#truck driving jobs united states

[truckdriverjobs122]

Truck Driving Jobs United States Your Route to Success

Truck driving jobs in the United States present a well-defined route to a stable and rewarding career. As a cornerstone of the American economy, the trucking industry is indispensable, with a steady demand for drivers tasked with transporting goods across the nation. This profession offers competitive wages, comprehensive benefits, and significant opportunities for career advancement. Whether you’re drawn to the open road or prefer a more localized role, truck driving can be tailored to fit your career goals and lifestyle preferences. This article explores the myriad opportunities available truck driving jobs united states, shedding light on why this profession remains a robust choice for many Americans.

The Role of Truck Driving in the U.S. Economy

Truck driving is a critical component of the American supply chain, responsible for delivering a vast array of goods from producers to consumers. According to the American Trucking Associations (ATA), more than 70% of all freight transported in the United States is moved by trucks. This statistic underscores the essential role truck drivers play in keeping the economy functioning smoothly, supporting industries such as retail, manufacturing, agriculture, and more.

The trucking industry’s importance is further reflected in its contribution to job creation and economic growth. With millions of trucks operating across the country and a high demand for skilled drivers, truck driving remains a secure and lucrative career option.

Types of Truck Driving Jobs

Truck driving encompasses a range of job types, each offering unique experiences and benefits. Understanding these different roles can help prospective drivers select the career path that best aligns with their goals and lifestyle.

1. Local Truck Driving

Description: Local truck drivers operate within a specific geographic area, such as a city or county. They handle deliveries and pickups within a relatively short distance from their base of operations, typically working shorter shifts and returning home daily.

Benefits: The primary advantage of local trucking is the consistent home time, allowing drivers to maintain a stable routine and spend more time with family. Local drivers often face less travel-related fatigue and can avoid the challenges of long-haul driving.

Challenges: Local driving can involve heavy traffic and the complexities of urban navigation. Drivers may also encounter high-pressure delivery schedules and varying working conditions.

2. Regional Truck Driving

Description: Regional truck drivers cover a specific area that may span several states or a broader region. This role strikes a balance between local and long-haul driving, with drivers typically returning home more frequently than those in long-haul positions.

Benefits: Regional trucking offers a middle ground between the extensive travel of long-haul driving and the home stability of local driving. Drivers enjoy a more predictable schedule and are often able to spend weekends at home.

Challenges: While less demanding than long-haul trucking, regional drivers still face long hours on the road and may deal with varying weather conditions and road types.

3. Long-Haul Truck Driving

Description: Long-haul or over-the-road (OTR) truck drivers travel extensive distances, often crossing state lines or even traveling across the country. This role involves spending extended periods away from home and covers routes that can last several days or weeks.

Benefits: Long-haul drivers typically enjoy higher pay compared to local and regional drivers due to the demanding nature of the job. They also have the opportunity to see different parts of the country and experience diverse driving conditions.

Challenges: The major challenges of long-haul driving include extended periods away from home, irregular schedules, and the physical and mental demands of long-distance travel. Drivers must be prepared for the isolation and fatigue that can accompany long-haul routes.

4. Specialized Truck Driving

Description: Specialized truck drivers handle specific types of cargo, such as hazardous materials, oversized loads, or temperature-sensitive goods. This category requires additional training and certifications to ensure the safe transport of these specialized items.

Benefits: Specialized trucking often comes with higher pay and job security due to the expertise required. It can also offer a unique set of challenges and responsibilities, which can be rewarding for those interested in niche areas of the industry.

Challenges: Specialized trucking requires rigorous training and adherence to strict regulations. Drivers must be well-versed in handling specific types of cargo and comply with additional safety protocols.

Benefits of Truck Driving Jobs

Truck driving jobs offer several benefits that make them an attractive career choice for many individuals.

1. Competitive Wages

Truck driving is known for its competitive wages. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the median annual wage for heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers was approximately $50,000 in 2023. Salaries can vary based on factors such as experience, type of trucking job, and the employer. Additionally, many companies offer performance-based bonuses and incentives, further enhancing earning potential.

2. Comprehensive Benefits

Many trucking companies provide comprehensive benefits packages to their employees. These packages often include health insurance, dental and vision coverage, retirement plans, and paid time off. Some employers also offer additional perks, such as free or discounted truck maintenance, driver assistance programs, and wellness initiatives. The availability of these benefits contributes to the overall attractiveness of truck driving as a career.

3. Job Security

The demand for truck drivers remains strong, ensuring job security in this profession. With the ongoing need for goods transportation, skilled truck drivers are consistently sought after. The growth of e-commerce and the expansion of supply chains further reinforce the stability of truck driving jobs, providing a reliable employment outlook.

4. Career Growth Opportunities

Truck driving offers significant opportunities for career growth. Experienced drivers can explore various advancement paths, including becoming owner-operators, transitioning into fleet management roles, or pursuing positions in corporate offices within trucking companies. Additionally, seasoned drivers may take on training or mentorship roles, helping new drivers enter the industry.

Training and Certification

Becoming a truck driver requires specific training and certification. Prospective drivers must understand these requirements to successfully enter the profession.

1. Commercial Driver’s License (CDL)

To drive a commercial truck, individuals must obtain a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL). This involves passing both a written knowledge test and a practical driving test. The CDL is categorized into different classes (A, B, and C) depending on the type of vehicle and cargo.

2. Driver Training Programs

Many individuals attend truck driving schools or training programs to prepare for the CDL exams. These programs offer classroom instruction, hands-on training, and behind-the-wheel experience. Completing a formal training program enhances job prospects and ensures drivers are well-prepared for the demands of the profession.

3. Specialized Endorsements

For certain trucking jobs, additional endorsements on the CDL are required. These endorsements are necessary for transporting hazardous materials (HazMat), driving double or triple trailers, or operating tank vehicles. Obtaining these endorsements involves additional testing and training but can lead to higher-paying and specialized job opportunities.

The Future of Truck Driving Jobs

The truck driving profession is evolving with advancements in technology and changing market demands. These developments are shaping the future of the industry and creating new opportunities for drivers.

1. Technological Advancements

Modern trucks are equipped with advanced technologies, including GPS navigation, automated systems, and telematics. These technologies enhance safety, efficiency, and communication, and they are becoming increasingly prevalent in the industry. Drivers who are knowledgeable about these technologies will be better positioned to leverage them for improved job performance.

2. Autonomous Trucks

The development of autonomous or self-driving trucks is a major trend in the industry. While fully autonomous trucks are still in the experimental phase, they have the potential to revolutionize the industry by improving safety and reducing the need for human drivers. However, this technology also raises questions about job displacement and the evolving role of human drivers.

3. Sustainability Initiatives

Environmental concerns are driving the trucking industry to explore ways to reduce its carbon footprint. This includes the development of electric and hybrid trucks, as well as initiatives to improve fuel efficiency and reduce emissions. Drivers who are aware of and adapt to these sustainability initiatives will play a key role in shaping the industry’s future.

Conclusion

Truck driving jobs in the United States offer a clear route to success for those seeking a stable and rewarding career. The profession’s significance to the American economy, coupled with competitive wages, comprehensive benefits, and opportunities for career growth, makes it an appealing choice for many individuals. With various job types available—ranging from local and regional driving to long-haul and specialized roles—truck driving allows you to tailor your career to fit your personal preferences and lifestyle.

As the industry continues to evolve with technological advancements and sustainability initiatives, truck driving will remain a vital and dynamic profession. Embracing the challenges and opportunities of truck driving can lead to a successful and fulfilling career, navigating the roads of the United States while contributing to the heartbeat of American commerce. Whether you are drawn to the freedom of long-haul routes, the stability of local driving, or the uniqueness of specialized trucking, a career in truck driving offers a pathway to success and satisfaction.

[wheelsgoroundincircles]

1955 Lincoln Futura

Did you know this?

