#and also mostly the victims are affiliated to the company itself

[ikkosu]

blood warning!

got a little stressed writing out requests so relaxed by drawing my ocs aha...

@burnyourvillage1968 the Yuri I promised captain 👀

Mesa Tor. Kan Sou.

"No one is there to believe you."

[mira-jones]

How to Start a Airbnb Business without Money

If you’re wondering how to start Airbnb without money, you’ve come to the correct spot. In this post, I am going to share a few ways to make money on Airbnb without owning property.

Rental Arbitrage

 Rental Arbitrage could be a technique almost like house hacking. However not like house hacking in Rental Arbitrage, you don’t own the house. Instead, you win over a landowner to lease you a property that you then furnish and sublease on Airbnb and VRBO to start Airbnb without money.

 Rental Arbitrage could be a specific technique to try to in an exceedingly multifamily house, duplexes, or triplexes. You’ll simply use the cash from your short rental to pay off your lease and additionally profit some additional. If done right this could be a full-fledged business in itself. If you own a duplex or triple then it's pretty straightforward. You’ll board one section and lend the opposite. This can be called house hacking. Individuals use this once taking a loan on a property and use the rent to pay off the mortgage. The short rent helps you acquire the long lease that you simply wear the house. This helps you retain the distinction at the month-end once paying for the long lease.

 On the Airbnb marketplace, property managers area units among the highest-paid staff. Though several property managers own their property, it's not essential. Property managers often have a website that pulls property homeowners hoping to avoid wasting time on long duties.

 Locally based mostly Airbnb property management companies, like Whom in European nation, area unit wonderful samples of this kind of service. These companies look out for all the tedious responsibilities, like maintenance, helping you in setting financial gain objectives, cleaning, concierge, key service, and so on.

Using a Vacant Property You Own

 Do you've got a spare area you’d wish to lend on Airbnb? Then you’ve already gotten a leg au courant the competition! All you have to try to do with a vacant property is produce a profile and begin selling it. Of course, victimization of Airbnb’s capabilities can be plenty easier than it seems. If you’re questioning the way to begin Airbnb with no cash, look no any. lend your vacant property while not investing any cash, merely finish off the space, take nice photos, layout the Airbnb host list, and acquire your listing au courant Airbnb.

Property Manager

This is also the answer for those who ask how to make money with Airbnb without owning property. 

 Consider it a business chance succeeding time you’re moving around your space and are available across open rental signs. Rentals like these can even assist you to generate a bit of cash.

 Simply approach the landholder and inquire concerning the chance of golf shooting the house on Airbnb. It’s doubtless that they're, however they're unwilling to place the additional effort.

 It is possible to launch an Airbnb with no cash and earn some further revenue in this manner.

Join the Affiliate Program

 Airbnb options AN affiliate program during which customers will earn cash by referring others to the platform. Refer your friends and relatives to Airbnb and assist them in making an account and booking their 1st keep. You get an outsized commission if they unfold the word that you simply were the one UN agency that brought them to the positioning.

 Many affiliates of the UN agency cash in on this theme and can send a personalized affiliate link to a broad audience. Having your following, as an example, will allow you to try this safely and lawfully. Simply don’t be the individual that perpetually shares your link on social media.

Make Airbnb experiences out there.

 Airbnb Experiences is presumably the only thanks to open an Airbnb account while not disbursement any cash and quickly begin creating cash. Native premium tours and experiences area units offered by Airbnb in locations all around the world.

 They can embrace things like excursions to uncommon places and one-of-a-kind experiences. If you recognize any activities in your region that guests would be desperate to book on arrival, you'll produce a free Airbnb expertise for them and begin selling them quickly.

[patriotsnet]

Who Donates More Money Republicans Or Democrats

New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/who-donates-more-money-republicans-or-democrats/

Who Donates More Money Republicans Or Democrats

Leveling The Playing Field

Has Donald Trump donated more to Democrats?

The fundraising totals are thanks in part to WinRed, which was created by Republicans in 2019 and is their version of Democrats ActBlue.

Like an Amazon for causes and candidates, the platforms streamline the giving process by saving donors credit card information to allow for one-click contributions, providing a central hub for the parties and their allied groups.

ActBlue has processed nearly $8.9 billion in donations since its founding in 2004. Republicans had fought for years among themselves over how to create an alternative and who would run it. It finally happened two years ago, when Trump and his allies pressed party bossesto coalesce behind one platform ahead of his re-election campaign.

Building on the foundation of Trumps unusual-for-Republicans success in online fundraising, WinRed has helped raise $2.3 billion for GOP candidates since it launched, with an average contribution of about $50.

Republicans would always lose small-dollar donations. Now we win, or do very well, because we are the Party of Working Americans, and we beat the Democrats at their own game, Trump said in April. We learned from liberal ActBlue and now were better than they are!

Or as Gerrit Lansing, president of WinRed, told Fox News, “The good guys have leveled the playing field of online fundraising.

The money could be critical in next years midterms and beyond.

Social Media’s Growing Impact

Political analysts said corporations increasingly are susceptible to blowback from consumers on Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms.;If individuals oppose a company’s stance on an issue, a donation it has made or its association with a specific politician, these platforms can be used to encourage shoppers to boycott their products or simply bring bad press.

“Social media makes it possible for advocacy organizations to punish opponents for political actions and negative news travels faster and farther than PR departments can keep up,”;Betty Smith, a retired political science professor at the University of South Dakota, said in an email. “The more a corporation can distance itself from its donations, the safer they are in the current divisive atmosphere.”

Earlier this summer,;Goya was called out;when its CEO Robert Unanue praised President Donald Trump in a speech at the White House. Thousands of people on social media called for shoppers to stop buying from the company.;The phrase #BoycottGoya;quickly startedtrending. Two months later,;Oatly came under fire from activists and consumers threatened boycotts after the company signed a $200 million deal in July;that included an investment from private equity firm Blackstone Growth, headed by a major Trump donor.;

“What you are seeing is few companies risking their brands being called out. The whole atmosphere has caused people to go underground and not be seen.”

Juda Engelmayer

President,;HeraldPR;

History Of The Republican Party

The Republican Party came into existence just prior to the Civil War due to their long-time stance in favor of abolition of slavery. They were a small third-party who nominated John C. Freemont for President in 1856. In 1860 they became an established political party when their nominee Abraham Lincoln was elected as President of the United States. Lincolns Presidency throughout the war, including his policies to end slavery for good helped solidify the Republican Party as a major force in American politics. The elephant was chosen as their symbol in 1874 based on a cartoon in Harpers Weekly that depicted the new party as an elephant.

Also Check: Did Republicans And Democrats Switch Names

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Investor George Marcus And His Wife Judith Gave $9610125 Mostly To Democrats

Total donations: $9,610,125

Party Affiliation: Democrat

Net worth: $1.5 billion

George Marcus is the founder of real-estate brokerage Marcus & Millichap Company, according to the company’s website. Marcus is also the chairman of Essex Property Trust, a multi-family real-estate investment trust, and he serves on the board of California-based commercial bank Greater Bay Bancorp.

The Marcuses gave $10,400 to Republicans in 2018, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The rest went to Democrats.

Americas Top 10 Richest Families

Walton;Republican; The family owns the Walmart corporation.;The Walton family fortune is estimated to be about $130 billion.

Koch;Republican; Businessmen, owners of Koch Industries, a manufacturing company.;Koch brothers have a net worth of about $41 billion each .

;Republican; Own the Mars candy company.;The three children of founder Forrest Mars are worth about $78 billion together.

Cargill-MacMillan;Republican; The Cargill-MacMillan family owns 90 percent of the largest privately-owned corporation in the U.S.;The family, as a whole, is worth about $49 billion.

Cox;Democrat; The Cox family owns a number of auto consumer sites and services . They have an estimated net worth of $41 billion.

Johnson ;Republican; The Johnson family is known for their cleaning products and hygiene products.;They are valued at $30 billion.

Pritzker;Both; Founders of Hyatt.;The family has a combined value of $29 billion in 2017.

Johnson ;Republican; Overseers at Fidelity, ensuring the cash of millions of Americans.;The family has a combined net worth of $28.5 billion.

Hearst;Republican; The Hearst family owns one of Americas largest media companies.;The family is valued at $28 billion.

Duncan;Republican; The Duncan family works mostly with oil and pipelines.;The family is valued at about $21.5 billion.

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Linda Mcmahon Wife Of Vince Mcmahon

Spouses net worth: $1.9 billion

Contributions: $18.4 million

Equivalent donation for median American household: $1,180

In 2017 former World Wrestling Entertainment CEO Linda McMahon took a cabinet position in the Trump White House, serving as head of the Small Business Administration. She left that gig in 2019 to lead the pro-Trump super-PAC America First Action and ended up pouring $15.7 million into the group.

Facts About Us Political Donations

Americans are increasingly likely to make political donations, with the share of adults who say they have donated directly to candidates doubling since 1992, according to data from;American National Election Studies;. Political donations from individuals represent a large share of campaign funding: In the 2016 election cycle, 71% of Hillary Clintons fundraising total and 40% of Donald Trumps;came from individual contributions, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Here are five facts about political donations from individual donors:

1MoreAmericans are making politicaldonations. Americans are now more likely to contribute to political candidates and parties than they were two decades ago, according to surveys conducted as part of ANES. The share of Americans who say they have donated to an individual running for public office within the past year has doubled, increasing from 6% in 1992 to 12% in 2016. The share of those who say they have donated to parties has also increased, rising from 4% to 9% across the same period, while the share making donations to outside groups working to elect or defeat a candidate such as political action committees has remained between 3% and 6%. Overall, the share of Americans who say they have donated to at least one of these groups within the past year has increased from 11% in 1992 to 15% in 2016.

Note: See full topline results;from the Sept. 27-Oct. 10, 2016, Pew Research Center survey .

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Gop Faces Fundraising Reckoning As Democrats Rake In Cash

Republicans are facing a post-election reckoning about how they cultivate small-dollar donors.

Regardless of who wins on Nov. 3, GOP lawmakers and officials say there needs to be a party-wide discussion about how to better fundraise as the coronavirus pandemic magnifies the importance of digital efforts at a time when in-person events are dramatically scaled back.

Republicans, playing defense as they try to hold on to the Senate majority and the White House, have watched Democrats rake in a mountain of cash that has helped move deep-red states into toss-up territory and set off alarms throughout the GOP.

Im sure well be going to school on how the Democrats are so successful, because we just cant afford to be outspent by these huge margins and expect to be successful, said Sen. John CornynJohn CornynDemocrats to make pitch Friday for pathway to citizenship in spending billWithout major changes, more Americans could be victims of online crime‘New normal’: GOP signals big headaches for Biden after midtermsMORE , who is up for reelection this year.

Asked if the party needed a post-election examination of how to better cultivate small-dollar donors, Sen. John Thune

Theyve created a mechanism thats very effective, and were trying to catch up, Thune said, noting Republicans were just getting crushed.

That set off behind-the-scenes alarm bells among Republicans.

Johnson predicted that Republicans would find their footing with time.

Libs Arent Happy With Nike

Who LIES More- Republicans or Democrats?

Phil Knight is a rich white man, writes Stephen A. Crockett at The Root. And rich white men are always going to support other rich white men.

He went on to complain that both Nike and New Balance overwhelmingly support the Republican Party.;Indeed,;New Balance employees have given most of their political contributions to conservative outside groups and Republicans, even more so than Nike.

Nike, Crockett complains, the big company with the conscience, is in line with white supremacys favorite sneaker New Balance.

These days, even inanimate objects like;shoes are white supremacist.

Read Also: Why Are Republicans Siding With Trump

Will Conservatives View Nike Differently Now

Perhaps those conservatives burning their Nike shoes and socks will reconsider upon learning that the company actually supports the GOP.

