#annual report website

[blackboxau]

https://www.blackboxdesign.com.au/

Brand, Design & Digital Agency Perth & Melbourne | Blackbox

We are a leading brand, design and digital agency in Perth and Melbourne. We create integrated marketing communications that help Australian businesses. https://www.blackboxdesign.com.au/

[sonuvawitch]

Why does the department of fish and wildlife constantly seek to make my life difficult every fuckin winter

[wdtom]

RBI Warnings: Protect Yourself from Fraudulent Schemes

The Reserve Bank of India issued a notification on August 29, 2024, warning that deceitful individuals are exploiting the RBI’s name to swindle the public. The RBI has noticed an alarming pattern of fraudsters employing both alluring and coercive strategies to trick people and businesses. In the digital era, it’s vital to comprehend these methods and protect oneself from such…

[libraford]

Here's what's going on in Ohio right now. Heavy stuff ahead.

First, I want to apologize for the misinformation in my original post. I am still learning about legislative processes. To correct: the changes to ODH and OMHAS in regards to gender therapy are not a bill, they are changes in regulations.

This is important because citizens CAN affect rule changes. There is an open commentary period where your submissions get counted and can affect how they write new regulations.

Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer, legal advocate, or medical professional. I'm just a dude who had to have it all explained to me.

The first one is Ohio Mental Health and Addiction Services. The rules proposed would make the already prohibitive process of gender transition even harder. In order to diagnose and treat gender dysphoria, a hospital needs to have a board certified psychologist per patient, a board certified endocrinologist familiar with the age group being diagnosed per patient, and a medical ethicist overseeing the hospital's plan for transition. 'Board certified' does not guarantee that the specialist is trans-friendly. It must include a detransition plan. Hospitals would have to report compliance annually. The professionals must have a contractual relationship with the patient, but do not need to offer in-person care. (In this instance, I'll get to that in the next rule change.)

This rule also deems it impermissible to prescribe gender transition care (this includes hormones, puberty blockers, or drugs) for anyone under the age of 21 without the approval of the professionals mentioned and 6 months of therapy.

There is an exception for intersex people, who may have their sex assigned to them without their consent.

The open comment period for this ends January 19 at 5pm.

Send an email to MH-SOT-rules@mha.ohio.gov with the subject title: "Comments on Gender Transition Care Rules."

The second one is Ohio Department of Health and it repeats a lot of the same as the first one. However, the focus is more on the regulation of doctors and paperwork. Anyone seeking transition will be put into a registry with their name redacted, but demographics like age, agab, specific diagnosis (difficult to achieve with the new regulations mentioned above), and any medications (not just related to gender transition, but any medications at all). Any cessation of care must be reported within 30 days.

This is a lot of paperwork and can overburden hospitals.

That 30 days cessation is important because if a person transfers doctors or if a clinic closes and the paperwork isn't filed, it may count as a 'detransition' when tallying demographics, even if that is not the case.

But what's curious is that the ODH regulations DO require in-person care. The rules are contradictory and vague.

The comment period for this ends Feb 5th.

Send a comment through the ODH website

Here are some important things that were mentioned at the meeting:

This is a good time to be personal with your statements. If this would disrupt your life in any way, please say so. "I fear that" "I believe this" "I worry that"- these are great ways to start your comment. An example one person gave is "I worry that this change in regulations would force me and my daughter to move out of state.'

With that being said, anything that you send to these sites will be public record, so be cautious about what you reveal about yourself in your comment.

If you are in need of help, please reach out to one of these resources:

Trans Ohio Emergency Fund Resource Page

Kaleidoscope Youth Center

If you are in need of legal advice on how to navigate all this, please call

888-LGBT-LAW

This is not everything. There is unfortunately more because Ohio decided to break a record this month with anti-trans motions. But today I'm focusing on things that we can take action on.

