#just like the men in charge of immigration in the 40s and 50s

[artemisbarnowl]

Oh my god im going so insane at add for a new tv series called ten pound poms about how hard :') the ENGLISH :') immigration experience to australia :') was. They show a shot about how they get to migrant camps that aren't what was advertised, when those migrant camps were improved and renovated for them AFTER the mainland european war immagrants had moved out. How difficultit is for one english family to share a small insulated cabin when that same place was an uninsulated tin shed for 10 italians a year earlier. How hard it was for english speaking english men to find work they were over qualified for :') how they have to embrace the new So different and exotic culture!!!

I know oppression olympics isnt real but when i comes to migrant camps yes it the fuck is and the english come dead last. Who MADE this show?!?!

[yourreddancer]

from Darren Cook FB comment:

The google search “did Biden drop out?” surged on Election Day. The problem was NOT the message or the messenger, Harris & Walz were phenomenal and I’m still not entirely sure if it wasn’t fraudulent somehow with Musk and his billions. Trump had been saying for weeks “we don’t need your vote, we have enough votes” and he had a little secret with Mike Johnson who trump said is going to be there a long time. He knew he was going to win somehow. 

Then at the end of the race he just appealed to the raunchiest fans by performing a sex act on a microphone and talking about Arnold Palmers junk. He was making a mockery of the contrast between him and her flawless campaign? Anyway that’s just a theory. It is our reality now. 

He is a white supremacist. Russia is an all white society and america is about to become more white. There will be no limit on the cost to deport the 11m illegal immigrants, estimated at $88B per year. Wonder if that will cause inflation? This man cannot take the presidency with absolute immunity for official acts, which would be anything he chooses. He will do whatever he pleases. I don’t know why there isn’t a 5 o’clock alarm. But it doesn’t matter. Vance is 40 years old and completely controlled by Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, and David Sacks who are products of South African apartheid (white supremacists as well)

This isn't a coincidence. Now they’ve got the presidency with total immunity and a Supreme Court with 6 of his justices.

A large swathe of young people do not consume legacy media and have no idea what’s happening in the world. They listen to and watch misogynistic bro casts where they lame everything that is wrong in their lives on transgenders and illegals. Where they promote ”Trad wives” who stick to their gender roles and the women stay home barefoot and obey their husbands. I just hope when they make the lives of transgender people a living hell that if they decide they can’t take it anymore, I hope they make a spectacle of their suicides and do it in groups in front of the White House. Perhaps it will wake some people up. 

Society is disintegrating. We can’t let this happen in Canada. Read project 2025. It’s a horror show. Trumps got free rein. He’s immune. Male white supremacy is taking over. The handsmaid tale is coming true. Either that or I’m losing my mind. Society has become so fragmented and we each go into our own silos and we haven’t been paying attention to how these young men have been radicalized by the algorithms of Elon Musk and Peter Thiel. The border wall is getting built now. Even if congress doesn’t grant him the money, he’ll use an executive order. Unconstitutional? It’s an official act. He’s immune.

I’m starting to think Australian Rupert Murdoch, who has been radicalizing people for 30 years, Musk, Putin and Trump are all working together to recreate white supremacist authoritarian oligarchies like in Russia where a few dozen straight white men control every and all the wealth while the poor suffer. 

They will probably default on all US debt and obligations, and switch to cryptocurrency for the great “reset”. Everything will be worthless and the billionaires will buy up everything with their crypto. Russia has said since the 50’s that they would destroy America from within. They have succeeded in getting the presidency with immunity. After the insurrection he committed crimes he knew he would be charged for and challenged them and got rewarded with immunity, just in time for his second term. Was covid actually released by China to make this all happen cause China was promised Taiwan? Am I a conspiracy theorist or am I finally seeing clearly? We’re fucked. These billionaires around the world are collectively worth trillions and they are taking full control of society. I feel like it’s an episode of Black Mirror. He’s going to have Elon’s robots protecting him, AI will not be controlled legislatively, neither will social media or the algorithms.

[newagesispage]

                                                                           SEPTEMBER    2023 

THE RIB PAGE 

Riley Keough had a daughter last year that was named Tupelo Storm Smith-Peterson.  

***** 

To celebrate 40 Licks, the Stones gave out ice cream. ** The new album, Hackney Diamonds is finally hitting us in October!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hackney: Lacks originality, old, boring, broken glass. Diamond signifies 60 years. Oh, I can’t fucking wait!!!** Dartford, Kent has revealed, ‘The Glimmer Twins’. The bronze sculptures of Mick and Keith were done by Amy Goodman. 

***** 

Jon Stewart, John Mulaney and Pete Davidson are doing a sort of mini stand- up tour. 

***** 

There is another Kavin out there!!? 

***** 

Everything you love will probably be lost, but in the end, love will return in another way. -Kafka 

***** 

The latest sexual harassment news: Bill Cosby was charged with a new lawsuit y singer Morganne Picard. 

***** 

The Kate McKinnon Barbie can be bought. ** Greta Gerwig is the first woman to be sole director of a billion -dollar film. ** Bill Maher, continuing his role as the grumpy old neighborhood guy, got his boxers in a twist about the Barbie movie.  Hey, Bill: It’s only a movie! 

***** 

Ohio voters rejected a ballot measure that would have raised the threshold for amending the state constitution. 

***** 

Twitter was held in contempt of court when Musk wouldn’t release Trump’s twitter account to the DOJ. He was fined $350 thousand and forced to release it. 

***** 

David Weiss will investigate Hunter Biden. 

***** 

The new film, Liquor Store Dreams looks great!! 

 ***** 

Days alert: More than 25 Days cast members signed a petition to remove co- executive producer Albert Alarr. He has been reportedly harassing the set for some time. After an investigation because of offensive remarks, bullying, intimidation and inappropriate groping, he is OUT!! Janet Drucker is taking over.  Now, perhaps former cast members will be happy to come back for cameos. ** Word is that Dick Van Dyke will come to Salem on the first day of September!!** Tate and Theresa back for the funeral? Oh, C’mon .. Let's get these this fam back together!! 

***** 

Carlos Santana praised Dave Chappelle and then went on his own anti-trans rant. A woman is a woman and a man is a man. - Santana** Vampyre cosmetics has ended their deal with Alice Cooper. Cooper was asked about a statement he said in the 70’s that, “everyone in the future will be bisexual.” In part of his answer, he talked about the trans community saying kids should “at least become sexually aware” before considering their gender. He also called cases of transgender, “a fad.” The Alice Cooper makeup collection was only introduced 10 days before it was discontinued. 

***** 

Freddie Mercury’s belongings will be auctioned. 

***** 

AOH1996 is a new pill that looks very promising for cancer. 

***** 

Can’t wait to see Jules starring Jane Curtin and Ben Kingsley!! 

***** 

Bad news for Alexei Navalny: 19 more years.** It seems that Prigozhin and others from the Wagner group were killed in a plane crash. 

***** 

50 Cent was fed up with bad microphones at a show and threw one into the crowd. The mike gave Power 106 host, Bryhana Monegain a nasty looking head injury. 

***** 

2 bodies were found in the Rio Grande. One victim was found in the orange buoys that Texas is using as immigrant deterrents. 

***** 

It seems like more men than not are bald these days. 

***** 

There are yet more indictments for Trump. Why haven’t we seen one for inciting an insurrection? There are 18 co -conspirators in the Georgia indictment. Trump supporters are giving out names and addresses of jurors. If the cultists think that a president can do anything he wants, why were they so upset about the Lewinsky scandal? ** It seems to make no difference if the judges tell him to keep quiet, he just keeps talking. ** A memo found by the NY Times shows the planning of the fake elector plot. ** The FBI killed a man in Utah who threatened Biden and Alvin Bragg on Truth Social. A woman in Texas has threatened a judge. How many people will Scary Clown 45 take down as a direct result of listening to him? It is like they are on autopilot. Just waiting for the next way they can agitate this country. ** Both sides are getting mileage out of tis recent mug shot. It will probably be one of the best known pics in history. Green Day is selling shirts with the mug shot that read, ‘ultimate nimrod’. The $ will go to victims of the Maui wildfires.** One of Scary Clown’s cohorts at Mar A Lago has changed lawyers and testimony. 

***** 

Is Trump ineligible to run for President? There is a provision in the constitution that is part of the 14th amendment. Could this let the states decide if he can be on the ballot?? 

***** 

The first Republican debate was held on Aug. 24. 6 of the 8 present vowed to support Trump no matter what, if he is the nominee. Asa Hutchinson and Chris Christie did not raise their hands. Vivek Ramaswamy seemed very paranoid. He belittled the others for their prepared answers. Christie called him the Chat GPT candidate which was pretty funny. They talked abortion. Tim Scott and Mike Pence want this solved on a Federal level. Nikki Haley says they won’t have the votes. She is right. She seems to be the only one that claims climate change is real. Haley and Ramaswamy have already promised to pardon Trump. I won’t be surprised when they all come to blows. The crowd seemed poised not to listen to anything they had to think about. Trump supporters don’t seem to care how outrageous he is (whether he is there or not) and he does not care how outrageous they are. Reporters say they are finding that while interviewing many republicans, they no longer apologize for their racism. **Nikki Haley and Mike Pence seemed to get a bit of a bump from the debate. 

***** 

It seems some abortion- ban states are putting big $ into pregnancy centers that give minimal medical care. 

***** 

Streaming has started to be bundled just like cable. Isn’t this what we were trying to get away from?? 

***** 

Will the UAW strike? 

***** 

Tyler Massengill was sentenced to 10 years in prison and ordered to pay Planned Parenthood $45 mil. 

***** 

What the Hell is happening over at Washington Week?? The best political show on television has been revamped. Now they are pairing with The Atlantic and have added Jeffrey Goldberg as sometime host. I was routing for Laura Barron-Lopez as permanent host. 

***** 

Hey Mitch McConnell, there is no shame in being old and retiring. Why do these Senators think that they should be able to handle the Nations business when they appear to be senile? A lot of us get old and don’t get to continue in jobs we can no longer do. Enough is enough!! Give others a chance to lead!! 

***** 

White boys don’t eat pussy.- Elvis Presley 

***** 

Boo! To Jersey Mike’s for taking out the Miss Vick’s chips. Trying to keep it bland?? 

***** 

A street was renamed in NY to Black Benji way. 

***** 

State Farm and Aaron Rodgers have officially ended their relationship. 

***** 

Results of how the Dobbs decision has affected the job market are coming to light. Much had to shift in the medical community because of the Supreme Court. 

***** 

Extreme heat kills more people than all the other climate disasters. 

***** 

We are keeping an eye on international waters. Russia and China approached Alaska so we have sent naval patrol. 

***** 

Republican Senators have been bragging how wonderful all this infrastructure is. Most voted against it. Good for the current administration to remind us all of that. Bipartisan infrastructure is important to remember at election time. ** Word is that DeSantis gave $95 thousand to a Christian Conservative. 

***** 

Noah Gragson was suspended from Nascar for ‘liking’ a sick meme about George Floyd. Social media is often showing us what people are really like. ** There was a brawl at a white sox game. People are angry! 

**** 

John Cusack is touring with his movies. Please actors: More of this!! 

***** 

In the first pre -season game, the Browns won over the Jets, 21-16. 

***** 

R.I.P. Mark Margolis, Sharon Farrell, Bill Cunningham, William Friedkin, Jerry Moss, Bryan Randall, Hawaiian wildfire victims, Linda Haynes, Robert Swan, Rodriguez, Ashlea Albertson, Bob Barker, Arleen Sorkin and Robbie Robertson. 

