#americans incoming in 3... 2...

[therealvinelle]

How does Norway view it’s royal family I’m from Canada and lets just say that we are not big monarchy fans. But I wonder about other countries because commonwealth countries are kind of in a unique situation where their royalty is actually royalty of another country (Britain) and we just pay for it. (no seriously, we pay more for the monarchy in canada than the uk does)

I can't speak for everyone, but I personally am in favor of having a royal family and would find it disappointing and a change for the worse if we became a republic.

The monarchy in Norway came about the right way, when the country became independent in 1905 the people voted with an overwhelming majority in favor of getting the Danish prince Carl to become our king. It was in order words not something imposed upon us by a thousand years of feudalism, but a newly independent people's choice to have a king of our own.

King Haakon proceeded to, when Norway was occupied by the Germans, refuse to accept our government's formal request to disband (as they had been driven into exile and could no longer govern), as well as refuse to surrender. Did this lead to war, yes, but it also meant that through the war we remained an occupied country with a legitimate government overseas broadcasting to every citizen by radio that we could look towards in place of the occupying government imposed upon us.

After King Haakon there was King Olav, who took the bus during the 1973 energy crisis so as to lead by example, and went skiing in the woods like everybody else, he was an immensely popular king. Now there is King Harald, who married a commoner in Queen Sonja and whose children have made even more scandalous marriages (Princess Märtha married an artist and author, Ari Behn, while the crown prince Haakon married a single mother of a child out of wedlock who was and in certain circles remains viewed as very low class), but both Harald and Sonja are very loved. Harald famously is very witty, and more importantly he is a very inclusive and kind-hearted person who made it explicitly clear he is as much the king of immigrants and LGBT people as he is everybody else. He has also competed in the Olympics seveal times, we love an athlete.

The big eyesore is Princess Märtha, whose sins and scandals are money but in a nutshell, she made the choice to be financially independent (good!) only to then do so in the worst ways she could manage. There was the angel school, where you would go learn how to speak with angels (I once went to a party where we read her book and followed her instructions on finding your aura, great fun and I recommend this for a party game), which had everyone laughing at her, to the much less funny adventure she is now on, where she has... gone full Gwyneth Paltrow. As in, she is engaged to a shaman who says children with cancer must have wished the cancer upon themselves and he will also cleanse women's vaginas of evil if they've had too much sex, and she has toured the country with this man using her princess title (The tour was called "The princess and the shaman") which... yes. When they are criticized, they say it's racism because he is black, this has not endeared them to many either.

She can live her life how she wishes, the fact that what she wishes is to give a platform to a man who talks about being a lizard who contains ancient spirits and also the 5G net is bad is what makes people upset and lose respect for the monarchy as a whole.

Personally, I remain in favor of the monarchy because she'll never be on the throne, she is already irrelevant in every way that matters. The relevant royals we do have do their jobs well and responsibly, which is where my wanting to have a monarchy in the first place comes in: I believe in the constitutional monarchy as we practice it in Norway.

The people who make the decisions will be elected by the people, but the person representing the country, whose job is only to represent and better the country through charities and strengthened diplomatic ties, has an advantage if he isn't political and gains a continuity from not being replaced every time he loses the election cycle. In these times of rising populism I think the advantage to having an apolitical head of state and military is even greater. We could in theory vote a populist party into power but we wouldn't have a populist president, the way certain countries experienced not too long ago and stand to do now. As for how one should go about finding such a non-political, continuous leader of the country, I think inheriting the position is as good a way as any to keep the transferrance of power from one sovereign to the next from getting political. In other words, monarchy but keep it constitutional.

(I'm also colored by how King Haakon handled the occupation, as well as how the King of Spain as recently as in 1981 prevented a military coup in Spain by denouncing the military's actions. How relevant these events are to the present day can be debated, but I think the past couple of years have proven that we should not take the status quo for granted and our democracies can come under threat. When they do, I prefer to have every safeguard imaginable in place for them. If that safeguard spend their time promoting art and charity that's just a big bonus.)

[batboyblog]

Things the Biden-Harris Administration Did This Week #37

Oct 4-11 2024

President Biden announced a new EPA rule that will require all lead pipes in America's drinking water systems to be replace with-in 10 years. This builds on the $15 billion the Biden-Harris Administration has already invested in replacing lead pipes nation wide. The administration's focus on this issue has allowed local governments to greatly execrate their lead pipe replacement plans, before Biden took office the city of Milwaukee's timeline for replacing its lead pipes was 60 years, they're now on track to do it in 10. The EPA says there's no safe level of lead in the human body.

Vice President Harris announced she plans to expand Medicare to cover home health care. Currently those who need long term care, are covered by Medicaid, the health program for the poor so have to spend all their savings before they can qualify. This change would allow more seniors to stay in their homes and offer support to caregiving family members. Medicare also covers the disabled thus proving a game changer for the disabled Americans and their families. The Vice President also endorsed expanding Medicare to cover the costs of hearing and vision care.

Medicare released a preliminary list of 101 generic drugs which it would cover that would cost no more than $2 for a month for enrollees. People have long lobbied to allow Medicare to pay for generic drugs which has been resisted by drug companies. Thanks to President Biden's Inflation Reduction Act, and in line with a Biden Executive Order Medicare is now working on bring low cost generic drugs to seniors. The list targets some of the most common prescriptions thus will bring savings to the most people.

Domestic Policy Advisor Neera Tanden announced that the Biden-Harris Administration had blown past its goal of hiring 250,000 student support staff for 2024. The joint effort by the Department of Education, AmeriCorps and Everyone Graduates Center managed to hire 320,000 tutors, mentors, student success coaches, postsecondary transition coaches, and student support coordinators nationwide, its goal for the end of 2025.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development announced $420 million to help get rid of lead paint and other lead hazards from homes. HUD estimates that over 3 million households that have children under the age of 6 live with lead hazards. HUDs grants will go to all 50 states, DC, and Puerto Rico with particular focus on low income housing.

[dandelionsresilience]

Good News - July 22-28

Like these weekly compilations? Tip me at $kaybarr1735 or check out my new(ly repurposed) Patreon!

1. Four new cheetah cubs born in Saudi Arabia after 40 years of extinction

“[T]he discovery of mummified cheetahs in caves […] which ranged in age from 4,000 to as recent as 120 years, proved that the animals […] once called [Saudi Arabia] home. The realisation kick-started the country’s Cheetah Conservation Program to bring back the cats to their historic Arabian range. […] Dr Mohammed Qurban, CEO of the NCW, said: […] “This motivates us to continue our efforts to restore and reintroduce cheetahs, guided by an integrated strategy designed in accordance with best international practices.””

2. In sub-Saharan Africa, ‘forgotten’ foods could boost climate resilience, nutrition

“[A study published in PNAS] examined “forgotten” crops that may help make sub-Saharan food systems more resilient, and more nutritious, as climate change makes it harder to grow [current staple crops.] [… The study identified 138 indigenous] food crops that were “relatively underresearched, underutilized, or underpromoted in an African context,” but which have the nutrient content and growing stability to support healthy diets and local economies in the region. […] In Eswatini, van Zonneveld and the World Vegetable Center are working with schools to introduce hardy, underutilized vegetables to their gardens, which have typically only grown beans and maize.”

3. Here's how $4 billion in government money is being spent to reduce climate pollution

“[New Orleans was awarded] nearly $50 million to help pay for installing solar on low to middle income homes [… and] plans to green up underserved areas with trees and build out its lackluster bike lane system to provide an alternative to cars. […] In Utah, $75 million will fund several measures from expanding electric vehicles to reducing methane emissions from oil and gas production. [… A] coalition of states led by North Carolina will look to store carbon in lands used for agriculture as well as natural places like wetlands, with more than $400 million. [… This funding is] “providing investments in communities, new jobs, cost savings for everyday Americans, improved air quality, … better health outcomes.””

4. From doom scrolling to hope scrolling: this week’s big Democratic vibe shift

“[Democrats] have been on an emotional rollercoaster for the past few weeks: from grim determination as Biden fought to hang on to his push for a second term, to outright exuberance after he stepped aside and Harris launched her campaign. […] In less than a week, the Harris campaign raised record-breaking sums and signed up more than 100,000 new volunteers[….] This honeymoon phase will end, said Democratic strategist Guy Cecil, warning the election will be a close race, despite this newfound exuberance in his party. [… But v]oters are saying they are excited to vote for Harris and not just against Trump. That’s new.”

5. Biodegradable luminescent polymers show promise for reducing electronic waste

“[A team of scientists discovered that a certain] chemical enables the recycling of [luminescent polymers] while maintaining high light-emitting functions. […] At the end of life, this new polymer can be degraded under either mild acidic conditions (near the pH of stomach acid) or relatively low heat treatment (> 410 F). The resulting materials can be isolated and remade into new materials for future applications. […] The researchers predict this new polymer can be applied to existing technologies, such as displays and medical imaging, and enable new applications […] such as cell phones and computer screens with continued testing.”

6. World’s Biggest Dam Removal Project to Open 420 Miles of Salmon Habitat this Fall

“Reconnecting the river will help salmon and steelhead populations survive a warming climate and [natural disasters….] In the long term, dam removal will significantly improve water quality in the Klamath. “Algae problems in the reservoirs behind the dams were so bad that the water was dangerous for contact […] and not drinkable,” says Fluvial Geomorphologist Brian Cluer. [… The project] will begin to reverse decades of habitat degradation, allow threatened salmon species to be resilient in the face of climate change, and restore tribal connections to their traditional food source.”

7. Biden-Harris Administration Awards $45.1 Million to Expand Mental Health and Substance Use Services Across the Lifespan

““Be it fostering wellness in young people, caring for the unhoused, facilitating treatment and more, this funding directly supports the needs of our neighbors,” said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. [The funding also supports] recovery and reentry services to adults in the criminal justice system who have a substance use disorder[… and clinics which] serve anyone who asks for help for mental health or substance use, regardless of their ability to pay.”

8. The World’s Rarest Crow Will Soon Fly Free on Maui

“[… In] the latest attempt to establish a wild crow population, biologists will investigate if this species can thrive on Maui, an island where it may have never lived before. Translocations outside of a species’ known historical range are rare in conservation work, but for a bird on the brink of extinction, it’s a necessary experiment: Scientists believe the crows will be safer from predators in a new locale—a main reason that past reintroduction attempts failed. […] As the release date approaches, the crows have already undergone extensive preparation for life in the wild. […] “We try to give them the respect that you would give if you were caring for someone’s elder.””