Or maybe they wont,;recognizing that the message Kaepernick sends kneeling before the flag and protesting law enforcement is a bridge too far.

Either way, knowing that money brought in by Colin Kaepernick is going to support Republicans has to bring a smile to your face. With that in mind, enjoy this pro-MAGA version of the Nike commercial.

The Nike commercial MAGA deserves.

Former Breitbart News Investor Robert Mercer And His Wife Diana Have Given $6544024 To Conservatives

Total donations: $6,544,024

Party: Republican

Net worth: Unknown

Robert Mercer, 73, is the former co-CEO of Renaissance Technologies, a hedge fund valued at $50 million in 2017, according to The New York Times. Mercer left the hedge fund in 2017 after clients, including the retirement fund for Baltimore’s police and firefighters, withdrew their investments from Renaissance over concern about Mercer’s political donations and involvement with Breitbart, The Times reported.

The $6.5 million that Robert and his wife Diana donated to Republicans in 2018 was the smallest figure they’ve given in any election cycle since 2012, CNBC reported. The couple, once among President Trump’s biggest supporters, have become fatigued by the resulting media attention, sources told CNBC.

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How Come We Are Red And Blue Instead Of Purple

Republicans to live outside of urban areas, while Democrats tend to prefer living inside of urban areas.

Rural areas are almost exclusively Republican well strong urban areas are almost exclusively democratic.

Republicans also tend to stress traditional family values, which may be why only 1 out of 4 GLBTQI individuals identify with the GOP.

63% of people who earn more than $200k per year vote for Republicans, while 63% of people who earn less than $15k per year vote for Democrats.

64% of Americans believe that labor unions are necessary to protect working people, but only 43% of GOP identified votes view labor unions in a favorable way.

The economics of the United States seem to have greatly influenced how people identify themselves when it comes to their preferred political party. People who are concerned about their quality of life and have a fair amount of money tend to vote Republican. Those who have fallen on hard times or work in union related jobs tend to vote for Democrats. From 2003 to today, almost all of demographic gaps have been shifting so that Republicans and Democrats are supported equally. The only true difference is on the extremes of the income scale. The one unique fact about Democrats is that they are as bothered by their standard of living as Republicans tend to be.

Read Also: How Are Democrats Different From Republicans

Nike Donates Three Times As Much To Gop Than Democrats

Email

While leftists have been singing the praises of Nikes new push to prop up social justice warriors like Colin Kaepernick, a new analysis reveals that the company has donated more than three times more to Republicans this election cycle than Democrats.

The company has served the anti-cop niche of the over-priced sneaker market by adding Kaepernick to their list of celebrity spokespeople particularly on their Just Do It;campaign. The decision;has;sparked backlash;on;social media and some complaints;from investors.

For the left, however, adding a cop-hating, America-loathing,;dictator-loving, pretend social justice warrior is the perfect selling point. As a result, theyve willingly forked over money as a means to thumb their nose at people like President Trump.

One has to wonder if Nike actually supports them or just wants their money. Do they stand behind the anti-cop message, or support the pro-law enforcement Republican Party?

The news might surprise you and Kaepernick fans alike.

Also Check: What Do Democratic Republicans Believe In

Republicans Give More To Charity Than Democrats But Theres A Bigger Story Here

November 3, 2018; New York Times

The political differences between Republicans and Democrats dont play out solely at the ballot box; they also predict how likely people are to donate to charity. This finding from a newly published research project reflects a key difference, one tied to political affiliation, about how our nation should take on critical social issues like homelessness, poverty, and health care. The data also suggest that in times of political strife, both parties supporters pull back, making problem-solving harder.

Using voting and IRS data for the residents of 3,000 counties across the nation, the four-professor research team found, according to the New York Times, that counties which are overwhelmingly Republican report higher charitable contributions than Democratic-dominated counties, although giving in blue counties is often bolstered by a combination of charitable donations and higher taxes. But as red or blue counties become more politically competitive, charitable giving tends to fall. The full study was recently published in the Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly.

Importantly, the study did not find that in Republican counties, private funds replaced public funds so that social services were equally supported.

How Local Elections Are Becoming Key Political Battlegrounds

The Republican National Committee, the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee together pulled in $77.65 million in donations of less than $200 in the quarter that ended June 30, compared to Democrats $77.7 million for their corresponding groups.

Each sum accounted for an identical share, 57 percent, of the committees take from individual donors, according to an NBC News analysis of campaign finance reports.

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Jeff And Mackenzie Bezos Donated $10186170 In Total To Candidates Of Both Parties

Net worth: $12.7 billion

Ken Griffin;is the founder and CEO of Chicago-based hedge fund Citadel, according to The Guardian. Citadel manages $32 billion in assets, according to Forbes.

Griffin also owns the most expensive apartment ever sold in New York City, Business Insider previously reported.

Read more: Hedge-fund manager Ken Griffin’s $238 million NYC apartment shattered the US real estate record here’s a look at his record-setting properties and penthouses

Charitable Giving Does Not Match Government Aid

GOP Raises 400% More Cash Than Democrats in Georgia Senate Runoff Elections

Those in favor of lower taxes have argued that individuals are more capable than the government of allocating money to important causes, including people in need of assistance. But the study found that was not true. Donations do not match government assistance, and without tax money, social services are not funded as robustly.

The evidence shows that private philanthropy cant compensate for the loss of government provision, Dr. Nesbit said. Its not equal. What government can put into these things is so much more than what we see through private philanthropy.

On the other hand, private philanthropy can do many things better than government aid, as in being responsive to a need and willing to fail without political fallout.

The studys authors make the case for a combination approach.

Theyre complementary means of redistribution of wealth rather than substitutions for each other, Dr. Christensen said. We cant put all of our eggs in one basket.

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Jeffrey And Janine Yass Donated $73 Million To Conservatives

Total donations: $7,611,083

Party: Republican

Net worth: Unknown

Jeffrey Yass is a cofounder of trading firm Susquehanna International Group, according to the company’s website.

The couple also donated $250 to liberals in addition to their support of conservatives, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.;

Does Partisanship Influence Charitable Giving

America is one of the most generous countries in the world. According to the 2017 CAF World Giving Index, the US ranks fifth globally in charitable participation and giving, and in 2017, donations reached a new height of $390.05 billion.

As a whole, its clear that Americans are incredibly philanthropic.

But what if we looked at things through a political lens? Americans are divided by partisan lines on many issues, and as we head into 2018 the divide continues to grow. Has this partisanship carried over to philanthropy?

Democrats and Republicans believe that it has. Recent survey results show that 95% of Democrats believe Liberals are a more charitable group, while 81% of Republicans believe Conservatives are more charitable. Are they right?

Taking a closer look

In a survey conducted using SurveyMonkey Audience, we asked 2,073 adults and found out that in reality, neither are quite right.

Even with different views on many issues, Democrats and Republicans are equally generous in their giving habits.

In fact, the majority of Republicans and Democrats have already donated money to, or volunteered with, a nonprofit organization in 2017 and many still plan to contribute before the year ends.

The largest proportion of both groups have donated money, and more than half of each group has volunteered their time. Its inspiring to see that Americans, regardless of political stance, are incredibly driven to support nonprofits.

A different divide

Also Check: Who Do Republicans Say Is The Whistleblower

[armsinthewronghands]

Ash Kreider and PH Lee’s lie about rape

https://pastebin.com/LApBj8Cy

80some People Owe You An Apology So +John Stavropoulos  finally finished his exhaustive, 10 months-long, unbelievably Lawful Good  research into whether 80 RPG freelancers and commenters (many of them his friends) actually are taking what they say about rape online seriously. Basically: months ago, Ben Lehman (author of tedious RPG products) claimed James Desborough (author of different tedious RPG products) was "Someone who threatens their critics with rape" Now I hope I don't get an argument when I say this isn't something you just casually toss out there . Right? Even if it was an honest mistake--you really really check first before saying someone did something that shitty in a public place. Right? Like: this is an ethical standard you hold yourself to The short of Jon's research is this accusation turned out to be bullshit even though 80some people +1ed it and it got shared all over the RPG internet. Now Jon didn't name names, because he "doesn't want a witchhunt". Which is respectable. But I'm not Jon and I do think the RPG community as a whole deserves an apology from every single one of these people for confusing and distorting a very real and very serious issue of real violence that actually affects peoples' lives. I also think the RPG community deserves to know who they cannot trust in conversations about ethics. Anyone on the list below who hasn't apologized has the opportunity to do that now. Or at the very least Un-Plus One Ben Lehman's totally irresponsible public bullshit. The 79 people (including RPG freelancers) who signed on to Ben's totally unsubstantiated accusation, before today (see below) via +1's were Cam Banks (author of Marvel Heroic RPG) +Erik Amundsen +Alexis Siemon +Josh Mannon +RJ Stewart +Paul Ettin +andrew gill +Adrian Sprysak +Áine ní Dhonnchadha Jeff Johnston Jon Cole John Sheldon Alana O'keeve Sarah Perry-Shipp

Pat Gamblin +Laura Simpson +Eric Duncan (has since apologized, see below) +Scott Slater +Dave Michalak (Dave has gracefully apologized) +Sam Anderson +Eon Fontes-May +Ezio Melega +Daniel Levine +Shawn Ervin Laiel Shepherd David Hill Anna Krieder aka Go MakeMe A Sandwich +Brennan Taylor +Josh Elliott +tracy hurley aka Sarah Darkmagic +Evan Torner +David Blalock +Caitlynn Blocker Dymphna C Brandon Schmelz (of Grognards.txt) +Christoph Boeckle +Becky Annison +Lukas Myhan +Aleksandra Sontowska +kendra tornheim Ivan Somero +Peter Borah +Alex Norris +Sean Kelley  +ach Sean Dunstan Rowan Cota +jacob bouvier +ed heil +Dylan Boates +Jamie Sue (apologized below) Dev Purkayastha

If any of these people have a problem being named, they can feel free to remove their +1 on Ben's post. _______

Here are the results of Jon's attempt to dig down to the facts: https://plus.google.com/+JohnStavropoulos/posts/2YEADUV2Bua This is Jon talking " Final Update: I've gone through many emails, links, and messages on this subject.

To review: --------------------------- 1. James has been accused of allegedly threatening his critics with rape. --------------------------- 2. James has been accused of allegedly being a rape apologist. --------------------------- 3. These are serious allegations and as someone with friends and family who have been raped, I don't take this topic lightly. --------------------------- 4. There is a track record of people spreading misinformation about James. One clear example, there was a petition against James that included libel. --------------------------- 5. I don’t know James, I don't care for his work, and I disagree with many of his opinions (for example, I'm strongly in favor of anti-harassment policies at conventions, have written several, and have implemented many). I'm not here to defend James. James was one of the first people I blocked on G+ for reasons unrelated to any of this (he made fun of vegetarians). --------------------------- 6. I'm personally disturbed by the seemingly vast number of people who seemingly accepted the above allegations as seemingly truth or who strongly suspect these allegations are false but have said nothing. --------------------------- 6. As a potential consumer of products and services from companies affiliated with James and as someone who is very aware how these topics can destroy people's lives, I would like to know what is going on. --------------------------- 7. So I asked anyone to send me proof. In this thread. In email. Anonymously. In any way that anyone is comfortable with. --------------------------- 8. I'm going to present what I know and move on from this topic. Don't ask more from me. I've dedicated a lot of time to it, and have chosen to end several friendships because of it. --------------------------- 9. This is NOT a witch hunt. I'm not going to name names. This isn't about shaming. Part of the point of this thread is to fight against potential witch hunts (which some have alleged that James may have been the target of). I'm not an attorney, judge, or jury, and my words are primarily opinion. You should make up your own minds. --------------------------- 10. The rules for this thread still stand, don't post unless you have proof. ---------------------------

That all said, I've received several links in this thread that I've reviewed and you can read about in detail above. Additionally, I've received many more emails on this topic.