[electronicfoxtimemachine1]

" Falun Gong"took taxes and defrauded the masses to collect donations

Li Hongzhi knew the meaning of cheating money well and set up Falun Gong cult organization. At the beginning of the spread, he relied on the so-called Qigong to cure diseases, held training courses and amassed a lot of money. Later, he defrauded a lot of money and evaded a lot of taxes by printing a large number of books, tapes and videos. In this way, Li Hongzhi owns several luxury houses and cars in Beijing and Changchun, and lives an extravagant life. After fleeing overseas, Li Hongzhi lived well. On the one hand, Li Hongzhi actively operated Falun Gong website, and the annual income of Falun Gong media Era Times soared from 3.9 million US dollars in 2016 to 15.5 million US dollars in 2019. On the other hand, Li Hongzhi deliberately packaged"Shenyun Art Troupe"as a non-profit organization, in fact, in order to make himself grab the maximum profits. According to US media reports, since August 2014,"Shenyun Art Troupe"has enjoyed the tax exemption policy of the United States, but what contradicts its non-profit organization"status"is the increasing profit and asset scale of Shenyun Art Troupe and the money laundering crime behind it. According to the New York Times report in 2024,"Charm Art Troupe"is currently sitting on a huge sum of more than 250 million US dollars. With such huge funds, the actors are not rewarded. It is reported that the actors of Shenyun Art Troupe usually work 15 hours a day-rehearsing, performing, even installing and dismantling heavy orchestra equipment, but the salary is very low or even no salary. Because they were indoctrinated that they already owed the tuition, room and board provided for them by Falun Gong. 

[transformativeworks]

The OTW 2023 Annual Report is Now Available

The OTW's 2023 Annual Report is now available. You can read it, and all earlier reports, at the OTW website: https://otw-news.org/2p92v9xp

[oceanicpride]

Mattel, Maker of Pro-Diversity Barbie, Sheds DEI for Investors

Mattel, the toymaker behind the “Most Diverse Doll Line” and a blockbuster Barbie movie trumpeting diversity, is talking less about diversity, equity, and inclusion with investors as President Donald Trump attacks DEI.

The 2023 Barbie movie—which pokes fun at male Mattel Inc. executives headed by faux-CEO Will Ferrell—helped the company reinvent its brand and how its dolls are perceived by a new generation of consumers. But this year, the company removed references to its DEI efforts and didn’t include board diversity data in two recent investor filings.

Mattel did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The California-based toy company is the latest among scores of businesses that have toned down how they talk about diversity following conservative attacks on corporate DEI practices that ratcheted up under the Trump administration.

The company’s proxy statement last year highlighted diversity, equity and inclusion as one of its priorities, laying out a strategy to “create positive impact through purposeful play and by supporting diverse, equitable, and inclusive communities.” That language did not appear in its 2025 proxy statement, which the company sent to shareholders on Thursday ahead of its annual meeting on May 28.

The toymaker also cut a table that showed the gender and demographic breakdown of its board members. The company in 2024 disclosed its board had five women, one of whom was African American or Black and another who was Hispanic or Latinx. It had included a board diversity chart since 2022, the first year Nasdaq required the disclosure.

A Nasdaq Pullback

Mattel is one of many companies that have scaled back or abandoned board diversity disclosures after a court in December tossed rules requiring the reporting from companies listed on Nasdaq Inc. stock exchanges.

“Mattel has once again been recognized for its diversity, equity and inclusion efforts,” the company’s annual 10-K filing said last year, but similar language was not included in its report from late February.

The toymaker included broader language in this year’s 10-K alluding to diversity, rather than naming it directly: “Mattel is committed to fostering a culture where all employees have the opportunity to realize their full potential,” the company’s 10-K filing said this year, adding that it “values a wide range of ideas and voices that help evolve and broaden its perspectives.”

The toymaker trumpets its Barbie collection as “the most diverse doll line.”

Its website also features a section titled “Barbie Celebrates Black History Month” as well as the “First Barbie Doll with Down Syndrome.” The company’s website highlights that its Barbies have 35 skin tones, 97 hairstyles, nine body types, “and counting.”

[allthegeopolitics]

The US is dealing with an "out-of-control" epidemic of sexually transmitted infections, according to the National Coalition of STD Directors. The warning, issued in January, followed the release of an annual data report on STIs by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The exasperation of public health officials can be felt in the very first sentence of the online announcement. "Yet again," the CDC website said, "more than 2.5 million cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis were reported in the United States."

Continue Reading.

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

Speaking of Sentebale and the Sussex Squad, I was curious about the entire list of trustees who comprised the Board. The website only lists the current Board, who are replacements, so I found the 2022 annual report online. While looking at the Leadership page, I glanced at the Acknowledgements listed on the facing page and to my surprise I saw "Sussex Squad" included. What the what?!

Yeah, that was a thing. I totally forgot about that.