9. An optimist’s guide to the EV battery mining challenge

““Battery minerals have a tremendous benefit over oil, and that’s that you can reuse them.” [… T]he report’s authors found there’s evidence to suggest that [improvements in technology] and recycling have already helped limit demand for battery minerals in spite of this rapid growth — and that further improvements can reduce it even more. [… They] envision a scenario in which new mining for battery materials can basically stop by 2050, as battery recycling meets demand. In this fully realized circular battery economy, the world must extract a total of 125 million tons of battery minerals — a sum that, while hefty, is actually 17 times smaller than the oil currently harvested every year to fuel road transport.”

10. Peekaboo! A baby tree kangaroo debuts at the Bronx Zoo

“The tiny Matschie’s tree kangaroo […] was the third of its kind born at the Bronx Zoo since 2008. [… A] Bronx Zoo spokesperson said that the kangaroo's birth was significant for the network of zoos that aims to preserve genetic diversity among endangered animals. "It's a small population and because of that births are not very common," said Jessica Moody, curator of primates and small mammals at the Bronx Zoo[, …] adding that baby tree kangaroos are “possibly one of the cutest animals to have ever lived. They look like stuffed animals, it's amazing.””

July 15-21 news here | (all credit for images and written material can be found at the source linked; I don’t claim credit for anything but curating.)

[doromoni]

Not Over the Papaya | OP81

⊹ ｡•┈꒰ა ♡ ໒꒱┈• ｡ﾟ

Ships : Oscar Piastri x Popstar! Reader , Ex!Lando Norris x Popstar! Reader

Genre : Fluff Smau

A/N : I wrote 2 chapters worth of material today … but imma make y’all wait for tomorrow 🤠👹

Face claim : Jennie Kim

Warnings : Moderate Cursing

Summary : Y/N and Oscar cope with their own breakups by making the Heartbreak Club.

Masterlist | Series Masterlist

< Previous | Part 3 | Next >

*message sent

Notification : You received a message from Oscar

*Incoming Call from Oscar

Pick up or Decline

Pick up

“Hi Osc”

“Hi to you too. You sound so sleepy”

“Yeah, I didn’t get that much sleep on the plane.”

“I told you to limit your coffee intake. I’m not there to stop you , you gremlin control yourself”

“I know I knowww”

“So why’d you wanna call? You should sleep”

“Its just weird that I’ve gotten to see your face practically everyday since last month and now I wont see you for like 2 weeks”

“Well we both work very hectic jobs, so that would be expected. But yeah ~ i’ve gotten used to your presence”

“ Hey Osc… Is it weird to say that I already miss your voice? “

“Only my voice?”

“Well your voice is like Jake Sully y’know.”

“You and your Avatar obsession . And I do not sound like Sam Worthington”

“Who??”

“The guy who voices Jake Sully”

“Ok but how do you know that?? I don’t even know that at the top of my head. I just like Jake cause he’s hot”

“I know that because you forced me to watch blue people run and swim for 10 freaking times!”

“Well you made me watch Cars with you on repeat!”

“You also loved Cars! what do you mean?”

“Ok, I do but that’s besides the point”

“What is your point dweeb?”

“ My point is that I miss you already”

“Well I miss you too”

- Hey Osc, is that Lily? -

“Hey I’ll be back. Lando’s talking to me. Don’t hang up, alright?”

- What? No. We’ve broken up , I’ve told you that -

- I thought I heard a girl’s voice. Is she your new fling? -

- I dont do flings Lando -

- Whatever you say mate -

“Hello? are you still there?”

“Helloooo?”

“You’ve dozed off huh. Sleep well dearest”

Y/N.

liked by oscarpiastri, y/bf, logansargeant, and others

Y/N. Florida I love you but you’re too hot. Rehearsals are brutal! 🤠 send jake sully thirst traps pls

Y/N. Whaaaaa who said that?

oscarpiastri Youre so weird.

Y/N. Because having a crush on a blue car isnt??

logansargeant Its not weird to have a crush on Sally tho

charles_leclerc I support my son’s tastes. Crushing on Sally is valid.

Y/N. But me having a crush on a giant blue man is not???

oscarpiastri nope. thats weird Y/N

logansargeant nope. thats weird Y/N (1)

charles_leclerc nope, thats weird Y/N (2)

Y/N. ugh i h8 the patriarchy

Y/bf Y/N your glowing babeeee!! So excited for Floridaaa. Im catching myself a cowboy 🤠. (and ur Jake Sully crush is so Valid!!)

Y/N Babe give me a call, your pass is still with me! ( RIGHT? The blue man is hot)

Y/bf That he is, but I think orange suits you better 😘 liked by oscarpiastri

oscarpiastri you are so right @Y/bf but its actually papaya 🤓

Y/bf stfu Oscar, im making u a case here 😤

user1 I dont know what to freak out about??!! Y/N adding another day to her concert sched or Oscar being in Y/N’s comment section and CLEARLY being flirty.

user2 Sir that is your teammate’s ex 😮‍💨

user3 Well lando did cheat … so eff the bro code or smth like that— i dunno im not a guy

user4 we can freak out about both!!! YES MY SHIP IS FREAKING FLOATING (it aint sailing till oscar confirms his breakup)

user5 Y/N becoming more unhinged by the second

user6 Y/N looks like she’s becoming better and happier 🤍 we love to see it.

user7 Enjoy your time Queen!

User7 Y/N in American soil is built different

User8 We see that like Oscar 👀.

oscarpiastri 3mins close friends

story replies

charles_leclerc do you like Americans now? well its very plausible since Logan’s American.

oscarpiastri Are you insinuating that I like Americans because of Logan?

charles_leclerc Yes, exactly that.

oscarpiastri NO.

logansargeant I knew it! Western always winssss 🤠🦅

oscarpiastri Why am I not surprised.

Y/N. Ohhhh whos the hot chick? 🤭🫣

oscarpiastri 🙂���↔️🙂‍↔️🙂‍↔️

oscarpiastri I dunno you tell me

Anyone interested to be added to the taglist? Drop a comment or DM me!

Series Taglist : @champagneproblems17 @itsjustfranzi @cheriwritesig @forza-charles @awritingtree @sltwins @gr1mes-cc @hwalllllllelujah @btsfluffsworld @tillyt04 @landotd @booksandflowrs @czennieszn @thatsouthernblondewiththeass @tellybearryyyy @wobblymug @alittlechaotics-blog @bingussthirdtoe @mirrorball-6 @demandealalune @heartsforleclerc @yoongi-holland @maneskin-slave @alenix @forensicheart @bloodyymaryyy @stereading @hahahjej @youre-on-your-ownkid : closed

Maintaglist : @myescapefromthislife @peterholland04 @charlottef1 @fangirl125reader @mel164 @gnarlycore @chloelovesln4 @vickykazuya @merchelsea @ln4author @qzmef @nxk1309 @styl1shl1v @lottalove4evelyn : closed for now

[charlotteking23]

The Lion's Lamb - Chapter 5 - MV1/33

Max Verstappen x reader

The Lion's Lamb Series: Aesthetics, Ch.1, Ch.2, Ch.3, Ch.4, Ch.6, Ch.7

You were not the one to complain.

You knew the life you lived was one many dreams of having. As an American, you grew up hearing stories about the American Dream, but your dreams lay elsewhere.

The United States had beautiful places, cities, and people, but you felt your inspiration was elsewhere. So you left.

Your family wasn't happy about your plan, but if leaving was what made you happy, who were they to stop you?

For a year, you traveled around Europe, taking in the art and culture at every stop. Once you saw Monaco for the first time, you knew it would become your new home.

Moving there would cost money, and it was not in the price range of a struggling, traveling artist.

You had saved up as much money as possible, yet you still couldn't afford to buy, let alone rent an apartment.

You stayed not far outside the city-state and would often travel into Monaco when your work required it.

In doing so, you meet your saving grace and your worst nightmare: Amelia.

Amelia is your roommate. You often like to believe she is the devil reincarnated, but never voice your opinion because of what the girl's father is doing for you.

Amelia came from a prominent British family and her father, Michael, was a financial genius, making her more than well-off in life.

But the girl herself knew nothing of hard work, having had everything handed to her on a silver platter.

This caused her to become poisoned to the core in your opinion. She was a gorgeous girl, but her personality was nothing but ugly.

Many ask the young American girl, Why? Why would you live with someone you thought was terrible?

Getting a decent price rental in Monaco isn't the easiest. Most places are not affordable for a person in your income bracket, and the apartment complexes you could afford were designated for Monegasque citizens only.

And you haven't yet met the requirements to become a citizen. The young American girl met Amelia at an art show where she was being featured in Monaco.

Well, you had initially met the British girl's father, Michael, when he bought one of her pieces being displayed that night.

The two had immediately hit it off and it wasn't long until he offered you a room in his flat in Monaco.

They had developed a relationship, but not one many would expect from an older man and a younger girl.

He had seen you as a daughter and had hoped that in offering you a place to stay, your hardworking and sweet nature would rub off on his daughter.

Once you had moved in, Amelia immediately started bullying and belittling you. You couldn't figure out why you were being treated this way, but the British girl held a slight jealousy towards the younger girl.

Her father gave you a lot of attention and she knew that he wished you were his daughter rather than her.

You put up with her terrible behavior because her father was doing you a favor out of the goodness of his heart.

You had tried to make herself feel better about being there for free and tried to reduce the British girl's attitude towards you by cooking and cleaning, but that made it seem like you were the older girl's maid, and so you were treated as such.

Max had arrived home in the early hours of Monday morning. Usually, he would have gone out and celebrated his win with his team, but not this time.

Getting back to you, which was stuck in his mind, has become the most important thing to him.

Those around him didn't think twice about Dutchman, not attending the after-party, knowing, that even though he won, he always thought he could do better. This is mainly just due to his father. 

Jos Verstappen wasn't a good man and everyone knew that. He was an even worse father.

At a young age, he had drilled the idea into his son's head that there would always be someone better. 

"You will never be good enough," were the words that echoed through Max's head. 

He'd never been praised by his father, even after he won his first world championship. There was never a good job out of his father's mouth.

Because of this, the young driver had pushed himself. Not take a break, rarely celebrated, and devoted all of his attention to racing. Until now at least. 

Christian Horner knew the Dutchman better than most. He knew Max's parents and knew that the lack of childhood the boy had, had affected him greatly.

Don't get it twisted, most F1 drivers never had a normal childhood like everyone else, but Max's was much more extreme.

While the younger driver's father was present in his life, he still lacked the paternal figure he needed, and Christian filled that void. 

While it wasn't obvious to anyone else, the Redbull principal knew there was a certain pep in the driver's step after the race.

