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We're offering a large selection of slop and abysmal dogshit today if anyone's interested

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is jopping a slur?

LMAO

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I think it's very funny that the new american pope is actually peruvian american and chose to shout out peru in spanish and not the US

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our father, who art in chicago,

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*guy who is very clearly going through. something* oh yknow. just a little tired haha

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Hi welcome to mcdonalds Do you waive your right to a fair trial

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went to the pittsburgh aviary yesterday and this little beast’s name is Elizabeth. the docent said she loves wheels and jewelry. Elizabeth walked up to my wheelchair & tried to eat my ring off my finger. we love a predictable queen

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and if yes pls respond/put in the tags with what you’re reading and whether or not you like it i need new books for the new year <3

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“I can see it. This one moment when you know you’re not a sad story. You are alive. And you stand up and see the lights on the buildings and everything that makes you wonder. And you’re listening to that song, on that drive with the people you love most in this world. And in this moment, I swear, we are infinite.” The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012) dir. Stephen Chbosky

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I am from just outside where the worst of Helene hit in NC. Though my house and my city are relatively unaffected, I have friends and family that are not safe and will not be in a place of stability for weeks, or even possibly, months.

The biggest issue with relief efforts is that more than 400 roads have been shut down throughout the mountains, including the major I-40 connecting the Western part of the state to the rest of the state through the Piedmont and into the Coast. I-26, which cuts through Asheville and then down into South Carolina, is more functional, but still has parts closed to all except for relief trucks. The NC Department of Transportation said to consider all roads in WNC closed. That means places in 25 counties including parts of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is closed off from aid.

This means that aid can only reach the more remote counties through airdrops. But due to residual high winds post-Helene, air relief hasn't been able to reach some of those areas until today. Which means that some places haven't had fresh food or water since last Wednesday (today is Tuesday, October 1).

Water treatment facilities that serve Buncombe County (where Asheville is) and Haywood County (where my grandfather, aunt & uncle, and friends live) are beyond repair. They will need to be rebuilt. This could take months to even be functional.

One of my dearest friends lives in Spruce Pine, NC, which is outside of Boone, NC (where Appalachian State University is). I was finally able to talk to him on Saturday night for a few minutes. He explained that Spruce Pine is gone. Wiped out. Utterly destroyed. It's a town for retirees and adventure-seekers. And it's all gone.

My friend takes his kayak out on the river and delivers water to elderly people so that they can flush their toilets. He has searched the local grocery stores that were flooded for any salvageable food or medicine. But a cop stopped him, saying that even in such an emergency state, he cannot steal from corporations.

Absolute bullshit.

What some people tend to forget is that the lack of cell service and power means that people in those places don't know what's going on. I had to explain to my friend the efforts to reach them. That they aren't the only town gone. The only people suffering. That help is coming.

But I can't tell him when.

I am so grateful that people are donating to Asheville. It's a beautiful city that is such an integral part of my life.

But places like Spruce Pine are being forgotten or ignored for the popularity of Asheville.

Because of the size and remoteness of places like Spruce Pine or Canton, and because of the larger population of elderly folk that live in those areas, people cannot reach the aid that is being provided. It's so, so dangerous to travel on roads in the mountains without risking mudslides.

Here is a list of the NC counties and where fresh water can be accessed.

Please notice how many counties only have access to one single truck. How many people will be limited to a bottle or two of water a day. A single truck. For a whole county of people. Haywood County. Where my family is.

And I can't get to them. No one can get to them. The roads are gone.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is the national-level disaster relief foundation. As of the end of August, their allocated funds equal around 440 million dollars.

5 days ago, Biden sent 8.7 BILLION dollars for Israel's military.

Biden cares more to fund a war for Israel. A war to kill civilians, to destroy homeland, to exponentially raise gas emissions to further erode the environment.

I'm so upset. I'm so tired. But I'm also safe, in my own home, with a full stomach and access to gas and running water.

I know this addition is long and a bit all over the place, but it's all I can fucking do to help my people and my state.

Aid and disaster relief is not a partisan issue. It is not a classist issue. Or at least, it shouldn't be any of these things. Survival should never be a struggle in the "greatest country in the world."

ALL OF THIS TO SAY:

Please don't ignore or forget about the towns and counties that are suffering just as much as Asheville and Buncombe County. I'm going to link some more donation sites:

United Way: this link will take you to a page where you can donate to different counties, or you can just click on the general NC donation page.

All Hands and Hearts: while not location-specific, this organization sends volunteer teams to help with disaster clean-up and rebuilding.

Mitchell County gofundme: this has been vetted!! this is where Spruce Pine is located. Mitchell County also is where Mount Mitchell is located -- the highest peak on the east side of the Mississippi River.