[ciceroisthefamilycat]

Whitney Peak as Zoya Lott

"Diane" - 18 or older to play 14/15. African-American Freshman at Constance. A born leader with a strong sense of self and great personal style, Diane is not from the rich, Upper East Side world, and has no desire to be a part of it.  AEP SERIES REGULAR

Eli Brown as Otto Bergmann IV- “Obie”

"Steve" - 18 or older to play 16. Caucasian. One of the wealthiest kids in New York, a Junior (and Jock) at Constance. Approaches everything with wide-eyed idealism, even when it hurts to see the truth.  AEP SERIES REGULAR

Emily Alyn Lind as Audrey Hope

"Karen" - 18 or older to play 16, Junior at Constance, a beacon of classical taste. Poised, kind and publicly perfect, she’s privately way too hard on herself. Open Ethnicity.  AEP SERIES REGULAR

Evan Mock as Akeno Menzies- “Aki”

"Tim" - 18 or older to play 16. Half-Asian, half-Caucasian, incredibly popular Junior at Constance. Calm and conflict-averse skater who has grown up with a volatile home life and has had to fend for himself more often than not.  AEP SERIES REGULAR

Jordan Alexander as Julien Calloway

"Jane" - 18 or older to play 16, Bi-Racial- Caucasian/African-American.  Rich, popular Junior at Constance. A natural trendsetter, life for her is beautiful and effortless. The world hinges on her every move, but it has never gone to her head.   AEP SERIES REGULAR; Julien might be “Fran”

Thomas Doherty as Max Wolfe

"Brad" - 18 or older to play 17.  A button-pushing, sexually-fluid gadabout. Is willing to try anything once, but knows his limits, and enjoys the control it takes to stay within them. AEP SERIES REGULAR

Zion Moreno as Luna La

"Susan" - 18 or older to play 16.  Asian transgender girl who recently immigrated to America, lives on her own, and is incredibly influential. If she raises a finger, everyone stops to wait and hear what she has to say.  And she loves to make them wait. Seeking transgender girls / women.   7/10 SERIES REGULAR; Moreno is Mexican Latina and the character has likely been accordingly altered

Savannah Smith as Monet de Haan

"Fran" - 18 or older to play 16.  Entitled and unfiltered, bloodthirsty and bored. The kind of person who puts a magnifying glass over a bug just so she can watch a burn. Looks perfect in whatever she’s wearing.  7/10 SERIES REGULAR; Monet might be “Jane”

Tavi Gevinson as Kate Keller

"Kate" - Mid 20s. Open Ethnicity.  Sister to a Constance student who recently graduated from college, now back home figuring out what’s next. Has big plans and a lot of drive to ensure they come to be.  AEP SERIES REGULAR

less clear:

Jonathan Fernandez as ?

"Tony" - 40s. African-American, idealistic lawyer. Great father, noble to a fault. AEP SERIES REGULAR

Laura Benanti as ?

"Kim" - Late 30s-50s. Open Ethnicity. Ambitious designer, hiding a self-managed mental illness and just trying to keep everything together.   7/10 SERIES REGULAR

Jason Gotay as ?

"Julio" - Late 20s/Early 30s. Latino/Hispanic. Highly literate bartender working his way through grad school. Has slept with half of the men of New York and they always ask for seconds. 7/10 SERIES REGULAR

Adam Chanler-Berat as ?

"Calvin" - Mid to Late 20’s. Open Ethnicity.  A “manny” to a rich family who uses and abuses him to their heart’s content, yet he remains attached and loyal to his charge.  7/10 SERIES REGULAR

"Greg" - Late 30s-40s. Open Ethnicity. Larger than life producer, also a doting father to his son. Greg enjoys playing with societal and gender norms through his personal expression. 7/10 SERIES REGULAR

"Ryan" - 40s-50s. Caucasian.  Newly sober musician, left his hard-partying life behind. Now all that matters is being the best parent he can be to his daughter.  7/10 SERIES REGULAR

"Roy" - Late 40s-50s. Open Ethnicity. Salt of the earth landscape architect. Grounded and great gay dad to a Constance student.  RECURRING GUEST STAR

source for casting call descriptions

[didanawisgi]

After the Ku Klux Klan lost its mass appeal in the 1930's, it went underground and attempted to infiltrate Freemasonry.

Racism in Freemasonry

By W. Bro. Fred Milliken

“First one must admit that there is racism in Freemasonry. For many that is going to be hard. Racism in Freemasonry occurs in pockets around the country but rarely in a whole jurisdiction. While some local Lodges are barring Black African-Americans others are welcoming them. If you haven't witnessed racism in the Craft then you are apt to deny that it exists.

One measure of racial attitude is the recognition of Prince Hall by American Grand Lodges. Today all but thirteen states recognize Prince Hall. The ones who do not are the original eleven states of the Confederacy minus Virginia plus Kentucky, West Virginia and Delaware. Within those states are a sizable minority pushing for recognition. And rightly so because Prince Hall performs ritual and promulgates landmarks or tenets of belief that are a mirror copy of traditional Freemasonry with only minor like differences that occur now from one traditional jurisdiction to another. In fact most Masonic jurisdictions declare Prince Hall regular Freemasonry. Some say regular but clandestine. So how can you be regular but clandestine? I leave the deduction up to the reader.

Some say that the non recognition of Prince hall is a "jurisdictional issue". Don't believe them. It is a racist smoke screen. From its inception and throughout a long period of time Prince Hall requested to be included into traditional Grand Lodges. Over and over again the answer was no. Now that traditional Lodges have kept Prince Hall separate, forced them to form their own Grand Lodges and system rather than incorporate them, they now say if only Prince hall was not a separate Grand Lodge we would recognize them.

Of course not so subtle acts of racism are reported quite often. After a Lodge has blackballed every Black candidate that has ever applied for admission in the last fifty years, it sure does have a track record of exclusion. Also failure to offer any Black men an application, failure to even suggest that they would be a fine addition to one's Lodge is equally exclusionary. Many Black men interested in joining a traditional Lodge are told to go apply at Prince Hall not here. The practice of a secret ballot for the approval of admitting visiting Brethren is a way used in some areas to keep Black Master Masons from another jurisdiction out of the Lodge. Another practice is to admit a Black visitor but refuse to open the Lodge substituting a Masonic education talk instead. The Grand Master of Texas in 2004 expelled The Philalethes Society from the state because its Dallas Chapter asked a Prince Hall Mason to address it.

For those that would still like to deny the charge of racism in Freemasonry let's look at the number of Black Master Masons in a jurisdiction. Now some states have a very low Black population so looking at this statistic would be meaningless in their case. . Let's just take the top five in Black population. New York has 3.5 million blacks. Florida, Texas, California and Georgia all have slightly over 2 million. 895,000 Blacks have been added to Florida's population between July 1, 2003 and July 1, 2004. That is the largest numeric increase of any state in the nation. Georgia and Texas added 61,800 and 45,000 respectively in the same period. (1) These five states account for about 30% of the nations total population of Blacks who are on a statistical average of 13.4 % of the total US population. If we took that 13.4 % figure might we assume that traditional Grand Lodges should reflect 13.4% of their membership being Black? Not really because we need to put Prince Hall in the equation. So let us say for arbitrary purposes that 75% of those Blacks who would be Masons automatically opt for Prince Hall. That leaves us 25% 0f 13.4% or 3.35% that we should find in traditional Lodges. That is a rational and reasonable guess and because it is a guess we will allow for a wide divergence. The only one of these five states I have any experience with is Texas. I have visited numerous Lodges as well as a Grand Lodge Communication. The last year I have membership figures for the Grand Lodge of Texas is 2003 when there were 112,977 Masters Masons. 3.35% would be 3,784. It would be nice if Grand Lodges kept statistics of minority membership. Maybe they do but they are not sharing them with the rank and file . So I leave it to you. Do you believe that there are 3,784 Black Masons in the Grand Lodge of Texas? I do not.

We have made the best case we can make. But how did this come all about? Historically didn't Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King with help from Federal Troops and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 erase separate but equal and institute integration civilly years ago? What happened with Freemasonry? Why are we having this battle 40 years later?

The hypothesis that keeps coming back is that after the Ku Klux Klan lost its mass appeal in the 1930's, it went underground and infiltrated and mated with Freemasonry. The Klan was very emphatic that it was a Christian organization, hence the burning cross. Its white hooded robes were said to imitate the Knights Templars, its secret handshakes and oaths - Freemasonry. It was also billed as a fraternal organization, one which advocated white supremacy, opposed gay rights and was anti Semitic, anti Catholic and anti immigrant. So the KKK was Christian and fraternal and used to secrecy.

In the 1920's the Klan had a membership close to 4 Million; 15% of the eligible population were members. Freemasonry in the same period had a membership around 3 million and at its very peak in the 50's and 60's just barely topped 4 million. By the middle of the 1930's KKK membership had dropped into the thousands. Where did they all go? Is it not possible that they went straight into Freemasonry to legitimize themselves? What would be more attractive to them than a highly regarded organization that made full use of the secret ballot thus enabling them to carry out their mission of a society of only white, Protestant Christian and English speaking people. And isn't this what American Freemasonry has become? - White, Protestant Christian and English speaking. And the way it stays that way is that you black ball everybody else.

Somebody has not been guarding the West Gate. Masonic tolerance has been reformed to tolerate intolerance.

Every attempt at a solution is met with you can't do that. You can't tell another Grand Lodge what to do, to think, how to act. Nor will any higher Masonic Institution ever be created to do just that. Then there are those that say just wait another 40 years for all the old racists to die off. Now there is a brilliant solution. Do nothing and the problem will disappear all by itself. Perhaps the problem is in the lack of a national American Masonic identity and to the abuses of the secret ballot. For a more in depth discussion of solutions see issue no. 4 of Masonic Magazine.”

(1) All statistics are from the US Government, Bureau of Census as related to 2004.

- Source: Knights of the North Masonic Dictionary

[handeaux]

A Wad Of Chewing Gum Sealed Boss Cox’s Gambling Den At Dead Man’s Corner

The intersection of Longworth Street and Central Avenue was the gateway to Cincinnati’s red-light district and the center of power for the notorious Eighteenth Ward. This was where George Barnsdale Cox, known as “Boss” Cox, got his start, running a saloon on the southwest corner.

So notorious was Longworth Street, which ran between Fifth and Sixth streets until it was all demolished in the name of urban renewal, that the city renamed the street west of Central Avenue in an effort to preserve property values on the respectable eastern end. Good luck with that! The southwest corner of “Carlisle” and Central retained its old nickname: Dead Man’s Corner.

When his power required a move from the barroom to a corporate office downtown, Cox picked a trusted lieutenant, Lew Kraft, to take over Dead Man’s Corner. Kraft’s gambling operations moved into tonier quarters at a ritzy hotel, so another henchman took over, and so on.

By 1911, however, the Cox machine had started to sputter. The Boss himself was in court on the perjury charges that would force his resignation later that year. His underbosses were preoccupied elsewhere: “Rud” Hynicka with his vaudeville theaters in New York and Garry Herrmann with the Cincinnati Reds. Dead Man’s Corner was now managed by a small-time gambler named Edward Vincent, who was undone by a Syrian immigrant and a wad of chewing gum.

Boss Cox liked gambling because it brought him lots of money. He let betting parlors and bucket shops operate all over the city as long as he got a slice of the take. City law back then allowed gambling dens to operate unless five citizens filed formal complaints. Gamblers hired enough muscle that finding five complainants was darn near impossible.

Despite the reluctance of neighbors to complain about the gambling activity, Vincent needed to create diversions to conceal his illicit activities from the police, who had posted sentries around Dead Man’s Corner. Although Vincent’s gambling operation occupied the second floor of his saloon, no one entered through the barroom. Instead, Vincent opened a small restaurant on the side of his building, with an alternate stairway to the second floor. If police attention got too hot, he had some of the losers sit in the restaurant to make it appear like people actually ate there.

Why Sahid Doumit ended up in Vincent’s gambling joint is a mystery. He was an apparently honest immigrant from Syria and ran a small shop down on Third Street. One night, Doumit told the court [Cincinnati Post 28 April 1911], he found himself upstairs with a fellow Syrian:

“We did not play but merely looked on. Soon a man came up to us and asked if we wouldn’t treat. I ordered several pint bottles of beer for which I was charged 25 cents apiece. I had been there about two hours when I felt three stinging blows on my shoulder. I turned around and asked who struck me. I was then seized by three men, bent backward, struck in the mouth and face, and while two of them held me a third went through my pockets. The 50 men in the room saw it all, but no one came up to help me.”

The ruffians stole $40 and Doumit’s gold watch. Doumit shouted for the police, but was roughed up and locked in a side room until morning, when he was released with threats to keep quiet. To enforce thee threats, some of the gamblers began loitering around Doumit’s shop, occasionally popping in to repeat their threats.

Doumit went to the police anyway and swore out warrants. The cops raided Dead Man’s Corner and found an elaborate set up, with false doors, wayward staircases, warning lights triggered by switches in the saloon and restaurant, and a troop of barmaids and waitresses whose only duty was to keep an eye out for cops.

