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psychemenin-blog · 1 year

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Reburgening

Inspired by a friend to return to my tumblr account, I discovered all my baby little thoughts *poofed*

I'm genuinely sad about it, my memory will wrongfully insist I had any wisdom.

I love reflecting on what I thought I knew, what I saw myself going through, and I especially appreciate the opportunity to spot trends and patterns that I can apply to my daily.

So , I'll jump in with what's eating me now.

I'm concerned.

What's new? It's not. But I am. Always concerned about something as if I have a ceaseless need to chase growth & spot-to-solve problems. This has everything to do with perfectionism, alanonism, family dysfunction, my dysfunction, I accept it, I love it, it drives me. (do I? This is helping already)

I would appreciate tapping into playfulness. I have been looking into my relationship and life partner to inspire my growth and it's never going to be that easy for me. I have to stand behind my own sense of creativity and independence. I've been putting pressure on myself to feel inspired and profound and find another passion project to chase and something to invest myself in and it's not happening as a result of my incessant internal bickering. These are yet-old ways that I could stand to pivot, since, I'm gradually getting used to practicing speaking to myself with more kindness.

What I look for in my partnership I already possess, and yet, I have some kind of identity crisis. Like a black soot of the soul that I have believed in so deeply that I didn't even recognize could be placed there by not-my-doing. There's a plague of alcoholism which is just really a disease of the mind. It's a disease of attitudes that casts a shadow on the ways in which I was loved, taught to love, and loved myself as a result of my findings.

I think love will continue to be hard for me, but what if I took a new approach? Considered it already available, a joy, a spacious existence that I don't have to work hard to attain. I just think that putting the foot on the gas was always the way to succeed, and success by the standards of "so I think I can't, let me prove myself wrong."

I need (edit: would enjoy) to tap into my own spirit of joy. I need (Actually, need is good here!) to unapologetically spend time doing things that delight me. What fucking delights me?

camping. fishing. building. singing literally which I never do and have historically been self conscious about. What about instead of dog lessons (no I'm going to have to do those, it's time) I consider taking voice lessons? What if I don't like it. But what if I do? Singing is good for the heart. And I don't mean just emotionally, it's literally an improvement on ones cardiovascular health to sing regardless of the quality.

dancing is a huge love language of mine. Moving. hiking is nice. I love my dog so much. I love listening to records, especially when I'm high- which I sometimes judge as maybe numbing but I think it allows me to unlock a series of thoughts that I enjoy most. Or rather, it slows down my thoughts long enough to meditate in what's available to me right there. And I'm only talking about sativa!

Do I enjoy long conversations with friends and time with others? It depends. I do love to 1x1 and I benefit greatly from the experience of being opposite facing and listening to someone who has the same self-peace goals as I do. I can't do small talk, that's surely exhausting, but I do ... ultimately. thinking of no audience here. I do get drained. What fills my cup?

I get drained because I'm programmed to consider the other persons' experience so deeply I don't know hot to track my own adequately or honestly. Maybe part of my experience will always be tethered to my outside, spectator POV.

This reminds me of Fablemans and Suits S8 Ep (unsure) titled Coral Gables that Litt experiences in therapy. Two great examples of honest experiences I so deeply relate to in a way I ego-centrically assumed I could only ever relate to.

Steven Speilberg used a metaphor for filming his family while they were talking about divorce. I am curious if that conversation ever actually happened or if it was a scene written to describe a series of unfolding expectations and disappointments that happen over the months/years of an executed divorce. In my experience, it's uncommon for it to be discussed such as he scene suggests.

He as a kid sits on the stairs but he pitcutres himself filming everyone. That's literally my world <wet spaghetti>.

That is a film, the first film I ever made. I'm so attached to what it tells me now-- same reason I want my old posts to survive. I may have cringed at first, but I respect where I was in my journey and what rings true for me still. I somehow captured the experience I was trying to say- this is the mans' life I miss. I can't immortalize him, but damnit, I'm going to try. And everyone in the family talked about how his death left a mark on them, and yet Kevin's the only person I could reliably hear speak to BEANER. Does it come from being the two youngests? I think my oldests have a narcissistic wound as a result, likely, of my parents being so much younger and in competition for joy and resources when they were young and their kids were young. so then Kevin and I grew up on the other side of a narcissistically wounded family, 10 years later, so we have only taught been taught that we live in service of others. But what I see the most is how I'm not only not in the film, but I am in only two moments. One where I'm asking a question, another where I'm relating to my brother during an intense moment of vulnerability, and a singular photo of me unwittingly threw over the "faking it" arc of the story, which is all I ever felt like I was doing around that time, and any time before it when I can really look deeply. I mean. I don't mean to discount my experience as a young kid. I think she did a great fucking job with everything she could, and I am so appreciative of her cleverness, camaraderie, quick thinking, and general positive view of what the world could become.

And yet now I'm on the other side of that person who aspired for loving myself in adulthood. I'll be good, I'll observe the chaos from here. I used to picture myself as a movie character, thinking " what would she do next?" as an attempt to guide myself when I was so dissociated re: traumatic experiences.

People have such reactions to the word trauma, I feel and recall as I type/think/express it. I believe every single person has it. And Im not in the business of disguising it as unnecessary because it is necessary. Conflict is information. Your character gets tested into making decisions that reveal context about your character. Even this, I find, existing in the world of films and storytelling. everything about human development and film have made a perfect home for me.

So why am I now, pushing myself to experience an output of creativity as something tangible. Why am I discrediting my gains because it doesn't look as harsh as it always had?

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mascara-pyjama · 3 years

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Just saw a post being like 'awwww Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen' so here ya go. Like they both worked with Bryan Singer after he was taken to court for assault. This stuff happened a few years ago but there were no decent apologises given. Stewart also commented on Bryan Singer- saying he felt sorry for him (as well as his victims), thought he was talented, and made him abusing children all about him?

'Ian McKellen is generating controversy after saying in an interview that Kevin Spacey and director Bryan Singer allegedly sexually abused boys because they were "in the closet."

McKellen, who has worked with the two men, made the comments during a live recording of the #QueerAF podcast during National Student Pride 2019. He started by pointing out that the director and actor weren't openly gay at the time the alleged abuse occurred."Most of them were in the closet. Hence, all their problems as people and their relationship with other people," he said. "If they had been able to be open about themselves and their desires, they wouldn’t have started abusing people in the way they’ve been accused."

(Singer has been openly gay throughout his career in Hollywood.) In January, Spacey pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting an 18-year-old man at a Nantucket bar in 2016. Two years earlier in October, Star Trek actor Anthony Rapp told BuzzFeed News Spacey had made an unwanted sexual advance toward him when he was 14. Several other men have also accused Spacey of sexual assault, after which Netflix fired the actor from the hit show House of Cards.

McKellen also worked with Spacey at the Old Vic theater in London, where multiple accounts of inappropriate sexual behavior allegedly occurred during Spacey’s long-running tenure as artistic director.

Singer recently faced new allegations published in the Atlantic that he sexually abused and assaulted teenage boys, including a 13-year-old on the set of his 1998 film Apt Pupil, which also starred McKellen.

McKellen, who costarred in Singer's X-Men movies, also said in the podcast interview that it's "debatable" whether the two men should continue to work in Hollywood despite the damning allegations."I think that's rather up to the public," he said. "Do you want to see someone who's been accused of something that you don't approve of? Do you ever want to see them again? If the answer is no, you won't buy a ticket, you won't turn on the television. But there may be others for whom that's not a consideration." As for his own place in the #MeToo era of reckoning, McKellen said he was "waiting for someone to accuse me of something."

