aligned with you at this time: There are organizers who help people in your situation and similar situations, and I think you'd do very well in joining that cause one. As in, giving back to others who are in a situation like yours, and helping to loosen the control these groups have over politics and lawmaking.

🛠️ What skills and talents do you bring to the creation of a better world?

the Devil - You are skilled at recognizing and communicating your observations of corrupt power, and how power corrupts. You’re like that kid in the tale The Emperor’s New Clothes. You’re a great teacher about how the cycle of abuse plays out on institutional levels, and how these power structures are only legitimate because some people believe they are (but are they?). You’re also a great teacher and communicator about sex positivity, safe sex education, enthusiastic consent, the right to chose, and abortion care. You will face backlash for doing advocacy work on taboo topics of course, but embracing yourself and making fun of the “jezebel” and “witch” labels (for example) will be funny and endearing to your kinda people / the audience you’re trying to reach.

😵‍💫 What distracts you from doing the work?

the Tower - I think things that distract you are religious trauma fears, climate doomerism, and looking at too many images of genocide. There’s a lot of panic and anxiety of fearing (for example) the rapture is real and you’ll be left behind, that there’s nothing that can be done to help the planet and fix things now, that you have to witness everything before it gets deleted. Anxiety screams, intuition whispers. What wisdom do you know when you’re calm, and give yourself space and time to become calm? What creative solutions do you realize? Trust that you are a good kind person who means well. You have the intention to love everyone, and all you gotta do is learn along the way. Questioning why these high control group’s leaders (or just powerful people in general if the high control group thing doesn’t resonate for you) focused so so so much on keeping the group’s members terrified will help you refocus. The answer is usually because they can easily control you through fear, and therefore their power is a sham. I think joining a support group would help you. You’re not alone. 🫂

🌱 Nature Messages 🐛

Forest Bathing: Shinrin-yaku is the Japanese practice of forest bathing, immersing yourself in nature for healing and restoration. Today, find your way to a quiet place in the outdoors. Sit or stand quietly with your eyes closed. Relax your shoulders, and let this sacred space surround you like a warm bath. From this place of surrender, consider what you would like the natural world to help you release - maybe its a worry or something that has made you angry or sad. Think of 3 things you can let go of as you bathe in the healing powers of nature.

♥︎ much love - Glenda ♥︎

♣︎★ mutual aid LA -★- mutual aid disaster relief -★- how to create a mutual aid network -★- worldwide mask bloc -★- eSIMs for Gaza -★- mutual aid Gaza ★♠︎

header image: pinterest // footer image: pinterest // pngs: click here and here // dividers: click here // I do not consent to my writing, blog’s likeness, or anything associated with my work, to be used to teach any machine learning software and artificial intelligence for any purpose.

[covid-safer-hotties]

Also preserved on our archive (Daily updates!)

Weird how this "endemic" German strain is poised to dominate worldwide... That almost sounds like a pandemic :O

By Ahjané Forbes

KP.3.1.1 is still the dominant COVID-19 variant in the United States as it accounts for nearly 60% of positive cases, but the XEC variant is not far behind, recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data shows.

"CDC is monitoring the XEC variant," Rosa Norman, a CDC spokesperson told USA TODAY. "XEC is the proposed name of a recombinant, or hybrid, of the closely related Omicron lineages KS.1.1 and KP.3.3."

The variant, which first appeared in Berlin in late June, has increasingly seen hundreds of cases in Germany, France, Denmark and Netherlands, according to a report by Australia-based data integration specialist Mike Honey.

The CDC's Nowcast data tracker, which displays COVID-19 estimates and projections for two-week periods, reflected that the KP.3.1.1 variant accounted for 57.2% of positive infections, followed by XEC at 10.7% in the two-week stretch starting on Sept. 29 and ending on Oct. 12.

KP.3.1.1 first became the leading variant between July 21 and Aug. 3.

The latest data shows a rise in each variant's percentage of total cases from Sept. 15-28, as KP.3.1.1 rose by 4.6%, and XEC rose by 5.4%. Previously, the KP.3.1.1 variant made up 52.6% of cases and XEC accounted for 5.3% from Sept. 15-28.

Here is what you need to know about the XEC variant and the latest CDC data.

COVID-19:Your free COVID-19 at-home tests from the government are set to expire soon. Here's why.