Chief William H. Jackson ordered the second floor of Vincent’s saloon barricaded. This required some improvisation, since barricade material was nowhere to be found. Luckily, Chief Jackson had issued an order prohibiting police to smoke while on duty, and Lieutenant James Slattery had found an alternative, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer [7 May 1911]:

“Meanwhile, Lieutenant Slattery, of Central Station, sealed up the door, and for want of better material at hand used ordinary chewing gum. The thumb lines of Lieutenant Slattery’s hands were impressed on each wad, and will probably be better for sealing purposes than any other procurable.”

Apparently, the chewing gum did the trick. Ed Vincent moved his saloon to the northern reaches of John Street. Cox retired to live out his remaining days in his Clifton mansion. Dead Man’s Corner became just another dive bar, though murders as late as 1935 kept the nickname in play. No word on whatever became of Mr. Doumit.

Today, Dead Man’s Corner is a park located across Central Avenue from the Convention Center, a gentle, grass-covered slope overlooking the I-75 interchanges west of downtown.

[dead-dialogs]

Adventures in Roasting Dead People, ep. 1

I was watching Godless on Netflix with a friend of mine the other night (great miniseries, go watch it, it has lesbians), and without getting spoilery, there’s several characters who work for a mining company back east who I would very much like to be dead (spoilers, they do not, much to my disgust). They’re vile, awful people, and not just in a mustache-twirly “hu hu hu, i’m the antagonist of this program!” way. My friend said at one point, “man you really have a retroactive bone to pick with mining companies,” and after contemplating it for a full day, I do really have a retroactive bone to pick with mining companies. So strap in folks, it’s about to get salty as hell in here.

Under the cut because it got long: 

First, a little background - mining has been A Thing in the Americas for millenia, dating all the way back to the Archaic period. The oldest known mining site in the Americas dates back at least 10,000 years, and we’ve (by which I mean archaeologists and not actually myself directly) been finding copper bells all over Central America and the American Southwest dating back to somewhere in the range of 900 AD. But it’s not really until the Spanish show up that we begin to see the “furious scramble to rip everything possible out of the bosom of the earth” type of mining that I think most of us are familiar with. Spanish mines were run largely on slave labor - first the indigenous peoples, who died in massive numbers between the forced labor and the Columbian Exchange diseases, and then imported Africans (although by this point most of the slave labor force had been diverted to cash crops rather than mining). Jamestown was founded for the purpose of mining for English interests, which is part of the reason almost everyone starved on multiple occasions.

In 1829, we get our first truly American gold rush, in which white people flagrantly disregard the fact that the Cherokee were definitely here (meaning North Carolina and Georgia) first, followed by the 1849 California Gold Rush that everyone knows, the 1859 Rocky Mountain Gold Rush, the Black Hills Gold Rush in 1874, and the Klondike Gold Rush in 1899. These are where we get that Stinky Pete caricature of the prospector - grizzled, gray bearded, rocking the suspenders and the beat-to-shit felt hat - although that’s also wrong, if we’re talking about the average characteristics of prospectors. People of all ages, including women and other minorities, came in droves for a chance at placer or surface gold.

And then the mining companies show up.

(Stinky Pete, for anyone who hasn’t seen Toy Story 2)

Now, to be fair, mining companies do have a pretty fair reason for existing. Most gold (and silver, and copper, and coal and uranium and and and) needs lots of startup cash to get at - with surface gold (and maybe silver?? idk I’m not a fucking geologist don’t @ me), all you really need is a big ass pie tin and the patience to stand in a cold creek all day swirling dirt around. Maybe a pickaxe and/or shovel, if you’re real ambitious about it. Once the surface stuff is played out, however, you need lots of labor and equipment to dig down far enough to start mining veins. And with things that aren’t as sexy as gold and silver, like coal for example, no one wants to be mining that shit alone in their backyard unless they’re some kind of like, goddamn sociopath or whatever.

However. Mining companies are still the fucking scum of the earth, if for no other reasons than those that make all groups of more than four people (men) motivated by Having Shit just absolutely fucking awful. Oh, Mining Industry, how do I loathe thee, let me count the ways:

#1 - They exploit the shit out of previous inhabitants.

Now, do not get the wrong idea, the humble, individualistic prospectors of the gold rush days do not come out of this unroasted - the Georgia Gold Rush was a direct motivation for the Trail of Tears, the reason why we only have one tiny corner of a reservation in Colorado is because the territory was the epicenter of a major mineral boom, the Black Hills Indian wars were a direct result of prospectors breaking multiple treaties to mine an area sacred to multiple tribes, and I’m sure we did something fucking horrible to the indigenous peoples of Alaska during that gold rush, too. But in general, mining companies spelled disaster for Native Americans more than individual miners did, because mining companies have lobbyists who can “encourage” Congressmen to “protect” “business” “interests” by “reigning in” the US Army’s approach to land treaties in the west. (Which is itself a very fascinating story that I will definitely have to tell later because woof did we fuck that up real bad.)

But if that’s not enough for you to find deeply upsetting (congratulations you’ve got some racist ideology happening and you should get that checked out), mining companies were also awful to white people too!! (And also black people like whoa, but like, there’s a solid 40 years in there where slavery’s still legal, I think everyone pretty much called that.) Mining companies were notorious for illegal land grab tactics (usually aided and abetted by government agents in charge of land distribution and incorporation), and also for obtaining already claimed land by any means necessary. If that meant paying you to leave, cool. If that meant burning down your house, also fine. If that meant shooting an assortment of people living on said property, that’s just business. We call this shit the Wild West for a reason, and it’s not just because of cattle rustlers. This shit lasts more or less up to the 1890s, specifically 1893 when the US Census Bureau and a guy named Frederick Jackson Turner declare that the frontier is closed. (I don’t know why, like 50% of Nebraska still doesn’t qualify as “populated”.) However, what does not end in the 1890s is how absolutely shitty mining companies are to the people who work for them.

#2 - They exploit the shit out of their workers.

I know, I know, capitalism is deeply broken, #staywoke, etc. etc., this isn’t news. But almost literally nowhere else is that more evident than extractive industries, and mining in particular. Even if you jump the pond back to England where the concept of industrial coal mining really got its start, mistreatment of workers (particularly children, see image below) was shockingly bad.

In the US, mining companies primarily targeted immigrants fresh off the boat from places like Ireland, Greece, Italy, and eastern Europe, and then once slavery had been (nominally) dealt with, they started going after newly freed slaves. What do these groups have in common? Extremely limited resources, lack of concrete physical ties (often their possessions could fit in a few suitcases, and very rarely did they have extended families present to share the burdens of living expenses, childcare, etc.), and very low levels of social respect. Listen, guys, WASPs have been shitty to immigrants since we were immigrants - if I had to write an essay that started “What I learned in History School is,” that’s probably the one constant I’d put down. And in the wake of the Civil War, sure slavery wasn’t legally a thing anymore, but people still really really wanted it to be a thing. (And don’t even get me started on the whole pre-war “We’re not racist, we want to enslave poor white people too” argument, like jesus.)

So mining companies in particular figured out a way to do this that was completely legal. Recruiters would sell you what seemed like a great gig - paying work, no experience required, a house provided for your family, a well-stocked general store for all your physical needs. We’ll even pay for your travel expenses! What they don’t tell you up front is that they’re going to pay you in what are essentially Chuck E. Cheese tokens called scrip, redeemable only from that well-stocked general store, which is selling goods for up to 5x what the rest of the country is paying for them. Some companies would allow you to exchange their gross Monopoly money shit for actual US dollars, but they’d tack on a nice little “exchange fee” which, like, they’re already paying you next to nothing, so it’s not like you can actually save anything to leave.

Another trick that mining companies (and also railroads, which kind of go hand-in-hand for most of the 19th century) used to cut labor costs was to rent convicts from jails. So like, basically slavery? But legal slavery. Because of course no one actually wanted the 13th Amendment or anything. Jesus.

This is all awful, you’re thinking, why would people just let this happen? As far as I know, the earliest mining strike in the US is in 1865, in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, as a result of the mining company cutting wages after the Civil War (literally the earliest they could get away with it, since the Union Army needed iron for the war). The US Army sent the USS Michigan up from Chicago twice to put down the strike at the request of the company. For the most part, mining strikes arise from pay disputes and/or crazy hours, with union recognition coming in a close second. As we get into the last half of the 20th century, strikes about health and safety concerns start to come up, but honestly the Industrial Age is a hellspace of work-related terrors, so I guess that didn’t really ping anyone’s radar before then? Who knows.

#3 - They exploit the shit out of the environment.

Though there are some small-scale environmental consequences of non-mechanized mining, the advent of the mining companies in the west was the beginning of a number of very serious environmental disasters throughout the 19th and first half of the 20th century. In particular, mining for precious metals is a goddamn nightmare, for a couple reasons:

There’s a reason they’re called precious metals -- there’s not huge quantities hanging out in one spot very often. Therefore, it takes significantly more invasive procedures to get the same volume as other mining products.

Separating ore requires a lot of work: pulverizing ore, smelting (which requires a large and steady feed of fuel to keep temperatures high enough to reliably melt out metals from ore), and in the late 19th century, industrial chemists discovered that mercury and cyanide did a much better job getting gold out of ore than fire did. (Side note: if you have a 19th century/Victorian au for any piece of media involving hackers, they’re hereby required to be industrial chemists. Those people were borderline supervillains.) In addition, arsenic and sulfuric acid are really common products of the ore smelting process, so all of those highly toxic substances just get, like, dumped into the environment.

So right away, you have some cool deforestation, massive erosion, and pollution of the local water system, which is 100% guaranteed to fuck up the ecosystem. Fish die, vegetation dies, catastrophic erosion causes huge damage to the landscape, which is great. The practices that cause those things also have a tendency to cause more explosive disasters like:

Fires - Coal mines in particular have a habit of exploding with very little warning, but any mine can hit a coal vein or a natural gas pocket and become a fire hazard. Even after “safety” lamps (which still contain open flames, so like), faulty lighting and sparks from tools and machines could send a mine up in flames within the space of a minute. In precious metal mines, the use of high explosives like nitroglycerin and dynamite was much more common, making fires a much greater danger.

Collapses - Collapses are another danger of mining that uses high explosives, but they’re certainly not limited to fire-based catastrophes. Mines are highly prone to filling with water (they’re basically just very large wells if you don’t pump them out frequently), and water has a tendency to cause erosion and make wooden support beams rot very quickly, making the danger of thousands of pounds of rock and dirt falling down on top of you highly likely in mines that didn’t observe strict safety standards.

Gas leaks - As I mentioned above, pockets of natural gas were a common danger in mines, and not just for their potentially explosive properties. If you’ve ever heard the phrase “canary in the coal mine,” this is where it comes from - miners would carry canaries (or occasionally other warm-blooded animals) down into the mines to signal potentially deadly levels of toxic gases, particularly carbon monoxide from burning lanterns and other equipment in confined spaces. If the canary stopped singing (because of illness or, more frequently, death), that was time to get the fuck up to the surface.

When a mine was played out, most of the time it was cheaper to just buy new equipment for the next mine than to bother with dismantling and hauling the equipment out of whatever (usually mountainous) place it was in. In many places (particularly in the Rockies), this concept filtered down to the individual miners - you can still find ghost towns full of furniture, dishes, etc. that people just left rather than go to the expense of packing everything up and trying to get it down out of there again. So mines would just be left as-is - they’d fill up with water, equipment would be left to rust, tailings piles (the waste products from ore processing, which are these super unattractive piles of sludge) continued leech arsenic, sulfuric acid, cyanide, and mercury into the water table every time it rained. 

(Tailings piles from a mine in Silver City NM)

Abandoned mines continue to be an environmental hazard - PSA: Be extremely careful around abandoned mines, and if they haven’t been blocked off/otherwise flagged by the Forest Service, Parks Service (national or state), BLM, or assorted law enforcement agencies, please report them to the relevant authorities.

So that’s just an overview of the many reasons that mining companies fucking suck - individual mines had their own varied levels of grossness, but as a whole, mining companies are vile and everyone associated with them in fiction should have horrible things befall them. If you’re interested in more information about the history of mining and mining companies, I might post my bibliography for this in a separate post.

If you found this informative, entertaining, or weird enough that you want to see more, drop me a line at dead-dialogs.tumblr.com or at macy.franken@gmail.com with your history questions, and consider kicking a few bucks into my KoFi.

[gordonwilliamsweb]

San Francisco Wrestles With Drug Approach as Death and Chaos Engulf Tenderloin

This story also ran on Los Angeles Times. It can be republished for free.

