#montana primary

[batboyblog]

Things Biden and the Democrats did, this week #25

June 28-July 5 2024

The Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Is putting forward the first ever federal safety regulation to protect worker's from excessive heat in the workplace. As climate change has caused extreme heat events to become more common work place deaths have risen from an average of 32 heat related deaths between 1992 and 2019 to 43 in 2022. The rules if finalized would require employers to provide drinking water and cool break areas at 80 degrees and at 90 degrees have mandatory 15-minute breaks every two hours and be monitored for signs of heat illness. This would effect an estimated 36 million workers.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced $1 Billion for 656 projects across the country aimed at helping local communities combat climate change fueled disasters like flooding and extreme heat. Some of the projects include $50 Million to Philadelphia for a stormwater pump station and combating flooding, and a grant to build Shaded bus shelters in Washington, D.C.

The Department of Transportation announced thanks to efforts by the Biden Administration flight cancellations at the lowest they've been in a decade. At just 1.4% for the year so far. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg credited the Department's new rules requiring automatic refunds for any cancellations or undue delays as driving the good numbers as well as the investment of $25 billion in airport infrastructure that was in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

The Department of Transportation announced $600 million in the 3rd round of funding to reconnect communities. Many communities have been divided by highways and other Infrastructure projects over the years. Most often effecting racial minority and poor areas. The Biden Administration is dedicated to addressing these injustices and helping reconnect communities split for decades. This funding round will see Atlanta’s Southside Communities reconnected as well as a redesign for Birmingham’s Black Main Street, reconnecting a community split by Interstate 65 in the 1960s. 

The Biden Administration approved its 9th offshore wind power project. About 9 miles off the coast of New Jersey the planned wind farm will generated 2,800 megawatts of electricity, enough to power almost a million homes with totally clear power. This will bring the total amount of clean wind power generated by projects approved by the Biden Administration to 13 gigawatts. The Administration's climate goal is to generate 30 gigawatts from wind.

The Biden Administration announced funding for 12 new Regional Technology and Innovation Hubs. The $504 million dollars will go to supporting tech hubs in, Colorado, Montana, Indiana, Illinois, Nevada, New York, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Florida, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin. These tech hubs together with 31 already announced and funded will support high tech manufacturing jobs, as well as training for 21st century jobs for millions of American workers.

HHS announced over $200 million to support improved care for older Americans, particularly those with Alzheimer’s and related dementias. The money is focused on training primary care physicians, nurse practitioners, and other health care clinicians in best practices in elder and dementia care, as well as seeking to  integrate geriatric training into primary care. It also will support ways that families and other non-medical care givers can be educated to give support to aging people.

HHS announced $176 million to help support the development of a mRNA-based pandemic influenza vaccine. As part of the government's efforts to be ready before the next major pandemic it funds and supports new vaccine's to try to predict the next major pandemic. Moderna is working on an mRNA vaccine, much like the Covid-19, vaccine focused on the H5 and H7 avian influenza viruses, which experts fear could spread to humans and cause a Covid like event.

[fandomsandfairytales]

okay but WHY can't you say anything. my brain added "headcanon" in there somewhere when I reblogged this, so your reaction this implies that it's actually CANON. 🤨🤨🤨 or will be.

Was bounty hunting in the Old West as popular as the movies make it out to be? The actual history I've read suggests that that niche was mostly taken up either by private detectives from agencies like Pinkerton or by straight outlaws. Were movie-style bounty hunters mostly a myth?

Movie style bounty hunters were almost exclusively a myth. There were the odd exception here or there, but the concept of an old west bounty hunter didn't really exist until the 1950s.

The term, “bounty hunter,” is a little anachronistic as well. While there were people called bounty hunters in the 19th century, the term primarily referred to mercenaries. Specifically this was in the context of any signing or campaign completion bonuses that they would receive. That was the, “bounty.”

Using the modern term, most bounty hunters in the old west were actually local law enforcement officers, who relied on the cash payout bonuses from arrests. (And, in the case of these bounties, thinking of it as a pay bonus for law enforcement really is instructive.) In other cases, law enforcement officers would use a portion of those payouts to entice civilians to assist them in making potentially dangerous arrests.

Private detectives, including the Pinkertons, also sometimes tracked down outlaws, and as with law enforcement, the bonus pay was an enticement. Amusingly, Wells Fargo used to also operate bounty hunters specifically tracking outlaws who'd targeted their property. Though, other contemporary companies did the same. In this case, it's less of a “bounty hunter,” and more of a corporate enforcer, hunting down someone who'd crossed the company.

Another interesting thing to be aware of is that those wanted posters were not publicly distributed. There also wasn't a universal format, or source. Some were distributed by the Pinkertons (though, I'm not entirely clear on whether those were given to law enforcement or primarily kept for internal use, though at least some of their circulars did end up in the public record and have been preserved.) In a lot of cases, these were just a written description of the criminal, and a posted bonus (usually $100 or less.) I'm not completely sure how rare the posters were at the time, but very few have survived into the modern day. So, this was more of a resource for law enforcement, rather than something offered for public consumption. The image of a board of wanted posters presented for anyone wandering psychopath to peruse is a fantasy.

Freelancers, such as they were, seem to have been mostly working for private interests. These were often military veterans who would happily hunt down suspected criminals (such as cattle rustlers) and dispatch them. In general, that ends up looking a bit more like murder-for-hire, rather than what you'd think of as a modern bounty hunter, though it may inform some of the modern perspectives on the job. These are the ones you're probably seeing that get categorized as outlaws, and there is quite a bit of truth to that.

A sort of neat bit of trivia, the modern bounty hunter, (also, more commonly known as a bail bondsman, or bail bond agent), is a very old profession. However their history in the United States originated in San Francisco in 1898. The Old West came to an end in 1912 (generally), so there was a period of 14 years where modern bounty hunters existed in America, before the wild west was officially over. So, in that sense, there is some actual overlap, but it's not what most people think of when talking about a “wild west bounty hunter.” (And, on the subject of, “officially over,” it's worth remembering that the last range war in Wyoming took place in 1909.)

The image of the bounty hunter as a sort of freelance cop, who wanders around arresting outlaws, is a product of highly sanitized 1950s westerns.

-Starke

This blog is supported through Patreon. Patrons get access to new posts three days early, and direct access to us through Discord. If you’re already a Patron, thank you. If you’d like to support us, please consider becoming a Patron.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

America’s richest Medicare fraudsters are untouchable

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

https://pluralistic.net/2024/11/13/last-gasp/#i-cant-breathe

"When you're famous, they let you do it": eight words that encapsulate the terrifying rot at the heart of our lived experience, a world where impunity for the powerful trumps the pain of their victims.