Usually after a race, Max is often seen with his head, buried in screens, analyzing every turn, every overtake, just trying to see what he needed to do to improve.

This time, that wasn't the case. Instead of immediately analyzing his race, he instead called someone.

No one had ever been able to take the driver's attention away from his job.

This immediately caught the attention of the British man.

He had seen the slight smile and the way his eyes lit up when speaking on the phone from across the paddock. He figured this wasn't just anyone Max was talking to, he knew this person had to be special.

The team principal knew how much stress his driver had been under recently, so to see him smile, even just a small one, made him extremely happy.

With how quickly the driver took off after their meetings, Christian knew there was a special someone in the young man's life.

The only hope was that this unknown girl brought the Dutch driver, the happiness he truly deserved. 

Early Monday afternoon, you received a text from your blue-eyed man.

7 PM dinner. I'll pick you up.

The text itself was straightforward and assertive, causing you to bite your lip and nervousness and excitement.

You were happy, though that he was true to his word about seeing you again. You just didn't expect it to be the day he came back home from a work trip.

You quickly responded with your address. You weren't the type to send your address to someone you had just met, especially someone she didn't know well, but this was different. Max was different

6:45 PM, and the knockhead resonated throughout the large apartment.

You quickly raced over to the front door, not only to keep your roommate away from the man who had caused your heart to skip a beat but also because you had missed him and couldn't wait to see him.

It was a strange feeling for you to miss someone, you barely knew, but you couldn't help it.

You knew he had been waiting on the other side of the door and you needed a moment to completely gather yourself. Your heart was racing as you wiped your clammy palms on the side of your dress.

You threw open your front door without a second thought, afraid that if you stood there any longer without opening the door, he would leave.

There he stood, on the other side of the door the most beautiful man, in your opinion, you have ever seen. He was wearing a white button-up, a simple blue blazer, and black slacks.

He emanated old money, and it wasn't a bad look on him at all. In his hands though, was a bouquet for the beautiful pink tulips.

You couldn't believe this man wanted to go out on a date with you.

"Hi," Max breathed out, holding out the flowers towards the girl in front of him, "these are for you."

In the blink of an eye, you had thrown yourself into the Dutchman's arms. He was surprised at this but responded to the hug almost instantly. Burring his face in your neck, feeling like, for the first time, he had finally found a home in your arms.

"I've missed you," the muffled voice said as your face was still buried in the driver's chest.

Chuckling, he pulled away regretfully and grabbed your chin tilted up towards him, "I've missed you, too, a little lamb."

Grinning, you looked down at the flowers in Max's hand before taking them, "these are beautiful."

A smile was plastered on your face as you walked inside to put the flowers in the vase. Max, followed after you but continued to linger in the entranceway, not wanting to intrude.

He watched as you continued to rummage through every single cabinet, trying to find a vase, or anything similar, so you could display the beautiful flowers.

You had been through all the cabinets before you finally sighed, realizing you'd have to go ask Amelia where they were. 

"Sorry," You had told the man in your doorway with an apologetic smile, "I have to ask my roommate where we keep the vases". 

Max had smiled back at you, reassuringly, not minding all as you walked down the visible hall before turning to face a closed door. Curiosity filled the man's mind as he watched his little lamb's entire body change.

Your shoulders had dropped, your steps had slowed, and the excitement you had held in your body just moments ago had completely evaporated.

He had found the answers he needed when he had overheard the conversation between you and your roommate. 

"Amelia," You said softly while knocking on the older girl's door.

"What!" the older girl responded with such harshness, that you were questioning how badly you needed the vase. 

"Do you know where the vases are?"

"God," the girl said exasperated and her words dripping with disgust, "How a

re you so fucking stupid that you can't find a simple thing like a vase?!"

"Sorry," you said meekly and started to turn away before you heard a voice that stopped you. 

"They're on top shelf in the cabinet above the fridge," Amelia stated. 

With a quick thanks, you quickly walked back to the kitchen, found the vase, and displayed the flowers, before telling Max you were ready to go. They left quickly after that. 

The ride to their date location was quiet. Usually, there was never any awkward tension between the two, but now, the car was filled with it.

You couldn't stop your hands from fidgeting, especially after noticing Max's hands white-knuckling the steering wheel as he drove. 

"We don't have to go on this date if you don't want to," You had finally broken the silence, not being able to sit there anymore, "I'm sorry if I did something wrong. I understand if you don't want to be around me anymore, you can just drop me back off if you'd like."

Before you could get another word out, Max quickly pulled the car over to the side of the road.

You thought that he didn't want to see you anymore, and he had pulled the car over as an indication that you should get out. Your eyes had started to water and your heart started to break. 

The Dutchman's head had whipped around to look at you so quickly, you were surprised he didn't get whiplash, "What are you talking about? Why would I want to drop you back off?"

"Well," You had started to play with your hands again, " you seem mad at me for some reason."

"Why would I ever be mad at you?" Max questioned with a soft voice. 

"Because I made you wait while I found a vase."

"Little Lamb," he had taken your hand in his, causing you to look up at him with those gorgeous eyes he adored, "I could never be mad at you."

"You're not mad?" You asked.

"I am mad, but not at you. Your roommate. The way she spoke to you had pissed me off. You never should be spoken to that way, no matter what."

Max had reached his hand up to caress your cheek softly. He wanted to make sure you knew that his anger wasn't directed at you.

He had been so upset with the way your roommate spoke to you, that he chose to keep his anger to himself instead of lashing out at you and possibly scaring his little lamb. In doing so, he hadn't realized that his sweet girl thought he had been upset with you.  

"You're beautiful, my little lamb," Max says, "Both inside and out. Please don't ever doubt yourself or my feelings towards you. 

A blush had erupted across your face, along with a shy smile. His words were nothing but sincere and you knew that. He quickly pulled you closer and left a quick kiss on your forehead, before turning back to the front of the car and continuing on their way. 

Max made sure to hold your hand the rest of the way. 

Taglist: @shelbyteller, @smithieandy, @fangirlforever2000, @herexpertcollector, @vip-access, @genevieve-blr

[funkopersonal]

Here's your daily reminder that...

Jews are only 0.2% of the worlds population but...

Jews make up 14% of the World Total and 38% of the United States of America total winners for the Nobel Prize for Literature (source).

Of the 965 individual recipients of the Nobel Prize and the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences between 1901 and 2023, at least 214 have been Jews or people with at least one Jewish parent, representing 22% of all recipients. (source)

Jews make up 14% of the total winners of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 18% of the total winners of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry; 53% of the total winners of the Pulitzer Prize for Non-Fiction (source).

Jews make up 39% of the total winners of the Antoinette Perry (Tony) Award for Best Play; 54% of the total winners of the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical (with 62% of all Composers and 66% of all Lyricists of Best Musical-winning productions being Jewish) (source).

Jews make up 40% of the total winners of the Academy Award (Oscar) for Best Original Screenplay; and 34% of the total winners of the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay (source).

Although Jews constitute only 3% of the U.S. population...

80% of the nation’s professional comedians are Jewish (source).

90% of American comic book creators are jewish (source)

38% of the recipients of the United States National Medal of Science are Jewish (Source).

Jews are very successful, with educational levels higher than all other U.S. ethnic groups with the exception of Asian Americans, and income levels the highest of all groups. Six out of ten Jewish adults have college degrees, and 41% of Jewish families report a household income of $75,000 or more” (source)

Jews are a minority across the globe. We've been historically opressed and hated. But these key figures from history are all Jewish and loved, yet many don't even know they're jewish (or they don't know these people in the first place!):

Stan Lee (birth name: Stanley Martin Lieber) - An American comic book writer and editor, Former executive vice president and publisher of marvel Comics, creator of iron-man, spider-man, and more.

Albert Einstein - a Theoretical physicist, Received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics, developed the theory of relativity and the "worlds most famous equation"  (E = mc^2), and more.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg - Former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, co-authored the initial law school casebook on sex discrimination, co-founded the Women’s Rights Project at the ACLU in 1972, and more.

Jack Kirby (birth name: Jacob Kurtzberg) - an American comic book artist, co-creator of Captain America, one of the most influential comic book artists

Harry Houdini (birth name: Erich Weisz) - a Hungarian-American escape artist, illusionist, and stunt performer, noted for his escape acts.

Emma Lazarus - An American author remembered for her sonnet "The New Colossus," Inspired by The Statue of Liberty and inscribed on its pedestal as of 1903.

Julius Rosenthal, Lillian Wald, Rabbi Emil G. Hirsch, Stephen Wise, and Henry Moskowitz - Jewish activists that helped form the NAACP along with W.E.B. Dubois, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, and Mary Church Terrell.

Mark Zuckerberg - Founder and CEO of Meta, a businessman who co-founded the social media service Facebook, and within four years became the world’s youngest self-made billionaire Harvard alumni.

Joseph Pulitzer - a politician and newspaper publisher, his endowment to the Columbia University established the Pulitzer Prizes in 1917, he founded the Columbia School of Journalism which opened in 1912.

Jacob William Davis - a Latvian tailor who is credited with inventing modern jeans and who worked with Levi Strauss to patent and mass-produce them, died.

Irving Berlin - drafted at age 30 to write morale-boosting songs for military revues (including “God Bless America”). Many Berlin songs remained popular for decades, including “Puttin’ on the Ritz,” “Cheek to Cheek,” “Anything You Can Do (I Can Do Better),” “There’s No Business Like Show Business,” and two celebrating Christian holidays: “White Christmas” and “Easter Parade.”

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel - received his doctorate in Berlin. He was arrested by the Nazis in 1938, moved to the U.S. in 1940, and became an influential figure in the 1960s, marching with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma, Alabama, and speaking out against the Vietnam War.

Elie Wiesel - Romanian-American writer and professor, holocaust survivor, nobel laureate, political activist. Authored 57 books including Night, a work based on his experiences as a Jewish prisoner in the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps

Bob Dylan - an icon of folk, rock and protest music, won the Nobel Prize in literature for his complex and poetic lyrics.

J. Robert Oppenheimer - ran the Manhattan Project, considered the "father of the atomic Bomb," presented with the Enrico Fermi Award by President Lyndon Johnson.

Betty Friedan - co-founded the National Organization of Women and became its first president, wrote The Feminine Mystique (1963) and helped spark the second wave of feminism.

Gloria Steinem - one of the most prominent feminists of all time, launched Ms. Magazine and co-founded the National Women’s Political Caucus with Bella Abzug, Shirley Chisholm, Betty Friedan and Myrlie Evers-Williams, widow of Medgar Evers.

Sergey Brin - an American businessman best known for co-founding Google with Larry Page, president of Alphabet Inc.