SAN FRANCISCO — In early 2019, Tom Wolf posted a thank-you on Twitter to the cop who had arrested him the previous spring, when he was homeless and strung out in a doorway with 103 tiny bindles of heroin and cocaine in a plastic baggie at his feet.

“You saved my life,” wrote Wolf, who had finally gotten clean after that bust and 90 days in jail, ending six months of sleeping on scraps of cardboard on the sidewalk.

Today, he joins a growing chorus of people, including the mayor, calling for the city to crack down on an increasingly deadly drug trade. But there is little agreement on how that should be done. Those who demand more arrests and stiffer penalties for dealers face powerful opposition in a city with little appetite for locking people up for drugs, especially as the Black Lives Matter and Defund the Police movements push to drastically limit the power of law enforcement to deal with social problems.

Drug overdoses killed 621 people in the first 11 months of 2020, up from 441 in all of 2019 and 259 in 2018. San Francisco is on track to lose an average of nearly two people a day to drugs in 2020, compared with the 178 who had died by Dec. 20 of the coronavirus.

As in other parts of the country, most of the overdoses have been linked to fentanyl, the powerful synthetic opioid that laid waste to the eastern United States starting in 2013 but didn’t arrive in the Bay Area until about five years later. Just as the city’s drug scene was awash with the lethal new product — which is 50 times stronger than heroin and sells on the street for around $20 for a baggie weighing less than half a gram — the coronavirus pandemic hit, absorbing the attention and resources of health officials and isolating drug users, making them more likely to overdose.

The pandemic is contributing to rising overdose deaths nationwide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which reported last month that a record 81,000 Americans died of an overdose in the 12 months ending in May.

“This is moving very quickly in a horrific direction, and the solutions aren’t matching it,” said Supervisor Matt Haney, who represents the Tenderloin and South of Market neighborhoods, where nearly 40% of the deaths have occurred. Haney, who has hammered City Hall for what he sees as its indifference to a life-or-death crisis, is calling for a more coordinated response.

“It should be a harm reduction response, it should be a treatment response — and yes, there needs to be a law enforcement aspect of it too,” he said.

Tensions within the city’s leadership came to a head in September, when Mayor London Breed supported an effort by City Attorney Dennis Herrera to clean up the Tenderloin by legally blocking 28 known drug dealers from entering the neighborhood.

But District Attorney Chesa Boudin, a progressive elected in 2019 on a platform of police accountability and racial justice, sided with activists opposing the move. He called it a “recycled, punishment-focused” approach that would accomplish nothing.

People have died on the Tenderloin’s needle-strewn sidewalks and alone in hotel rooms where they were housed by the city to protect them from covid-19. Older Black men living alone in residential hotels are dying at particularly high rates; Blacks make up around 5% of the city’s population but account for a quarter of the 2020 overdoses. Last February, a man was found hunched over, ice-cold, in the front pew at St. Boniface Roman Catholic Church.

The only reason drug deaths aren’t in the thousands, say health officials, is the outreach that has become the mainstay of the city’s drug policy. From January to October, 2,975 deaths were prevented by naloxone, an overdose reversal drug that’s usually sprayed up the nose, according to the DOPE Project, a city-funded program that trains outreach workers, drug users, the users’ family members and others.

“If we didn’t have Narcan,” said program manager Kristen Marshall, referring to the common naloxone brand name, “there would be no room at our morgue.”

The city is also hoping that this year state lawmakers will approve safe consumption sites, where people can do drugs in a supervised setting. Other initiatives, like a 24-hour meth sobering center and an overhaul of the city’s behavioral health system, have been put on hold because of pandemic-strained resources.

Efforts like the DOPE Project, the country’s largest distributor of naloxone, reflect a seismic shift over the past few years in the way cities confront drug abuse. As more people have come to see addiction as a disease rather than a crime, there is little appetite for locking up low-level dealers, let alone drug users — policies left over from the “war on drugs” that began in 1971 under President Richard Nixon and disproportionately punished Black Americans.

In practice, San Francisco police don’t arrest people for taking drugs, certainly not in the Tenderloin. On a sunny afternoon in early December, a red-haired young woman in a beret crouched on a Hyde Street sidewalk with her eyes closed, clutching a piece of foil and a straw. A few blocks away, a man sat on the curb injecting a needle into a thigh covered with scabs and scars, while two uniformed police officers sat in a squad car across the street.

Last spring, after the pandemic prompted a citywide shutdown, police stopped arresting dealers to avoid contacts that might spread the coronavirus. Within weeks, the sidewalks of the Tenderloin were lined with transients in tents. The streets became such a narcotics free-for-all that many of the working-class and immigrant families living there felt afraid to leave their homes, according to a federal lawsuit filed by business owners and residents. It accuses City Hall of treating less wealthy ZIP codes as “containment zones” for the city’s ills.

The suit was settled a few weeks later after officials moved most of the tents to designated “safe sleeping sites.” But for many, the deterioration of the Tenderloin, juxtaposed with the gleaming headquarters of companies like Twitter and Uber just blocks away, symbolizes San Francisco’s starkest contradictions.

Mayor Breed, who lost her younger sister to a drug overdose in 2006, has called for a crackdown on drug dealing.

The Federal Initiative for the Tenderloin was one such effort, announced in 2019. It aims to “reclaim a neighborhood that is being smothered by lawlessness,” U.S. Attorney David Anderson said at a recent virtual news conference held to announce a major operation in which the feds arrested seven people and seized 10 pounds of fentanyl.

Law enforcement agencies have blamed the continued availability of cheap, potent drugs on lax prosecutions. Boudin, however, said his office files charges in 80% of felony drug cases, but most involve low-level dealers whom cartels can easily replace in a matter of hours.

He pointed to a 2019 federal sting that culminated in the arrest of 32 dealers — mostly Hondurans who were later deported — after a two-year undercover operation involving 15 agencies.

“You go walk through the Tenderloin today and tell me if it made a difference,” said Boudin.

His position reflects a growing “progressive prosecutor” movement that questions whether decades-old policies that focus on putting people behind bars are effective or just. In May, the killing of George Floyd by the Minneapolis police energized a nationwide police reform campaign. Cities around the country, including San Francisco, have promised to redirect millions of dollars from law enforcement to social programs.

“If our city leadership says in one breath that they want to defund the police and are for racial and economic justice and in the next talk about arresting drug dealers, they’re hypocrites and they’re wrong,” said Marshall, the leader of the DOPE Project.

But Wolf, 50, believes a concerted crackdown on dealers would send a message to the drug networks that San Francisco is no longer an open-air illegal drug market.

Like hundreds of thousands of other Americans who’ve succumbed to opiate misuse, he began with a prescription for the painkiller oxycodone, in his case following foot surgery in 2015. When the pills ran out, he made his way from his tidy home in Daly City, just south of San Francisco, to the Tenderloin, where dealers in hoodies and backpacks loiter three or four deep on some blocks.

When he could no longer afford pills, Wolf switched to heroin, which he learned how to inject on YouTube. He soon lost his job as a caseworker for the city and his wife threw him out, so he became homeless, holding large quantities of drugs for Central American dealers, who sometimes showed him photos of the lavish houses they were having built for their families back home.

Looking back, he wishes it hadn’t taken six arrests and three months behind bars before someone finally pushed him toward treatment.

“In San Francisco, it seems like we’ve moved away from trying to urge people into treatment and instead are just trying to keep people alive,” he said. “And that’s not really working out that great.”

This story was produced by KHN, which publishes California Healthline, an editorially independent service of the California Health Care Foundation.

Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a national health policy news service. It is an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation which is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.

USE OUR CONTENT

This story can be republished for free (details).

San Francisco Wrestles With Drug Approach as Death and Chaos Engulf Tenderloin published first on https://nootropicspowdersupplier.tumblr.com/

[stephenmccull]

San Francisco Wrestles With Drug Approach as Death and Chaos Engulf Tenderloin

This story also ran on Los Angeles Times. It can be republished for free.

SAN FRANCISCO — In early 2019, Tom Wolf posted a thank-you on Twitter to the cop who had arrested him the previous spring, when he was homeless and strung out in a doorway with 103 tiny bindles of heroin and cocaine in a plastic baggie at his feet.

“You saved my life,” wrote Wolf, who had finally gotten clean after that bust and 90 days in jail, ending six months of sleeping on scraps of cardboard on the sidewalk.

Today, he joins a growing chorus of people, including the mayor, calling for the city to crack down on an increasingly deadly drug trade. But there is little agreement on how that should be done. Those who demand more arrests and stiffer penalties for dealers face powerful opposition in a city with little appetite for locking people up for drugs, especially as the Black Lives Matter and Defund the Police movements push to drastically limit the power of law enforcement to deal with social problems.

Drug overdoses killed 621 people in the first 11 months of 2020, up from 441 in all of 2019 and 259 in 2018. San Francisco is on track to lose an average of nearly two people a day to drugs in 2020, compared with the 178 who had died by Dec. 20 of the coronavirus.

As in other parts of the country, most of the overdoses have been linked to fentanyl, the powerful synthetic opioid that laid waste to the eastern United States starting in 2013 but didn’t arrive in the Bay Area until about five years later. Just as the city’s drug scene was awash with the lethal new product — which is 50 times stronger than heroin and sells on the street for around $20 for a baggie weighing less than half a gram — the coronavirus pandemic hit, absorbing the attention and resources of health officials and isolating drug users, making them more likely to overdose.

The pandemic is contributing to rising overdose deaths nationwide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which reported last month that a record 81,000 Americans died of an overdose in the 12 months ending in May.

“This is moving very quickly in a horrific direction, and the solutions aren’t matching it,” said Supervisor Matt Haney, who represents the Tenderloin and South of Market neighborhoods, where nearly 40% of the deaths have occurred. Haney, who has hammered City Hall for what he sees as its indifference to a life-or-death crisis, is calling for a more coordinated response.

“It should be a harm reduction response, it should be a treatment response — and yes, there needs to be a law enforcement aspect of it too,” he said.

Tensions within the city’s leadership came to a head in September, when Mayor London Breed supported an effort by City Attorney Dennis Herrera to clean up the Tenderloin by legally blocking 28 known drug dealers from entering the neighborhood.

But District Attorney Chesa Boudin, a progressive elected in 2019 on a platform of police accountability and racial justice, sided with activists opposing the move. He called it a “recycled, punishment-focused” approach that would accomplish nothing.

People have died on the Tenderloin’s needle-strewn sidewalks and alone in hotel rooms where they were housed by the city to protect them from covid-19. Older Black men living alone in residential hotels are dying at particularly high rates; Blacks make up around 5% of the city’s population but account for a quarter of the 2020 overdoses. Last February, a man was found hunched over, ice-cold, in the front pew at St. Boniface Roman Catholic Church.

The only reason drug deaths aren’t in the thousands, say health officials, is the outreach that has become the mainstay of the city’s drug policy. From January to October, 2,975 deaths were prevented by naloxone, an overdose reversal drug that’s usually sprayed up the nose, according to the DOPE Project, a city-funded program that trains outreach workers, drug users, the users’ family members and others.

“If we didn’t have Narcan,” said program manager Kristen Marshall, referring to the common naloxone brand name, “there would be no room at our morgue.”

The city is also hoping that this year state lawmakers will approve safe consumption sites, where people can do drugs in a supervised setting. Other initiatives, like a 24-hour meth sobering center and an overhaul of the city’s behavioral health system, have been put on hold because of pandemic-strained resources.

Efforts like the DOPE Project, the country’s largest distributor of naloxone, reflect a seismic shift over the past few years in the way cities confront drug abuse. As more people have come to see addiction as a disease rather than a crime, there is little appetite for locking up low-level dealers, let alone drug users — policies left over from the “war on drugs” that began in 1971 under President Richard Nixon and disproportionately punished Black Americans.

In practice, San Francisco police don’t arrest people for taking drugs, certainly not in the Tenderloin. On a sunny afternoon in early December, a red-haired young woman in a beret crouched on a Hyde Street sidewalk with her eyes closed, clutching a piece of foil and a straw. A few blocks away, a man sat on the curb injecting a needle into a thigh covered with scabs and scars, while two uniformed police officers sat in a squad car across the street.