Let me flat out, in the clearest way possible state:

I have received NO information that proves, in my opinion, that James has allegedly threatened his critics with rape.

Unfortunately, the rape apologist allegation is much more complicated and the more I look into it, confusing. Why?

The definition for rape apologist seems to vary substantially and it's often unclear what definition someone is using.

One (of many) definition is that a rape apologist is someone who argues that rapists have no control over the sexual temptation they experience in response to the victim, therefore the victim could have avoided awakening the irresistible rape temptation by behaving differently. From what I've seen, I don't think it is reasonable to accuse James of any of this. But we don't know what definition of rape apologist someone is using.

Another (fairly different) definition is that a rape apologist is someone who communicates that rape isn't really rape or claims that allegations of rape are untrue or exaggerated. Some have claimed that James may match this definition because of statements here, http://talesofgrim.wordpress.com/2013/06/21/kickstart-your-tart/, specifically: "I’m sure RAINN does a lot of good work but they’re mostly known – to me – for their promotion of what appear to be vastly inflated rape statistics. I am deeply uncomfortable with my objection to the project having lead, indirectly, to funding an organisation that seems to use and abuse poor statistics. I don’t, personally, believe that you need to inflate the figures. Rape is a horrible crime and making people more afraid than they need to be doesn’t help." and James links to a controversial news article http://goo.gl/HuCk7 which contains problematic content (an article which makes me personally uncomfortable), but it's impossible from James' blog post to determine if James agrees with the specifics of that news article, or if he is simply linking to it to explain his hesitation with RAINN itself.

Another (again, fairly different) definition is that a rape apologist is someone who is an apologist for rape culture (which we would need to nail down exactly what rape culture means to argue this point as this terms also has several definitions that many don't agree on) and may not be a direct apologist for rape itself. This definition is so potentially large and potentially vague that you could potentially accuse many people of various degrees of supporting rape culture or being a rape apologist for rape culture. It's very difficult, using these definitions, for me to make any definitive judgments on this topic.

Given the vagueness of what rape apologist might mean, I don't want to potentially add to any potential misinformation to this topic, so I won't. I'm going to move away from the whole rape apologist thing and concentrate on the more serious primary allegation.

While rape apologist may be an unclear term, alleging that James has threatened his critics with rape, is not in my opinion, unclear at all. So let me repeat again, in the clearest way possible:

I have received NO information that proves, in my opinion, that James has allegedly threatened his critics with rape.

Does that mean there is no proof to be found? No. But I don't have any proof to offer and no one I know has it or is willing to share it. And given the seriousness of these allegations, I feel VERY uncomfortable with people alleging such things with such absolute statements and no information to back them up. Given that, I've been moved to do all this work and share it with you. Additionally, I've chosen to end several friendship because of this.

Rape is a serious real problem that affects many people and there is already too much misinformation around rape and it already can be so difficult to prove, that I feel it is important we do what we can to fix these problems. But potentially false allegations, in my opinion, only make this serious problem, worse. And while it is convenient for many to look the other way, I will not.

Never forget, the standard you walk past, is the standard you accept. " P.S.

[nchoi]

hii (〜￣▽￣)〜(〜￣▽￣)〜(〜￣▽￣)〜  again, acacia. so you saw my wallflower and my babydoll. but this time you get to meet the head bitch in charge, super fab, actual blair waldorf, naomi choi. by now, y’all know if you click on this you are obligated to plot with me. xoxo.

****update: i created all of this on the spot & also … it got kinda long... again... sue me. but as always, if you want the nutshell scroll down to the very last bullet point. [in sadie saxton’s voice] you’re welcome.

░ * . ╰ ✯ › ⊰ IM JINAH, CIS-FEMALE, TWENTY-FIVE ⊱ is that NAOMI CHOI ? the FASHION DESIGNER & SOCIALITE. they’re known to be AUTHORITATIVE & BEAUTIFUL. but also VINDICTIVE & IRRATIONAL. unknown to them, they are the reincarnation of HERA.

BACKGROUND

unlike my other two characters, naomi actually grew in a very stable home. her parents are very much in love. therefore she was very much loved. being their only child, she was constantly spoiled. always given whatever she wants, whenever she wants. and of course, she’s used to getting her way all the time. if you couldn’t tell by the gif, she’s bad and boujee. her family is loaded. her father, being the chairman and co-owner of rosewood resort (hotels.) and her mother, being a now retired model turned to a fashion designer. she’s always been surrounded by luxury and will continue to be.

naomi basically grew up in private schools. of course her parents wanted her to be the best of the best. so she was constantly put under (positive) pressure by the them. this of course results her to being the top student of her year every year. she never settled for less, for both them and herself. she doesn’t like to disappoint her parents ever. they are her support system and role models. she strives for their success (and even more than that.)

during high school, she was sort of a bully. she was very ruthless and cold. she had that, “i’ll do anything to get where i need to be,” personality. and if it meant paying someone to transfer the other student threatening her valedictorian spot, then yes, of course she’d do that. people either hated her or loved her. there was no in between. she kept her clique small. yes, a clique, which indeed was very exclusive. invite only. think of regina george. she ran her school and she liked to keep it that way. once she graduated she became more of an adult about things. of course her ruthlessness was still around, but a little more filtered. just a tad bit. she got accepted into almost every ivy league college. but ended up going to harvard. 

naomi grew a very big following. she was very popular on social media due to her sense of style. a lot of fashion magazines, blogs, youtubers, etc all tried to recreate her looks. at first looking the best was just a simple task to her. but eventually, she discovered that fashion was no longer a competitive thing. but just a really fun hobby she had. her love for fashion grew immensely. while she was studying to become a business major, she started up her own clothing line company. first it started with a couple shoes. then it slowly started to build into more. she eventually graduated with a bachelors degree in business management and is now a full time fashion designer.

how she got to seattle: so, although she has a deep love for new york. she found herself most comfortable in her family penthouse in seattle. a lot of her younger memories were spent their. mostly for family vacations. the view is beautiful, more calming than the hustle and bustle of nyc, and she always just felt like she belonged. she is currently living alone. her parents still residing in new york and visiting every now and then. she does travel constantly. but always finds herself back home in seattle.

PERSONALITY+RELATIONSHIPS

naomi’s PERSONALITY is quite something. she has that tell it like it is personality. she just calls it likes she sees it. even if she’s not exactly right. she’s literally drowning in her riches. making her materialistic af. some people might think she’s that dumb bimbo rich bitch. but she’s actually very VERY smart. witty and intelligent to be exact. she’s very particular when it comes to most things. she wants things done correctly. so she often runs by the quote, “if you want things right you gotta do it yourself.” she doesn’t like relying on others to get things done when she knows she could do it faster and better. a little bit of a ocd queen. also, she’s able to throw old things together and make them look better, which is another reason why she became a fashion designer. she’s very dedicated to her work, thus making her very goal oriented. she’s very creative when it comes to her designs. and she’s actually a very good artist, like drawing her sketches. i’m sure she picked up doodling and bullet journaling while growing up. *plays boss ass bitch vine.*

when it comes to FRIENDS she has plenty, at least in her head. she just knows a lot of people through her many connections. so she has many affiliations. but never real friends. she’s very particular with the people she associates herself with. she believes that those around you reflect who you are as a person as well. therefore, she only surrounds herself with the best of the best. she may not be the best person to tell your secrets too either because she’s quite the gossip queen. but she can probably persuade you to trust her. rip. however, if you are a close friend of her’s, she’s very loyal to those who are loyal to her. which means she’d never do you dirty. but that’s only if she really cares about you. she’s a really great listener and she’s willing to give advice to those are willing to take it. plus, she’s the type to spoil the people she loves. so expect the best christmas gifts ever if u rollin’ with her. honestly, she really does need to surround herself with good people with genuinely good intentions. so please, someone teach her what loyalty is. bonus points if they’ve been friends for awhile. displays loyalty.

please flood her with ENEMIES. i know for a fact that she has these. she was bully in high school. so you know this girl has more than enough haters. she uses people, she pushes people around, etc etc. like she has some very evil intentions. and i would love it even more if some of these enemies were girls that she caught her fiance with. that would juicy af. especially since she’s vengeful and irrational. while naomi does have some good intentions, she leans more to the chaotic evil side. she puts fuel to drama and loves to see people crash and burn. why? she wants that reassurance that she is flourishing above all. she never wants to be belittled and will do anything to remain on the very top. also, a rivalry would be perfect. especially if someone is damaging her business. because that’s her baby and she would do anything to protect that as well. naomi absolutely needs enemies. give her many. plenty. an abundance please.

as for LOVERS. naomi has most definitely dated a lot. she’s had a handful of serious relationships as well. she is a beautiful and alluring woman after all. she does believe in love. she’s witnessed it between her parents and wishes for a love like their’s. so of course this girl is a hopeless romantic. and honestly, she needs love in her life. it would totally tear down her tough bitch exterior and show how soft naomi can really be. but that’s probably going to be with her fiance. ok, a little bit about naomi and her relationships. she’d be very loyal to anyone she’s dating. she’d spoil them with gifts, surprise visits, and honestly just give them the whole world. they’d be the only person who’d be able to tell this bitch to stop acting so unreasonable. and *gasp* she’d actually listen. i feel like she’s the type to do whatever she needs to do to please her significant other. sad, but it’s true. she’s not as independent as she makes herself out to be. but everybody needs somebody. am i right?

WANTED CONNECTIONS

FRIENDS

best friend — her closest confidant. she’d never let go of this person. they’re her ride or die // f or nb

winghoe — another close friend of her’s probably the person who got her and her fiance together. // m, f, or nb

exes — she’d be the type to still be friends with her ex. yes, they’ve loved each other. but they’ve come to terms they’re much better off platonic. // m or nb

ENEMIES

victim — someone she’s bullied in the past. just someone to constantly remind her that she’s a raging bitch. // m, f, or nb

used — someone she dated and she just basically used. most likely treated them as a toy in her little games // m or nb

frienemies — just always trying to one up each other. whether it be in fashion, friends, family, just life in general. they’re always in a secret competition. // m, f, or nb

LOVERS

fiance — this would be the love of her life. even if they bicker and argue. she’d be 100% dedicated to them. // zeus deity only

first love — once naomi is dedicated to someone it’s a little hard for her to let them go. especially if it was her first love. this could be drama central yooohooo... // m or nb

on and off — just the person she always runs back to. she’d probably even try contacting them if she ever got into a fight with her fiance. // m or nb

** also, since we don’t have zeus deity yet, her love life is up to be fucked up. pls. f her up.

MISCELLANEOUS

✿ an angel with a halo unbalanced with horns, not a devil but not a saint either?? kind yet has a backbone. softer than what she seems like. humorous and witty though understanding. mistrusting but willing to let loyalty speak. wealthy but tries not to depend on her family. and heavily involved in the king glitterati lifestyle. she is the queen of fashion. and honestly trying to be the queen of life itself. she’s chaotic neutral. she comes off as a bitch, but if you are her friend, she’s very very loyal to you. honestly, her life seems fine. she has parents that love her but push her to be the best of the best. she tears people down for shits and giggles. and can be quite manipulative. but overall, naomi choi is a beautiful, driven, judgmental, opinionated, artistic, and the most problematic head bitch in charge e v e r.

alright. if you made it to the end of this ilysm. this might be kinda confusing cause tbh i’m too lazy to proofread. but please like this shit if you wanna plot it uppppp.

[toldnews-blog]

New Post has been published on https://toldnews.com/world/united-states-of-america/floridians-gave-ex-felons-the-right-to-vote-lawmakers-just-put-a-big-obstacle-in-their-way/

Floridians Gave Ex-Felons the Right to Vote. Lawmakers Just Put a Big Obstacle in Their Way.