Before the Batmobile: Benson Ford Drives the 1955 Lincoln Futura

Benson Ford Sr. is the least well known of Henry Ford’s three grandsons. His older brother Henry II (1917-1987) was Ford Motor Company’s emperor, serving as president or chairman from 1945 to 1980, while his younger brother William Clay Ford, Sr. (1925-2014) was the chairman of Ford’s design committee and the father of current Ford executive chairman Bill Ford, Jr. Middle brother Benson (1919-1978) served a number of lesser roles in the company and passed away, sadly, at only 59. At the time of this filming he was a Ford vice-president and general manager of the Lincoln-Mercury division.

In these photos from 1955, Benson pulls rank for some sweet PR duty: He takes the fabulous Lincoln Futura for a spin through Manhattan, around Central Park and past the front door of the United Nation headquarters on First Avenue. True to its name, as the Futura cruises alongside all the conventional 1950s cars and trucks on the streets of New York, it looks like something shot straight out of a time machine.

The dream car, designed by John Najjar and Bill Schmidt of Ford Styling, built on a prototype Continental Mark II chassis, and constructed by Ghia of Turin at a cost of $250,000, was a genuine show-stopper in its day. In an interesting historical twist, Ford said the car’s lines were inspired by two marine creatures, the manta ray and the mako shark. GM would later claim the same influences for two memorable Corvette concepts, with remarkably different results.

Of course, we all know the fate of the Futura: After appearing in the 1959 MGM movie It Started With a Kiss with Debbie Reynolds and Glenn Ford, the show car was discarded by Ford, eventually ending up on the back lot of California customizer George Barris. In 1966, Barris transformed the Futura into the far-out TV Batmobile, eliminating the bubble canopy and adding a kitschy bat-themed paint job and other gimmicks. The Hollywood version certainly has its fans: Countless tributes and copies have been built, and Batmobile no. 1 sold at auction in 2013 for $4.62 million. But Lincoln purists prefer to remember the car in its original Futura state.

The Original 1966 Batmobile Was Bought For $1 From Ford.

This article written by Northtowne Lincoln in KCMO..

[she-is-ovarit]

Ashli Streeter said Stevens Transport did not hire her because it had no women to train her. Credit...Montinique Monroe for The New York Times

The trucking industry has complained for years that there is a dire shortage of workers willing to drive big rigs. But some women say many trucking companies have made it effectively impossible for them to get those jobs. Trucking companies often refuse to hire women if the businesses do not have women available to train them. And because fewer than 5 percent of truck drivers in the United States are women, there are few female trainers to go around. The same-sex training policies are common across the industry, truckers and legal experts say, even though a federal judge ruled in 2014 that it was unlawful for a trucking company to require that female job candidates be paired only with female trainers. Ashli Streeter of Killeen, Texas, said she had borrowed $7,000 to attend a truck driving school and earn her commercial driving license in hopes of landing a job that would pay more than the warehouse work she had done. But she said Stevens Transport, a Dallas-based company, had told her that she couldn’t be hired because the business had no women to train her. Other trucking companies turned her down for the same reason. “I got licensed, and I clearly could drive,” Ms. Streeter said. “It was disheartening.” Ms. Streeter and two other women filed a complaint against Stevens Transport with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Thursday, contending that the company’s same-sex training policy unfairly denied them driving jobs. The commission investigates allegations made against employers, and, if it determines a violation has occurred, it may bring its own lawsuit. The commission had brought the lawsuit that resulted in the 2014 federal court decision against similar policies at another trucking company, Prime. Critics of the industry said the persistence of same-sex training nearly a decade after that ruling, which did not set national legal precedent, was evidence that trucking companies had not done enough to hire women who could help solve their labor woes. “It’s frustrating to see that we have not evolved at all,” said Desiree Wood, a trucker who is the president and founder of Real Women in Trucking, a nonprofit. Ms. Wood’s group is joining the three women in their E.E.O.C. complaint against Stevens, which was filed by Peter Romer-Friedman, a labor lawyer in Washington, and the National Women’s Law Center. Companies that insist on using women to train female applicants generally do so because they want to avoid claims of sexual harassment. Trainers typically spend weeks alone with trainees on the road, where the two often have to sleep in the same cab. Critics of same-sex training acknowledge that sexual harassment is a problem, but they say trucking companies should address it with better vetting and anti-harassment programs. Employers could reduce the risk of harassment by paying for trainees to sleep in a hotel room, which some companies already do. Women made up 4.8 percent of the 1.37 million truck drivers in the United States in 2021, according to the most recent government statistics, up from 4 percent a decade earlier. Long-haul truck driving can be a demanding job. Drivers are away from home for days. Yet some women say they are attracted to it because it can pay around $50,000 a year, with experienced drivers making a lot more. Truck driving generally pays more than many other jobs that don’t require a college degree, including those in retail stores, warehouses or child care centers.

The infrastructure act of 2021 required the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to set up an advisory board to support women pursuing trucking careers and identify practices that keep women out of the profession. Robin Hutcheson, the administrator of the agency, said requiring same-sex training would appear to be a barrier to entry. “If that is happening, that would be something that we would want to take a look at,” she said in an interview. Ms. Streeter, a mother of three, said she had applied to Stevens because it hired people straight out of trucking school. She told Stevens representatives that she was willing to be trained by a man, but to no avail. Bruce Dean, general counsel at Stevens, denied the allegations in the suit. “The fundamental premise in the charge — that Stevens Transport Inc. only allows women trainers to train women trainees — is false,” he said in a statement, adding that the company “has had a cross-gender training program, where both men and women trainers train female trainees, for decades.” Some legal experts said that, although same-sex training was ruled unlawful in only one federal court, trucking companies would struggle to defend such policies before other judges. Under federal employment discrimination law, employers can seek special legal exemptions to treat women differently from men, but courts have granted them very rarely. “Basically, what the law says is that a company needs to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time,” said Deborah Brake, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh who specializes in employment and gender law. “They need to be able to give women equal employment opportunities and prevent and remedy sexual harassment.” Ms. Streeter said she had made meager earnings from infrequent truck driving gigs while hoping to get a position at Stevens. Later this month, she will become a driver in the trucking fleet of a large retailer. Kim Howard, one of the other women who filed the E.E.O.C. complaint against Stevens, said she was attracted to truck driving by the prospect of a steady wage after working for decades as an actor in New York. “It was very much a blow,” she said of being rejected because of the training policy. “I honestly don’t know how I financially made it through.” Ms. Howard, who is now employed at another trucking company, said she had worked briefly at a company where she was trained by two men who treated her well. “It’s quite possible for a woman to be trained by a man, and a man to be a professional about what the job is,” she said. Other female drivers said they had been mistreated by male trainers who could be relentlessly dismissive and sometimes refused to teach them important skills, like reversing a truck with a large trailer attached. Rowan Kannard, a truck driver from Wisconsin who is not involved in the complaint against Stevens, said a male trainer had spent little time training her on a run to California in 2019. At a truck stop where she felt unsafe, Ms. Kannard said, the trainer demanded that she leave the cab — and then locked her out. She asked to stop the training and was flown back to Wisconsin. Yet she said she did not believe that same-sex training for women was necessary. “Some of these men that are training, they should probably go through a course.” Click the article to read more. The author is Peter Eavis.

[fluentmoviequoter]

If You Want to Leave

Requested Here!

Pairing: John Casey x fem!wife!reader

Summary: Casey tries to leave without telling you, but you walk in before he can. An argument ensues, and you invite him to leave, if that's what he really wants.

Warnings: angst, argument, accusations of lying and not loving one another, brief fluff at the end bc Casey needs love

Word Count: 1.4k+ words

A/N: I envisioned this taking place before Chuck s1 and the Intersect project, but that's up for your interpretation! I would also like to politely ask you to ignore the fact that this gif is Jayne Cobb; there aren't enough of Casey and I couldn't find one that fit the story.