Last spring, after the pandemic prompted a citywide shutdown, police stopped arresting dealers to avoid contacts that might spread the coronavirus. Within weeks, the sidewalks of the Tenderloin were lined with transients in tents. The streets became such a narcotics free-for-all that many of the working-class and immigrant families living there felt afraid to leave their homes, according to a federal lawsuit filed by business owners and residents. It accuses City Hall of treating less wealthy ZIP codes as “containment zones” for the city’s ills.

The suit was settled a few weeks later after officials moved most of the tents to designated “safe sleeping sites.” But for many, the deterioration of the Tenderloin, juxtaposed with the gleaming headquarters of companies like Twitter and Uber just blocks away, symbolizes San Francisco’s starkest contradictions.

Mayor Breed, who lost her younger sister to a drug overdose in 2006, has called for a crackdown on drug dealing.

The Federal Initiative for the Tenderloin was one such effort, announced in 2019. It aims to “reclaim a neighborhood that is being smothered by lawlessness,” U.S. Attorney David Anderson said at a recent virtual news conference held to announce a major operation in which the feds arrested seven people and seized 10 pounds of fentanyl.

Law enforcement agencies have blamed the continued availability of cheap, potent drugs on lax prosecutions. Boudin, however, said his office files charges in 80% of felony drug cases, but most involve low-level dealers whom cartels can easily replace in a matter of hours.

He pointed to a 2019 federal sting that culminated in the arrest of 32 dealers — mostly Hondurans who were later deported — after a two-year undercover operation involving 15 agencies.

“You go walk through the Tenderloin today and tell me if it made a difference,” said Boudin.

His position reflects a growing “progressive prosecutor” movement that questions whether decades-old policies that focus on putting people behind bars are effective or just. In May, the killing of George Floyd by the Minneapolis police energized a nationwide police reform campaign. Cities around the country, including San Francisco, have promised to redirect millions of dollars from law enforcement to social programs.

“If our city leadership says in one breath that they want to defund the police and are for racial and economic justice and in the next talk about arresting drug dealers, they’re hypocrites and they’re wrong,” said Marshall, the leader of the DOPE Project.

But Wolf, 50, believes a concerted crackdown on dealers would send a message to the drug networks that San Francisco is no longer an open-air illegal drug market.

Like hundreds of thousands of other Americans who’ve succumbed to opiate misuse, he began with a prescription for the painkiller oxycodone, in his case following foot surgery in 2015. When the pills ran out, he made his way from his tidy home in Daly City, just south of San Francisco, to the Tenderloin, where dealers in hoodies and backpacks loiter three or four deep on some blocks.

When he could no longer afford pills, Wolf switched to heroin, which he learned how to inject on YouTube. He soon lost his job as a caseworker for the city and his wife threw him out, so he became homeless, holding large quantities of drugs for Central American dealers, who sometimes showed him photos of the lavish houses they were having built for their families back home.

Looking back, he wishes it hadn’t taken six arrests and three months behind bars before someone finally pushed him toward treatment.

“In San Francisco, it seems like we’ve moved away from trying to urge people into treatment and instead are just trying to keep people alive,” he said. “And that’s not really working out that great.”

This story was produced by KHN, which publishes California Healthline, an editorially independent service of the California Health Care Foundation.

Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a national health policy news service. It is an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation which is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.

USE OUR CONTENT

This story can be republished for free (details).

San Francisco Wrestles With Drug Approach as Death and Chaos Engulf Tenderloin published first on https://smartdrinkingweb.weebly.com/

[polixy]

The U.S. budget deficit is rising amid COVID-19, but public concern about it is falling

The U.S. budget deficit is rising amid COVID-19, but public concern about it is falling;

Among the collateral damage from the coronavirus pandemic has been the U.S. economy and the federal budget. The pandemic has caused massive economic disruption, and the government’s response has pushed the federal budget further out of balance than it’s been in nearly eight decades. But Americans appear to be slightly less concerned about the deficit than they have been in recent years.

In a Pew Research Center survey conducted June 16-22, just under half of U.S. adults (47%) called the deficit “a very big problem” in the country today – down from 55% in the fall of 2018. Over roughly that same period, the deficit grew from $779.1 billion at the end of fiscal 2018 to $2.8 trillion as of the end of July, according to data reported Wednesday by the Treasury Department. (The federal fiscal year ends on Sept. 30.)

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a dramatically higher federal budget deficit, with relief spending soaring and tax revenues tumbling. We thought it would be interesting to combine Americans’ views on the deficit with a deeper look at how it has changed in recent years.

For the attitudinal data, we surveyed 4,708 U.S. adults from June 16 to 22, 2020. Everyone who took part is a member of Pew Research Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel that is recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses. This way nearly all U.S. adults have a chance of selection. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories. (Here are the questions asked for this report, along with responses, and its methodology. You can also read more about the ATP’s methodology.) Budgetary data came from several sources. For the current fiscal year’s receipts and outlays, we used data from the Treasury Department’s Office of the Fiscal Service. Historical budget figures were taken from the Office of Management and Budget. We also used the latest estimates of gross domestic product from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Additional background and analysis were obtained from various Congressional Budget Office reports.

The deficit landed roughly in the middle of the pack among the 10 issues asked about in the June survey. The share of adults calling it a very big problem was higher than the share saying the same about climate change (40%) or illegal immigration (28%), but lower than the shares who called ethics in government and the pandemic very big problems (63% and 58%, respectively).

Older people and Republicans are more likely to call the deficit a very big problem, while Democrats – especially liberal Democrats – are less likely to do so. There are few or no differences between responses by men and women or among people of different education or income levels.

Concern about the deficit tends to rise with age. Among Americans 65 and older, 58% said the deficit is a very big problem, compared with 52% of 50- to 64-year-olds, 43% of 30- to 49-year-olds and 33% of 18- to 29-year-olds.

Republicans and Republican-leaning independents were somewhat more likely to call the deficit a very big problem: 49% did so, compared with 45% of Democrats and Democratic leaners. Viewed through ideology, self-described liberal Democrats were considerably less likely to call the deficit a very big problem (38%) than conservative Republicans (51%), conservative and moderate Democrats (50%) or moderate and liberal Republicans (47%).

The federal government has run deficits nearly every year since the Great Depression and consistently since fiscal 2002. Through the first 10 months of fiscal 2020, the government took in $2.82 trillion in revenue and spent $5.63 trillion, for a year-to-date deficit of just over $2.8 trillion, according to the Treasury Department’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service. Through the first 10 months of fiscal 2019, by comparison, the deficit stood at $866.8 billion.

The deficit began widening dramatically in April, as the government started spending hundreds of billions of dollars on coronavirus relief and response. In the April to July 2020 period, federal revenues were about 9.8% below the same period in 2019, while spending more than doubled, according to Treasury Department data.

Absent a major fiscal turnabout in the next two months, the federal budget deficit – which is funded by borrowing – is poised to push up against a raft of past records. The deficit accounts for about half of total federal spending (49.9%) so far this fiscal year; the last time borrowing made up that much of federal spending (1942 to 1945), the United States was in the middle of fighting World War II. (Measuring the deficit as a percentage of total spending shows the extent to which the federal government is relying on borrowed money, rather than tax receipts, to fund its expenditures.)

Looking at the deficit as a percentage of gross domestic product rather than in raw dollars puts it in the context of the total U.S. economy and makes comparisons over time more meaningful. As of the end of the fiscal third quarter in June, the deficit represented 13.1% of GDP, also a level not seen since World War II. By comparison, during the Great Recession in fiscal 2009, the deficit accounted for 40.2% of total spending and reached 9.8% of GDP.

As the Great Recession eased, the deficit declined relative to both total spending and GDP from 2009 to 2015, but it has been rising on both measures ever since. In April, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projected that the current fiscal year’s deficit will come in at roughly $3.7 trillion, or 17.9% of GDP – the largest shortfall since 1945. The CBO also projected that in fiscal 2021, the deficit would be $2.1 trillion.

Annual budget deficits add to the national debt, which as of July 31 stood at more than $26.5 trillion. Economists, budget analysts, politicians and others have argued for decades about how much debt is too much and what effects persistent deficits and heavy debt loads could have on the federal government and the wider economy.

One issue is that the more the government pays out in interest on its debt, the less money it has available for other programs and priorities. In fiscal 2019, the federal government paid out $375.2 billion in net interest on its debt, amounting to 8.4% of total expenditures. As a share of overall spending, interest payments have been rising since 2015 but are still well below levels seen in earlier decades: In fiscal 1996, for example, interest payments accounted for 15.4% of total federal spending. (The dollar amount of interest the federal government pays is a factor not just of how much it borrows, but what interest rates it’s charged.)

Other observers have warned that if the national debt grows large enough, it could absorb so much of investors’ money that other borrowers, particularly in the private sector, would have trouble raising cash at affordable rates. So far, though, that doesn’t appear to be happening: Interest rates around the world remain quite low even as governments borrow heavily to fight the pandemic.

The CBO cites other possible consequences if the national debt continues to grow as a percentage of GDP. They include depressed economic output; more interest payments flowing out of the U.S. to foreign debtholders; and increased risk of a fiscal crisis, in which investors lose confidence in the federal government’s financial health and abruptly raise the interest rates they demand to fund the debt.

Some economists, however, take a different view. Under the general term “Modern Monetary Theory,” or MMT, they argue that the U.S. government can and should fund its spending by creating money directly, rather than borrowing it. The constraint on spending, MMT adherents say, should be on maintaining a sustainable inflation rate, not a balanced budget or particular debt-to-GDP ratio. But while MMT has gained some purchase on the leftward side of politics, it remains controversial.

; Blog (Fact Tank) – Pew Research Center; https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/08/13/the-u-s-budget-deficit-is-rising-amid-covid-19-but-public-concern-about-it-is-falling/; https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/FT_20.08.10_Deficit_1.png?w=310; August 13, 2020 at 03:48PM

[omgstupendousbouquetbasement]

America's Business of Prisons Thrives Even Amid Pandemic

As factories and other businesses remain shuttered across America, prisoners in at least 40 states continue going to work. Sometimes they earn pennies an hour, or nothing at all, making masks and hand sanitizer to help guard others from the coronavirus. 

Those same inmates have been cut off from family visits for weeks, but they get charged up to $25 for a 15-minute phone call — plus a surcharge every time they add credit.

They also pay marked-up prices at the commissary for soap so they can wash their hands more frequently. That service can carry a 100% processing fee.

As the COVID-19 virus cripples the economy, leaving millions unemployed and many companies on life support, big business that has become synonymous with the world's largest prison system is still making money.

"It's hard. Especially at a time like this, when you're out of work, you're waiting for unemployment … and you don't have money to send," said Keturah Bryan, who transfers hundreds of dollars each month to her 64-year-old father at a federal prison in Oklahoma.

Meanwhile, she said, prisons continue their nickel-and-diming.

"You have to pay for phone calls, emails, food," she said. "Everything."

Coronavirus fears

The coronavirus outbreak has put an unlikely spotlight on America's jails and prisons, which house more than 2.2 million people and have been described by health experts as petri dishes for the virus's spread.

Masks and hand sanitizer often still don't reach inmates. Testing is often not done, even among those with symptoms, despite fears that the virus may spread to surrounding communities. And in some parts of the country, those experiencing symptoms languish in sweltering buildings with poor ventilation.

The concerns extend to prison medical providers, often accused by health experts of providing substandard care even in the best of times.

Sheron Edwards shares a dorm with 50 other men at Chickasaw County Regional Correctional Facility in Mississippi. Given his past experiences with the prison's medical provider, Centurion of Mississippi, he worries about what will happen if coronavirus hits.

"I'm afraid they'll just let us die in here," he said.

When he was at the notorious Parchman prison several years ago, Edwards said, Centurion would allow him only one session of physical therapy after a 6-inch rod and screws were placed in his broken ankle.

"Even though that wasn't life-threatening, it was serious," he said. "With COVID-19, I could actually lose my life."

More than 20,000 inmates have been infected and 295 have died nationwide, at Rikers Island in New York City and at state and federal lockups in cities and towns coast to coast, according to an unofficial tally kept by the COVID-19 Behind Bars Data Project run by UCLA Law.

On Wednesday, officials in San Diego announced the first death of a detainee in a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center.

Business opportunity

When incarceration rates soared to record highs in the 1980s and '90s, some corporations saw a business opportunity. Promised lower costs and, in many cases, profit sharing agreements, prison and jail administrators started privatizing everything from food and commissary to entire operations of facilities.

By the 2000s, the private sector was embedded in nearly every aspect of the correctional system.