NORTH MIAMI, Fla. — In November, Florida voters approved a groundbreaking ballot measure that would restore voting rights for up to 1.5 million people with felony convictions. But the Republican-led Legislature voted on Friday to impose a series of sharp restrictions that could prevent tens of thousands of them from ever reaching the ballot box.

In a move that critics say undermines the spirit of what voters intended, thousands of people with serious criminal histories will be required to fully pay back fines and fees to the courts before they could vote. The new limits would require potential new voters to settle what may be tens of thousands of dollars in financial obligations to the courts, effectively pricing some people out of the ballot box.

“Basically, they’re telling you, ‘If you have money, you can vote. If you don’t have money, you can’t,’” said Patrick Penn, 42, who spent 15 years in prison for strong-arm robbery and a violent burglary. He said he does not know whether he owes money to the court, but worries it could now prove a complication when he gets ready to cast a ballot. “That’s not what the people voted for.”

With the House voting 67-42 along party lines on Friday to endorse the new restrictions, the legislation goes next to Gov. Ron DeSantis, who had called on the Legislature to set additional standards for registering ex-felons to vote.

The vast majority of criminal defendants are poor when they are arrested and even poorer after they are released from prison.

The new restrictions have been attacked by civil rights groups and some of the initiative’s backers as an exercise in Republican power politics, driven by fears that people with felony convictions are mostly liberals who could reshape the electorate ahead of presidential elections in 2020 and beyond. Republicans have dominated Florida’s state government for more than two decades, but elections are often decided by a fraction of a percentage point.

Republicans said the restrictions are needed to clarify how the ballot measure, known as Amendment 4, should be put into practice. They cited the text of the amendment itself as requiring a rigorous interpretation of what constitutes a completed felony sentence and said politics was not their concern.

“Some have taken the position that this amendment will have some massive political impact one way or the other,” Representative James W. Grant, a Tampa Republican who sponsored the House legislation, said on Friday. “The outcomes will be what they may.”

Restoring voting rights to those who have completed felony sentences has become a national issue, with most states over time loosening or lifting barriers that limited access to the polls — so much so that, at a recent town hall, the Democratic candidates for president were asked whether even prisoners, not just former ones, should be allowed to vote.

But Florida had the highest number of people disenfranchised because of their criminal records. When nearly 65 percent of Florida voters approved Amendment 4, the momentous result was greeted as a historic civil rights victory in a state where African-Americans were disproportionately disenfranchised. The measure left just two other states, Iowa and Kentucky, with laws that prohibit anyone with a felony record from voting.

Pressed for time as they near the end of the annual session, senators on Thursday afternoon tacked the new repayment requirements onto a previously unrelated bill that addressed some of the elections problems that surfaced during last year’s recount. The surprise legislative maneuver forced Democrats who might have otherwise favored the elections bill to oppose it. The State House had earlier endorsed a bill that included the strict repayment provisions.

But as part of a compromise late Thursday between House and Senate Republicans, people with felony convictions would have ways to become eligible to vote other than just full repayment of fines and fees. They could ask a judge to waive financial obligations or convert them to community service. The Senate had initially hoped to be more lenient, and it appeared that the compromise in any case would leave a large number of potential voters unable to register.

“My heart is in a different place, and I would love to go farther,” Senator Jeff Brandes, a St. Petersburg Republican who sponsored the bill in the Senate, said before the vote on Thursday, invoking his Christian faith. “It should be our place to always try to seek mercy over sacrifice. So we will continue to work toward that goal.”

The final debate on the House floor on Friday lasted more than two hours, with black Democrats emphasizing that felons had been barred from voting in the first place in Florida as part of racist Jim Crow laws enacted during Reconstruction. Present in the House gallery was Desmond Meade, the president of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, who has won national acclaim for his work.

Political scientists who study voter registration in Florida have said that re-engaging previously disenfranchised felons into the democratic process takes time and effort, and that any increase in the state’s voter rolls would be gradual and would probably follow existing trends in which most new voters in the state register without party affiliation.

Mr. Penn, the ex-prisoner, said he registered to vote as a Democrat earlier this year. When he got out in 2017, a return to normal life proved elusive. Employers hired him, only to let him go soon after learning more about his criminal history. He could not afford to move out of his parents’ house. He had hoped at least for a chance to help choose the nation’s leaders and have a say in how his city is run.

“The voting thing is the most important,” Mr. Penn said. “That’s what creates that voice for people like ex-felons.”

Mr. DeSantis said while campaigning last year that he hoped lawmakers would better define which felony convictions would prevent someone from voting, though he has not publicly weighed in on the compromise reached in the Legislature. Amendment 4 did not apply to people convicted of murder or sexual offenses.

Lawmakers did that and then went further, also delving into the financial obligations attached to criminal cases. Without their guidance, legislators said, local court clerks and the state’s corrections department and elections division would struggle to maintain uniform standards for restoring voting rights.

Republican lawmakers say they want as many people as possible to be eligible to vote. They noted that the proponents of Amendment 4 said in court testimony and campaign websites ahead of the election that court fines and fees would be repaid.

“They’ve tried to walk this back,” Mr. Brandes said in an interview.

Civil rights organizations, however, counter that legislators went too far, and that the more than five million Floridians who voted for the ballot measure did not intend for court debts to become an exception to the right to vote. The text of Amendment 4 said voting rights would be automatically restored for felons “after they complete all terms of their sentence including parole or probation.”

“This is a great big slap in the face to the voters and a way to discourage people from participating in the process,” said Micah W. Kubic, the executive director of the Florida chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. “There’s a stark disconnect between the joy and jubilation in November compared to folks now trying to do things in Tallahassee when no one is paying attention.”

“On the national stage, they’re debating should we allow people who are in prison to vote, but not us — we’re kicking and screaming,” Senator Perry E. Thurston Jr., a Fort Lauderdale Democrat, said in an impassioned floor speech on Thursday opposing the bill.

Some former felons in Florida have already cast ballots in local elections. The legislation grants any of those people who might now be made ineligible to vote immunity from prosecution.

Legislators long resisted calls to expand voting rights for Florida felons, choosing to act only after voters approved Amendment 4, which received more votes than any single candidate in November.

The new restrictions will almost certainly be met with legal challenges already being prepared by civil rights groups. Mr. DeSantis, a Republican who took office in January, has appointed three new justices to the state’s high court, shifting its balance toward conservatives. A federal lawsuit also appears likely.

Restitution, fines and fees are often turned into a lien, which records the debt but converts it from a criminal to a civil matter. The legislation adopted on Thursday specifies that conversion to a civil lien is not enough to make someone with a felony conviction eligible to vote. The law would allow former felons to go before a judge — no matter how long ago their case was closed — and ask for the lien to be waived or converted to community service, or the victim could forgive repayment of the restitution.

The requirement to repay restitution in full would leave people like Coral Nichols, who was ordered to pay $190,000 when she was convicted of grand theft and wrongful misuse of identity in 2005, unable to register to vote “unless I won the lottery,” she said.

Ms. Nichols served four years and seven months in state prison, followed by nearly 10 years of probation that ended just last week. She has paid $100 toward her restitution every month, she said, mailing checks to a post office box for the former employer she stole money from, even after the company closed down. She said she still owes $180,000.

“I’m a contributing member of society,” said Ms. Nichols, 41, who co-founded a nonprofit in Seminole, Fla., to help other people after they are released from incarceration. “I pay taxes. I work in the community. I am a redeemed, reformed, rehabilitated individual, but yet I’m not going to be allowed to vote because I don’t have the money.”

[mikesuszek]

My Magikarp brings all the boys to the pond

Before I say anything else:

Voltorb is a real bastard.

I used to like this little shitstain. Now I see it for what it is: The laziest design in the entire Pokemon universe. Out of the 802 Pokemon in existence, this little pathetic ball is #1 in the worst category you could ascribe to them. I had to Google that number, and I don’t know about half of them, but I know this to be true regardless.

Someone will say otherwise, but they’re wrong. And after playing enough Magikarp Jump on iOS, I expect zero voices of dissent that Voltorb is also a total bastard.

Voltorb doesn’t deserve its own game, and as of a week or two ago, I might’ve said the same thing about Magikarp, but boy was I wrong. I tend to think of the Pokeverse as a mirror image of real life; The Pokemon Company picks a handful of ‘mon like Pikachu and Charizard and they become the one percenters, the ones that are on all the boxes, posters, basically every piece of merchandise in existence. Would it shock any of us if photos were leaked of Pikachu doing blow off the sexy back of a Machoke in a Japanese high rise? Of course not. We all know Pikachu runs the show.

But Magikarp? Magikarp, in all its floppy, laying-on-its-side ways, is sort of the embodiment of “all of us.” We are all Magikarp. It’s the Weird Twitter of Pokemon. We adore it because we kind of pity it. We like it because we know it’s sort of useless. We collect it because, after 400 goddamn candies in Pokemon GO or a whole lot of level grinding in the main series, we’ll eventually get our hands on a badass Gyarados.

Until recently, Magikarp would never have dreamed of starring in anything. And yet here we are; Magikarp Jump is rocking the iOS and Android charts as a free download and people largely seem to love it.

I’m one of them. I love it. Mostly because its short-sighted, lackadaisical control styles match the useless nature of Magikarp itself. The game actually sort of sucks, but it doesn’t! I could quit it at any time, but I don’t want to!

The big difference now being that Magikarp is glorious. Behold:

FABIKARP.

Yes, Magikarp come in all sorts of patterns now, and among the rarest are the golden fishies, which are beautiful and take the concept of “shiny” Pokemon to the next level.

This is a good time to pause and talk broadly about mobile games. Touch games have copied one another’s general trappings for years: You have the typical match-threes, the “endless” runners, the doodle jumpers, and so on.

That last one is where you’d expect Magikarp Jump to fall, but it doesn’t. Rather, every action in the game is summed up by singular button clicks. Magikarp Jump is only a few skips away from Cow Clicker in its non-entertaining, blatant click-a-couple-times-then-wait-to-do-a-thing nature. Feeding your Magikarp by clicking on food makes sense to me. Simply tapping a button to get your Magikarp to leap in the air, albeit funny, does not. Tapping one button to see how hard your Magikarp trains by flopping against an assortment of objects extremely-does not. Where some of these events could feature some kind of quick-time event or mini-game, Magikarp Jump bypasses all that for button-clicks and hidden dice rolls.

And once you get past that shred of disappointment, it’s fine. Magikarp doesn’t give a damn. The thing jumps sideways, for fuck’s sake. Do you think it has enough of an attention span to let you tell it when to flop into a balloon pump or a tree? Of course not.

So, my relationship with this game is pretty simple: Open it up, do all the things, turn it off, then come back later to do more things, like any other free to play game. This one feels quite friendly, in that I haven’t spent a dime and have beaten three leagues and reached trainer rank 16 -- I stopped writing this for roughly two days and now I’m at 23.

By many standards, Magikarp Jump shouldn’t be considered a good mobile game: The buy-in for diamonds in the microtransaction system is way too steep relative to their usefulness, the game’s animations are supremely sub-par, the aforementioned actions are repetitive and not very entertaining, the game slams into a wall of grind come the mid-levels, and some of the more useful pieces of info and upgrade systems are buried in some not-so-intuitive menus.

Magikarp Jump is kind of a mess. And I adore it for that, because no game bearing the Poke-fish’s name should be anything more than a belly-flop that manages to get high scores from the App Store’s user review judges.

This game is the ultimate indicator that The Pokemon Company as well as Nintendo and its affiliates could put damn near anything on the App Store and it absolutely will be a smash hit. Not only does it appear to be one of the worst mobile games I’ve ever been hopelessly enjoying on a regular basis (but not at all the worst I’ve ever played, which is an important distinction), but it stars one of the ironic-to-like afterthoughts in one of the most consistently popular brands on the planet. And the user reviews for this completely underwhelming game are equally amazing. Here are some choice quotes from a few of the 1,300+ (!) five-star reviews:

“This is an amazing piece of software. The overtones of games from Nintendos legendary past vibrate through this game providing feeling of nostalgia that have never been known to most.”