As the crowd laughed, the 79-year-old actor added: "And me wondering if they're not telling the truth and me having forgotten."

McKellen, star of “Lord of the Rings” and “X-Men,” said during a recent appearance at Oxford Union that when he started his career in the early 1960s, some women applied for theater jobs with photographs marked with a special message to the directors.

“The director of the theater I was working at showed me some photographs he got from women who were wanting jobs,” he said. “They were actors. And some of them had ― I think these were the initials ― at the bottom of their photograph ‘DRR’ — directors’ rights respected.

“In other words, ‘If you give me a job, you can have sex with me.’ That was commonplace for people who proposed that they should be a victim. Madness.”

Rami Malek recently admitted working with Bryan on 'Bohemian Rhapsody' was "not pleasant" and it has been claimed the director would often be absent from set, and Patrick confirmed he had experienced similar issues shooting with the 53-year-old filmmaker. Patrick continued: "I've experienced that too with him. There have been problems in the past."

When asked if Bryan would often be absent on key days, Patrick continued: "Yeah. Or turning up and not shooting.

"It was very difficult. We got through that. He's such a talented individual in the would of making movies - and, it would appear, extremely untalented and cruel in other respects.

"And it makes me profoundly sad for potential victims, or possible victims, as well as Bryan himself.

"Most of the experience with Bryan I really enjoyed. But what is happening is so good."

#ian mckellen #patrick stewart #byran singer #kevin spacey #me too #x men

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fascinatingbonanza · 3 years

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Bonanza chronology

(so far, which is the first 5 seasons)

As someone quite interested in history, I always enjoy stories set in the past and I always like to know when exactly in the past they are set. So recently I found myself trying way to much to figure out when does "Bonanza" actually take place. And It seems to be a far more difficult problem than I initially thought. But here's what I've got so far, after watching 5 seasons.

But then, as I was watching the series episode after episode, I quickly realised, that this 'canonical chronology' is bullshit and that time in "Bonanza" works in mysterious and extremely convoluted ways.

Generally the series takes place roughly somewhere in the 1860s. The first half of the decade to be a bit more precise, somewhere right before and during the American Civil War (something that is occasionally brought up in the episodes). That's literally what wikipedia says. However, as I dived a little into the fanpages and whatnot, I discovered that there seems to be a some sort of a more specific, canonical, chronology that basicly says that the pilot ("A Rose for Lotta") is set in 1859, then the first season is 1860, the second - 1861, the third - 1862 and so on.

(To be honest, that's quite cool actually, because it would mean that the series takes place exactly 100 years before it's premiere)

To realize that the canonical chronology just doesn't apply to the actual show, you only have to watch the first two seasons, where some episodes have literally a written year at the beginning.

We have it in season's one "San Francisco":

And that's ok, I mean, yeah, the first season (supposedly set in 1860) is coming to an end and now we are getting into the next year. It makes sense.

It still makes sense in the second season where we have "The Courtship", again with a date at the beginning:

Don't know why would they say it again, but all right, it's still 1861, no problem here.

And then, just two episodes later, comes "Bank Run" with this audacity:

What on earth happened here??? They just totally skipped 1862 and now we're a year later, with no explanation or a reason. And that's the moment when you realize that there is no such thing as 'linear chronology' in "Bonanza".

Especially when you also take into account all those stories involving real historical figures which were quite often in the first season. Sometimes the show just doesn't really care about historical facts and for example Lotta Crabtree (from "A Rose for Lotta") in 1859 would be only 12 years old. "The Julia Bulette story" is a bit closer to history altrough Bulette's death was changed a lot as in reality she died in 1867. Mark Twain, who appeard in "Enter Mark Twain", in reality visited Virginia City in 1863, so again, why is this a part of the first season which takes place in 1860?

Then you also have episodes which literally bring up real historical events, but they do it in such a clumsy way, that it's just painful. The one episode that strikes me the most with it is propably "A House Divided" which obviously quotes Lincoln's famous speech. Ben Cartwright even reads this speech in a brand new newspaper, but guess what, it's a speech from 1858, which is before the Comstock Lode was even discovered, so how can this whole episode be set around supplying the south with silver?! (But since it is about supplying the south with silver, I assume it must be around 1861, right at the start of the war)

After the first season "Bonanza" slowed down a bit with those 'history lessons', so in the second one there isn't really anything that could suggest any particular date (apart from "The Courtship" and "Bank Run" that I mentioned earlier). And maybe events from the second season do actually happen in 1861, as the canonical chronology would like it to.

But then comes my beloved third season, and boi oh boi, does it make an even greater mess. In "The Frenchman" the title character (apparently a reincarnation of Francois Villion) reads his last poem and starts with:

So we go back in time now? How nice. October 17th 1860, they couldn't be more explicit with it.

Towards the end of the season, we also get a little throw back to Bonanza's history lessons with "Look to the Stars" which tells a story of young Albert Michelson, future physicist and a Nobel Prize winner, who happend to live in Virginia City somewhere in the 1860s. The episode specifically focuses on his efforts to become a student at the Annapolis Naval Academy, which he started in 1869, so we can assume that this episode takes place around 1868-69. That's again a long jump in time.

The fourth season gives us even more specific dates and events to go over. First of all, right at the beginning, we have "The First Born", personally one of my very favourites, but that's not important here. The important thing is that Clay tells Joe that he was fighting in a war in Mexico:

But you know, that war in Mexico was kinda spread over time (from 1861 to 1867) so just mentioning it isn't quite enough to give us a more narrow period of time. Fortunately, Clay later tells just enough detail to do it:

So it's not all over yet, it's just that moment when the royalists won and the French took over Mexico for a while. From my very general knowlege about this I can guess that it's somewhere after 1863 then. Not much though. I like to think it's 1863 or 1864.

But all right, that may be to much guessing. Let's focus on those more obvious hints.

"The War Comes to Washoe" is one of those episodes that mention the Civil War and this time it tells a story of Nevada becoming a state. There's that voting and all, and basically it means that it's 1864, because that is when Nevade became a state (or maby 1863, because from thet voting to actually becoming a state it could've been a longer process). Just like that.

But the one episode that surprised me the most with the fact that it gives us a specific date is "The Last Haircut". And you can miss it, but right at the beginning we see an interesting banner:

So it's February 2nd, 1868... Well, that was easy. But again, a huge jump in time.

The fifth season greets us with another completely nonsensical historical figure appearance in "A Passion for Justice". From what I know, Charles Dickens never went west during his visits to America, but whatever. They wanted Charles Dickens in Virginia City so they put Charles Dickens in Virginia City. For the record, he was in America in 1842 and in 1868, so I guess we can pretend it's his 1868 visit. But still, it's just absurd.

But this season is mostly known for it's Laura and Will subplots, and you know what? We can actually precisely tell when it takes place. At the beggining of "The Waiting Game" we see Laura's husband's grave:

And look! February 20th, 1861! So that's when it all started. Later Adam says that it's been four months since Frank died, so we have June 1861. Then in "The Pressure Game" they celebrate the 4th of July, and in "Triangle" it is said that it had been a year since Adam gave Peggy her pony so now it must be around June 1862. And since at this point it all conects to Will's subplot, then "Return to Honor", "The Roper" and "The Companeros" must've happen somewhere inbetween.

Meanwhile there's also "The Prime of Life" about building the transcontinental railroad, and since we know that it reached Reno in 1868, then I guess the episode must be set somewhere right before that.