Today, some of corporate America's biggest names, and many smaller companies, vie for a share of the $80 billion spent on mass incarceration each year in the U.S., roughly half of which stays in the public sector to pay for staff salaries and some health care costs, according to the nonprofit Prison Policy Initiative.

Proponents of for-profit prisons say it's cheaper for private companies to run them than the government, arguing it's easier to cancel contracts and there is more incentive to provide better service. That, they say, leads to better living conditions and more effective reintroduction of the incarcerated back into society, with the ultimate goal of reducing recidivism.

The advocacy group Worth Rises disagrees.

The group released a report Thursday detailing some 4,100 corporations that profit from the country's prisons and jails. For the first time, it identified corporations that support prison labor directly or through their supply chains. The group also recommended divesting from more than 180 publicly traded corporations and investment firms.

"The industry behind mass incarceration is bigger than many appreciate. So is the harm they cause and the power they wield," said Bianca Tylek, the group's founder and director.

"They exploit and abuse people with devastating consequences," Tylek said. "Of course, they aren't unilaterally responsible for mass incarceration, but they're part of the ecosystem propping it up."

The report includes vendors that stock commissaries with Cup Noodles and Tide laundry detergent, along with contracted health care providers that have been sued for providing limited or inadequate coverage to those behind bars.

There are companies like Smith & Wesson, which makes protective gear for correctional officers, and Attenti, which supplies electronic ankle bracelets. Other household names, such as Stanley Black & Decker, have entire units dedicated to manufacturing accessories for prison doors.

Employing inmates

Prisoners also work, making everything from license plates to body armor vests and mattresses. In California, some even serve as firefighters. But in some places, incarcerated people are employed by major corporations such as Minnesota-based 3M.

Billed as a cheap alternative to foreign outsourcing, inmates also previously provided goods to Starbucks, Victoria's Secret and Whole Foods, sparking an uproar that caused many big-name companies to bow out.

Some prisoners leave their lockups to do jobs in the community, such as at fast food restaurants. State-owned businesses have also cropped up around the massive prison labor industries, including some with almost comical names, such as Big House products in Pennsylvania and Rough Rider Industries in North Dakota.

While some jobs might pay minimum wage as required by federal law for products that enter interstate commerce, the take-home pay of workers in correctional industries can be as low as just 20% of their stated wage after garnishment for room and board, restitution, and other costs.

Meanwhile, private companies market catalogs full of products to lockups. One website advertises an array of pricey bondage items: Leather bed restraints for $267, ankle hobbles for $144 and a metal waist chain with handcuffs going for $76.95.

An Alabama company markets video visitation systems under a call box with the face of an elderly woman in glasses shown on the monitor inside. Beside it reads the slogan: "Keep Granny's shank pies away from your facility."

Bobby Rose, one of the report's researchers, served 24 years in New York state prisons, where he spent a lot of time thinking about the role money plays in America's legal system.

But he was shocked to learn just how many big-name companies were involved and how much was being made off not only those behind bars, but also their families — a particularly poignant concept during the pandemic.

He still thinks about friends left in prison — two of whom have succumbed to COVID-19.

"I feel," he said, "that some of these companies that really profit could have provided ... sanitizer or even gave free soap."

from Blogger https://ift.tt/2YKsK64 via IFTTT

[photolovecrash7]

Late night thinking after Podcast.

First of all I'd like to apologize from my spelling and grammar in advance I've been up a long time. Second of all I'm just bored so writing was helping me calm down. If you read this don't tare it apart, all of this information you can find online for yourself. I was just writing what I had in my head the last time I read up about these men. Hoping nothing is wrong but I didn't really say more then the basics. Just remembering from my earlier fascination. Now that I got that our of the way.

The biggest question on my mind lately has been, why am I so interested in serial killers. Maybe it’s their lack of empathy for a human life or maybe it’s because of how genius some of these killers are. One example I have been taken with is H.H. Holmes, know as the American first serial killer or some cases even from the early 2000. I know I can’t be a detective or a researcher on this but I just love to read about it. Some of my fascination lately have been

H.H homes- Americas first serial killer that we know of. Founder of the murder castle in Chicago. His story just really makes me want to dig into why such a smart man, with his IQ, with his college education would turn to such a dark life. To murder over 200 ( I’m pretty sure this is an exaggerations) people and not even blink about it when it’s brought up. Like wow. I think the thing that really fascinates me is the murder hotel or castles what ever you prefer to call it. To plan out such a place and not let anyone truly know what they are building must have been tough but also is almost genius. Being in the city of lots of immigrants his targets were easy. Offer them a place at the hotel or a job, ask the widows to put him on their insurance policy's so they could work for him and then they disappear conveniently. The dumb part is he would have never gotten caught at the point of his life if he had just paid his partner his share of the money from insurance fraud and the might not have been caught for a while. Not that I'm wishing for that, more as if to say he got caught for something so little compared to the deeds he was doing behind closed doors. His famous quote “I was born with the very devil in me, I could not help the fact that I was a murderer, no more than the poet can help the inspiration to song, nor the ambition of an intellectual man to be great. The inclination to murder came to me as naturally as the inspiration to do right comes to the majority of persons."

John Wayne Gacy Jr. - American serial killer and rapist. He sexually assaulted, tortured and murdered at least 33 teenaged boys and young men between 1972 and 1978 in Illinois. He scares me the most, I know I would have been safe since I’m a girl but he dressed up as a clown. A fucking clown named Pogo. His quote that I found on biography.com made me shutter. After he arrested and the police interviewed him he said that after his first murder he felt "totally drained", yet noted that he had experienced a mind-numbing orgasm after killing the boy. He added: "That's when I realized that death was the ultimate thrill” OOOKKKAAYYY GACY..

Richard Ramirez – Because of this guy I’m scared of walking in the dark sometimes. I used to love taking 3 am walks but not after reading about the “ Night stalker.” This dude killed 14 people and tortured even more. Im pretty sure only one of his victims escaped, but he killed her roommate in revenge. He started killing husband and wife’s in their own home. Usually in their late 40s to the oldest victim being 79 years old women who he also sexually assaulted. He was heavily influenced by his older brother who came back from Vietnam with pictures of women he tortured and killed there. Ramirez was also influenced by drugs. He was chatty, he had a lot to say. Here is one quote by him that made me stop and think. Are we all capable of killing?? “We've all got the power in our hands to kill, but most people are afraid to use it. The ones who aren't afraid, control life itself.”

Gary Ridgway- An American serial killer that maybe you haven’t heard about as much as the others. Maybe you have. He was charged with killing 48 women usually street workers or runaways but it is believed that he killed over 90. He would kill women and dump them into the woods and come back to he dead bodies and have intercours with them. Gross. One of his quotes “I'm a murderer, not a rapist.” Okay Gary doesn’t make it okay still. He picked the prostitutes and runaways because they are easy targets according to him. Some believe that it was also because of his father who was a bus driver who always complained about the street women walking around all the time near the bus. Maybe hearing that as a child gave him the inspiration or idea to turn to this life style.

Ted Bundy – Oh this is a fun one, obviously not actually fun but I can see how his looks made women be drawn to him, and being a charismatic probably didn’t help them to stay away from him. Before he died Ted confessed to at least 30 murders of women and girls. Probably a higher count then that. He approached them in a place surrounded by lots of people. He usually faked and injury or some kind of crisis until he gained their trust and took them to a different location where he killed them and used the bodies for intercourse. I really can’t even talk about him anymore. He was a terrible human being. Doing the things he did to some of these women just make me sick. In my opinion he got what he deserved with that chair. Some of these victims survived, and having to live of what they went through. One of the women has permanent damage from him coming into her place, beating her to the point of unconsciousness and sexually assaulting her with the same rod he beat with her with. This man was a sick. I had to do two quotes from him, because they both just freaked me out a lot. “We serial killers are your sons, we are your husbands, we are everywhere. And there will be more of your children dead tomorrow” and the second quote is “Society wants to believe it can identify evil people, or bad or harmful people, but it's not practical. There are no stereotypes.”

Both of those quotes are so true, we don’t know who is evil, who is a psychopath, who is a serial killer. It could be anyone, anywhere, It could be like the Uber driver in Kalamazoo Michigan. Scares me to know I could step out my door and talk to 50 people and one of them could be a killer. We don’t know what could make someone snap, is it our attitudes, the way we chew our gum ( from the musical Chicago one of the women in jail) maybe we just gave them a funny look. I’d say be nice and kind to everyone but somebody could decide that they hate that you always smile. Anyway, as I said this has been fascinating me a lot recently so I just sat here tonight writing this out to pass the time. I also listened to Sword and Scale podcast. Pretty interesting but I’ll write about that another night.

[littlelllusionmachine]

Some dead guys and a terrible, terrible mistake part 1 

Here’s the thing: the mob owned the bars. There was no conscious effort on his behalf of joining the mafia - that was just stupid. There were constant encounters with those guys, sure, but that was to be expected in a largely immigrant based neighbourhood back in the 40s and 50s. They were the left over remnants of the old empire of booze and entertainment. And though the prohibition had been lifted by the time Luciano was old enough to drink, they still held a firm grasp on all those industries. So, it wasn’t uncommon to have some friends or family members with direct relations to those guys. Even less uncommon to have some ties with them yourself, if you were youth of a certain age. They found use for those kids, sure - offered money - preyed on the vulnerability (and supposed indestructibility) of youth. Be a hero, get women, give your parents a better life - there was a different story for different personalities. All of them got involved, somehow.

And so, it wasn’t unheard of for a story to start this way. By 1957, after completing the longest of a series of arrests,  all for stupid things - assault, some minor smuggling charges, possession - the protagonist of this story found himself low on funds. Posting bail was one thing, spending time behind bars was another. It soiled the image of the clean cut american youth - first generation, anyway - feeding into stereotypes. Thankfully this was a neighbourhood where being Italian was accepted. Not like the majority of the outside world. They had a reputation as it was, without incidences like this -

It wasn’t like he was going to get a job at any of the local shops. And he didn’t have the training or skills to do anything in the trade world. However ! As luck (?) would have it, he did have the scarlet letter of battery attached to his person via trade gone wrong - it was business, his excuse - and this was precisely the sort of thing that read employable to a certain group.

Or maybe a specific person.

Uberto Sforza, who was born in 1838, had passed on in 1927 at the ripe old age of 89. He hadn’t been running the family business for a while, at that point entrusting it to his youngest son who, at the time of his death, was only 22 years old and a terribly talented soldato who had just months before taken the oath of Omerta to become a caporegime. This was a surprise to his elder brother, the acting underboss and a good 35 years his senior, who was certain he was being groomed to become the boss. Evidently, this was the initial plan and said plan would have come to fruition had the man been allowed to live another decade. As it turned out, the years he had remaining were simply to be supplemented onto his younger brothers, now the bosses’, lifespan.

Of course attempts on his life were taken too. It was only logical after that stunt and he, a 22 year old who had built up a reputation only from luring civilians into the family speak easy and not by any badges of honour won should be taken out. It was nepotism in its highest form at best, and, at worst, he was simply a power hungry sack of crap. Ten years.  That was the only time he allowed his brother. And so, in 1937, Benito Sforza who now was only - strangely ? - twenty eight years old in spite of his 32 years on earth became the boss.

A lot changes in twenty years, be it the power players, or even the game itself. The Prohibition ended. America entered the Great War. Benito had to pick up a nickname to distance himself from the terrible Italian dictator. Benno was much less intimidating and far more casual - which was fine. It wasn’t like he was built for the life he had been born into and there was much he hadn’t been taught by his father, who was already old by the time he was born. His whole life came down to the ancient practice of “winging it” and in spite of some setbacks - like dying - he was making the best of the hand he had been given. This brings us back to 1957 and the new battle plan of the mafia - making profits on bars. Going back to their roots. Alcohol and its sale was something he understood.

So now, at 52 years old, Benno decided he needed a new associate. The world had changed drastically but he had not. And while some of the extended family both knew about and accepted this, others did not. And he knew - ah, yes he knew - the dangers this posed. Or, perhaps he didn’t, but the rival family had people with a similar, ah, affliction and they all seemed to up and vanish. (To where?, he wondered.)

The search would be simple enough. Someone young enough to be unaware of the past ordeals, old enough to have some experience but desperate enough to make mistakes with the same naivety as a child. In short, a young adult that needed money and wouldn’t ask questions.  And this was found in Luciano who was at this point; in his early 30s, unemployable, payable with substance in lieu of cash and didn’t seem to mind getting into fights. It wasn’t even like he had to go far to find such a person - the mafia ran the bars, the bars attracted the low lives, and the fights started themselves.