Judith Heumann - a founder of the disability rights movement, led a 26-day sit-in at a federal building in San Francisco. The protest spurred implementation of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, a precursor to the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Larry Kramer - co-founded Gay Men’s Health Crisis in response to the AIDS epidemic but was soon ousted over his confrontational activism. He went on to help launch a more strident group, ACT UP, and wrote a critically acclaimed play, The Normal Heart, about the early AIDS years in New York City.

Steven Spielberg - released his critically acclaimed epic film Schindler’s List, based on the true story of a German industrialist who saved Jews during the Holocaust. The movie won seven Oscars and led Spielberg to launch the Shoah Foundation at the University of Southern California, which filmed interviews with 52,000 survivors of the Holocaust and genocides in Nanjing and Rwanda.

Calvin Klein - made designer jeans and the infamous ad starring Brooke Shields revolutionized the fashion industry, sold his company to Phillips-Van Heusen (now PVH) for $430 million. Klein was the first designer to win three consecutive Coty Awards for womenswear.

Daveed Diggs - an American actor, rapper, and singer-songwriter. he originated the dual roles of Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson in the musical Hamilton, for which he won a 2016 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical. Along with the main cast of Hamilton, he was awarded a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album in the same year.

And so much more. (a pretty decent list is available here)

Not only that, but the following are all Jewish inventions...

The Teddy Bear - made by Morris and Rose Michtom in honor of Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt.

The Ballpoint Pen - *the first commercially sucessfull ballpoint pen was made by Lazlo Biro, a Hungarian-Jew, and his brother.

Mobile Phones - made by Martin Cooper, nicknamed the "father of the cellphone", and was born in Chicago to Ukrainian Jewish immigrants.

The Barbie - made by Ruth Marianna Handler, born to Polish-Jewish immigrants.

Power Rangers - made by Haim Saban, a Jewish-Egyptian

Video Games - made by Ralph Baer, a German-Jew

Peeps - made by Sam Born, a Russian-Jewish immigrants who came to the United States in 1909.

Cards Against Humanity - created by a group of Jewish boys from the same high school

Many Superheroes including Superman, Ironman, spider-man, batman, and more!

and more! (an illustrated list available here.)

Conclusion: If you're Jewish, be proud. You come from a long line of successful people. No matter what happened to them, Jews persevered, and they strived for sucess. Be proud of your culture, your history, these are your people. You're Jewish.

(feel free to reblog and add more, or just comment and i'll add it!)

Last Updated: June 25, 1:35 AM EST

[afeelgoodblog]

Best News of Last Week - December 11

1. Biden administration to forgive $4.8 billion in student loan debt for 80,300 borrowers

The Biden administration announced on Wednesday that it would forgive an additional $4.8 billion in student loan debt, for 80,300 borrowers.

The relief is a result of the U.S. Department of Education’s fixes to its income-driven repayment plans and Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.

2. Detroit on pace to have lowest homicide rate in 60 years this year

A partnership to reduce Detroit crime is being praised with the City on pace for the fewest homicides in 60 years.

"This is the day we’ve been waiting for, for a long time," said Mayor Mike Duggan. The coalition which includes city and county leaders that Detroit Police Chief James White formed in late 2021 to return the criminal justice system in Detroit and Wayne County to pre-Covid operations.

3. Dog that killed 8 coyotes to protect sheep running for Farm Dog of the Year

Over a year ago, Casper was stacked up against a pack of 11 coyotes, and he overcame them all to protect the livestock at his Decatur home. Now he needs your help.

Casper, the Great Pyrenees livestock guardian dog, needs the public to vote for him to become the American Farm Bureau's "Farm Dog of the Year: People's Choice Pup" contest.

4. Shimmering golden mole thought extinct photographed and filmed over 80 years after last sighting

De Winton's golden mole, last sighted in 1937, has been found alive swimming through sand dunes in South Africa after an extensive search for the elusive species.

5. About 40% of the world's power generation is now renewable

The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and World Meteorological Organization (WMO) have released their first joint report to strengthen understanding of renewable energy resources and their intricate relationship with climate variability and change.

In 2022 alone, 83% of new capacity was renewable, with solar and wind accounting for most additions. Today, some 40% of power generation globally is renewable, due to rapid deployment in the past decade, according to the report.

6. Jonathan the Tortoise: World’s oldest living land animal celebrates 191st birthday

The world’s oldest living land animal - a Seychelles giant tortoise named Jonathan - has just celebrated his 191st birthday. Jonathan’s estimated 1832 birth year predates the invention of the postal stamp, the telephone, and the photograph.

The iconic creature lived through the US civil war, most of the reign of Queen Victoria, the rise and fall of the Soviet Union, and two world wars.

7. New enzyme allows CRISPR technologies to accurately target almost all human genes

A team of engineers at Duke University have developed a method to broaden the reach of CRISPR technologies. While the original CRISPR system could only target 12.5% of the human genome, the new method expands access to nearly every gene to potentially target and treat a broader range of diseases through genome engineering.

---

That's it for this week :)

This newsletter will always be free. If you liked this post you can support me with a small kofi donation here:

Buy me a coffee ❤️

Also don’t forget to reblog this post with your friends.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

No, “convenience” isn’t the problem

I'm touring my new, nationally bestselling novel The Bezzle! Catch me in CHICAGO (Apr 17), Torino (Apr 21) Marin County (Apr 27), Winnipeg (May 2), Calgary (May 3), Vancouver (May 4), and beyond!

Using Amazon, or Twitter, or Facebook, or Google, or Doordash, or Uber doesn't make you lazy. Platform capitalism isn't enshittifying because you made the wrong shopping choices.

Remember, the reason these corporations were able to capture such substantial market-share is that the capital markets saw them as a bet that they could lose money for years, drive out competition, capture their markets, and then raise prices and abuse their workers and suppliers without fear of reprisal. Investors were chasing monopoly power, that is, companies that are too big to fail, too big to jail, and too big to care:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/04/teach-me-how-to-shruggie/#kagi

The tactics that let a few startups into Big Tech are illegal under existing antitrust laws. It's illegal for large corporations to buy up smaller ones before they can grow to challenge their dominance. It's illegal for dominant companies to merge with each other. "Predatory pricing" (selling goods or services below cost to prevent competitors from entering the market, or to drive out existing competitors) is also illegal. It's illegal for a big business to use its power to bargain for preferential discounts from its suppliers. Large companies aren't allowed to collude to fix prices or payments.

But under successive administrations, from Jimmy Carter through to Donald Trump, corporations routinely broke these laws. They explicitly and implicitly colluded to keep those laws from being enforced, driving smaller businesses into the ground. Now, sociopaths are just as capable of starting small companies as they are of running monopolies, but that one store that's run by a colossal asshole isn't the threat to your wellbeing that, say, Walmart or Amazon is.

All of this took place against a backdrop of stagnating wages and skyrocketing housing, health, and education costs. In other words, even as the cost of operating a small business was going up (when Amazon gets a preferential discount from a key supplier, that supplier needs to make up the difference by gouging smaller, weaker retailers), Americans' disposable income was falling.

So long as the capital markets were willing to continue funding loss-making future monopolists, your neighbors were going to make the choice to shop "the wrong way." As small, local businesses lost those customers, the costs they had to charge to make up the difference would go up, making it harder and harder for you to afford to shop "the right way."

In other words: by allowing corporations to flout antimonopoly laws, we set the stage for monopolies. The fault lay with regulators and the corporate leaders and finance barons who captured them – not with "consumers" who made the wrong choices. What's more, as the biggest businesses' monopoly power grew, your ability to choose grew ever narrower: once every mom-and-pop restaurant in your area fires their delivery drivers and switches to Doordash, your choice to order delivery from a place that payrolls its drivers goes away.

Monopolists don't just have the advantage of nearly unlimited access to the capital markets – they also enjoy the easy coordination that comes from participating in a cartel. It's easy for five giant corporations to form conspiracies because five CEOs can fit around a single table, which means that some day, they will:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/18/cursed-are-the-sausagemakers/#how-the-parties-get-to-yes

By contrast, "consumers" are atomized – there are millions of us, we don't know each other, and we struggle to agree on a course of action and stick to it. For "consumers" to make a difference, we have to form institutions, like co-ops or buying clubs, or embark on coordinated campaigns, like boycotts. Both of these tactics have their place, but they are weak when compared to monopoly power.

Luckily, we're not just "consumers." We're also citizens who can exercise political power. That's hard work – but so is organizing a co-op or a boycott. The difference is, when we dog enforcers who wield the power of the state, and line up behind them when they start to do their jobs, we can make deep structural differences that go far beyond anything we can make happen as consumers:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/18/administrative-competence/#i-know-stuff

We're not just "consumers" or "citizens" – we're also workers, and when workers come together in unions, they, too, can concentrate the diffuse, atomized power of the individual into a single, powerful entity that can hold the forces of capital in check:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/10/an-injury-to-one/#is-an-injury-to-all

And all of these things work together; when regulators do their jobs, they protect workers who are unionizing:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/06/goons-ginks-and-company-finks/#if-blood-be-the-price-of-your-cursed-wealth

And strong labor power can force cartels to abandon their plans to rig the market so that every consumer choice makes them more powerful:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/01/how-the-writers-guild-sunk-ais-ship/

And when consumers can choose better, local, more ethical businesses at competitive rates, those choices can make a difference:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/07/10/view-a-sku/

Antimonopoly policy is the foundation for all forms of people-power. The very instant corporations become too big to fail, jail or care is the instant that "voting with your wallet" becomes a waste of time.

Sure, choose that small local grocery, but everything on their shelves is going to come from the consumer packaged-goods duopoly of Procter and Gamble and Unilever. Sure, hunt down that local brand of potato chips that you love instead of P&G or Unilever's brand, but if they become successful, either P&G or Unilever will buy them out, and issue a press release trumpeting the purchase, saying "We bought out this beloved independent brand and added it to our portfolio because we know that consumers value choice."

If you're going to devote yourself to solving the collective action problem to make people-power work against corporations, spend your precious time wisely. As Zephyr Teachout writes in Break 'Em Up, don't miss the protest march outside the Amazon warehouse because you spent two hours driving around looking for an independent stationery so you could buy the markers and cardboard to make your anti-Amazon sign without shopping on Amazon:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/07/29/break-em-up/#break-em-up

When blame corporate power on "laziness," we buy into the corporations' own story about how they came to dominate our lives: we just prefer them. This is how Google explains away its 90% market-share in search: we just chose Google. But we didn't, not really – Google spends tens of billions of dollars every single year buying up the search-box on every website, phone, and operating system:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/21/im-feeling-unlucky/#not-up-to-the-task

Blaming "laziness" for corporate dominance also buys into the monopolists' claim that the only way to have convenient, easy-to-use services is to cede power to them. Facebook claims it's literally impossible for you to carry on social relations with the people that matter to you without also letting them spy on you. When we criticize people for wanting to hang out online with the people they love, we send the message that they need to choose loneliness and isolation, or they will be complicit in monopoly.