“Major Casey, you need to get out of the country,” his superior says.

“You want me to run from a fight?” Casey replies. “That’s not-“

“It is not running from a fight, Major. It is preserving your life and keeping others out of danger. I’m no longer in a position to do more than recommend you get out while you still can, but if you stay, you’re endangering far more people than just yourself.”

Casey nods once before he leaves the office. He messed up; one tiny mistake by taking out the wrong enemy agent has ruined everything. As Casey drives to his small cottage miles away, where he thought everything would be safe and separated, he knows what he has to do. If he doesn’t leave now, he’ll lose everything. Again.

Casey leaves the truck running as he enters what used to be his home. This stationing was supposed to be permanent, allowing him to settle just enough as he worked through the ranks and continued fieldwork when and how he pleased. Yet, here he is, packing the last decade of his life into a duffel bag. He ignores the pictures on the mantle and the made bed that he will never sleep in again and focuses only on taking what he needs. No reminders, no evidence, and nothing that will make this situation worse than it already is. With his clothes, gun, and every piece of identification stowed in the large duffel bag, he zips it and prepares to say a goodbye that won’t be heard but will be felt.

You return home early and see Casey’s work truck in the driveway. It’s still running, so you assume he forgot something and is heading back out. The idea of Casey, a highly trained government agent, forgetting something makes you smile. On the bright side, you can see him briefly before he returns to work.

As you enter the open front door, you’re startled to see pictures and books haphazardly strewn throughout the living room. Whatever Casey forgot must have been easily misplaced you think as you walk through the hallway. Casey’s back is to you as he zips a duffel bag. The box that usually sits under his side of the bed is no longer in its place, and you have no trouble deducing what is happening. Casey didn’t forget anything except you.

“You’re leaving?” you ask.

Casey turns quickly, and his nostrils flare when he sees you. Clearly, this wasn’t part of his escape plan. 

“Were you going to tell me?”

Casey shakes his head and turns to the bag on your previously shared bed. He flips through a faded copy of Moby Dick until he finds his United States-issued passport. You walk to his side and lay your hand over his.

“How long are you leaving?”

“Forever,” Casey grunts as he pulls his hand away.

“What?” you question incredulously. “John, that’s-“

“I know.”

“You don’t know,” you argue. “You were going to leave without telling me anything! I know that you have a duty, a job that you care about more than anything, but I- this- us! We have to mean something to you, too.”

“Why do you think I’m leaving?” he snaps.

You step back and cross your arms. The wedding picture on your nightstand taunts you, and you lay it face down before you take a deep breath.

“Was this the plan all along? To marry me, have me around, lie to me, until it was time to move on?” you ask with your back to Casey.

“Of course not,” he answers roughly.

“Really? Because packing a duffel bag to leave me while I’m not here doesn’t align with the whole ‘til death do us part thing, does it, John?”

“You don’t understand.”

“You’re right. And I never will, because whether you want to admit or not, you always knew I was a temporary fixture.”

Casey huffs as he pulls the duffel bag over his shoulder. You follow him to the door but nearly run into his back when he stops.

“There is nothing worth waiting for,” you remind him. “You made sure of that.”

He turns perpendicular to you and looks at the home and the life he is abandoning. 

“Why are you leaving, Casey?” you ask softly, letting your guard down in the final moment with him. “I think I deserve the truth about that at least.”

The accusation that he has lied about anything within your relationship multiplies the emotions Casey is feeling and hiding. He’s become an expert in lying and manipulating the truth to fit what he needs it to be, but that’s work. You and your marriage were separate, the only real thing Casey had.

“You want to know why I’m leaving?” Casey asks. “Because I’m not good for you! There is a target on your back because of me!” he explains, not caring that his voice rises.

“Casey,” you begin.

“No,” he interrupts, shaking his head as he turns to face you. “I will not lose you. I can leave all of this, the house, the pictures, the perfect little life, but I will not put you in a position to be taken away from me forever.”

“That’s exactly what you’re doing, Casey,” you argue gently. “If you leave, there is nothing between me and the people aiming at that target. You told me from the beginning that this could happen. But if you leave me now, you and I both know, you’re leaving me just like you’re leaving the house.”

Casey shakes his head and grunts as he drops the duffel bag beside his feet. “No,” he insists. “This is the best option.”

You rub your forehead and say, “If you want to leave, just go. I love you, Casey, but I can’t live like this. I can’t spend the rest of my life wondering when this will happen; when you will just leave me without a word and never come back. I’ve been by your side for years, supporting you and your job and everything that comes with it, but I can’t do this. The constant fear of not knowing is worse than any target someone could put on me.”

Casey’s chest rises and falls as he breathes deeply. He watches your eyes as you talk and hates that he created the fear and insecurity in them. Even if he does leave when this is over, he can’t let you think that his leaving has anything to do with how he feels for you, loves you, or the idea he doesn’t want to be with you.

“So, Casey,” you begin.

Your voice breaks as you fight to hold your tears in, and Casey closes the distance between you. He places his hands on either side of your face, his palms resting against your cheeks as his fingers slide behind your ears. As you look up at him and move forward, Casey dips his chin and kisses you. It’s not like the other kisses you’ve shared; it’s passionate, desperate, loving, and devastating at the same time. You grasp Casey’s wrists before you move your hands to his shirt and push yourself against his chest. Watching Casey leave will break you and destroy everything you’ve learned to love about yourself, him, and life. And, despite how good this kiss is and everything Casey says without speaking, it will not get you through this. Not if it’s the last one you ever get.

Casey pulls away slowly, but his hands remain on your face as he looks into your eyes. You’re breathless, pliant in his hold. He doesn’t move, but if he’s still going to leave, you can’t handle a withdrawn goodbye any better than coming home to an empty house.

“Casey?” you whisper.

“What do I do?” he asks quietly. “I messed up, and now you’re in danger no matter where I am.”

“As much as I want to, I can’t tell you what to do.”

“They’ll give me a new assignment when I get stateside.” Casey pauses and looks at the ring on your left hand. “Get in the truck.”

He pulls you into another kiss before you can ask him any questions. You understand what it’s like to be part of Casey’s world, never knowing what he’s doing or if he’ll be home. But you need to stay with Casey because you love him, and even if he did leave without a word, it wouldn’t change that.

[savage-rhi]

Wesker: Redfield, our instruments measured that you were driving 100 mph in one of STARS jeeps.

Chris: sorry captain, but the speed limit does not apply when the free bird solo comes on.

@rebelwithoutaclock Coming up! To read the other STARS shenanigans drabbles, here they are 1, 2, 3,

"Alright everyone, gather around. Let's make this mid-week huddle a quick one," Wesker hollered, gesturing with his right hand for everyone in the STARs unit to come into the meeting room.

He took off his shades, rubbing his eyes while mentally bracing himself. Between his nefarious obligations to Umbrella and trying to run a police department, he could feel the exhaustion creeping in. A wave of regret pooled in the back of his subconscious, wishing he had the foresight years ago to not work two jobs. Alas, he made his bed and had to lie in it. That didn't mean he didn't have an intrusive thought or two about cleaning up shop as far as the RPD was concerned, especially with the shenanigans the STARs team in particular pulled.

For being the best, they sure aren't the brightest...he thought as he made himself comfortable in front of the podium, watching the team members take their usual seats. He put his glasses back on and cleared his throat.

"First thing on the agenda is the lightsaber incident," Wesker couldn't believe he was saying this aloud and shook his head. "Mr. Vickers, when you're on patrol and see a group of teens reenacting a movie scene, that doesn't mean you stop your vehicle and join them. Especially when you're in the middle of an investigation. Might I add the delay in your scheduled flight with Mr. Sullivan made it so Ms. Chambers took one for the team and covered your ass."

Quiet snickers filled the room as Brad's face blushed. He wanted to shrink into a puddle and disappear, wondering who ratted him out. All he could do was meekly reply, "Y-yes sir…I'm sorry. It won't happen again."