And to top it all off, in the season's finale, "Walter and the Outlaws", we get that one useless piece of information that Obie had last seen his sister in 1843, and it's been 16 years since then. So by easy maths we can say that the episode is set in 1859, just like the show's pilot.

And that's all for the first five seasons. What we get form it, is that "Bonanza" diefinietly doesn't have any chronology and that this canonical one is just right out of the blue.

To sum it up I can say that this show is just made out of random Catwright's adventures from several years and in no chronological order whatsoever. It's funny when you start to think about it and for example realise that when the Laura/Will story takes place, many of the adventures from previous seasons hasn't even happen yet.

Of course there's also four prequels that tell the stories about Ben's wives, but I think I'll leave it for some other time, because while talking about it, I would also have to talk about the ages of each Cartwright and generally it's a whole different complicated subject.

Also, if now there are episodes happening as late as 1867 and 1868, then when exactly did Adam leave the Ponderosa? Well that's something I'll have to think about while watching the 6th season. I hope there will be some answers to that.

[English isn't my first language so please excuse any mistakes. And I know there must be some.]

#bonanza #rambling on the show and episodes #60s tv #60s tv shows

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silvergeek · 4 years

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Debunking Misinformation About Kamala Harris

Most of the misinformation regarding Harris is valid information that leaves out the bigger picture, context, and details. They're snapshots rather than the full movie reel, if you catch my drift. I've read that she has been over-targeted because she is an easy target. People (all people - because racism is systemic and it embeds itself deep) have strong, implicit bias against Black people and against women ("misogynoir" they call this). Plus, many folks will *more willingly* eat up negative information without fact checking. The slew of widely believed misinformation about Kamala Harris - even from progressives all of diverse backgrounds - is due in part to strong, implicit racial and gender bias. In other words, it's real easy to get rumors going about women using fractions of truths. People will believe them. People are less likely to fact check them (especially as thoroughly as I just did). This is because of bias. Even PROGRESSIVE folks are guilty of this.

Not long ago, I posted a meme defending Kamala Harris to racist and sexist bias. It was loved and hated - pretty divisive, which is unsurprising for something as simplistic as a meme. I apologize. For all of those tumblr accounts that reblogged the meme with flagrant misinformation about the VP elect... I am going to rectify what I did with thorough, sourced information.

Also check out this twitter: https://twitter.com/blackwomenviews

Debunking Information:

Claim: Kamala pushed a law that forces schools to turn undocumented students over to ICE

The Real: Kamala Harris has consistently been a supporter of sanctuary status and a champion for immigrant rights. The false claim arises from a change in how undocumented youth arrested for felonies were reported to ICE. Kamala Harris was not responsible for nor did she push for then Mayor Gavin Newsom’s 2008 unilateral decision to modify his policy to include reporting undocumented youth charged with felonies to ICE. Previously the policy only applied to undocumented adults. Newsom changed the policy in response to reporting that San Francisco had been footing the bill and illegally flying Honduran youth accused of dealing drugs back to their home country as well as sending them to other parts of the state. The statement that writers have taken out of context to inaccurately use as evidence Harris pushed for a change was a statement in response to the scandal over the illegal flights. Harris stated, “While detained juveniles are under the custody and control of the juvenile probation office and the court every city agency needs to work together to balance our obligations under federal law and the sanctuary ordinance to solve crimes and put the offenders behind bars.” The statement was made prior to Newsom’s policy change and from the contemporaneous reporting it is clear that the policy was not a collaborative change.

(Ref: https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/ILLEGALS-CALLED-COURT-S-PROBLEM-3206302.php)

A fact checker wrongly accused Kamala Harris of being untruthful when she said that the change by Newsom had unintended consequences, but in fact the elected Public Defender Jeff Adachi made a similarly statement that the policy resulted in unintended effects when discussing it a year after it was implemented. Adachi stated “When this policy was put into place, the intent was to deal with what was then identified as a specific problem with Honduran youth,” Adachi said. “But we’re seeing this policy affecting youth who have lived most of their lives in San Francisco, are in school and make a mistake.”

Claim: There are multiple variations of the false claims levied at Kamala Harris over the Kevin Cooper case such as: withheld DNA evidence to keep a man on death row; denied DNA testing to exonerate a man on death row; kept a man on death row despite DNA testing that exonerated him.

The Real: Kamala Harris played no role whatsoever in the Kevin Cooper case for several reasons: 1) Convicted of four murder counts in 1983, Cooper had exhausted all of his court appeals in November 2009 which was prior to Harris taking office as AG; 2) Cooper’s only recourse left was clemency which is solely within the Governor’s powers. (Ref: https://miro.medium.com/.../1*IWka2R0J2hUcUR70rh6iBw.jpeg)

Governor Schwarzenegger first denied Cooper clemency in 2004 then again in 2010. Cooper requested clemency from Governor Brown in 2016 which was not granted. Governor Brown issued an order for new DNA testing in December 2018 shortly before leaving office. Governor Newsom expanded the testing in February 2019. Testing is still ongoing so claims that Cooper has already been exonerated and was held in prison despite of it are false.

Claim: There are many smears and distortions about Kamala Harris’ anti-truancy record including: false claims about laughing about putting parents in jail if their kids missed school; locking up parents; targeting poor families and people of color.

The Real: Truancy has been a prosecutable offense in California since 1977. Kamala Harris made the decision to tackle the elementary school truancy crisis in San Francisco after discovering that 94% of homicide victims were high school drop outs. Tackling truancy was not about punishing or prosecuting parents (which was a rarely used last resort), it was about providing parents resources needed to get their children in school.Kamala Harris did not lock parents up. A widely circulated HuffPost Editorial painting Harris as a truancy zealot contains many distortions about her record on this issue. The most egregious distortion is using a woman by the name of Cheree Peoples as a horror story of Harris’ doing when her case was a result of a local Orange County program. More details debunking the article can be found here. Kamala Harris achieved success in lowering truancy in San Francisco by 20% during her tenure. As AG, Harris created the Bureau of Children’s Justice which formed private/public partnerships to increase resources available to educators and parents to reduce truancy. (Ref: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1181175579837632513.html)

Claim: There are various versions of the false claims that Kamala Harris: blocked the release of prisoners; kept prisoners locked up for cheap prison labor; kept prisoners locked up for slave labor; refused to address prison overcrowding; kept prisoners locked up to fight fires for cheap.

The Real: The false claim arises around one specific court filing by one of the 1,000 attorneys (Patrick McKinney) working for the CA DOJ . The role of the CA AG office is to represent various state agencies in litigation and in this case the state agency was the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The court rejected McKinney’s filing on behalf of the CDCR, therefore prisoners were not in fact kept locked up despite earning 2 for 1 good time credits. Kamala Harris was not involved in the court filing nor aware of the filing prior to a news report. With over 20,000 cases per year in the Civil Law division alone (resulting in exponentially more court filings) it would not have been customary for the Attorney General to be involved in a case that only required the expertise of a mid level Deputy AG III that was several levels of management below the Harris’ level. (Ref: https://www.calhr.ca.gov/state-hr.../pages/5730.aspx)

Claim: Oversaw a state prosecutor falsifying a confession to get a life sentence and then destroyed the evidence.