Luciano found himself presented with two options:   1) Do another stint in the slammer, potentially longer this time for a follow up offence   2) Become an associate.

The life of an associate isn’t a glamorous one. While they do work for the mafia, they aren’t actual members. This means they aren’t offered the protection of the group on the streets, in spite of being on call 24/7 for all the bullshit. Murders, arson, assault, intimidation, car bombing - all of it was part of the package deal. The light at the end of the tunnel comes down to two things - if you’re Italian, you can become a soldato and work your way up the ranks. You can also be paid, very handsomely, if you do as you’re told. It’s a game of risk vs. reward: simple.

But there was no potential for reward behind bars. So, he chose option the second option - as Benito had hoped.

You don’t trust the new men with goods so he was tasked with . . Roughing some people up. Nothing serious. Nobody needed to die just yet. A broken wrist here or there, maybe. A bat to the shin. Stupid stuff. The kind of things hooligans do on a normal Tuesday. As it turned out Luciano was quite talented at these feats ! So as their relationship progressed, so, too, did the tasks at hand. Maybe a person would go missing every so often. No big deal, it was the city - stuff happened to people there all the time. Nobody would miss an addict or two. And speaking of addicts, what better way to lure them out than with supply? Now, tainted bags couldn’t be sold as easily - but they could be offered up as payment. Which was fine - when money was something you had in excess it was okay to forgo a payment every so often in the name of pleasure.

It was a fine enough arrangement and easy enough for Luciano to eventually become a soldato. The tasks were about the same if not with a bit higher stakes - more money, intimidation switching over to killing and dealing with politicians. You had to keep up the pleasantries once you were in the family - only these people were allowed to talk to high ranking officials in the name of keeping things. . .civilized. And this meant even more of a payout which was, for a brief moment in time, utter perfection. He found himself able to move out of his parents place in Bellville and into a slum house in Manhattan - by choice, that was - nearer to the work, closer to the excitement, with easier access to everything he wanted. But he was still young - and the things he thought he wanted weren’t the things he needed.

At some point a new Consigliere was brought in. . the bosses right hand man, supposedly able to offer up unbiased opinions. A person not related by blood to the boss of the family - free of Sforza influence, supposedly. Luciano supposed it was true from what he could see - the two men seemed to argue about things constantly. . Easy enough to notice, Benito was not used to not having things his way. If anything, it meant this man could be trusted - he was an anchor to this ‘young mans’ fantastical whims. Never a ‘yes’ man and always one step ahead. Luciano had no idea what it was they were discussing but it seemed otherworldly in a way. . And that was fine, too - it was nothing he needed to concern himself with.

By now it was 1948, 10 years into this mess. Benito had established himself a bit more within the family as a whole - good for him, but not as much for Lucy - his services weren’t needed as often. A lot of idling. A lot of boredom. Missing the more entertaining days. . . Being a bouncer at a bar is a downgrade from the life he imagined he was living - more important in his mind than in actuality, but, what did he know? The sounds outside his apartment were annoying, but he could no longer afford to find a nicer place even if he had wanted to. The bars were unexciting - there was nobody interesting, just the same old regulars.

Eventually he gave up and moved back to Bellville. They’d call him if they needed him.

They never needed him.

Then the phone rang - the Consigliere, not Benito - but there was work to be done. Steady work. . But different work. Finding people, luring them over to the HQ, making other people keep quiet. It was strange and risky, for sure - these were very particular people he’d have to seek out. He had spent a brief moment wondering if there was some pattern to it - who were these people? Why the interest in only them? What did they all have in common? But these thoughts were fleeting when the rewards started to come back. The money, the drugs - the infamy he enjoyed, too, but he didn’t admit that aloud. And after a few months of this, the preposition: ‘do me a favour and try some of this. . .you’ll see the world in a way you never imagined.’

Which, after a binge of excess that would have killed any normal human resulted in two things: first, the terrible head ache of withdrawal from everything and nothing -- this was unlike anything he had to date experienced. And secondly, some intense - and perhaps misplaced - distrust from Benito. But, whatever, fuck that guy.

Dress nice, keep up the façade, and don’t fuck up.  It was supposed to be simple.  And for a while things were. Everything was easier. The drugs worked better.  Weird and bizarre mixes did abso-fucking-lutely nothing. This was the invincibility promised those ten years ago. Weird, too, he was an adult now. An adult that had to live a normal life on the side with so much going through his mind consistently. . May as well figure out a way to enjoy it. Meet some people. Keep his distance from Benno. Lay low for a while.

Or so he’d try. All his recreational hobbies stopped having the same rush they used to. Nothing was on par. The drugs didn’t hit as hard. The people didn’t put up as much of a fight. Par of course, the Consigliere said. But that didn’t make it any less. . . Boring.

[pumpkinspicelexatte]

*puts on scientist goggles* EVERY QUESTION

           Random and personal questions  Redacted abusers from history     

1. Name:Amy Brianna Rose Meadows

2. Birthplace:Worksop

3. Ancestry: I have zero idea but apparently i have some irish family lol is all i know

4. Zodiac Sign: Gemini

5. Biggest fear:Tied between getting older and people I love abandoning me

6. Strength/Weakness: Loyalty/Stubbornness

7. Worst habit:Eating salt packets whole?

8. Favorite holiday: Halloween I guess?

9. Ever been in a car crash: Nope

10. Have you ever had a crush on a teacher: So many times

11. What do you do as soon as you walk in the house: Check tumblr lol

12. Age at first kiss:25

13. When did you fall in love for the first time: I wanna say 11 ish?

14. Who Is Your Longest Friend & How Long:

15. Goal You Would Like To Achieve This Year: Be happier

16. What were you doing at midnight last night: Sending my girlfriend a birthday message and listening to the new paramore album

17. When was the last time you laughed hard: today with @janes-nature-garden “I guess you just have internalized drumphobia”

18. Who was the last person that told you they love you: @allisbornagain

19. What was the first thing you thought when you woke up yesterday morning: yesterday as in thursday i guess, either @allisbornagain is so cute or why are there chickens

20. Where did you go for your first date and who was it with: I guess the cinerma with my first ever girlfriend grace when i was like 13 lol

21. Who’s wedding were you in the first time you were a bridesmaid or a groomsmen:I have never

22. Who did you see in concert first:Thursday when they opened for MCR

23. Who was your favorite teacher:Jemma my college biology twacher

24. Who is the first person you call when you have a bad day: @allisbornagain or @janes-nature-garden

25. Who do you think about most: @adorablyamy or @allisbornagain or @janes-nature-garden

26. Is your ideal occupation?  If i didn’t suck at it a writer of some kind

27. Beer, wine, or liquor? I guess wine

28. Favourite restaurant? Firezza in soho is amazing but i’ve been to so many good places recently

29. What is your favorite ice cream flavor? Dairy free soy vanilla

30. McDonlads or Burger King? Burger king

31. Fantasy dinner guest(s)? Alexa bliss, Poppy, Lana del rey, Hayley williams

32. Have you ever been drunk? When was the last time? lots of time, Probably the night me and jane did karaoke

33. What is the most embarrassing thing you have done drunk? probably karaoke with Jane lol

34. Wonder Woman or Cat Woman? I have no idea

35. How many pets do you have? Does a vulpix count? :p

36. What would be the first thing you bought if you won the lottery? A house so i could live with my girlfriends

37. When was the first time you smoked? Technically age 2 or 3 lol

38. Who last sent you a text? Jane

39. Who did you last send a text to? Jane

40. What 4 things would you take to a desert island? Sattelite internet, water purifier, phone , solar charger

41. Name the 3 most important people in your life? @allisbornagain @janes-nature-garden @truetrashsoulrebel

42. Favorite song? Right now it’s idle worship by paramore

43. Favorite movie? The disappearance of haruhi suzumiya

44. When did you last cuddle someone? today

45. When did you last have sex? I guess technically wednesday although weird feels lol

46. If you woke up tomorrow with no fear, what would you do first? Internet stuff for money lol

47. What was your biggest worry five years ago, do you still feel the same about it at this minute? That i’ll never be able to be a girl

48. If you could change one law of your country, what would it be? I have no idea

49. What relationships have ended? But you can’t let go? I guess there’s one online one where i still love them a whole lot and i just can’t get past it

50. Where would you take a road trip? I have no idea

51. How do Mondays feel for you? alright

52. If you could spend ten minutes with your ‘hero’ alive or dead what would you ask them? i dont know

53. Do your practice ‘self love’ or ‘self loathing’? self loathing mostly lol

54. What’s your greatest achievement to date? Escaping an awful abuser?

55. What scares you about your future? Money and fascism

56. Why does pizza come in a square box? Because delivery bags are square?

57. What would happen if you knew you could not fail? no idea

58. How does it feel to be photographed? nice sometimes

59. If you could erase an event from your mind, which one would you choose? A certain night in november

60. Do you want your children (if you have any) to be ‘just like you’? Nope bpd is hell

61. Do you stand for what you believe in or are you pleasing others? I’m kinda bad at just trying to please others

62. If money were no concern, what would you do for the rest of your life? Something useful and good like volunteer

63. What are you thankful for, this moment? Actually feeling like i have a chance to live

64. Do you have same sex gender fantasies? Always

65. If you have had sex in a public place, where? Not quite but there was a bus station with em

66. Have you ever cried during/after sex? lol yep

67. Who is the oldest person you’ve had sex with? 27

68. Who is the youngest person you’ve had sex with? 21

69. Would you rather be in a relationship with a totally submissive partner or a totally dominant partner? as a polyam i can choose both right? :p

70. How tall are you?    6′3 ish

71. How much do you weigh? I have no idea, I avoid because ed related reasons   

72. What color is your hair naturally?     dark blonde/ light brown?

73. What size jeans do you wear?    16?

74. What is your favorite color to wear?  pink or black  

75. Do you have any piercings?     nope

76. Do you have any tattoos?    nope

77. Do you care how other people see you?    very yes

78. Do you like sports?    eh not really, thanks to certain podcast hosts i have a slight interest in mma lol

79. How do you feel about age differences in relationships?    mostly fine as long as everyone is over 18 although huge age differences particularly way older men scream creepy power dynamic

80. How do you feel about race differences in relationships?    why would that be an issue????

81. Do you believe in karma or fate?    very yes

82. Do you keep a journal?    nope

83. Describe the last dream you remember:   making out with a tumblr follower, although one i interact more with on twitter lol

84. Describe your favorite dream:    

85. Where are some places you would like to visit?    Arctic to see aurora, Japan with em tbh

86. Any upcoming concerts you want to attend?    not really

87. What music do you listen to when you are happy?    paramore, lana , poppy

88. What music do you listen to when you are mad?    paramore , lana, poppy, melanie martinez

89. Do you like to burn candles or incense?    not really

90. What was the last alcoholic beverage you consumed?    wine

91. What are your favorite alcoholic beverages?    prosecco is good atm lol

92. Do you smoke cigarettes or cigars? What about marijuana? only when jane gives me them :p i have before

93. Who is your number 1 friend and why is he or she there?    All my friends are good, but i guess Jane has a best friend feel?

94. Has anyone ever mistaken you for a family member?   nope

95. Is there anyone of your friends that you would ever consider having sex with? a few

96. Would you ever have sex in the shower or the bath? seems dangerous :p I’d fall in the shower lol

97. Have you ever kissed or had sex with someone of the same sex gender?I have only

98. Do you think your last ex still wants to be with you?ew

99. Ever wondered what it would be like dating the same gender as you?no cause thats all i’ve done , well mostly , i’ve dated some nb people

100. What are your outlooks on gay/bisexual people? Amazing

101. How often do you brush your teeth?Daily, thanks exec dysfunction

102. How often do you shower?  When was the last time you had a shower? most days , today

103. How often do you shave your legs?weekly?

104. Political affiliation? not sure

105. Opinion on abortion? let people do what they want /need with their bodies

106. Opinion on immigrants/ immigration reform? immigrants are in no way a bad thing

107. Should prostitution be legalized? very yes

108. How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are? if i could choose? like 19

109. If life is so short, why do we do so many things we don’t like and like so many things we don’t do? Capitalism?

110. What is the one thing you’d most like to change about the world? make men not in charge

111. If happiness was the national currency, what kind of work would make you rich? Something involving looking after pets?