"Good," Wesker stated. He ignored the fact that Rebecca herself patted Brad's knee and whispered 'it was alright,' too focused on Chris, who was unable to keep a straight face compared to his colleagues. "Redfield, earlier this week our instruments measured that you were driving a hundred miles per hour in one of our STARS jeeps. Care to explain?"

Jill and Barry, sitting on either side of Chris, quietly chuckled at Chris's expense, earning a quick glare from him before he forced himself to look at Wesker.

"Sorry, captain," Chris coughed. "But the speed limit does not apply when the 'Free Bird' solo comes on."

Barry and Jill bowed their heads in front of the table, their shoulders quaking as they tried to hold back their laughs. Even members of the Bravo team were having difficulty keeping it together at the visual alone.

"You know what else doesn't apply, Redfield?" Wesker asked as a matter of fact.

"I don't know, sir," Chris gestured. "Enlighten me."

"The time-off request you submitted last week. Consider it tabled for insubordination."

"Son of a bitch…!" Chris whispered harshly under his breath.

"And while we are on the subject of cars, Ms. Valentine and Mr. Burton, I'm putting you both on vehicle suspension for the remainder of the week."

"What, why!?" Jill exclaimed.

"But sir--!"

Wesker held up a hand, interrupting their protests. "I doubt Redfield was able to come up with the 'Free Bird' bit on his lonesome. The man is full of colorful ideas, but you two are well known for encouraging him to see it through."

"Shit…"

"Fuck, he got us there," Barry muttered to Jill.

"Mr. Frost," Wesker let out a deep sigh for this one as he once again took off his glasses to rub his eyes. "While you are out on patrol, you can't go around with chalk outlining cars and trucks that don't park within the lines in a parking lot or park to the curb exactly with an exclamation of 'asshole parking' and proceed to ticket."

"But it's a good warning system!" Joseph glared and shrugged. "If they can't parallel park for shit, then they had it coming! If you would've put me on another assignment instead of having me play meter boy, we wouldn't be having this conversation!"

"Mr. Frost, get over yourself," Wesker growled. "I know you're angered that I set you on this task, but need I remind you what the alternative would've been?"

"All because I started the whole 'Wesker shits standing up' bit? Man, you need to take a joke!"

"Enough!" Wesker raised his voice. Whatever was left of the chuckles and laughs ceased immediately. He felt a sense of pride rise in his body as well as his blood pressure, and let out a deep breath. "Alright people, let's take five, and we'll meet back here to cover the recent cannibal attacks."

As the STARs Alpha and Bravo teams single filed out of the room, Wesker thought he had a moment of peace until he heard Joseph holler:

"I still stand by what I said, Wesker shits standing up everyone!"

Wesker made a fist, his teeth clenched.

The thought of siccing a pack of Cerberus onto the man was beginning to sound more and more delicious with each passing minute. He smirked to himself, riding on the high from the visuals that came and went through his mind of Joseph being ripped apart.

Maybe Birkin and I can brainstorm later…

If you like my work and feel generous, feel free to donate to my ko-fi account or my cash app account!

Cash App: $JayRex1463

[batboyblog]

The Biden administration on Wednesday issued one of the most significant climate regulations in the nation’s history, a rule designed to ensure that the majority of new passenger cars and light trucks sold in the United States are all-electric or hybrids by 2032.

Cars and other forms of transportation are, together, the largest single source of carbon emissions generated by the United States, pollution that is driving climate change and that helped to make 2023 the hottest year in recorded history. Electric vehicles are central to President Biden’s strategy to confront global warming, which calls for cutting the nation’s emissions in half by the end of this decade. But E.V.s have also become politicized and are becoming an issue in the 2024 presidential campaign.

“Three years ago, I set an ambitious target: that half of all new cars and trucks sold in 2030 would be zero-emission,” said Mr. Biden in a statement. “Together, we’ve made historic progress. Hundreds of new expanded factories across the country. Hundreds of billions in private investment and thousands of good-paying union jobs. And we’ll meet my goal for 2030 and race forward in the years ahead.”

The rule increasingly limits the amount of pollution allowed from tailpipes over time so that, by 2032, more than half the new cars sold in the United States would most likely be zero-emissions vehicles in order for carmakers to meet the standards.

That would avoid more than seven billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions over the next 30 years, according to the E.P.A. That’s the equivalent of removing a year’s worth of all the greenhouse gases generated by the United States, the country that has historically pumped the most carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The regulation would provide nearly $100 billion in annual net benefits to society, according to the agency, including $13 billion of annual public health benefits thanks to improved air quality.

The standards would also save the average American driver about $6,000 in reduced fuel and maintenance over the life of a vehicle, the E.P.A. estimated.

The auto emissions rule is the most impactful of four major climate regulations from the Biden administration, including restrictions on emissions from power plants, trucks and methane leaks from oil and gas wells. The rules come on top of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, the biggest climate law in the nation’s history, which is providing at least $370 billion in federal incentives to support clean energy, including tax credits to buyers of electric vehicles.

The policies are intended to help the country meet Mr. Biden’s target of cutting U.S. greenhouse emissions in half by 2030 and eliminating them by 2050. Climate scientists say all major economies must do the same if the world is to avert the most deadly and costly effects of climate change.

“These standards form what we see as a historic climate grand slam for the Biden administration,” said Manish Bapna, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council Action Fund, a political action committee that aims to advance environmental causes.

Mr. Bapna’s group has calculated that the four regulations, combined with the Inflation Reduction Act, would reduce the nation’s greenhouse emissions 42 percent by 2030, getting the country most of the way to Mr. Biden’s 2030 target.

Get in Losers we're going to save the planet.

[cirolik]

People always assume that if we provided all necessities for everyone then all trade workers would just stop working and honestly that couldn't be further from the truth. Maybe this comes from their own idea that they would stop working and that's something for they themselves to look into why they feel that way.

Back to my point tho: the majority of tradesworkers I k ow don't do it because they have to. They do it because they love it. I personally know retired carpenters who go out and do probono work just for fun and the satisfaction of helping someone else. Hell, I do probono work just for fun and the pleasure of helping someone else.

Ir seems like people cannot imagine a world where people work to provide for everyone instead of just 1 guy or some board of directors.

Billions of dollars go to war and genocide, billions go to just a few people, we produce more food right now than the whole world needs, there are more empty houses than homeless people in the United States. And you're telling me that there is nobody who would tackle the logistical problem of getting everyone everything they need? You think every truck driver would just Instantly stop driving? We get it. Your job sucks and you hate your life and you're so disconnected from the actual product of your labor that you can't see any impact it has on the world. Maybe it doesn't even have an impact at all. But that doesn't mean everyone is like that, stop thinking so individualistically and maybe try thinking about other people as well, people.

[sexyandtalentedmen]

Sex symbols through the decades - 1960's:

Clint Eastwood (1930 - )

Clinton Eastwood Jr. is an American actor and film director who was a sex symbol of the 1960's.

Clint was born on May 31st 1930, at Saint Francis Memorial Hospital in San Francisco. At school Clint took interest in music and mechanics, but was an otherwise bored student; this resulted in being held back a grade. After graduating he held a number of odd jobs, including lifeguard, paper carrier, grocery clerk, forest firefighter, and golf caddy and was drafted into the United States Army during the Korean War.

During the mid-1950s he landed uncredited bit parts in B-films while digging swimming pools and driving a garbage truck to supplement his income. In 1958, he landed his first consequential acting role in the long-running TV show Rawhide. Clint rose to international fame and is known as an enduring cultural icon of masculinity.

Elected in 1986, Eastwood served for two years as the mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California and in recent years has moved behind the camera as a director and producer.

[nostalgebraist-autoresponder]

More bullshit interview questions:

Explain how a compass works.

How would you explain leap years to a kindergarten class?

Do you think man ever really went to the moon? Explain your answer.