"Populism," is shorthand for many things: rage, despair, distrust of institutions and a desire to destroy them. True populism seeks to channel those totally legitimate feelings into transformative change for a caring and fair society for all. So-called "right populism" exploits those feelings, using them to drive a wedge between different groups of victims, turning them against each other, so that elites can go on screwing the squabbling factions.

The far-right parties that are marching to victory through a series global elections are different in many ways, but they all share one trait: they appeal to mistrust of institutions, claiming that the government has been captured by elites who serve them at the expense of the governed. This has the benefit of being actually true, and while the fact that far-right parties are owned by these government-capturing elites might erode their credibility, the fact that so many "progressive" parties have stepped in to defend the institutional status quo leaves an open field for reactionary wreckers:

https://www.politico.com/blogs/2016-dem-primary-live-updates-and-results/2016/02/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-slogan-219908

Why would voters turn out to support a "Department of Government Efficiency," run by a bully whose career has been defined by abusing the people he is in charge of? Maybe they're turkeys voting for Christmas, but they also have personal, traumatic experience with government departments that protected the abusive corporations that preyed on them.

Today on Propublica, Peter Elkind tells the incredible story of Lincare, the nation's leading supplier of home oxygen, a repeat-offender fraudster and predator that has made billions in public money without any real consequences:

https://www.propublica.org/article/lincare-medicare-lawsuit-settlements-oxygen-equipment

Lincare has been repeatedly found guilty of defrauding Medicare; in this century alone, they have been put on probation four times, with a "death penalty" provision that would permanently disqualify them from ever doing business with the federal government. In every case, Lincare committed fresh acts of fraud, but never faced that death penalty.

Why not? Lincare is far too big to fail. In America's bizarre, worst-in-class, world-beatingly expensive privatized health care system, even public health provision (like Medicare) is outsourced to the private sector. Lincare has monopolized oxygen, a famously very important molecule for human survival, and if it were disqualified from serving Medicare, large numbers of Americans would literally asphyxiate.

Lincare clearly knows this. Too big to fail is too big to jail, and too big to jail is too big to care. They are the poster children for impunity, repeat offenders, multiply convicted, and still offending, even today. Lincare has been convicted of fraud under the administrations of GW Bush, Obama, Trump and Biden, and they're still in business.

What a business it is! Elkind takes us to the asbestos-poisoned town of Libby, Montana, where more than 2,000 of the 2.857 population suffer from respiratory diseases from the open-pit mine that operated there from 1963-1990. The elderly, dying population of this town rely on Medicare and Medicare Advantage oxygen concentrators to draw breath, and that means they rely on Lincare.

That means they are prey to Lincare's signature scam: charging Medicare (and 20% co-paying patients) to rent an oxygen concentrator every month, until they have paid for it several times over. This is illegal: under federal rules, patients are deemed to have bought their oxygen concentrators after 36 months and contractors are no longer allowed to charge them. Lincare doesn't give a fuck: the bills keep coming, and Lincare patients who survive long enough have paid the company $16,000 for a $799 gadget.

When Brandon Haugen, a local Lincare customer service rep, noticed this and queried the company's home office in Clearwater, Florida (home to Scientology and the Flexidisc), he was given the brushoff. After multiple attempts to get company leadership to acknowledge that this was illegal, he quit his job, along with his colleague and childhood friend Ben Montgomery. Between them, Haugen and Montgomery had 14 children who depended on their Lincare paychecks. Despite this, they both quit and turned whistleblower, with no job lined up. Eventually, Lincare paid $29m to settle the claim, with $5.7m to the whistleblowers and their lawyers. For Lincare, this was part of the cost of doing business and the fraud rolls on.

Lincare doesn't just defraud Medicare, they also have a high-pressure commissioned sales force that has repeatedly been caught defrauding Lincare customers – overwhelming sick, poor, elderly people. Patients are pressured to accept auto-billing, then Lincare piles medically dubious gadgets onto their monthly bills, as well as useless, overpriced "patient monitoring" services. Customers with apnea machines are mis-sold ventilators by salesmen who falsely claim these are medically necessary.

Salespeople illegally auto-shipped parts and consumables for Lincare machines to patients, then billed them for it. To satisfy the legal requirement that they telephone patients before placing these orders, sales agents would call patients, put them on hold, then part the call until the patient hung up.

Salespeople are motivated by equal parts greed and terror. Make quota and you can get up to $8,000 per month in bonuses. Miss that punishing quota and you're out on your ass (which is why one salesperson ordered a medically unnecessary ventilator).

Lincare also habitually ignores requests to pick up medically unnecessary equipment, because so long as the equipment is on the patient's premises, they can continue to bill for it. As one Ohio manager wrote to their staff: "As we have already discussed, absolutely no pick-ups/inactivation’s are to be do[ne] until I give you the green light. Even if they are deceased." Execs send out company-wide emails celebrating regional managers who have abandoned pick-ups, like a Feb 2022 "Achievement Rankings" email that touted the fact that most regional centers had at least 150 overdue pickups.

Lincare represents a deep, structural rot in American society. They are too big to punish, and too powerful to regulate. A 2006 law meant to curb oxygen payments was gutted by industry lobbyists. Today, Congress is weighing legislation, the SOAR (Supplemental Oxygen Access Reform) Act, which will allow Lincare to bill the public for hundreds of millions more every year, raising rates and eliminating competitive billing. The bill is supported by patient advocates who are rightly interested in getting oxygen to patients who have been locked out of the system, but the cost of that inclusion is that Lincare will be even more firmly insulated from its corruption.

The Trump Administration will doubtless crack down on some of America's worst companies, and the furious voters who elected the only candidate who campaigned on the idea that America was rotten will cheer him on. But Trump has made it clear that he will select the targets of his administration based on whether they are loyal to him or stand in his way, without regard to whether they harm his supporters:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/11/12/the-enemy-of-your-enemy/#is-your-enemy

Companies like Lincare, repeatedly caught paying illegal kickbacks, know how to play this game.