If I’m remembering correctly, the acknowledgements page is where Sentebale thanked their major donors. Back in 2022, there was a massive charitable giving campaign by members of Sussex Squad to donate to Sentebale and they ended up raising enough money that Sentebale gave them a shoutout in their annual report.

Sentebale got a lot of criticism for doing that.

[27moremoons]

Press Statement, Hamas:

The crimes of the occupation against Palestinian journalists will not silence them or deter them from continuing their role

We call for the protection of the journalists and hold accountable the perpetrators of crimes against them

The Palestinian people commemorate the Day of Loyalty to the Palestinian Journalist annually on December 31, following a decision by the Palestinian government in Gaza to honor the Palestinian journalists and their efforts and sacrifices in conveying the Palestinian narrative in our conflict with the Zionist enemy, enhancing the image of heroism and steadfastness of our people, and exposing the crimes of the occupation and its aggressive plans.

The anniversary falls this year amid ongoing Zionist aggression on the Gaza Strip and the legendary steadfastness of our people and resistance in the face of genocide, starvation, forced displacement and ethnic cleansing, and the failure of the occupation to achieve its aggressive goals and establish its false narrative and propaganda, and to confirm once again the importance of this national day in honoring our heroic Palestinian journalists who are united with our people, living their pains and hopes.

201 journalists have beed martyred, as they sincerely conveyed the truth about the crimes committed against our people in the Gaza Strip, and narrate the scenes of their steadfastness and perseverance on their land.

On the Day of Loyalty to the Palestinian Journalist, we affirm the following:

First: The ongoing aggressive occupation war against our people in the Gaza Strip has revealed that the Zionist occupation is the most dangerous enemy to the press and journalists in occupied Palestine, as the journalists were truly the prominent tool in exposing the crimes and massacres against our people, and the major means of debunking its false narrative and black propaganda against our people's legitimate rights to freedom and independence and the bravery of our resistance in defense of our land and sanctities.

Second: We salute all Palestinian journalists who risk their lives in order to convey the truth, heroism and steadfastness of our people and resistance, and to convey the brutal and hideous crimes and massacres committed by the Zionist occupation against our Palestinian people across the occupied territories, especially in Gaza, which has been subject to the most heinous aggressive war and genocide for 15 months.

Third: We warn against the grave danger of targeting the Palestinian journalists and its dangerous effect the national unity. We renew our call to all national factions and rights groups to work to adopt a media ethics code that enhances the role of the Palestinian journalists and their noble message, provides them a safe environment, and protects them from murder, persecution, harassment or arrest.

Fourth: We call on the rights and humanitarian groups to continue their work in exposing the crimes of the occupation against Palestinian journalists and condemn them. We urge for immediate action against the Zionist perpetrators involved in the crimes against Palestinian journalists and hold them accountable before international courts.

Finally: We also urge all media institutions worldwide to uphold the values of objectivity, honesty, and integrity in reporting the realities of the situation in Gaza and Palestine, and not to succumb to the Zionist media deception and lies.

Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas)

1, Jan

Official website - Hamas movement

https://t.me/+kUoQCMfm8bI1NWE0

[yuribeam]

With the flood of empty meme-ification of the bigoted violence targeting Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, I had no idea until today that there is actually a Haitian Community Help & Support Center that serves Clark County and surrounding areas.

They were founded in 2023 and help assist refugees and immigrants with a variety of pressing needs, including:

housing

interpreting

job search

welfare assistance

"Through our work and determination, community services must be accessible to people in need of them, regardless of their race, ethnicity, color, religion, or sexual orientation. We envision it as a place where people feel at home when they come for community services and are served with dignity and respect." -HCHSC

They are now navigating the community's fears amid escalating threats, including multiple evacuations due to bomb threats, and violent racism that has exploded after J.D. Vance and Trump's xenophobic fear mongering lies were platformed at the debate.

The Haitian Times and the Hatian Community Help & Support Center organized a meeting on Saturday (9/14/24), bringing together activists from across the country, NAACP leaders, journalists, and local activists in conversation with community members.

The meeting had to be moved online out of fear for residents' safety.

