#Los Angeles food coalition

[victoriapedroza]

Devendra Banhart @ Kitchen Sink Festival 2

Fundraiser for Los Angeles Food Coalition

The Lodge Room. December 19th, 2023

purgatorie

[iww-gnv]

Disneyland employees who perform as various Disney characters at the theme park are seeking to join the Actor’s Equity Association, which represents everything from actors on Broadway to strippers in Los Angeles. The union is seeking to represent the 1,700 Disneyland employees in the characters and parades departments at the park. It said after three days of collecting cards signed by employees, it already has more than the 30% support needed to file for a representation vote with the National Labor Relations Board, which oversees such elections. But it said it is waiting until it has the support of at least 60% before filing for such a vote or seeking voluntary recognition of the union by Disney. Performers doing the same work at Disney World in Orlando, Florida, are already in a union and have been for years. And until recently the Disney World performers were paid more than their Disneyland counterparts, according to the union. The union contract reached between a coalition of unions and management at Disney World last year pays the performers a minimum hourly wage that ranges from $21.30 to $23.00, according to the union. The Disneyland performers had been getting $20 an hour until the union organizing drive began late last year. The minimum pay went up to $24.15 an hour at the end of last year, according to the union. But the cost of living is significantly greater in Orange County, California, where Disneyland is located, than in Orlando. According to data from the Council for Community and Economic Research, the cost of living is 50% greater in Orange County, California. Housing costs, which are more than twice as expensive, are the primary reason, but prices are higher across multiple categories. There are more than 21,000 Disneyland employees, who are referred to as cast members by the company, who are represented by more than a dozen unions. Those unionized jobs include everything from retail and food service workers to security guards, hair and make-up artists and pyrotechnic workers. But not the performers who dress up as characters such as Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck and Goofy and interact with visitors.

[kp777]

By Julia Conley

Common Dreams

May 08, 2024

"The Democratic establishment is dysfunctionally out of touch with its voters on this issue," said one strategist.

A day after U.S. President Joe Biden commemorated the Holocaust, speaking about Americans' "obligation to learn the lessons of history" to ensure another mass slaughter of a religious or ethnic group never takes place, new polling showed the majority of U.S. voters whose support Biden is counting on in November believe Israel—with U.S. backing—is now committing genocide.

Journalist Mehdi Hasan's new media organization, Zeteo, partnered with progressive think tank Data for Progress to poll 1,265 U.S. voters from April 26-29, as Israel's ground invasion of Rafah loomed, threatening more than 1 million Palestinians in Gaza who have been forcibly displaced since October.

The poll released Wednesday found that 56% of Democratic voters believe Israel is committing a genocide against Palestinians in the enclave, where in addition to constant bombings and ground attacks, residents have faced Israel's blockade on nearly all humanitarian aid. The blockade has pushed northern Gaza into famine and is causing acute food insecurity among the entire population.

Nearly 40% of all voters believe Israel is committing a genocide, and 7 in 10 support a permanent cease-fire.

More than 50% of voters said Israel's full-scale assault on Gaza, where 2.3 million Palestinians live, has been ineffective at bringing the Israeli hostages kidnapped by Hamas on October 7 to safety.

Fifty-four percent said they support suspending all U.S. arms sales to Israel until it stops blocking American humanitarian aid from entering Gaza. Such a suspension would be in accordance with Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961.

Israel and the U.S. have repeatedly claimed that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is taking steps to protect the lives of civilians—even as the world has learned of mass graves found with the bodies of Palestinian women and children, some with their hands tied behind their backs. In April, Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham of +972 Magazine reported that military officials have permitted up to 100 civilian deaths for every Hamas member killed, and that the IDF has targeted Hamas fighters in their homes instead of at military outposts.

The Zeteo/Data for Progress poll was released more than four months after the International Court of Justice announced an interim ruling that Israel is "plausibly" committing genocide, which came after South Africa brought its case to the United Nations court.

South African attorney Tembeka Ngcukaitobi gave a 22-minute speech during the hearing, cataloging the numerous genocidal statements made by top Israeli officials since October, up to that point. Last week, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called for the "total annihilation" of Gaza cities including Rafah.

The poll was also released as mass protests continued on college campuses across the U.S., with police aggressively cracking down at many schools as they ignore attacks on students by pro-Israel mobs, as in the case of University of California, Los Angeles last week.

A separate poll released Wednesday by USA Today and Suffolk University found that Democratic voters are split in their views of the movement. Thirty percent supported the protests, while 39% agreed with their demands but questioned some of their tactics. Two-thirds of respondents said they feared more violent confrontations would arise from the protests.

The Data for Progress survey is the latest sign that Biden, who signed a foreign aid package including $17 billion in additional military aid for Israel last month, faces widespread discontent among the coalition of voters that supported him in 2020. In January, The Economist and YouGov found that a full 50% of people who voted for him believed Israel was committing genocide.

More than 100,000 Democratic primary voters in Michigan—which Biden won by just 150,000 votes in 2020—voted for "uncommitted" on their ballots in February, hoping to send the message to the president that U.S. support for Israel must end. Similar results were seen in primaries in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Washington state.

Strategist Nadia Rahman said the poll shows the Democratic establishment is "dysfunctionally out of touch with its voters on this issue."

"This is some of the clearest data yet that there's a massive disconnect between the media and what's happening on the ground," said journalist Ed Oswald. "And why yes, Biden's re-election is in big trouble."

[fuckyeahmarxismleninism]

Los Angeles: Join the MLK People's March & Vigil

Monday, January 15

Gather 2 p.m. @ MLK Blvd. & Western Ave

March 3 p.m.

Vigil 5 p.m.

No to U.S./Israeli Genocide in Gaza!

