#welfare society

[ifoughttime]

You folks would be happy to know that the Government of Karnataka, a state in India made all their public bus fare free for ALL women residents of the state. The upside of this was they saw a surge of women travellers, especially rural women to tourist places they never had access to before! The program has been launched for nearly 8 months and the number of women passengers has not gone down.

They witnessed it was easier for more women to take up job opportunities outside of their hometowns because they have access to travel without spending a chunk of their paychecks on travel fares.

THIS 👆🏻👆🏻👆🏻👆🏻👆🏻👆🏻

[thenotebonthepiano]

rip regulus black you would definitely join the S.P.E.W.

[orcinus-veterinarius]

Sometimes I think about how when I was a little kid, I got an advertisement in the mail from HSUS asking people to write their state congresspeople about banning horse slaughter in the United States. Had a beautiful picture of a horse running wild and free on the envelope and provided a template to follow.

Little me wrote my representative, and I even got a response assuring me that they would support the bill. It ended up passing, and yay we saved the horsies!

Then I grew up and got a job in vet medicine, and was told by an experienced equine vet how because of that bill, horses whose owners either can’t or won’t have them euthanized will be sold to slaughter operations in Canada or Mexico, necessitating them to be transported sometimes hundreds of miles by trailer instead of being granted a swift, merciful death—which they often desperately need. One they would have if humane slaughter of horses was still legal in the United States.

So when I think about the HSUS backing the SWIMS Act, I get scared. Because somewhere out there, there’s going to be a sweet little kid who just loves animals writing their representative, asking them to save the whales. Without realizing they’re only making things worse.

[queerism1969]

[swordmaid]

think cannibalism should be a thing in menzoberranzan actually, or maybe it is and I haven’t known about it, but it should be a thing amongst the nobles where they eat rival lolth priestesses since they’re lolth’s fave sacrifices anyway. like if we’re all constantly vying for lolth’s approval, and you have these people who actually has her blessing (which is rare) why not….eat them….😳. like eating the priestess of a rival house would be a ritual after you’ve succeeded in bringing their house down as a way to consume lolth’s blessing, and its def an intimidation tactic and def one of the plenty weird shit nobles have done for the sake of playing their power games. maybe they eat males who are in power too if they’ve overstepped their position to remind them of their place in the hierarchy, or maybe matriarchs/nobles eat their favourite bed mate/partner so no one else can have them, kind of like actual spiders. anyway. if menzoberranzan is this immoral lethal and ruthless place cannibalism should def be a thing lol

[lyriumrain]

Frustrates me to no end that employed people think I'm just.... having the time of my life being unemployed. They see all my "free time" and think I'm just.... sipping champagne by beach all day every day or something. I've had a clinical psychologist say that "if he had all that free time he'd write a book"

-_-

[nando161mando]

We live in a society marked by injustice..

[mrkmciver]

#Predatory Capitalism

[isawthismeme]

[fluoritegalaxy]

Everything wrong with America today is Ronald Reagan's fault, and here's why. (Yes, this video has a couple cringey moments when they try to crack a joke, but the rest is highly informative.)

Trickledown economics was his idea. He applied the same thought process was applied to healthcare-- "competition will breed efficiency!" Not realizing that corners will be cut to keep costs down.

Cutting funding to social welfare programs and funding the police instead? His idea. He's also the creator of the horribly racist, "Welfare Queen," and the mentality that social welfare programs, like food stamps, would only encourage people to feed off of the system.

The AIDS epidemic was his fault-- he failed to adequately handle it, and didn't speak about it for four years. Imagine if Covid or even H1N1 had gone on that long before anyone did anything about it! He ignored it because he genuinely believed it was an act of God to wipe out gay people.

The student loan crisis? Reagan believed that higher education should be a luxury for the rich. He believed colleges shouldn't offer free education, saying they should instead offer student loans, and passed state tax cuts designed to subsidize higher education.

He tried to get rid of the Pell Grant-- designed to help students based on their financial standing.

Academic advisor to Reagan, Roger Freeman, is quoted as saying, "we are in danger of producing an educated proletariat... We have to be selective on who we allow to go through higher education."

We have Reagan to thank for the return of union busting after he fired over 11,000 air traffic control workers while on strike.

We need to start acknowledging all of the mistakes Reagan made if we *ever* want this country to change properly.

[gregor-samsung]

The Swedish Theory of Love (Erik Gandini, 2015)

[looking-at-the-deiwos]

Aryomḗn

Or as I write it Aryomén. Also found as Háryomēn (with a hard h like the ch in loch) or H₂eryo-men. His name means something like "the God of how we do things"

Aryomén is the god of peace, law, contracts, trade, roads, marriage, healing and social order. He is the god of the Dhḗtis, the norms that society has put in place in order for harmony to exist between humans. This stands in contrast to Dyéus, who presides over the Ártus, the cosmic natural law of the universe.

