#how to evict my son in florida

[the-firebird69]

Our waiting for the video to pull up on Trump trying again to get immunity where it does not apply we thought

He mentioned that he is guilty of several crimes and he admitted them on TV you said that he committed fraud already and everybody decided to put some put them on some sort of trial.

-he's standing there but seems like forever because the computer is sitting there trying to load and they're messing around a simple process so I posted in a separate Tumblr cuz he's got the computer up what the supreme Court decided

-it's a lot of decisions being made about what to do with you guys here within a qualified to make the decisions or not they're doing it because you are a stinkers and losers and mean and you're just idiots going around in circles not accomplishing anything except for ruining what they've done for years and that is coming up and that topic quite a while they're going to ask you because of it I'm pretty hard it's happening today and I went through a bunch of you not that many and started evictions they're going to begin a new pretty soon and large numbers of them in Charlotte county in Florida all over the world really and we're going to begin doing it too reducing teams out to arrest you when you start breaking the law

Thor Freya

The more like a pouring into the tunnels they've eaten up about 5% of their population remaining they'll probably go for another 5% tonight. There's a whole number of things that they're doing wrong one of them is they're not tracking the robots and they put them all over the place and it makes it easier for people to grab them those different parties are grabbing them and they do take the hardware and software out and Trump hits the silicon about a year after they already made them. He's a massive bum and a loser.

-we do have more to say the sun is just pleased with the treatment and wants you people to shut up and get often and you refuse and you're driving around saying all those dumb crap you said stupid crap about his idea it was your idea you're saying you're the inventors and our son said so let it roll tell people that and you have to tell me I guess and got into a lot of fights and big fights too and people are coming down on them telling them just to shut up and he doesn't say anything all the time and here you are screaming it and started a big fight and yes bja and Jenna are going to step down before the elections well no they're playing on sticking it out and they found Trump snickering and toadling and laughing and he says no you know and it changes things in a sense is no that's not how it works but so you said laughing and said okay how does it work cuz you trying to take my apartment key and everybody's trying to kill you and they are killing your people until they can get to you and got hit because he turned around and started blabbing other people picked up on it and started hitting him he's going to be a wreck and he's going into a couple movies and people are going to beat him up and bring him down what are the movies is going to be Mick ultra and that's after I am the cheese and before Superman and Doomsday and Batman and it is going to be a hell of a fight they're going to kill each other and Trump is going to get decimated and he will be attacked by Brad for what seems like a month of solid attacks and finally Trump kills Brad and his client gets Trump killed and in Tunis and it's over all sorts of dumb things but there's a lot going on there's a stuff called fire and there's several warnings today about the woods out there being dry and a part of it caught fire and they're putting it out and it's happening intermittently all over the place if you figure it out it's only a quarter of the place but it's going to be a blaze tonight I'm planning on sending 20 more now there's only 100 households and actually we said 110 but he's right we said it was 100 but it's not. And they're going to go out there and we think that people get hurt it's not a real smart thing to do but that's what they're doing. And the other side are getting as many people together by this next morning they will be weaker than kittens we're looking forward to that but the max are going to strike tonight and they're going to hit the morlock because they're going down into the tunnels and they're going to trace it down and hit where they're coming from and they're going to hit a lot of them it's going on tonight. You're going on he's more like going north with a huge Force and it will be there momentarily it is gigantic it's too big they're going to get their asses handed to them and they'll be up there in a couple hours everything is going to start in a couple hours and we're going to hear from them screaming and yelling and their AI boy and we can care less if they keep saying this stupid and they're hilarious looking people by the way they look like really dumb and so dumb that you really want to stop them from being near you and Dave was trying to do that he didn't look so smart either but he was squished it down and he was diminutive for his size our son is a child and he looks a little bit odd too but not that odd he says that you should have him drive your car because it affects and really John remillard will go after this like a shark after a seal our son is really only about 5 years old and that's his head and his brain and his body is about a 3 year olds and he's like that guy the mask to you guys when you're actually mature and he's not very bright but our son is a lot smarter than you are it's just as smart as Mac and Mac is always surprised but really he's an underage driver. They also say he has a disease and not supposed to drive around no that doesn't matter... Tell me to see what happens there

-my son and daughter actually says he thinks it was her and it was and she came and mentioned that some guys using a money order and then he can combine a reference number and the money order number and we'll try and place the cash that they use and force them here that's what it all means and some people sent thousands of dollars. It's not a grant or a will and you can make a will that's what the living will is you're alive and you're saying that this person can have this truck if he starts a pool company and tries to do it for a month at least. John son says that's a great idea and he's going to make pools that are like beaches at the house and you wait into it and you can have a little wave thing and title pools and is going to take Trump and give him a consultant job in the company name will be Beach bum so people might try that but there's some big wigs doing it and they have a lot of their troops doing it and it's all kind of on the same line there's maybe 20 major groups. . Two of them are foreigners and they're going to try and get it going for real.

We had trillions and trillions today way too many to mention they're doing it and they say it's cold from their end and they're trying to get stuff together to become powerful

This function is causing people to get into the game and we needed it very badly and it's forcing us to sign on is a giant movement

Couple more things

-I don't appreciate you dragging me around and our son and a cheapskates still going to drag you around and take all your money one effect is most of the people that use the checks they're trying to trace us down and they are getting very messed up they're not going to make it... We found one group but sent out the same code 27 times from 27 different locations all them within three states there's a big group a couple hundred million letters all the more money orders sent to our son so they're saying Jim Morrison you want to go there area and close people off so they're going to try and get Jim Morrison there and take it for a ride for everything is worth and it's not Justin he's not doing it either a lot of people are saying wow and it is that way that's incredible stuff

We're going ahead with what we're doing now and we are getting stuff together and we're moving out but there's a huge amount of stuff happening these people are nuts they're going around doing dangerous things and we don't want them near our son they're idiots they get killed once or twice a day each it's over they're r forces are going up and are diminishing very fast more and later

Thor Freya

The panel idea has taken four companies are trying to make them for specific cars mostly Mercedes BMW Audi cars with bigger motors and some of the American cars mostly Camaro Corvette charger Challenger there's only a couple sedans the Kia sedan the big one that our son had but the high performance version and you know there aren't many more that they want to do it too and our son said the high performance speed shops could try and order the panels for supercars no it's for the hypercars and super cars to make them more impregnable and even different rating for a fly car with some different panels so there would be a couple levels and they're going to try and look into it but we have four people doing it for a regular cars there are several people who are looking at their trucks and wondering if they could do it and our son says the truck with a high performance package of an increase in horsepower and talk to and some torque and it's true and could pull the weight and it's actually probably a wiser thing in SUV a large one is better than a small one but so many people have the small ones that have actual power it's about the explorer sized. The reasoning is that you can carry stuff and it won't get destroyed or destroy you and is more chance of it surviving cuz they do in case it so they figured out something it's pretty Sharp and they are going to town on it and it says don't forget to make an enclosure for the gas tank and they laughed and said that's a good idea that you can provide answer your shielding for your motor and such it's simple stuff on the inside of your grill and put a louver that's out of steel or even out of the metal and they agree so they're going to go ahead and try and make these packages and they're getting excited because they do understand what he's saying you're going to be making these and you're going to make it so many they also need vehicles with right now their vehicles are getting destroyed and our son and daughter say that we build those and we're interested in that and they want to talk to us because we can build them fast and we pretty much have to no they're building them as fast as they can and it's just not fast enough and we need that kind of thing for a little bit of heat and the max we're doing that to us our entire life and I'm going to put it forward is it been a very valuable talk and we hope to do more later and yeah he's itchy again

Thor Freya

Olympus

Wow you mean I can walk up and buy a truck from you and our friend says you have to use a little more caution than that that we're going to talk about it with certain people and we are going to sit down and discuss it and she probably have a show car show equipment show you can have a smaller one so it's not ridiculous and he says a big one isn't bad it's true too the question is where and Max is laughing that's a good question and our son says Florida and it's a joke but it's not big probably in California and it's a good idea and to have a car show because our cars have the metal on them and most of them have a rating of eight or nine already and their standard cars and you're going to go around armor in your cars for no reason except you can armor them more with titanium panels or titanium alloy I'll give you about a 12 or 15 so they're thinking about it now

Thor Freya

Olympus

[boushh2187]

Unexpected - RCIJ 2020

Title: Unexpected

By @boushh2187

Fandom: Once Upon a Time

Pairing: Rumbelle

Rumbelle Christmas in July 2020 

Gift for @lotus0kid

Prompt: “I’m doing you a favor”

Word Count: 4053

Rated: PG

Author’s Note: I really hope you enjoy the story, lotus0kid, and that it makes you smile!

Summary: Storybrooke AU. Mr. Gold finds himself on an unexpected trip.

“When you think about it, I’m doing you a favor.”

“Shouldn’t that be my line?” Richard Gold looked up from his seat in Archibald Hopper’s office, his expensive three piece suit a bit wrinkled after all day wear. Dr. Hopper also wore a suit, though one that had seen better days. He looked slightly uncomfortable at being caught repeating the kind of words Gold often used, but only slightly. Perhaps, after a few long chats in this office over the years, Dr. Hopper felt as if they were friends. Gold wasn’t sure he’d go that far, even if Dr. Hopper knew more about Gold’s personal life than anyone in the town of Storybrooke, Maine. He had, after all, just threatened him with eviction for not having this month’s rent, but perhaps Dr. Hopper also knew that it was rather an idle threat. At least, due to the circumstances.

He looked across the room at Pongo. Dr. Hopper’s Dalmatian was resting on top of a comfortable looking blanket on top of his bed. The poor dog was recovering from surgery. His leg was wrapped up in a cast and he was drowsy from the procedure and the pain medicine. Gold had a soft spot for Pongo, and understood that Dr. Hopper had used the rent money and then some for this unexpected procedure.

“It’s the perfect solution,” Dr. Hopper continued, pushing up his glasses and sitting up straighter. I don’t have the money, due to Pongo’s surgery, but I do have this trip I was to go on, and now I need to stay with Pongo. You can go in my stead. It’s all expenses paid. I won it in a contest, so you don’t have to worry about a thing. I can make all of the changes with the company and you can even invite your son.” His smile reached his eyes, and the thought obviously made him happy. Dr. Hopper was one of very few people in this town that even knew he had a son, and how much Gold loved his son, and missed him.

Bae would probably enjoy it, and might be able to find a way to convince his mother to allow him to miss school. “That isn’t a bad idea. I haven’t seen him in months. It would be the perfect reason for his mother to allow him to go away with me.”

Archie brightened even more, if that was possible. “I told you! I really would be grateful if you would take this deal.”

Gold was amused. “I think you might be adapting some of my quirks.” This time, Dr. Hopper grinned and walked over to his small cabinet and pulled out a bottle of scotch. Gold nodded when Dr. Hopper nudged the bottle towards him as an offer. Adapting some of his quirks, indeed. Dr. Hopper poured them both a glass and they shared a moment of silence as they enjoyed the fine liquid. Gold put his glass down. “And I sincerely hope that Pongo mends swiftly. Call me with the details as soon as possible so that I can make arrangements with my son.”

“Will do!” Dr. Hopper was already rummaging through his papers to make the relevant calls. Hopefully, this will turn out to be a good way to reconnect with his teenage son. 

*****

Mr. Gold boarded the plane looking more like he was going to a business meeting instead of a vacation. He had a shoulder bag that held his travel essentials, and he’d checked his other luggage. It took some effort to move through the narrow aisle of the plane with his bag and his cane. He resisted the temptation of blowing his hair out of his eyes. His hair was shoulder length, as he’d worn it since before Bae was born, except that now there were generous amounts of grey along his temples and sideburns. Where had the time gone? He would hopefully be meeting his fourteen year old son at the hotel. Fourteen! In the last picture his son had sent him, Bae looked like he’d grown a foot, and he had grown his hair out like his father, except there was much more curl to his son’s hair, unlike his. He’d taken from his mother in that regard. Gold really hoped that Milah would not resist allowing Bae to take this trip on his own to meet his father.

After what seemed like ages of waiting for people to place their carry ons in the overhead bins, Gold was finally at his seat. This plane had two seats on either side of the aisle. It was quite small, and he had wished he’d convinced the company that provided Dr. Hopper with this winning trip to allow him to upgrade to first class.

The window seat was already occupied, and he looked carefully at his ticket. He did indeed have the aisle seat, which on the one hand helped because he could stretch out his bad ankle if he really needed to, but on the other hand he might have to get up over and over again if he had an annoying neighbor. He took his seat, took the newspaper out of his bag, and placed his bag underneath the chair. He put his seatbelt on and settled in with the folded newspaper in his lap. It read: June 1st, 1983. At least he was able to get today’s paper at the airport.

“Good Morning, Mr. Gold.” He started, and turned in the direction of the voice. The Australian accent was unmistakable. He knew this person. She was from Storybrooke as well. The daughter of the local florist. 

“Ms. French, I didn’t expect to see you here. Good Morning.” He was, in fact, quite taken aback. Truth be told she often took his breath away, especially when he ran into her unexpectedly in town. There were times when he knew he might see her: at Granny’s Diner for breakfast or lunch, at the library where she worked, at her father’s shop, or even in his shop, when she would stop by looking for rare books or tea sets. However, this was something else entirely. He’d never imagined running into here on a plane of all places, and looking as lovely as ever. She was dressed in bright yellow flower patterned sundress, and her sunglasses were perched on top of her head. Her  brown hair fell in waves, covering her bare shoulders.

“Didn’t Archie tell you I’d be going on this trip too?”

“Oh no, he failed to mention that. I… I didn’t realize that the two of you were together.” The last bit somehow made it out of his mouth instead of staying in his thoughts.

“Oh, no… we aren’t.” She reached out and touched his hand, and he tried not to react in any way. “We were just going as friends, since I was there at Granny’s and encouraged him to enter the contest. It was for up to four guests. Ruby and Billy were going to come too, but it didn’t work out.”

“I see… well I’m probably not going to be as good company as your friends…”

“Don’t sell yourself short, Mr. Gold. I always enjoy chatting with you.”

He managed to smile back at her. “I enjoy our talks as well, Ms. French.” She smiled back at him and leaned back in her chair. 

“Archie mentioned that your son might be joining us?”

For a moment, Gold was angry with Dr. Hopper for mentioning his son, but Belle was so very sweet in how she inquired that he relaxed immediately.

“Yes, I’m hoping his mother will allow him to make the trip on his own. He’s fourteen now, and I think he can manage. I’m supposed to call them when we land and make sure he will be joining me.”

“Oh I’m sure he will come. He’ll enjoy visiting Disney World too! So many rides. This is my first time visiting, but I did go to DisneyLand once when I was his age. I loved it.”

They mostly spent the flight in companionable silence. She read her book and he read the paper, commenting on interesting things they read. As they left their seats to exit the plane, Belle reached up to retrieve her carry on. Gold thought for a moment, how best to help her with his bad leg hindering him. Before he could come up with a solution, a tall lad reached up and took her bag down for her. She thanked him politely and Gold allowed her to move ahead of him as they exited the plane. He tried not to glare at the young man behind him.

*****

They shared a cab to the hotel and stepped up to different desks to check in. Gold made sure to request an adjoining room for Bae who would be arriving in the early evening as per his ex-wife’s assurances. Belle and Gold parted ways after check in, with Belle heading up just ahead of him. When he arrived at his room, he set up his luggage and looked around. It wasn’t bad. They had set them up at the Contemporary, which was quite nice, and had easy access to the Magic Kingdom park. The rooms were higher end than Gold had expected from a trip that was not paid for by the guests. Gold’s room had two double beds and a balcony with a theme park view. The concierge assured him that they would have a wonderful view of the fireworks. Gold discovered the door to the adjoining room and decided to take a look at Bae’s room and make sure all was well before he arrived. 

He opened the door and nearly fell back into his room. He had to steady himself with his cane. He hadn’t opened the door to an empty room, as he had expected. Instead, he had barged in on Belle, who was unpacking her luggage and laying out her clothes onto the bed. He had, unfortunately, arrived just in time to see her holding up her nightgown, which was practically see through, and definitely more suited for Florida heat than the cooler weather in Maine.

“I’m so… so sorry,” he stammered, as Belle stared at him with a mixture of surprise and what he thought was amusement. He felt flushed with embarrassment, and that never happened to him. She placed the nightgown on the bed, and put her hands on her hips. “I thought this was going to be empty. I had requested an adjoining room for my son…”

“It’s OK, I think I understand what happened.” Belle said, gently. “You need to remember that you and I are on the same vacation. You requested an adjoining room, but the trip was originally intended for a family vacation. One room for the adults, and the other for the kids.” She beckoned him inside. He took a few steps in, feeling very awkward, and hoping he didn’t show it at all. He normally didn’t betray his emotions, but with Belle, it was different.

Belle’s room had a large king sized bed, and the same balcony and view. “I see. So this must be the room they had intended for the adults, and I have...” he turned to indicate the open door to the other room.

“The kids room,” Belle chuckled. “Do you want this room? I don’t mind.”

“No, no. I’ll see if I can change things around. May, I?” he indicated the room’s telephone, and Belle nodded.

After a five minute long conversation with the concierge he gave up.