Money for Food, Housing, Jobs, Healthcare & Education - Not for War & Genocide!

Gather 2pm MLK Blvd & Western Ave for March to a Vigil in Africa Town Square to honor fallen warriors from Dr King to Kwazi Nkrumah and the over 30,000 Palestinians, 60% women and children, martyred by US/Israeli monstrous weapons of genocide.

Orgs: Harriet Tubman Center for Social Justice, Black Alliance for Peace, Al-Awda Right to Return Coalition, Martin Luther King Coalition of Greater LA, Union del Barrio, Black Autonomy, Code Pink, Harvard Blvd Block Club, Justice for Palestine - LA, Anakbayan, All African Peoples Revolutionary Party, Black Men Build, Diaspora Pa'lante

[plethoraworldatlas]

Migrant rights defenders on Thursday cheered a federal court ruling ordering U.S. Customs and Border Protection to stop holding undocumented minors in squalid open-air detention sites in Southern California and to transfer all children held in such locations to "safe and sanitary" spaces.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) contended that people held in the open-air detention sites (OADS) are not yet in U.S. custody. However, Judge Dolly Gee of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in Los Angeles issued a 12-page ruling that found migrant children are entitled to protection under the Flores Settlement Agreement, which established national minimum standards for the treatment of detained minors.

Gee found that CBP violated the 1997 agreement by detaining children in unsafe and unsanitary conditions, failing to properly feed them, and taking too long to process them at seven sites near San Diego and Jacumba Hot Springs. Migrants detained in these OADS have waited as long as five days before being transfered to indoor lockups.

"The court's decision to recognize CBP's custody of children in open-air detention sites is a crucial step towards ensuring accountability and protection for vulnerable migrants," said Lilian Serrano, director of Southern Border Communities Coalition, a case plaintiff.

"There are minimum standards that must be followed if CBP will be detaining families, children, and other people," Serrano added. "We are pleased to see the federal court acknowledge this fundamental truth. Now we expect the agency to comply with the court's order immediately."

As the number of migrants entering the United States without authorization has surged during President Joe Biden's tenure, U.S. border authorities have forced migrants—including people legally seeking asylum—into OADS, where they face what case plaintiff National Center for Youth Law (NCYL) called "profoundly inhumane conditions."

NCYL said migrant children are "forced to take shelter from harsh rain and wind in porta-potties, burn toxic brush and garbage to stay warm, and survive on nothing more than a granola bar and a bottle of water each day."

...

"But it remains a tragedy that a court had to direct the government to do what basic human decency and the law clearly require," Desai added. "We expect CBP to comply with the court's order swiftly, and we remain committed to holding CBP accountable for meeting the most rudimentary needs of children in their legal custody, including food, shelter, and basic medical care."

[firstumcschenectady]

“Changing the Narrative” based on Deuteronomy 15:1-4 and Matthew 26:1-16

I grew up in the country, and went to college in rural New Hampshire, so when I started interning as a pastor in urban Los Angeles, …. well, there was a big learning curve. I was scared of cities, because they were just new to me, and I found them overwhelming. Los Angeles is a major urban center, and like most of our urban centers it has dazzling wealth and heartbreaking poverty. Homelessness is an especially huge problem in Los Angeles because people spend their live savings to get there expecting to “make it big” by walking down the street and having a producer hire them for a major movie. Also, it isn't cold there, so there aren't networks of code blue shelters.

I worked at a wonderful church, the Hollywood United Methodist Church, and in ways similar to here, the congregation itself was a mixture of the housed and the unhoused, and no conversation about the church happened without awareness of their unhoused neighbors. One of the most distressing moments of my life was in getting to know the unhoused in the Hollywood Church and those who lived around it, and realizing that many of them were the same population as the people I cared for at Sky Lake Special Needs camps. That the most vulnerable among us were living the hardest lives is a lesson I've never gotten over. While I served there we would also go to Skid Row – the poorest part of Los Angeles - and serve meals, an experience that wiped any lingering blinders I had about the justice of unfettered competitive capitalism.

After my first year interning at Hollywood, I went on a mission trip to Cuba with Volunteers in Mission. We started in Havana, and eventually drove east to the site where we would work. After several days on the road I finally realized that I was tense all the time because it constantly felt like we were about to slip into a neighborhood like Skid Row, and I expected the punch to the stomach that I'd experienced in seeing Skid Row. But, in Cuba, everything felt like the neighborhood before you got to jaw-dropping poverty. But you never got to jaw-dropping poverty. This was 2004, and I've since learned that in the early years after the US embargo there really wasn't enough enough food, but by 2004 the island had figured out how to feed and house everyone sufficiently – even though cement crumbled and drug stores were largely bare.

There wasn't much panhandling in Cuba either. There was a little bit, in tourist spots, but our hosts pointed out that because everyone is housed and fed in Cuba, the panhandling was for extra money, not for for basics. I ended up going back to Cuba a few years later, and had very similar experiences. Like the metaphors of a fish being unable to understand water, it took leaving unfettered competitive capitalism for me to be able to see it.

This week I had the chance to attend a conversation led by the Labor and Religion Coalition on the New York State Budget. Many of us are familiar with the Federal Poverty Line, right? And we're also familiar with it's limitations, namely that it is abysmally low and a person or family living above that line will still be struggling to make ends meet. You may already know about the United Way measure “ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed)”, but I didn't. (Can't tell you if I hadn't heard it or hadn't retained it though. Shrug.)

ALICE is a measure of who isn't making ends meet in society. Fabulously, United Way does an amazing amount of work with the data on Alice. For instance, in NYS 14% of people live under the poverty line. Another 30% of people are in ALICE, and 56% of people are “doing OK” and making ends meet. The numbers a bit worse in Schenectady – in our city 49.8 people live below the ALICE threshold, which is to say that HALF of the people in this city aren't making ends meet.