The problem with Google isn't that it lets you find things. The problem with Facebook isn't that it lets you talk to your friends. The problem with Uber isn't that it gets you from one place to another without having to stand on a corner waving your arm in the air. The problem with Amazon isn't that it makes it easy to locate a wide variety of products. We should stop telling people that they're wrong to want these things, because a) these things are good; and b) these things can be separated from the monopoly power of these corporate bullies:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/08/divisibility/#technognosticism

Remember the Napster Wars? The music labels had screwed over musicians and fans. 80 percent of all recorded music wasn't offered for sale, and the labels cooked the books to make it effectively impossible for musicians to earn out their advances. Napster didn't solve all of that (though they did offer $15/user/month to the labels for a license to their catalogs), but there were many ways in which it was vastly superior to the system it replaced.

The record labels responded by suing tens of thousands of people, mostly kids, but also dead people and babies and lots of other people. They demanded an end to online anonymity and a system of universal surveillance. They wanted every online space to algorithmically monitor everything a user posted and delete anything that might be a copyright infringement.

These were the problems with the music cartel: they suppressed the availability of music, screwed over musicians, carried on a campaign of indiscriminate legal terror, and lobbied effectively for a system of ubiquitous, far-reaching digital surveillance and control:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/02/nonbinary-families/#red-envelopes

You know what wasn't a problem with the record labels? The music. The music was fine. Great, even.

But some of the people who were outraged with the labels' outrageous actions decided the problem was the music. Their answer wasn't to merely demand better copyright laws or fairer treatment for musicians, but to demand that music fans stop listening to music from the labels. Somehow, they thought they could build a popular movement that you could only join by swearing off popular music.

That didn't work. It can't work. A popular movement that you can only join by boycotting popular music will always be unpopular. It's bad tactics.

When we blame "laziness" for tech monopolies, we send the message that our friends have to choose between life's joys and comforts, and a fair economic system that doesn't corrupt our politics, screw over workers, and destroy small, local businesses. This isn't true. It's a lie that monopolists tell to justify their abuse. When we repeat it, we do monopolists' work for them – and we chase away the people we need to recruit for the meaningful struggles to build worker power and political power.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/12/give-me-convenience/#or-give-me-death

Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

[novy2sirius]

Wealth Numbers in Numerology

💸 certain numbers are better for wealth in certain countries. 4 and 24 can be great for wealth in the united states for example. however, this post is strictly about wealth numbers as a whole

💸 if you were born in a pig, cat, and especially a goat year you’re more likely to gain wealth as well. these animals are in the wealth trine (referring to vietnamese astrology)

8 energy - this is the main number of money. 8’s often are poor before they’re rich, but their literal purpose in life is to gain wealth and still be a good person even when successful. if they don’t become wealthy or experience multiple financial classes (middle, upper, etc) they haven’t fulfilled their purpose

9 energy - this is a number you’ll see commonly in wealthy people. especially famous wealthy people. notice how the word “investment” starts with “i”, the ninth letter of the english alphabet

19 energy - this is the most powerful wealth number in numerology. 1 is associated with the root chakra and physical world such as materialism which includes money and 9 is associated with extremes in numerology. you’ll also notice in the american dollar sign there’s an s and s is the 19th letter in the english alphabet which is one of the most powerful languages in this matrix

26 energy - this is the wealthiest variation of 8 and is known as a number associated with prosperity and abundance of income by the kabbalists as well as by many other belief systems

28 energy - attracts money with minimal effort. if not wealthy it’s likely because of unresolved karma. money comes to them when they need it most. anything that 2 is placed next to will double its energy and 8 is the number of money which is why this is a wealth number. notice how some of the richest people in the world were born with 28 energy

38 energy - these people have lots of luck with money since 3 is the number of luck and 8 is the number of money

[blackwoolncrown]

Help me out w 2$ (or more if you can <3)

Okay since enough time has passed that I started talking about where I moved, let me explain a bit further:

I am dealing w three main issues that could use financial support: ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

1- Last year on a 90 day notice I ended up selling off my shit and driving- yes DRIVING- to Mexico to live there w my partner. I paid for a permit so I could cross the border w my car- it lasts 180 days, which is up now.

2- Tourist visas are, as mentioned, 180 days after which you HAVE to leave so I recently had to fly out and come back (so I can have a fresh FMM) which costs $$$$

and NOW I have to drive up to the border to clear my old permit and get a new one, which costs $$$ in gas and non-working time

3- And that non working time is a BIG DEAL because in order to get my residency, which will save me from having to do this back and forth again, I have to have an income of $3,600. Take home. As I am self employed that means I have to MAKE $4,800 A MONTH for 6 CONSECUTIVE months in order to get approved. If a month goes under...the clock starts again.

Last month I had a post like this but sadly I still had to pay  myself with $700 from my savings account to make the necessary $4,800

I only need to keep this up for TWO MORE MONTHS but with all the travel I had to do this month next month’s income might get dinged.

PLEASE SUPPORT! Donate!

I’m a Black Indigenous Femme that had to flee FL last year for multiple reasons (it’s basically ground zero for American Fascism rn) and living out of the US has been a lifesaver but in order to lock in the long term stuff I need community support and/or reparations to make it work!

HERE’S HOW TO HELP:

The money has to go to my BUSINESS account so:

1. p*yp*l.me/ellipsislux 2. Book a service w me (hi I’m a spiritualist! Also check out my ‘ask a question’ option- you can even ask me stuff about herbs or anything! - if you would like energy chart dowsing kindly schedule any time AFTER June 7th)

Help me grow my business:

Subscribe to my Youtube & like my videos! Follow me on insta https://www.instagram.com/iamthatwhich/ & share my reels!

[batboyblog]

Things Biden and the Democrats did, this week #20

May 24-31 2024

The EPA awards $900 million to school districts across the country to replace diesel fueled school buses with cleaner alternatives. The money will go to 530 school districts across nearly every state, DC, tribal community, and US territory. The funds will help replace 3,400 buses with cleaner alternatives, 92% of the new buses will be 100% green electric. This adds to the $3 billion the Biden administration has already spent to replace 8,500 school buses across 1,000 school districts in the last 2 years.

For the first time the federal government released guidelines for Voluntary Carbon Markets. Voluntary Carbon Markets are a system by which companies off set their carbon emissions by funding project to fight climate change like investing in wind or solar power. Critics have changed that companies are using them just for PR and their funding often goes to projects that would happen any ways thus not offsetting emissions. The new guidelines seek to insure integrity in the Carbon Markets and make sure they make a meaningful impact. It also pushes companies to address emissions first and use offsets only as a last resort.

The IRS announced it'll take its direct file program nationwide in 2025. In 2024 140,000 tax payers in 12 states used the direct file pilot program and the IRS now plans to bring it to all Americans next tax season. Right now the program is only for simple W-2 returns with no side income but the IRS has plans to expand it to more complex filings in the future. This is one of the many projects at the IRS being funded through President Biden's Inflation Reduction Act.

The White House announced steps to boost nuclear energy in America. Nuclear power in the single largest green energy source in the country accounting for 19% of America's total energy. Boosting Nuclear energy is a key part of the Biden administration's strategy to reach a carbon free electricity sector by 2035. The administration has invested in bring the Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan back on-line, and extending the life of Diablo Canyon in California. In addition the Military will be deploying new small modular nuclear reactors and microreactors to power its installations. The Administration is setting up a task force to help combat the delays and cost overruns that have often derailed new nuclear projects and the Administration is supporting two Gen III+ SMR demonstration projects to highlight the safety and efficiency of the next generation of nuclear power.

The Department of Agriculture announced $824 million in new funding to protect livestock health and combat H5N1. The funding will go toward early detection, vaccine research, and supporting farmers impacted. The USDA is also launching a nation wide Dairy Herd Status Pilot Program, hopefully this program will give us a live look at the health of America's dairy herd and help with early detection. The Biden Administration has reacted quickly and proactively to the early cases of H5N1 to make sure it doesn't spread to the human population and become another pandemic situation.

The White House announced a partnership with 21 states to help supercharge America's aging energy grid. Years of little to no investment in America's Infrastructure has left our energy grid lagging behind the 21st century tech. This partnership aims to squeeze all the energy we can out of our current system while we rush to update and modernize. Last month the administration announced a plan to lay 100,000 miles of new transmission lines over the next five years. The 21 states all with Democratic governors are Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Washington, and Wisconsin.

The Department of Transportation announced $343 million to update 8 of America's oldest and busiest transportation stations for disability accessibility. These include the MBTA's the Green Line's light-rail B and C branches in Boston,  Cleveland's Blue Line, New Orleans'  St. Charles Streetcar route, and projects in San Francisco and New York City and other locations

The Department of interior announced two projects for water in Western states. $179 million for drought resilience projects in California and Utah and $242 million for expanding water access in California, Colorado and Washington. The projects should help support drinking water for 6.4 million people every year.

HUD announced $150 million for affordable housing for tribal communities. This adds to the over $1 billion dollars for tribal housing announced earlier in the month. Neil Whitegull of the Ho-Chunk Nation said at the announcement "I know a lot of times as Native Americans we've been here and we've seen people that have said, ‘Oh yeah, we'd like to help Indians.’ And they take a picture and they go away. We never see it, But there's been a commitment here, with the increase in funding, grants, and this administration that is bringing their folks out. And there's a real commitment, I think, to Native American tribes that we've never seen before."

Secretary of State Antony Blinken pledged $135 million to help Moldavia. Since the outbreak of Russia's war against neighboring Ukraine the US has given $774 million in aid to tiny Moldavia. Moldavia has long been dependent on Russian energy but thanks to US investment in the countries energy security Moldavia is breaking away from Russia and moving forward with EU membership.

The US and Guatemala launched the "Youth With Purpose” initiative. The initiative will be run through the Central America Service Corps, launched in 2022 by Vice President Harris the CASC is part of the Biden Administration's efforts to improve life in Central America. The Youth With Purpose program will train 25,000 young Guatemalans and connect with with service projects throughout the country.