“No other rooms. Cheerleader convention.” That time, Belle laughed out loud, heartily 

“Bae and I can share my room. It’s quite alright. We have two beds. I had hoped to give him his own room, but this will be fine…”

“Thank you, Mr. Gold.”

“Not at all. I’m sorry to have barged in this way. I hope you know that I didn’t intend to interrupt--” he indicated all of the clothes on the bed.

“I didn’t mind.” She smiled at him, somewhat flirty, though Gold was sure that was his imagination. He had imagined that kind of thing on more than one occasion in their past interactions, and he always immediately admonished himself. Belle was not someone that would be interested in him. She was a beautiful, kind, intelligent, PhD student, who could find someone much better suited for her. And someone closer to her age too. He was a good fifteen years her senior. He shouldn’t even entertain the thought.

*****

Belle was done changing into her comfortable clothes for the evening. She had decided to stay at the hotel and order in, perhaps watch the fireworks from the balcony, and then get an early start in the morning. She thought that she might ask Mr. Gold and his son if they wanted to visit the parks together, but she hadn’t decided on whether she would be intruding or not. The thing was that she was quite excited to have found herself in this situation. She had always had a bit of a crush on Mr. Gold, ever since she had arrived in Storybrooke after Grad School. It was over three years already, and while she’d had a couple of boyfriends, no one ever really kept her interest. Of course, she knew he was quite a few years older than her, but she never paid much attention to that sort of thing. She was a grown woman who could go out with whomever she wanted. She was getting ahead of herself. Even though she had a feeling that he returned her interest, she wasn’t certain. Still, seeing how he blushed earlier gave her a little bit of hope. 

There was a knock at her door. Perhaps it was Mr. Gold calling? She opened the door and took a peek through the crack. It was a boy, a teenager, slightly taller than she was, with tousled brown hair. This had to be Bae! “Hello!” she greeted him.

“I’m sorry, I think I must have the wrong room.” He looked down at some wrinkled papers in his hand. 

“You must be Bae!”

The boy looked surprised at first, but recovered quickly. “I like Neal better, actually. My parents just call me Bae. It’s a nickname.”

“For Baelfire, I know. It’s your middle name. Your dad told me. He’s going to be so happy to see you. He’s been looking forward to it so much.”

Neal looked like he was trying to process everything. He was still standing outside the room and he looked like he was trying to peer inside. “Is my dad staying with you?” he asked slowly, uncertainly.

Belle smiled at him and responded coyly, “Yes, and no. He’s next door. I’ll let him explain it to you.” She put her arm on his shoulder and led him toward Mr. Gold’s room. Neal knocked on the door and it was a moment before Gold appeared and smiled so broadly that Belle was certain she’d never seen him look so happy. 

“Bae!”

Neal hugged his father tightly, “It’s Neal now, Papa. Remember?” He was smiling when he pulled away. 

“I’ll let you two get reacquainted,” Belle said. “Have a good evening.”

“Nice meeting you… I”m sorry, I don’t know your name.”

“Oh forgive me! It’s Belle. Nice meeting you too, Neal.” She waved goodbye and went back to her room, feeling very happy for Mr. Gold.

*****

“So she isn’t your girlfriend?” Neal asked, for the second time. He was sprawled out on one of the double beds, clicking through the channels on the TV.

“Bae, I’ve already answered that question.” He looked up over the large map of the Magic Kingdom park that he was analyzing. He was determined that his son have a good time on this vacation.

“Are you sure, though?” 

Gold folded the map in half and gave his son an exasperated look. “Of course I’m sure, Bae.”

“Well then, I’m pretty sure she wants to be your girlfriend.”

Gold sighed. This was getting a bit out of hand.

“She likes you, Dad. Mom says I have a 6th sense about these kinds of things. I always know who is going to end up dating at school before they do.” Neal sat up on the bed. “Don’t you think she’s pretty?”

“Of course, but that’s besides the point. She wouldn’t be interested in me, and that’s a fact.”

Neal laughed. “Trust me, Dad. She likes you.”

“Can we please change the subject?” Gold asked, wearily.

“Sure. I think we need to discuss something else. You aren’t going to go to the parks in a suit every day, are you?” Neal pointed at the suits hanging in the closet.

Gold suddenly found himself at a loss for words. He hadn’t considered that at all, but he had nothing else with him. “It’ll be fine, Bae.” He was trying to reassure himself, as much as Bae.

“No way, Dad. I’m going to get Belle to back me up on this one.” Before Gold could stop him, Neal was up out of bed and knocking on the door to the connecting room.

It took all of one minute for Belle to open the door curiously.

“Belle you have to tell my dad that he can’t wear his usual clothes to the parks. He’s going to melt.”

Belle laughed at the colorful expression. “I don’t think he’d melt exactly, but he’d probably be very uncomfortable. You don’t have anything more suitable for the hot weather and for all the walking?” 

She directed the question to Gold, and he shook his head, lamely. She turned back to Neal. “You know what you have to do then,” she said, solemnly. “You have to take him shopping. There are many shops in this hotel, and they all will still be open. Why don’t you two go shopping and before you go we can decide on something for dinner. I’ll order it while you two are out, and by the time you get back the food will be here for you.”

Gold couldn’t deny that this sounded like a good idea, and it made him feel so very good to have Belle helping him navigate this situation. 

*****

Over dinner it was decided that the three of them would go to the Magic Kingdom park together. Gold was dressed in a white t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers. Neal had tried to get him into a pair of shorts, but it wasn’t happening. It was going to look odd enough limping around with his silver tipped cane in that outfit. Not nearly as dignified as when wearing a suit. Both Belle and Bae wore tank tops, and shorts, and they slathered on the sunscreen. Belle made sure to give Gold some too, and she even rubbed some on the bridge of his nose before he could protest. 

They spent the day together going on various rides. Gold was glad that Belle was with them. Occasionally, he would sit out on some of the rides and she would go with Bae. They went on Space Mountain, and the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad together. They all went on the Mad Tea Party ride, even though it made Gold a bit queasy. Pirates of the Carribean was amusing, and they were able to ride that one together. Both Belle and Bae grabbed onto him when the ride suddenly dropped in the dark. By the time they went on the Haunted Mansion ride, Neal had made some young friends from the cheerleader convention. Belle and Gold ended up alone in the same car, and Belle held onto his hand the entire time, alternating being thrilled, spooked, and fascinated by the ride. 

By the evening the three of them functioned almost like a little family. That’s what it felt like to Gold, and he would be very sad when this trip was over and they went back to their regular lives. Neal had wanted them to stay in line for Peter Pan’s Flight, but Gold had asked to sit that one out. Belle offered to keep him company while Neal went with his newfound friends. It was getting close to the hour of the fireworks display and the park was emptying out in certain areas, as people gathered to watch the show. Many of the rides had shorter lines for that reason, so he hoped that Neal wouldn’t be too long and they would be able to find a spot to watch the fireworks show. 

Belle led him to a bench near a running fountain. This section of the park was quieting down as the crowds moved towards Cinderella’s Castle. The sound of the fountain was soothing after the long day. They sat together for a bit, and Belle slipped her hand in his. It wasn’t the first time that day, or the second, or the third. Gold had been trying very hard not to read into it, but it was difficult not to. Belle had been very close to him all day. He also had been behaving in a more familiar manner with her. Something was changing, or perhaps it was something finally coming to light.

“Mr. Gold. I have a confession to make.”

Gold swallowed hard.  “Oh?” He tried to sound more curious than nervous.

“I like you very much. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I have liked you for a very long time.”

“I like you too, Ms. French. You’re very good company.”

“Please call me Belle. I’ve asked you before.” 

“Yes, Belle. I’m sorry. Old habits…”

“You do understand what I’m saying, don’t you?” She took her hand and placed it on his cheek, making him face her.

“I do, I just don’t quite believe it.”

“I’ve enjoyed this day so much, haven’t you?”

He nodded.

“I want to have more days like this, where we get to spend time together, because I think you like me just as much as I like you.”

She was gently stroking his cheek. “Am I correct?”

He remembered Neal’s words from last night: “She likes you, Dad” and wondered if she’d overheard them. He had felt the connection between them all throughout this trip, but he refused to believe it. He wasn’t going to deny it anymore. “Belle French, I like you very much indeed.” 

She sighed in relief, and smiled. “Mr. Gold, I’d like to kiss you now.”

“Under one condition,” he said, smiling. “You have to stop calling me Mr. Gold.”

“Deal,” she said, and leaned forward. He met her half way and they shared a sweet, gentle kiss. He pulled back, and gauged her reaction. She didn’t seem like she wanted him to move too far, and pulled him back for a deeper kiss.

“Dad! Come on we’re going to miss the… fireworks… show…” Neal stopped in front of them, out of breath from having run over from the ride nearby. His jaw hung open, and it took him a moment to recover. He clapped and pointed at his father. “I told you, Dad! I know about this stuff! Since you guys are busy, is it ok if I head over with my friends? I can meet you back here.”

“You can go on ahead, but not too far, we’ll be right behind you,” Belle said, and pulled Gold up from his seat. She linked her arm with his and they followed Neal as he met up with his friends just up the path. 

“When we get back to Storybrooke, would you like to go to dinner with me?” Gold asked.

Belle chuckled. “Most definitely yes. Maybe we can have some fireworks in Storybrooke too,” she teased, and squeezed his arm. 

Instead of being taken aback this time, he teased in return, “I think it is quite likely after that last display.” She leaned in closer, and the fireworks went off above the castle. The crowd around them cheered, and music played through the speakers around them. They walked arm in arm and found a spot near Neal and his new friends. They were pointing and marveling at the display. Belle leaned against him as they watched, and Gold had a sudden feeling of gratitude towards Dr. Hopper. He really did do him a big favor.

The End.

[newstfionline]

Saturday, July 31, 2021

Biden to allow eviction moratorium to expire Saturday (AP) The Biden administration announced Thursday it will allow a nationwide ban on evictions to expire Saturday, arguing that its hands are tied after the Supreme Court signaled the moratorium would only be extended until the end of the month. The White House said President Joe Biden would have liked to extend the federal eviction moratorium due to spread of the highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus. Instead, Biden called on “Congress to extend the eviction moratorium to protect such vulnerable renters and their families without delay.” By the end of March, 6.4 million American households were behind on their rent, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development. As of July 5, roughly 3.6 million people in the U.S. said they faced eviction in the next two months, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey.

Evacuation flight brings 200 Afghans to US (AP) The first flight evacuating Afghans who worked alongside Americans in Afghanistan brought more than 200 people, including scores of children and babies in arms, to resettlement in the United States on Friday, and President Joe Biden welcomed them home. The evacuation flights, bringing out former interpreters and others who fear retaliation from Afghanistan’s Taliban for having worked with American service members and civilians, highlight American uncertainty about how Afghanistan’s government and military will fare after the last U.S. combat forces leave that country in the coming weeks. Family members are accompanying the interpreters, translators and others on the flights out. The commercial airliner carrying the 221 Afghans in the special visa program, including 57 children and 15 babies, according to an internal U.S. government document obtained by The Associated Press, touched down in Dulles, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C.

Not in control (NYT) Consider these Covid-19 mysteries: In India—where the Delta variant was first identified and caused a huge outbreak—cases have plunged over the past two months. A similar drop may now be underway in Britain. There is no clear explanation for these declines. / In the U.S., cases started falling rapidly in early January. The decline began before vaccination was widespread and did not follow any evident changes in Americans’ Covid attitudes. / In March and April, the Alpha variant helped cause a sharp rise in cases in the upper Midwest and Canada. That outbreak seemed poised to spread to the rest of North America—but did not. / This spring, caseloads were not consistently higher in parts of the U.S. that had relaxed masking and social distancing measures (like Florida and Texas) than in regions that remained vigilant. / Large parts of Africa and Asia still have not experienced outbreaks as big as those in Europe, North America and South America. / How do we solve these mysteries? Michael Osterholm, who runs an infectious disease research center at the University of Minnesota, suggests that people keep in mind one overriding idea: humility. “We’ve ascribed far too much human authority over the virus,” he told me.

Diasporas at the Olympics (Foreign Policy) Cuban athletes at the Tokyo Olympics are evidence of the exodus from the island over the years. By the Cuban sports journalist Francys Romero’s count, more than 20 athletes at the Olympics were born in Cuba but became naturalized in and are now playing for other countries. That’s a group almost one-third the size of Cuba’s own delegation.

Peru’s politics (Foreign Policy) Peru’s new President Pedro Castillo chose Guido Bellido, a congressman and fellow member of his Marxist Free Peru party, as his prime minister as part of a cabinet announcement on Thursday, setting up a tense confirmation battle with the country’s opposition-led Congress. Bellido courted controversy in a local media interview in April when he expressed sympathy for members of Shining Path—a Maoist guerilla group who fought a bloody insurgency during the 1980s and 1990s.

Death toll in Turkish wildfires rises to four, blazes rage on (Reuters) The death toll from wildfires on Turkey’s southern coast has risen to four and firefighters were battling blazes for a third day on Friday after the evacuation of dozens of villages and some hotels. More than 60 wildfires have broken out across 17 provinces on Turkey’s Aegean and Mediterranean coasts this week, officials have said. Villages and some hotels have been evacuated in areas popular with tourists, and TV footage had shown people fleeing across fields as they watched fires close in on their homes.

Three Jehovah’s Witnesses sentenced to six or more years in Russian prison for their faith (RNS) Three Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia were convicted and sentenced to prison for practicing their faith on Thursday (July 29). Vilen Avanesov, 68, was sentenced to six years, and his son Arsen Avanesov, 37, along with a third defendant, Aleksandr Parkov, 53, were both sentenced to six-and-a-half years. All three men have already spent more than two years in pretrial detention. “These men should never, ever have had to spend a minute in prison, and yet they’ve been locked up for two years,” said Rachel Denber, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Europe and Central Asia division. The three Jehovah’s Witnesses were detained in Rostov-on-Don in May 2019 and accused of continuing the operations of a Jehovah’s Witness organization that had been liquidated. All three were charged with organizing extremist activities. In January 2020, Arsen Avanesov was also accused of “financing extremist activities” by collecting donations to rent a room to meet with other Jehovah’s Witnesses. Near the trial’s conclusion, Arsen Avanesov spoke of his devotion to God: “I dedicated my life to him and did it sincerely. … I don’t want, I can’t and will not give up my promise.” The sentences for the three men are considered particularly harsh in a country where rape is punishable by three years in prison and kidnapping by five. The sentencing follows a 2017 ruling that categorizes the religious group as “extremist.”

Myanmar leaders ‘weaponizing’ COVID-19, residents say (AP) With coronavirus deaths rising in Myanmar, allegations are growing from residents and human rights activists that the military government, which seized control in February, is using the pandemic to consolidate power and crush opposition. Supplies of medical oxygen are running low, and the government has restricted its private sale in many places, saying it is trying to prevent hoarding. But that has led to widespread allegations that the stocks are being directed to government supporters and military-run hospitals. At the same time, medical workers have been targeted after spearheading a civil disobedience movement that urged professionals and civil servants not to cooperate with the government, known as the State Administrative Council. “They have stopped distributing personal protection equipment and masks, and they will not let civilians who they suspect are supporting the democracy movement be treated in hospitals, and they’re arresting doctors who support the civil disobedience movement,” said Yanghee Lee, the U.N.’s former Myanmar human rights expert and a founding member of the Special Advisory Council for Myanmar. “With the oxygen, they have banned sales to civilians or people who are not supported by the SAC, so they’re using something that can save the people against the people,” she said. “The military is weaponizing COVID.”

North Korea began the summer in a food crisis. A heat wave and drought could make it worse. (Washington Post) At the beginning of the summer, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un described the country’s food situation as “tense” after border closures caused by the coronavirus pandemic and crippling floods. By midsummer, a cycle of grinding heat and record-low rainfall could be a sign of a greater food crisis and hunger ahead. Temperatures in North Korea have climbed as high as 102 degrees in some areas this week—a shock in a country where temperatures do not often break 100 degrees. The heat wave has been compounded by a growing drought. North Korea had gotten 21.2 millimeters, or less than an inch, of rain as of mid-July. It is so hot that state media reports have been repeatedly warning residents about the dangers of dehydration and low sodium levels, especially for the elderly and those at risk of heart disease or stroke. They are urging residents to stay out of the sun, eat more fruits and vegetables, and drink more than two liters (about two quarts) of water per day, according to NK News, which monitors North Korea’s state media.

Hong Kong protester given 9-year term in 1st security case (AP) A pro-democracy protester was sentenced Friday to nine years in prison in the closely watched first prosecution under Hong Kong’s national security law as the ruling Communist Party tightens control over the territory. Tong Ying-kit, 24, was convicted of inciting secession and terrorism for driving his motorcycle into a group of police officers at a July 1, 2020, rally. He carried a flag bearing the banned slogan, “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times.” Tong’s sentence was longer than the three years requested by the prosecution. He faced a possible maximum of life in prison. Tong’s sentence is a “hammer blow to free speech” and shows the law is “a tool to instill terror” in government critics, Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific regional director, Yamini Mishra, said in a statement. The law “lacks any exemption for legitimate expression or protest,” Mishra said. “The judgment at no point considered Tong’s rights to freedom of expression and protest.” Defense lawyers said Tong’s penalty should be light because the court hadn’t found the attack was deliberate, no one was injured, and the secession-related offense qualified as minor under the law.