What was particularly interesting in the presentation this week was the visual on recent poverty rates.

Namely, that during 2020, when the government focused on responding to people's needs with stimulus checks, child tax credits, and expansion of SNAP benefits, people living under the national poverty line hit a 20 year LOW.

And since then, the rates have been creeping back up. The work of the Labor and Religion Coalition and their partners The Poor People's campaign includes asking NYS to readjust it's priorities. Stop having regressive tax laws that benefit corporations and the wealthy, and use the income gained to bring greater support for the most vulnerable.

Compared to how we have been operating as a society, this feels like a PIPE DREAM. There so many barriers, so many counter arguments, so much fear of the accusation of “raising taxes.” But then I read the Bible, and I read it with the guidance of Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis and Rev. Dr. William Barber, and God is behind that pipe dream.

Which, for me at least, means it is possible.

Which means we can dream about what it would feel like to live in a society where everyone is housed, and housed adequately. Archaeology suggests that in the first 400 years of Ancient Israelite society – the years before kings – all the houses were about the same size. Which means that society was organized around mutual care for each other and sharing of resources. I've been shocked to learn from the book “The Dawn of Everything” by David Graeber and David Wengrow that MANY ancient societies were really egalitarian like that, including ones with major urban centers, including ones that were stable for many centuries. The ancient Hebrews weren't an outlier.

The Hebrew Bible, though, gets really clear on what is needed to create a society where people care for each other. Everyone needs access to resources – in their case land. Did you know that in Hawaii the native people divvied up the land like really narrow pieces of pie because they knew every group of people needed access to the resources of both the land and the sea? God has worked with peoples in so many times and places to take care of each other, and that means it is possible. Liz Theoharis sufficiently mentions the other rules, “forgiving debts, raising wages, outlawing slavery, and restructuring society around the needs of the poor.”1 That's what we hear in Deuteronomy today. That's what Jesus reflect on in the gospel.

I'm struck by her clear statement that “charity will not end poverty.” It reminds me of the Simone Weil quote, “It is only by the grace of God that the poor can forgive the rich the bread they feed them.” As long as we have a society that makes some people rich BY making other people poor we'll have lots and lots of opportunities for charity, but nothing will change.

Our work, I believe, is the work of “narrative takeover.” For us, it may take some time. There is a lot in this unfettered competitive capitalism that we've been trained not to see, or to think is necessary, or acceptable, and the work we're doing with “We Cry Justice” this year helps us reframe the narrative.

What IS the purpose of a society? If it is to fulfill “there will be no need among you,” then we know what direction to turn in, even it it will be a long journey to get there. It is funny, isn't it? That people know the quote “the poor you will always have with you” but they don't know that the implication of it is “as long as you fail to follow what God is asking of you.”

So I invite us to this dream. What would it be like to live in a society that houses people well, where everyone had enough nutritious food, where healthcare can accessed? Can you even dream it? What are the implications? I think life would be easier for teachers – because so many barriers to learning would be eliminated. If those who spend their lives fighting to make ends meet were able to focus there gifts elsewhere, what could they offer? We would be able to offer great care to those who are aging, those who are young, and those with special needs – none of which we're doing now. People fighting to survive might then have energy for art, music, gardening, and other wonderful things that would enrich their lives and the lives of those around them! I suspect mental health would increase, because the fundamental fear of falling through the safety net wouldn't keep people up at night, and because there would be less stress, and more time for people to connect with those they love. Lives would probably get longer, violence would decrease, ERs would be less crowded, I think there might even be less litter and faster scientific progress. OH, and just that quick reminder- studies say that housing everyone, and feeding everyone, and getting healthcare to everyone would COST US LESS AS A SOCIETY THAN HOW WE DO IT NOW.

Kinda makes you wonder who benefits from how we do it now, doesn't it?

OK, that's probably about as much fish trying to see the water as we can take for a day. But I'd love to hear from you what else WILL happen when we make God's dreams a reality.... let's keep on building that narrative for each other, until we can see the dream clearly and then see the ways we are most gifted at moving towards it. May there be no need among us. Amen

1Liz Theoharis “1: Is Ending Poverty Possible?” in We Cry Justice, ed. Liz Theoharis (Minneapolis: Broadleaf Books, 2021) used with permission.

Rev. Sara E. Baron 

First United Methodist Church of Schenectady 

603 State St. Schenectady, NY 12305 

Pronouns: she/her/hers 

http://fumcschenectady.org/ 

https://www.facebook.com/FUMCSchenectady

January 28, 2024

[longlistshort]

Whitmer Thomas- Everything that Feels Good Is Bad

This song by comedian and musician Whitmer Thomas, is from his 2022 album, The Older I Get The Funnier I Was.

On Tuesday, 12/19, he will be one of the many performers taking part in the Kitchen Sink Festival at Lodge Room in Los Angeles. The event is a benefit for the Hollywood Food Coalition.

[dertaglichedan]

And then there were 113. That is how many illegal aliens have been bussed to Los Angeles from Texas. A third migrant bus arrived in Los Angeles Thursday afternoon with 30 passengers, nine of them children.

Is Governor Newsom on vacation or maybe out in the country campaigning for Old Yeller? I haven’t heard any squawking from him about how horrible red state governors are who send illegal aliens to his state. Nonetheless, Newsom has declared California to be a sanctuary state and Karen Bass, the Mayor of Los Angeles, proudly proclaims that Los Angeles is a sanctuary city. So, what’s the problem? All are welcome, right?