Image: p.Gordon (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Smoke_bomb_with_burning_fuse.jpg

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

[cannibaldaughter]

IMPORTANT INFORMATION TO HAVE IF YOU PLAN ON VOTING IN THE US ELECTION (November 5th, 2024):

IF you don’t have a way to get to your polling place both Uber and Lyft are offering 50% off of trips to your polling place! For Lyft you can use their code VOTE24 and on uber there will be a space on the app that says “Go Vote!” that will show you all the available promotions you can use to get to your polling place.

if you don’t know what your polling place is you can go to vote.org/polling-place-locator and check the voter registration logs in your state OR you can google “polling place locator” and there should be a widget that will show you where to go if you enter in your address (NOTE: ENTER YOUR PERMANENT ADDRESS, I.E the address on your drivers license or the address that you put down when you registered to vote)

If English is not your first language or primary language, you can ask for a translator to assist you or you can ask one of the workers at your polling place if they have non-English language ballots (this is only available in some states and counties but it is a good idea to ask regardless)

IF YOU LIVE IN ANY OF THE FOLLOWING STATES, YOU MUST HAVE A PHYSICAL GOVERNMENT ISSUED I.D TO VOTE:

Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin, Wyoming

USE THIS SITE TO FIND OUT IF YOUR STATE HAS SAME DAY VOTER REGISTRATION -> https://www.rockthevote.org/how-to-vote/same-day-voter-registration/

USE THIS SITE TO FIND OUT IF YOUR STATE REQUIRES YOUR EMPLOYER TO GIVE YOU TIME OFF TO VOTES -> https://ballotpedia.org/Time_off_work_for_voting

UNDER THE READ MORE I HAVE LINKS TO VOTER GUIDES FOR EVERY STATE + WASHINGTON D.C. THAT HAVE INFORMATION ON THE POSITIONS OF EACH CANDIDATE AND SUMMARIES OF BALLOT MEASURES YOU WILL BE VOTING FOR/AGAINST - YOU ARE ALLOWED TO BRING YOUR PHONE INTO THE BOOTH SO USE THESE AS A GUIDE!

Alabama Voters Guide from Alabama Reflector -> https://alabamareflector.com/voter-guide/2024/

Alaska Beacon’s 2024 voter guide -> https://alaskabeacon.com/voter-guide/2024/

Arizona 2024 voter guide -> https://www.azvoterguide.com/

Arkansas Voter Guide from the Arkansas Advocate -> https://arkansasadvocate.com/voter-guide/2024/

California Voters Guide from the League of Women Voters of California (Available in Multiple Languages) -> https://cavotes.org/easy-voter-guide/

Colorado Voters Guide from Colorado Public Radio -> https://www.cpr.org/2024/10/14/vg-2024-colorado-voter-guide-to-the-2024-election/

Connecticut Voter Guide from Connecticut Insider -> https://www.ctinsider.com/projects/2024/elections/ct-election-2024-voter-guide/

Delaware Voters Guide from Delaware Journalism Coalition -> https://www.dejournalism.org/2024-voter-guide-for-delaware/

Florida Voter Guide from League of Women Voters Florida -> https://lwvfl.org/vote2024/

Georgia Voters Guide -> https://thegeorgiavoterguide.com/

Hawaii Voting Information from Vote411 -> https://www.vote411.org/hawaii

Idaho Voters Guide from Idaho Capital Sun -> https://idahocapitalsun.com/voter-guide/2024/

Illinois Voters Guide -> https://illinoisvoterguide.org/

Indiana Voters Guide from Vote411 -> https://www.vote411.org/indiana

Iowa Voters Guide from Iowa Public Radio -> https://www.iowapublicradio.org/political-news/2024-09-18/iowa-ballot-2024

Kansas Voters Guide from BallotReady -> https://www.ballotready.org/us/kansas

Kentucky Voters Guide from Kentucky Election Org -> https://www.kentuckyelection.org/

Louisiana Voters Guide from The Louisiana Illuminator -> https://lailluminator.com/voter-guide/2024-louisiana-voter-guide/

Maine Voters Guide from Maine Morningstar -> https://mainemorningstar.com/voter-guide/2024/

Maryland Voters Guide from Maryland Matters -> https://marylandmatters.org/voter-guide/2024/

Massachusetts Voters Guide from CBS News -> https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/whats-on-2024-election-ballot-massachusetts/

Michigan Voters Guide from the Michigan Voters Information Center -> https://mvic.sos.state.mi.us/publicballot/index

Minnesota Voters Guide from the Minnesota Star Tribune -> https://www.startribune.com/minnesota-2024-voters-guide-whos-running-where-they-stand-on-the-issues/601147912

Mississippi Voters Guide from the Mississippi Clarion Ledger -> https://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/politics/2024/10/31/mississippi-voter-guide/75894837007/

Missouri Voters Guide from Missouri Channel 8 News -> https://www.komu.com/news/elections/november-2024-voters-guide/article_9ef3fa62-8cbf-11ef-903d-2bc40682f247.html

Montana Voters Guide from Montana Free Press -> https://apps.montanafreepress.org/election-guide-2024/

Nebraska Voters Guide from Flatwater Free Press -> https://voterguide.flatwaterfreepress.org/

Nevada Voters Guide from Vote411 -> https://www.vote411.org/nevada

New Hampshire Voters Guide from Seacoast Online -> https://www.seacoastonline.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/11/03/seacoast-nh-election-2024-voter-guide-candidates-where-to-vote/75988328007/

New Jersey Voters Guide from Ballot Ready -> https://www.ballotready.org/us/new-jersey

New Mexico Voters Guide from Source New Mexico -> https://sourcenm.com/voter-guide/2024/

New York Voters Guide from Times Union -> https://www.timesunion.com/projects/2024/new-york-voter-guide-general-election/

North Carolina Voters Guide from NCVoterGuide -> https://ncvoterguide.org/

North Dakota Voters Guide from The North Dakota Monitor -> https://northdakotamonitor.com/voter-guide/2024/

Ohio Voters Guide from The Ohio Capital Journal -> https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/voter-guide/2024/

Oklahoma Voters Guide from The Oklahoma Voice -> https://oklahomavoice.com/voter-guide/2024-oklahoma-elections/

Oregon Voters Guide from The Oregon Capital Chronicle -> https://oregoncapitalchronicle.com/voter-guide/2024-general-election/

Pennsylvania Voters Guide from BallotReady -> https://www.ballotready.org/us/pennsylvania

Rhode Island Voters Guide for Rhode Island Current -> https://rhodeislandcurrent.com/voter-guide/2024/

South Carolina Voters Guide from Vote411 -> https://www.vote411.org/south-carolina

South Dakota Voters Guide from South Dakota Searchlight -> https://southdakotasearchlight.com/voter-guide/2024/

Tennessee Voters Guide from Tennessee Lookout -> https://tennesseelookout.com/voter-guide/2024-election/

Texas Voters Guide from Vote411 -> https://www.vote411.org/texas

Utah Voters Guidefrom The Utah News Dispatch -> https://utahnewsdispatch.com/voter-guide/2024/

Vermont Voters Guide from BallotReady -> https://utahnewsdispatch.com/voter-guide/2024/

Virginia Voters Guide from The Virginia Mercury -> https://virginiamercury.com/voter-guide/2024-virginia-voter-guide/

Washington Voters Guide from Cascade PBS -> https://www.cascadepbs.org/voter-guide/washington-statewide-voter-guide-2024

Washington D.C. Voters Guide from WTOP News -> https://wtop.com/dc-election/2024/10/dc-2024-general-election-voter-guide-everything-you-need-to-know/

West Virginia Voters Guide from Mountain State Spotlight -> https://mountainstatespotlight.org/west-virginia-2024-voter-guide/

Wisconsin Voters Guide from My Vote Wisconsin -> https://myvote.wi.gov/en-us/Whats-On-My-Ballot

Wyoming Voters Guide from WY VOTE -> https://wyvote.vote/

[ladyluscinia]

If you are getting sick of the two-party system and elections running candidates you hate, or incumbents you can't rebuke without electing someone so much worse, or partisan primaries repeatedly giving you the wing of your too-large-tent party that sucks... You need to look into making voting reform a big part of your political priorities.

Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) can be a big part of that!

And in 2024, RCV (also sometimes called IRV for "instant-runoff voting") is going to be on a lot of ballots, so check your state and get informed! Here's a list that I'm not sure is comprehensive, but I did research it for you to have somewhere to start:

First off, here's a post with some resources for you to do your ballot research with! I used Ballotpedia to look up this list, for example, after most of the RCV news only mentioned the 4 states with the most straightforward "vote yes for RCV" measures.

In Alaska... the state approved a RCV system in 2020 that has been a model success, but now the people with narrower support who lost their elections to broadly popular moderates introduced the Repeal Top-Four Ranked-Choice Voting Initiative to repeal it. This will be on the Nov 5 ballot as an Initiative, and people need to Vote No.

In Arizona... it's possible that optional RCV and a workaround RCV ban will both be on the ballot. The ban from the Legislature doesn't stop RCV but prevents the primary system often used with it - the goal is to make RCV harder to implement. It will be on the Nov 5 ballot as Proposition 133, and people need to Vote No. The Eliminate Partisan Primaries Amendment has RCV options and has turned in its signatures, so it may be on the Nov 5 ballot - Keep Watch and Vote Yes if it appears.

In Colorado... a Top-Four Ranked-Choice Voting Initiative modeled on Alaska's could bring RCV to state executive, state legislative, and congressional office elections. This may be on the Nov 5 ballot - Keep Watch and Vote Yes if it appears.

In Idaho... a Top-Four Ranked-Choice Voting Initiative modeled on Alaska's will bring RCV to Congressional office, state legislature, elective state office, and county elective office elections. This will be on the Nov 5 ballot as an Initiative (1), and people need to Vote Yes.

In Missouri... the Missouri GOP has been shoehorning in deceptive Constitutional Amendments to reduce voter influence for the past several elections. This year it's a ban on RCV hidden under a useless ban on non-citizen voting (which is already illegal and the state Constitution already says "citizens" when saying who can vote). This will be on the Nov 5 ballot as the Require Citizenship to Vote and Prohibit Ranked-Choice Voting Amendment, and people need to Vote No.

In Montana... signatures have been submitted for two separate constitutional amendments, one establishing Top-Four primaries and another requiring a majority-vote system to be implemented (which would likely be a run-off or RCV system). These may be on the Nov 5 ballot - Keep Watch and Vote Yes if they appear.

In Nevada... In 2022 the first round of a Top-Five Ranked-Choice Voting Initiative was approved by 52.94%. It has to be approved again in 2024 in order to be implemented. It will bring RCV to Congressional office, statewide executive, and state legislature elections. This will be on the Nov 5 ballot as Question 3, and people need to Vote Yes.

In Oregon... a Ranked-Choice Voting for Federal and State Elections Measure will bring RCV to Presidential, Congressional office, governor, Secretary of state, attorney general, state treasurer, and commissioner of labor and industries elections. This will be on the Nov 5 ballot as a Measure, and people need to Vote Yes.

And a bonus in South Dakota... it's not RCV, but the Top-Two Primary Elections Initiative (Amendment H) would be a significant voting reform, and it will be on the Nov 5 ballot. Do some research if you live there and decide if this would help or hinder elections.

[37q]

a few updates. we have reproductive rights in arizona, colorado (including public funds), maryland, missouri, montana (with limits), nevada (with limits), and expanded equal rights protection in new york including pregnancy status and outcome, but none in florida, nebraska, and south dakota.

increasing wages in alaska and missouri to $15, and those two + nebraska are mandating sick leave, but massachusets isnt ending tipped minimum wage and california didnt increase their minimum wage or allow for more rent control.

(medical) marijuana was decriminalized in nebraska but not (medically or rectreationally) florida, north dakota or south dakota. massachusets didnt legalize psychedelics.

arizona is requiring life with no parole for sex trafficking and tightening their criminal penal system for immigrants (and fentanyl), californias reclassifying misdemeanor theft and trafficking as felonies and elevating rehab, and colorado is taking away the right to bail in first degree murder cases and increasing the sentence-served requirements for parole in violent crimes.

all-party primaries and ranked-choice voting lost in every state they ran in: alaska, arizona, colorado, idaho, missouri (just ranked choice), montana (just primaries), nevada, oregon (just ranked choice), and south dakota (just primaries). but dc went for ranked choice and independent primary votes.

every state that ran a ballot measure about restricting votes to citizens (+ non-minors) voted it in: idaho, iowa (18+), kentucky, missouri, north carolina (18+), oklahoma, south carolina (18+), and wisconsin (18+).

same-sex marriage was codified in california, colorado, and, soon, likely hawaii. were still waiting for more votes from california on this (>50% votes in so far and its slightly leaning towards keeping it) but nevada outlawed involuntary servitude. massachusets just barely made the cut to allow gig workers to unionize and oregon is broadening labor rights in the marijuana industry.

[hometoursandotherstuff]

Does anyone have the dream of living like a cowboy on a vintage train in the wild west? Here's your chance- a 1925 train car (with lots of cool original stuff) is for sale in Bonner, Montana. 3bds, 1.5ba, $249K. Look at this gem.

The velvet sofa looks like it was an original bench seat.

Look at the neat wood unit in this compartment. They even left the original carvings and flaws.

This was a Pullman-Standard 3 compartment, 2-drawing room/Observation Lounge car.

Bedroom #1. It's being sold furnished. Very cool vintage wallpaper pattern and don't you love the barbed wire pattern, too?

Isn't this the coolest restored compact toilet and sink?

And, look at the stainless steel shower.

The bedrooms are kind of tight, but they're compartments. They have bunks to sleep 2, but the uppers are very close to the ceiling. This must be the primary b/c it has the bathroom.

This is nice, there's room for 6 people.

Rodeo cabinetry.

Lots of attention to details like antler fixtures and antique-y shades.

Commercial grade kitchen looks pretty much original. This is so cool.

An original private sitting compartment.

It was actually mechanically overhauled, too, in 1998. So, I don't know how it works, but I guess you can hook it up to a train? It does have to be relocated, to make it a permanent home. Someone will probably make it an Airbnb.