New Zealand rated best place to survive global societal collapse (Guardian) New Zealand, Iceland, the UK, Tasmania and Ireland are the places best suited to survive a global collapse of society, according to a study. The researchers said human civilisation was “in a perilous state” due to the highly interconnected and energy-intensive society that had developed and the environmental damage this had caused. A collapse could arise from shocks, such as a severe financial crisis, the impacts of the climate crisis, destruction of nature, an even worse pandemic than Covid-19 or a combination of these, the scientists said. To assess which nations would be most resilient to such a collapse, countries were ranked according to their ability to grow food for their population, protect their borders from unwanted mass migration, and maintain an electrical grid and some manufacturing ability. Islands in temperate regions and mostly with low population densities came out on top.

Ethiopian roadblock (NYT) Aid workers in Ethiopia claim that an unofficial Ethiopian government blockade has cut off the only road into the conflict-torn region where millions of Ethiopians face the threat of mass starvation. A relief convoy headed for Tigray came under fire on the road on July 18, forcing it to turn around. On Tuesday, the World Food Program said 170 trucks loaded with relief aid were stranded in Semera, the capital of the neighboring Afar region, waiting for Ethiopian permission to make the trek into Tigray. The blockade is intensifying what some call the world’s worst humanitarian crisis in a decade. The crisis comes during an intensifying war, which has deepened ethnic tensions and stoked fears that Ethiopia will collapse. The United Nations estimates that 400,000 people there are living in famine-like conditions, and another 4.8 million need urgent help. The Ethiopian prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, who won the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize, said last week that his government was providing “unfettered humanitarian access” and committed to “the safe delivery of critical supplies to its people in the Tigray region.” However, Mr. Abiy’s ministers have publicly accused aid workers of helping and even arming the Tigrayan fighters, leading to aid workers being attacked at airports, and even killed.

[blackswaneuroparedux]

Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan, Duchess of Marlborough (1877-1964) 

Consuelo Vanderbilt was one of the most highly sought-after heiresses of America’s Gilded Age: the period between 1870-1900 when US industrialists became the richest men in the world. The only daughter of railroad millionaire William Vanderbilt and his formidable wife Alva, Consuelo was pre-destined to marry into the British aristocracy like her godmother Consuleo Yznaga who had married the heir to the 7th Duke of Manchester.

In 1886 William Vanderbilt inherited $65 million on the death of his father. Wishing to upstage her social rival Mrs Astor, Alva commissioned a Rococo summer house she christened the Marble House on Newport Rhode Island that was modelled on Marie Antoinette’s Petit Trianon at Versailles and the largest privately-owned yacht in the world called the Alva. Her palatial Vanderbilt mansion on 5th Avenue could comfortably host 1000 people at a legendary masquerade ball she held in 1883 costing $3 million.

Though surrounded by such opulence, Consuelo Vanderbilt was schooled strictly by a series of governesses and tutors. Her mother Alva forced the pretty child to wear a steel corset contraption that would keep her spine ramrod straight, she was whipped with a riding crop when disobedient and was forced to abide by Alva’s golden rule ‘I do the thinking. You do as you are told’. Consuelo blossomed into the beau ideal of a Belle Epoque beauty: slim, delicately pretty with a swan-like neck and thick, dark, luxuriant upswept hair. She had five proposals of marriage including one from Prince Francis Joseph of Battenberg that Consuelo declined.

Lady Paget, American-born Minnie Stevens, introduced Consuelo Vanderbilt to Charles Spencer-Churchill, who had become 9th Duke of Marlborough in 1892 inheriting the monolithic Blenheim Palace and crippling debts. Consuelo disliked ‘Sunny’ Marlborough and in a rare act of independence became secretly engaged to New York socialite Winthrop Rutherford. Alva fought back: first threatening to have Rutherford murdered then pretending that Consuelo’s disobedience was quite literally killing her. According to Consuelo, she was locked in her room until she agreed to marry the 9th Duke who had negotiated a settlement of $42.5 million in railroad stock from the Vanderbilts plus an annual allowance of $100,000 for he and his future wife.

The 9th Duke married Consuelo Vanderbilt in New York in 1895 telling her after the ceremony that he was in love with another woman and that he ‘despised anything that was not British’. The Duke and Duchess of Marlborough returned to England via Paris where the duke dressed her like a doll at Worth and replenished the family jewels with Vanderbilt money acquiring pearls that belonged to Catherine the Great and the Empress Eugenie. As Consuelo wrote in her autobiography The Glitter and the Gold (1953), ‘jewels never gave me pleasure and my heavy tiara invariably produced a violent headache, my dog collar a chafed neck’.

On meeting the Dowager Duchess of Marlborough, Consuelo was told ‘your first duty is to have a child and it must be a son because it would be intolerable to have that little upstart Winston (Churchill) become duke’. Consuelo did produce an heir and a spare, Lord John and Lord Ivo, while also conquering London society and dazzling the Prince of Wales and his Marlborough House Set. Consuelo’s father bought Sutherland House on Mayfair’s Curzon Street for the Marlboroughs to entertain during the London season and Consuelo was inducted into the social round of Marlborough House balls, Royal Ascot, weekends at Sandringham and boxes at the Royal Opera House.

The Glitter and the Gold demonstrates Consuelo’s talent as a perceptive witness to great moments in late Victorian and Edwardian history. She attended the Duchess of Devonshire’s fancy dress ball in 1897, Queen Victoria’s funeral in 1901, the coronation of King Edward VII in 1902 for which she was Queen Alexandra’s canopy bearer and travelled to India for King Edward’s coronation durbar as a guest of Viceroy Lord Curzon. The Marlboroughs travelled to the court of Russia’s last Tsar Nicholas II where Consuelo had a private audience with Queen Alexandra’s sister the Dowager Empress Marie and commented ‘her courtesy to us was favourably compared in court circles with the Tsarina’s failure to give us an audience and the realisation how unpopular the latter’s unsocial nature was making her’.

In 1905 the Marlborough family was painted by John Singer Sargent. The most beautiful duchess in England was also drawn by Hellieu and painted by society artist Boldini. But in 1906 the Duke and Duchess of Marlborough separated. As Consuelo concluded, ‘we had been married eleven years (and) life together had not brought us closer. Time had but accentuated our differences. The nervous tension that tends to grow between people of different temperament condemned to live together had reached its highest pitch’.

The Duchess quit Blenheim Palace and took-up residence in Sutherland House. It was to her credit that the Prince of Wales’s set did not drop her though she spent an increasing amount of time in the company of the aesthetes who called themselves The Souls led by Lady Desborough. Guests at Sutherland House included H. G. Wells, George Bernard Shaw, Sir J. M. Barrie, Margot Asquith, Lady Astor, Lady Cunard and the Grand Duke Dimitri of Russia. She took a small country house, Crowhurst, on the Marlborough estate and – taking a cue from the redoubtable Alva – became a leader of the women’s suffrage movement and a frequent visitor to the Strangers’ Gallery in the Palace of Westminster.

In 1921 the Duke and Duchess of Marlborough formally divorced and Consuelo married dashing French aviator Jacques Balsan who she had first met in Paris at her coming out ball hosted by the Duc de Gramont. It was, in Consuelo’s words, a marriage of love. The 9th Duke of Marlborough married a dazzling American beauty Gladys Deacon. Marcel Proust said of Gladys, ‘I never saw a girl with such beauty, such magnificent intelligence, such goodness and charm’. The marriage ended acrimoniously with the 9th Duke evicting Gladys from Blenheim after she had ruined her beauty injecting her face with paraffin wax.

Consuelo and Jacques Balsan lived an idyllic existence at their chateau St Georges-Motel near Fontainebleu where cousin Winston Churchill and his wife Clementine were frequent visitors. The aging Alva Vanderbilt bought a neighbouring chateau to be near her daughter. The 9th Duke died in 1934 and Consuelo was once again welcome at Blenheim Palace as a guest of her son the 10th Duke. The Balsans were evacuated from France in 1940 at the onset of the Nazi invasion and set-up home in Casa Alva south of Palm Beach in Florida.

Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan died in Long Island, New York, in 1964 and was buried on the Blenheim estate next to her younger son Lord Ivo Spencer-Churchill.

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #147

“i almost died, but it felt great.”

Have you ever thought of a relationship as more of a job than love?  Yep, definitely with Tyler.  Girt felt that way too, kinda. Do you live in a town where basically everyone knows everyone else?  Nope. When’s the last time you chose a bath over a shower?  Years ago, you don't even wanna know what was wrong with me. What are you doing for your next birthday?  Hopefully I'll be in a tattoo parlor my dude. Do you know anyone else with your name?  Yeah, but spelled differently. Who do you care about the most?  Sara and my mom. Colored skinny jeans. Yay or nay? YAY. Interests & hobbies:  Photography, watching let's plays, music, writing/RP, any interaction with animals, art, gaming, being out in nature if it's cool. Music. What do you listen to?  Heavy metal, mostly.  Other sub-genres of metal and rock. Quality or quantity?  Quality. What’s your phone’s signature? (if you have one…)  Oh my fucking god I forgot phones used to have a signature option.  I don't have one. Do you think it’s possible to will yourself out of caring about someone? I don't think so, honestly.  Well... maybe.  But I think you have to truly want to. Do you know anyone that is albino?  No. Would you agree that smoking (cigarettes) should be illegal?  It should be, but it's too late to make it so.  Too many people would lose their jobs. Do you prefer regular bacon or turkey bacon?  Regular by miles. Where do most of your relatives live?  New York and Ohio. Is your weight proportionate to your height?  No. What is the last place, other than home, that you stayed overnight?  Sara's house. Do you prefer leather or lace?  Lace. Would you ever buy a motorcycle?  No, too risky for me. What is the furthest you have traveled alone?  Illinois. Have you ever ridden a train? How about a subway?  No to both. What did you do on the busiest day of your life?  I dunno. Do you think everyone is born innocent? Or do you think “evil” is predetermined?  I lean more towards being born innocent. What was the meanest thing you’ve been called?  A martyr. Do you have any pets? If so, what species/breed? How did you acquire said pets?  I have two dogs, one being a beagle/cocker spaniel and probs collie mix, and another that's supposedly part jack russell.  The first came from a friend of a family friend, and the other I think from Craigslist?  Then I have a cat that looks to have Siamese heritage, and he came from my sister's mother-in-law.  I also have a champagne ball python that came from a breeder in Florida.  Both my iguana and rat came from Craigslist. Have you ever gotten a pet at a shelter? You should. There’s nothing wrong with shelter pets.  I believe so? Have you ever taken in a stray animal?  Story of my family's life with cats lmao. Have you ever dated someone simply for their looks?  No. What about dating someone simply because you felt too bad to say no?  That's honestly how Tyler and I started, yes lmao.  I didn't "like" him yet, but I mean, he was enough of a good guy for me to be like "okay let's try." Does any food always make you sick but you love it too much to not eat it?  None "sick," no.  Some don't sit well with my stomach, but I eat anyways. How do you feel about alcohol?  Dangerous potential.  Don't overindulge. Have you ever been drunk?  No. Chicken or the egg, really?  Chicken. Do you tell white lies?  Sometimes. Would you rather be able to talk to animals or be fluent in every language?  Talk to animals! Does your kitchen have a pantry?  No. Have you ever interviewed a job applicant at your workplace?  No. How do your political beliefs compare to those of your parents?  I'm not as conservative as either. Have you ever gone over 3 months without shaving/waxing your legs?  Lol yes. Would you ever consider being a foster parent?  No. What’s your opinion on lottery tickets? Waste of money, or no?  Once in a blue moon, whatever, give it a shot if you want.  But generally a waste, odds are too small. Have you ever swam in a saltwater pool?  Those exist?? What kinds of leisure activities did your family do together when you were growing up?  Almost nothing all together...  We would swim together sometimes, though.  And cook out. Are either of your parents retired yet and if not, what do they do?  No.  Dad's a mailman, and Mom's a pharmacy tech. What kind of booze did you last take shots of?  I've never done shots. What is one moment that you missed out on that you wished you didn’t? Off the top of my head, I guess the total solar eclipse we had a while back.  Didn't see anything here.  But eh, didn't have glasses anyway. What is your favorite shape?  Circles. Who did you last kiss?  Romantically, Sara.  Platonically, I think my nephew. Are pigs adorable or dirty?  PRECIOUS. What brand water do you drink? (Smart Water, Dasani, etc)  Great Value lmao. Can you speak a second language fluently?  No. Do you wanna learn any other languages?  I would really, really like to take German again and become fluent. What is the worst pain you’ve ever experienced?  Physically, an infected cyst being drained with not even nearly enough numbing and morphine; emotionally, romantic heartbreak. What’s your least favorite chore?  Dishes.  I refuse to live somewhere that doesn't have a dishwasher when I move out aksjfdasoejiw. If you had 5 minutes to talk with any politician, who would it be?  *shrugs* What would you ask them?  ^ You’re stranded alongside the road. Who do you call first?  Mom. Name the last 3 TV shows you watched:  The Good Doctor, The Bionic Vet, and probably a show that's not coming to me for Keegan or the girl Colleen watches. If you had to be a member of a TV sitcom family, which one would it be?  jfaskdjasie the Addams.  Goals. Name 3 things from your childhood that you still have today:  Like half a billion stuffed animals, some toys, some video games. How many bones have you broken?  None. Who is the one person you DON’T want to come to your wedding?  Hm.  Idk.  Maybe my sister's husband, but I mean it'd be fine if he kept his judgments to himself as I'm probably marrying a girl, and boy do I know his opinions. What is your favorite fast food joint?  Probably Wendy's. Have you used Limewire before?  Hahaha yes. Do you have any siblings? Younger or older?  Yeah, five older and one younger. Have you ever had a one night stand?  No. Do you or any of your friends have children?  My best friend has a son. Who do you envy the most, if anyone at all?  Ha, couldn't tell you.  Somebody. So have you ever been on a legit date?  Yeah. Last person you watched a movie with? 
 Colleen. Favorite book that was made into a movie? Johnny Got His Gun. Do you like eggnog?  NO. Ever seen someone get surgery?  Not like, in person.  But I watched a video of how the surgery I had is done before having it. Do you play Pokemon Go? If so, what level are you and who’s your buddy?  I play when I can anyway, Pokestops are like non-existent here, so.  But anyway I think I'm 11 or 12, and my buddy is Charmander. If you wear lipstick, what’s your favorite color to wear? Black. Has your best friend ever made you cry?  Yes. Have you ever entered a talent competition?  No. What color is your best friend’s hair?  Blonde. Is your best friend older or younger than you?  She's a few months older. Do you have a dream catcher?  No. If you’ve ever been out of your country, do you have a souvenir?  I've never been out of the country. When was the last time you saw the person you had your first kiss with?  February of last year. Have you read any of Shakespeare’s works other than Romeo and Juliet?  Yeah, though it was still for school. Why did you move to where you’re living now?  We got evicted and kinda just had to pick whatever accommodated us and wasn't gross-looking.  Thankfully we all really like our house, more than our old one even. What was the most severe punishment your parents gave you when you were growing up?  Multiple spankings. Have you ever been to California?  No. Do you think dreams actually mean anything? Why/why not?  No.  Because recently Colleen told me about a dream where she won a fried chicken plush from a claw machine and it came out as four buckets of KFC.  Find me the meaning pls. What’s something you’re really bad at compared to others?  Social interaction.  I panic over how long I'm supposed to keep eye contact, dude. How much was gas the last time you filled your car up?  I don't fill my own gas, don't have a car.  But I think it's like... $2.69 or something here?? Do you usually fill up at the same gas station?  Mom normally does. What was the topic of conversation the last time you spoke to a sibling?  I was texting Ashley about where we're doing Ryder's birthday pictures. Are any of your relatives musicians?  No. Is there a movie you currently want to see?  Slender Man and The Meg. Have you ever received an autograph from a celebrity? No.. Do you have a piece of technology that should be dead, but it’s still going?  Oh boy, the iPod nano I've had since the beginning of middle school. Ever sent drunk texts? No. How many dresses do you own?  Besides my two prom ones, I think one?? What was the most unique pet you’ve owned? My iguana, probably. Do you enjoy swimming in the ocean?  Big scream yes.  I was at the beach the other day and the water was absolutely perfect. Is there something you want to do, that you swear you will, no matter what? Yeah, meet Mark.  Direct opposite location in the U.S. my ass, he has no escape. What’s something you’ve vowed to never eat? Wild animals, unless I'm in a survival situation. Do you have trouble sleeping if you sleep anywhere else but home?  Eh, I can sometimes.  If I'm comfortable, not really.