Thirty illegal aliens at a time should be easily absorbed in the city’s services network for illegal immigrants. Just think if California received the numbers that Texas does every single day. I guess it would be a-ok then, but if they are bussed in by Governor Abbott, then it is bad. They are voluntarily moved to locations outside of Texas. They are essentially given free transportation to where they want to go.

Jorge-Mario Cabrera, a spokesperson for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA) admitted the migrants appeared to be in good health and even though the bus allegedly had a mechanical malfunction, the air-conditioning was working just fine. CHIRLA is a member of the L.A. Welcomes Collective, a network of immigrant rights, legal services providers and faith organizations which has been providing support services to the migrants. Networks like this benefit from the illegal immigration crisis. “We didn’t have anybody check in with first responders, which were available,” Cabrera said in describing the condition of the newly arrived migrants.

The truth is that the inhumane treatment comes from human traffickers and coyotes who help the migrants get to the border to cross onto American soil. Once in the United States, they receive the services they need. Migrant buses from Texas are stocked with food and water for the passengers. If they are ill, they receive medical attention, not put on a bus to be transferred out of state.

Local city and county officials and volunteers were alerted that the bus was coming.

Zach Seidl, spokesperson for L.A. Mayor Karen Bass, said in a statement that the city continues to work with the county and a coalition of nonprofit organizations “to execute a plan set in place earlier this year.”

“As we have before, when we became aware of the bus yesterday, we activated our plan,” Seidl said.

Volunteers had expected 35 migrants to arrive in L.A. from Brownsville, Texas, but later were told that five people from Venezuela were dropped off in Salome, Ariz., and the rest of the group continued on to Southern California, Cabrera said.

The 30 remaining migrants who made it to L.A. were originally from Venezuela, Mexico, Haiti and China, he said. The group included nine children ranging in age from less than 1 year old to 9 years old.

As of 4:15 p.m., Cabrera said, most of the new arrivals had been reunited with a family member or friend, with plans to stay with them at least temporarily. He expected that the remaining migrants, who were waiting at St. Anthony’s Croatian Catholic Church, would be reunited with someone they knew by the end of the day.

It looks like Governor Abbott is sending a migrant bus to L.A. every two weeks or so. One arrived on June 14, and the second bus arrived on July 1. That tracks with the third bus arriving Thursday afternoon. Not only are the numbers miniscule coming by bus from Texas but they are well-spaced out, too.

The City of Brownsville (Texas) sent information on the illegal aliens before the bus arrived. How’s that for cooperation?

[the-firebird69]

There's a few reasons for this pantry thing happening and the girls upset again but she should realize that the mental health people are after him and their competition and he needs store-bought food and money to buy that but he appreciates the effort because he cleared out an area of cabinet for food and that's what he needs to put there in case he needs it occasionally occasionally he needs a boost from chef boyardee and some other things a good idea I like the whole thing worked out to be a decent idea there's fruit that's in the can and it's a good idea cuz of emergency is peanut butter and he's going to get the same round of stuff but all new so he thanks you for that and it's the real effort the other is it lit up the homeless coalition people and they're trying to go after him still and the hospital and they don't need to do that and Matt is angry as hell he wants them down all the time and people aren't doing it and he says we need to take it over to go to the hospital at all and those things are happening now. They are going after the hospital and they're helping of the minority molar helping they'll have nurse jobs assistant jobs and cleaning jobs and it's going to go down very soon and Trump puts Mac in the hospital in Los Angeles because of it and eventually Mac ruins him out there and said this is how you keep coming at us. And he's a nuisance but things are starting to change and Ken is looking into hard knock kick your 5150 and how to get parts for it you're sort of recognizes the make and location of the parts and it's not my family and it's not his it's in the middle somewhere and people don't mind it but it's hard to get anything for them to do and Ken says I don't know if I can do it because they're in the middle so my husband says I don't think they're in the middle I think she's saying that cuz she wants you to do the pagsta and he says oh. Now it's going to be an ordeal cuz he can't get this hard knock thing going and people aren't letting it and it's just strange nobody wants to do anything but sit around and die here and my husband wants out of here there's a crap hole you people want to be crap neck is working now but really just make a channel in the channel and then you have the assholes do it and someone would want to do it you know BG or somebody to screw them up but still he needs a little bit more for transportation and a scooter might not be it he's trying to get it going anyways we're going to have to start making stuff pretty soon

Right now the nights in the right side in there for me up in the upper Midwest all the way across to New York and they're going to attack everywhere except where Mac is and he moved the shield all the way to the Pennsylvania line in the West so that's the line of demarcation it is a gigantic Army it's gathering size as they go up there and they go up there and one or two trillion groups and they're gathering them as well and in areas it's like 40 trillion and they're taking their armament and they're becoming this massive Force and they're still in the Midwest and they're going to take over the upper Midwest and wall it all off Corydon city's off and still and and sit there until they leave or go and then they're going to take the Midwest over it's a huge Force

And we're going to talk more shortly

Hera Zues

It is really massive and no I haven't really said this and it's with joy of saying it it's gigantic it's so damn huge and now we're going to be big up here finally with what he said I thought we were saying it the whole time or not then we start to say if there's like a 10% chance for screwed because we could get found out and then it's going to suck and that's what he means too and there's a risk in what we're doing so we're all getting ready and they're pushing for big lasers and chips and now I see it too this is going to high gear I'm going to say it our way to ours and we're going to issue reports but we're going to go ahead with your idea it's Star Trek and it's other genre and we know what to do we we do have a great handle on it and we are going to make big facilities in cities just like his little circus kind of going to go interactive and we can do stuff like that too to encourage it and have recruiters there and they want to do both and now and we're going to go ahead and do it but really I see you sitting there wallowing looking for something to do anything and getting pantry food was like an event so it's pretty poor here okay that's pretty poor and looking for his Xfinity thing is an event that's also very poor