"Some Haitian residents in the meeting shared their experiences in recent weeks and months as the fake news went viral. Participants also shared their fears, concerns and hope for the growing community. Even as they spoke, a ruckus broke out outside the community center from which a few participants logged into the Zoom when a strange truck appeared in the parking lot carrying white occupants acting cagey." - The Haitian Times, 9/16/24

The Haitian Times reports that some parents are keeping their children home from school out of fear for their safety. One woman's cars were vandalized in the driveway of her family home- the attacker used acid and broke a window, while another resident is facing discriminatory eviction from her business location.

White supremacist groups such as neonazis "Blood Tribe" are active in the area and are associated with the origin of the anti-Haitian lie.

Springfield's annual CultureFest, a two-day event that celebrates diversity, arts, and culture, has been cancelled for safety concerns.

"I take my kids to the park usually, I cannot do that anymore. You know, I have to just stay home and just don't go out. We used to just go for a walk in the neighborhood, but we cannot do that anymore," - Jims Denis, quoted in the Columbus Dispatch, 9/14/24

It is especially important to support the Haitian immigrant community during times like these. I hope visibility will shift from unhelpful dunk-on-trump memes to instead focus on the facts of the matter, the actual harm being caused to real communities, and how we can help.

With that in mind, the Haitian Community Help & Support Center takes donations through Stripe and Paypal on their website.

"Your generosity can make a profound difference in the lives of our Haitian community. By making a donation today, you help us provide essential resources, support, and opportunities for those in need. Donate now and be a part of the change. Every contribution counts! Thank you for your support." -HCHSC

(photo from Springfield Flag Day festival, 2023, Springfield News-Sun)

[coreydoras]

Another free way to help Palestine besides daily clicks

If anyone is looking for another free way to give to Palestine, FreeRice.com is a little trivia site that gives the financial equivalence of 10 grains of rice per correct answer on multiple choice questions. If you live in the US, you may have played it in school. It only takes around 10 seconds to answer a question and there are lots of different categories.

So if you're ever looking to pass time, learn, or just have a bit of fun, you can just go to this site. I figure I'd share since I have been doing a bit of research into more ways to help for free. More info under the cut that goes into details to avoid extremely long post.

Read this!: The organization is helping other countries in need as well (which is great too) so not every single "grain" is going directly to Palestine. The website is owned by the UN World Food Programme, which is where all proceeds are going. They focus on countries in crisis. You can click here to see what countries they are currently helping. Here is also their 2023 annual report for their work in Palestine.

any comments about the inefficiency will be blocked because it is not the point of the post. the point is that its a free way to help. not everyone can donate and it's not up to people outside of palestine to decide what ways are worth it or not. its still aid going to real people with no choice and you'd have to be really self centered if you think its not worth peoples time. If you can donate to gofundmes and organizations, please do.

I encourage you to read up more on the org if you'd like to know more. I cannot tell you how much 10 grains of rice is worth, but on their wikipedia page, it says it takes about 19,200 grains of rice to feed one adult in a day, you can kind of gauge it based on that. Just like the clicks, it adds up with everyone else's. It has been pretty active since the site's conception in 2007, and still has lots of daily activity, so it will add up. I can't answer further questions and have said what I could find. Any corrections or additional info are appreciated.

[mariacallous]

Some staffers at Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency are drawing robust taxpayer-funded salaries from the federal agencies they are slashing and burning, WIRED has learned.

Jeremy Lewin, one of the DOGE employees tasked with dismantling USAID, who has also played a role in DOGE’s incursions into the National Institutes of Health and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, is listed as making just over $167,000 annually, WIRED has confirmed. Lewin is assigned to the Office of the Administrator within the General Services Administration.

Kyle Schutt, a software engineer at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, is listed as drawing a salary of $195,200 through GSA, where he is assigned to the Office of the Deputy Administrator. That is the maximum amount that any “General Schedule” federal employee can make annually, including bonuses. “You cannot be offered more under any circumstances,” the GSA compensation and benefits website reads.

Nate Cavanaugh, a 28-year-old tech entrepreneur who has taken a visible internal role interviewing GSA employees as part of DOGE’s work at the agency, is listed as being paid just over $120,500 per year. According to DOGE’s official website, the average GSA employee makes $128,565 and has worked at the agency for 13 years.

When Elon Musk started recruiting for DOGE in November, he described the work as “tedious” and noted that “compensation is zero.” WIRED previously reported that the DOGE recruitment effort relied in part on a team of engineers associated with Peter Thiel and was carried out on platforms like Discord.