Bonus: Today, May 31st 2024, is the last day of the Affordable Connectivity Program. The program helped 23 million Americans connect to the internet while saving them $30 to $75 dollars every month. Despite repeated calls from President Biden Republicans in Congress have refused to act to renew the program. The White House has worked with private companies to get them to agree to extend the savings to the end of 2024. The Biden Administration has invested $90 Billion high-speed internet investments. Such as $42.45 billion for Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment, $1 billion for the The Middle Mile program laying 12,000 miles of regional fiber networks, and distributed nearly 30,000 connected devices to students and communities, including more than 3,600 through the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program

[dandelionsresilience]

Dandelion News - October 1-7

Like these weekly compilations? Tip me at $kaybarr1735 or check out my Dandelion Doodles on Patreon!

1. Arctic ozone reaches record high in positive step for climate

“Above-average ozone levels continued to persist through September 2024. This is significant as, previously, spring has been associated with ozone depletion[….] The March 2024 ozone average peaked at 477 Dobson units (DU), which is 6 DU higher than the previous record in March 1979 and 60 DU higher than the average for the study period (1979 to 2023).”

2. Why Massachusetts loves Nibi the beaver and [won the fight] to keep her out of the wild

“Nibi, now 2 years old, is roughly the age when wild beavers embark on their journey to find a mate and build a home. [… But] if Nibi is released in October, she would be ill-prepared for the winter[…. The governor has] issued a permit for Nibi to remain at a wildlife rescue as an educational beaver and inspire folks to protect our natural world."”

3. In Madagascar, Taniala Regenerative Camp aims to heal deforestation scars

“Residents of the villages around Lambokely manage the nursery and market garden crops. “Local communities receive training in agroecology and agroforestry, benefit from improved soil fertility, and earn additional income from intercropping in the agroforestry plots. In addition, community members are incentivized to participate in tree-planting activities.””

4. Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana Breaks Ground on $6.4 Million Affordable Housing Project

“The project’s first phase will create three-bedroom homes designed for multiple purposes, including elderly housing, emergency shelter, and support for displaced and low-income Tribal citizens. These homes will be built to meet Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) standards, ensuring accessibility for all.”

5. Scientists say painting roofs this colour could save lives: How does it keep cities cool?

“[Researchers] found that cool, light-coloured roofs installed across all of London’s roofs could have cooled the city by around 0.8C [in 2018]. [… Solar panels] could have cooled the city by around 0.3C, preventing the deaths of 96 people [… while generating] more than half the energy [used by] London during the entire year of 2018.”

6. Travis County [TX] opens center to help keep people experiencing a mental health crisis out of jail

“The walk-in urgent care facility is open 24/7 and provides immediate support for people experiencing mental health crises. From there, some patients may be referred to a residential facility[… where] patients will be able to stay for up to 90 days[….] Jailed individuals may also work with their legal teams to coordinate admission to the facility.”

7. Spain’s first transgender soccer team makes debut in regional men’s league

“A soccer team consisting entirely of transgender men has[…] become the first all-trans squad to achieve federated status in Europe. […] Spain passed a pioneering trans rights bill last year designed to make it easier to change a person’s legal gender identity. […] Players may also choose to use a name that’s different from their legal one[….]”

8. Green Status of Species: Pushing Conservation Ambitions Beyond Preventing Extinction

“[… T]he Green Status of Species [is] a new part of Red List assessments that helps tell “a species’ full conservation story.” […] In addition to quantifying species recovery, the Green Status of Species […] will help to better inform future conservation actions by shedding light on which past actions have contributed most to species recovery.”

9. Hell froze over in Texas – the state will connect to the US grid for the first time via a fed grant

“[The projects will] boost grid reliability, lower energy costs, and support the clean energy transition. […] They’ll also generate nearly 9,000 jobs, supporting local economies[…. In particular, the Texas portion is] designed to prevent outages like the ones during Winter Storm Uri that hit Texas hard in 2021.”

10. Pine martens released to be reintroduced to Devon

“Work to release 15 pine martens into woods across Dartmoor has been completed[….] The eight females and seven males have all been fitted with a radio collars to allow their movements to be tracked. […] They were kept in soft-release pens for three days to get them used to their surroundings before being allowed to run wild, staff said.”

September 22-28 news here | (all credit for images and written material can be found at the source linked; I don’t claim credit for anything but curating.)

[murkymud]

*ੈ✩‧₊˚ 𝑫𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒕 𝑾𝒉𝒊𝒎𝒔 𝑳𝒆𝒈𝒂𝒄𝒚*ੈ✩‧₊˚

                     ₊˚ ‿︵‿︵‿︵୨୧ · · ♡ · · ୨୧‿︵‿︵‿︵₊˚

This is a story based challenge which I pulled this theme straight out my ass but it’s a standard Legacy challenge, but I think you’ll be able to see our thought process through this. We didn’t assign colors to the generations but i’m a SUCKER for a good berry challenge so in our play through we did color coordinate  >ᴗ< 

As always, lilsimsie’s Not-So-Berry challenge was a huge inspiration as well as 

𝐃 𝐑 𝐀 𝐄 𝐘 𝐀 𝐃’S Crybaby Whims legacy, A super fun challenge by the way <3 

A base game version will be released eventually. If there are any flaws in the gameplay please dm or comment them!

At the bottom we’ve included some things from our personal legacy if inspiration is ever needed. We did not include them in the requirements because we did not feel it was needed for that specific generation, just that it fit our character specifically.

ੈ♡˳Rules:ੈ♡˳

—✧ Starting out, you may freerealestate/ cheat your plot. After plots placed, start Apple Pie with 25K (Money cheats are not allowed after this point)

—✧Normal lifespan is what we play tested on, and we were able to finish everything. But if you want, you may play long lifespan but you may get bored easily

—✧If your heir dies before a child is born, you may cheat heir back. Once the first kid is born, that child must take over the previous challenge (Ie. Apple Pie dies but Jell-o is an infant. You may not revive Apple Pie. Jell-o now does Apple Pie Legacy IF Apple Pie is not completed.)

Thank you for trying this out! Please use #DessertWhims on any platform of sharing. We’ll be checking all for screenshots and let us know if you play it!

 ⊹ ~  ݁. 🍓 ݁.⊹୨🍰୧ ⊹ . ݁🍓  ~ ⊹⊹  ~  🍓 ݁.⊹୨🍰୧ ⊹ ⊹ ~  ݁. 🍓 ݁.⊹୨🍰୧ ⊹ . ݁🍓  ~ ⊹⊹  ~  🍓⊹

  *˚ *༘ *𝓐𝓹𝓹𝓵𝓮 𝓟𝓲𝓮⋆·˚ ༘ *

   generation 1

(This sim must be a male) 

₊˚ʚ ᗢ₊˚✧ All American Treat. ₊˚ʚ ᗢ₊˚✧

         This all-american was born and raised in the south, this gentleman worked his tooshie off on his parents farm. During his young adult years, he flirted and dated, but who can blame him with his chiseled jaw and perfect white teeth. He eventually found his delectable southern belle, married her and helped her rear up his many, many, many kids. 

Aspiration: Angling Ace

Traits: Good, Family Oriented, Loves outdoors

  Requirements:

 —✧Live on farm

 —✧Master fishing skill

 —✧Have pristine reputation

 —✧Have at least 5 kids

 —✧Complete the Angling ace aspiration

 —✧Master Handiness

 —✧Have 3 partners before settling down

 —✧Marry a southern belle as a young adult 

 —✧Purchase Mentor trait

 —✧Sole income must be from the farm

**All generations strengthen connection to physical world after death

 ⊹ ~  ݁. 🍓 ݁.⊹୨🍰୧ ⊹ . ݁🍓  ~ ⊹⊹  ~  🍓 ݁.⊹୨🍰୧ ⊹ ⊹ ~  ݁. 🍓 ݁.⊹୨🍰୧ ⊹ . ݁🍓  ~ ⊹⊹  ~  🍓⊹

  *˚ *༘ *𝓙𝓮𝓵𝓵-𝓸⋆·˚ ༘ *

     generation 2

   ₊˚ʚ ᗢ₊˚✧ﾟ Extremely sticky, slippery… and unfortunately malleable₊˚ʚ ᗢ₊˚

           A young animal lover who’s used to a free life with their toes in the grass and a sweet animal to keep them company. Because of your big family you tend to be a bit clingy or you could say, sticky to other people. Just like Jell-o, you’re a bit slippery, and things just seem to glide right out your hands. But when your lifelong partner cheats on you can’t seem to find the courage to break free. 

Aspiration: Soulmate

Traits: Clumsy, Loyal, Catlover

  Requirements:

 —✧Find one partner in highschool and stay with them forever

 —✧Become a conservationist

 —✧Finish the soulmate aspiration

 —✧Move away from the ranch

 —✧Have your partner cheat and your sim stay

 —✧Find a stray cat and adopt it

 —✧Rarely discipline your children

 ⊹ ~  ݁. 🍓 ݁.⊹୨🍰୧ ⊹ . ݁🍓  ~ ⊹⊹  ~  🍓 ݁.⊹୨🍰୧ ⊹ ⊹ ~  ݁. 🍓 ݁.⊹୨🍰୧ ⊹ . ݁🍓  ~ ⊹⊹  ~  🍓⊹

    *˚ *༘ *𝓒𝓸𝓽𝓽𝓸𝓷 𝓒𝓪𝓷𝓭𝔂⋆·˚ ༘ *

                         generation 3

   ₊˚ʚ ᗢ₊˚✧ﾟ Pure sugar. Pure rush. Pure chaos. ₊˚ʚ ᗢ₊˚

       Your go-with-the-flow mother may have raised you as her friend more than her child and this might have set off your crazy, free spirited attitude. You just seemed to never know how to sit still, and your racing thoughts sometimes made you have to talk to yourself. One thing that calmed you down was baking, and you could do it all day.

Aspiration: Party Animal

Traits: Outgoing, Erratic, Party Animal

Requirements: 

 —✧Complete 3 child aspirations

 —✧Have irresponsible Trait

 —✧Join business career, advance to level 4 and leave

 —✧Join Culinary career after Business, advance to level 2 and leave (Do this before owning restaurant)

 —✧Finish Party Animal Aspiration 

 —✧Own a 5 star Cafe/Restaurant 

 —✧Have at least 3 different hair colors and styles (Short, bob, long, braids, ect.)