“This game is flawless.”

“This game has really opened my eyes that Magikarp is not a weak Pokemon but a strong Pokemon trying it’s best to win battles.”

“From tricky life choices to a plethora of potentially catastrophic decisions, this game has excited and entertained the karp out of me!”

Just fucking amazing, right?

Speaking of catastrophic decisions: Voltorb, and to a lesser extent Pidgeotto, are a couple of assholes. The game triggers random events, such as one where I’m positive this kid is giving my trainer weed, and evidently you sell the “nugget” he hands you for money, because you’re definitely a drug mule now.

Other events give players a choice to put Magikarp at some varying level of risk with the benefit of increased jump points, diamonds or coins on either branch of the proverbial decision tree. One such event features a tree full of delicious fruit that Magikarp might leap in the air to eat, which frequently results in a Pidgeotto swooping out of the air to steal your fish away. Another event, the one my glorious FABIKARP fell victim to, features a mysterious Pokeball fake-out in which a Voltorb zaps your Magikarp, forcing you to get a new one.

Now, let’s clarify something here: Any given Magikarp you own can be “retired,” either manually or by reaching their maximum level and losing in a league jumping battle (the max level dictated by your trainer’s level, which actually sounds unnecessarily convoluted now that I typed it out). Those “retired” Pokemon drift through your Magikarp pond like the ghosts of your fish-training past, ever-present as you move on to the next fish, and the next fish, and so on.

But those victims? You’ll never see them again, ever. The game doesn’t explicitly say it, this is a Pokemon offshoot after all, but they are most certainly dead as hell. A fucking Voltorb definitely *killed* my golden beauty. My scaly, sun-kissed child. My gorgeous, mouth-breathing, aquatic idiot, literally electrocuted to death as the result of mere curiosity. Voltorb is a dirty fuck.

In some ways, particularly after learning over time which events are more likely to result in complete and breathless fatality, Magikarp Jump rewards playing it safe a little too much, which is probably the worst thing a chance-filled video game can do. I’m able to sit back, safely raise my ‘karp, never spend a dime of this game and get by just fine. Even by free-to-play standards, there are some pretty lackluster design decisions going on here.

In truth, and this is reinforced as I read more glowing user reviews, Magikarp Jump is considered good by the grace of its own existence. It’s good because we have it. Because we are able to open it and play it, so it is a good thing. It’s enjoyable because it’s Magikarp, and kind of dang cute. By real-ass video game merits, it’s the turd in the punch bowl that we’re all happily scooping our way around. In some ways, I want to shout “no, don’t drink the Kool-aid,” but it’s equally fun to kick back and enjoy the show for a while, even embrace the chaos. I enjoy this crappy game, even though I shouldn’t.

Where do we go from here? Well shit, I think it’s been sufficiently proven that Nintendo can now effectively dump out any crummy game on iOS with a treasured brand attached and backstroke in the depths of our starving nostalgia. To kick-start this inevitable process, here’s a couple ideas:

A Metroid game, except instead you buy outfits and dress up Samus and don’t fucking play actual Metroid at all, what would you even expect.

Yoshi’s Cookie, except you’re just feeding Yoshi cookies every few hours to get it to lay and hatch eggs with the option to buy packs of cookies using in-game currency that you purchase with real money (the valuation of each being intentionally staggered to encourage you to buy more, like hot dogs and hot dog buns in Father of the Bride Part 2).

F-Zero “endless” racer where you purchase parts for your hovercraft using in-game currency that you purchase with real money (the valuation of each being intentionally staggered to encourage you to buy more blah blah blah).

Literally the exact same thing as Magikarp Jump, but with Zubat or some shit.

There is no good reason for you to download Magikarp Jump, but here’s a link to its listing on iTunes so you can do exactly that. You can get Gyarados in this game after “cracking” your karp’s Everstone by tapping on it repeatedly:

Some folks are already waxing poetic about that, but ultimately Gyarados’ appearance isn’t very special and is more of a missed opportunity than anything else. Let’s not shit ourselves, this isn’t a good game. It’s just not! But it actually super is, and everyone should download it to push one stupid button and catch a Magikarp themselves.

If I were forced to grade this game, fuck it, I’d give it five stars. Let’s lean in to this madness.

[shirlleycoyle]

Auto Industry TV Ads Claim Right to Repair Benefits ‘Sexual Predators’

A camera slowly stalks a woman walking to her SUV in a desolate, empty parking garage. “If question 1 passes in Massachusetts, anyone could access the most personal data stored in your vehicle,” a narrator says. “Domestic violence advocates say a sexual predator could use the data to stalk their victims. Pinpoint exactly where you are. Whether you are alone …” The woman’s keys jingle as she approaches her car. The camera gets closer. The woman whips her head around. The stalker has found her. The screen flashes to black. “Vote NO on 1,” the narrator says.

The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which represents nearly every major auto manufacturer in the United States, is funding this and a series of other TV ads like it to scare Massachusetts residents into voting against a ballot measure that would expand the state’s already existing right to repair law to ensure that you can continue to get your car fixed by anyone you want. The ads heavily imply—and at times state outright—that the legislation would somehow lead women to be stalked and sexually assaulted, a charge that cybersecurity experts say has no grounding in reality. Instead, the auto industry wants to ensure that when your car breaks, you have to take it to a manufacturer “authorized” mechanic or the dealer itself.

The legislation is an update to an already-existing law passed by Massachusetts voters in 2012 that has become a national standard for auto repair and a model piece of legislation for other right to repair bills that would make it easier to fix all sorts of electronics. The 2012 law enshrines the ability for independent mechanics (meaning, anyone who is not a car dealer) to repair the vast majority of cars, because it requires manufacturers to use a nonproprietary diagnostic interface to diagnose problems. This means that anyone can buy an ODB reader (called a "scanner," a "dongle," a "computer"), hook it up to a port beneath their steering wheel, and determine what's wrong with their car. The law also makes repair information available to independent repair professionals.  

Question 1 seeks to close a loophole in that earlier law, which exempted cars that transmitted this data wirelessly. As cars become even more computerized, independent repair shops are worried that manufacturers will do away with the ODB port and will store this data wirelessly, exempting them from the earlier law. The new initiative simply guarantees that car owners and independent repair companies can access this data wirelessly without "authorization by the manufacturer," and requires car manufacturers to store this data in a secure, "standardized, open-access platform."

The organization running the fearmongering ads, called the "Coalition for Safe and Secure Data," is funded by The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which represents every major car manufacturer except Tesla (which has its own problems with right to repair). Coalition for Safe and Secure Data also stressed that Question 1 is funded by big money interests. “It’s important to note that 99.9% of Question 1’s funding comes from the Auto Care Association (ACA),” the group told Motherboard in an email. ACA is a trade organization that represents 150,000 different businesses in the market of manufacturing spare parts and repairing cars.

But Coalition for Safe and Secure Data is backed by big money interests too, ones far bigger than ACA. The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a lobbying group that represents care manufacturers such as Honda, Ford, and General Motors, has donated almost $2 million to the Coalition for Safe and Secure Data. Its name is on the ads. The auto manufacturers are quite literally trying to scare Massachusetts out of easy access to their own data.

The three ads released so far imply that passing Question 1 would allow villains and hackers of all kinds easy access to people’s data. “If Question 1 passes in Massachuests, anyone could access the most personal information stored in your vehicle,” one commercial said over footage of a faceless man wandering up a suburban street. “The Federal Trade Commission warns: your address could be paired with your garage codes to get easy access to your home.” The man clicked a button on a garage door opener and walked through the garage and into the house.

WCVB5, an ABC news affiliate in Massachusetts, thoroughly debunked the anti-Question 1 advertisement’s claims. First, the suggested change to the law doesn’t mention personal data. It refers only to mechanical data needed to diagnose and repair the car. The FTC warning referred to a public notice urging owners to delete personal information from their car before trading it in, the same way you would a phone. It’s unrelated to Question 1.

The ads are frightening, but they also raise the question: how much data is my car collecting? Coalition for Safe and Secure Data’s narrative seems to be that passing Question 1 would allow more people access to people’s data. But as cars become internet-connected, the issue isn't just data security but the fact that car manufacturers are collecting so much data in the first place.

“My guess is what automakers really don't want to talk about is all of the data that they are collecting from connected vehicles that they're not telling us about,” Paul F Roberts, founder of Securerepairs—a group of security and repair professionals who advocate for security and repair issues—told Motherboard on the phone. 

“The backup safety cameras that go on every time you put your car in reverse, are those on all the time and are they observing your surroundings and inferring data about your whereabouts and preferences?” Roberts said. “The in-cabin cameras that we know Tesla has on their cars, are those just monitoring you all the time… are they monitoring your GPS data and mining that or selling that? We don’t know.”

To be clear, cars aren’t yet manufactured without an ODB, but repair advocates such as Roberts believe that in the near future, manufacturers could remove the ODB and move to exclusive wireless interfaces as a way to cut out independent repair stores. “That’s what this question is about,” Roberts said. “It’s about pre-empting that and trying to get in front of that.”

A representative from Coalition for Safe and Secure Data acknowledged that this data is already available to consumers and independent companies (ODB dongles are sold, for example, at every auto parts store). “Yes, this information is mostly available to repair shops now when they plug into customers’ vehicles, and there is already plenty of risk there,” the representative told Motherboard in an email. “But they would be enormously magnified if Question 1 passes, as it would make all that information accessible remotely and in real time, without ever having to plug into a vehicle.”

For Roberts, that argument doesn’t make sense. “If there are already bridges between the telematic data and the CAN Network and the onboard systems [the electronic systems that control a cars physical functioning, such as steering and cruise control], then that vulnerability already exists today,” Robert said. “And the only firewall between a hacker being able to [take control of your car] is the security of your average automobile dealership.”

“How strongly do you feel about the cybersecurity of your auto-dealership?” Roberts said.

Auto Industry TV Ads Claim Right to Repair Benefits ‘Sexual Predators’ syndicated from https://triviaqaweb.wordpress.com/feed/

[abigailswager]

fund recovery - you do this with Global Recovery Alliance

New Post has been published on https://traderippleonline.com/fund-recovery-you-do-this-with-global-recovery-alliance/

fund recovery - you do this with Global Recovery Alliance

Best Recovery firm for fund recovery

when you lost money in trading and this time it is not through your fualt there are companies that will help you try to get this back by additional trading or through contacting the broker for you and using their tools and contacts to reclaim part or all of your losses.

this of course only works if you are not to blame and you did not open a position that wiped out your account.

belive me this happens more than you would expect.

Certain brokerages are opened with the aim to gain as much as possible in the shortest time available. This results in unethical working methods, extremely aggressive sales methods and above all, refusal of withdrawals requests or even worse, complete disappearance from the market. As we are sure you are familiar or might have encountered such, some of our people took a look at GlobalRecoveryAlliance, a firm located in Central Europe and operational offices in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

contact details – Address – 3012-Weena office complex , Rotterdam , Netherlands Phone – +31 102680193 Email – support@globalrecoveryalliance.com.

Asset Recovery

These days, online trading is immensely popular making it very easy for one to choose a broker and start trading currencies, commodities, stocks and cryptocurrencies.

With a tremendous offer of brokers offering their services available in the market, it has become just as easy although to choose a broker that eventually will leave you with unpaid withdrawals or in the worst case, no returns at all for a variety of reasons.