Aryomén enforces justice, contracts and oaths. He presides over the orderly and successful continuation of society. He is a special patron of lawyers, but also of all those others who contribute to the infrastructure of society: road workers, sewage cleaners, bus drivers, etc.

Áryomen also is a patron of roads, marriage and healing, as institutions helpful in restoring and fostering welfare in society.

Offerings

taken from here

Hoberman sphere

other structures of individual parts with connections, especially flexible ones

stone circle

grove or personal seal

braid of white, red, and black cords (three functions: white - priestly, red - warrior, black - producers)

symbols of law, like the scales held by the goddess Justice.

White, red, and black beads

Devotional acts

Speak your mind and be honest in all your dealings

Help to solve conflicts, either of yourself or others

Learn about the laws of your country

Vote if you can

Stay up to date on local politics

Support local activism groups

Volunteer in or support welfare programs

Associations

White, red and black

Gold (UPG)

Justice

Marriage

Healing

Roads

Infrastructure

September

Thursday

Descendants in later pantheons

Aryaman (Vedic)

Airyaman (Iranic)

Érimón (Celtic)

Ariomanus (Celtic)

[hinge]

Not-So FAQ for LGBTQIA+ daters

A growing resource addressing LGBTQIA+ daters' most pressing questions

Hear more about #HingeNFAQ from Roxane and Debbie at https://hinge.nfaq.co

[wafflinglumos]

Hermione Granger, Regulus Black, and house elf injustice.

Hermione Granger and Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare, or, S.P.E.W, and the bad execution of it.

Hermione saw house elves as equal, she saw the lack of care in their jobs, the lack of holidays and pay, the lack of care or the house elves, and tried to free them from that, in a rather emotionally charged way and maybe with not the best execution, however, she cared and was a fourteen-fifteen year old girl who saw injustice, who faced the same injustice from the same Wizarding world, and wanted to fix it in the only way that she could that worked.

She cared for their justice, she worked tirelessly to achieve it and for the most part she had eventually achieved. While she may favour some house elves over others do to personal relationships with them we can actively see Hermione’s care for house elf rights as a whole. Made badges, petitions, etc etc. While you could argue it was done poorly, she again was a teenage girl who saw an injustice and wanted to fix it, which with by the time she was Minister, she had.

However, again, she was a terribly flawed activist, lovely idea, very, very poor execution. Her heart was in the right place, sure, and she was much more new to this than Ron, so yes her immediate attempts at helping them were in the right, but the execution was rather terrible. We do get to see her eventually go at in a better way. Still good idea, bad execution.

Regulus Black and superiority.

Regulus didn’t care for house elves as a whole, or at the very least, we have no evidence to support that, we have in fact, the exact opposite. Regulus supported Voldemort on a much deeper level compared to his parents, his parents got cold feet, and Regulus continued to support him, had a shrine of him, worshipped him if anything. He thoroughly believed in Voldemort’s beliefs, as did his parents. Regulus Arcturus Black was a Death Eater.

He was also however a Black, first and foremost, which is what I think is most likely what drove to his betrayal. Voldemort had wounded Kreacher and left him for dead, Kreacher would technically be “property” of the house of Black, so Voldemort hurting something so brutally that Regulus deemed as his probably was the driving force that drove to his betrayal. Regulus still had those pureblood beliefs, realistically speaking, so it wasn’t because he suddenly started thinking muggleborns were equal or that muggles should even exist.

He still loved his mother if that’s anything to go by, as Regulus was ordered not to tell as to not harm his family, it’s not specified if Orion was included as he died the same year as Regulus but it’s not stated if it was before or after, and Sirius had been disowned and was an order member so it also did not include him. This also furthers pushes Regulus’ still belief in Voldemort’s belief but no longer his cause.

Muggleborn vs Pureblood.

Hermione’s care for house elves as a whole versus Regulus’ care for only Kreacher, can be pinned down to various things in their characters, but I’m going to point out the major one. Hermione is a muggleborn, and Regulus was a wealthy pureblood. Hermione knew of the scrutiny in the wizarding world, but Regulus had participated in it.

Regulus wouldn’t have loved SPEW, maybe wouldn’t have hated it but surely wouldn’t have loved it, definitely wouldn’t have cared for Hermione.

Hermione cared about house elves and justice, and Regulus cared for his family. That is what makes their relationship with house elves different.

[orcinus-veterinarius]

I'm so sick of the cetacean community right now. A Bigg's orca (I believe T109A3 Spong) stranded & passed away yesterday, leaving her two year old calf behind. I got into an argument with the Orca Behavior Institute over whether the calf should be rescued & rehabbed by humans, but they said that it could risk permanently spending the rest of its life "in captivity." Frustrated, I called them out on preferring to let a baby whale starve to death than live in human care & I literally got harassed by their followers. One even called me a troll. The point is that I'm fed up with them & I was wondering if there are other organizations out there that I can support who work to protect & study wild orcas without having such a radical bias against captivity?