Thor Freya

It's very poor and we need assistance and we need it badly and we need personnel to help here his middle areas are going to empty he's more lock will be gone and there's a lot of them left once they are and they're less of a threat we're going to have more people but we need it now and we need professional help we need train personal here there's no way we can cut people out of people have to sign on in order for it to happen and we need people to do that he said he's creating it and see how it's going out now there's much more of a response and see that they talked about the lasers and our performances exemplary that were tired and beleaguered and there's a lot of big eyes so it's good and we need help here we really need help I don't want to be stuck making products for them cuz they might go insane I already are insane I like his idea of having us in the factories of theirs and we should be we are anyways but having our factories there too with them working and hard not kick her 5150 is an idea and nobody can seem to get this thing going like nobody so I don't know what he's going to do we can try and help I do see what he's saying there's a place that makes frames there's a place to make motors and help them get it together with someone who has some money like Frankie lapena and you can meet and he knows and he can bump into Bob so we're starting to see something he can get them to fund it but really he's going to do something he's bored and angry and he needs funding social security or any of his own money right now the shield is approaching the 128 beltway and he says that that's not too far from the 495 but it is a good distance and it is like 20 miles or 18 miles they say but the shield goes pretty far with a row and when they pull off Western Pennsylvania cuz they plan to it will proceed to go to 495 and it's questionable whether they're going to cover westborough and he says they probably will and not tell people so after tonight it's only a few more days and that will be a reality and in between them is Tommy boy we really got to get some one of these damn movies to work we have all these movies and it hasn't happened it's really weird we say they happen they're going on and nobody can see it so I think what happens is we own the Midwest and upper Midwest in the areas and they start their movies and just celebrations and the war thing cuz I think it'll be like Australia in the future where they just get nailed

Frank Castle Hardcastle and yeah that was Zeus that last line and Hera helped she says

Hahahaha that's rich and funny for crying out loud is real too and we need to get him some money it's ridiculous but they're going to go for the buried money and what happens is Stan gets a beat down and starts doing these movies and Sherry does and becomes atomic blonde I'm pretty sure Stan gets killed finally and The Departed which hasn't it hasn't started I'm trying to say this is damned annoying can we have any movies start you know how about some slow ones and he says that's a great idea not even like a comedy and that's what about Jack Nicholson and it does a few other movies kindergarten cop and the Terminator leads into it but they probably start to this crazy s*** and try and tell people what happens in the future and then all psyched about it because it's happening and they don't know what we're doing and they're not going to until it's too late

Duke Nukem Blockbuster and we have this in hand but Clinton and his cadre are planning on going out there tomorrow and some of them went out today and they're looking around and see what you mean it's like a big secret of someone's and they were looking at it or trying to go to it or trying to feel it you know fill it up or finish it or whatever but he's very curious and he's going to start his circus thing he's going to follow in the footsteps of Frankie lupena and he has drinks and things of elixirs that work and a lot of marlock will go after his. It's ironic because Ken is actually kicking this whole thing off someone else is sitting around like a lump of s*** and Ken says this he's trying not to make me feel bad daddy says in the future of doing much better it says you're selling things like your big buns not hot buns is this how am I doing that you started laughing and said you got to be kidding me since it starts with farting a can and literally Bob birdie's helps. So I guess I was little online and it started laughing and giggling he said I'll do it I said really there's nothing to it but okay. It says easier than the stock market so you going to earn some money cuz you owe money dummy to say when your relatives died one if Trump's characters. He says he's going to do that cuz he has to die to relinquish the position and Mac will help it happen probably become a trend and Mac is saying it's an analogy and stuff so he's trying to do that. Unless we want that but we have a lot of stuff going on there's a lot of demand for the Indian motorcycle and tons for white Corvettes tons and they want the boat is seen it out there and they want it they said wait a minute if these are our ships or even the clans the clans build those and they said this would be my company so they started yelling it and there's a whole bunch of people that got hurt and a few people got away and they want the boat and they're trying to order it and they don't know from where it's closed off so I want to do that for you and you say it's great and pull some of my kids along with me with you because like a break. They say they want to do it and they want to do it like right now this is no problem with that and we get to get it approved so I'm going to get it approved

Duke Nukem Blockbuster

They want to put a sales office a small one like two rooms or something crazy some pictures not much and just a small sign out front on the kiosk not even and it said how are they going to get business and just tell one person and like go to Starbucks and be in line talking to some girl or something you have to do one of ours cuz we don't talk to other girls and then all the sudden I got this idea we want to test that somehow and that's how so going to do it and he said you go ahead of the nothing and just put the small office in like that like it's an underground thing I'm trying to sell these stupid zero motorcycle rebuilds and we can't seem to do it he says why the hell is this a problem at all and why is it a question and why are we struggling with it and why don't we just see if people want to volunteer for the service and do it because this guy's a problem no I said yeah I said what's the problem so I'm trying to get something I'm getting a little angry with my people if you want to volunteer for the zero motorcycle service duty please do so we can get it going we don't have anybody saying they want to do it and you just we're going to revamp it and sell it on the black market in a similar fashion and the idiots are going to come after it and we're going to go after them actually I'm going to say we have to do it and have people who want to do it before and I will send orders because of ridiculous I'm getting volunteers now but for crying about it doesn't even like motorcycles and like going after idiots only change their business or something we're just about to go after tons of them and no things have not changed we need to do this more so it's urging it's urgents urgent it has to be done now it's urgently needed to go now we need Olympus out of the way you guys going to get out of the way no your not. We're going ahead with it now we'll see it's a man but we have to help you and set up ways the man things that you're requesting and he said that we had to and we sort of had a system and we have to run it and we're saying it to you now all these things that were going to do and it's going to happen but I do understand something we need to hire people and we're hiring them now but this has to go now he says those motorcycles are there then go bad so we're hiring people we also understand what you're saying all of this is a rush and thank God I got it before him and it's Olympus saying it, plus we know what we're saying if I cried out loud it is a Russian it's an emergency he's having one everyone's having one everyone even Max and even the foreign s are having an emergency with this a****** his kids can't do it we talk to him about before they said put in the black market and be done with it get special especially agency special agents to do it if you don't hire people you're not doing the job and they look at it this way we need to get people to recruit yeah it's going to happen magically or the prisoners going to get it all done