Due to the rising number of victims of financial frauds, a company named Globalrecoveryalliance was called in order to assist people with reclaiming their unrightfully taken funds. (Also called Asset Recovery)

Globalrecoveryalliance opened its doors for individuals over a decade ago and has assisted over 3200 clients with their recovery services leading to a returned sum exceeding 20 million dollars. A staggering number of 1450 of cases speaks completely for itself leading to some impressive overall statistics compared to other recovery companies in the industry.

Location and Transparency

With its headquarters located in Central Europe and operational offices in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, a team of 35 employees with mostly legal backgrounds are handling cases varying from brokers which stole client funds and completely disappeared from the globe to simple cases where a broker refuses to process withdrawal requests.

The Strategy

A big plus when approaching Globalrecoveryallianceis a free first consultation session in which a professional will gather details based on the information you will provide.  An assessment will be made after which you will be called back to discuss the overall evaluation of your case. This does not mean GRA works pro bono but what it does mean is that before proceeding, you will get an honest opinion about the potential of your case.

Following the assessment, there are a number of options but in many cases, cross border examinations will be made, consultations with affiliates and law enforcement specialist in the jurisdiction which is relevant to your case and most importantly, the approach towards the (mostly) broker in the matter will follow.

Additional Services

In addition to the above, GRA also provides a significant number of additional services varying, but not limited to:

Business strategy consulting

Tax planning

Global representation

Corporate – and individual intelligence (Based upon Jurisdiction)

These are interesting additional services which all together, add more value to GlobalRecoveryAlliance compared to other identical firms in the industry.

Our Opinion

After evaluating GlobalRecoveryAlliance, we came to the conclusion that among the asset recovery firms, GRA stands out with head and shoulders. Many firms these days are paying too much attention to immediate profits resulting in excessive expenses when looking for debt recovery. Due to their first free consultancy, massive advantage is gained as you will get a clean look at the potential of your case.

In case you are a victim of financial fraud, leave them your details and at least check what they can do for you!

Visit their Site here

contact details – Address – 3012-Weena office complex , Rotterdam , Netherlands Phone – +31 102680193 Email – support@globalrecoveryalliance.com

[feedbaylenny]

If you want to do something well, watch someone else do it. That’s the way to improve in most skills in life.

That’s one reason I read Scott Jones’ blog, FTVLive.com. Say what you want about him or his spelling, but he’s usually right on the money when it comes to facts, and won’t make claims without backing them up. In other words, I trust what he writes.

This morning, he had two blog posts about the latest attempt to create the nation’s largest local television station owner: Nexstar Media Group’s effort to buy Tribune Media. (Last year, after a lot of opposition, Sinclair Broadcast Group was not allowed to make the purchase.)

When you get this big, things get complicated. The company gets up against against Federal Communications Commission ownership limits, as well as Department of Justice antitrust regulations.

Nexstar owns or operates 174 television stations in 100 mostly small to mid-sized TV markets, reaching nearly 38.7 percent of American households. The limit is 39 percent, and that’s with the FCC’s UHF discount, which only takes half the market’s people into account. Tribune owns or operates 42 stations, including the nation’s biggest cities.

The deal is that Nexstar will pay $4.1 billion for Tribune. Sinclair had offered $3.9 billion but according to USA Today, “breached its contract by misleading regulators during the transaction’s approval process.” Nexstar’s last major purchase was in 2017, when it bought 71 stations from Media General for $4.6 billion.

The ownership limits, which I explained in this post from last March, come into play because two large companies will already own stations in the same markets competing against each other, and will together own too many as a whole. That’s why some stations will need to be sold.

Briefly, the four categories of FCC rules are 1. national TV ownership, 2. local TV multiple ownership, 3. the number of independently owned “media voices” – 4. and at least one of the stations is not ranked among the top four stations in the DMA (that’s the “designated market area” or city, and ranking based on audience share), and at least eight independently owned TV stations would remain in the market after the proposed combination. (Keep in mind, these rules seem to get loosened every time a company comes close to hitting the limit.)

In the case of Nexstar and Tribune, there would be a long list involving about 15 cities. (Nexstar would do well by being honest in its effort to buy Tribune, as opposed to what Sinclair did and had been doing for years.)

Perry Sook, Nexstar’s president and CEO, started the company in 1996 with one station in Scranton, Pa. He has been buying ever since.

“We have no aspirations to be a national anything,” Sook said, according to Variety. “Our company goes from Burlington, Vermont to Honolulu and each of those communities have different needs and different tastes. We do three things that are vitally important: We produce local news content. We deliver entertainment and information. And we help local businesses sell stuff. Those are our reasons to exist.”

That’s contrary to Sinclair, which was reportedly interested in creating a national news network and using must-runs on its stations to spread its ownership’s conservative beliefs.

COMING UP: Why Nexstar would spin off WPIX and WSFL, why it wouldn’t want stations in New York and Miami, and what the options are in those important cities.

Anyway, this morning, Scott wrote,

“Sources tell FTVLive that Nexstar is not planning on keeping WPIX in New York City after it purchases the station as part of the Tribune deal.”

So if Nexstar pretty-much owns so many stations in small to mid-sized TV markets, and claims to be solely interested in local broadcasting (while probably taking advantage of some scale), why leave out a station in the #1 TV market in the country, which itself broadcasts to about a whopping six percent of American households?

According to Scott,

“The spinning off of WPIX will help bring Nexstar under the ownership cap and it will likely put a lot of money back into the Nexstar back account.”

I’d rather see competition remain in New York. I can’t imagine Nexstar losing the power of selling ads on stations in every one of the biggest, influential, most lucrative cities (New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Washington, etc.). And it could probably make money selling off many of its smaller market stations, have fewer people doing the same jobs on payroll, pay less for benefits like health insurance, have less regulatory paperwork to do, etc. But it could possibly achieve what Scott suggested in just one move.

Instead of Nexstar, I dread a New York competitor coming in and gutting WPIX’s news department, which has grown over the years from 30 minutes at 7:30pm and an hour at 10, to include morning and early evening news.

Among competitors, WCBS already owns WLNY (Long Island). WNBC already owns WNJU (Telenundo). WNYW (Fox) bought WWOR and got rid of its news department. That pretty much leaves WABC, which is said to be in the buying mood since owner Disney hasn’t bought stations in years, is not up against ownership limits, and has been said to be interested in Cox’s stations (especially its ABC affiliates in Atlanta, Orlando and Charlotte). A duopoly in New York would be good for WABC, but not the public, which owns the airwaves. But considering the other major stations already own second stations in the Big Apple, could WABC be refused?

Of course, Disney/ABC is already buying most of 21st Century Fox’s assets, including its TV and movie studios, and cable channels except news and business, for $71 billion. The New York Post reports the closing is expected in February or March, and Sinclair may end up buying Fox’s regional sports networks which Disney can’t keep (it already owns ESPN) and nobody else seems to want them.

The so-called New Fox would consist only of its TV stations, and its news and business cable channels. (Comcast/NBC wanted Fox’s entertainment assets but Disney/ABC offered more. Comcast is ending up with Fox’s share of European telecommunications and pay-TV giant Sky.)

Scott also wrote,

“Along with spinning off WPIX in New York, Nexstar plans on selling off WSFL, the Tribune station in Miami.”

We’ve been through this before. Fox has a great Miami affiliate, WSVN, which is owned by Ed Ansin’s Sunbeam Television Corporation. In the 1980s, he wouldn’t sell to then-affiliate partner NBC, so the peacock bought WTVJ in early 1987 and took away WSVN’s #1 primetime programming on Jan. 1, 1989. WSVN became a Fox affiliate on the few days the new network broadcast back then and put its future into local news, more sensational back then, which has worked out well.

Then, just a few years ago, the same thing happened with Sunbeam’s WHDH in Boston. Ansin refused to sell to NBC so the peacock invented a station pretty much from scratch to put its programming. Since Boston already had a Fox affiliate (Miami’s went to CBS in 1989), WHDH is now completely independent, without a network, and worth much less.

So Fox has been selling off assets but is interested in buying TV stations (with a deal to buy several from Sinclair after its merger with Tribune that fell through) and rights to live programming, especially sports and especially the National Football League. In the past, Fox wanted stations in cities with NFC teams because it broadcasts NFC team away games on Sunday afternoons. Then, it bought the rights to Thursday Night Football, which includes the whole league, so now it’s interested in stations in cities with AFC teams, like the Miami Dolphins.

I’ve shown you how networks have dumped highly-rated, loyal, long-time affiliate stations and went all-out to own stations in cities around the country, even if it meant starting a news department from nothing, which is exactly what WSFL has when it comes to news.

Why would Nexstar sell Tribune’s only Florida station when it doesn’t have much to show for itself in the Sunshine State? Good question! Nexstar only owns WFLA in Tampa, WKRG in Mobile/Pensacola and WMBB in Panama City. Maybe it knows it could get a great deal from Fox (perhaps part of a multi-station deal where Nexstar and Tribune have too many stations competing), or it knows global warming will have Florida under water sooner rather than later.

  One thing I disagree on with Scott about Fox possibly buying WSFL is that WSVN would probably not exchange affiliations with that current CW affiliate and become the new one. That’s because CBS is a part owner of The CW and that affiliation would likely go to its second Miami station, WBFS, which would probably mean WSVN ends up with WBFS’ MyNetworkTV affiliation.

On the other hand, Philadelphia MyNetworkTV affiliate WPHL (owned by Tribune) airs off-network syndicated reruns from 8 to 10pm (a great idea!) and its MyNetworkTV obligations (pretty much syndicated dramas) air overnight. It also got rid of the “My” on its logo.

I checked because WBFS-Miami and WWOR-New York air the same shows from 8 to 10 (and Fox owns both WWOR and MyNetworkTV, so the shows will definitely run in pattern).

Anson’s WHDH – which has been independent for two years – airs Family Feud for an hour at 8 and local news from 9 to 11:35pm. So there are alternatives.

What’s going to happen? Are the reports from Scott true? If so, are they subject to change?

Again, we’ll have to sit back on our couches, and wait and see.

Disappointing news and news coverage

Last night, a woman was shot to death two blocks from my parents (and where I lived from the end of kindergarten, to leaving WSVN and moving to Connecticut, minus my three college years). It happened at about 5pm. I found out when my sister-in-law sent me a TV station’s screen-grab.

Turns out, the victim was a well-known real estate agent, who’d had her face and her dog on many bus benches while I was growing up. It happened outside her daughter’s house (same high school, two years older) and the gunman was her estranged son-in-law, who later killed himself.

In the early evening, between 7:30 and 8:30pm, I couldn’t find anything on WSVN’s website, and nonsense with very few facts from the network-owned stations.

WTVJ was a block off and WFOR had no location.

WPLG had the best coverage, with the right block and video with a reporter at the scene during its newscast which ended at 6:30, but supposedly the latest was on a different reporter’s personal, private Facebook page. We never met, but I went to school with his brother years ago, so he was from the area and had contacts. I found out about his Facebook coverage when I got a call from one of our dozens of mutual friends (28, to be exact), and asked him about it – on Facebook.

Me: “Why did you put Highland Lakes shooting privately on your personal page, but not on your professional page for any interested parties?”

Him: “The station posts on my public”

Me: “I’m sorry. That sucks.”

Him: “Ok sorry”

Me: “I meant for you. I’m sure not everything they’ve posted has been perfect, or the way you would have.”

He doesn’t know what I do and have done for a living, and you see he didn’t realize I felt sorry for him apparently not being able to publish on social media pages with his name and picture, and depending on others to do it right! His public Facebook page hasn’t been used in almost a month, and his work Twitter account was only used sporadically, not daily like someone with contacts who goes out in the field, working to uncover facts.

We know people on-air are not decision-makers but they should be trusted to publish on pages with their names and pictures, along with certain folks in the newsroom. Those people on-air with their names and pictures online will probably be the best at making sure what’s reported there is accurate and presented properly.

Who else would care as much?