Changes in COVID-19 test positivity within a week Data collected by the CDC shows a drop in positivity rate across the board, while the four states in Region 10 had the biggest decrease (-2.7%) in positive COVID-19 cases from Sept. 29, 2024, to Oct. 5, 2024.

The data was posted on Oct. 11.

Note: The CDC organizes positivity rate based on regions, as defined by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Here's the list of states and their regions' changes in COVID-19 positivity for the past week:

Region 1 (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont): -2% Region 2 (New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands): -1.9% Region 3 (Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia): -1.3% Region 4 (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee): -0.6% Region 5 (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin): -2% Region 6 (Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas): -0.8% Region 7 (Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska): -1.7% Region 8 (Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming): -1.2% Region 9 (Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, American Samoa, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, Marshall Islands, and Republic of Palau): -1.3% Region 10 (Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington): -2.7% The CDC data shows COVID-19 test positivity rate was recorded at 7.7% from Sept. 29 to Oct. 5, an absolute change of -1.8% from the prior week.

COVID-19 symptoms The variants currently dominating in the U.S. do not have their own specific symptoms, the CDC says..

"CDC is not aware of new or unusual symptoms associated with XEC or any other co-circulating lineage of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19," Norman said.

The government agency outlines the basic symptoms of COVID-19 on its website. These symptoms can appear between two and 14 days after exposure to the virus and can range from mild to severe.

These are some of the symptoms of COVID-19:

Fever or chills Cough Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing Fatigue Muscle or body aches Headache Loss of taste or smell Sore throat Congestion or runny nose Nausea or vomiting Diarrhea The CDC said you should seek medical attention if you have the following symptoms:

Trouble breathing Persistent pain or pressure in the chest New confusion Inability to wake or stay awake Pale, gray, or blue-colored skin, lips, or nail beds

[nullnvoid911]

Happy new year!

As 2024 draws to a close, I thought it'd be fun to show some fun statistics about the thousands of posts I've made this year!

Here are the final totals:

Posts cited: 2436/5187 (46.9%)

Total followers: 524 (Thank you!)

#needs-attribution: 265 | #needs-more-info: 48

Posts still queued: 967 (how do I do this to myself...?)

Keep reading for more fun details!

Who's shown up on this blog?

Every cited post has been assigned tags based on their contents, using an auto-tagging system I built a while back. It's helpful if you want to see other posts of the same country, agency, etc. - but it's also great at finding stats like...

Countries

This blog has been quite the world tour! I've mentioned a staggering 58 countries in my posts. But by country, who have I posted about the most?

The top 5: Germany (491), Russia (369), France (321), USA (197), and Ukraine (131).

But enough about me - what did you all think of my posts? This next map is per capita, meaning the average number of notes each country's post got. (Countries with less than 5 posts are set to 0, and my reblogs are excluded.)

A surprising twist - Bulgaria takes top spot with 19.4 notes per capita! While their limited number of posts reveals a flaw in this measurement, the posts that are there really hit it off with the masked men lovers:

If you're curious, the runners up are Finland (14.3), Kosovo (14.1), Serbia (13.4), and France (13.0).

As an aside, I'd like to give a special shout out to the Czech Republic for stumping me the most when trying to cite posts from them. Where do you post your police photos?!?

Agencies

Okay, but which specific units have shown up the most this year?

Just pretend CBRN and K9 are units :)

I guess it's not surprising, but I forgot how much I posted about Germany's SEK! Then, Russian (ОМОН) and French (GIGN, RAID) agencies aren't too far behind.

And what did you think?

French agencies drift to the top. I know some of you reading this really like GIGN, so it makes a ton of sense! PI2G simply ranks first because of their limited number of posts:

But GIGN (and GIPN, FIPN, RAID, CDI, whatever...) also did respectably in the rankings:

GSG-9 also beats the more regional SEK in terms of notes per capita. They might be cooler, but way too many posts claim photos of SEK officers to be GSG-9!!

Dates

Every cited post comes with a date. But when did things happen the most on my blog? (Approximate dates, e.g. "<2014", are excluded.)

My earliest post is from July 20, 2001, during the G8 summit protests in Genoa:

And my latest post was December 26, 2024 - just a few days ago! A Swedish police officer searches for parachuters:

Some hotspots also arise in the graph. My most posted dates are:

January 31, 2021 (22 posts) and January 23, 2021 (19 posts) - Riot police during Alexei Navalny protests around Russia.