[newstfionline]

Thursday, March 23, 2023

UN: 26% of world lacks clean drinking water, 46% sanitation (AP) A new report launched Tuesday on the eve of the first major U.N. conference on water in over 45 years says 26% of the world’s population doesn’t have access to safe drinking water and 46% lack access to basic sanitation. The U.N. World Water Development Report 2023 painted a stark picture of the huge gap that needs to be filled to meet U.N. goals to ensure all people have access to clean water and sanitation by 2030. Richard Connor, editor-in-chief of the report, told a news conference that the estimated cost of meeting the goals is somewhere between $600 billion and $1 trillion a year to provide potable water to the 2 billion people who don’t have it and sanitation to the 3.6 billion in need.

Army of lobbyists helped water down banking regulations (AP) It seemed like a good idea at the time: Red-state Democrats facing grim reelection prospects would join forces with Republicans to slash bank regulations. That unlikely coalition voted in 2018 to roll back portions of a far-reaching 2010 law intended to prevent a future financial crisis. But those changes are now being blamed for contributing to the recent collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank that prompted a federal rescue and has stoked anxiety about a broader banking contagion. The rollback was leveraged with a lobbying campaign that cost tens of millions of dollars that drew an army of hundreds of lobbyists and it was seeded with ample campaign contributions. The episode offers a fresh reminder of the power that bankers wield in Washington, where the industry spends prodigiously to fight regulation and often hires former members of Congress and their staff to make the case that they are not a source of risk to the economy. [As it turned out, some were, and an army of depositors made a bank run.]

Credit card debt is at record high as Fed raises rates again (AP) As the Federal Reserve raises interest rates again, credit card debt is already at a record high, and more people are carrying debt month to month. The Fed’s interest rate increases are meant to fight inflation, but they’ve also led to higher annual percentage rates (APRs) for people with credit card debt, which means they pay more in interest. The Fed announced Wednesday that it would increase rates another quarter of a point. With inflation still high, people are leaning on their credit cards more for everyday purchases. “It’s the economy, inflation, gas prices, and food costs,” said Lance DeJesus, 46, kitchen manager at the Golden Corral in York, Pennsylvania. “A year ago, you could go to the grocery store with a hundred bucks and come out with a bunch of bags. Now, I come out with just one bag.” DeJesus said he carries a credit card balance of roughly $2,600 from month to month over several cards, which have interest rates from 16.99% to 21.99%. He’s not alone: 46% of people are carrying debt from month to month, up from 39% a year ago, according to Bankrate.com, an online financial information site.

Los Angeles Schools Shut Down After Workers Launch Three-Day Strike (NYT) As rain pummeled the sidewalks and wind bent back umbrellas on Tuesday morning, Bartui Merchain, a pool clerk, arrived at her job at a recreation center, her children in tow. She had left her 14-year-old son at home, but her workplace east of downtown Los Angeles suddenly had become an impromptu child supervision site for Mindy, 9 and Israel, 8. Ms. Merchain, 36, had learned only the day before that school employees and teachers were going on a three-day strike, facing off against administrators in the nation’s second-largest school district. It would mean no classes for the district’s more than 420,000 students—news that many children seemed to greet with glee, though a number of parents felt blindsided. Across Los Angeles, the normal school week gave way to disruption on Tuesday. Children tagged along with parents, were sent to recreation centers or stayed with relatives. Teachers and school employees hit the streets, where they hoisted signs of outrage and chanted for better pay and working conditions.

UN: Fresh gang violence in Haiti leaves 187 dead in 11 days (AP) New clashes between gangs in Haiti’s capital and beyond have killed at least 187 people in less than two weeks and injured more than 150 others, the U.N. said Tuesday. The fresh wave of violence recorded from Feb. 27 to March 9 in the capital, Port-au-Prince, and in the central region of Artibonite also has displaced hundreds of people and forced farmers to abandon fields as starvation worsens, officials said. In addition, nearly 260 kidnappings have been reported since the start of the year, with people abducted from their homes or public places, officials said.

After years of extreme scarcity, some Venezuelans lead lives of luxury as others scrape by (NYT) In the capital, a store sells Prada purses and a 110-inch television for $115,000. Not far away, a Ferrari dealership has opened, while a new restaurant allows well-off diners to enjoy a meal seated atop a giant crane overlooking the city. This is not Dubai or Tokyo, but Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, where a socialist revolution once promised equality and an end to the bourgeoisie. Venezuela’s economy imploded nearly a decade ago, prompting a huge outflow of migrants in one of worst crises in modern Latin American history. Now there are signs the country is settling into a new, disorienting normality, with everyday products easily available, poverty starting to lessen—and surprising pockets of wealth arising. Conditions remain dire for a huge portion of the population, and while the hyperinflation that crippled the economy has moderated, prices still triple annually, among the worst rates in the world. But business activity is returning to what was once the region’s wealthiest nation.