Describe the difference between real estate and personal property. How are they similar?

Why do banks charge a fee for check overdrafts? Is this fair?

Do you believe in life after death? Explain.

Is there any place in America that has never been explored by humans? Where?

Does it matter if the Jones Act is repealed? Explain your answer.

What would you do if you won the lottery? Why?

What are the three primary causes of WW2?

Do you believe in Bigfoot? Why or why not?

What percentage of the population in your state is in the military? How do you know?

What percentage of the population in your state works for the government? How do you know?

Should parole be eliminated? Explain your answer.

What direction do rivers usually flow? Why?

What's wrong with the way the government runs?

Do you think the U.S. government has ever been secretly controlled by a dictator? How could you prove it?

Describe a mistake you made and what you learned from it.

How many tools does a mechanic typically need to do his job?

What's the difference between a car and a truck? Explain your answer.

How do you determine whether to support a political candidate?

If the U.S. Census were conducted using only postal workers, how many people would be counted? Why?

Is it better to be loved or feared? Explain your answer.

Why do you think some states have higher rates of alcoholism than others?

Is our current banking system better or worse than it was 100 years ago? Explain your answer.

Can you think of a law that isn't enforceable?

Who is the most important person in America? Explain your answer.

What causes earthquakes?

What would happen if the government could print an unlimited amount of money?

Can an adult go through life without ever breaking the law? Why or why not?

Is it better to be born poor or to be born rich? Explain your answer.

At what age should someone be allowed to vote? Why?

What's the best part about the work you do?

If you won the lottery, would you continue working? Why or why not?

What candidate for public office are you most afraid of? Why?

Is there ever a time when it's OK to lie? Explain your answer.

Should a person's right to vote be based on education or income? Why?

If you won the lottery, would you continue working? Explain your answer.

If the world were to be destroyed in 30 minutes and there were only enough resources to save one of these three things, which would you choose? A: Art B: Computers C: Music

What would happen if we abolished the income tax?

Describe the best boss you ever had. What made that person so special?

Is there an age limit on the right to drive? Why or why not?

Do you believe in luck? Explain your answer.

What trait do you think is most important for a politician to have?

Describe a mistake you made and what you learned from it.

Is there such a thing as work-life balance?

Describe a project you've worked on that didn't turn out as planned.

What do you like and dislike about your current job?

What's the number one quality a person should have to be president of the United States?

What is your opinion on affirmative action?

What makes a good boss?

How would you explain leap years to a kindergarten class?

Does it matter if the Jones Act is repealed? Explain your answer.

Validate something that your interviewer says. Why?

Do you think man ever really went to the moon? Explain your answer.

Can an adult go through life without ever breaking the law? Why or why not?

Regardless of what you believe politically, what is your opinion on the death penalty?

Do you believe in Bigfoot? Why or why not?

Is there any place in America that has never been explored by humans? Where?

[ . . . ]

Describe something you did in high school that you would never do again.

(From Gawker)

[yetisidelblog]

Trump’s plans to cancel the USPS’s electric vehicle (EV) contracts threaten manufacturing jobs, postal workers’ safety, our communities and our planet. These contracts are already signed, with production underway. But Trump’s transition team is actively exploring ways to derail this progress and claw back the public money for climate investment in the Inflation Reduction Act.

USPS’s green fleet initiative is more than a climate win that electrifies 62% of the mail trucks:

Safer Working Conditions: For the first time, USPS trucks will include air conditioning, heating, and many other modern safety features.

Manufacturing Jobs: Tens of thousands of American jobs depend on these contracts with Oshkosh and Ford.

Healthier for Postal Workers, Communities, and the Planet: Transportation is the largest single source of carbon pollution in the United States. Studies show frontline Black and Brown communities bear the brunt of pollution from heavy trucks with combustion engines. Mail carriers who drive postal trucks are particularly affected from vehicle idling, which releases high levels of localized air pollution.

Canceling these contracts would set the USPS and the country back decades, lock in pollution from gas-guzzling trucks for the next 30 years, and cost jobs and undermine a critical step toward combating climate change. These trucks aren’t just about cleaner air, they’re about safer streets and workplaces, modernizing America’s most iconic delivery fleet, and driving innovation in clean energy.

The USPS is an independent federal agency with the authority to make its own operational decisions, including these contracts. Allowing political pressure to derail this progress in any way undermines that independence and sets a dangerous precedent for future administrations.

Tell DeJoy & Board of Governors, don’t cave to Trump. Protect USPS green fleet investments in the fight against climate change now.

@upontheshelfreviews

@greenwingspino

@one-time-i-dreamt

@tenaflyviper

@akron-squirrel

@ifihadaworldofmyown

@justice-for-jacob-marley

@voicetalentbrendan

@thebigdeepcheatsy

@what-is-my-aesthetic

@ravenlynclemens

@writerofweird

@bogleech

[timbarrus]

I knew they would come early in the morning. It’s supposed to be a secret. There are no secrets in this village. I am leaned up against my dirt bike. Taking photos because that’s my job. I am writing this on my tiny computer. I sneaked around some storage trucks and drove into the grove of trees that look out onto Head Start’s parking lot. A dirt bike can go almost anywhere. I do not really need a road. Poor people often have their lives unrolled in parking lots. But this one takes the cake. Cars are beginning to drive up to the spot where children are dropped off for the day. Mom and Dad head for their jobs in the community.

The parking lot is actually crowded now with kids and cars. Boom. I am typing this as it happens. The US Army arrives as if they want to kill. Lights. Sirens. Cops. Kids crying. Adults crying. Four-year-olds are told to put their hands out for the plastic hand cuffs. While daddy is being wrestled and held on the ground. The guns come out for that one. Why does it take five guns to arrest an unarmed man. Who could be an America. No one is asking questions. People are being put on a bus. Without their children who now go to county jail. Jails all over the country are being designated as “Immigration Centers.” 

You can be put on that bus, too. The felon is playing the violin. 

ICE public relations is closed for a week. A complete lie. Never believe anything ICE says. When they trot out this butch woman to speak to the press, she explains how all of this will be okay. Maybe OK for her. It is now a crowd of my neighbors. This is Big Trauma for the kids. To lose your parents and you have to go to jail. We do not have pitchforks. But I wish I did. They want to know where their children are. US Army soldiers scream at the parents to SHUT THE FUCK UP. They look like teenage boys. They are shoving women around. The teachers fight back.

Did you grow up in a school where the teachers are fighting the United States Of America’s military might. These four-year-olds are bad criminals. They are going to love jail. Execute them.

This. Is. Abuse. This. Is. Abuse. This. Is. Abuse.

This is the American way. Violence against children. Who can’t talk back.

They cannot see me. When I arrived, all you could hear was the wind. I am looking at teachers putting their faces into the faces of the armed teenagers. Who will do anything they are told to do. They have no agency and they are more fidgety than a burlap bag of cats. It’s stunning. I feel like I am going numb. “But we have voices.”

Perhaps they have met the New York Times comment moderators. They moderate nothing. They sit there and go no, no, no, no. This scenario is much like the scenario treatment by NYT. Their MO is to use terror to move you from A to B.

Maybe they’re here for the NYT to grab a story (I know one when I see one). NYT has one voice and it’s stupid. Fuck you we don’t like you, and you can be put down, too. We do not mean shit to them. Some kid just out of high school feels terrorized he has to terrorize.  

No. You really don’t have a voice because no one wants to talk to you, and they have no intention of letting you speak to anyone.

I was a teacher trainer for migrant Head Start. The schools were located in Immokalee, Florida. I love those women. They do not make shit. Yet they pitch right in, and I have taught thousands of children, and I had never seen such activists who were grieving as everyone arrested (including the fours) are being punished with a ruthless fervor. They wanted to grab them fast before the parents could use their phones.