March 30, 2023 (19 posts) - German riot police exercise in Uelzen and Esterholz.

November 18, 2015 (17 posts) - French national police apartment raid in Saint Denis aimed at capturing Abdelhamid Abaaoud.

February 18, 2022 (14 posts) - Canadian riot police during COVID-19 protests in Ottawa.

Closing thoughts

To end off, I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who's followed this blog since I started it in May. I never thought I would sink this much time into collecting and sourcing images, building citation tools from scratch, finding VPNs, uncovering lost media... but here we are.

I read every note, so your comments, reposts, and deranged tags make the process all worth it :)

Whoever you are, wherever you come from, and whatever reason you follow my blog, thank you for sticking around. I hope you had a great 2024, and here's to a properly cited 2025!

-null

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Judd Legum at Popular Information:

Anyone who has read reports in the Associated Press, the New York Times, CBS News, CNN, USA Today, the Los Angeles Times, NBC News, or Axios would be under the impression that the Trump administration has offered 2 million federal workers a "buyout" offer — eight months of pay in return for a voluntary resignation. People who rely on television news were also told that federal workers were offered a buyout. This is also the preferred narrative of the White House. In a statement, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that, under the policy, federal employees who "don’t want to work in the office and contribute to making America great again… are free to choose a different line of work, and the Trump Administration will provide a very generous payout of 8 months." The problem with this narrative — and the media coverage — is that it is false. A "buyout" is when an employer agrees to pay an employee a lump sum, often equivalent to the employee's salary for a particular length of time, in exchange for their voluntary resignation. After agreeing to the buyout offer, the employee receives the money, and their obligations to the employer end. The Trump administration is proposing something very different. Under the terms of the agreement, which is posted to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) website, employees agree to resign effective September 30, 2025. Until that date, they remain employees of the federal government but are "exempted from all applicable in-person work requirements." This, of course, is only a valuable concession if an employee is still working. The agreement is called a "deferred resignation," not a "buyout."

The agreement states that, after accepting the deferred resignation offer, "my employing agency will likely make adjustments in response to my resignation including moving, eliminating, consolidating, reassigning my position and tasks, reducing my official duties, and/or placing me on paid administrative leave until my resignation date." Administrative leave allows an employee to collect their salary while not working. But, as the agreement makes clear, that is not guaranteed. There will "likely" be changes to an employee’s official duties, according to the agreement. But they are still an employee of the federal government and are obligated to continue to fulfill whatever responsibilities are assigned to them. An OPM memo, dated January 28, 2025, states that employees who accept the deferred resignation agreement "should promptly have their duties reassigned or eliminated and be placed on paid administrative leave."

[...] The policy appears to be written by allies of Trump, including Elon Musk, who have little to no experience in the federal government. The subject line of the email, "A fork in the road," was the same subject line Musk used when he encouraged Twitter employees to resign. After mass resignations, Musk realized that a bunch of the people who left were performing essential functions and tried to rehire them. "There's no question that some of the people who were let go probably shouldn't have been let go," Musk said. On X, Musk falsely described the deferred resignation agreement as a "severance offer."

[...] Yesterday, the deferred resignation offer went out to 2 million federal employees, many of whom have decades of experience and are performing tasks that are essential to the functioning of their agencies. It was not targeted at individuals the Trump administration — or anyone else — believes are performing unnecessary or duplicative work. Federal employees who accept this deal do not get a buyout. They are simply gambling that their bosses place them on administrative leave. But there are no guarantees. Federal employees could find that they agreed to resign in exchange for eight more months of working from home. Even that may not be a real benefit since many federal employees are members of unions that have contractual rights to work from home.

What the OPM under Trump offered to 2M+ federal workers was NOT “buyouts”, but a deferred resignation. It is also a tool to weaken civil service.

[mimi-0007]

****†** EVERYONE SHOULD READ THIS BEFORE YOU VOTE. ****Project 2025, also known as the Presidential Transition Project, is a collection of policy proposals to thoroughly reshape the U.S. federal government in the event of a Republican victory in the 2024 U.S. presidential election. Established in 2022, the project aims to recruit tens of thousands of conservatives to the District of Columbia to replace existing federal civil servants—whom Republicans characterize as part of the "deep state"—and to further the objectives of the next Republican president. It adopts a maximalist version of the unitary executive theory—which asserts that the president has absolute power over the executive branch upon inauguration. Unitary executive theory is a disputed interpretation of Article II of the Constitution of the United States. Project 2025 envisions widespread changes across the entire government, particularly with regard to economic and social policies and the role of the federal government and its agencies. The plan proposes slashing funding for the Department of Justice (DOJ), dismantling the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), sharply reducing environmental and climate change regulations to favor of fossil fuel production, eliminating the Department of Commerce, and ending the independence of various federal agencies such as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The blueprint seeks to institute tax cuts, though its writers disagree on the wisdom of protectionism. .