[book-of-ryker]

Billie Eilish Pirate Baird Quackenbush

Her hair glistens gold like a pony. Yeah, that’s about the best that I could come up with. Today is 22September2021. A lot has happened. I’m not sure if I  or anyone really reads this, but I do need to get my thoughts out more frequently and this always served as as a good outlet. Let’s see what I can write down. My name is Ryker Quackenbush. You’ve probably never heard of me or you have. What do I care? I’m almost thirty and my life has been a lot of treks through hell. There’s only one way out of hell, but it’s too early for me to be ranting about that. My mom died when I was a kid and I like to smoke a lot of pot because of her still following me around. She is in the clouds and in the trees and in the rain and in the flowers and everywhere to me. And we all know that there is no one true church. In walks Durzo Blint and Bobby Pendragon. The land of Midcryu is dangerous for a young man like Bobby, but he prospered in the lands of Zadaa. I was having nightmares that Kelsey Richards was cheating on me. Billie Eilish was the inner voice inside my head. I know it sounds like a lot, bt I’ve become quite accustomed to having her around. I checked into the Behavioral Health Intensive Care Unit (BHICU, for short) and I ranted and raved about how I’d discovered the Theory of Everything. I wont get into that right now.  I started to have dreams about Billie and I getting married. I just started to workout when Kelsey Richards and I started to see each other, and when I moved in and lived with her family. Kelsey was overweight, and I wasnt really attracted to her, so I understand why she cheated  on me with her old boyfriend. But it cut deep because she caught me watching cuckold pornography and was devastated. I learned that my pornographic addiction is what was allowing for the relentless nightmares to be endless. I was put on an antipsychotic, and I hated it. I knew I would have to fight my way through this. I called my parents and asked if I could live with them. I was humbly aking for the support system I needed. My stepmother denied me. I journeyed across the county to live with my older brother, Keith Scott Quackenbush II. I took a train out of Sacramento, California. It brought me all of the way to Lincoln, Nebraska. I was kicked off of the train there for being drunk when I didnt want to antagonize a person sleeping in my seat. I found the nearest homeless shelter. I then went and spent my last dollars on a hotel in Lincoln, Nebraska. Sex trafficking is everywhere. Riker’s Island is a nightmare for sure. The next day, I find a young black man at a gas station and we smoke a blunt together. On whatever this day was, I made fully telepathic contact with Billie Eilish. She hated me and wanted me to die. God put us all on autopilot. It was bizarre and miraculous. I board a Greyhound and almost get kicked off for smoking some stranger vape pen. The bus driver could apparently “smell what we were doing.” The entire time that I was in the military, I never once brought up the fact that I knew martial arts and could severely hurt someone if I put my ol’ college try in. In Lincoln, Nebraska, I check into a crisis center. It was very abusive, but I did get to meet even crazier people and eat even crazier food. I watched a lot of Game of Thrones and did a lot of pushups and read a lot of books. When I made it to Pensacola, my dad picked me and my older brother up and drove us to his 450 square foot apartment. I began to smoke cigarettes, drink alcohol and I still went to the gym on a bike. I havent stopped lifting weights. It’s the one thing I have that saves me as much as it does. I tell Scott not to bother fighting me, or even attempting to fight me. He throws a fit and starts to attack me. Eventually, he is on top of me and tying to gouge out my eyes with his thumbs. Unhappy with this, I take control of the situation and get him into a chokehold, making him submit and squeal like a baby pig. I check into another suicide watch unit. I eventually go back and have my father pick me up from my brothers house. I live with my father and my stepmother for months at this point and I even managed to hold a job and go to college. It was not good enough in their eyes and they abuse me more in this time period than they did with all three of us children collectively. Roshi and Son Goku. There was was a monkey man and a goat boy. The goat boy would later become the Alpha superhero for Earth-001. I get evicted, officially, from my father’s home. All of my friends abandon me. All that I have is Christ. I get word that I can be hired on over at MGM Grand with a friend of mine from high school. I drive my 2014 Chevrolet Spark across the country. At this point in my life, that’s the fifth time. I get to California and we meet Niekko and the lady that own Nate Harrison’s Ranch on Palomar Mountain. We rent a van for Niekko’s transcendent festival, Zen Awakening. We drive this completely stuffed van across the country, my sixth time. We make it to Zen Awakening near Orlando and I had the time of my life. When I left my parents’ house, I was in the best shape of my life.

I could do a million exercises and not get tired. Creatine and preworkout were my potion of choice. I hardly touched the CBD or the THC as much as I would have liked. I get to this festival, and after all of our work was done, the fun began. Firstly, the was the biblical Nathaniel that showed up. He’s a bud trimmer now and he is 934 years old. Then there was the tall and powerful Sharon. We fell in Love at Home Depot where I slipped a ring on her finger. And last but not least, the lovely and little McKayla. I will never forget you. I took four hits of LSD, some Cacao, some pot and some American Spirits. I jogged around the festival that night, blurring the lines of a Jedi, ninja, samurai and a Velociraptor.

I go into my glampin, trippping happily. I grab my Bible with Nathaniel’s turquoise ring I fond in the shower and cant get off of my finger and I flip it open to see the word LORD glowing on the page. I have never believed in magic until that very moment. My consciousness shifts to the greater Sol in me. I tell Billie that I’m moving on. Let the record show that this is when Billie begins to follow me in this dance of life. JERUSALEM also glows off of the page, indicating the direction in which I should travel. After leaving Florida again, we drive back across the country to Palomar Mountain. I live there and even did some construction work. My tent ends up battering my car and then being destroyed by ninety mile an hour gusts.

I move to Sacramento again. I live on U street, near little Japanese church. Rian didnt pay his half of the rent and stole my half. I had nowhere else to go, so I called Nation’s Finest. I brag about how Billie is my soulmate, like a child. I turn evil. I choke a guy out that was stealing from People, including me. I get checked back into the exact same BHICU I was in earlier. I do not lose it. I calmly explain the situation. I went to therapy twice, loving Billie EIlish. That’s what I think the song Male Fantasy is about. Thank you for reading.

[dailyaudiobible]

04/12/2021 DAB Transcript

Joshua 5:1-7:15, Luke 15:1-32, Psalms 81:1-16, Proverbs 13:1

Today is the 12th day of April welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I'm Brian it is wonderful to be here with you today as we move into this week and get settled and get to work. We’re also getting settled and taking the next step forward in the Scriptures in this adventure that we are on together for a year all the way through the Bible all the way through a year all the way through life together. So, we…we’re getting ourselves moved into the book of Joshua. A couple days ago we began the book of Joshua, which was definitely and is definitely a transition. We crossed the Jordan River in our reading yesterday and it…in our reading anyway, it was the first time we’ve been there in 400 years, more than 400 years, but this time we’ve crossed the Jordan River with the children of Israel with the intention of settling the land, the promised land. And, so, let's dive in. We’re reading from the New English Translation this week. Joshua chapter 5 verse 1 through 7 verse 15.

Commentary:

Okay. So, in the gospel of Luke today we have a very, very famous passage, a famous story or a parable told by Jesus about the lost son who returned. And we know the story, we just read the story, so I don’t have to re-tell the story. And there are so many ways of looking at this story. It's a beautiful story that has been examined from a bunch of angles. I just want to kind of zoom in to the last part of the story because it seems as if one of the main points of the story is that…is that it's all already yours. That is essentially what gets said to the older son who is a little confused and a little ticked off that his…his brother comes home and all the sudden there’s this grand celebration, when this brother, all he did was take half of the assets and go squander them and wild living. And then he comes home, and he has the audacity to come home. And then dad is so excited that he's killing the fattened…like they're throwing a huge party. So, he’s a little bit exasperated and there's this confrontation with the father where he's like, “look I've served…I’ve served you…I’ve served you faithfully. I’ve done what you told me to do. I've obeyed your commands and you never did anything like this for me.” And the father's response, I mean quoting Jesus, the father says to the disgruntled son, “son, you are always with me and everything that belongs to me is yours. It was appropriate to celebrate and be glad for your brother. He was dead and is alive. He was lost and is found.” In other words, the father is saying, “son, it's all already yours.” And in the case of the story the son that had gone off and wild…and lived wild and squandered his resources, he's back alive but he already spent his resources. He's back with his father but everything in the estate belongs to his father and will be passed to the first son because the second son already took his reward and squandered it. So, the father's like, “I'm just glad to have my son back. Everything else is already yours.” The way that this becomes a mirror for us in our own lives is when we put ourselves in that same position. “I've been serving you faithfully. I have obeyed your commands. I have been faithful and loyal to you. And yet I look around and see blessing descending on people who don't deserve it. And you never did anything like that for me.” And you see how we can get into that posture very easily. I bet that even as I'm describing this, we can think of situations that are currently in our lives or have been in our lives we’re we’ve felt that way. And, so, it might help us when we find ourselves in this kind of tired out weary worn-out situations where you feel like, “I'm…I'm trying to be faithful, and I just don't see any breakthrough. I don't see any forward progress.” It would help us to remember what the father in the story says. “You are with me all the time and everything that belongs to me is yours. It's all already yours. Let's celebrate that one who was dead to us is the live.

Prayer:

Father, this definitely touches us in all kinds of places, places where we’re selfish and self-absorbed, places where we want to put ourselves in the in the seat of the judge where we can make the kinds of judgments that are only Yours to make. All kinds of things come from these kinds of postures. And yet if we would realize there's really nothing to get, it's all already hours that we’re not really trying to compete with each other to get more of You, that all of You has been poured out to all of us and You love us all, then we can enter into the rejoicing as well when one who is dead has been restored to us alive and when we remember that we are inheriting a kingdom. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In the mighty name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

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And, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement…well....you can hit the Hotline button that's in the app, it’s the little red button up at the top, hard to miss it, very plain, very easy to see. No matter where you are in the world, as long as you have Internet, you can hit the Hotline button and share from there, or there are a number of telephone numbers depending on where you are in the world. If you are in the Americas 877-942-4253 is number to call. If you're in the UK or Europe 44-20-3608-8078 is the number to call. And if you are in Australia or the lands down under 61-3-8820-5459 is the number to dial.

And that's it for today except to remind you of what is true every day, I love you, I’m grateful for you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

This message is to Carlos. We hear your prayer, we hear your needs, and we're all praying for you Sir. We're praying for your family, for your wife, your children, your grandchildren, and you as well. Just know that you're not alone during this time. This is Steve from Albertville AL and I just wanted to have maybe a word of encouragement that through prayer you can get through this situation. God bless you. I pray for you my friend in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Good morning DAB family it's the 8th of April I'm calling in today, this is Laura from Heather Hill Florida. I’m praying for Carlos who called in today. He's been listening to the DAB for 10 years. Carlos I’m praying for you and your family, all of you that have covid. I just know it's been a few days now since you called in and you're into this a few days and I just pray heavenly father that You would completely heal Carlos, his wife, his daughter, his grandsons. I pray You heal this family completely of this covid. I pray Father that they would recover quickly and that Father that they would not spread it to anyone else in their…in their vicinity. Lord I pray for complete healing, that they would not have any serious issues, that it would pass quickly and Lord that this virus would be eradicated soon in our world. Father, please bless this family. Protect them. Protect them from harm in Jesus’ name.

Keota from New Zealand DAB family this is my first time calling in. My name is Kate. I wanted to express my gratitude for all that I've learned and all that I’ve absorbed since the 1st of January this year when I started listening. It's really affected me deeply, the whole context of the word and understanding it. I feel like I’ve really encouraged and grown in my faith, my understanding and my relationship with God, my relationship with others. I'm seeing things in a whole new light. I was surprised by given a short notice of eviction from my rental. I live in an area where there's…it's a holiday area so there's not many rentals and everything and real estate is in high demand. So, the opportunity of getting a new place to live is very low if non-existent. Impossible would be more accurate. I decided when I got that notice I was completely relaxed and almost bemused about, “OK God. Where are we going with this? Where are you going to lead me?” The old me would have been panicking. After listening to Brian today 7th of April talking about “seek first the Kingdom” I realized that I have not been worrying, I've been relaxing and letting Him do it. And He's done it. He's provided the impossible, not only a rental but cheaper than the one I was in before and I am…had so many people just come and help. I am amazed. I am very grateful. I'm astounded. I’m humbled. So, thank you for all your input. I hope this encourages someone, that our God is a provider. God, He loves us so much. He's in every detail. Thank you.

My family is feeling a little bad because my uncle just passed away. Please Mr. Brian pray for...

Hello Daily Audio Bible family I'm reaching out. I need prayer from my beloved daughter. Her husband has been battling depression and…and mental illness of some sort and she tried fervently to get him help to get him committed and get him…and he was always able to say the right answers to not be able to be admitted to the metal place. And finally, he took things in his own hand and committed suicide on March 26th. And, so, now there's no chance of reconciliation at all, obviously, in this world. And my daughter she now wants to join him. And I thought that she meant like where he did the deed. No, she literally wants to end her life now too. They've been together 14 years. Anyway, I just appreciate if you could just uplift my daughter Robin, please. And she does know the Lord, but she is in such pain and suffering right now. I want everyone to know who even thinks of committing a suicide, do not. Do not. The pain and the horrific wave that results from it is just…if you only know how unbearable it is. Hopefully anybody who is tempted will not do it because it's just the horrific counter of the aftermath of suicide is so painful. I mean I…I grieve for people who die of natural causes or, you know, accidents or…or worse but when someone…

[the-firebird69]

There's other things happening here and a few of them are

-and then aka Dave yeah got his eviction notice yesterday no but when was filed to victim and to evict the others but not our son.

-the post office tried screwing around with our son's check again to pay his credit card for their pain in the ass and they were fighting over it when the mailman came in and took the mail and that was what happened he put it out to be assorted and it got sorted while they're fighting and then it left and there's idiots luckily and the guy in the post office truck wanted it and they watched him the whole way and it's a decent size truck and they kept saying it don't even I really it's disgusting you people are so stupid

-is a huge number of warlock in Charlotte county getting ready to leave finally there's still 120 households but they're going to be very fewer today it is a huge evacuation and they say it too we're out of here and it's good we don't need you here I don't want you here and there are more things here to talk about

-they are firing people from retail jobs and other private jobs but really they're down to about 10%, they're going to drop five more percent out and the percentage is rough it could be at 15% and they're dropping 5% out it's closer and they fired people on Sunday and it was 5% it was a lot but that's what's working on the weekend

-on top of that government workers they're laying off another 10% that said and you know there's 10% left in the State of Florida and Charlotte county is 20% left 10% are going to be fired today

-and out of leadership in Charlotte county is still 2800 they want to find 400 today

-there's a few more positions that they're laid off today in Charlotte county one of them is the police department personnel there where about 60 cops and they laid off 20 and hired back 20 and minority Bullock and now they want to lay off 20 more and hire 20 minority warlock and stuff like that the sheriff has 300 minority more luck and 100 left and they're holding for today other agencies are looking to cut in half again but really they're hiring a bunch of minority warlock for those agencies as they release people from the FBI and about 50% today the CIA about 50% the DEA 50% NSA 50% and their offices will have minority warlock in them and at 50% of the office morlok population.

-and it is going on too but there are a few people who CR7 for what he is they see our son for what he is and who is but it's not in a good way they say he's a Giants and to take him down and stuff like that that's an excuse to try to kidnapping it's a growing one that's seriously it's a joke... But I didn't intend it to be and he wants to put it up there because it sounds funny and he said the reason is that he's not a giant right now so there's a bunch of people will be considered mentally ill by others even their own that's what's happening they're saying it and they're saying you're crazy and they're getting hit that guy is no bigger than us you loser and then they hit each other and it's quite a show

-there's a ton of people who are wondering what the song Halo is about in my son says that people like him have a lot of electrical activity and the Brain if you look at it and do something and just heat it up or charged up you'll see a little bit of a Halo and everybody's trying to check but they can't it's not really charged up and nobody really has video of it how they do and it's the tech people and you have to look at it a certain gear and you can see it and it's glowing and it looks odd like a golden ring

-there's a couple other things there's a lot of people in town running around already trying to cause trouble and they are being picked up

Some of it's been modified the statements if he doesn't post them right away usually at the end we found one that was in the middle and we fixed it but this guy Brian has nothing to do yet so you have to entertain him you should let him know that his people are being arrested too and brought in questioning murdered a lot of them it's just sitting there making stupid comments on the website bothering her son the guy needs to get the f*** lost along one side of his trumpsters you're useless person Brian James.

Besides that the evacuation is increased from 50% to about 75%.

Usually if you evacuate an area up to 75% the whole place is going to evacuate really think that's the case in a couple hours will probably see it.

Right now a massive contingent of minority morlock are heading this way and it is a huge bunch huge. They're going to take over where the more likely here and there's about 25% more of them coming that are leaving cuz I always tend to find a place.

Hera is okay the incident is passing she is not under duress or nothing like what it was and she feels better and didn't really tell him so she's mad at him. She says you planned it. And then she says I have my release date after she said I'm doomed here but she's got a release date and she's going to be released into our custody and we'll have all the proper foods and medicines and oxygen levels and everything. She's laughing a little bit cuz he's the one who helped her a lot and he's surrounded. It's getting information here himself but she does feel better.

-it's a huge day in history.