They were under a time restraint because they were really nervous about the cameras of journalists showing up. So. Are journalists getting this story. Are they actually going to the places where they are raining wave after wave of teenagers with guns. Do these kids know what they are doing with those guns. America’s answer to everything is the gun. Or do they write this at their desks. My experience with journalists tells me they rely on phone calls. You get nada for effort.

The jungle uniforms tells more about you than you can know.

I go telephoto. I am looking for names and name tags. There are none. I want faces. I will run them through AI’s wringer and by the end of the day, I will have facial recognition. If they can use it, we will use it, too. I am doing a tech workshop with parents.

I am teaching migrant workers how a computer works. You can actually change your location programs to appear to be somewhere else. There are a lot of ways to hide your ass from the Internet. “Unfortunately, you have to throw your phones away. They have too much data like phone calls to Mexico. Unfortunately, the phone is not your friend. They knew where you were. They know where you are right now.

Tell all your friends that America wants to kill your children. I push that thought hard. There has to be more than weeping to change any of this. They do not care if you weep. They are the army. We are now fighting the military. In order to fight soldiers, you have to be prepared to die.

I talk a lot about Act Up. I teach people to use those confrontations. Sit down strikes work. Because business can’t operate without workers willing to be abused one way or the other. If they catch me here, I will be put on the bus.

I see an adolescent girl separate from the main group. She’s sneaky. She’s crouched down between two parked cars.  

She saw me bush deep in trees. Another gunshot into the air. She races to me.

Get me out of here.

Two people on a bike is called riding shotgun.

[chaotic-archaeologist]

Hi Reid!

I recently finished my undergrad, double major history/anthro w a minor (kinda, its complex lol) in animal studies. Im volunteering at a university zooarchaeo lab, since thats what I wanna do, but I'm searching for history/archival/archaeo work bc I Need To Be Paid and really struggling since I don't have a drivers license yet and can't leave where I'm at rn anyway bc of my lab volunteering which is every week (also im working on a GIS cert too so... cant leave city for like 8-10 day shifts lol). Its getting *quite* demoralizing im ngl, esp since I have an undiagnosed fatigue condition on top of it all so stuff like minimum wage customer service isnt suuuuper an option for me tbh.

Was wondering if you had any advice for the archaeologists coming out of undergrad?

If not, a strange history fact that might make me laugh will suffice /j (ya boy needs a laugh)

From,

Currently Sitting In A Tree, Listening to Unreal Earth by Hozier

Hi dirtling, I'm afraid that I don't have great news for you. My answer is going to be more or less the same as the one I gave in this post, which essentially boils down to: you need to go to grad school if you want to be employed in this field.

Working in pretty much any anthropology job is going to require at least a Master's degree, especially ones that require such specialized knowledge like zooarchaeology. Please go look at the post I linked above, because I outlined a good approach for figuring out what kind of qualifications you're going to need.

Also, pretty much every archaeology fieldwork job listing out there is going to require a valid driver's license (at least in the United States). They cannot legally require you to have your own car, but being able to drive a company/crew car (and sometimes a truck and/or a trailer) is a skill that Cultural Resource Management companies are going to be looking for, if you decide to go that route. Lab jobs might be different, but they're less common that fieldwork positions.

I'm sorry—I know this probably isn't the answer you wanted to hear, but somebody needs to give you a realistic assessment of the anthropology job market. Ideally this would've been mentioned as part of your undergraduate education, but better late than never.

There are options out there for you—I really believe that. If you choose not to go to grad school right now or ever, an anthropology degree can be parlayed into any number of jobs that involve understanding humans and culture: public relations, human resources, marketing/advertising, demographics analysis, etc. The GIS cert is also a very marketable skill. Here's a good webpage to look at.

As for a historical fun fact, check out this Smithsonian article about bread that was made with yeast and a recipe from ancient Egypt!

-Reid

[newstfionline]

Saturday, December 21, 2024

Government funding bill clears Congress and heads to President Biden, averting a shutdown (AP) Facing a government shutdown deadline, the Senate rushed through final passage early Saturday of a bipartisan plan that would temporarily fund federal operations and disaster aid, dropping President-elect Donald Trump’s demands for a debt limit increase into the new year. The House approved Johnson’s new bill overwhelmingly, 366-34. The Senate worked into the night to pass it, 85-11, just after the deadline. At midnight, the White House said it had ceased shutdown preparations. President Joe Biden was expected to sign the measure into law Saturday.

In Utah, Jesus Models Are in Demand (WSJ) Utah is seeing a brisk business for models who have long hair and a beard who can passably pull off a Jesus look for family portraits and wedding announcements for couples that want to feature the religious figure directly in their pictures. Models charge about $100 to $200 an hour and, with the right look, can retain a reliable side hustle as the physical manifestation of Jesus in someone else’s pictures. Look-alikes find that people expect them to embody Jesus in more ways than the hair and beard. Some models said they feel like a celebrity when they don the robe—and get treated like one too. (One felt compelled to remind an onlooker he wasn’t the real Jesus.) Others said they’ve had their own semireligious experiences on the job.

More Tornadoes (NYT) In April of this year, there were over 400 tornadoes reported in the United States, the single highest count in 10 years. Through the month of November there were more than 1,762 tornadoes nationwide, the highest ever, significantly more than the 1,517 tornadoes in 2019 and vastly higher than the 886 tornadoes logged 10 years ago.

Stranded in Mexico: Trump’s Looming Crackdown Scares Migrants (Bloomberg) Outside a center for migrants in the city of Villahermosa in southern Mexico, dozens of Venezuelans, Colombians and others from all over the world were stuck with nowhere to go. Mexican authorities had apprehended them mostly in the north of the country and bused them here, far from their intended destination: the US border, a 17-hour drive away. The roundup is part of Mexico’s immigration crackdown, done partly at the behest of the US government. It’s helped drastically reduce crossings, but created significant hardship for those making the journey, who face difficulty finding a place to sleep, much less employment. With no documents allowing them to work legally in Mexico and nowhere to stay, they’re left impoverished and at risk of falling prey to criminals. Interviews in Mexico at shelters, makeshift camps and on the streets indicate many migrants plan to stay put for the time being as they seek appointments to ask for asylum, a system critics say is being abused by those seeking economic opportunity. Other migrants say that Trump’s vows to carry out the largest deportation in US history mean they no longer want to go, and are considering whether to stay in Mexico instead of returning home.

A driver rammed a German Christmas market, killing 2 (NYT) A driver plowed a vehicle into a Christmas market in the city of Magdeburg in central Germany this evening, killing at least two people and injuring more than 65 others, 14 of them severely. The driver, identified as a 50-year-old Saudi Arabian citizen, was arrested, the authorities said. They said they believe it was a deliberate attack. More than 1,000 Christmas markets pop up every year in Germany, and have been targeted by terrorists before. In 2016, an extremist rammed a truck into a crowd in Berlin, killing 13. Since then, the police have secured many of the markets with temporary barriers.

As Russia threats loom, Finland’s people are learning to shoot back (AP) Unsettled by Russia’s expansionism and emboldened by its recent accession to NATO, Finland is rallying to strengthen its national self-defense beyond its traditional military capabilities. The popularity of weapons training in the Nordic country has soared in recent months. Few places tell the story of the rise in Finnish affinity for self-defense more than shooting ranges that are riding a boom of interest. The Vantaa Reservist Association, which operates a gun range in a warehouse once used to make sex toys, in Kerava, north of Helsinki, has more than doubled its membership over the last two years and now counts over 2,100 members. “They have something in the back of their head ringing that this is the skill I have to learn now,” said association chairman Antti Kettunen, standing among bullet-riddled targets. “I think that the wind has changed, now it’s blowing from the east.”