The Real: This claim is in reference to wrongdoing by Deputy District Attorney Robert Murray of Kern County. The Attorney General oversees 4,500 employees including over 1,000 lawyers, but the AG does not supervise local District Attorneys and their deputies. In 2013, prior to trial during plea discussions, ADA Murray admitted to falsifying a translated transcript in the case of Efrain Velasco Palacios who faced 5 counts of lewd and lascivious acts against the 10 year old daughter of his live-in girlfriend. Palacios was facing 8 years for the 5 counts and was not charged with a crime that faced a life sentence. Superior Court Judge Staley threw the case out due to Murray’s misconduct and Palacios’ attorney being removed from the case for allegedly saying his client did not have a viable defense. The judge’s decision was appealed, arguing that Palacios could still get a fair trial with a new counsel. The judge’s decision was upheld on appeal. In 2015, Efrain Velasco Palacios plead no contest to lew or lascivious acts and unlawful intercourse with a 13 year old girl and was sentenced to 4 years in prison.

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A quote that is backed by sources above and further sources down below:

"On the DNA case. This wasn't a case of Kamala actively trying to suppress the evidence. I believe the defendant was asking for the DNA evidence to be reexamined years later using newer, more reliable, methods. Problem was there was some bureaucratic rule that wouldn't allow it in the DNA department or something like that.

The jist of it as it applied to Kamala was there was a department within the CA DOJ that was denying the testing, and to my knowledge it was never directly raised with her till after she was out of office. She has since called for him to be given access to the testing, and I thiiink he got it. But like I said I'll try to get more detail tomorrow.On jailing black men disproportionately and coming down hard on cannabis, these are examples of folks taking statistics for the entire California criminal justice system and placing blame solely on Kamala.

Yes, black men made up a disproportionate share of prisoners in California during Kamala's tenure as AG. That was the case before she was AG and that is still the case today. It's terrible, but it's not really fair to put the effects of the entire system on Kamala. AG's don't have sole authority when it comes to law enforcement. Kamala made efforts to curb this; through reentry programs, not enforcing the 3-strikes laws, being the first AG in the county to require her officers wear body cameras and take implicit bias trading, etc.

The problem is she only had authority over the California Department of Justice. The bulk of prosecutions and incarcerations happen at the local level, with city and county DA's and police. She could not direct them to take the same steps she was taking, all she could do was try to set an example. But the law being what it was, those DAs and police had the authority to be as stringent as the law allowed (which was very very stringent). But if you look at the statistics in the areas Kamala had authority over (and again I'll try to find citations tomorrow) you'll see that she actually reduced incarcerations.

The same goes for marijuana incarcerations. People point to the 19k marijuana convictions that occured while she was AG as evidence she was a avid warrior in the War on Drugs. But that is the statistic for the entire state, and the bulk of those convictions were at the local level. And even still, over all Marijuana convictions across the state fell every year she was in office to eventually there being only like 900ish across the entire state in her last year. She obviously doesn't get all the credit for that decline, but it's another example of people manipulating statistics to fit their narratives."

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Examples of things she did to improve the criminal justice system as DA & AG California:

Kamala Harris announces police anti-bias training program

California’s attorney general announced a statewide training program aimed at getting police officers to avoid having built-in biases compromise their ability to enforce laws fairly and with appropriate force.

The announcement Friday came as Kamala Harris outlined the results of a 90-day review by her agency that sought to find ways to strengthen the trust between police and the public following recent slayings of unarmed civilians by officers in cities across the country.

Harris also said that under a pilot program, of Justice Department special agents would be outfitted with on-body cameras similar to those worn by officers of some local forces in.

Source: https://www.mercurynews.com/205/04/17/california-kamala-harris-announces-police-anti-bias-training-program/

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continued: SAN FRANCISCO / D.A. won't pursue death in cop slaying / Harris fulfills campaign pledge with decision.

San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris said Tuesday she will not seek the death penalty against a man accused of killing a San Francisco police officer over the weekend, a decision that legal experts say is rare if not unprecedented in California.

The death penalty was restored in California in 1978, but The Chronicle's review found only limited documentation about the outcome of cases before 1987.

Focusing on 90 cases since 1987, the newspaper found that prosecutors sought the death penalty in nearly every case in which a suspect was arrested.

source: https://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/SAN-FRANCISCO-D-A-won-t-pursue-death-in-cop-2767716.php

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ALTERNATIVE SENTENCING GAINING ACCEPTANCE

Back on Track, a San Francisco program for first-time young adult drug offenders, involves job training, apprenticeships in the building trades, G.E.D. preparation, money-management skills, child care and other features. Because failure to complete the program means the defendant goes right to jail, the recidivism rate has been less than 10 percent. Back on Track costs $5,000 per year per participant, a significant reduction from the average cost to incarcerate someone, which can run anywhere from $20,000 to $40,000 or more.

source: https://psmag.com/news/alternative-sentencing-gaining-acceptance-23551

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She also helped spread this program:

L.A. County Jail launches program to keep inmates from coming back.

source: https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-antirecidivism-jail-20150311-story.html

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She was the only AG to investigate big banks for their role in the mortgage crisis.

Without her the national mortgage settlement would be watered down promises rather than the guarantee it was.

source: https://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/14/business/how-kamala-harris-finessed-a-foreclosure-deal-for-california.html

In 2012, Harris helped win a massive, $25 billion settlement with Wells Fargo and other financial institutions for foreclosure abuses:

"As the fraud was being uncovered, many of the AGs were yelling 'Settle, settle, settle.' They just wanted to get their hands on the money," said Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who during the negotiations was setting up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for the Obama administration. Warren has endorsed Harris for U.S. Senate and has appeared in one of the attorney general's campaign ads. "[Harris] was the one who said 'No, we have to do better, and we have to investigate more. Too many families have been destroyed by the crisis and the illegal activity of these banks.'"

In 2012, Harris also helped push through a bill in the California Legislature that offered homeowners some of the strongest protections in the nation against aggressive foreclosure tactics by banks, which was credited in part for a plunge in foreclosures in the state. The measure also gave private citizens the right to sue financial institutions if they violated the law.

Shortly after taking office, Harris created a mortgage fraud task force that not only assisted with the mortgage settlement, but also went after financial firms that targeted homeowners facing foreclosure. The task force also took legal action against the banks and financial ratings firms for the massive losses that California's two giant public pension systems, the California Public Employees' Retirement System and California State Teachers' Retirement System, sustained after unknowingly investing in securities that included risky subprime mortgages.

Harris' office collected $921 million in mortgage-backed securities settlements with JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup, Inc., Bank of America Corp., Standard & Poor's and Goldman Sachs.

Troncoso, who led the mortgage fraud strike force, said building a criminal case against bankers involved in the foreclosures that led to the national mortgage settlement would have been "extremely difficult." Harris acknowledges as much.

"I too, like most Americans, am frustrated. Clearly crimes occurred and people should go to jail," Harris said. "But we went where the evidence took us."

source: https://outline.com/8cPJ2j

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As DA filed an amici curiae brief in support of DC's handgun ban in DC v Heller.

source: https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-dc-circuit/1713643.html

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As AG she made clerks begin issuing marriage licenses to same sex couples immediately after prop 8 was overturned.

source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J93691asilw

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Talked about defunding, i.e. shrinking budgets and reallocation of funds, the police all the way back in 2006.

source: https://mobile.twitter.com/adamjsmithga/status/1269761430322139136?s=21

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She has introduced bills to (1)provide a tax credit of up to $6,000 for lower and middle income individuals and families and (2)tax credits for renters. (3)Vox did an analysis of the candidates' anti-poverty bills and Kamala's LIFT Act and Rent relief act have the potential to lift the most people out of poverty, 9.6 million and 7.8 million respectively.

multiple sources:

(1)https://www.bustle.com/p/what-is-the-lift-the-middle-class-act-kamala-harris-has-a-bold-tax-reform-proposal-12606048

(2)https://nlihc.org/resource/senator-harris-introduces-rent-relief-act

(3)https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/1/30/18183769/democrat-poverty-plans-2020-presidential-kamala-harris-booker-gillibrand

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She supports raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour.

source: https://www.harris.senate.gov/news/press-releases/senator-harris-joins-colleagues-in-support-of-15-minimum-wage-bill

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She has also introduced bills to address (1)bail reform and start (2)body camera programs at CBP and ICE.