 —✧Accept any invite to go out (Exception is when at the restaurant. May stop this once sim is adult)

 —✧Master baking skill

 —✧Have only 1 child

 —✧Have a mediocre relationship with child 

 —✧Live in at least three different worlds

  —✧Never Marry

  —✧May not cheat restaurant. Must build it up from scratch

 ⊹ ~  ݁. 🍓 ݁.⊹୨🍰୧ ⊹ . ݁🍓  ~ ⊹⊹  ~  🍓 ݁.⊹୨🍰୧ ⊹ ⊹ ~  ݁. 🍓 ݁.⊹୨🍰୧ ⊹ . ݁🍓  ~ ⊹⊹  ~  🍓⊹

    *˚ *༘ 𝓑𝓾𝓷𝓭𝓽 𝓒𝓪𝓴𝓮⋆·˚ ༘ *

                              generation 4

₊˚ʚ ᗢ₊˚✧ﾟ Most boring cake . ₊˚ʚ ᗢ₊˚

         As a child, you were incredibly friendly but you’d soon realize that next to your high energy parent, you’d never be noticed…. so you stopped trying. Your first love made you seem more interesting than you were. Beside them, you were also the life of the party. So when they dump you it finalizes your stoic state. Why try? Your mediocre life would eventually catch up to you when you realize that your children are a clean slate to mold into who you want. 

Aspiration: Successful Lineage

Traits: Proper, Lazy, Loner

Requirements:

—✧As a child, have outgoing as a trait and social butterfly but cheat later and change their trait

—✧Never advance past a B in school

—✧Date person similar to parent (High spirited and fun) In highschool and get dumped before prom night

—✧Join Salary person career (May not advance over level 6)

—✧Must live wherever your parents live (may move out obvi) 

—✧Have identical twins (May cheat) 

—✧Must discipline children as often as possible

—✧ Have children get Happy Infant and Happy Toddler

—✧Toddlers must have 3 in all skills

—✧Have ‘ok’ or ‘poor’ relationship with children

—✧When children are toddlers, divorce spouse for “different parenting styles”

 ⊹ ~  ݁. 🍓 ݁.⊹୨🍰୧ ⊹ . ݁🍓  ~ ⊹⊹  ~  🍓 ݁.⊹୨🍰୧ ⊹ ⊹ ~  ݁. 🍓 ݁.⊹୨🍰୧ ⊹ . ݁🍓  ~ ⊹⊹  ~  🍓⊹

   *˚ *༘ 𝓜𝓪𝓬𝓪𝓻𝓸𝓷⋆·˚ ༘ *

                          generation 5

      ₊˚ʚ ᗢ₊˚✧ﾟ Pristine on the outside, But crumbles under the pressure . ₊˚ʚ ᗢ₊˚

        You and your twin have always been compared, like you didn’t have your own identity. But this didn’t matter at first because they're your best friend , so you couldn’t resent each other… right? You’re a star with a promising future and as it fastly approaches; the math on your sheet suddenly seems more gruesome. After becoming valedictorian the burn-out rises to your attention and you realize you can’t go to university. Your twin, however, proceeds their education and you put your creativity to use. 

All Requirements are for both, unless specified not

Aspiration: Fabulously Wealthy

Traits: Perfectionist, Overachiever, Creative

 Requirements:

—✧Get A in school as a child (For Both)

—✧Have one twin (The heir) Graduate Valedictorian 

—✧Become 10 on an instrument by the end of teen hood (For both) —✧Get all good character Values traits (For both)

—✧Apply for University but never go (For Heir)

—✧Have other twin (Non Heir) aspiration be renaissance sim

—✧After Graduation, have the twins relationship dwindle

—✧Get level 10 in Style Influencer Career (For Heir)

—✧Become level 5 on any skill sim loves (May stop once Red Hots is Toddler- For Heir)

—✧Have other twin go to university 

—✧Have only one child and shower them with love 

—✧ Have child move out with at least 30K

 ⊹ ~  ݁. 🍓 ݁.⊹୨🍰୧ ⊹ . ݁🍓  ~ ⊹⊹  ~  🍓 ݁.⊹୨🍰୧ ⊹ ⊹ ~  ݁. 🍓 ݁.⊹୨🍰୧ ⊹ . ݁🍓  ~ ⊹⊹  ~  🍓⊹

   *˚ *༘ 𝓡𝓮𝓭 𝓗𝓸𝓽𝓼⋆·˚ ༘ *

                     generation 6

      ₊˚ʚ ᗢ₊˚✧ﾟ Your favorite spicy treat. With a burning surprise . ₊˚ʚ ᗢ₊˚

    Growing up with a fashion designer as a parent, you knew you always looked the best. Eventually you noticed everyone seemed to like you, and soon you’d realize this would let you get your way. When your fiancé cheats on you, you finally realize what it’s like to date yourself and you were not happy, but, this would be your demise. 

Aspiration: Serial Romantic

Traits: Self assured, Hot-head, Self absorbed

Requirements:

—✧Finish Social Butterfly Aspiration

—✧Finish the Serial Romantic aspiration 

—✧Purchase ‘Beguiling’ reward trait

—✧Earn ‘Bad Emotional Control’ trait 

—✧Max Charisma skill

—✧Cheat on fiancé repeatedly (May get caught but if you do must not break-up)

—✧Elope immediately after telling partner of accidental pregnancy 

—✧Have a good relationship with child (if you get that far (; ) 

—✧Catch Fiancé cheating (Die immediately after of anger)

—✧Have fiancé raise child after death and they may not join a career, only a part time job

 ⊹ ~  ݁. 🍓 ݁.⊹୨🍰୧ ⊹ . ݁🍓  ~ ⊹⊹  ~  🍓 ݁.⊹୨🍰୧ ⊹ ⊹ ~  ݁. 🍓 ݁.⊹୨🍰୧ ⊹ . ݁🍓  ~ ⊹⊹  ~  🍓⊹

   *˚ *༘𝓢𝓸𝓻𝓫𝓮𝓽·˚ ༘ *

                      generation 7

 ₊˚ʚ ᗢ₊˚✧ﾟ Gorgeous icy shards. Be sure not to burn your tongue. ₊˚ʚ ᗢ₊˚

       Growing up you always heard about your enchanting and stunning parent, and you knew you wanted to be them too. In your field you noticed no luck with people your age… so you took your talents to bigger fields. 

Aspiration: Fabulously Wealthy

Traits: Romantic, Materialistic, Hates Children

Requirements:

—✧Earn the socially gifted trait 

—✧Have a childhood enemy that you later become friends with in YA

—✧As a teen dress “Not-cute”/ socially acceptable

—✧Have failed relationship with “Popular” kid their age 

—✧Never see your first partner in public. May only have “dates” at your house or at night in private places

—✧Have highschool partner dump them privately

—✧Throw a gold House & Dinner party

—✧Marry at least 2 elder, rich sims (And wait for them to die)

—✧At least once marry someone with bad compatibility or worse

—✧Meet 3rd Elder sims and Elope that night, after (Conveniently) get rid of them ;)

—✧Must have a wedding each marriage (No eloping)

—✧After last marriage, rekindle flame between first love

⊹ ~  ݁. 🍓 ݁.⊹୨🍰୧ ⊹ . ݁🍓  ~ ⊹⊹  ~  🍓 ݁.⊹୨🍰୧ ⊹ ⊹ ~  ݁. 🍓 ݁.⊹୨🍰୧ ⊹ . ݁🍓  ~ ⊹⊹  ~  🍓⊹

  *˚ *༘ 𝓢'𝓶𝓸𝓻𝓮⋆·˚ ༘ *

                   generation 8

              ₊˚ʚ ᗢ₊˚✧ﾟ Quite sticky, be sure to keep away from the plates. ₊˚ʚ ᗢ₊˚

             You had everything you ever wanted, and more, except the acceptance of your parent. Your parent always seemed to hate you, calling you a, “Sticky little thing.” This aroused a burning inside your stomach you couldn’t get rid of. Something about your hands, they couldn’t keep from other people's things, but this would be to your advantage. 

Aspiration: Public Enemy, Reinassance Sim

Traits: Kleptomaniac, Genius, Unflirty

Requirements:

—✧Have an amazing relationship with the help (Butler or nanny) 

—✧Have a bad relationship with parent

—✧Complete Whiz Kid aspiration

—✧Have one sworn enemy since childhood

—✧As a teen dabble in Programming and if you get far enough hack as many databases as you can and may even make an app

—✧Complete public enemy aspiration

—✧Complete Reinassance Sim Aspiration

—✧Start a break-in at least once

—✧Kick someone out of wedding

—✧Become level 5 in Criminal career (Boss branch) 

—✧Divorce spouse once pregnant or once you’ve discovered pregnancy

—✧Have triplets (May cheat) 

—✧Master mischief skill

—✧Master Logic Skill

—✧Earn workaholic lifestyle

⊹ ~  ݁. 🍓 ݁.⊹୨🍰୧ ⊹ . ݁🍓  ~ ⊹⊹  ~  🍓 ݁.⊹୨🍰୧ ⊹ ⊹ ~  ݁. 🍓 ݁.⊹୨🍰୧ ⊹ . ݁🍓  ~ ⊹⊹  ~  🍓⊹

 *˚ *༘ 𝓝𝓮𝓪𝓹𝓸𝓵𝓲𝓽𝓪𝓷⋆·˚ ༘ *

                        generation 9

 ₊˚ʚ ᗢ₊˚✧ Closely knit, they come as a packaged deal. ₊˚ʚ ᗢ₊˚✧

The three of you have always had each other, and even when the world compared you, you didn’t mind. The biggest compliment was that you looked, talked, and acted like each other. Love wasn’t a word thrown around in your house, and when your first partner says it. It’s too much. 

Strawberry:

Aspiration:Musical Genius

Traits: Creative ,Music lover, Unflirty

Vanilla:

Aspiration: Best selling Author 

Traits: Bookworm, Creative, Unflirty

Chocolate:

Aspiration: Painter Extraordinaire 

Traits:Creative, Art lover ,Unflirty

Requirements:

—✧Have full relationship with siblings your whole life 

—✧Have all 3 join drama club as kids

—✧Have each triplet have one partner in highschool but break things off after the first date

—✧No one ever marries or gets engaged

—✧Complete all 3 aspirations

—✧Adopt a baby together 

—✧Have Strawberry chose Musician path in Entertainer career

—✧All follow dreams (One an author, One a performer, One an artist)

—✧All must get to 10 in respective hobbies

—✧Vanilla must have at least 10 books circulating in royalties 

⊹ ~  ݁. 🍓 ݁.⊹୨🍰୧ ⊹ . ݁🍓  ~ ⊹⊹  ~  🍓 ݁.⊹୨🍰୧ ⊹ ⊹ ~  ݁. 🍓 ݁.⊹୨🍰୧ ⊹ . ݁🍓  ~ ⊹⊹  ~  🍓⊹

 *˚ *༘ 𝓟𝓮𝓪𝓬𝓱 𝓒𝓸𝓫𝓫𝓵𝓮𝓻⋆·˚ ༘ *

                        generation  10

 ₊˚ʚ ᗢ₊˚✧ A treat from settlers in a foreign land. One they see as home ₊˚ʚ ᗢ₊˚✧

  Being adopted, your family never lets you feel anything other than love. This piqued your curiosity on what the rest of your family is like. In your research you find out about your ancestors Farm, and this, this was your calling. 