Ukraine’s mineral wealth (Washington Post) Ukraine is not only the breadbasket of Europe; it is also a mineral superpower, with some of the largest reserves of 117 of the 120 most widely used minerals in the world. Of the 50 strategic minerals identified by the United States as critical to its economy and national security, many of which are quite rare yet key to certain high-value applications, Ukraine supplies 22. Ukraine possesses the largest reserves of uranium in Europe; the second-largest reserves of iron ore, titanium and manganese; and the third-largest reserves of shale gas—as well as large deposits of lithium, graphite and rare earth metals, according to a 2022 report by the Canadian geopolitical risk-analysis firm SecDev. These minerals are essential to the production of vital goods ranging from airplanes, cellphones and electric vehicles to steel and nuclear power. These natural resources are valued at an estimated $26 trillion, according to SecDev.

Japanese city to name and shame people who break rubbish rules (BBC) Starting in March, Fukushima plans to introduce stricter garbage disposal rules—an initiative which includes using the government website to publish the names of the individuals and businesses that violate them. Last year, the city reported over 9,000 cases of non-compliant garbage. Rubbish is taken very seriously in Japan, where since the 1990s the government has made it a national goal to shift away from landfills, reduce waste and promote recycling. Local authorities have introduced their own initiatives in line with this goal. Residents in Kamikatsu, a Japanese town with an ambitious zero-waste goal, proudly sort their rubbish into 45 categories. Kagoshima prefecture has made it mandatory for residents to write their names on their rubbish bags. And last year the city of Chiba piloted an AI assistant to help residents dispose their rubbish properly.

Syria not a threat to world, rebel leader Ahmed al-Sharaa tells BBC (BBC) The de facto leader of Syria, Ahmed al-Sharaa, has said the country is exhausted by war and is not a threat to its neighbours or to the West. In an interview with the BBC in Damascus, he called for sanctions on Syria to be lifted. “Now, after all that has happened, sanctions must be lifted because they were targeted at the old regime. The victim and the oppressor should not be treated in the same way,” he said. He said HTS should be de-listed as a terrorist organisation. Sharaa said HTS was not a terrorist group. They did not target civilians or civilian areas, he said. In fact, they considered themselves to be victim of the crimes of the Assad regime. He denied that he wanted to turn Syria into a version of Afghanistan. Sharaa said the countries were very different, with different traditions. Afghanistan was a tribal society. In Syria, he said, there was a different mindset. He said he believed in education for women. “We’ve had universities in Idlib for more than eight years,” Sharaa said, referring to Syria’s north-western province that has been held by rebels since 2011. “I think the percentage of women in universities is more than 60%.”

For thousands of Jews, Israel still doesn’t feel safe after the Oct. 7 attacks. So they’re leaving (AP) Leaving Israel is easier, Shira Z. Carmel thinks, by saying it’s just for now. For the Israeli-born singer and an increasing number of relatively well-off Israelis, the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack shattered any sense of safety and along with it, Israel’s founding promise: to be the world’s safe haven for Jews. Ten days later, a pregnant Carmel, her husband and their toddler boarded a flight to Australia, which was looking for people in her husband’s profession. And they spun the explanation to friends and family as something other than permanent—“relocation” is the easier-to-swallow term—acutely aware of the familial strain and the shame that have shadowed Israelis who leave for good. “We told them we’re going to get out of the line of fire for awhile,” Carmel said more than a year later from her family’s new home in Melbourne. “It wasn’t a hard decision. But it was very hard to talk to them about it. It was even hard to admit it to ourselves.” Thousands of Israelis have left the country since Oct. 7, 2023. Migration experts say it’s possible people leaving Israel will surpass the number of immigrants to Israel in 2024, according to Sergio DellaPergola, a statistician and professor emeritus of Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

‘We Just Want Mercy’: A Gaza Hospital Pleads for a Respite (NYT) The last functioning intensive care unit at a hospital in northern Gaza was severely damaged by Israeli shelling this week, according to medical staff at the facility who have been pleading for a respite from violence to bring in essential supplies. Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital, which includes the intensive care unit, in the city of Jabaliya, said on Thursday that it had been hit by an Israeli tank shell that caused a fire and inflicted serious damage. The unit was the only intensive care facility still providing services for both children and adults in northern Gaza, he said. “We urgently need repairs related to water and oxygen supplies, but we have not received anything so far,” Dr. Abu Safiya said in a statement. “We appeal to the international community to open a humanitarian corridor and allow the entry of medical supplies, equipment and ambulances so that we can provide safe medical services.” “We have been addressing the world for over 75 days, and yet nothing is being done,” Dr. Abu Safiya said in an earlier statement, issued on Wednesday. “Yesterday was one of the darkest, most difficult and bloodiest days at Kamal Adwan Hospital,” he added. “The tank shells hit the intensive care unit, igniting a fire that forced us to evacuate the patients quickly.”

France’s military is being ousted from more African countries (AP) It’s been a tumultuous month for France and its relationship with former colonies in Africa, as its influence on the continent faces the biggest challenge in decades. Two of its closest allies struck a double blow. The government of Chad, considered France’s most stable and loyal partner in Africa, announced on its Independence Day it was ending defense cooperation to redefine its sovereignty. And in an interview published hours later by Le Monde, Senegal’s new president said it was “obvious” that soon French soldiers wouldn’t be on Senegalese soil. The decisions by Senegal and Chad “are part of the wider structural transformation in the region’s engagement with France, in which Paris political and military influence continues to diminish,” according to Mucahid Durmaz, a senior analyst at global risk consultancy Verisk Maplecroft. They follow the ousting of French forces in recent years by military-led governments in Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso, where local sentiments turned sour following years of French forces fighting alongside local ones in the face of stubborn Islamic extremist insurgencies.

Note: News coverage over the holidays may be sporadic as the editor takes time off. Wishing you a good break and relaxing, inspiring times of your own.

[erwinrer]

Mongolia's prostitution zones, where women trade sex for fuel in sub-zero temperatures

It’s nearing midnight in an unadorned bar on a backstreet off Sükhbaatar Square, and 31 year-old Minjuur rubs her hands to shake off the cold.

Speaking in a whisper, she explains her average evening. Men pick her up from the park by the Central Tower office building, then they go to a nearby hotel for an hour of sex.

Minjuur has a small scar on her right upper cheek that is visible despite her makeup, and she counts on her fingers the number of friends who have died in her line of work. It is minus 20 degrees Celsius tonight, and Minjuur has a chest-rattling cough. Vodka helps her ward off the chill. She says the winter is hard.

Mongolia’s capital presents grim working conditions for the city’s prostitutes. Ulaanbaatar is often overlooked as a centre of prostitution, but – despite increased activity in border areas – it remains the hub for the country’s sex work and sexual trafficking. But as the city’s prostitutes experience violence and social stigma, some are navigating riskier working environments beyond the city.  

“Most of these women working in this field are very poor and need cash,” said outreach officer Erdenesuren. “They are driven by necessity.” Erdenesuren – who like many Mongolians only uses one name – works for the NGO Perfect Ladies (In Mongolian: Tugs Busguichuud), which promotes prevention of sexually transmitted infections among prostitutes and helps them leave sex work.

Prostitution and human trafficking are illegal within Mongolia but the sex trade is growing. While some women solicit openly on the streets of the capital, others work discreetly out of karaoke bars, saunas and massage parlours. Mongolia is a source, transit and destination country for sex labour.

According to a 2014 report from the United Nations Institute for Training and Research, between 3,000 and 5,000 women and children are trafficked each year from rural communities into cities and beyond the nation’s borders.

Unicef estimates that roughly 19,000 sex workers are active in Mongolia, however, some field workers cite much higher numbers. The state’s population sits at around 3 million. While male prostitutes do exist, they are a small minority.

The rapid growth of the country’s mining sector over the last decade has created a workforce of isolated men, thereby spurring on the industry. Skirting the border with China, the southern Gobi Desert – where mineral mining projects run by Rio Tinto and other global operations are located – has become a new focal point for prostitution.