Two sources:

(1)https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/rand-paul-kamala-harris-team-reform-bail-practices-n794031

(2)https://www.thebeatdc.com/blog/2018/10/3/kamala-harris-wants-to-establish-body-worn-camera-programs-at-cbp-and-ice

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She supported the FIRST STEP Act, as a first step, but she said would like there to be more prohibitions on private prisons in the FIRST STEP ACT.

"All of the Act’s sentencing reforms should be applied retroactively, and the Act should further expand application of earned good time credits, place more prohibitions on private prisons which profit from the incarceration of individuals, and further limit the use of electronic monitoring," Harris added.

source: https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/421719-harris-announces-support-for-white-house-backed-criminal-justice-bill

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She has also supported banning private prisons.

source: https://m.facebook.com/KamalaHarris/posts/10154833054297923

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She co-sponsored Booker's bill legalize marijuana.

Here is an old summary of that "tooth and nail" quote:

So when the judge in question says the AG office "fought tooth and nail" to sustain the false testimony in question, he was referring to the actions of the office under the prior attorney general. Which the judge says in the immediately preceding the quote in the same sentence! "Your office, now under a prior Attorney General, but your office, fought tooth and nail to keep the 1998 sentencing transcript away from the Court of Appeal." Timestamp 32:01. So the quote specifically about Kamala's predecessor but has been used to smear her.

source: https://thehill.com/regulation/legislation/387101-kamala-harris-backs-booker-bill-to-legalize-marijuana

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On the DNA case:

Kevin Cooper: I won't go deep into the facts on this one because they aren't really the point and because I did a terrible job at brevity with the last case. I'll just note that the origin of this case is 1983. Now, the person you're quoting here doesn't seem to have their facts straight. They don't even align with what is in the sources cited. The NYT article referenced (which isn't even the one cited, here - sourced below - is the actual one) does call her out but does not assert that she "refused" to grant DNA testing. Here's what the article actually says with regard to Kamala:

Kamala Harris, who was state attorney general and is now a U.S. senator, was unhelpful.

That attorney general's office was in possession of the evidence and could have conducted the test. It didn't. And in the NYT article cited in the quote Kamala said she regretted that it did not happen and that her office should have done it. You may not care what she has to say, but she owned up to it. And then she went a step further and she called on the governor to allow the testing to proceed. Not the other way around, as your quote states.

source: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/17/opinion/sunday/kevin-cooper-death-row-innocent.html

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And here is an article debunking a meme about her disproportionately incarcerating black men for marijuana possession. It also debunks some particularly racist and sexist stuff that was out there, so if you don't want to have to wade through that bullshit here is the section on marijuana and convictions:

“IMPRISONED 2,000 BLACK PEOPLE WHILE CALIFORNIA AG” – NO EVIDENCE

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) shared state level statistics of incarcerations by offense with Reuters via email (it is important to note their statistics are for state prisons and exclude data from county jails). The admissions for marijuana and hashish related offenses for the years 2014, 2015 and 2016 was 581 (page 37 in report also visible here ). Their 2013 data is unavailable, while 2011-2012 data shared with Reuters indicated 921 offenders in 2011 and 505 for 2012 for these drug categories. This adds to a total of 2,007 offenses for the years 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2016. This drug offender data was not, however, categorized by race. (Calculations by Politifact reached similar numbers in 2019, here )

Mercury News noted that most of the marijuana cases in the state were not prosecuted by the AG, but by county districts attorneys, so the total number for the state is likely a lot higher than the CDCR data. As San Francisco’s DA, the paper says, Harris oversaw “1,956 misdemeanor and felony convictions for marijuana possession, cultivation, or sale”, some of which did not conclude in jail time (here).

In California, the possession of over 28.5 grams of marijuana and possession with the intention of distributing the drug are considered misdemeanors (here). Kamala Harris is listed as AG in the California Department of Justice (DOJ) data reports from 2010 to 2015 (DOJ reports for 2016 data onward fall under Xavier Becerra, Harris’ successor as AG). California DOJ statistics for 2015 show the number of Black people arrested (not imprisoned) with misdemeanors relating to marijuana offenses was 656 (table 34, page 42 here ), in 2014 it was 717 (table 34, page 42 here ), in 2013 it was 768 (table 34, page 42 here ), for 2012 it was 1,069 (table 34, page 42 here ), for 2011 it was 981 (table 34, page 42 here ) and for 2010 it was 8,985 (table 34, page 42 here ). This totals to 24,211 arrests for marijuana related misdemeanors (the substantial drop from 2010 is likely a result of legislation changes.

see source https://www.cjcj.org/news/5542

In short, both California DOJ and CDCR reports show that marijuana related arrests and state level incarcerations for Black people during Harris’s time as AG (the closest data to what Reuters assumed the claims are implying) were not reflective of the 2,000 figure stated in these claims.

source: https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-kamalaharris-five-claims/fact-check-misleading-meme-featuring-five-claims-about-kamala-harris-idUSKBN25H2F2

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If you're interested in how she handled Marijuana convictions when she was DA and had a more direct role in those cases, and her record generally as DA, here is a piece by Niki Solis who was a public defender when Kamala was DA. (And if you know anything about local court politics, you know DA's and Public defenders often do not exactly see eye to eye).

source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/voices/2020/08/10/kamala-harris-progressive-pioneer-san-francisco-da-column/3334668001/

Marijuana sales cases were routinely reduced to misdemeanors. And marijuana possession cases were not even on the court’s docket. They were simply not charged. Unless there was a large grow case, or a unique circumstance, this was the reform-minded approach then-DA Harris’ office took. The accusations about marijuana prosecutions being harsh during her tenure are absurd. The reality was quite the opposite.

Other quotes from Solis:

“Sen. Harris’ progressive approach did not end with marijuana prosecutions or lack thereof. She co-founded the Coalition to End the Exploitation of Kids. She then spearheaded a task force combating the human trafficking of girls. Upon her invitation, I went to the task force meetings to speak on behalf of one of my juvenile clients. My client, a beautiful teenage girl, had aspirations of joining the military. She was selling her body to earn money when her life was cut short; she was found dead in a San Francisco dumpster. Harris and I talked about my client and the exploitation of young girls happening on a constant basis. Unlike her predecessors, she did something about it. She stopped prosecuting young girls for prostitution — acknowledging that they were victims who needed treatment for trauma and not criminals who needed to be incarcerated.

For those who have heard contrary arguments about Harris’ past work as a prosecutor, rest assured that you are hearing this from someone whose life’s work has been dedicated to the cause of equality and justice. I am the chair of the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office Racial Justice Committee and have scratched and clawed for some semblance of justice in our courts for well over two decades. I grappled with this idea of defending a former prosecutor for a long time, but Harris is more than that. I have to acknowledge the truth and say what I feel is right to set the record straight. Should Joe Biden decide not to select Kamala Harris as a running mate, her track record as San Francisco district attorney should certainly not be one of the reasons.”

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cash-app-direct-deposit-fail · 2 years

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How to fix Cash App pending direct deposit unemployment issue?

Suppose you are wondering how to get your pending unemployment check from Cash App. In that case, you can follow these simple steps: Register with Cash App, provide your bank account information, and routing number, and wait for your payment to be processed.