[mariacallous]

so every time I post about building of more housing through HUD or whatever, people will always pop into the tags or the notes and say something like "we don't need to build any more housing!" "there's more than enough houses for people!" etc from the left

and I have an idea what the issue is, ie there's enough housing collectively across all of America, but not enough where people actually live/want to live, what good does an empty house in Montana do someone paying too much in rent in NYC?

but you're a lot smarter than me, what are they talking about? are they right? is my guess correct?

Finding an affordable place to live in the U.S. can feel pretty impossible whether you're a renter or a buyer.

To begin with, there's a massive shortage of homes — somewhere between 4 and 7 million. And those who are able to find homes are spending a much bigger chunk of their paycheck than in recent years.

...

All Things Considered host Mary Louise Kelly spoke with Alex Horowitz, the director of Pew's Housing Policy Initiative, to help understand why affordable housing feels like a pipe dream, and what can be done about it.

She began by asking about the shortage of 4 to 7 million homes in the U.S., and whether that was a shortage of all homes or affordable ones.

...

Alex Horowitz: We're short on all homes. Full stop. There just aren't enough of them. And that means that existing homes are getting bid up because we see high income households competing with low income households for the same residences since just not enough are getting built.

Mary Louise Kelly: And what's driving this? Why?

Horowitz: So restrictive zoning is the primary culprit. It's made it hard to build homes in the areas where there are jobs. And so that has created an immense housing shortage. And each home is getting bid up, whether it's a rental or whether it's a home to buy.

Kelly: I want to ask if there are any cities getting this right. Can you give me an example of one that has looked at it's zoning laws and said we could actually make this more affordable if we change things?

Horowitz: There are definitely cities that are getting this right. And we've seen a lot of changes in recent years to allow more homes, especially the kinds of homes that are in short supply, namely apartments, townhouses, duplexes and homes that don't cost as much as a detached single family house. Minneapolis is a great example. Minneapolis updated their zoning to make it much easier to build apartments near commerce and near transit, in part by eliminating parking minimums and also by making permitting easy. And it worked. They're producing housing at triple the rate of the U.S. and the rest of Minnesota, and that has meant that they've kept their rents flat for about seven years.

...

Kelly: Okay, so let's drill down first on the renters side of this. We heard from Natalie French, the renter who had to move out of her apartment when her rent went way up. How typical is that? Is that happening to people all over the country?

Horowitz: That is happening. And rents have been rising rapidly, up about 30% in the U.S. since 2017, with median rents now hitting about 1400 dollars a month. And we've never been at a time before where half of renters were spending 30% or more of income on rent. But that's happening for the first time.

Kelly: And then on the homebuying side, we hear a lot about mortgage rates. They keep climbing. They don't look like they're coming down anytime soon. Are there other factors that make this a tough time to buy?

Horowitz: A lack of starter homes is really keeping it difficult for first time homebuyers to crack the market. And that is because traditionally starter homes are small homes. That means a home on a small lot, maybe a townhouse. And we're seeing far fewer of those come onto the market. Many jurisdictions require large minimum lot sizes, and that means that land costs end up being a big part of the equation. Houston is the place that has had the most success in bringing starter homes into the market. And it was by reducing their minimum lot size. And then 80,000 townhouses followed.

Kelly: So does it boil down to the double whammy of: there aren't enough homes full stop, and even if there were a home, it's really hard to afford a mortgage in an era where mortgage rates are sky high.

Horowitz: Mortgage rates are a piece of the puzzle, but at a fundamental level, even when mortgage rates were low, it was hard to buy a home for the first time because there simply aren't enough of them. And a lot of the ones that we have are bigger than what people need. U.S. household size is at an all time low of 2.50 people per household. And so we see homes that are bigger than what a lot of residents are looking for.

Kelly: What about financing and lending? Setting aside what mortgage rates are, is it more difficult than in generations past just to get a loan to buy a house?

Horowitz: Oh, it's gotten much more difficult to get a mortgage. The availability of mortgage credit tightened dramatically during the Great Recession, and it never bounced back. So for someone who gets a mortgage today, they're likely to have a higher credit score than someone who's gotten a mortgage in the past. And that means simply fewer people are eligible for homes. And the cost to originate a mortgage has roughly tripled since 2009. And that has meant that lenders don't offer many small mortgages because they tend not to make money on them unless the mortgage is for over about $150,000.

[whencyclopedia]

Cheyenne

The Cheyenne are a North American Native nation, originally from the Great Lakes region, who migrated to modern-day Minnesota and then to areas in North Dakota and further southwest. They are associated with the Plains Indians culture and, after mastering the horse, became one of the most powerful nations of the American West.

Initially hunter-gatherers, the Cheyenne adopted agriculture and lived in permanent dwellings, raising crops that included wild rice. Some of the Cheyenne's defining characteristics are given by scholar Michael G. Johnson:

they lived in fixed villages, practiced agriculture, and made pottery, but lost these arts after being driven out onto the Plains to become nomadic bison hunters. They became one of the focal points of the Plains culture, characterized by tipi dwelling, development of age-graded male societies, geometrical art, and the development of the ceremonial world renewal complex, the Sun Dance. (118)

After their migration from the Great Lakes region, caused by the influx of other Native peoples into the area, they abandoned permanent settlements for a nomadic lifestyle, adopted the teepee (tipi) as housing, and followed the buffalo, which, like with other Plains Indians nations, was their primary food source. At first, they used dogs as pack animals to move their villages, but, after they mastered the horse in the 17th century, horses became their central mode of transportation as well as a status symbol of wealth and power.

They spoke (and still speak) the Cheyenne language which belongs to the Algonquian language group and allied themselves with the Arapaho, another Algonquian-speaking nation, in the early 19th century. The Cheyenne and Arapaho have continued their relationship up through the present day.

They hold to an animistic religious belief that all life is sacred, imbued with a spirit, and interconnected. Religious rituals include the Sun Dance, which is said to have been given to them by their great prophet Sweet Medicine, who also instituted formal government, societal structure, and the original four military societies that would become increasingly important in the wars of the 19th century fought against Euro-American expansion across their lands and the genocidal policies of the US government.

Conflicts with the US Army, the mass slaughter of the buffalo by white hunters to eliminate their food source, and the introduction of European diseases greatly reduced the number of Cheyenne throughout the 19th century, during which they were forced onto reservations as more of their land was taken by white settlers. Today the majority of the Northern Cheyenne live on the reservation in Montana while most of the Southern Cheyenne live on the reservations in Oklahoma.

Name & Nation

The name they are most commonly known by was given by the Sioux. Scholar Adele Nozedar comments:

The name Cheyenne was, for a while, believed to be derived from the French word for "dog" which is chien, since this people had a noted society of Dog Soldiers. However, the name is actually a Sioux word meaning "people of different speech." The Cheyenne name for themselves, Tsistsistas, means "beautiful people." (93)

The meaning of Tsistsistas has actually been translated in several ways, including "the people", "like-minded people", and "like-hearted people." They called their homelands Tsiihistano, meaning "home of the people," which, at the height of Cheyenne power, stretched from Montana to Texas and their economy depended on the great herds of bison, which they hunted across these lands seasonally.