Project 2025 recommends abolishing the Department of Education, whose programs would be either transferred to other government agencies, or terminated. Scientific research would receive federal funding only if it suits conservative principles. The Project urges the government to explicitly reject abortion as health care and to restrict access to contraception. The Heritage Foundation, an American conservative think tank that leads the development of Project 2025, asserted in April 2024 that "the radical Left hates families" and "wants to eliminate the family and replace it with the state" while driving the country to emulate totalitarian nations, such as North Korea. The Project seeks to infuse the government with elements of Christianity, stating in its Mandate that "freedom is defined by God, not man." Project 2025 proposes criminalizing pornography, removing protections against discrimination based on sexual or gender identity, and terminating diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, as well as affirmative action. The Project advises the future president to immediately deploy the military for domestic law enforcement and to direct the DOJ to pursue Donald Trump's adversaries by invoking the Insurrection Act of 1807. It recommends the arrest, detention, and deportation of undocumented immigrants across the country. It promotes capital punishment and the speedy "finality" of such sentences. Project director Paul Dans, a former Trump administration official, explained that Project 2025 is "systematically preparing to march into office and bring a new army, aligned, trained, and essentially weaponized conservatives ready to do battle against the deep state." Dans admitted that it was "counterintuitive" to recruit so many people to join the government in order to shrink it, but pointed out the need for a future President to "regain control" of the federal government. Although the project does not promote a specific presidential candidate, many contributors have close ties to Donald Trump and his presidential campaign. The Heritage Foundation has developed Project 2025 in collaboration with over 100 partners including Turning Point USA, led by its executive director Charlie Kirk; the Conservative Partnership Institute including former Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows as senior partner; the Center for Renewing America, led by former Trump Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought; and America First Legal, led by former Trump Senior Advisor Stephen Miller. The Project is detailed in Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise, a version of which Heritage has written as transition plans for each prospective Republican president since 1980. Critics of Project 2025 have described it as an authoritarian Christian nationalist movement and a path for the United States to become an autocracy. Several experts in law have indicated that it would undermine the rule of law and the separation of powers. Some conservatives and Republicans also criticized the plan, for example in the contexts of centralizing power, climate change, and foreign trade.

[mnscredit]

Debt Collection in the United States: Most debt collection agencies in USA work on a contingency fee basis, where the cost is usually a percentage of the total amount owed.

[iwriteaboutfeminism]

I just made a donation to UNRWA, the largest organization providing relief efforts in Gaza. As the Zionist governments of several Western countries, including the United States, have pulled funding and chosen to make themselves complicit in the genocidal action of collective punishment, it's important to show our solidarity with the people of Palestine and give what we can to help fill the funding gap.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Scraping to train machine-learning models is good, actually.

The Human Rights Data Analysis Group is a crucial player in the fight to hold war-criminals to account. As the leading nonprofit providing statistical analysis of crimes against humanities, HRDAG has participated in tribunals, truth and reconciliation proceedings, and trials from Serbia to East Timor, South Africa to the USA, and, most recently, Colombia.

Colombia’s long civil war — funded and supported by US agencies from the CIA and DEA to the US military —went on for decades, killing hundreds of thousands of people, mostly very poor, very marginalized people.

Many of these killings were carried out by child soldiers, who were recruited at gunpoint by both CIA-backed right-wing militias whose actions were directed by the richest, most powerful people in the country, and by the leftist FARC guerrillas.

HRDAG, working in partnership with the Colombian human rights group Dejusticia, merged over 100 databases in order to build a rigorous statistical picture of the war’s casualties; the likelihood that each death could be attributed to the government, right-wing militias, or FARC forces; as well as which groups were primarily responsible for kidnapping children and forcing them to be soldiers.

The resulting report builds on the largest human rights data-set ever collected. The report — which makes an irrefutable case that right-wing militias committed the majority of killings and child-soldier recruitment, and that their wealthy backers knew and supported these actions — have been key to Colombia’s truth and reconciliation proceedings.