Cash App has a direct deposit feature that can process your payment much faster than a traditional bank account to make the process even easier. This method will require you to validate your bank account and routing number, but it's free.

How long does a pending direct deposit take on Cash App?

Once you've received your first payment from Cash App, you may wonder how long it will take before your next one arrives. The truth is, it varies depending on your bank, but generally, it takes anywhere from 1 to 5 business days. Sometimes, you may even need to wait longer during certain times of the day, such as a weekend or festival. Here are some things to keep in mind:

The reason why your direct deposit may be pending is due to a variety of reasons. The application may have encountered connectivity issues or entered your employer's details incorrectly. In either case, you should contact your employer to fix the issue. Sometimes, you may not have enough funds in your account to cover the entire payment. This could be because your payment card has expired or your account balance is low. You can request a refund if you cannot receive your payment for a certain reason.

Why is my Cash App stimulus check pending?

Many people ask themselves the same question: Why is my Cash App stimulus check pending? This issue can occur for several reasons. Usually, this is due to a problem with the routing number, which you may not have noticed. There may also be technical issues, such as your Cash App version being outdated or the bank's servers being down. If you experience this issue, contact your employer and follow their instructions.

First, check your activity feed. You might be eligible for another program if you don't see your direct deposit on your home screen.

Your Cash App may have an old transaction record if you have an expired debit card.

Or, your bank account's servers may be having trouble processing your direct deposit.

You can use the app to check your direct deposit status.

Why Cash App direct deposit unemployment failed?

Cash App direct deposit for unemployment may fail for several reasons. Incorrect account information is a common cause. To fix the issue of Cash App direct deposit unemployment failed, verify your bank account information and update it if necessary. You can contact the company's customer support team if you still cannot receive your money. You can request a refund if these steps don't fix the problem. Otherwise, you can request an appointment to review your account with a representative.

If you're receiving your paychecks in the mail, it's important to try contacting your bank and requesting a new direct deposit. Sometimes, the issue is caused by outdated or temporary credit cards. If you've tried these steps, you should be able to receive your payment within a few days. You may need to reactivate your card if you're still not receiving your paychecks after five business days. Alternatively, you can contact the unemployment agency and ask for another direct deposit.

How to fix Cash App unemployment direct deposit pending issues?

If you've recently used the Cash App to receive your paycheck, you may have encountered a problem with a direct unemployment deposit pending. While most issues are related to an error on the server side, other causes of the issue may be your account's expiration date or CVV code. If none of these factors apply, you should first contact your employer's customer support team to learn how to resolve the issue. If none of these steps resolves your problem, you may want to try re-installing the Cash App application.

The issue could be that your employer refuses to authorise the transfer because your account balance is below the amount required for it to be processed. It may be the bank's problem if you've checked the banking account details and they are correct. Occasionally, it can also be due to a technical error with the employer. In either case, you should contact your bank to resolve the issue. Regardless of the cause, there's no harm in trying again in a few days.

How to enable Cash App direct deposit Unemployment?

The process may be delayed or fail. If you notice that your unemployment benefits payment isn't showing up in your account immediately, contact your bank directly. Sometimes, your bank's security settings may be a security issue. If it takes longer than two or four days, try contacting Cash App support. Alternatively, you may be able to use the app to enable Cash App direct deposit unemployment benefits.

To enable Cash App direct deposit unemployment benefits, log into your bank account using your banking details and password.

Then, go to the Cash App homepage and select the option "New Deposit" from the bottom of the page.

The app will then prompt you to provide your bank account information and a verification code. After you verify this information, the money will be in your account within minutes.

To use Cash App for unemployment benefits, you must be registered with your state's unemployment office and have valid employment documentation.

#Cash App direct deposit failed #Cash App direct deposit unemployment failed #Cash App direct deposit unemployment #Cash App unemployment direct deposit pending #Cash App stimulus check pending

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scripttorture · 7 years

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Hey, I really appreciate the work you do here. Thank you! I want to ask, I have a hostile enemy alien in a sci fi setting who doesn't speak the same language as the MC captors, but sourcing a native speaker or resources is next to impossible so they're trying to bridge the communication barrier, interrogating them with the help of a linguist. They don't have a lot of time, so to build rapport would it be better to learn their language or try to teach them a human language, or both?

Thank you, I’m glad you’re finding the blog helpful. :)

If they don’t have a lot of time interrogation probably isn’t going towork full stop. But…that does really depend on what you mean by ‘not a lot oftime’.

Interrogation isn’t very effective at the best of times, with a languagebarrier, a time limit and a genuine non-human (which means that these rapportbuilding ideas might not work) I don’t think it would work at all. In the bestof circumstances successful interrogation takes days or weeks. With a languagebarrier in place months sounds more likely.

If your characters don’t have that time I think you should change thatpart of the story to give them moretime. Unreasonable ideas about interrogation’s effectiveness and how long ittakes influence a lot of real life interrogators, most of whom are very poorlytrained (police in particular get very little training and take ideas from fictionamong other things).

Another option is to shift some of the information gathering away frominterrogation, bringing in forensics and more effective intel gatheringtechniques (stake outs for instance). This doesn’t mean getting rid ofinterrogation or making the information gathered from it useless, but making itone part of a wider information gathering operation.

A lot is also going to depend on how your aliens work as a species. Themost important factors are probably whether they’re a social species whichforms strong emotional bonds and whether they can form bonds with otherspecies.

One of the suggestions that gets put forward for why African Wild Dogsare struggling so much in the wild is their inability to accept ‘surrogate’figures in their pack structure. Some animals seem to have a greater ability tounderstand and interact with a different species than others.

It’searly days but there has been research in rats that strongly suggests they haveempathy, at least for each other. I’m reaching here because we obviouslycan’t interrogate other species but I think that this sort of ability toempathise on a species level would be necessary for interrogation to work thesame way it does in humans.

I honestly have no idea how we could even begin to approachinterrogation with a species that doesn’t have that underlying wiring.

With humans the important thing is building a relationship, a rapportand keeping it as positive as possible. And with us trying to force someone whodoesn’t want to talk to learn a whole new language- well it tends not to godown very well. It’s emphasising a barrier rather than building a bridge.

So I think trying to do both, with greater emphasis on the humancharacter’s trying to learn the alien’s language, would be the best way forwardin that case.

But more widely I think a study of the alien character’s body language andnon-manual expressions would also be important. Mimicking the alien’s typicalmodes of communication should take things like the equivalent of facialexpressions, hand gestures and tone of voice into account. The combination ofphysical and verbal expression could also help the human characters to get abetter grasp of the cultural barrier they’re facing.

Overall though I think your best bet is a combination of all thesesuggestions. Giving the characters a little more time to actually break throughthat language barrier and establish a rapport. Taking some of the pressure offthem by opening up other avenues of investigation.

In real life a language barrier often means interrogation just fails. You’vegot a bit more leeway in a sci fi and I think pressing that advantage would bea really good idea because you can use it to make the ‘problem’ moreinteresting and varied for the reader.

Things like pattern recognition programs could be used to help decodethe alien’s language and gestures from recordings. Would the analysis and crossreferencing that’s essential to interrogation be done by people or computers?And would there be advantages to one or the other?

Building a database of the alien’s language and developing a computerbased translation system could be used to cut down on the time human analystsspend working, applying new information about the language to old recordingsand sending out alerts when new translations are completed.

Both of those could be supplemented by recording and information fromoutside investigations.

And differences in favoured approaches or opinions on the ‘worth’ of acertain program/technique could feed into tensions within the human crew.