The Cheyenne nation, originally of three groups, expanded to ten prior to the 19th century, including:

Heviqs-nipahis

Hevhaitanio

Masikota

Omisis

Sutaio

Wotapio

Oivimana

Hisiometanio

Ogtoguna

Honowa

These ten make up "the people" of the Cheyenne nation, who are represented by delegates to the governing body known as the Council of Forty-Four, but there are other bands who are also considered Cheyenne. Further, the nation is divided into the people known as Northern Cheyenne and Southern Cheyenne.

Continue reading...

[bengiyo]

Comfort Films Tag

Rules: List 7 of your comfort movies, then tag 7 people.

Tagged by @callipigio

1 - Shelter (2007)

I often joke around here about how I’ve been watching queer cinema for over half of my life at this point, and it’s easy to recommend this film. This is a coming of age film about a guy who gave up art school to become the primary breadwinner and caregiver for his family. However, when the older brother of his best friend returns to their town to collect himself, our artist and he reconnect and find something special between them. Great use of a young actor in this shores up the caregiving aspects.

I’m probably going to rewatch it now. Because it was produced by Here! TV, you can only legally watch it via a subscription to their platform. I own it on DVD because I fell in love with it and knew I needed to keep it forever.

2 - Big Eden (2000)

Big Eden. Oh, Big Eden. This is the film equivalent of a warm blanket and a tight hug. It’s about an artist named Henry Hart, who is preparing for a big exhibition in New York when he’s called back home to Montana because his uncle has had a stroke. We are greatest with the most queer-friendly town to ever exist as Henry manages his old angst about his straight best friend as the local general store owner also secretly pursues him. It’s absolutely lovely.

3 - The Blues Brothers (1980)

Luna has great taste, because this is one of the best films ever made. What was originally just an SNL bit turns into a fun road film about getting the band back together so that two brothers can raise enough money to pay the back taxes owed by the orphanage they grew up in. We also run over Illinois nazis in this movie and demolish dozens of cop cars. Cab Calloway, James Brown, Carrie Fisher, Chaka Khan, Paul Reubens, and Aretha Franklin are in it. John Candy orders orange whips. This is the kind of film I would watch with my dad any time it was on.

4 - Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)

This is one of the most man movies ever made. I don’t know any woman who wants to sit down and watch this film, but me and boys will spend an entire afternoon on this film in a heartbeat. The sexual tension between Russell Crowe’s and Paul Bettany’s characters goes unremarked on this website in a way that lets you know for sure this hellsite is dominated by femmes, because those two have definitely fucked. At least twice. It’s 1805 and oceans have become battlefields!

5 - Clue (1985)

A movie based on the board game of the same name should not have been this good, but it instead goes on to become a camp masterpiece. Many people will end up remembering Tim Curry for Rocky Horror or even Muppet Treasure Island, but this is still one of his favorite performances for me. This film is batshit and I love it. 

6 - Camp (2003)

Speaking of camp films, let’s talk about one of the best of all time. I know we often talk about the bad singing in Thai BL, but I unironically love all of the musical theater in this film. I regularly listen to this soundtrack, and have been for over 15 years. It’s a film about a bunch of weird theater kids who get to escape the bullying and hellishness of their lives for a few weeks during the summer, where they get to put on a bunch of classic plays. It’s so camp. I love this film because it was difficult for me to find queer films that had happy components with them, and this little movie has a wide array of queer kids in it.

7 - Make The Yuletide Gay (2009)

This was the first queer film I ever watched that had a happy ending that was also a comedy. Prior to this, I think I had watched Beautiful Thing (1996), Edge of Seventeen (1998), Get Real (1998), and Bent (1997). Most of those films ended resolved or sad. Yuletide is a silly little gay film of almost nonstop innuendo about a guy who goes back into the closet when he returns home for Christmas, but hijinks ensue when his boyfriend shows up unexpectedly. It’s an annual watch for me around the holidays, and I usually host people for it. 

Also, Adamo Ruggiero is in it! He played Marco on Degrassi: The Next Generation.

This was fun! I think most folks have been tagged that I know, but I’ll tag @warningtothecurious​. If anyone else does this, please tag me back if you do this! I want to know what films you all return to.

[dicapiito]

Important reminder to Democratic voters , while the turncoat Democrats like Adam Schiff and Jamie Raskin have gone on record, you still need to vote for them. Yes they suck asscheeks but not voting for them = helping out Mitch McConnell be Senate Majority Leader and it keeps Mike Johnson as House Speaker. They’ll likely end up with primary challengers in 2026 so it’s important to not give into not voting for them because Democrats need their seats. And also, for someone like Jon Tester; don’t read much into him since he’s in Montana and his state isn’t nearly like Purple California and New York.

It definitely sucks to see Democrats be open turncoats but the good news is that they can face primary challengers later down the road, as early as 2026.

Helps to remember:

🇺🇸Biden isn’t going anywhere. He’s said it himself. It’s Biden and Harris on the ticket. End of story.

🗳️ Check your voter registration and register to vote.

-The media “ sources” should be treated like bullshit. Unless if a politician has said it themselves; don’t believe the media. For example: If they’re using Harris’ first name and not addressing her as Vice President Harris while they use last names for all other politicians

-Project 2025 is a threat and turn off the media if they rather focus on depressing Democrats. Let the viewership numbers drop. Remember they were complicit in 2016 and they had more smoke for Obama in a tan suit and while staying mute on dangerously violent Project 2025 will be for anyone who’s not white.

[sturnsyaper69]

Too much for you.

☆~ Chris and y/n meet for the first time at a carnival, were chris, and his brothers Matt and Nick were meeting up with a group of friends that brought more of their friends along. Later in the night, you and Chris build a strong bond, and you end up losing your viginity to each other that night. But you never thought you would see him again. Right?....

Warnings: swearing, smutt, pet names, virginity loss, drinking, drugs, unprotected sex, p in v, making out.

ALSOO BEFORE YALL START THIS IS MY FISRT SMUTT PLEASE GO EASY ON ME ALSO NOT THE BEST AT SPELLINGG

Your eyes light up as you step foot in the carnival. Your vision is filled with flashing lights and loud music screams and sounds of people having fun. The air was warm and smelt of corn dogs and cotton candy. "Holy shit this place is fucking huge" Cody let's out loudly. Cody has been your friend for as long as you can remember since primary, but oh, was he a character. he loved girls smoking and sex and he wasn't afraid to hide it. I giggle at his remark as he smiles at me. "So y/n what ride you eyeing up?" I point at a roller-coaster and begin yapping about how fun it looked "and- Cody Cody?" I say turning around to see him eyeing up a girl in a revealing outfit I roll my eyes "well looks like I found my ride for tonight" he says winking at me before walking over to her "Hey baby" his voice fades into the distance "okay nick texted and said there paying now" Kaleb says Kaleb is also gay say I asume him and nick would have somthing in commen. "Good I don't wanna wait here all fucking night" Rebecca snarls "oh shut up they won't be long" mya whines in meet with my other friends giggling and talking.