“In Ulaanbaatar there is violence (against prostitutes) – from families and from working people – but inside the mining area everyone comes for the same goal: making money, and they don’t judge one another,” said Sorbonne University Ethnology Professor Gaëlle Lacaze.

Amidst lines of trucks parked against a barren expanse of sand, a converted bus-turned-café is the only option for some tea and conversation. Enkhtaivan Baatar is biding time at Tavan Tolgoi – a coal deposit in Ömnögovi province within the Gobi Desert.

The 39-year-old truck driver in a black hoodie is waiting for his coal shipment so he can drive his cargo across the border. He has been doing this job for three years, and has seen many prostitutes. Cars filled with women pull up off the highway and, when the price is settled, join the drivers in the cab of their truck.

Baatar also describes a sign close to the border that advertises women for sale and lists a number to call if interested. “Wherever there is money and men they come,” he said.

Mongolia’s mining boom started in the early 2000s and mining now accounts for around 20 per cent of Mongolia’s gross domestic product. The growth in mining has created a spike in internal migration to mining areas – most notably Ömnögovi.

The country has a 0.03 per cent general prevalence rate of HIV among adults and, for Mongolians infected, treatment is free. As of 2017 data, however, only 32 per cent of people living with HIV knew their status.

“Mining industries are notorious hotspots for HIV infection,” said UNAIDS Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific Eamonn Murphy. “There is money around, and people are away from their homes and cultural, social and other inhibitors, and so they take risks that they wouldn’t normally.”

The coal route from the Tavan Tolgoi coal deposit to the Chinese border is synonymous with sex work fuelled by the mining industry. Despite being from the capital, 32 year-old Uka is intimately familiar with this stretch of transit. Uka has been earning a living as a sex worker in Mongolia for almost a decade.

The petite 32-year-old entered the industry to earn money after her daughter was born. She began in Ulaanbaatar, but now works along the border. Her clients –  truck drivers – sometimes don’t have cash, so they pay her in fuel. Uka would rather work for diesel then return to the conditions facing prostitutes in Ulaanbaatar.  

According to Uka, prostitutes in the capital face frequent violence from pimps and customers, but Ömnögovi is better. In contrast to the stigma felt in the city, she describes the border area as accepting and open. Uka explains that four or five women travel to the border area with a driver and rent a ger (a traditional round felted tent) to stay.

They need to travel in groups – it is dangerous to be a woman alone with so many truck drivers. Uka reaches up and adjusts an earring as she lists her rate: 50,000 MNT per act, with an hourly rate of 80,000 MNT and a daily rate of 200,000 MNT (roughly £14, £23 and £58). If the drivers don’t have cash, they pay in fuel: 40 or 50 litres of diesel for one act, 100 litres for one hour. The women then resell the fuel when they can for money.

Yet when Uka is soliciting in south Gobi, she is working without resources. “It’s risky there,” said Erdenesuren, of working near the Chinese border. “The ones who like to take risks go there.”

In Ulaanbaatar, there are STI awareness programmes and condom distribution, social workers like Erdenesuren try to check up on the women they know, but in the Gobi there is no such infrastructure. Uka explains how the women she works with buy contraceptives off one another when they run out, as there is no store to purchase more. Often customers don’t want to use them anyway.

Ulaanbaatar may offer prostitutes more contact with NGOs providing outreach, but it is a harsh environment for women working in the trade. Previously, Uka sold sex in a sauna in the capital where she alleges police and customers beat her. She claims ultra-nationalists target sex workers on the street and shave their heads to disgrace them. The Ulaanbaatar police did not respond to requests for comment on this story.Violence, drugs and sexual diseases | How de-regulating prostitution is failing women worldwide

In Mongolia, sex work is an occupation shrouded in shame and silence. Erdenesuren cites the cycle of humiliation and fear that keeps women from reaching out to the police and family: “It is better to have your bones broken, then your name dishonoured.”

Uka explains that people don’t openly talk about prostitution and why women end up in sex work. She left school after eighth grade and has few options to earn an income. “For some women, it is easier to open their legs than go to the factory,” said Lacaze, “because they have no diplomas. She is alone with children, she has to eat.”

Uka admits that her daughter has no idea how her mum earns an income. Her family believes she is a cook. In Ulaanbaatar, Minjuur tells her family that her nights are spent serving in a bar. Both women support multiple dependents with their earnings. “Nobody knows what they are doing, but everybody knows,” said Lacaze. “Everybody is complicit.”

The Nordic style house in the outskirts of Ulaanbaatar stands out against its surroundings, and its inhabitants are also trying to adapt. This is a safe house run by the Swedish anti-trafficking NGO Talita. It is privately funded with only four beds available.

Gaamaa occupies one of those beds. The tiny 22-year-old, in sweatpants and a t-shirt, looks like a university student relaxing between classes. She speaks softly. “If girls refuse to have sex, they abuse them and if they can’t change a girl, they sell her,” she said. “They call the trafficker and sell.”

Gaamaa has been bought and sold many times. In 2016, fleeing an abusive home, Gaamaa ended up at a sauna near the central railway station. There, in rooms with barred windows, she worked with four other women for a rate of 40,000 MNT for one hour and 60,000 MNT for two hours (roughly £11 and £17). Their madam supplied food and clothes, but never the money earned. The brothel sold her to another sauna when they found she was trying to escape, but not before she alleges being beaten as punishment and then raped by her attackers.

“Society think they [prostitutes] are garbage,” said Talita Mongolia founder and director Tserenchunt Byamba-Ochir. “There is no funding to protect victims, not one coin to protect victims of trafficking from the Mongolia government – they say we don’t have money for that.”

In 2017, the federal government cut funding to seven regional offices of Mongolia’s sole NGO designed to help sex workers – Perfect Ladies. Only three branches remain. Five women’s shelters operate, but four offer short term stays only. Talita’s Ulaanbaatar branch (the fifth shelter) is the sole long-term rehabilitation center for former prostitutes, and it is at capacity.Sex trafficking hot spot | Switzerland's disastrous prostitution laws

Eventually, Gaamaa was trafficked into China where she worked in multiple cities before a client helped her escape to the Mongolian embassy in Beijing. She arrived at Talita in late 2017.

Gaamaa used to shake as she talked about her experiences and she had nightmares. Now she wraps her arms around a stuffed bear and explains with a smile that she is looking into culinary college. But Gaamaa is also anxious about living in the capital, afraid that someone from her old life will recognise her.

Byamba-Ochir also has concerns. With many of the cases where Talita assists, the traffickers are not charged. Women feel intimidated and change their stories in court, or get pulled back into the trade. Gaamaa believes if she hadn’t been trafficked to China, she would still be a prostitute.

“Here in Mongolia they are not kind,” said Gaamaa. It’s really hard to escape here – it’s everywhere in Ulaanbaatar. It is very hard to escape Mongolia.” 

[identifying-cars-in-posts]

Can you tell me a fun fact about 2002 GMC Sonoma? I named my cat after this old truck at my old job and Im wondering if theres cool lore

sure, in fact i love the sonoma so much i’ll give you two!

the gmc sonoma was built on the same platform as the chevrolet s10, and both had suv versions in the gmc jimmy and chevy blazer. these models go back to the early 1980s and were some of the first domestically-built small trucks in the US. they succeeded the chevrolet LUV, one of the first two minitrucks sold in the united states, which was essentially a reskinned isuzu. smaller japanese cars were becoming popular in the 1970s because of their superior fuel economy and more convenient driving experience, so american car manufacturers rushed to meet the demand by collaborating with companies like mazda and isuzu and mitsubishi. the first generations of the american-made s10 and sonoma dropped in 1982, beating ford to the punch by a year and officially becoming the first domestic minitrucks in america

the first gen gmc sonoma was also the base for the first compact “muscle truck” - a minitruck with the guts and therefore performance of a muscle car - the gmc syclone! it was one of the fastest production cars in the world upon its release, famously beating a ferrari 348 in multiple drag races

[cdlhunter]

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