Mars into Superior conjunction, but shortly after Mars and Venus going to conjunction it's in February of 2024, and that's about 7 months from now and that's when it occurs and she's excited very excited and said my man is helping me and she said you created both and she and she said oh it's supposed to happen after. But if we can get out now it's the thing to do and it didn't happen but we have a lot of work to do to get there and we have to make sure it works one of the moves is coming up real quick he says you have some stuff to get out of the way and in a day and we said no way so it makes sense to me but it could be the other one that makes sense so. Whole bunch of us for getting up in arms they have the schedule we have to do and we're getting to work a couple more things happening though and sending out orders now

-there are unruly people here there are nasty comments and threats people stalking him. I want them in jail and I mean it and let's be at worked on. And people are doing a job all over to get there today in Florida they're evacuating and they're getting picked up too at the same time and large numbers of being arrested and more evacuating it's a large scale evacuation not only that but they're pulling people in and it's a small fraction of those evacuated but it's a large number it's like 2 billion an hour it's a ton of people so we are watching that and watching people get arrested I don't see what for and we understand people are having a hard time I'll send it arrested for stupid stuff. There's probably not any of them left in Tallahassee or Gainesville and they are quickly emptying Tampa area and soon Sarasota and they'll reach here is already Naples and Cape Coral and the stereo down that way are evacuating so both sides are going and they're going to do these people sitting here.

Thor Freya

[easyfoodnetwork]

Julián Castro on the Goya Boycott and How to Support Communities of Color During the Pandemic

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

The onetime 2020 presidential candidate was one of the first to call for a Goya boycott after its CEO praised Donald Trump

This story was originally published on Civil Eats.

The CEO of Goya Foods, Robert Unanue, ignited a political firestorm last week during a visit to the White House for the launch of the president’s “White House Hispanic Prosperity Initiative.”

“We are truly blessed to have a leader like President Donald Trump, who is a builder,” Unanue said. He went on to describe Trump in glowing terms that the president’s critics say ignore his political record and rhetoric — both of which have been linked to anti-Latinx hate crimes, xenophobia, and regulations.

That the head of the nation’s largest Hispanic-owned food company would praise the politician who campaigned on the promise of building a wall between the United States and Mexico sparked outcry from prominent Latinx figures including U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) and Hamilton playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda. But Julián Castro, a former 2020 presidential candidate and Obama-era Housing and Urban Development Secretary, was one of the first to call for a boycott against the company, using the hashtag #goyaway on Twitter to spread the word.

“Goya Foods has been a staple of so many Latino households for generations,” Castro tweeted. “Now their CEO, Bob Unanue, is praising a president who villainizes and maliciously attacks Latinos for political gain. Americans should think twice before buying their products.”

During his White House visit, Unanue not only praised Trump but also discussed how the Goya staff “doubled our efforts” during the pandemic. Overrepresented in the food industry — particularly as farmworkers, restaurant workers, and meatpackers — Latinx Americans are contracting COVID-19 at disproportionate rates. And the virus is now soaring in Latinx-heavy states including Florida, California, and Castro’s home state of Texas, where he once served as a San Antonio city councilman and mayor.

COVID-19 has personally affected Castro, claiming the life of his stepmother last week and infecting his father. He and his twin brother, U.S. Representative Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) haven’t hesitated to criticize to criticize Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s handling of the pandemic or to point out the large number of people of color dying from COVID.

Civil Eats spoke with Castro about COVID-19’s impact on vulnerable populations, his call for a Goya boycott, his advocacy for labor rights, animal rights, and universal school lunch, and his thoughts on climate justice and factory farming reforms.

What prompted you to call for a Goya boycott, and what’s your response to Unanue’s assertion that the boycott is a “suppression of speech?”

When he said our country is “truly blessed” to have Donald Trump as a leader because he’s a “builder,” he was offensive because Donald Trump has been spectacularly terrible. Trump has built his political career on scapegoating and attacking Latinos. It felt like betrayal from a company that has gotten wealthy primarily off of Latino consumers. And we live in a time where if corporations are going to play politics, contributing to political candidates and standing with a bigoted president at a campaign-style event at the White House, then they should expect that consumers are going to react to that.

I know some have suggested that calling for consumers not to buy Goya products is a suppression of free speech, but free speech works both ways. Goya and their CEO have every right to support whomever they wish, but each consumer also has the right to make a purchasing decision however they wish. And people decide whether to purchase a product based not only on how good your advertising makes them feel, but also on how your embrace of a bigoted president like Donald Trump makes them feel.

At the White House, Unanue discussed how Goya employees have worked consistently throughout the pandemic, even doubling their efforts, bringing to mind the predicament of the nation’s food workers, farmworkers, and meat packers. We know that people of color are overrepresented in the food industry, making them more susceptible to contracting coronavirus. What should be done to keep them safe?

Food workers have absolutely been some of the heroes of coronavirus. They’ve also been many of the most vulnerable, and we need to fix that. It’s time for workers throughout the food service chain to get paid what they deserve, to get the kind of health care that they deserve, and to get workplace protections that keep them as healthy as possible. And, right now, our country’s failing on every score. It’s why we need to raise the minimum wage, including for farmworkers. We need to offer universal health care and make sure that businesses are responsible for keeping, not only their customers but also their employees, safe from the coronavirus.

You’re married to an educator, so I also want to ask you about reopening schools during this pandemic. Those who want schools to reopen argue that they provide stability, routines, and, of course, learning opportunities for students. In addition, they note that kids depend on them for lunch.

I have an 11-year-old daughter and a five-year-old son. Like most parents, I’m torn, because I know it would be better for their education for them to be in the classroom. On the other hand, I want it to be healthy and safe. I think that school districts should have the opportunity to offer a traditional learning environment if they meet certain safety standards, but I don’t think they should be required to reopen because there are likely school districts that just can’t meet basic standards or won’t have time to by the middle of August or the beginning of September. Frankly, right now, my wife and I are still thinking through whether we’re going to have our kids back in a regular classroom setting in August.

You supported universal school lunch during your presidential candidacy. Advocates for free meals say they’re more important than ever and school meal programs are going broke. What are your thoughts on universal school lunch now?

We need to make sure that no child goes hungry in this country, and school breakfast and lunch are a very important part of that. I’m proud of the effort many school districts have made to have breakfast and lunch, or at least lunch, still made available for kids even when they’ve been out of class during this pandemic. Ultimately, however, the fact that so many kids have to rely on getting a meal in school is a failure of our country. That’s why we need to invest in all of those things — universal health care, affordable housing, better job opportunities, better educational opportunities — to improve economic mobility and quality of life in the 21st century.

Unionization is one way U.S. workers have achieved a higher quality of life. You have supported strengthening protections and encouraging union participation for vulnerable categories of workers, particularly farmworkers, domestic workers, and trade unions. What do you think needs to be done to protect farmworkers during COVID?

Farmworkers have not been treated like other workers. They were left out of minimum wage standards. They continue oftentimes to work in bad conditions with inadequate facilities and, sometimes, not enough access to water and other basic necessities on the job. Whether it’s farmworkers or meatpacking plant workers or other vulnerable workers, we need to make sure that people are paid at least a $15 minimum wage, that they have good healthcare benefits — so that their health care is no longer tied to their employment — and they’re able to join a union. That means administrative rules that foster union membership instead of undermine it. It means passing things like the PRO Act that would make it easier for people to join in, and then rolling back some of the attacks on union membership, like we saw in the Supreme Court in terms of public sector unions.

As a presidential candidate, you devised an animal welfare plan that aimed, among other measures, to reform factory farming. Where do you stand on recent efforts by Senators Cory Booker and Elizabeth Warren to ban factory farming?

Across the board, Americans are paying more attention to animal welfare, including the food industry, and that’s a good thing. Because of the leadership of Senator Warren and Senator Booker and many people, I’m glad this issue is getting more traction now. When I was campaigning in Iowa, I would often hear concerns about factory farming, about the environment, about the animals. It really is ripe for reform.

Factory farming contributes to climate change, and you have endorsed the Green New Deal to tackle climate change and economic inequality. Why is climate justice an issue that should particularly concern communities of color?

Climate change and climate justice are inextricably linked. Today, oftentimes, low-income communities and people of color especially are the hardest hit by climate change. We need to make sure that they’re protected as we feel the effects of climate change — and that we reverse the impact of climate change for the benefit of everybody. Climate justice means not being colorblind and being sensitive to the fact that certain communities are paying a greater price on a daily basis for how irresponsible we’ve been in the past when it comes to combating climate change.

As former HUD secretary, what are your concerns about housing insecurity and homelessness during the pandemic, and how these problems intersect with other issues, like food insecurity?

We’re staring down a homelessness crisis like we’ve never seen before. By one estimate, about 20 million people could face eviction over the next eight weeks. Now that means that a lot more people will be on the street. It means that we need to make a big investment immediately in rental assistance and also extend an eviction moratorium nationwide and stop mortgage foreclosures to stabilize families to help them get through this time period.

As people have gone on the unemployment rolls and their income has dwindled, there’s greater housing insecurity and food insecurity. Food banks across the state of Texas, for instance, have been inundated with families who need their help, including a lot of families who are going to a food bank for the first time. In my hometown of San Antonio, they went from serving about 60,000 families in a week to 120,000 right away [when the pandemic hit the U.S.]. And that’s a common story at food banks across the country.

In so many ways, what we’re witnessing now is a culmination of underinvestment in people throughout the decades. And if there’s an alarm going off about anything, it’s that we need to change course in this country and recognize the investments we should be making in housing, food security, job opportunities, and healthcare to create a stronger safety net and a better quality of life, permanently, for people.

• Julián Castro on the Goya Boycott and How to Support Communities of Color [Civil Eats] • Goya CEO’s Praise of Trump Sparks Calls for Boycott [E]

from Eater - All https://ift.tt/2WmwatM https://ift.tt/3ezHvN4

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

The onetime 2020 presidential candidate was one of the first to call for a Goya boycott after its CEO praised Donald Trump

This story was originally published on Civil Eats.

The CEO of Goya Foods, Robert Unanue, ignited a political firestorm last week during a visit to the White House for the launch of the president’s “White House Hispanic Prosperity Initiative.”

“We are truly blessed to have a leader like President Donald Trump, who is a builder,” Unanue said. He went on to describe Trump in glowing terms that the president’s critics say ignore his political record and rhetoric — both of which have been linked to anti-Latinx hate crimes, xenophobia, and regulations.

That the head of the nation’s largest Hispanic-owned food company would praise the politician who campaigned on the promise of building a wall between the United States and Mexico sparked outcry from prominent Latinx figures including U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) and Hamilton playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda. But Julián Castro, a former 2020 presidential candidate and Obama-era Housing and Urban Development Secretary, was one of the first to call for a boycott against the company, using the hashtag #goyaway on Twitter to spread the word.

“Goya Foods has been a staple of so many Latino households for generations,” Castro tweeted. “Now their CEO, Bob Unanue, is praising a president who villainizes and maliciously attacks Latinos for political gain. Americans should think twice before buying their products.”

During his White House visit, Unanue not only praised Trump but also discussed how the Goya staff “doubled our efforts” during the pandemic. Overrepresented in the food industry — particularly as farmworkers, restaurant workers, and meatpackers — Latinx Americans are contracting COVID-19 at disproportionate rates. And the virus is now soaring in Latinx-heavy states including Florida, California, and Castro’s home state of Texas, where he once served as a San Antonio city councilman and mayor.

COVID-19 has personally affected Castro, claiming the life of his stepmother last week and infecting his father. He and his twin brother, U.S. Representative Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) haven’t hesitated to criticize to criticize Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s handling of the pandemic or to point out the large number of people of color dying from COVID.

Civil Eats spoke with Castro about COVID-19’s impact on vulnerable populations, his call for a Goya boycott, his advocacy for labor rights, animal rights, and universal school lunch, and his thoughts on climate justice and factory farming reforms.

What prompted you to call for a Goya boycott, and what’s your response to Unanue’s assertion that the boycott is a “suppression of speech?”

When he said our country is “truly blessed” to have Donald Trump as a leader because he’s a “builder,” he was offensive because Donald Trump has been spectacularly terrible. Trump has built his political career on scapegoating and attacking Latinos. It felt like betrayal from a company that has gotten wealthy primarily off of Latino consumers. And we live in a time where if corporations are going to play politics, contributing to political candidates and standing with a bigoted president at a campaign-style event at the White House, then they should expect that consumers are going to react to that.

I know some have suggested that calling for consumers not to buy Goya products is a suppression of free speech, but free speech works both ways. Goya and their CEO have every right to support whomever they wish, but each consumer also has the right to make a purchasing decision however they wish. And people decide whether to purchase a product based not only on how good your advertising makes them feel, but also on how your embrace of a bigoted president like Donald Trump makes them feel.

At the White House, Unanue discussed how Goya employees have worked consistently throughout the pandemic, even doubling their efforts, bringing to mind the predicament of the nation’s food workers, farmworkers, and meat packers. We know that people of color are overrepresented in the food industry, making them more susceptible to contracting coronavirus. What should be done to keep them safe?

Food workers have absolutely been some of the heroes of coronavirus. They’ve also been many of the most vulnerable, and we need to fix that. It’s time for workers throughout the food service chain to get paid what they deserve, to get the kind of health care that they deserve, and to get workplace protections that keep them as healthy as possible. And, right now, our country’s failing on every score. It’s why we need to raise the minimum wage, including for farmworkers. We need to offer universal health care and make sure that businesses are responsible for keeping, not only their customers but also their employees, safe from the coronavirus.

You’re married to an educator, so I also want to ask you about reopening schools during this pandemic. Those who want schools to reopen argue that they provide stability, routines, and, of course, learning opportunities for students. In addition, they note that kids depend on them for lunch.

I have an 11-year-old daughter and a five-year-old son. Like most parents, I’m torn, because I know it would be better for their education for them to be in the classroom. On the other hand, I want it to be healthy and safe. I think that school districts should have the opportunity to offer a traditional learning environment if they meet certain safety standards, but I don’t think they should be required to reopen because there are likely school districts that just can’t meet basic standards or won’t have time to by the middle of August or the beginning of September. Frankly, right now, my wife and I are still thinking through whether we’re going to have our kids back in a regular classroom setting in August.

You supported universal school lunch during your presidential candidacy. Advocates for free meals say they’re more important than ever and school meal programs are going broke. What are your thoughts on universal school lunch now?

We need to make sure that no child goes hungry in this country, and school breakfast and lunch are a very important part of that. I’m proud of the effort many school districts have made to have breakfast and lunch, or at least lunch, still made available for kids even when they’ve been out of class during this pandemic. Ultimately, however, the fact that so many kids have to rely on getting a meal in school is a failure of our country. That’s why we need to invest in all of those things — universal health care, affordable housing, better job opportunities, better educational opportunities — to improve economic mobility and quality of life in the 21st century.

Unionization is one way U.S. workers have achieved a higher quality of life. You have supported strengthening protections and encouraging union participation for vulnerable categories of workers, particularly farmworkers, domestic workers, and trade unions. What do you think needs to be done to protect farmworkers during COVID?

Farmworkers have not been treated like other workers. They were left out of minimum wage standards. They continue oftentimes to work in bad conditions with inadequate facilities and, sometimes, not enough access to water and other basic necessities on the job. Whether it’s farmworkers or meatpacking plant workers or other vulnerable workers, we need to make sure that people are paid at least a $15 minimum wage, that they have good healthcare benefits — so that their health care is no longer tied to their employment — and they’re able to join a union. That means administrative rules that foster union membership instead of undermine it. It means passing things like the PRO Act that would make it easier for people to join in, and then rolling back some of the attacks on union membership, like we saw in the Supreme Court in terms of public sector unions.

As a presidential candidate, you devised an animal welfare plan that aimed, among other measures, to reform factory farming. Where do you stand on recent efforts by Senators Cory Booker and Elizabeth Warren to ban factory farming?

Across the board, Americans are paying more attention to animal welfare, including the food industry, and that’s a good thing. Because of the leadership of Senator Warren and Senator Booker and many people, I’m glad this issue is getting more traction now. When I was campaigning in Iowa, I would often hear concerns about factory farming, about the environment, about the animals. It really is ripe for reform.

Factory farming contributes to climate change, and you have endorsed the Green New Deal to tackle climate change and economic inequality. Why is climate justice an issue that should particularly concern communities of color?

Climate change and climate justice are inextricably linked. Today, oftentimes, low-income communities and people of color especially are the hardest hit by climate change. We need to make sure that they’re protected as we feel the effects of climate change — and that we reverse the impact of climate change for the benefit of everybody. Climate justice means not being colorblind and being sensitive to the fact that certain communities are paying a greater price on a daily basis for how irresponsible we’ve been in the past when it comes to combating climate change.

As former HUD secretary, what are your concerns about housing insecurity and homelessness during the pandemic, and how these problems intersect with other issues, like food insecurity?

We’re staring down a homelessness crisis like we’ve never seen before. By one estimate, about 20 million people could face eviction over the next eight weeks. Now that means that a lot more people will be on the street. It means that we need to make a big investment immediately in rental assistance and also extend an eviction moratorium nationwide and stop mortgage foreclosures to stabilize families to help them get through this time period.

As people have gone on the unemployment rolls and their income has dwindled, there’s greater housing insecurity and food insecurity. Food banks across the state of Texas, for instance, have been inundated with families who need their help, including a lot of families who are going to a food bank for the first time. In my hometown of San Antonio, they went from serving about 60,000 families in a week to 120,000 right away [when the pandemic hit the U.S.]. And that’s a common story at food banks across the country.