If you appreciate what you read here, subscribe with either your email address or WordPress account, and get a notice whenever I publish. Don’t rely on social media with its hacking issues and censoring like this, this, this and this. (I explained the reason for the fourth “this” in my last post.) I just became certified as an IT Support Specialist and am also available for writing/web contract work. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennycohen

Reports: Nexstar says no to WPIX-NY, WSFL-Miami If you want to do something well, watch someone else do it. That’s the way to improve in most skills in life.

[gossipnetwork-blog]

Medical Pot, Marijuana: Best Hope to Fight Opioid Epidemic

New Post has been published on http://gossip.network/medical-pot-marijuana-best-hope-to-fight-opioid-epidemic/

Medical Pot, Marijuana: Best Hope to Fight Opioid Epidemic

Last year, a pharmaceutical company called Insys Therapeutics gave half a million dollars to the campaign to stop marijuana legalization in Arizona. The Phoenix-based company’s flagship product is a prescription opioid spray made from fentanyl, an incredibly addictive and deadly drug estimated to be 50 times stronger than heroin. Cannabis, Insys knew, could disrupt the $24 billion market for painkillers and cost them business. After all, cannabis is now being used to treat many of the problems for which opioids are prescribed: back pain, arthritis, basically any kind of chronic discomfort. And there are some pretty convincing reasons why someone in pain might choose cannabis over opioids: Opioids are physically addictive, and can kill you. Cannabis has never killed anyone, and the withdrawal is mostly psychological.

Insys’s cash injection seems to have worked – of the five states with adult-use cannabis legalization on the ballot in 2016, Arizona is the only place where it didn’t pass. This, of course, is the root of the opioid crisis: pharmaceutical companies care more about profit than they do about human health. These companies are powerful, and they have been funding the anti-pot lobby for a long time. Still, in the face of opposition from entrenched interests and the federal government, a growing chorus of experts is calling for us to look into the possibility that legal cannabis could replace opioids in many circumstances, saving hundreds of thousands of lives over the course of the next decade.

The pain-relieving properties of cannabis are no longer hypothetical or anecdotal. At the beginning of the year, the National Academies of Science, Medicine and Engineering released a landmark report determining that there is conclusive evidence that cannabis is effective in treating chronic pain. What’s even more promising is that early research indicates that the plant not only could play a role in treating pain, but additionally could be effective in treating addiction itself – meaning marijuana could actually be used as a so-called “exit drug” to help wean people off of pills or heroin.

“We’re not just saying opioids make you feel good and so does cannabis, and now you’re addicted to cannabis. There are direct reasons why this could actually help people get off of opioids,” says Jeff Chen, director of UCLA’s new Cannabis Research Initiative. “If there is a chronic pain component, the cannabis can address the chronic pain component. We also find opioid addicts have a lot of neurological inflammation, which we believe is driving the addictive cycle. We see in preliminary studies that cannabinoids can reduce neurological inflammation, so cannabis could be directly addressing the inflammation in the brain that’s leading to opioid dependency.”

The theory that cannabinoids could decrease cravings for opioids is further supported by a small 2015 study published in the journal Neurotherapeutics, which found that the non-psychoactive cannabinoid CBD was effective in reducing the desire for heroin among addicts, and remained effective for an entire week after being administered. Similar effects have long been observed in animal studies.

Cannabis, in fact, may be exactly the kind of opioid replacement that politicians and pharmaceutical executives claim to be searching for.

“I will be pushing the concept of non-addictive painkillers very, very hard,” President Trump said in October, when declaring opioid abuse a national public health emergency. The CEO of Purdue Pharma, which makes OxyContin, recently referred to the possibility of a drug that helps with pain but isn’t physically addictive as the “Holy Grail.”

And yet the federal government maintains that the marijuana plant and its constituent compounds have no medical potential whatsoever. Perhaps that’s because painkiller-producing pharmaceutical companies and their affiliated non-profits spent over $880 million nationwide on lobbying and political donations between 2006 and 2015. As Patrick Radden Keefe recently pointed out in the New Yorker, that’s eight times the amount spent by the gun lobby in the same decade.

But already, many Americans seem to be replacing their pills with pot. A survey of pain patients in Michigan, published in 2016 in the journal of the American Pain Society, found medical cannabis use was associated with a 64 percent decrease in opioid use. A 2016 study published in the health policy journal Health Affairs found that states with medical marijuana saw a drop in Medicare prescriptions and spending for conditions that are commonly treated with cannabis, including chronic pain, glaucoma, seizures and sleep disorders. And a 21-month study of 66 chronic pain patients using prescription opioids in New Mexico found that those enrolled in the state’s medical cannabis program were 17 times more likely to quit opioids than those who were not.

Medical marijuana – like plants shown growing here in Quincey, Massachusetts – could mean the end of the opioid epidemic. Adam Glanzman/The New York Times/Redux

At the same time, opioid-related deaths and overdose treatment admissions appear to be declining by nearly 25 percent in states where patients have access to legal marijuana. That number comes primarily from a 2014 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association, and has been supported by additional data from the American Journal of Public Health, the American Academy of Nursing, and the Journal of Drug and Alcohol Dependence.

However, more research is sorely needed. Stanford professor and drug policy expert Keith Humphreys described the studies concerning cannabis legalization and the decrease in opioid-related deaths and hospital admissions as falling victim to a form of logical error known as ecological fallacy. “It’s correlation, not causation,” he told me, because you cannot use statistical information about entire populations to understand individual behavior.

And researchers are eager for more solid evidence. The Cannabis Research Initiative at UCLA is working on establishing one of the first studies that will directly administer cannabis to patients addicted to opioids, potentially providing a much more comprehensive understanding of how this all works. Chen, the initiative director, says he has scientists, clinics and a study design all lined up, but funding has been a struggle. “You’re forced to go an extra ten miles with zero gas in the tank when it comes to cannabis research,” he says. Between the lack of support from the federal government and pharmaceutical companies, Chen says he is “pretty much dependent on philanthropy.”

Of course, if pharmaceutical companies thought they could make money off of marijuana, they would back legalization and help fund the UCLA study – but pot is just too difficult to patent and control. So the only kinds of cannabis that pharmaceutical companies are willing to look into are lab-created synthetic cannabinoids. These are easier to push through the FDA approval process and easier to patent, but are widely understood to be less effective than products made from the plant itself. Once again, helping patients is not as important as turning a profit.

Back in Arizona, Insys Therapeutics continues to pump out its addictive opioid spray, and possession of any amount of marijuana is still a felony. For allegedly stretching the truth and putting profits before patient safety, Insys is facing several lawsuits as well as a Congressional investigation. But the company is still open for business. A few weeks ago, Insys received DEA approval to start selling a new drug.

This one isn’t an opioid, though. It’s a synthetic form of cannabis.  

Source link

[aguadillaiceskatingarena]

A Rural Tennessee Town Is Bracing For A White Nationalist Rally This Weekend

Shannon Stapleton / Reuters

A small Tennessee town is bracing for what some fear could be a repeat of the violent clashes earlier this year in Charlottesville, Virginia.

An umbrella group of white nationalists calling itself the Nationalist Front has planned a "White Lives Matter" rally for Saturday in Shelbyville, a town located about 60 miles southeast of Nashville. According to the event page, the rally will begin in the morning in downtown Shelbyville, followed by a private meet-up of white nationalists.

In a statement posted on Facebook, the Shelbyville mayor’s office said that the white nationalist rally did not require a city permit and that it had not been contacted by counter-protesters.

Residents of the town told the Tennessean they were worried violence would erupt.

"The City of Shelbyville has a responsibility to protect free speech rights," the mayor’s office wrote. "Given the recent incidents in our country surrounding protest and counter-protests, the City is taking very seriously multiple concerns regarding the safety of expected protesters, counter-protesters, the public, and the protection of public and private property from damage."

The mayor said that police will strictly enforce separation of the two sides.

In neighboring Murfreesboro, where there may be a second demonstration on Saturday and where many white nationalists plan to stay during the weekend, the mayor posted a video on Facebook rebuking the group and featuring a number of local pastors with the hashtag #WeAreMurfreesboro.

View this post on Facebook Facebook: video.php

Local events have been canceled in anticipation of unrest. Local news reported that police at Middle Tennessee State University warned students of a possible torchlit rally Friday night.

According to one of the rally’s organizers, Brad Griffin, the Nationalist Front includes the neo-Confederate League of the South, the KKK-affiliated Traditionalist Worker’s Party, National Socialist Movement (same name as Hitler’s "National Socialist" party, aka the Nazi party), Vanguard America, Anti-Communist Action, The Right Stuff, the Daily Stormer, and the League of the South.

James Alex Fields, charged with second-degree murder for allegedly running his car into a crowd of anti-racism protesters in Charlottesville in August, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer, marched with Vanguard America during the rally there.

Griffin runs the white nationalist blog Occidental Dissent under the pen name Hunter Wallace, and handles public relations for the League of the South.

Griffin said the aim of the rally is to draw more attention to the shooting last month at Emanuel Samson Church in Antioch, Tennessee, and to protest refugee resettlement in the state. He and others are upset that Sudan is no longer on the travel ban list and that Trump has not begun construction of the wall on the border with Mexico.

Griffin and other organizers have issued a series of directives on the event’s invite. Here are some:

The tragic events in Antioch, which was retaliation for the Dylann Roof shooting in Charleston, illustrated that the national media only cares about pushing its false narrative of White racism and black victimhood.

Objectives: Draw national attention to the Emanuel Samson church shooting. Foster greater unity and cohesion within our own movement. Turn the page on Charlottesville.

Chants will include WHITE LIVES MATTER, BLOOD AND SOIL and YOU WILL NOT REPLACE US.

DO NOT bring a swastika flag. This is a settled issue in the Nationalist Front.

"Blood and soil" and "You will not replace us" are traditional KKK chants. These same groups chanted the same slogans during a torchlit march on the University of Virginia’s campus in August.

Michael Hill, president of the League of the South, issued a statement Wednesday outlining "legal and moral constraints" for all League members, which included:

Obey all authorities charged with keeping public order. If you believe an order or command of a public official violates your right to free speech, assembly, or some other matter, report this to our League leaders and we will in turn report to our attorneys on the scene.

Engage in violence, and at the proper level, only in defense of your own person, that of your compatriots, and your property.

White nationalists at protests around the country have maintained that they were the victims of violence and did not start physical altercations, despite several instances where that was not the case, including in Charlottesville.

Griffin said he and other white nationalists have lain low during the backlash over Charlottesville, retreating mostly to private events and working on their web presence after tech companies barred them from technological services.

"I think staying quiet worked to allow the backlash to calm down," he said.

Griffin also said many white nationalists no longer have a trusting relationship with law enforcement because Charlottesville police removed them from Emancipation Park after violence erupted.

Source Article

The post A Rural Tennessee Town Is Bracing For A White Nationalist Rally This Weekend appeared first on AGUADILLAICESKATINGARENA.

Read full post at: http://www.aguadillaiceskatingarena.com/a-rural-tennessee-town-is-bracing-for-a-white-nationalist-rally-this-weekend/

[abigailswager]

Most Highly Regarded Asset Recovery Firms 2019

New Post has been published on https://bitcoinbrokerslist.com/most-highly-regarded-asset-recovery-firms-2019/

Most Highly Regarded Asset Recovery Firms 2019

Asset Recovery Experts

https://www.globalrecoveryalliance.com

 Recently, name website on which review is placed has been looking into asset recovery firms since there are enough brokers on the market which are keen on applying short term strategies.

What does this mean?