UK inflation jumps to 10.4%, surprising analysts (AP) U.K. inflation accelerated for the first time in four months in February as high food and energy prices hit consumers battered by the nation’s cost-of-living crisis. The consumer price index jumped to 10.4% in the 12 months through February from 10.1% the previous month, the Office for National Statistics said Wednesday. The figures surprised analysts who had forecast inflation would slow to 9.9%. The inflation report highlights the pressures faced by British consumers who spent the winter with one eye on their thermostats and the other watching the steady rise of prices for staples such as milk, eggs and vegetables as the nation’s cost-of-living crisis triggered the biggest decline in living standards since the 1950s.

Xi and Putin Bind China and Russia’s Economies Further, Despite War in Ukraine (NYT) President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, declared an enduring economic partnership on Tuesday, promising to bring more Russian energy to China and more Chinese companies to Russia as the two leaders sought to insulate their countries from Western sanctions and other consequences of the war in Ukraine. The economic pledges, trumpeted by the leaders on the second day of Mr. Xi’s state visit to Moscow, were a sign that China would continue to do business as normal with Russia and that Moscow and Beijing were circling their wagons, economically at least, against any punitive measures from the United States or Europe. Embattled economically and isolated on the world stage, Russia has leaned heavily on China to make up for lost business since its economy was abruptly severed from the West.

US speeds up Abrams tank delivery to Ukraine war zone (AP) The Pentagon is speeding up its delivery of Abrams tanks to Ukraine, opting to send a refurbished older model that can be ready faster, with the aim of getting the 70-ton battle powerhouses to the war zone by the fall, the Pentagon said Tuesday. The original plan was to send Ukraine 31 of the newer M1A2 Abrams, which could have taken a year or two to build and ship. But officials said the decision was made to send the older M1A1 version, which can be taken from Army stocks. Officials said the M1A1 also will be easier for Ukrainian forces to learn to use and maintain as they fight the invading Russian forces.

Fans rejoice in Tokyo as Japan’s WBC victory accompanies cherry blossom bloom (Reuters) With cherry blossoms reaching full bloom in Tokyo, Japanese sports fans erupted in jubilation on Wednesday after their countrymen defeated Team USA to win the World Baseball Classic (WBC). Japan has now won three of the five global tournaments. With sublime serendipity, Japan’s victory comes as Tokyo cherry blossoms reached their zenith, bathing the city’s parks and streets in pink and white.

Marcos says new military bases with US to be ‘scattered’ around the Philippines (Reuters) President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said on Wednesday that four new military bases under a defense agreement with the U.S. would be located in various parts of the Philippines, including in a province facing the South China Sea. Last month, Marcos granted the U.S. access to four sites, on top of five existing locations under the 2014 Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), which comes amid China’s growing assertiveness in the South China Sea and towards Taiwan. The EDCA allows U.S. access to Philippine bases for joint training, pre-positioning of equipment and building of facilities such as runways, fuel storage and military housing, but it is not a permanent presence.

Kurds remain biggest winners from US-led invasion of Iraq (AP) Complexes of McMansions, fast food restaurants, real estate offices and half-constructed high-rises line wide highways in Irbil, the seat of the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq. Many members of the political and business elite live in a suburban gated community dubbed the American Village, where homes sell for as much as $5 million, with lush gardens consuming more than a million liters of water a day in the summer. The visible opulence is a far cry from 20 years ago. Back then, Irbil was a backwater provincial capital without even an airport. That rapidly changed after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq that toppled Saddam Hussein. Analysts say that Iraqi Kurds—and particularly the Kurdish political class—were the biggest beneficiaries in a conflict that had few winners. That’s despite the fact that for ordinary Kurds, the benefits of the new order have been tempered by corruption and power struggles between the two major Kurdish parties and between Irbil and Baghdad, the Iraqi capital.

Syria’s north-west tries to rebuild after quake (Reuters) Hussein Mankawi has little hope he will ever rebuild his home and food distribution businesses in the north-west Syrian city of Jandaris after they were reduced to rubble by last month’s deadly earthquake, wiping out his life’s work. “What can we do? We’ll put up a tent instead. There is nothing but tents,” he said, standing by the mangled ruins of his home in the rebel-held region. The Feb. 6 earthquakes were the worst modern-day natural disasters to strike Syria and Turkey, killing more than 56,000 people across the two countries. Turkey has pledged state-led efforts to rebuild more than 300,000 homes within the first year and the cash-strapped Syrian government has created a compensation fund for victims and offered temporary housing to the displaced. But this help is unlikely to reach Syria’s northwest, an enclave controlled by rival anti-government rebels and home to 4.5 million people—2 million of whom lived in tented camps even before the quake struck, according to the United Nations. International organisations struggle to access the zone regularly and there has been no visible centralized reconstruction effort.

Painting The Roses Red (WSJ) In water-parched locales, it’s lately become fashionable and thrifty to guarantee a picture-perfect verdant lawn by just letting it all die and painting it green. For instance, one neighborhood in Arizona sprayed 17 acres of dormant grass a charming, healthy emerald color and in doing so saved $70,000 in water costs. In the Phoenix area, the average cost of just painting a lawn green costs a homeowner $250 to $350, and in addition to significantly reducing time spent on maintenance they’ll also save the steep costs of watering a lawn in a desert. Most of the bugs are worked out—the paint is obviously non-toxic, and early incidents where the yellow pigment burned off in the sun leaving people with a blue lawn have led to appropriate changes in the composition of the paint—and it’s keeping the lawn painters busy.