Aspiration: Freelance Botanist

Traits: Good, Cheerful, Childish

Requirements:

—✧Have full relationship with all your parents your whole life

—✧Meet all alive relatives (On neapolitans side) 

—✧Earn Empathetic trait

—✧Master Garden skill

—✧Unlock the Chestnut Ridge secret lot

—✧Master Gourmet Cooking

—✧Move on the lot Generation 1 lived on (May renovate) 

—✧Revive Generation one from the dead (Must keep their spirit alive through all the other generations)

[robertreich]

5 Crises Republicans Made up to Distract You

Here are five totally made-up “crises” Republicans have invented to distract from the real crises facing Americans today: the growing concentration of wealth, the worsening climate crisis, and the undermining of our democracy.

Fake crisis #1:  Anything they claim is “woke.”

Although Republicans struggle to define what “woke” even means, they’re constantly using it as a weapon to combat anything that seeks to foster tolerance and acceptance.

Pride flags? Woke!

Books about Rosa Parks? Woke!

Green M&M’s? The wokest!

Fortunately, most Americans think being informed and aware of social injustice…which is what being “woke” really means... is a good thing.

Fake crisis #2: The panic over trans people.

Trans people just want the right to exist safely as their true selves, like everyone else. And despite the lies spewed by some Republicans, there’s not a shred of evidence that they are a threat to anyone. But they’ve become easy scapegoats for the GOP, who vilify them and threaten to criminalize their very existence.

Fake crisis #3: Critical race theory

In reality, critical race theory is mostly taught in universities — like quantum physics or philosophy. It's really not taught in K-12, nor is it dangerous.

It’s merely a framework to understand the role that race and racism have played in shaping America’s laws and institutions. But Republicans have deliberately turned this obscure academic phrase into a weapon to silence any discussion of race they don't like.

Unfortunately, this includes teaching many basic historical facts.

Fake crisis #4: “Couch potatoes.”

Republicans are whipping up anger over welfare recipients supposedly abusing the system.

The reality is most people who collect benefits already hold jobs and work exceedingly hard.

Like Ronald Reagan’s claim about so-called “welfare queens”, the “couch potato” myth is a cruel racial dog whistle. In fact, the vast majority of Americans who receive government benefits are white.

We should be asking why so many jobs pay such low wages that workers need government help to get by?

Fake crisis #5: “Out of control government spending.”

Another lie. Apart from mandatory spending like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, government spending has actually fallen more than 30% in the past 50 years as a percentage of our total economy.

[9.6% in 1973  vs. 6.6% in 2022, a decrease of  31.25%]

Yes, the national debt is a problem, but in recent years, among its biggest drivers have been the Bush and Trump tax cuts, which have added nearly $10 trillion to the debt since their enactment.

All five of these so-called crises have been manufactured by the GOP. They’re entirely made up.

Why? To deflect attention from the near record share of the nation’s income and wealth now going to the richest Americans.

As the wealthy pour money into politics — largely into the GOP — they don’t want the rest of America to notice they’re rigging the economy for their own benefit, that their greed is worsening the climate crisis, and they’re undermining our democracy.

So the game of the Republican Party and their major donors is to deflect attention — to use fake crises to disguise what’s really going on.

Don’t let them get away with it.

[willowreader]

If Project 2025 goes ahead those with disabilities are in trouble. Wake up. This is bad for most US citizens.

Important meeting on project 2025. Now that the Supreme Court has ruled that the president has absolute immunity, it makes it much easier for him to implement project 2025

Project 2025 has some very concerning changes to disability programs, health programs for low income, people, and social Security.

Project 2025: Implications for Social Security and Health Policies

Social Security Implications

1. **Raising the Retirement Age:**

- Proposal to raise the normal retirement age from 67 to 69 or 70.

- Gradual implementation by adjusting the age by one or two months per year.

- Rationale: Increased life expectancy and improved health of older Americans.

- Criticism: Potentially reduces benefits for future retirees and seen as a regressive approach.

2. **Disability Benefits:**

- Proposals to cut Social Security disability benefits.

- Includes tightening eligibility requirements and reducing benefit amounts.

- Criticism: Could severely impact individuals relying on these benefits due to their inability to work.

Changes to Health Policies

1. **Medicaid Restructuring:**

- Proposal to convert federal Medicaid funding to block grants or per capita caps.

- States would receive a fixed amount of federal funding, regardless of actual costs.

- Suggests eliminating federal oversight of state Medicaid programs.

- Potential Impact: Reduced coverage and benefits, and decreased quality and consistency of care.

2. **Impact on Medicare:**

- Aims to reduce patient access to new medications by opposing Medicare's ability to negotiate drug prices.

- Could lead to higher out-of-pocket costs for seniors.

- Proposals to transition Medicare to a system that may increase premiums for many seniors.

- Repealing cost-saving measures such as the $35 insulin cap and the $2,000 out-of-pocket maximum.

3. **Reproductive Health:**

- Imposes stringent federal requirements on reproductive health.

- Prohibits Planned Parenthood from receiving federal Medicaid funding.

- Restricts Medicaid coverage for abortion services.

- Potential Impact: Limited access to reproductive health services for many individuals.

Project 2025 proposes substantial changes to Social Security and health policies, focusing on reducing federal spending. However, there are concerns about the potential negative impact on vulnerable populations, including seniors, people with disabilities, and low-income individuals.

Sources:

[1] Social Security Could Be Upended Under New Proposal - Newsweek

[2] Project 2025 Blueprint Also Includes Draconian Cuts to Medicaid

[3] Supplemental Security Income Program FY 2025 Congressional

[4] Policy | Project 2025

[5] What a Trump Presidency Could Mean for Social Security in 2025

[6] Inside Project 2025 - Boston Review

[7] REPORT: 'Project 2025' Manifesto Co-Author Stephen Moore Has ...

[8] DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES - Project 2025

[9] Adult OASDI Beneficiaries and SSI Recipients Who Need ...

[10] Project 2025: What is in conservative groups' plan if Trump wins?

[11] Statement by Commissioner O'Malley on the President's Fiscal Year ...

[12] The People's Guide to Project 2025 - Democracy Forward

[13] Social Security: Here's what

twitter.com/i/spaces/1lPKq…

[evidence-based-activism]

Wouldn’t it be better to see how many men are actually raping and how many support it. Or how many women are getting raped by men. Than just saying men commit 99% of rape/SA? Because like idk wouldn’t it be like saying you should be wary of black people because they commit most violent crime? But most black people don’t commit violent crime.

At least one in three men around the world openly admit to abusing or raping women.

At least one in three women around the world self-report being abused or raped by men.

These stats are both based on self-report, which likely means they are both under-estimates (reasons in linked posts).

It is also useful to describe the demographics of abusers and rapists. The fact that the vast majority of abusers (90+%) and rapists are men (post 1, post 2, post 3) indicates that this is a gendered phenomenon. It would be a different story if there was sex parity in offenders and victims, but there isn't, so such statistics are useful.

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"Because like idk wouldn’t it be like saying you should be wary of black people because they commit most violent crime?"

No. This is a common comparison drawn and it is both misogynistic and racist.

First, black people do not commit "most" violent crime. According to the 2022 Bureau of Justice report black people (primarily men) committed ~25% of violent offenses and made up ~12% of the population, indicating a 2:1 offender-to-population ratio. While this is a disproportionate representation, it also isn't "most".

Second, while research on this topic is contentious and ongoing, there is substantial evidence that this offending gap is not caused by race but by differences in other environmental factors that happen to correlate with race (in the USA specifically, but also in some other countries examined).

For example:

Younger adults are substantially more likely to commit crimes than older adults [2], and the black American age distribution is much younger than the white American age distribution [3]

Urban areas have higher rates of crime [2] and a greater proportion of black Americans live in urban areas [4]

This articles [5] suggests that the key factor driving racial differences in criminal behavior is intergenerational mobility. Specifically, "black Americans and American Indians have much lower rates of upward mobility and higher rates of downward mobility than whites, leading to persistent disparities across generations ... Hispanic Americans have rates of intergenerational mobility more similar to whites than blacks, leading the Hispanic-white income gap to shrink across generations."

This review [6] found an "excess risk for criminal behavior in adulthood exists when an individual is exposed to lead in utero or in the early years of childhood" and this longitudinal examination [7] shows "alarming racial disparities in toxic exposure."

These were just a few examples of how some secondary factor(s) that is correlated with race (but, importantly, not caused by race) in America can explain the racial gap in criminal offending. This indicates that the racial gap is an illusory correlation.

In contrast, men are the primary perpetrators of almost every crime, across all societies, for every demographic, throughout all of history [8].

References under the cut:

Alexandra Thompson & Susannah N. Tapp. (2023). Criminal victimization, 2022 (307089; Criminal Victimization). Bureau of Justice Statistics. https://bjs.ojp.gov/library/publications/criminal-victimization-2022

Who Commits Crime? (2015). In Social Problems. University of Minnesota. https://web.archive.org/web/20240818215340/https://open.lib.umn.edu/socialproblems/chapter/8-3-who-commits-crime/

Schaeffer, K. (2019, July 30). The most common age among whites in U.S. is 58 – more than double that of racial and ethnic minorities. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2019/07/30/most-common-age-among-us-racial-ethnic-groups/

Igielnik, K. P., Juliana Menasce Horowitz, Anna Brown, Richard Fry, D’Vera Cohn and Ruth. (2018, May 22). 1. Demographic and economic trends in urban, suburban and rural communities. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2018/05/22/demographic-and-economic-trends-in-urban-suburban-and-rural-communities/

Chetty, R., Hendren, N., Jones, M. R., & Porter, S. R. (2020). Race and economic opportunity in the United States: An intergenerational perspective. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 135(2), 711-783.

Talayero, M. J., Robbins, C. R., Smith, E. R., & Santos-Burgoa, C. (2023). The association between lead exposure and crime: A systematic review. PLOS global public health, 3(8), e0002177.

Sampson, Robert, Alix Winter. "The Racial Ecology of Lead Poisoning." Du Bois Rev. 13, no. 2(2016): 261-283. DOI: 10.1017/s1742058x16000151

Steffensmeier, D., & Allan, E. (n.d.). Gender and crime. https://www.encyclopedia.com/law/legal-and-political-magazines/gender-and-crime