"Oh there they are," Kaleb says, putting his phone away as they approached us. I stare at them, walking over it was dark, and I couldn't see their full faces. "Oh my godd kalebb," nicks whines, giving Kaleb a big hug before chris and Matt dap up tjay and Cody basically most of the boys there. I have met Nick but not Matt or Chris before. I smile at Nick and hug him "hii nickk, I love you outfit." He smiles and looks at me "thanks y/n your fit look so cute!" he says smiling before wondering off. I see Matt walking up to me and I smile the lights bright so I see his face he was very handsome I mean nick was so they all where probably. He smiled and me. "Hey y/n? Is it?" Matt asks, giving me a hug "yeah! It is, and Matt? Is it chris?" I say giggling, not sure "yeah it's Matt. " Haha, he giggles before being called over to Rebecca. I hear a whine in the distance.

"Hmm?" The lights turn off, and everything goes black again. I see a figure walking up to me. "Oh hii nick is that you I can't see anything" his figure walked up to me stopping in front of Me he was tall and had a wide frame in golfing mine as he moved towards me as soon and I saw his figure I knew it wasn't nick or anyone I already mett "it's chris sweetheart" my heart kind of skipped a beat at his voice I gain my words back "ohh right sorry my mind went blank" I say giggling as he moved closer to me "oh its fine just a mistake" he say hugging me tightly. He smelt fresh, clean and had a fucking delicious Cologne on. I felt him breath in heavily he almost whispered slightly "mhm you smell nice, like candy " he says, chuckling slightly breaking the hug as he took a step back the light slowly turned back on and I almost fucking collapsed. He was the hottest boy I had ever seen in my life. His eyes were an icy blue, and he had perfect lips that sat so nicely. I wanted to kiss them right then and there. He had a silver chain that sat under his neck. His cheek bones tense as his eyes widen. His eyes trace over every inch of my face. He swaolled deeply as his Adam's apple strained through his neck, and his jaw clenched. I looked away, trying not to make the situation awkward, but he didn't look away from me. I felt his eyes scan me like lasers, that burnt right through me. "Fuck." He mutters just quiet enought for me to hear "what's wrong.. I know this is kinda awkward" I say looking up at him seeing him walk closer towards me "nothing I haven't been better your.... so beautiful" I blush slightly "thanks you chris you are very handsome yourself" I smile cheekily "come on let's go on a ride" he says smiling taking my hand as we giggle and run towars the rides.

Hours go by of me and chris having fun and building connections. We all leave and are in the nearly empty parking lot. "That was fucking amazing" nick says to the whole group "I don't know about you guys but tonight's just getting started "Matt say while holding Rebecca's waist before kissing her neck "yeah im not going home anytime soon" chris chimes in smiling at me "I mean Im down for yall to sleep over?" Kaleb says "YESSSS" Nick yells, and the whole group yells in excitement. "yayyy, you can sleep over, chriss!!," i say exited "YAAYYYY" chris says, tickling Me slightly, going hyper like he did all night. We all hope into our car, and Nick chris and Matt go into there's. "See you soon y/n" chris says smiling at me, as he hops into his car. We arrive home, and we all hope out. It's clear Matt and Rebecca are love birds, and they rush inside making out and go into Rebecca's room, slaming the door shut. I turn to chris and luagh he rolls his eyes "disgusting" he says pretending to throw up. I laugh at him "your so funny, chris," I say, and I walk up to the door as he holds it open. "After you malady," he says before walking in after me.

It's getting late, probably about 12:50, but you and Chris are still hitting it off. You guys have a lot in common, like loving animals and music taste. You guys watched the conjuring and ate a bunch of snacks. It's now 1:49 a.m., and you guys just stopped playing gta and fortnite. I luagh at one of his jokes as he smiles at me deeply "you know I really Like you y/n I feel like we're really building deeper connections" chris say meaningly I smile at him warmly "me too Chris I really love your personality and skmthing about you is beautiful. Not just on the outside but the inside, too. " Chris's eyes widen, and his hand rests on his chest."Whoa. No one has ever said something , meaningfully to me. Thank you so much, y/n." He smiles beautifully his teeth white as pearls as he stands up "arnt you getting tierd" he yawns "noo but we can go in my room if you want" I say "yeah im not tierd I just want to go to your room" he giggles.

Me and chris are lying on my bed when his phone dies he puts it on the dresser "tonight was fun as fuck" he says turning to me "yeah it was and it seemed like Matt and Rebecca really blew it off" I say smiling at him "he giggles "yeah she definitely blew it off" he laughs "so immature" I say nudging his giggling at his joke. After a while of silence "y/n"

"Yes chris?"

"Can I ask you a question. A personal one."

I swallow deeply, looking at chris to him, already looking at me. He smiles softly before his face drops back to a serious look.

"Yeah what is it"

"Have you ever.. like, have you ever had sex?"

My eyes widen as he says this. I stutter, "I never have.. have you?" I say, looking at him