In so many ways, what we’re witnessing now is a culmination of underinvestment in people throughout the decades. And if there’s an alarm going off about anything, it’s that we need to change course in this country and recognize the investments we should be making in housing, food security, job opportunities, and healthcare to create a stronger safety net and a better quality of life, permanently, for people.

• Julián Castro on the Goya Boycott and How to Support Communities of Color [Civil Eats] • Goya CEO’s Praise of Trump Sparks Calls for Boycott [E]

from Eater - All https://ift.tt/2WmwatM via Blogger https://ift.tt/2C7FAT0

[crowleytakesall]

Books Read in 2017

I really don’t know what else to say at this point. Other than I toned it down a bit from last year. ;)

OH actually: I noticed I was being a failure at listing the illustrators of graphic novels. So I’ll try to do that from now on. I apologize to all those artists I’ve neglected to include in my bylines, but thankfully I believe you are all listed on the linked pages. Which is better than no credit at all....

Total: 144

All the Single Ladies: Unmarried Women and the Rise of an Independent Nation by Rebecca Traister

Please Excuse This Poem: 100 New Poets for the Next Generation ed. Brett Fletcher Lauer and Lynn Melnick

But What If We’re Wrong?: Thinking About the Present As If It Were the Past by Chuck Klosterman

Culture and Customs of Korea by Donald N. Clark

Making Whiteness: The Culture of Segregation in the South, 1890-1940 by Grace Elizabeth Hale

サイレントヒル by Sadamu Yamashita

A History of Nepal by John Whelpton

Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

I Little Slave: A Prison Memoir from Communist Laos by Bounsang Khamkeo

Game On!: Video Game History from Pong and Pac-Man to Mario, Minecraft, and More by Dustin Hansen

The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin

The Last One by Alexandra Oliva

Underground Airlines by Ben H. Winters

Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo

DC Universe: Rebirth - The Deluxe Edition writ. Geoff Johns, illus. Gary Frank, Ethan van Sciver, Ivan Reis, and Phil Jimenez

The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

Shadowshaper by Daniel Jose Older

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

Pegasus by Robin McKinley

Symptoms of Being Human by Jeff Garvin

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

Silver Child, Silver City, and Silver World by Cliff McNish

The Zookeeper’s Wife by Diane Ackerman

A Modern History of the Somali: Nation and State in the Horn of Africa by I. M. Lewis

Uzumaki Vols. 1, 2, and 3 by Junji Ito

Lose Your Mother: A Journey Along the Atlantic Slave Route by Saidiya Hartman

One-Eyed Doll by James Preller

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay by J. K. Rowling

Girl on a Wire by Gwenda Bond

The Vikings: A History by Robert Ferguson

Percy Jackson and the Olympians #1-5 and The Kane Chronicles #1-3 by Rick Riordan

Draw The Line by Laurent Linn

Somalia: A Nation Driven to Despair: A Case of Leadership Failure by Mohamed Osman Omar

Girl in the Blue Coat by Monica Hesse

Essentials of Anatomy and Physiology by Valerie C. Scanlon and Tina Sanders

Ultraviolet and Quicksilver by R. J. Anderson

Harmony House by Nic Sheff

Me Against My Brother: At War in Somalia, Sudan, and Rwanda by Scott Peterson

Bury Me Standing: The Gypsies and Their Journey by Isabel Fonseca

Cultures of the World: Somalia by Susan M. Hassig and Zawiah Abdul Latif

The Somali Diaspora: A Journey Away by Abdi Roble and Doug Rutledge

Half Bad by Sally Green

The Civilizations of Africa: A History to 1800 by Christopher Ehret

Omega City by Diana Peterfreund

Britt-Marie Was Here by Fredrik Backman

Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present by Harriet A. Washington

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

Book Scavenger by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman

The Dragons of Noor by Janet Lee Carey

Asylum, Sanctum, Catacomb, and The Asylum Novellas by Madeleine Roux

Unraveling Somalia: Race, Violence, and the Legacy of Slavery by Catherine Besteman

A Tragic Kind of Wonderful by Eric Lindstrom

Unnatural Creatures ed. Neil Gaiman and Maria Dahvana Headley

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach

The Politics of Dress in Somali Culture by Heather Marie Akou

The Foundry’s Edge by Cam Baity and Benny Zelkowicz

Diagnoses From the Dead: The Book of Autopsy by Richard A. Prayson

House of Secrets by Chris Columbus and Ned Vizzini

The Panic Virus: A True Story of Medicine, Science, and Fear by Seth Mnookin

A Silent Voice #2-7 by Yoshitoki Oima (read the first one last year)

Super Mario: How Nintendo Conquered America by Jeff Ryan

Maphead: Charting the Wide, Weird World of Geography Wonks by Ken Jennings

Printer’s Error: Irreverent Stories from Book History by Rebecca Romney and J. P. Romney

The Geek Feminist Revolution by Kameron Hurley

Ghostland: An American History in Haunted Places by Colin Dickey

You’re More Powerful Than You Think: A Citizen’s Guide to Making Things Happen by Eric Liu

The Father of Forensics: The Groundbreaking Cases of Sir Bernard Spilsbury, and the Beginnings of Modern CSI by Colin Evans

Forensics: What Bugs, Burns, Prints, DNA, and More Tell Us About Crime by Val McDermid

Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America by Michael Eric Dyson

It Can’t Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis

White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America by Nancy Isenberg

The New Urban Crisis: How Our Cities are Increasing Inequality, Deepening Segregation, and Failing the Middle Class - And What We Can Do About It by Richard Florida

An American Sickness: How Healthcare Became Big Business and How You Can Take It Back by Elisabeth Rosenthal

The Sleep Solution: Why Your Sleep is Broken and How to Fix It by W. Chris Winter

Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly

The Secret History of the Mongol Queens: How the Daughters of Genghis Khan Rescued His Empire by Jack Weatherford

Dissecting Death: Secrets of a Medical Examiner by Frederick Zugibe and David L. Carroll

Asking For It: The Alarming Rise of Rape Culture - And What We Can Do About It by Kate Harding

ワンパンマン Vol. 1 - 3 writ. ONE illus. Yusuke Murata

Buried in the Bitter Waters: The Hidden History of Racial Cleansing in America by Elliot Jaspin

Forensic Nurse: The New Role of the Nurse in Law Enforcement by Serita Stevens

So Brilliantly Clever: Parker, Hulme, and the Murder that Shocked the World by Peter Graham

The Great Beanie Baby Bubble: Mass Delusion and the Dark Side of Cute by Zac Bissonnette

Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries by Kory Stamper

The Silence of the Sea by Yrsa Sigurdardottir

Beyond Monongah: An Appalachian Story by Judith Hoover

Earthlight by Arthur C. Clarke

Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls by Elena Favelli and Francesca Cavallo

The Midnight Assassin: Panic, Scandal, and the Hunt for America’s First Serial Killer by Skip Hollandsworth

These Vicious Masks by Tarun Shanker and Kelly Zekas

Uncle Montague’s Tales of Terror by Chris Priestley

Inferno by Dan Brown

Paper Girls Vol. 1 writ. Brian K. Vaughn, illlus. Cliff Chiang, Jared K. Fletcher, Matthew Wilson

The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu

Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond

Warcross by Mary Lu

Life on Mars: Poems by Tracy K. Smith

Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu

Girls Who Code: Learn to Code and Change the World by Reshma Saujani

Head First C: A Brain-Friendly Guide by David and Dawn Griffiths

A Murder in Time by Julie McElwain

Girl Code: Gaming, Going Viral, and Getting it Done by Andrea Gonzales and Sophie Houser

Coding for Beginners in Easy Steps: Basic Programming for All Ages by Mike McGrath

We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Monstress, Vol. 1: Awakening writ. Marjorie Liu, illus. Sana Takeda

Age of Myth by Michael J. Sullivan

Native Son by Richard Wright

Courage is Contagious: And Other Reasons to be Grateful for Michelle Obama ed. Nick Haramis

This is the Part Where You Laugh by Peter Brown Hoffmeister

The H-Spot: The Feminist Pursuit of Happiness by Jill Filipovic

Coding for Dummies by Nikhil Abraham

A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab

Nobody: Casualties of America’s War on the Vulnerable, from Ferguson to Flint and Beyond by Marc Lamont Hill

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

Artemis by Andy Weir

Lower Ed: The Troubling Rise of For-Profit Colleges in the New Economy by Tressie McMillan Cottom

C Programming: Absolute Beginner’s Guide by Greg Perry and Dean Miller

The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye by David Lagercrantz

An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth: What Going to Space Taught Me About Ingenuity, Determination, and Being Prepared for Anything by Chris Hadfield

To the Bright Edge of the World by Eowyn Ivey

The Memory Code: The Secrets of Stonehenge, Easter Island, and Other Ancient Monuments by Lynne Kelly

Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor

[cryptocoingrowth]

Homeowners Can’t Pay: US Lenders Prepare for Catastrophic Real Estate Market

The coronavirus has managed to seep into every facet of the global economy and it seems nothing will escape its financial wrath. During the last two weeks as unemployment levels have skyrocketed in the U.S.; analysts, economists, and wealth managers have been warning about another subprime mortgage crisis. Most of these observers believe there’s no doubt the real estate market will collapse again, as economists understand that the loss of jobs, wages, and severe reduction of business activity has devastated the American economy. Also read: US Real Estate in Jeopardy – Analysts Predict Housing Market Crash to 29-Year Lows

Real Estate Industry Will Suffer from Unemployed Homeowners Who Can’t Pay Loans and Renters Who Can’t Pay Landlords

There are a number of individuals and organizations that predict the covid-19 economy will destroy the American housing market and it might be far worse than the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis. One of the biggest reasons people think that the real estate economy is about to be hit hard is because of the number of U.S. citizens that are unemployed right now. This has caused mortgage borrowers to stop paying loans due to not having funds. Debtors who are landlords are suffering too, as renters cannot come up with the money to pay monthly rent expenses because they are out of work. At the time of publication, estimates note that roughly 40% of New York tenants may not be able to pay their rent this month which in turn hurts the landlord paying the mortgage.

Many economists think the housing market could sink in the near future because of restrictive measures like social distancing and the economy shut down. U.S. unemployment spiked considerably by 6.6 million in one week and over 3 million the week prior. Because homeowners can’t pay their loans and renters cannot pay landlords, economists envision a massive subprime mortgage crisis that will be more devastating than the last. Estimates from Moody’s Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi note that 30% of Americans with mortgages might not be able to pay their loans. Zandi says that figure is around 15 million American households and it could grow worse if the economy is shut down through the summer months. Property owners and renters are concerned about the unpredictable economy and a great majority of earners are seeing a smaller paycheck thanks to fewer shifts, hours, and layoffs across the board.

The U.S. government’s safety nets are not working and the ones that are available only cover a fraction of homeowners. Many Americans are upset because government-backed home loans through the FHA, Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, and the VA are allowing deferred payments for mortgages. In some instances, these lenders are allowing up to a year of deferred payments. But government-backed loans only cover 60% of the nation and the 40% leftover have traditional real estate loans with banks. What's the break lease policy at the moment if they don't offer a rental reduction? If we can't afford rent anymore do we just say to our real estate agent like… 'here's my notice sorry?' I'm 5 months into a 1 year lease. — Michael Beveridge (@mickyb273) April 3, 2020

The Airbnb Bubble: Some Airbnb Super Hosts Have 10+ Mortgages

Similarly, property owners who rent might not get monthly payments for a very long time. As individuals in the U.S. are finding themselves out of work, they can’t pay the rent to their landlords. Some renters and politicians in various states are calling for an emergency rent freeze and eviction moratorium until the covid-19 threat is behind us.

Some speculators are concerned that the Airbnb market will cause a negative domino effect on the housing industry. While the coronavirus is causing people to stop renting from Airbnb hosts it will crush Airbnb ‘super hosts’ who have upwards of ten mortgages. Landlords with mortgages could be crushed as the Rental Housing Finance Survey (RHFS) estimates there are more than 22.5 million rental properties nationwide. Some economists think that super hosts from Airbnb could cause the housing market to buckle as well, thanks to the unwinding Airbnb rental economy. Mega or ‘super hosts’ are Airbnb landlords who mortgaged multiple homes in order to profit on the platform’s rental market. “Watch the real estate market, my neighbor is an Airbnb super host,” tweeted Spencer Noon. She is on forums with other hosts many of them have 10+ mortgages. 0 guests are booking their properties they are running out of cash.”

From Predicting a ‘Booming Spring Real Estate Market’ to a ‘Catastrophic Buying Season’

Even small banks and real estate lenders are being told by the government they have no idea how long the industry shut down will last. “Nobody has any sense of how long this might last,” explained Andrew Jakabovics, an executive from Enterprise Community Partners, a nonprofit affordable housing group. “The forbearance program allows everybody to press pause on their current circumstances and take a deep breath. Then we can look at what the world might look like in six or 12 months from now and plan for that.”

Unemployment rates continue to soar. If people can’t work, then they can’t afford rent and homeowners can’t afford to pay mortgage loans either. On March 21, news.Bitcoin.com reported on how Lendingtree’s chief economist Tendayi Kapfidze predicted a complete “shutdown in the housing market.” Today, Kapfidze says with the government in “bailout everyone mode,” they probably will try to stop mass foreclosures. “I expect policymakers to do whatever they can to hold the line on a financial crisis,” Kapfidze told the press. “And that means preventing foreclosures by any means necessary,” he added.

In addition to the looming subprime mortgage crisis, office, retail, industrial, and multi-family homeowners invested a lot of upfront funds expecting a good season in the spring. “If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s how quickly everything can change. Just weeks ago, mortgage lenders were predicting the biggest spring in years for home sales and mortgage refinances,” Bloomberg’s recent real estate coverage explains. Meanwhile, on April 2nd, financial publications wrote: “Real estate spring buying season could be catastrophic.”

Even the President Is Looking for a Loan Deferral

Throughout the covid-19 economy, wealth managers and economists are curious about which safe-haven asset will society be confident in during the financial meltdown. While many predict precious metals will be the avenue, history shows that during the 2007-2008 subprime mortgage crisis bullion markets were manipulated by central banks.

Reports highlight that Donald Trump’s company has asked Trump’s biggest lender, Deutsche Bank, for some leniency toward repaying some of his loans. “These days everybody is working together,” explained Eric Trump, the U.S. president’s son, and executive of the family business. “Tenants are working with landlords, landlords are working with banks. The whole world is working together as we fight through this pandemic.” The current black swan event, covid-19 may call for a black swan asset like bitcoin because it’s not manipulated as easily as real estate property and precious metals. Traditionally investing in real estate outperforms a myriad of other investment assets, but cryptocurrencies have outshined property investment by a longshot. In fact, in contrast to real estate investment which gained 70-100% in ten years, BTC gained 8.9 million percent over the last decade. Moreover, analysts can clearly see that office, retail, industrial, and multi-family investors will take a big hit from the covid-19 economy. Even U.S. President Donald Trump is having issues coming up with funds to pay for his Florida properties and his administration asked Deutsche Bank and Palm Beach County to give him leniency. What do you think about the real estate industry’s hardships in the near future? Let us know what you think in the comments below. The post Homeowners Can’t Pay: US Lenders Prepare for Catastrophic Real Estate Market appeared first on Bitcoin News.Original Article - Bitcoin.com Read the full article

[kristopherkiple]

2/24/2020 - Panama City Beach

Panama City Beach

“You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy”                                                                                  –  Obi-Wan Kenobi

         Panama City, Florida is a place that will always be dear to my heart. It’s a magical place. It’s how I imagine living in an episode of the Twilight Zone would be.  It is home to the most beautiful beaches and the clearest ocean I have ever seen. I spent most of my time on the west end of the beach, bumming around on Thomas Drive, which was a strip that ran a circle around the east end. It’s where all the touristy attractions were. Every night in the summer screams could be heard coming from the Cobra amusement park, music blasting from Ms. Newby’s, the most popular beachfront bar, bright lights from Club La Vela and the high rise hotels that line the strip.                                                                               A mile to the north is where you’ll find the avenues which were all named after women. Joan, Allison, Anne, Dorothy and Laurie were their names. My brother told me they’ve been cleaned up over the years. If what they are is clean, I would hate to see them when they were dirty. On these avenues were the dwellings of the most undesirable people I hope to ever meet. As far as I knew they were demons in the flesh, living in dilapidated houses, trailers and makeshift shelters. We used to joke that methamphetamine was socially acceptable in Panama City and nowhere more than those avenues. I have firsthand knowledge of this because I lived on Anne Avenue for some time.                   I moved from New Jersey to Panama City Beach in the spring of 2017. I got a respectable job and rented a house for me, my girlfriend and son. I worked seventy hours a week in a kitchen and I was happy to do so because I had something to work for. My girlfriend, on the other hand, was not so happy and after only three months in Panama City Beach she took off and my son went with her. I was heartbroken to say the least.                                                                     My nephew needed a place to stay so I let him move in. After a short period of time, his girlfriend also needed a place to stay, so I invited her in as well. What did I care? I could use the company. This is when they introduced me to meth. Before I knew it I had an all-star line-up of Panama City’s finest meth heads lounging about in my living room. The living room that not long before was to serve as a home for my budding family. Rent was paid in the form of steaks, beer and meth. Unfortunately, the landlord didn’t accept these favors as currency and despite never sleeping I had no time for a job, so after awhile me and my new friends were evicted.                                                                                     On the other side of the Hathaway Bridge that connected Panama City Beach to Panama City, or what was referred to as “in town”, was the American Quality Lodge, a well known, run-down, cheap motel that offered extended stays. The room my friend Jason rented even had a stove. My integration into this community was a fairly smooth one seeing as I shared the same interests as ninety percent of the residents. I can’t count the amount of times that I rode whatever beach cruiser I had stolen that week over the Hathaway Bridge and back. I would have to dismount my bike and walk half way up the half mile bridge. I enjoyed the view of the Grand Lagoon bay and the cool breeze on my face as I would bolt downhill on the opposite end of the bridge heading back onto the beach.                                                                                                                  The beach at night is absolutely beautiful. I and my beach bum friends would sit out on the wooden beach chairs all night, with the lights of Thomas Drive at our backs, the sounds of the Gulf of Mexico in our ears, and the Milky Way in our eyes. We could never fully be at ease with it all because we always had to be on the lookout for the Police. Sleeping on the beach is prohibited and being homeless in Panama City may as well be illegal. At sunrise the straights would begin to show up for their morning walks and we would “clean our bum trash” and get on with our days.                                                                                         The streets of Panama City may not be as tough as the bigger cities, but it was no cake walk. The people will rat you out and send you to prison just for a story to tell if you’re not careful. I hung on for as long as I could. Through as many back stabbings, fake friends, smear campaigns, robberies and arrests as I could handle. Panama City took a great deal from me, but it gave a great deal as well. My relationship with Panama City is as strange as the city itself.