112. Would you break the law to save a loved one? yes

113. If you had to move to a state or country besides the one you currently live in, where would you move and why? italy seems nice i guess?

114. Why are you the person you are? Abuse and trauma?

115. Have you been the kind of friend you want as a friend? Kinda although im super needy

116. Why do religions that support love cause so many wars? they don’t really,

117. What would you do differently if you knew nobody would judge you? do my comfort things in public, be visibly trans

118. Were you happy when you woke up today? not really

119. What’s a fact about the last person who text messaged you? she laughs at the tube station euston cause of euston we have a problem

120. Want someone back in your life? Not anyone who would be good

121. What are you excited for? My chewable necklace thing

122. Are you scared to fall in love? not any more thanks to @allisbornagain

123. When is your next road trip? never?

124. What was the last thing you did before you went to bed last night? message em?

125. Do you like to cuddle? very yes

126. Have you ever kissed more than one person in 24 hours? I’ve kissed two people within five seconds of each other

127. Plans for tomorrow? Rest i’ve been told

128. Do you care too much/not at all/just enough? can’t care too much so just enough

129. How is life going for you right now? okay to good in different aspects

130. If you were offered a shot of whiskey right this second, would you accept? sure

131. This time last year, can you remember who you liked? probably @catnip-brownies :p

132. Could you stay in the same relationship for over a year? yep

133. If you could have one super power what would it be? shapeshifiting seems fun

134. Background on your cell phone? Me jane and em

135. What are you thinking about right this second? Girlfriends

136. Last book you read? How was it? The sigh of haruhi suzumiya  pretty good

137. What is the last thing you bought? food

138. Do you live with your parents? nope

139. Have you ever been caught sneaking out? nah my parents never cared

140. Have you ever met a celebrity? nope

141. What are you like when you’re drunk? fun and loud

142. What are you like when you’re high? emotional

143. Do you want children? idk

144. Do you want a church wedding? idk

145. How many pillows do you sleep with? 3

146. Have you ever been scuba diving? nope

147. Who was your first real crush? Lauren styles a blonde girl who moved to where i lived from croydon,

148. What are you allergic to? some antiallergy meds

149. Have you already thought of baby names, and if so what are they?Meadow Meadows

150. Do you want a boy a girl for a child? girl prolly

151. How did you get your name? i chose it , inspired by someone who saved me

152. Name one thing about your body you love? My butt is pretty nice

153. What is your biggest goal in life? be happy and help people I care about be happy

154. Do you still have feelings for your ex? is hate a feeling?

155. Do you think aliens are real? yeah

156. What age did you start drinking? I guess 14 on a school trip to italy?

157. What do you think of President Obama? I don’t know enough about politics nevermind american ones

158. Do you think you’ll be in a relationship two months from now? Yep , nearing 6 months and 5.5 months with my gfs :)

159. Describe your dream girl/guy? furryish cute, weird, gay

167. Favorite fictional character (movie, book, tv show)? Weiss schnee right now

168. How many followers do you have on tumblr? What about twitter/ instagram? 1274 , 215 ish , 50

169. Are you friend with your parents on Facebook? hahahahahhahahahahhahahah no

170. First time you thought you were in love? When did you realize that you weren’t actually in love with that person?

171. Do you talk to yourself? Always, in the third person referring to myself as aimz , amyface, amykins or aimster lol

172. How old will you be on your next birthday? 26 ew

173. How did you meet the last person you kissed? On tumblr

174. Do you have any hickies?i have never

175. Turn ons? girls

176. Turn offs? boys

179. How many siblings do you have?  one sister

180. Have you ever taken anyone’s virginity? ew yes

[maritimecyprus]

The “Black Tom Island” incident occurred on Sunday, 30 July 1916. German saboteurs ignited a fire at the munitions-loading facility in Jersey City, across from Manhattan. The ensuing explosions destroyed the waterfront facility and largely obliterated the island, killing four persons and causing over $40 million in property damage. It was the first state-sponsored terrorist attack in US history and was the genesis of the US Coast Guard’s port security program.

Aftermath of the Black Tom explosion on July 30, 1916. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

All was dark and quiet on Black Tom Island in New York Harbor, not far from the Statue of Liberty, when small fires began to burn on the night of July 30, 1916. Some guards on the island sent for the Jersey City Fire Department, but others fled as quickly as they could, and for good reason: Black Tom was a major munitions depot, with several large “powder piers.” That night, Johnson Barge No. 17 was packed with 50 tons of TNT, and 69 railroad freight cars were storing more than a thousand tons of ammunition, all awaiting shipment to Britain and France. Despite America’s claim of neutrality in World War I, it was no secret that the United States was selling massive quantities of munitions to the British.

The guards who fled had the right idea. Just after 2:00 a.m., an explosion lit the skies—the equivalent of an earthquake measuring up to 5.5 on the Richter scale, according to a recent study. A series of blasts were heard and felt some 90 miles in every direction, even as far as Philadelphia. Nearly everyone in Manhattan and Jersey City was jolted awake, and many were thrown from their beds. Even the heaviest plate-glass windows in Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn shattered, and falling shards of glass preceded a mist of ash from the fire that followed the explosion. Immigrants on nearby Ellis Island had to be evacuated.

Peter Raceta, the captain of a flatbottom barge in the harbor, was in the cabin watching the fire on Black Tom with two other men. “When the explosion came, it seemed as if it was from above—zumpf!—like a Zeppelin bomb,” he told a reporter from the New York Times. “There were five or six other lighters alongside mine at the dock, and a tug was just coming up to drag us away.… I don’t know what became of the tug or the other lighters.  It looked as if they all went up in the air.” Of the two men he was with, she said, “I didn’t see where they went, but I think they must be dead.”

Watchmen in the Woolworth building in Lower Manhattan saw the blast, and “thinking their time had come, got down on their knees and prayed,” one newspaper reported. The Statue of Liberty took more than $100,000 worth of damage; Lady Liberty’s torch, which was then open to visitors who could climb an interior ladder for a spectacular view, has been closed ever since. Onlookers in Manhattan watched as munition shells rocketed across the water and exploded a mile from the fires on Black Tom Island.

Flying bullets and shrapnel rendered firefighters powerless. Doctors and nurses arrived on the scene and tended to dozens of injured. The loss of life, however, was not great: Counts vary, but fewer than ten people perished in the explosions. However, the damage was estimated at more than $20 million, (nearly half a billion dollars today), and investigations eventually determined that the Black Tom explosions resulted from an enemy attack—what some historians regard as the first major terrorist attack on the United States by a foreign power.

Firefighters were unable to fight the fires until the bullets and shrapnel stopped flying. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

In the days after the blasts, confusion reigned. Police arrested three railroad-company officials on charges of manslaughter, on the assumption that the fires began in two freight cars. Then guards at the pier were taken in for questioning; on the night of the explosions, they had lit smudge pots to keep mosquitoes away, and their carelessness with the pots was believed to have started the fires. But federal authorities could not trace the fire to the pots, and reports ultimately concluded that the blasts must have been accidental—even though several suspicious factory explosions in the United States, mostly around New York, pointed toward German spies and saboteurs. As Chad Millman points out in his book, The Detonators, there was a certain naivete at the time—President Woodrow Wilson could not bring himself to believe that Germans might be responsible for such destruction. Educated, industrious and neatly dressed, German-Americans’ perceived patriotism and commitment to life in America allowed them to integrate into society with less initial friction than other ethnic groups.

One of those newcomers to America was Count Johann Von Bernstorff, the German ambassador to Washington. He arrived in 1914 with a staff not of diplomats, but of intelligence operatives, and with millions of dollars earmarked to aid German war efforts by any means necessary. Von Bernstorff not only helped obtain forged passports for Germans who wanted to elude the Allied blockade, he also funded gun-running efforts, the sinking of American ships bringing supplies to Britain, and choking off supplies of phenol, used in the manufacture of explosives, in a conspiracy known as the Great Phenol Plot.

One of his master spies was Franz Von Rintelen, who had a “pencil bomb” designed for his use. Pencil bombs were cigar-sized charges filled with acids placed in copper chambers; the acids would ultimately eat their way through the copper and mingle, creating intense, silent flames. If designed and placed properly, a pencil bomb could be timed to detonate days later, while ships and their cargo were at sea. Von Rintelen is believed to have attacked 36 ships, destroying millions of dollars worth of cargo. With generous cash bribes, Von Rintelen had little problem gaining access to piers—which is how Michael Kristoff, a Slovak immigrant living in Bayonne, New Jersey, is believed to have gotten to the Black Tom munitions depot in July of 1916.

Investigators later learned from Kristoff’s landlord that he kept odd hours and sometimes came home at night with filthy hands and clothing, smelling of fuel.  Along with two German saboteurs, Lothar Witzke and Kurt Jahnke, Kristoff is believed to have set the incendiary devices that caused the mayhem on Black Tom.

But it took years for investigators to piece together the evidence against the Germans in the bombing. The Mixed Claims Commission, set up after World War I to handle damage claims by companies and governments affected by German sabotage, awarded $50 million to plaintiffs in the Black Tom explosion—the largest damage claim of any in the war. Decades would pass, however, before Germany settled it. In the meantime, landfill projects eventually incorporated Black Tom Island into Liberty State Park. Now nothing remains of the munitions depot save a plaque marking the explosion that rocked the nation.

German Master Spy Franz Von Rintelen and his “pencil bomb” were responsible for acts of sabotage in the United States during World War I. Photo: Wikipedia

Source: Smithsonian

Flashback in maritime history: The “Black Tom Island” incident, 30 July 1916 The “Black Tom Island” incident occurred on Sunday, 30 July 1916. German saboteurs ignited a fire at the munitions-loading facility in Jersey City, across from Manhattan. 

[hunty-bunches-of-oats-blog]

I have waited a little bit to write an appropriate message regarding the state our country is in right now. I want to start off by saying that I am a believer that not all cops are bad but it’s beginning to become difficult to say that when all I see now is the harm these “forces” are doing. But I am still in belief that there are a few police men out there that are good. But I have to bring this to attention.

Georgia, Atlanta 1906: False allegations were posted in the newspaper about black men assaulting white women. 10,000 white men and boys took to the street and killed or injured up to 100 black men.

East St Louis 1917: After a black man was rumored to have killed a white men, 40-200 black men were shot, beaten and/or lynched.

Now fast forward 10 decades

The Rodney King riots of 92’: King was pulled over for reckless driving and when arrested video shows police beating and kicking Rodney as he tried to rise from the ground. The policemen were acquitted by the jury but all charges were deadlocked on Powell. Los Angeles erupted in riots for 6 days resulting in 50 deaths.

Cincinnati, Ohio 2001: the Cincinnati riots erupted due to Steven Roach shooting unarmed Timothy Thomas.Now just over another decade Micheal Brown was shot unarmed in 2014.

August 2014: two week riots after initial shooting

November/ December 2014: one week riots after the policeman that shot him wasn’t indicted

August of 2015: riots for two days following anniversary

And five years later the death of George Floyd which initiated the riots we have today. But as you can see this mans death may have initiated these but there is also the anger that has been built up over the past century.

Within my environment the main response to BLM movement is the concept that all lives matter and in my opinion that’s a very ignorant response. It’s like having the fire department spray the house on fire as well as all the houses on the block because your house is important to. Trust me, it is but its not on fire.

So I am asking the communities around me to speak up and protect the black community.

I want the LGBT community to speak up with the same voice they used during Stonewall.

I want the Asian community to speak up with the same voice they used when everyone was being violent towards them when the pandemic arose.

I want the Latino community to speak up with the same voice they used in 2006 when mostly Latinos launched demonstrations to support and protect immigrant rights.

I want women in my community to use the same voice they used during the women’s march.

I want teachers and administrators or anyone in the school system to use the same voice they used during Red for Ed.

I want former inmates to use the same voice used during the 1971 Attica Prisoner Riots.

I want Puerto Rican’s to use the same voice used in the Division Street Riots of 66’.

I want high schoolers to use the same voice used when high schoolers in LA, Houston and other cities, boycotted schools and businesses in support of immigrant rights and equality.

I want college students to use the same voice used during the student strike of 1970 on the opposition of involvement during the Vietnam war as well as the Kent state shootings.

Use the privilege we have to create a better environment for all and a safer one. Show that we stand together not apart. Let’s change the game. Let’s be kind to one another and see each other a human, not skin color, not religion, not anything but human.