-How To Think About Scraping: In privacy and labor fights, copyright is a clumsy tool at best

Image: syvwlch (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Print_Scraper_(5856642549).jpg

CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

[sfsolutionsllc]

The Importance of Hiring a Personal Debt Collection Agency: Expertise, Resources, and Experience

Managing personal debt can be a complex and stressful process for both debtors and creditors. When unpaid debts start to accumulate, it often becomes necessary to seek the assistance of a personal debt collection agency. These agencies are not only equipped with detailed knowledge of the legal and financial processes involved but also bring years of experience to ensure both parties arrive at mutually beneficial solutions. With resources and strategies prepared for every contingency, personal debt collection agencies play a critical role in navigating the difficult terrain of debt recovery.

A personal debt collection agency offers:

Expert Knowledge and Compliance

Personal debt collection is governed by strict laws, including the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) in the United States, which outlines the rights of debtors and the responsibilities of creditors. A personal debt collection agency is well-versed in these regulations and ensures that all efforts are compliant with legal standards. This knowledge protects creditors from lawsuits or fines that could arise from illegal collection practices, such as harassment or invasion of privacy.

Specialized Resources and Technology

Personal debt collection agencies have access to sophisticated resources and tools that are not readily available to the average creditor. These resources allow them to track debtors, understand their financial standing, and determine the most effective way to recover the owed money. For instance, many agencies use specialized software to monitor the status of debts, keep records, and track communications.

Years of Experience Matter

One of the key reasons to engage a personal debt collection agency is their extensive experience in managing various types of debts. Experienced agencies can customize their strategies based on the specific circumstances of the case. Over the years, these agencies have developed effective techniques to encourage repayment, including persuasion tactics, negotiation, and mediation.

Helping Debtors and Creditors Arrive at Mutually Beneficial Solutions

A personal debt collection agency doesn’t just focus on recovering money; they also aim to create mutually agreeable solutions for both debtors and creditors. They understand that an overly aggressive approach can lead to conflict and potential loss of the debt altogether if the debtor declares bankruptcy or becomes untraceable.

Prepared for Every Contingency

Debt recovery can be unpredictable. A debtor’s circumstances can change, making the recovery process more complex than anticipated. This is where the comprehensive approach of a personal debt collection agency becomes invaluable. Personal debt collection agency is prepared for every contingency, ensuring that no matter what unexpected roadblocks arise, they have the strategies and resources to handle them.

The agency’s ability to adapt to changing circumstances ensures that creditors have the best chance of recovering what is owed, even when the path to doing so becomes complicated.

[leothil]

Introduction to TV ratings

Hi! I know a lot of us in the 9-1-1 fandom have started looking more closely at episode ratings this past year, but every time I see them posted I also see a lot of comments from people being unsure what the numbers really mean. I'm someone who first got introduced to tv ratings from being involved in the pro wrestling fandom and learned a lot about them through osmosis, so I thought I could make a small informative post explaining the main concepts and why tv ratings matter!

What I'll cover below:

What are tv ratings?

What exactly are they reporting?

How do I know what the numbers mean?

Are the numbers any good?

Let's dive in!

What are tv ratings?

Tv ratings, or Nielsen ratings, is an audience measurement system operated by Nielsen Media Research that tries to figure out the audience size and composition for tv programs in the USA. The Nielsen company has been measuring this since the 1950's, and their ratings is the currency that drives business between advertisers and broadcasters. To simplify it, the higher the rating a program gets, the more the broadcaster can charge the advertisers and agencies for broadcasting their ads to the audience during that program.

The data collection methods have varied over the years, but right now they're using Portable People Meters and track data from DVR:s. Since 2017 they're also tracking data on Hulu and YoutubeTV, and select programs on Netflix. It is an approximation, since they (naturally) aren't getting the full data from every single tv in the country, but they are good enough (and trusted enough) that their reported metrics are what's considered official.

So what exactly are they reporting?

A couple of different things! The most interesting numbers are total viewers, demographic shares, and demographic ratings. According to Nielsen they also track "gender, race, ethnicity, income, education, occupation, etc." but those are usually not reported as openly as the aforementioned three numbers and are mostly used by advertisers.