[thekillerblogofkillers]

Jeffrey Dahmer (1960-1994) PART ONE

Jeffrey Dahmer, also known as the Milwaukee Cannibal, was an American serial killer who raped, murdered and dismembered seventeen men and boys between 1978 and 1991. His murders included cannibalism, necrophilia and preservation of body parts.

Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on May 21, 1960. He was the first of 2 sons born to Joyce and Lionel Dahmer. Dahmer’s mother was a teletype machine instructor and his father was a student at Marquette University, working towards a chemistry degree. Although Dahmer was doted on by both parents as an infant and toddler, his mother was known to be tense, greedy for attention and argumentative with both her husband and her neighbours. As Dahmer entered first grade, Joyce began spending a lot of time in bed recovering from “weakness”. Lionel’s studies kept him away from the home, and when he was home, Joyce demanded constant attention, once even attempting suicide by overdosing on Equanil pills. Because of these issues, neither parents paid much attention to Jeffrey. Dahmer was described as an energetic, happy child until he underwent double hernia surgery shortly before his 4th birthday. Dahmer himself recalled his childhood as being full of tension between his parents, whom he noticed constantly arguing with each other. In elementary school Dahmer was quiet and timid. On his 1st grade report card his teacher described Dahmer as a reserved child that she felt was neglected at home, stemming from his mother’s illness. However, despite being reserved and uncommunicative as a child, he did have a few friends in grade school.

Dahmer began to show an interest in animals from a young age, with friends recalling him collecting large insects, dragonflies and butterflies which he kept in jars. As he got older, Dahmer, sometimes when out with friends, would collect animal carcasses from the road before either dismembering them at home or in some woods behind his house. One friend recalls Dahmer dismembering these animals and storing the various body parts in jars in the tool shed, saying that he was curious about how each animal “fitted together”. He is known at one time to have impaled a dog’s head on a stake behind his house. It seems that his fascination with dead animals began at the age of 4 when he saw his father moving animal bones from underneath the house. According to Lionel, young Jeffrey was “oddly thrilled” by the sound that the bones made and instantly developed a fixation for collecting and playing with them. Occasionally, he would be seen searching under and around the family home looking for bones. With live animals, he would sometimes explore their bodies to discover where each bone was located.

In October 1966 the Dahmer family moved to Doylestown, Ohio. Joyce was pregnant with the couple’s 2nd child whom she allowed Jeffrey to name – he chose David. The same year, Lionel got his chemistry degree and began working as an analytical chemist in Akron. 2 years later, the family moved to Bath, Ohio. One night, over a family meal, Dahmer asked his father what would happen if the chicken bones were placed in a bleach solution. Lionel, who was at this point quite worried about his son’s lethargic attitude and his solitary lifestyle, was pleased at the initiative of his son towards what he believed to be scientific curiosity. He demonstrated to Jeffrey how to safely bleach and preserve animal bones. This knowledge would later be used by Dahmer on many of the animal remains that he continued to collect.

From his first day of high school, Dahmer was viewed as an outcast with few friends. Many of Dahmer’s former classmates have recollected that they were disturbed by how much Dahmer drank – he would smuggle beer and spirits into school inside the lining of his jacket and conceal it in his locker. This drinking would occur before, during, and after school, and was first noted when Dahmer was around 14 years old. Once, when a classmate saw Dahmer drink a cup of gin, she asked him why he was drinking in class and he replied, “It’s my medicine.” Despite being reserved in his freshman year he was noted by staff to be polite and highly intelligent, but due to his apathy he received average grades. Upon reaching puberty, Dahmer realised he was gay. He did not tell his parents, but in his early teens he did have a brief relationship with someone his age, although the pair never had sex. He began to have sexual fantasies about dominance and control over a completely submissive partner. These thoughts became entwined with dissection. Once, when he was 16 years old, Dahmer dreamt up a rape fantasy of knocking a particular jogger he found attractive unconscious and having sex with his unresponsive body. Dahmer ended up hiding on the jogger’s usual route, with a baseball bat at the ready, and lay in wait. However, this lucky jogger did not take that route that particular day and Dahmer never attempted the plan a second time.

Despite being a loner at high school, Dahmer became somewhat of a class clown due to the pranks he pulled – pranks that became known as “Doing a Dahmer” and included bleating, faking seizures and cerebral palsy, and knocking over items at school or in local stores. By 1977, Dahmer’s grades had dropped due to his alcoholism and his continued lack of interest in his studies. His parents hired a private tutor for him, but this achieved only limited success. The same year, Joyce and Lionel Dahmer began going to marriage counselling to try and resolve their differences. The counselling was ultimately unsuccessful and they couple decided to divorce. Although the divorce began amicably, both parents began arguing frequently in front of their 2 boys and in early 1978, Lionel moved out of the family home. Soon after, Jeffrey graduated from high school. A few weeks before one of his teachers had seen him sitting near school in the parking lot drinking beer. When the teacher threatened to report the issue, Dahmer said he was having “a lot of problems”  at home that the guidance counsellor knew about. Not long after this incident, Joyce gained custody of her youngest son and moved out of the family home – because Dahmer was 18, he was legally an adult and not subject to any custody agreements and was left alone.

Dahmer’s first murder occurred in the 1978 when he was just 18, 3 weeks after graduation. He was living alone in the family home – his father was living in a nearby motel and his mother had moved to Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin with his brother David. On June 18, Dahmer encountered 18-year-old Steven Mark Hicks hitchhiking. He lured Hicks to his on the pretext of drinking together. After several hours of drinking together and listening to music Hicks “wanted to leave and I didn’t want him to.” Dahmer picked up a 10lb dumbbell and hit Hicks twice in the back of the head with it. When Hicks was unconscious, Dahmer strangled with to death with the bar of the dumbbell before stripping the corpse naked and masturbating over it. The next day, Dahmer dismembered Hicks’ body in his crawl space before burying the remains in a shallow grave in his backyard. Several weeks later he dug up the body and removed the flesh from the bones. He dissolved the flesh in acid and flushed the remaining sludge down the toilet.  He crushed Hicks’ bones with a sledgehammer and scattered them in the woods behind his home. Six weeks after this murder, Dahmer’s father moved back to the family home with his new fiancée, where they discovered that Jeffrey was living alone. Later that year, at the urging of his father, Dahmer enrolled at Ohio State University, hoping to major in business. Dahmer only stayed for one term, however, and was completely unproductive due to his constant alcohol abuse. Once, Lionel surprised Jeffrey by visiting, and discovered his room covered with empty liquor bottles. Dahmer dropped out of university after just 3 months.

Because of his drinking and dropping out of university, Lionel made Jeffrey join the U.S. Army in January 1979, where he began to train as a medical specialist at Fort Sam Houston until being stationed in Baumholder, West Germany where he served as a combat medic – Dahmer was an average soldier. 2 soldiers claim to have been raped by Dahmer during this time, one of whom claims to have been raped repeatedly over a year and a half period, the other believing he was drugged before being raped. Again, due to alcohol abuse, Dahmer’s performance deteriorated and he was deemed unsuitable for military service in 1981 and formally discharged from the army. He was sent back to Fort Jackson for debriefing and was given a plane ticket to go anywhere in America. Dahmer later stated that he could not bring himself to face his father so he travelled to Miami Beach, Florida because he was “tired of the cold” and wanted to live on his own means. There, Dahmer began working in a deli and rented a room in a motel. He spent most of his salary on alcohol and was soon evicted for not paying his bill. He began sleeping on the beach until deciding to phone his father and asking if he could come home after just 6 months of being alone.

After returning to Ohio, Dahmer lived with his father and new stepmother and insisted on doing chores to occupy himself while he was looking for work. However, he continued to drink heavily and just 2 weeks after coming home, Jeffrey was arrested for drunk and disorderly conduct. He was fined $60 and given a suspended 10-day sentence. Lionel Dahmer tried desperately (but unsuccessfully) to get his son off the alcohol. In December 1981, Dahmer went to live with his grandmother in West Allis. This was the only family Jeffrey ever showed affection towards and Lionel hoped that her influence and the change of scenery might help Jeffrey to get sober, get a job, and be responsible. This plan seemed to work at first, with Jeffrey doing chores, going to church, seeking work and drinking less. In early 1982 Dahmer found a job working as a phlebotomist at the Milwaukee Blood Plasma Center and worked here for 10 months before being laid off. He was then unemployed for over 2 years, living on whatever his grandmother could give him. It was around this time that Dahmer was arrested for indecent exposure, following an incident at the Wisconsin State Fair Park, where he was seen exposing himself to a crowd of 25 women and children. He was convicted and fined $50 plus court costs.

In January 1985 Dahmer began working as a mixer at the Milwaukee Ambrosia Chocolate Factory, where he worked 11pm-6am six nights a week. Shortly after beginning to work here, Dahmer was propositioned by another man while he was reading in the West Allis Public Library. The stranger passed Dahmer a note offering to perform oral sex on him. Dahmer did not respond to this proposition but it did stir fantasies of control and dominance like the kind he had as a teenager, and began visiting Milwaukee’s gay bars, bookstores and gay bathhouses. He is known to have once stolen a mannequin from a store which he used for sexual stimulation before his grandmother found it in his closet and made him throw it out. By late in the year he was a regular in the bathhouses, describing them as “relaxing places” but became annoyed when his sexual partners kept moving during the act. After his arrest, Dahmer stated: “I trained myself to view people as objects of pleasure instead of people.” For these reasons, from June 1986 onward he began to giving his partners sleeping pills in liquor before raping their unconscious bodies. After 12 of these instances, the bathhouses’ administration revoked Dahmer’s membership so he began using hotel rooms to do this instead. Not long after this, Dahmer read a newspaper report about the upcoming funeral of an 18-year-old boy and he formed the idea of stealing the fresh corpse and taking it home. According to Jeffrey, he tried to dig up the coffin but the soil was too hard, so he abandoned the plan.

In August 1986 Dahmer was arrested for masturbating in front of 2 twelve-year-old boys near the Kinnickinnic River. Dahmer admitted the offence and was charged yet again with indecent exposure but changed his story and said he had just been urinating, and didn’t know there were witnesses. The charge was changed to disorderly conduct and Dahmer was sentenced to a year’s probation, with extra instructions to undergo counselling.

[the-firebird69]

Watch "Greenland | Official Trailer [HD] | On Demand Everywhere December 18th" on YouTube

His apart that he doesn't know about. What that asteroid really is and he knows it's poop because he had Tommy Allen look at it and Trump is going to try and blame him for bringing it to Earth and there's several fragments and Trump is hitting things with it and he wants to like he was before and they want to know what he's using and he has his ships up again some of them this is after tonight and tomorrow and it's tomorrow afternoon and you can see that Zoe is back. Doesn't look like the Zoe we're thinking of if this is the movie series and they head out and they go off to Greenland or something and they find out some information and they come back and he goes to the upper Midwest with an army to track Trump down and figure out what he's doing

I want to tell you something that is a big piece of crap it's like 20 miles long and you can see it on Mars where they took the craps and bugs would come out and they eat bugs and they're disgusting and they're gross people they wouldn't kill the bug first they kill it in their mouth the bugs trying to bite them and they know how to do it they bite their head off so they don't get the poison and the bug is in severe agony it's not its fault but it'll kill them if they can kill it but that's not really right because I encourage them to grow and I was disgusted by their behavior and he is too but he said that there she was under so much duress she could hardly think straight and could hardly do any poop she's moving her body around and she's trying to run the the delicatessen thing and it wasn't really doing anything and the same at the beach she had a hard time thinking and was thinking some really weird stuff that like work son Dave and she didn't have it and a lot of people here don't have it at all they're under a lot of dress and this is severe dress are these gifted people turn into just really angry people and they're venting at each other and it's not right he ends up hitting Central Florida and they put APB on him and serious ones I think it gets him expelled and he hits near Georgia and up there in Iceland somewhere and he's trying to hit Jason because he manages to help her file charges because he wants to evict him and he wants to win the presidency and Trump wants to take over social security is going up against his own son and people Garth people, and those people are becoming more predominant here not less and they're going after trumpsters eventually they all get kicked out it's like the cesspool of infighting I really it's because they're small

Hera

And there's more to do today it's kind of run out of time but we are facing the clock we have a lot going on here and we do have stuff to say

-is sheriff is going to be ousted and we feel it is tomorrow and after she files the charges and after he starts firing s*** at people he wants to know where it came from possibly if you could and it was Dave and it looks like a fugerate. And it says me not you my son says whatever you feel like saying Dave I know you're in the mood and he said laughing and all sorts of stuff you said I don't think the bugs are going to go after it it'll be nice and he saw some bugs flying way out there and then they came zipping back like bullets so he had the duck out of the way and they're on fire some of them and he did it a few times he said that's not really worth it only a few of them died and then all of them come over here the senior eating me is what happened to bug poison I got a good God real big shovel and bury your poop this is worms look at huge something I said this this place is disgusting. David said it's not my fault you drag this here they have this what this family argument in front of everybody and everybody was glued to their sets. They hear you say realistically okay so we're exposing stuff it's doing nothing for me they said laughing so there's nothing for me why don't you come over here and say that and then it was worse have another baby giant is that laughing and said it's really not the best thing here oh my God what about a bunker so I know about a few and that's what the plan was the baby would be fine hush Little baby... So did I have to use a Jager I kind of loud we have to pull this

Hera Zues

[chicagotinyhouse]