I hope that helps. :)

Disclaimer

#interrogation #language barriers #sci fi ask #effective interrogation #effective investigation #empathy #rats #Anonymous

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edgargsts249-blog · 5 years

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Don't File For Bankruptcy When You Can Apply For Federal Government Grants to Help Out

We call specific type of debt "Zombie financial obligation" since it is, for some factor, undead. It might be extremely old debt left over from a terminated account a number of years back. It might be financial obligation that has currently been discharged in bankruptcy or settled by agreement with the lender. It might even be financial obligation that you never ever legitimately sustained in any way, when it comes to example, debts incurred through identity theft. All of these kinds of debts must be dead, but often they come back to haunt you.

The way zombie debts come back to haunt you is really basic. They are sold to financial obligation collectors. The financial obligation collectors then attempt to gather on the debt without any real issue for its authenticity. They will frequently utilize all the typical techniques to gather, from calling or composing to threatening with litigation, to really submitting match and pursuing you into court. Back when individuals were still getting loans, sometimes the loan providers would see debt on your record and require you to pay it as a condition of getting the loan-regardless of the financial obligation's authenticity.

In any occasion, the common quality of zombie financial obligations is that they have somehow come back to haunt you long after you believed they had disappeared. How can you deal with them?

youtube

Under the Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), you deserve to require a debt collector to "verify" a financial obligation. To do this, you just write the debt collector within thirty days of its calling you and state that you contest the financial obligation and desire them to verify it. Relatively typically this will suffice to get rid of the debt collector-for a pacific national funding reviews time. If you do this whenever you receive a financial obligation collection letter, you will begin to organize the circumstance. The debt collector should "verify" the debt prior to taking any more action versus you, although you ought to know that this is truly an extremely small problem. A call to the preliminary financial institution to validate its claim versus you will frequently be enough under the FDCPA.

The next arrow in your quiver is the Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). If the debt collector is reporting your financial obligation as unsettled, or negatively in any way, you can dispute the debt. You write a letter to the credit reporting agencies, contesting the debt and pointing out the FCRA. This is expected to need the credit reporting http://www.bbc.co.uk/search?q=https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/finance/consolidate-debt/ firms to "investigate" the debt. Once again this is a potentially nearly minimal requirement, and the reporting agencies sometimes do no greater than calling the individual declaring you owe the money. But this time any false declaration from the financial obligation collector will violate the FCRA and give you the right to sue it. Considering that this right brings a claim for lawyer fees, it is more alarming to the financial obligation collectors. The right to attorneys charges makes it most likely you can get a legal representative to represent you.

Keep in mind that your letter disputing your debt at first is to the financial obligation collector.

Your 2nd letter contesting the financial obligation is to the credit reporting agencies, and you need to correspond to each of the credit reporting companies.

If the debt collector persists, and if the debt is illegitimate or beyond the statute of restrictions, or if the debt collector depends on its report to the credit reporting companies, then you have a legal claim versus the financial obligation collector, and a great deal of attorneys like to take them because of the lawyers fees arrangements under the federal law. There are other possible claims under a lot of states' laws.

If the financial obligation collector pursues the matter into court and attempts to gather the debt, then you can protect yourself in the ways my website reveals you. A successful outcome is normally a stake in the heart of the zombie debt.

#debt relief #debt consolidation #credit consolidation

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rodneyhbrown-blog · 5 years

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Personal Finance 101: Top Tips That You Don't Want To Miss

Many people believe that once you get in debt, you can never get out. This simply is not true. Understanding how to get out of debt and keep yourself out are important means for any person. This article will help to teach you how to control your personal finances and help to make you more confident in your decisions.

No credit repair company can guarantee 100% success in repairing your history. A lot of credit repair organizations will make broad, general statements about what they can do for you to clean up your credit. They can't fulfill such claims, because credit problems are individual. Companies that promise to completely clean your credit are deceiving you.

When it comes to filing income taxes, consider itemizing your deductions. To itemize it is more paperwork, upkeep and organization to keep, and fill out the paperwork needed for itemizing. Doing the paperwork needed for itemizing is all worth it if your standard deduction is lower than your itemized deduction.

Every time you get a raise, set aside at least half of the new, after-tax increase for saving more each month. You will still enjoy a higher income and will never miss the extra money which you were never used to spending. It is even better if you set up your paycheck or checking account to transfer the money to savings automatically.

One of the tips that you can follow when you go to the store is to shop with a friend. Have them set a time limit as to how long you are going to stay in the store, which will reduce the chance of you spending money on items that you do not need.

One of the things that you can do as a form of additional income is venture to the nearest yard sales in your area. Purchase items for cheap that could be worth something and resell these products online. This can help a lot by adding a couple hundred dollars to your bank account.

If you save your change from cash purchases, it can accrue over time to a nice chunk of money, that you can use to supplement your personal finances anyway you want. It can be used for something that you have been wanting but couldn't afford, such as a new guitar or if you want to make it work for you, it can be invested.

Keep good records of your expenses. If you aren't keeping accurate records, it's doubtful that you are claiming all you are allowed at tax time. It also makes your situation very difficult if an audit should happen. A digital or paper file can work just fine, so work on creating the system that works for you.

Old coins can sometimes be worth large amounts of money for one to sell and invest the return back into ones personal finances. These old coins can sometimes be found in a relatives ancient piggy bank or in the most unlikely of places. If one knows what coins to look for they can be greatly rewarded if they find them.

If you discover an error on your credit report, your first step is to write a letter explaining this error to that credit bureau. The second step would be to contact the creditor who made the error and ask them to fix it. If you attack the problem from both ends, you are more guaranteed to see a resolution.

Before signing a lease agreement, talk to your future property management about the privacy policies. Many places require social security numbers and many other personal pieces of information, but they never explain how this information is stored and kept safe. Stolen identities are on a sky high rise in the past decade and without proper safekeeping from the management company, yours can be next.

Although it can take some extra work, if you use only ATMs associated with your bank or credit union, you will save money. The per-transaction fees are on the rise, as this is money that you can have in your pocket.

As was stated earlier in the article, knowing that you can get out and stay out of debt is an important key to any person's success. This article has offered you a multitude of tips, meant to help you control your financial life. Apply these tips to become more confident and comfortable with your financial decisions.

#Personal Finance

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christophergill8 · 5 years

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Don't make these 10 tax-filing mistakes

Federal and most state, tax returns are due in few days. Don't panic! You still have time to finish your return (or get an extension).

If you do decide to just be done with your Form 1040 — new, but not necessarily improved this year under Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) changes — make sure you don't make any of these common filing errors in your rush to finish.

For the most part, tax software has helped eliminate a lot of mistakes. Still, we're not yet at the total tax automation point yet. And that old garbage in, garbage out adage about computer data definitely applies to tax returns.

In fact, it's more critical, since one wrong tax entry could be multiplied across several forms or schedules, producing a costly tax error.

So that you won't end up in such a situation, check out these 10 common tax mistakes that millions of taxpayers make every year. Some are directly from the Internal Revenue Service. Others are based on my and other filers' experiences.

1. Missing or inaccurate Social Security numbers: This nine-digit number was not intended to be our universal identifier, but, for better and in this age of identity theft often for worse, that's what the Social Security number has become.

There's been some talk about changing that for tax filing, but until that happens, you've got to include it on your annual return. The IRS won't process a 1040 without it. This identity number requirement extends to you as the primary filer, as well as the Social Security numbers for your spouse and any dependents.

These numerals are crucial because so many tax-related transactions, from income statements to investment earnings to retirement plan contributions and distributions, are keyed to this number.