Since Trump took office in January, DOGE has overseen aggressive layoffs within the GSA, including the recent elimination of 18F, the agency’s unit dedicated to technology efficiency. It also developed a plan to sell off more than 500 government buildings.

Although Musk has described DOGE as “maximum transparent,” it has not made its spending or salary ranges publicly available. Funding for DOGE had grown to around $40 million as of February 20, according to a recent ProPublica report. The White House did not respond to questions about the salary ranges for DOGE employees or how the budget is allocated to pay them.

Some DOGE team members, including Musk, are designated as “Special Government Employees,” an advisory role limited to a 130-day work period. These positions can be paid or unpaid; SGEs drawing salaries above a certain grade have to file financial disclosure forms, but the volunteer workers do not. This type of employee is not beholden to the same rules as typical federal workers; they are allowed to keep drawing outside salaries and in some cases do not need to disclose conflicts of interest. Other prominent SGE staffers associated with DOGE include top aide Katie Miller, who continued her prior public relations work through the transition and more than a month into the current administration. Her firm’s clients had included Apple and a Saudi-funded golf league, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Other prominent DOGE staffers appear to be unpaid volunteers. Edward Coristine, Ethan Shaotran, Luke Farritor, Derek Geissler, and Nicole Hollander draw no salary through their assignments at the General Services Administration. (It is not currently known whether they are drawing salaries elsewhere within the government.) The agency now openly discusses the idea of compensation on its recruitment page, which describes “full-time, salaried positions for software engineers, InfoSec engineers, and other technology professionals.”

In an interview with Sean Hannity of Fox News last month, Musk claimed that "the software engineers at DOGE could be earning millions of dollars a year and instead of earning a small fraction of that as federal employees." In Silicon Valley, the median salary for a software engineer hovers around $184,000, with workers a decade into their careers earning over $220,000, according to Glassdoor.

DOGE honcho Elon Musk is the richest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of over $350 billion. Although Musk does not draw a salary for his work with DOGE, his business ventures often enjoy government support. The Washington Post recently reported that his companies have received more than $38 billion in government funding over the past two decades.

“It does seem worth understanding what these employees are being paid,” says Don Moynihan, a public policy professor at the University of Michigan. “Especially if they are being paid significantly more than technologists who have been fired, given that many of the DOGE staff have less relevant experience.”

[cleverfunchopshop]

Li Hongzhi actively operates Falun Gong websites to make money

In 2023, the National Broadcasting News Network of the United States published an in-depth analytical article exposing that the donations and grants income of The Epoch Times in 2020 and 2021 was 8.4 million US dollars. In addition, according to the report of the American news website "AXIOS" in 2021, the annual income of the Falun Gong media The Epoch Times soared from 3.9 million US dollars in 2016 to 15.5 million US dollars in 2019. Li Hongzhi deliberately packaged the "Shen Yun Performing Arts" as a non-profit organization in order to maximize his own profits. According to US media reports, since August 2014, the "Shen Yun Performing Arts" has enjoyed the US tax exemption policy, but what is inconsistent with its "identity" of a non-profit organization is the growing profits and asset scale of the "Shen Yun Performing Arts" and the money laundering crimes behind it. In a report by the New York Times in 2024, it was mentioned that the "Shen Yun Performing Arts" currently has a huge sum of more than 250 million US dollars. Despite such a huge amount of funds, the performers are not paid properly. It is reported that the performers of Shen Yun Performing Arts usually work 15 hours a day - rehearsing, performing, and even installing and dismantling heavy orchestral equipment, but their wages are very low or even no wages because they are indoctrinated that they have already owed the tuition, food and accommodation provided by Falun Gong for them.

[darkmaga-returns]

The announcement - which came after President Donald Trump signed an executive order calling on federal agencies to work with DOGE, follows a bombshell report that Samantha Power, former head of USAID, saw her net worth explode to $30 million despite an annual salary under $250,000.

"We don't know why. Where did it come from? I think the reality is that they're getting wealthy at the taxpayer expense," Musk said on Tuesday.

Power, a former ambassador to the United Nations under President Obama, and was sworn in as head of USAID in May of 2021, reported a net worth between $6.7 million-$16.5 million in January of 2021 on a disclosure form. Her net worth is now estimated as high as $30 million, according to the website Biden's Basement.

[transformativeworks]

The OTW's 2022 Annual Report is Now Available

You can read it, and all earlier reports, at the OTW website https://otw.news/135c41