And finally, I'm going to provide some informative links down here in case you want more information specific to the devastation in WNC:

The News & Observer provides a county-by-county summary of the effects of Hurricane Helene, including power loss, fatalities, and accessibility.

The Governor's Office provided this summary of the current relief efforts.

Jeff Jackson (former NC Senate member and current Attorney General candidate) makes TikTok videos describing & explaining the decisions that government officials make (if you ever need an easy-to-understand and quick explanation of partisan decisions, Jackson does a great job of making politics accessible for people who are less-informed). Of course right now, his main focus is Helene relief. The link I provided goes to his facebook account.

Please don't forget Western NC. Please don't forget Appalachia.

wnc is in very bad shape and so is western south carolina. ill probably be posting about it a lot. we are safe at my mom’s place in atl, and our friends are all accounted for but most are in fairly rough shape with no power and no water. some (though i know they are safe) i have no way of speaking to. please consider donating to BeLoved Asheville. they do a lot of fantastic work and organize a lot of mutual aid in AVL and the surrounding areas. they are also currently distributing goods.

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Photos and words taken from various Facebook posts:

Appalachia was never prepared for this.

I’m sharing in hopes to raise more awareness and also to encourage any type of support that can be provided to Appalachians.

Entire towns have essentially just been washed away. So many people have lost everything they had, some even losing loved ones.

Below are some organizations I have been seeing locals share to help with the recovery efforts:

-RISE Erwin https://gofund.me/bad8e5ab

-American Red Cross https://www.redcross.org/donate/dr/hurricane-helene.html

-Unicoi County Animal Shelter https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=QRXK7CAJK2GCE

-Report Missing Persons 1-800-824-3463

-United Way of East TN Highlands https://unitedwayetnh.org/help/

There is a lot more to the NC Mountains than Asheville.

Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, Vilas, Sugar Grove, Elk Park, West Jefferson, Black Mountain, Swannanoa, Sylva, Cullowhee, Brevard, Bryson City, Hendersonville, Cherokee, Waynesville, Burnsville, Candler, Canton, Spruce Pine, Chimney Rock, Lake Lure, Linville, Marshall, Maggie Valley, Newland, Grandfather, Beech Mountain, Sugar Mountain, Old Fort, Morganton, Marion are just a few of the cities and towns that have been flooded and/or destroyed. The counties of Yancey, Mitchell, Avery, Ashe, Watauga, Transylvania, Burke, Caldwell, Alleghany, Madison, Buncombe, McDowell, Rutherford, Polk, Henderson, Haywood, Jackson, Macon, Clay, Cherokee, and Swain are devastated and in need of the same help, some even more.

Other counties that fall under various definitions of Western North Carolina include: Alexander County, Catawba County, Cleveland County, Surry County and Yadkin County. When these counties are added, they form a total regional area of roughly 11,750 square miles (30,400 km2). This makes the region roughly the size of Massachusetts. Western North Carolina holds 11% of the state's population.

There are millions of people up there with no electricity, no communication, no water, and no way to get out or let rescue teams even know where they are. I am not taking anything away from Asheville and the utter destruction there or any other areas in NC that have damage. The level of destruction is unimaginable. But it's not one or two cities or towns that are in need of help.

This does not include the destroyed areas in the Tennessee mountains, Western Virginia, Georgia, or South Carolina.

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hey yall:

the southern appalachians are facing catastrophic damage after hurricane helene, what people have been calling a thousand-year storm. the region will forever be changed by this event. entire towns have been washed away, there are currently no open roads out of much of the region, and power and cell signal is scattered.

across the southeast people have been running supply drives and fundraising to get aid into the affected areas. mutualaiddisasterrelief and mergoat.mag on instagram are currently platforming a lot of supply drives and updates. please also check their posts if you’re not in the southeast- there’s lots of groups accepting donations right now to fund supplies for people on the ground.

this photo is out of asheville, nc

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appalachia is devastated. towns i loved, towns i visited all the time, are gone. not damaged, GONE. they are leveled to the ground. there is nothing left but rubble and ruin. people are dead. appalachia is poor to begin with and relies on tourism for a lot of its income, and multiple of those tourist locations are just...gone.

my town is okay, but it's flooded and wrecked. trees are blocking all but one way out of our neighborhood. power lines are hanging limp in the roads. we've been without power for over 24 hours and will continue to be without power for likely another 24+. disabled people and poor people are GOING to die from this. gods save appalachia.

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most unstable girl you know: i need to get a masters degree

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CHAPPELL ROAN at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards — September 11, 2024