[newswireml]

California Voters to Decide on Regulating Fast-Food Industry#California #Voters #Decide #Regulating #FastFood #Industry

LOS ANGELES — A California law creating a council with broad authority to set wages and improve the working conditions of fast-food employees has been halted after restaurant and trade groups submitted enough signatures to place the issue before voters next year. Officials from the California secretary of state’s office announced late Tuesday that Save Local Restaurants, a broad coalition of…

[euro-journal-english-news]

L A County Nonprofits Team Up to Tackle Food Insecurity / Public News Service

L A County Nonprofits Team Up to Tackle Food Insecurity / Public News Service

Before the pandemic, one in five people in Los Angeles County lacked consistent access to food – and in 2021, one in four low-income families experienced food insecurity, according to a new report from a coalition of county and nonprofit leaders. The Los Angeles County Food Equity Roundtable just released its strategic plan, designed to end food insecurity by 2030. Charity Faye, program manager…

[iradly]

Social Blog 2

Homelessness started in 1730, New York established its first almshouse which created more openings in different colonies. During the industrial revolution and the transition to the new manufacturing process many people decided to migrate to cities where there would be better opportunities. Due to the migration it caused a new urban poverty which caused homelessness to occur. After the Civil War, the economy turns down and causes for many people to lose their jobs and homes. According to history of homeless article “by the 1830’s, tens of thousands of homeless people lived in police stations by night and in the streets by day. Adolescent boys boys left home to look for work and ease the financial burden on their families.. Many ended up homeless” (Lux, 2022). Moving forward in the 1970’s more people became homeless because officials cut federal funding for housing, state mental hospitals were de-institutionalized and single room occupancy decreased. In the 2000’s the number of homelessness increased more due to the fact that the US continued to experience an affordable housing crisis. Throughout all this it was cause by the high cost in houses, wages, and lack of affordable housing stocks. According to the article “during the Great Recession of 2007-2009, many people defaulted on their mortgages due to economic conditions and the real estate market. As a result, there was a big increase in foreclosure, evictions, and unemployment, which led to increased homelessness” (Lux, 2022). As we can understand homelessness has been a topic for years now and always a brief description of its history there’s a lot more to learn about it. Throughout the years there have been many ways that the government has tried to tackle the problem of homelessnes on nearly every level. However, due to the fact that they are spending billions over time has caused many areas to not be able to help homeless people. Which is why many programs have been created to help homeless people. For example, the 3 best charities for helping homeless people are National Alliance to End homelessness, Coalition for the Homelessness, and National Homelessness Law Centre. These are programs who help homeless people by providing them food, clothes and a roof where they can spend the nights. A way that America is helping homeless people is by federal housing assistance. According to the article “federal housing programs are one of the most successful housing-based solutions to reduce homelessness. The two largest federal housing programs are public housing and federal housing vouchers, known as Housing Choice Vouchers or section 8 vouchers” (Coalition, 2022). Throughout my research I wasn’t able to find any big actions on the way. However, many cities are still building shelters, creating funds, donating and volunteering to help homeless people. A couple of cities still doing this are New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, San Jose, San Francisco, and San Diego. Which are the top 6 U.S. cities with the highest homeless population. Homelessness is a big issue nationwide and we should try to help our community whether it is by volunteering or donating towards programs. 

Citation:

-Proven Solutions. (2022, February 15). Coalition for the Homeless. https://www.coalitionforthehomeless.org/proven-solutions/ 

-People, I. (2022, October 9). History of Homelessness. Invisible People. https://invisiblepeople.tv/history-of-homelessness/ -Homelessness Among Individuals with Disabilities: Influential Factors and Scalable Solutions - NACCHO. (n.d.). Devmode. Retrieved October 25, 2022, from https://www.naccho.org/blog/articles/homelessness-among-individuals-with-disabilities-influential-factors-and-scalable-solutions

[koerperlich]

Homeless people of Los Angeles Photography: Martin Schoeller

Martin: "So you’re living on the streets these days?"   Pranda: “Yes."   Martin: "What happened?"   Pranda: “Life."   Martin: "How old are you?"   Pranda: "Twenty-two."   Martin: "Do you hang out with a group of people?" Pranda: "I’m more by myself, a loner, alone..."   Martin: "You’re not scared alone at night?" Pranda: "I am scared of the dark. I really am afraid of the dark."   Martin: "Where do you sleep?" Pranda: "I have humbled myself to start sleeping on the sidewalk." Martin: "Always in this area [West Hollywood]?" Pranda: "Yeah, this is all I know. I’ve been traveling since I was fifteen. I haven’t had a place to call home since then."   —Pranda Brown, Oct. 29, 2015

Please support the Greater West Hollywood Food Coalition to help people like Pranda get back on their feet. Donate or volunteer today

[spacelizart]

CHARITY COMMISSIONS Donate to charity => get art! Feel free to ask any questions. And please reblog! ......... INFO: From now until the 4th of July, I will be doing commissions in exchange for donations to charities. Choose from 3 charities, whichever is closest to your heart: The Hollywood Food Coalition provides food and goods to the hungry and the homeless in Los Angeles. (visit: https://hofoco.org) The Global Coronavirus appeal (British Red Cross) provides critical help protecting people against Covid-19 worldwide. (visit: https://redcross.org.uk) The Trevor Project provides crisis intervention and suicide prevention to LGBTQ+ people under 25 in the United States. (visit: https://thetrevorproject.org) HOW TO GET ART: 1. Send me a personal message explaining what you'd like me to draw. 2. I'll make sure I can/want to draw the thing. 3. Once we're agreed, donate the right amount (or more) to your preferred charity! 4. Show me proof you donated (like a screenshot). 5. Receive art! (General commission info: https://spacelizart.tumblr.com/post/170771853711/commission-info-very-complicated-character-design) COMMISSION TYPES: Simple Icon - 10€/13$/9£ Animal Character - 20€/25$/18£ Full Body Chibi - 25€/30$/21£