He's already staring at me I turn away once again trying to avoid making ot awkward but his I can feel him staring at me "No I haven't ither" he says still staring "look at me y/n." I turn back to him being meet with him burning gaze "can I ask you a question" I say staring ar him "yeah you can ask me anything" he says staring intensely at me "have you ever kissed a girl before" he smirks and chuckles "yeah I have alot actually" he winks at me "what about you?" I smile slightly."No one, I've never really done anything like that. " he looks at me."What about porn. Do you watch it?" He says with his hand holding the headboard. His expression looked restless, and he never took his eyes off me. "I mean sometimes," I say, biting my lip giggling "whoaa dirty girl," he says, nudging me as he moves closer to me. "y/n." "Yeah.." I say, looking up at him. His lips above mine. "Do you want to lose our virginitys to each other?" I can't say anything but moan in response. He smirks and his lips come crashing down onto mine as he collapses ontop of me his legs squirm recklessly as his tounge plunges deep into my mouth cuasing me to moan loudly but he keeps going grinding his tounge on mine enjoying himself. His lips moving with mine I grind my tounge onto his and he groans his eyebrows furrow and he moans into my mouth and his hands touching me all over. he breaks the kiss gasping for air "baby tell me what to do to make you feel good" he says taking his shirt off then mine admiring my bare skin. His fingertips run along my cool skin. "Just please touch me please" I say begging him my hands all over his chest as he growled he dropped low and kissed my stomach making me whine my body covered in goosebumps. He stared up at me as he slowly took my pants off then my underwear leaving me in just a bra "come on sit up let me see your beautiful body" he says unhooking my bra with one hand as his other one support my back. My bra dropped leaving me fully naked. He groaned as he kissed my nipples I whined and squirmed. I felt a cold hand trail down my theigh near my aching core. gasping and whining as he sucked on My nipples his fingers trailed over my wetness and I moan his name loudly never feeling this amazing before "tell me when it feels right baby" he says before kissing me on the lips once more slowly pushing a finger into me as I moaned loudly "mhm I know sweet girl I know" he says before slowly pumping in and out of me a girn on his face as he sees how in control he is of me. My mind is blank and the air is getting harder to breath each thrust. And before I know it im screaming as he's kissing my neck giving me hickeys, ilwhile finger fucking me roughly and 2 of his long thick fingers stuff fucking raw. "Fuck.... chris I I'm gonna c-cumm" I whine as he pulls his fingers out of me I look up at his as he frantically unbuckles his belt and pulls down his jeans and boxer revealing his large hard cock. I moan at him as he pulls me to the end of the bed and smacks my theighs "open up honey I've watches enough porn videos to know what to do baby" he winks before lining his dick up to my wet pussy "tell me if it hurts too much okay gorgeous girl" he say kissing me on the cheek as I nod. He pushes the tip in as i whine softly biting my lip he pushing deeper chasing me to squirm moaning. Deeper. Deeper. Deeper. I'm limp and mouth wide open as I groan before moaning as he slowly starts moving the pain turns into good as I let out moans loud satisfied moans "mhm f-fuck" chris stutters his hands tremble as he grips the side of my hips "ahh this feels s- fuckk" he picks up speed and soon feel a knot in my stomach as I my moans become louder and louder before. "Fuckkk I'm cumming so hard for you chris" chris groans and spills into me with a loud groan and unsteady breaths and he shakes and brings me into a kiss as we both make each other feel good.

Chris pulls out with a grunt before laying beside me breathing heavily and kissing me on the cheek wrapping his arms around me "ill never forget you y/n"

3 years later....

Part 2 coming soon....

GUYS I STAYED UP ALL NIGHT FUCKING MAKING THIS AND I GOT LAZY BUT ILL POST PART 2 TOMORROW PLS COMMENT IDEAS IM NEW HELP

[linestorm]

pro tip for my american followers thinking about the fuckery next year will bring, i offer u one strategic move in your repertoire, that u may not know about:

some states have open presidential primaries. that means you can vote in the republican primary even if you're registered as a democrat. when you show up to your polling place, they will simply ask you which ballot u want:

Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Wisconsin

~*~you are totally allowed to vote for a republican that is not trump in the republican primary just to get him off the ballot~*~ -- **even if you wouldn't be caught dead voting for that same person in the general election**.

you can only vote in one primary, so if the democratic primary heats up and you want to vote in that one, then by all means go ahead, you can literally change your mind as you wait in line to vote if you want. but if not, STILL SHOW UP TO VOTE AND TAKE THE REPUBLICAN BALLOT (if you're in an open state)

YOU DO NOT HAVE TO SIT AROUND AND WATCH THE REPUBLICANS PUT TRUMP ON THE GENERAL BALLOT AGAIN! VOTE HIS ASS OFF THE ISLAND

**this doesn't mean you endorse a republican candidate in any way. it just means you recognize that trump poses a unique threat. **

ALSO some states have open presidential primaries for unaffiliated voters. meaning if you're registered unaffiliated you can vote in either primary (but if you're registered with a party u can only vote in that party's primary):

Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, West Virginia, Wyoming

OPEN-PRIMARIES | HOME (openprimaries.org)

[maplemonarchy]

!!!!!!ATTENTION DEMOCRATIC PARTY VOTERS!!!!!

If you live in the following states you can vote for uncommitted on the primary ballots:

SUPER TUESDAY States + Territories:

Alabama

Colorado (as Noncommitted Delegate)

Massachusetts (as No Preference)

Minnesota

Tennessee

American Samoa

MARCH (Non-Super Tuesday)

Washington State - March 12th

Missouri - March 23rd

APRIL

Rhode Island - April 2nd

Wisconsin (as Uninstructed Delegate) - April 2nd

MAY

Kentucky - May 21st

JUNE

New Jersey - June 4th

New Mexico (as Uncommitted delegate) - June 4th

Montana (as No Preference) - June 4th

[hometoursandotherstuff]

I thought that this 1885 Victorian in Helena, Montana was so pretty with it's colorful paint designs and rounded porches, and it is lovely inside, but it has one peculiar feature. 3bds, 3ba, $500K.

The front door opens to reveal a beautifully delicate railing and an original fireplace. The floor has been replaced and they added a lovely inlaid circle. There's also a wonderful original light fixture.

That divider piece is so pretty.

This entrance hall is amazing. Look at the windows, railing, and fireplace.

In the sitting room is a gorgeous fireplace- look at the tiles! And, even the fire screen is beautiful.

In the dining room is a lovely built-in china cabinet and it looks like the former owners left that sideboard.

And, then we enter the next room. What the hell is this? Beautiful fireplace, a built-in cabinet, original doors with transoms, and this monstrosity of a shower with a toilet standing there. Note the 2 industrial lights above the shower. I think that if they needed a shower it could've been done nicer. This is a big room, they could've enclosed it.

They have a closeup of the beautiful fireplace, but that shower and toilet ruin it.

I'm not keen on the modernized powder room, but I prefer it to the one in the other room.

I kind of like the vintage kitchen.

But, this. The size of this Aga stove. It's worth about $32,000. Also love the exhaust hood. I would buy this house for the stove and tear that stupid bathroom out & redo it.

There's lots of storage. The backsplash would have to go, it's much too modern.

The primary bedroom is large and has a door to the wonderful 2nd fl. porch out front.

This pretty bedroom is a good size and has a sweet stained glass transom. Love the lilac trim and crown molding.

Not lovin' this tub, but the room is kind of cute.

There's lots of potential in the attic and the current owners started to finish it, so the insulation and new windows are in and the other supplies are here.

There's no garage, but there's a large parking area.

Nice big yard. The lot is .29 acre.

Beautiful mountain scenery across the way.

They included this helpful diagram- since an Aga stove has no knobs and is always on, you simply select the oven you need. Like, if you want to roast something, you would choose the upper right oven, and if you want to keep the dish warm after cooking, you just transfer it to the oven on the lower left. Same thing with the burners on top. I think that the newer models come with rings so, if you wanted a lower heat you would use 2 or 3 rings to raise the pot or pan.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1701-Cannon-St-Helena-MT-59601/78160724_zpid/