Sites like Tvline, Tvseriesfinale and Showbuzzdaily often report daily ratings very quickly after Nielsen releases them. The Fast Nationals are usually what gets the most attention, since they're released the morning after, but they're time period ratings, which means it only measured what was watched during primetime. The more accurate Official Nationals are released later the day after, and are program ratings. So if a program was moved from its usual slot for some reason, the fast nationals will still count the original time slot towards its ratings, while the official nationals will count the slot it actually aired in.

There are also C3 and C7 ratings (live viewing + DVR three/seven days after the airing), but they are seen much more seldom and are largely a fighting point between networks (who want to get paid for more days) and advertisers (who only want to pay for live viewings).

How do I know what the numbers mean?

Let's dive into that! I'll use tables from Tvseriesfinale and Showbuzzdaily with ratings for Monday March 20th (the air date of 9-1-1 S6E12) as my examples.

Here's how Tvseriesfinale reports the ratings, they're using the fast nationals (or "fast affiliate ratings"). The %change is compared to last aired episode of the same show. If you're wondering how the demo change can be positive while the number of viewers change is negative, I'll get to that in a minute.

And here's Showbuzzdaily, they report Live+Same Day which include live viewership + DVR views from the same day (which should be the same as fast nationals, but sometimes varies a bit). You can see that they colour code according to how far above/below the average rating of the night a program placed in different ratings categories.

Now for what the different columns mean:

Viewers (mil) or Persons 2+ (000s): the total number of viewers, in millions, who watched the program. So here Tvseriesfinale reports that 4.3 million people watched 9-1-1, and Showbuzzdaily reports that 4.413 million people did.

18-49 demo and Sales Demo Ratings Adults 18-49: These are the numbers that everyone is really looking at! The demo rating means proportion of a certain group (in this case adults 18-49) that are watching a particular show. In other words, this is the percentage of all adults aged 18-49 in the United States that were watching the show. So a 0.6 (or 0.59) rating for 9-1-1 means that 0.6% (or 0.59%) out of all people aged 18-49 were watching 9-1-1. This is the money demo, this is the number all advertisers and networks are looking at. Persons 18-49 is considered the most lucrative demographic, so the more people in that group your show can draw, the better for the network since they then can ask for more money from the advertisers. Persons 18-49 are considered to be the group to best target advertisements towards for a variety of reasons (disposable income and interest towards buying new things being two of them).

As you can see above, Showbuzzdaily also reports the demo numbers for Adults 18-34 and Adults 25-54. Some advertisers are more interested in these demographics, but overall 18-49 is still the most popular demographic. As you can see, the audiences skew older for all programs. I believe the general consensus is that younger people (<35-year-olds) watch much less tv than older generations, and these numbers support that. This is also why total viewers and demo ratings can have different %change - the 18-49 demo rating cuts off a relatively large part of the audience.

Demographic shares: While the ratings are based on percentage of all people in a demographic, the shares are based on percentage of the number of people who were actually watching TV at that time. So a 6.0 in Women 18-49 means that of all women aged 18-49 watching TV at 8PM, 6% chose to watch 9-1-1.

So... are the numbers any good?

That depends on what you're looking at. TV ratings as a whole have been dropping steadily for many years now, so trying to compare ratings to even, say, five years ago can be hard. For example: in the late 90's, pro wrestling regularly pulled in ratings of 5.0 and higher (I'll put a few below as an example), but those same shows would now be ecstatic if they managed to get above a 1.0 rating; their regular numbers the past year (for the big shows RAW, Smackdown and Dynamite) have mostly hovered around 0.4-0.7.

The first number is the demo rating

For the best overview, it's best to compare ratings for a certain show to the ratings of other shows on air, and I believe that's what the networks are doing as well. In that context, 9-1-1 is doing very well, as it regularly ends up near the top for scripted shows, even when looking at all shows over a week. The average rating for S6 so far is 0.63, which is lower than the average rating of 0.76 for S5 (which in turn was lower than the average rating of 1.05 for S4 and so forth). The ratings consistently dropping year over year are a concern for the industry at large, and it's pretty clear streaming services have played a big role in causing this, but I find it hard to believe tv networks would consider stopping producing shows for live tv anytime soon.

And that's it! If something still feels unclear, feel free to drop me a message and I'll do my best to answer any questions! If you want to dive a bit deeper into the different metrics, I recommend this page on Showbuzzdaily, and if you want to look at ratings from previous seasons, Tvseriesfinale's 911 ratings tag is a good place to find articles summarizing both individual episode ratings and ratings for a whole season.