A Social Security number also is critical when claiming several tax credits, such as the child tax and additional child tax credits, as well as ones for educational expenses and dependent care costs.

When you run your final tax software check, it should point out any missing Social Security numbers. But what it won't know is whether the digits are correct. So double check. A wrong tax ID number, when checked by the IRS against other data it has on you, will at best slow down the processing of your return. At worst, it could cost you valuable tax breaks.

2. Misspelled or different names: Sure, the bulk of the information on your tax return is numerical, but words — specifically names — are important, too. Spell all names listed on a tax return exactly as listed on the taxpayers’ Social Security card.

What's the big deal if you've gone by a middle or nickname all your life and enter that on your Form 1040? Plenty. When the names of a taxpayer, his or her spouse or their children don't match the tax identification number that the Social Security Administration has on record, the IRS processing machine likely will kick out or slow down the tax return.

Name issues often are a problem for the newly married. Many folks still change their surnames when they marry, whether the "I do's" are exchanged by a bride and groom or spouses in same-sex marriages, which the IRS now recognizes.

In these cases, if you didn't alert the Social Security Administration (SSA) of your name change after your wedding, your new name on your 1040 or other tax statements could cause a problem when you file your first joint tax return. Get in touch with the SSA ASAP to reconcile this.

The same issue also arises when marital bliss doesn't last and ex-spouses change names after a divorce. Again, make sure Uncle Sam's appropriate agencies know that, too.

3. Improperly claiming a dependent: Sometimes determining just who is your tax dependent can be messy. There are lots of rules about relationships and support earned or provided and who lives for how long in your house. You also must have the Social Security number of the person (see #1), either a child or qualifying relative, you're listing as a dependent on your tax return.

Sometimes the eligibility confusion leads to an innocent mistake as to who can be listed as your tax dependent. Other times, though, folks knowingly claim a person as dependent to get a tax break, such as the refundable Earned Income Tax Credit.

Faking dependents is not a good idea. This is willful disregard of the tax laws and your responsibility to meet them. Such intentional tax violations could lead to tough penalties, sometimes of the criminal nature, on top of the unpaid tax and interest added to it that you thought you were escaping with your fake dependent ploy.

Think the IRS might be too busy to catch your suddenly larger family? Think again. The IRS knows that filers sometimes add people, either real or imaginary or even pets, on their returns. That's why tax examiners look at who has and hasn't been listed before on your returns.

4. Using the wrong filing status: Some taxpayers unintentionally claim the wrong filing status. That innocent error could be costly, such as choosing single in the first tax-filing season since your divorce when you have primary custody of your children and really should be filing as the more tax-beneficial head of household.

Filers have five filing status options, and each could make a difference in your ultimate tax bill.

The IRS' online Interactive Tax Assistant can help you pick the proper filing status. E-file software also helps prevent mistakes here.

Advice from the IRS in Form 1040 instructions

5. Using whole, rounded numbers: Yes, round numbers are easier to add and subtract.

Yes, your tax software rounds entries.

And yes, even the IRS says you can round your dollars and cents on your Form 1040 entries.

But when it comes to deductions and business expenses, it tends to make the IRS think that you're, uh, making up amounts.

OK, I tend to add tip amounts so that business meal checks come out to even numbers. But I have those receipts to support my OCD.

Other financial transactions, however, rarely end in .00.

At best, all those rounded numbers make it look like you didn't keep good records showing precise amounts. And that could encourage the IRS to take a closer look at all your entries.

6. Entering incorrect bank account numbers: You can have your tax refund directly depositing into a bank account or accounts or retirement plan. That's easy for you and the IRS. Unless you enter the wrong account number and accompanying routing number.

The more numbers you enter on a tax form, the more chances you have to enter them incorrectly. And a wrong account or routing number could cause you to lose your refund entirely.

You can divide your refund deposit into three accounts by filing Form 8888 along with your individual return. It's not a difficult document to complete, but if you put in wrong account numbers, your refund could end up in someone else's account or be sent back to the IRS.

Incorrect account numbers aren't just a problem when a refund is split multiple ways. Even if your refund is going to just one account, make very sure you enter that account and bank routing numbers correctly.

7. Overlooking additional income: Did you have a side job this year? If so, as a contractor you probably received a Form 1099-MISC or maybe a 1099-K detailing the extra gig earnings.

What about savings and investment accounts? For these, you should have received Form 1099-INT and Form 1099-DIV statements.

In these 1099 situations, the IRS knows precisely how much extra money, either as wages or unearned investment income, you made because it got copies of those forms, too.

If you forget to include any of these earnings on your return, IRS examiners will let you know you that it knows and that you owe taxes on that money, too. And depending on when your oversight is discovered, you also could owe penalties and interest on the unreported earnings.

8. Making credit or deduction mistakes: Here's a non-news flash. The tax code is complicated. In fact, many of the changes made by the TCJA have, say many tax professionals and filers, have made things worse in this regard instead of better. That means there are lots of opportunities to make mistakes as you look for tax-saving credits and deductions.

Errors are frequently made by folks claiming two popular tax breaks, the additional child tax credit. Both of these credits are refundable, meaning they can get you a refund even if you don't owe any tax. That's part of the reason the IRS now must hold refunds related to these tax credits until mid-February.

But the IRS also sees each year errors by filers figuring their child and dependent care credit and even in selecting their standard deduction amount. For example, a taxpayer who's 65 or older and/or blind, can claim a larger standard deduction.

Follow the tax filing instructions carefully, either those in IRS publications and forms or as part of your tax software. Again, the IRS' online Interactive Tax Assistant also can help you determine if you're eligible for certain tax credits or deductions.

9. Math miscalculations: The IRS is all about the numbers. So it's no surprise that the most common error on tax returns, year after year, is bad math.

Arithmetic errors range from simple addition and subtraction to more complex tax items, like those credits and deductions just mentioned in mistake #8. Figuring things like the EITC or the taxable portion of a retirement account distribution, for example, is more difficult and results in more math errors.

The IRS' 207 Data Book, the latest available edition, shows that in processing 2016 tax returns, the agency caught more than 2.5 million math errors. Considering that most of us use tax software, in large part because it does the math for us, that's astounding.

Source: IRS 2017 Data Book

Again, the garbage in, garbage out factor comes into play here. The wrong number on one form's line produces a wrong calculation that gets transferred to another form, exponentially compounding the math error.

So pay close attention when you enter your numerical data into your tax return.

10. Missing the deadline: Finally, don't make the biggest tax season mistake of all, missing the filing deadline.

Millions of taxpayers put off filing until the very last minute. That's OK as long as your mailed paper return is postmarked by the April filing deadline or you hit "enter" to e-file your 1040 by midnight in your time zone on April 15.

This year, some folks get a couple of extra days. Thanks to the convergence of the Patriots Day and Emancipation Day holidays, taxpayers in Maine and Massachusetts don't have to file their federal tax returns until April 17.

Get an extension: But regardless of your filing due date, if you just can't finish your forms by the deadline, get an extension.

Filing Form 4868 will give you six more months, until Oct. 15, to get all your tax return material filled out correctly and into the IRS.

The extra filing time is granted as long as you get your request to the IRS, either by mailing the paper form or electronically asking for an extension by, for most of us, Monday, April 15.

Remember, though, that this automatic extension applies only to filing your tax the forms. You still must send by your filing deadline any tax you owe with your extension request. If you don't, you could face late-filing or non-filing penalties.

Nobody wants to pay Uncle Sam a penny more than necessary, so don't make the mistake of missing the filing deadline. Or any of the 9 other potentially costly tax filing errors.