Certain brokerages are opened with the aim to gain as much as possible in the shortest time available. This results to unethical working methods, extremely aggressive sales methods and above all, refusal of withdrawals request or even worse, complete disappearance from the market. As we are sure you are familiar or might have encountered such, website on which review is placed took a look at GlobalRecoveryAlliance, a firm located in Central Europe and operational offices in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

 Asset Recovery

These days, online trading is immensely popular making it very easy for one to choose a broker and start trading currencies, commodities, stocks and cryptocurrencies.GlobalRecoveryAlliance

With a tremendous offer of brokers offering their services available in the market, it has become just as easy although to choose a broker that eventually will leave you with unpaid withdrawals or in the worst case, no returns at all for a variety of reasons.

Due to the rising number of victims of financial frauds, a company named Globalrecoveryalliance was called in order to assist people with reclaiming their unrightfully taken funds. (Also called Asset Recovery)

Globalrecoveryalliance opened its doors for individuals over a decade ago and has assisted over 3200 clients with their recovery services leading to a returned sum exceeding 20 million dollars. A staggering number of 1450 of cases speaks completely for itself leading to some impressive overall statistics compared to other recovery companies in the industry.

Location and Transparency

With its headquarters located in Central Europe and operational offices in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, a team of 35 employees with mostly legal backgrounds are handling cases varying from brokers which stole client funds and completely disappeared from the globe to simple cases where a broker refuses to process withdrawal requests.

Strategy

A big plus when approaching Globalrecoveryalliance is a free first consultation session in which a professional will gather details based on the information you will provide.  An assessment will be made after which you will be called back to discuss the overall evaluation of your case. GRA does not works pro bono but before proceeding, you will get an honest evaluation about the potential of your case.

Following the assessment, there are a number of options but in many cases, cross border examinations will be made, consultations with affiliates and law enforcement specialist in the jurisdiction which is relevant to your case and most importantly, the approach towards the (mostly) broker in matter will follow.

Other Services offered by Globalrecoveryalliance

In addition to the above, GRA also provides a significant number of additional services varying, but not limited to:

Business strategy consulting

Tax planning

Global representation

Corporate – and individual intelligence (Based upon Jurisdiction)

These are interesting additional services which all together, add more value to GlobalRecoveryAlliance compared to other identical firms in the industry.

_____

After evaluating GlobalRecoveryAlliance, we came to the conclusion that amongst the asset recovery firms, GRA stands out with head and shoulders. Many firms these days are paying too much attention to immediate profits resulting in excessive expenses when looking for debt recovery. Due to their first free consultancy, a massive advantage is gained as you will get a clean look at the potential of your case.

In case you are a victim from a financial fraud, leave them your details and at least check what they can do for you!

Visit them here  https://www.globalrecoveryalliance.com

[abigailswager]

Most Highly Regarded Asset Recovery Firms 2019

New Post has been published on https://bitcoinbrokerslist.com/most-highly-regarded-asset-recovery-firms-2019/

Most Highly Regarded Asset Recovery Firms 2019

Asset Recovery Experts

https://www.globalrecoveryalliance.com

 Recently, we has been looking into asset recovery firms since there are enough brokers on the market which are keen on applying short term strategies.

What does this mean?

Certain brokerages are opened with the aim to gain as much as possible in the shortest time available. This results to unethical working methods, extremely aggressive sales methods and above all, refusal of withdrawals request or even worse, complete disappearance from the market. As we are sure you are familiar or might have encountered such, we at  bitcoinbrokerslist.com took a look at GlobalRecoveryAlliance, a firm located in Central Europe and operational offices in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

 Asset Recovery

These days, online trading is immensely popular making it very easy for one to choose a broker and start trading currencies, commodities, stocks and cryptocurrencies.

GlobalRecoveryAlliance

contact details – Address – 3012-Weena office complex , Rotterdam , Netherlands Email – support@globalrecoveryalliance.com Phone – +31 102680193

With a tremendous offer of brokers offering their services available in the market, it has become just as easy although to choose a broker that eventually will leave you with unpaid withdrawals or in the worst case, no returns at all for a variety of reasons.

Due to the rising number of victims of financial frauds, a company named Globalrecoveryalliance was called in order to assist people with reclaiming their unrightfully taken funds. (Also called Asset Recovery)

Globalrecoveryalliance opened its doors for individuals over a decade ago and has assisted over 3200 clients with their recovery services leading to a returned sum exceeding 20 million dollars. A staggering number of 1450 of cases speaks completely for itself leading to some impressive overall statistics compared to other recovery companies in the industry.

Location and Transparency

With its headquarters located in Central Europe and operational offices in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, a team of 35 employees with mostly legal backgrounds are handling cases varying from brokers which stole client funds and completely disappeared from the globe to simple cases where a broker refuses to process withdrawal requests.

Strategy

A big plus when approaching Globalrecoveryalliance is a free first consultation session in which a professional will gather details based on the information you will provide.  An assessment will be made after which you will be called back to discuss the overall evaluation of your case. GRA does not works pro bono but before proceeding, you will get an honest evaluation about the potential of your case.

Following the assessment, there are a number of options but in many cases, cross border examinations will be made, consultations with affiliates and law enforcement specialist in the jurisdiction which is relevant to your case and most importantly, the approach towards the (mostly) broker in matter will follow.

Other Services offered by Globalrecoveryalliance

In addition to the above, GRA also provides a significant number of additional services varying, but not limited to:

Business strategy consulting

Tax planning

Global representation

Corporate – and individual intelligence (Based upon Jurisdiction)

These are interesting additional services which all together, add more value to Global Recovery Alliance (GRA) compared to other identical firms in the industry.

_____

After evaluating GlobalRecoveryAlliance, we came to the conclusion that among the asset recovery firms, GRA stands out with head and shoulders. Many firms these days are paying too much attention to immediate profits resulting in excessive expenses when looking for debt recovery. Due to their first free consultancy, a massive advantage is gained as you will get a clean look at the potential of your case.

In case you are a victim from a financial fraud, leave them your details and at least check what they can do for you!

Visit them here  https://www.globalrecoveryalliance.com

[abigailswager]

GlobalRecoveryAlliance.com Review

New Post has been published on https://forexfacts.net/globalrecoveryalliance-com-review/

GlobalRecoveryAlliance.com Review

  Global Recovery Alliance.com Review

there is no shortage of brokers that are looking to take your money – we have all come across some of these frauds at one time or another.

So what can you do once you have been duped?

Certain brokerages are opened with the aim to gain as much as possible in the shortest time available. This results to unethical working methods, extremely aggressive sales methods and above all, refusal of withdrawals request or even worse, complete disappearance from the market.

As we are sure you are familiar or might have encountered such, forexfacts took a look at GlobalRecoveryAlliance, a firm located in Central Europe and operational offices in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

 Asset Recovery

These days, online trading is immensely popular making it very easy for one to choose a broker and start trading currencies, commodities, stocks and cryptocurrencies.

With a tremendous offer of brokers offering their services available in the market, it has become just as easy although to choose a broker that eventually will leave you with unpaid withdrawals or in the worst case, no returns at all for a variety of reasons.

Due to the rising number of victims of financial frauds, a company named Global recovery alliance was called in order to assist people with reclaiming their taken funds. (Also called Asset Recovery)

Global Recovery Alliance opened its doors for individuals over a decade ago and has assisted over 3200 clients with their recovery services leading to a returned sum exceeding 20 million dollars.

A staggering number of 1450 of cases speaks completely for itself leading to some impressive overall statistics compared to other recovery companies in the industry.

Location and Transparency

With its headquarters located in Central Europe and operational offices in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, a team of 35 employees with mostly legal backgrounds are handling cases varying from brokers which stole client funds and completely disappeared from the globe to simple cases where a broker refuses to process withdrawal requests.

The Strategy

A big plus when approaching Global recovery alliance is a free first consultation session in which a professional will gather details based on the information you will provide.  An assessment will be made after which you will be called back to discuss the overall evaluation of your case.

This does not mean GRA works pro bono but what it does mean is that before proceeding, you will get an honest opinion about the potential of your case.

Following the assessment, there are a number of options but in many cases, cross border examinations will be made, consultations with affiliates and law enforcement specialist in the jurisdiction which is relevant to your case and most importantly, the approach towards the (mostly) broker in matter will follow.

Additional Services

In addition to the above, GRA also provides a significant number of additional services varying, but not limited to:

Business strategy consulting

Tax planning

Global representation

Corporate – and individual intelligence (Based upon Jurisdiction)

These are interesting additional services which all together, add more value to Global Recovery Alliance compared to other identical firms in the industry.

What to take away from this Article

After evaluating Global Recovery Alliance, we came to the conclusion that among the asset recovery firms, GRA stands out with head and shoulders. Many firms these days are paying too much attention to immediate profits resulting in excessive expenses when looking for debt recovery. Due to their first free consultancy, a massive advantage is gained as you will get a clean look at the potential of your case.

In case you are a victim from a financial fraud, leave them your details and at least check what they can do for you!

in case you want to contact them :

contact details –

Address – 3012-Weena office complex , Rotterdam , Netherlands

Email – support@globalrecoveryalliance.com

Phone  – +31 102680193

[abigailswager]

GlobalRecoveryAlliance.com Review

New Post has been published on https://forexfacts.net/globalrecoveryalliance-com-review/

GlobalRecoveryAlliance.com Review

  Global Recovery Alliance.com Review

there is no shortage of brokers that are looking to take your money – we hav all come across some of these frauds at one time or another.

So what can you do once you have been duped?

Certain brokerages are opened with the aim to gain as much as possible in the shortest time available. This results to unethical working methods, extremely aggressive sales methods and above all, refusal of withdrawals request or even worse, complete disappearance from the market.

As we are sure you are familiar or might have encountered such, website on which review is placed took a look at GlobalRecoveryAlliance, a firm located in Central Europe and operational offices in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

 Asset Recovery

These days, online trading is immensely popular making it very easy for one to choose a broker and start trading currencies, commodities, stocks and cryptocurrencies.

With a tremendous offer of brokers offering their services available in the market, it has become just as easy although to choose a broker that eventually will leave you with unpaid withdrawals or in the worst case, no returns at all for a variety of reasons.

Due to the rising number of victims of financial frauds, a company named Global recovery alliance was called in order to assist people with reclaiming their taken funds. (Also called Asset Recovery)

Global Recovery Alliance opened its doors for individuals over a decade ago and has assisted over 3200 clients with their recovery services leading to a returned sum exceeding 20 million dollars.

A staggering number of 1450 of cases speaks completely for itself leading to some impressive overall statistics compared to other recovery companies in the industry.

Location and Transparency

With its headquarters located in Central Europe and operational offices in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, a team of 35 employees with mostly legal backgrounds are handling cases varying from brokers which stole client funds and completely disappeared from the globe to simple cases where a broker refuses to process withdrawal requests.

The Strategy

A big plus when approaching Global recovery alliance is a free first consultation session in which a professional will gather details based on the information you will provide.  An assessment will be made after which you will be called back to discuss the overall evaluation of your case.

This does not mean GRA works pro bono but what it does mean is that before proceeding, you will get an honest opinion about the potential of your case.

Following the assessment, there are a number of options but in many cases, cross border examinations will be made, consultations with affiliates and law enforcement specialist in the jurisdiction which is relevant to your case and most importantly, the approach towards the (mostly) broker in matter will follow.

Additional Services

In addition to the above, GRA also provides a significant number of additional services varying, but not limited to:

Business strategy consulting

Tax planning

Global representation

Corporate – and individual intelligence (Based upon Jurisdiction)

These are interesting additional services which all together, add more value to Global Recovery Alliance compared to other identical firms in the industry.

What to take away from this Article

After evaluating Global Recovery Alliance, we came to the conclusion that among the asset recovery firms, GRA stands out with head and shoulders. Many firms these days are paying too much attention to immediate profits resulting in excessive expenses when looking for debt recovery. Due to their first free consultancy, a massive advantage is gained as you will get a clean look at the potential of your case.

In case you are a victim from a financial fraud, leave them your details and at least check what they can do for you!