I hear you. I have not commented on this situation yet because it truly appalls me. To be clear, I don't think there's a need yet for human intervention beyond getting the calf into open water so it can reunite with its mother's pod. At two years old, this isn't a Toa situation, and the little one should theoretically be able to survive if extended family members adopt it. If worst comes to worst, a temporary sea pen (as was done with A73 Springer) would be a better solution than permanent captivity, since this calf is healthy and is from a known pod (unlike Morgan, who was neither).

Keeping wild animals wild is everyone's priority, and marine parks aren't just sitting around greedily rubbing their hands together waiting to swoop in and make a quick buck. In fact, taking the calf into human care would be the opposite of a quick buck, but that's not the conversation here. If the calf fails to reunite with its pod in time or its condition deteriorates, more extreme human intervention may be necessary for its survival. Again, I don't think that will happen, but if it did... certain groups will advocate for the calf to be left to starve. Because any whale is "better dead than fed" (yes, people unironically say this). And they're proud of that belief.

My favorite Salish Sea organization is SR3 (Sealife Response + Rehab + Research), and I highly recommend checking them out. Another good one is the SeaDoc Society, which is actually affiliated with the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine.

[thepastisalreadywritten]

When disaster strikes or animals are suffering, HSI can respond quickly because of YOU.

Your donation today also makes all the difference for animals tomorrow. 🤍

bit.ly/44TK077

[small-but-mighty]

"They said it was a....."

A situation that seems to keep happening more and more. "I have a female (insert species here) and I got another one from (insert place here). They told me it was a female, but it's a male. Now I have more than I can handle!"

Something we always say at work: small animals are good at being prey animals. They reach sexual maturity at a young age, they get pregnant and give birth in a short span of time, they have large litters, and they can get pregnant again right after giving birth. All of this leads to an increasing numbers of small animals entering the shelters. Or worse, living in unsanitary conditions caused by the sheer number of animals being cared for by a limited number of individuals.

Who is to blame for this? It's not an easy question to answer. But I think it's again, something that society is to blame for.

Pet store employees (I can personally confirm this from experience) are not always taught how to correctly sex the animals in which they sell. While hamsters and rats are easier to tell, rabbits and guinea pigs are not. Some of the corporate pet stores have policies and regulations that definitely helps the problem. For example, PetSmart stores only sell one sex per store. So one store will only have males, and another store will only have females. Therefore, if people purchase more than of the same species, there won't be any surprises one morning. Even this practice may not always be perfect, and there are times when the opposite sex makes it into the stores. Most stores don't have a policy like this in place at all, so the chances of the same sexes ending up together are substantially higher. I have even heard of people purchasing a single female, and it giving birth in their home. My boyfriend tells me a story often, of how when he was growing up he had some gerbils that they bought, and they ended up being the opposite sexes, so they kept breeding. But his family would just sell them back to the store where they bought them from. So perhaps for some of these smaller businesses there could even be a slight benefit to selling the opposite sexes. They can cut out a middle man and breed the animals themselves or get them from unprofessionals for a lower cost.

Of course pet stores can't be the only thing to blame. I've spoken before on how individuals get an animal who they perceive as an easier or beginner pet in the stores. They often just purchase them on a whim with little to no education about them. (You can read further on this in the Smallies vs. Society post). So to some extent these individuals can be to blame as well. When welcoming any new animal into your home, I can not emphasize enough the importance of researching what you are taking on. At least that's the responsible thing to do. With research people could learn how to sex an animal themselves, and even learn the importance of spay and neutering.

That brings up my next point, is the cost and risk of spaying and neutering. Most small animals are considered exotics, therefore require care from an exotics trained veterinarian. That can be quite expensive even just for a wellness exam. I've heard of rabbit sterilization surgeries costing up to $500. I've also heard of veterinarians not performing the surgery at all after the animal is past a certain age. This is because of just how sensitive smallies are under anesthesia. The older they are, the higher the risk of complications or even not waking up. There are even some species where sterilization surgery isn't a common practice just because of how prone to complications they are. Guinea Pig are one of those species. While the surgeries can be performed, it's not commonly done, even for shelters. I speak from experience when I say it is not worth the risk infection. At least not when the animals are properly sexed and separated. Due to these barriers sterilization isn't always an option for everybody or every situation.

I want to make it known, that I don't feel that everybody in these accidental breeding situations are at fault. Especially when buying from a pet store, individuals have trust in who they believe to be professionals working there. That trust, is broken far too often. I will forever be an advocate for shelters. If you are interested in adding a new animal to your home, you'd be surprised how many shelters have smallies! You can find them on petfinder.com under the "other" tab. Reach out to shelters, rescues, and humane societies with any questions you may have. They are there to educate along with finding animals homes. I'm sure they'd be happy to give you information, and help you find the perfect addition to your family. Adopting not Shopping will always be a fantastic option!

Note: I wanted to let everyone know, that every animal whose photo I have used in this post, is from one of these exact situations I've spoken about in this post.