Please help people in need

Micki Denis prepares the bed in the car she lives in at Lake Washington United Methodist Church’s parking lot in Kirkland, Wash., on Sunday, Oct. 13, 2019.  Lindsey Wasson, for the Deseret News SALT LAKE CITY — When Micki Denis first moved to Seattle, she tried to find a studio apartment she could afford — nothing fancy, just a warm room for sleeping and a small kitchen so she could have her son over for dinner. Instead, the mother of five and grandmother of 14 is sleeping in her car, a 2007 Toyota FJ Cruiser. She is not alone. Each night, Denis shares a parking lot outside a Methodist church with as many as 50 cars, vans and trucks, some housing entire families. In the morning, kids spill out and go into the church to get ready for school. But Denis — the 64-year-old cousin of U.S. Senator Marco Rubio and sister of a Nevada state senator — wakes up each day in disbelief that this is her life now. She lived in nice homes for decades, until her divorce in 2003. From 2005-07, she served a mission in Florida and El Salvador for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Just last summer, she traveled around Europe. Coming from Utah, where despite rising rental costs Denis could live on a variety of part-time jobs — like being an interpreter for a school district and a cafeteria cashier at her church’s Salt Lake Temple — she was shocked by the Seattle-area housing market. She found a part-time job to supplement a pension and Social Security, but it’s not enough. “I thought I could get something for about $700, a nice studio, but I can’t. I don’t know what’s going on here,” Denis said. What’s going on is that low- to moderate-income Americans who don’t own their own homes are being hammered by skyrocketing rents, stagnant wages and a shortage of affordable housing. Applicants for subsidized housing face years on a waiting list. Those in need of emergency shelter find beds are often full while people sleep in the streets. No state has an adequate supply of affordable rental housing, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, which recently released a report that examined the increasing gap between wages and rent. The coalition found that rental costs are rising faster than wages, and that, on average, a worker earning the federal minimum wage would have to work 103 hours a week to afford a one-bedroom apartment. In some communities, it’s worse than that. In King County, where Denis now lives, a worker needs an income of more than $62,000 to afford a one-bedroom apartment, compared to $46,548 for all of Washington state, the report said. This has driven Denis and thousands of other Americans to live in their vehicles, many of them from vulnerable groups like children and seniors. This solves one problem but creates others — like where to park at night and how to maintain hygiene. Cities and municipalities where they stay face unsavory choices. Should they accommodate the “vehicular homeless” with relaxed laws and safe parking lots, or try to legislate them away? California is considering legislation that would require its largest cities to provide parking for people living in their vehicles. But in the meantime, faith groups and nonprofits are stepping up to help, even when neighbors say “not on my street.” ‘Completely un-affordable’ As darkness envelops the parking lot at Lake Washington United Methodist Church in Kirkland, Washington, a suburb of Seattle, Denis prepares for another cold evening near Crissy Norton, a mother of three who has two vehicles in which to house her family. Norton, who is 26, is here at the church’s “safe lot” with her common-law husband, Matt, and their girls, who are 6, 3 and 1. They sleep in two vehicles: a Honda they own and a Ford F-150 truck they borrowed from a friend. They also have a Volkswagen Jetta that doesn’t run, but is good for storing clothes, blankets and toys. The family’s troubles began when Matt lost his job just before Christmas in 2017. “We struggled for a year to pay rent with odd jobs, but finding him one was tough. Last Christmas, we finally couldn’t do it and got evicted. We stayed with some friends in the winter, but come summer, we had to leave, and since then, it has been truck living,” Crissy Norton said. The family’s struggles, however, have been a little easier thanks to a ministry of Lake Washington United Methodist Church, a 200-member congregation that decided in 2011 to put its often-empty parking lot to good use. The church established a “Safe Parking” zone where people can sleep in their vehicles without fear of being harassed, interrogated or ordered to move. Volunteers come to the church early in the morning so school-aged children can come inside and get ready for school, and again in the evening, so “guests” can use bathroom facilities and the church’s kitchen and phone. The guests also have access to a refrigerator and Wi-Fi. They are welcome to join church activities but don’t have to do so. Karina O’Malley, a church member and volunteer who oversees the program, said the church started small, with six parking spaces, but as the program has grown, they’ve had up to 50 vehicles parked overnight. The demand exists, she says, because rent prices in the county are “completely unaffordable.” Moreover, the gap between wages and rent is expected to worsen in the coming years, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition. “The median-wage worker in eight of the nation’s 10 largest occupations, including retail salespersons, fast food workers, personal care aides, customer service representatives, and office clerks, do not earn enough to afford a modest one-bedroom rental home,” the coalition’s report says, adding, “The number of low-wage jobs is expected to grow significantly in the next 10 years.” This means that many people like Denis, despite having a steady income and a job, either can’t afford to rent a place, or if they could, would have nothing left over for utilities and food. And sleeping in a car is more appealing to some people than going to a homeless shelter. Some are uncomfortable with the stigma; others don’t want to abide by a shelter’s schedule or prefer the privacy of their car. Moreover, deciding to live in a car provides people with few options a sense of autonomy. “There’s a tiny minority who say I’m choosing to live in my car because that’s the only solution that works for me at this point. But most of these folks are desperately trying to get back into housing,” O’Malley, at Lake Washington UMC, said. “Folks don’t have a lot of great options, but there’s a sense of dignity that comes with saying what you’re doing is your choice.” A painful secret Denis, a native of Cuba who came to the U.S. with her parents when she was 5, had no experience renting for most of her life. From age 18 through 50, she had always lived in homes that she owned. Her five children, ages 33 to 45, are well off enough to help, but Denis doesn’t want to impose, which is why she hasn’t told them where she’s living been living since the middle of July. She said she figures she’ll need help when she is in her 70s or older and doesn’t want to tap that reservoir of goodwill while she’s still healthy and able to work. “I haven’t asked my children for help. I haven’t told a soul,” she said, adding that even her brother, a Nevada state senator and former LDS bishop, doesn’t know. “I want to fix this problem on my own,” she said, her voice breaking. Denis traveled Europe cheaply between April and October of last year, staying in hostels and LDS temple housing, and so when she returned to the U.S. for a grandchild’s baptism, she thought she could live equally well here while maintaining her mobility. But that hasn’t been the case, at least not in the Pacific Northwest. “Even if I pay $1,100 (in rent), that leaves me with hardly anything for gas, for food, for insurance. And the housing that I could afford is in places that aren’t nice. I can’t do that. I’m safer here,” she said. Denis is working as a cashier, so she has a place to go during the day. She has a membership at the YMCA, where she goes to swim, do yoga and shower, and she also spends time at the local library. At night, she stretches out on a foam mattress in the back of her Toyota and covers herself with a down comforter. Since she’s a half-inch shy of 5 feet tall, sleeping in the car isn’t so bad, Denis said, except for when she needs to go to the bathroom at night. The church provides port-a-potties, but she doesn’t like to leave her car at night, especially now that it’s cold. (When it’s 32 degrees or colder, the church lets people sleep inside, but it hasn’t gotten that cold yet this fall.) That said, she knows she has it better than some of her parking-lot neighbors. “There are women here who never leave their car,” she said. What cities can do At the other end of the spectrum is Bob Wells, founder of the Cheap RV Living website and its corresponding YouTube channel, which has 339,000 subscribers. Wells, the author of “How to Live in a Car, Van or RV,” promotes what he calls “nomadic tribalism in a car, van or RV,” and his followers include people trying to get out of debt and those who embrace a minimalist lifestyle. Because Wells is so well-known, he’s been approached by some government officials about how cities and towns can best address the challenges presented by vehicle dwellers, the most pressing of which is where they can park and where they can dispose of waste. He urges cities to build a cooperative relationship with vehicle dwellers, provide parking and portable restroom facilities, and even a place where people can go to get temporary work. Such things would produce big results for a little money. “They’re going to have happier residents, and they’re not going to be dumping their tanks or sleeping outside people’s homes.” But some cities are doubling down on enforcement to try to get the car dwellers to go elsewhere. In July, police in Fort Collins, Colorado, issued tow notices and tickets to more than two dozen people camping in their cars, the Coloradoan reported. And San Diego has enacted a new “vehicle habitation ordinance” that prohibits people from sleeping in their cars near residences and schools. At the same time, however, the city has expanded a Safe Parking Program that it operates in conjunction with Jewish Family Service of San Diego. Pamela C. Twiss, a professor at California University of Pennsylvania and co-author of “The Homelessness Industry, a Critique of U.S. Social Policy,” said she applauds cities and faith groups that are expanding safe parking. “A car is obviously not a suitable home, but using a car for sheer survival shouldn’t be criminalized,” Twiss said. “People have to have ways to survive, and we don’t have enough shelter spaces for those who need emergency shelter.” She also noted that there is a multiyear waiting list for subsidized housing in much of the the U.S. “We’re only serving about one-quarter of those who are eligible on an income-basis,” which means that three-quarters of people who qualify for government assistance won’t get it, Twiss said. And there aren’t enough emergency shelters, either. The National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty estimates that there are 286,203 emergency shelter beds available for the 553,000 people who need them. ‘Not a solution’ Teresa Smith, founder and CEO of a San Diego nonprofit that helps the homeless, said groups that offer safe parking often are approached by people who are living in their cars happily but need a place to park for a few days. “I can’t tell you how many calls we get from people who want to urban camp,” she said. Smith’s organization, Dreams for Change, runs two safe-parking lots with a capacity of 30 to 35 vehicles, but they’re always full, and there’s a waiting list, so they can only accept people with the most urgent need, she said. Also, Dreams for Change only accepts people who are actively looking for housing. “This is not a lifestyle for them; it’s a transition, and their goal is to move back into housing.” Conversely, at Lake Washington United Methodist, the safe-parking lot is open to people to anyone living in a vehicle, whether or not they’re looking for housing. Crissy Norton, the mother of three, has been actively searching and just found out last week that she and her husband have qualified for traditional shelter. She hopes to be in apartment with her children within a few weeks. Denis, however, remains uncertain of her plans. Unwilling to ask her family for help and reluctant to move from Seattle, she believes her car is her only option right now. Hers is a situation that an increasing number of seniors are facing, said Smith at Dreams for Change. Smith said that 15-20% of the people living in their cars on Dreams for Change lots are 58 and older, and 20% are families with kids. And while most safe parking programs are on the West Coast, she said she has been contacted by people in North Carolina, Tennessee, Pennsylvania and Colorado about how they can start similar programs there. “It’s clearly not just a California issue. The problem is growing, very much so,” Smith said, adding that safe-parking lots are “not a solution, by any means.” “But they’re at least something that helps.” And Denis and Norton said it’s been good to be surrounded by other people in the same situation, and they’ve made friends there. In fact, for other people contemplating turning their car into a residence, Norton says it’s critically important to have a community of support. “Don’t do it alone,” she said. “Make friends. Never, ever let yourself be alone.”   Over and over I keep hearing discouraging stories like this throughout our state and others. Chicago Tiny House needs your help to provide housing to those that need it. We are desperately looking for help from those that want to make a difference. If you would like to make a difference please let us know, we are looking for individuals to organize a winter welfare check unit as well as people to help with fundraising and direction of our organization. Make a difference in someone's life today and join Chicago Tiny House's mission to help people in need.   Read the full article

[newstfionline]

Facing poverty, academics turn to sex work and sleeping in cars

By Alastair Gee in San Francisco, The Guardian, 28 September 2017

There is nothing she would rather do than teach. But after supplementing her career with tutoring and proofreading, the university lecturer decided to go to remarkable lengths to make her career financially viable.

She first opted for her side gig during a particularly rough patch, several years ago, when her course load was suddenly cut in half and her income plunged, putting her on the brink of eviction. “In my mind I was like, I’ve had one-night stands, how bad can it be?” she said. “And it wasn’t that bad.”

The wry but weary-sounding middle-aged woman, who lives in a large US city and asked to remain anonymous to protect her reputation, is an adjunct instructor, meaning she is not a full-time faculty member at any one institution and strings together a living by teaching individual courses, in her case at multiple colleges.

“I feel committed to being the person who’s there to help millennials, the next generation, go on to become critical thinkers,” she said. “And I’m really good at it, and I really like it. And it’s heartbreaking to me it doesn’t pay what I feel it should.”

Sex work is one of the more unusual ways that adjuncts have avoided living in poverty, and perhaps even homelessness. A quarter of part-time college academics (many of whom are adjuncts, though it’s not uncommon for adjuncts to work 40 hours a week or more) are said to be enrolled in public assistance programs such as Medicaid.

They resort to food banks and Goodwill, and there is even an adjuncts’ cookbook that shows how to turn items like beef scraps, chicken bones and orange peel into meals. And then there are those who are either on the streets or teetering on the edge of losing stable housing. The Guardian has spoken to several such academics, including an adjunct living in a “shack” north of Miami, and another sleeping in her car in Silicon Valley.

The adjunct who turned to sex work makes several thousand dollars per course, and teaches about six per semester. She estimates that she puts in 60 hours a week. But she struggles to make ends meet after paying $1,500 in monthly rent and with student loans that, including interest, amount to a few hundred thousand dollars. Her income from teaching comes to $40,000 a year. That’s significantly more than most adjuncts: a 2014 survey found that the median income for adjuncts is only $22,041 a year, whereas for full-time faculty it is $47,500.

Recent reports have revealed the extent of poverty among professors, but the issue is longstanding. Several years ago, it was thrust into the headlines in dramatic fashion when Mary-Faith Cerasoli, an adjunct professor of Romance languages in her 50s, revealed she was homeless and protested outside the New York state education department.

“We take a kind of vow of poverty to continue practicing our profession,” Debra Leigh Scott, who is working on a documentary about adjuncts, said in an email. “We do it because we are dedicated to scholarship, to learning, to our students and to our disciplines.”

Adjuncting has grown as funding for public universities has fallen by more than a quarter between 1990 and 2009. Private institutions also recognize the allure of part-time professors: generally they are cheaper than full-time staff, don’t receive benefits or support for their personal research, and their hours can be carefully limited so they do not teach enough to qualify for health insurance.

This is why adjuncts have been called “the fast-food workers of the academic world”: among labor experts adjuncting is defined as “precarious employment”, a growing category that includes temping and sharing-economy gigs such as driving for Uber. An American Sociological Association taskforce focusing on precarious academic jobs, meanwhile, has suggested that “faculty employment is no longer a stable middle-class career”.

The struggle to stay in housing can take many forms, and a second job is one way adjuncts seek to buoy their finances. The professor who turned to sex work said it helps her keep her toehold in the rental market.

“This is something I chose to do,” she said, adding that for her it is preferable to, say, a six-hour shift at a bar after teaching all day. “I don’t want it to come across as, ‘Oh, I had no other choice, this is how hard my life is.’”

Advertising online, she makes about $200 an hour for sex work. She sees clients only a handful of times during the semester, and more often during the summer, when classes end and she receives no income.

“I’m terrified that a student is going to come walking in,” she said. And the financial concerns have not ceased. “I constantly have tension in my neck from gritting my teeth all night.”

To keep their homes, some adjuncts are forced to compromise on their living space.

Caprice Lawless, 65, a teacher of English composition and a campaigner for better working conditions for adjuncts, resides in an 1100 sq ft brick house near Boulder, Colorado. She bought it following a divorce two decades ago. But because her $18,000 income from teaching almost full time is so meager, she has remortgaged the property several times, and has had to rent her home to three other female housemates.

“I live paycheck to paycheck and I’m deeply in debt,” she said, including from car repairs and a hospitalization for food poisoning.

Like every other adjunct, she says, she opted for the role thinking it would be a path to full-time work. She is so dependent on her job to maintain her living situation that when her mother died this summer, she didn’t take time off in part because she has no bereavement leave. She turned up for work at 8 a.m. the next day, taught in a blur and, despite the cane she has used since a hip replacement, fell over in the parking lot.

If she were to lose her home her only hope, she says, would be government-subsidized housing.

“Most of my colleagues are unjustifiably ashamed,” she said. “They take this personally, as if they’ve failed, and I’m always telling them, ‘you haven’t failed, the system has failed you.’”

Even more desperate are those adjuncts in substandard living spaces who cannot afford to fix them. Mindy Percival, 61, a lecturer with a doctorate from Columbia, teaches history at a state college in Florida and, in her words, lives in “a shack” which is “in the woods in middle of nowhere”.

The mobile home she inhabits, located in the town of Stewart, north of Miami, was donated to her about eight years ago. It looks tidy on the outside, but inside there are holes in the floor and the paneling is peeling off the walls. She has no washing machine, and the oven, shower and water heater don’t work. “I’m on the verge of homelessness, constantly on the verge,” she said.

Percival once had a tenure-track job but left to care for her elderly mother, not expecting it would be impossible to find a similar position. Now, two weeks after being paid, “I might have a can with $5 in change in it.” Her 18-year-old car broke down after Hurricane Irma, and she is driven to school by a former student, paying $20 a day for gas.

“I am trying to get out so terribly hard,” she said.

Homelessness is a genuine prospect for adjuncts. When Ellen Tara James-Penney finishes work, teaching English composition and critical thinking at San Jose State University in Silicon Valley, her husband, Jim, picks her up. They have dinner and drive to a local church, where Jim pitches a tent by the car and sleeps there with one of their rescue dogs. In the car, James-Penney puts the car seats down and sleeps with another dog. She grades papers using a headlamp.

Over the years, she said, they have developed a system. “Keep nothing on the dash, nothing on the floor--you can’t look like you’re homeless, you can’t dress like you’re homeless. Don’t park anywhere too long so the cops don’t stop you.”

James-Penney, 54, has struggled with homelessness since 2007, when she began studying for her bachelor’s degree. Jim, 64, used to be a trucker but cannot work owing to a herniated disk. Ellen made $28,000 last year, a chunk of which goes to debt repayments. The remainder is not enough for afford Silicon Valley rent.

At night, instead of a toilet they must use cups or plastic bags and baby wipes. To get clean, they find restrooms and “we have what we call the sink-shower”, James-Penney said. The couple keep their belongings in the back of the car and a roof container. All the while they deal with the consequences of ageing--James-Penney has osteoporosis--in a space too small to even stand up.

James-Penney does not hide her situation from her class. If her students complain about the homeless people who can sometimes be seen on campus, she will say: “You’re looking at someone who is homeless.”

“That generally stops any kind of sound in the room,” she says. “I tell them, your parents could very well be one paycheck away, one illness away, from homelessness, so it is not something to be ashamed of.”

For Rebecca Snow, 51, an adjunct who quit teaching after a succession of appalling living situations, there is a sense of having been freed, even though finances continue to be stressful.

She began teaching English composition at a community college in the Denver area in 2005, but the poor conditions of the homes she could afford meant she had to move every year or two. She left one place because of bedbugs, another when raw sewage flowed into her bathtub and the landlord failed to properly fix the pipes.

Sometimes her teenage son would have to stay with her ex-husband when she couldn’t provide a stable home. Snow even published a poem about adjuncts’ housing difficulties.

In the end she left the profession when the housing and job insecurity became too much, and her bills too daunting. Today she lives in a quiet apartment above the garage of a friend’s home, located 15 miles outside Spokane, Washington. She has a view of a lake and forested hills and, with one novel under her belt, is working on a second.

Teaching was the fantasy, she said, but life on the brink of homelessness was the reality.

“I realized I hung on to the dream for too long.”