Tumgik
#the org wrote us a letter and told us that they used the money for petrol and 4x4 parts and we were SO disappointed
dragontrailz · 4 years
Text
Greta Thunberg - Her Privilege Makes Her Blind To Her Own Manufacturing
This is what privilege looks like - 'Only people like me dare ask tough questions on climate’. Only the affluent upper middle classes could possible engineer a quote quite this stupid.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/oct/11/greta-thunberg-people-like-me-ask-difficult-climate-questions
She’s not the only type of person to do this. She’s not the only person with a disability, autism or Asperger’s to speak up. She’s playing on the fact that she’s on the spectrum. Many people have spoken up before she did. Some of them from working class and ethnic backgrounds. She literally can’t see that her privilege, affluence and her parents connections have made this happen for her.  As Cory Morningstar has pointed out, Greta Thunberg’s mum was a WWF Hero of the Year in 2017; she does adverts for Greenpeace and moves in those circles. When the 15 year old created her Twitter account in 2018, after her mother, the next accounts she followed were Greenpeace Sweden, Greenpeace International, Greenpeace UK, Friends of the Earth International and Friends of the Earth USA. A little further down the list we find Bill McKibben, 350.org, fellow speakers who would join her at XR’s Declaration of Rebellion (months later on October 31st): George Monbiot and Rupert Read and soon after that We Don’t Have Time, an NGO that would play a crucial role, as well as This Is Zero Hour, their founder, Jamie Margolin and the main account for Extinction Rebellion. Morningstar also cites Callum Grieve, a former Communications Director at The Climate Group and We Mean Business, who now works for Mission 2020, as a key architect of her manufacturing. Grieve also assisted Thunberg; on the first day of her protest he was the third person to respond on that platform. He’s not a huge Twitter influencer though, as he doesn’t have so many followers there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzCgKEjgCng
https://soundcloud.com/lastborninthewilderness/cory-morningstar
http://www.wrongkindofgreen.org/2019/01/17/the-manufacturing-of-greta-thunberg-for-consent-the-political-economy-of-the-non-profit-industrial-complex/
This 17 year old is still being used; but nows seem to enjoy the limelight so much, that they’ve made a film. Her mum is an opera singer, her dad an actor, she was propelled from her first protest to global superstar within weeks. On the day of her first protest, on August 20th, 2018, she was approached by We Don’t Have Time’s Ingmar Rentzhog who ‘discovered’ her and she was soon a major story, appearing on the front page of Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet the same day. Rentzhog had met Greta Thunberg’s mother at a climate event in May 2018, shortly before Greta’s Twitter account was set up. On September 1st, Greta Thunberg was featured in her first Guardian column. It’s worth noting that the Aftonbladet account was followed after those mentioned in the previous paragraph, which suggests she was looking to the global stage before the Swedish national stage. 
https://medium.com/@frackfree_eu/green-capitalism-is-using-greta-thunberg-66768db6c0e1
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/sep/01/swedish-15-year-old-cutting-class-to-fight-the-climate-crisis
The sequence of events which led to Greta’s sudden rise to prominence and the role of Ingmar Rentzhog is explained in more detail here:
https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/media/the-pr-guru-behind-the-rise-of-greta-thunberg/news-story/fae7bd1704d58e8ff0dd4d93ec0b3560
Talk of her “'zero-carbon yacht” in this article is nonsense. There is no such thing. Manufacture of it has embodied energy, besides which, how many of us can afford a transatlantic yacht for those times when we want to sail to the USA to lobby the climate capitalists in that country? The same narrative was peddled when she made her way from Sweden to London by electric car for XR’s Declaration of Rebellion on October 31st, 2018 (I was there that day). What was wrong with using public transport? Surely that would have conveyed a much more sustainable message? 
Climate change isn’t the only crisis we face; people have been trying to defend nature from the onslaught of extractive capitalism for a long time; again many of them were poor or Indigenous people, so their narratives were airbrushed away and they weren’t given a number of Guardian articles to platform themselves so that the middle classes could be softened up. 
Since those early days, the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos used Thunberg and the global media to manufacture consent for what’s coming - the new fake ‘Net Zero’ world, the '4th industrial revolution’ and next year’s 'New Deal for Nature’. 
http://www.wrongkindofgreen.org/2019/10/19/perfect-distractions-and-fantastical-mitigation-plans/
Thunberg herself happily plays along signing the letter about 'Natural Climate Solutions’ that appeared in the Guardian alongside fake green George Monbiot, who also wrote an abysmal column to go with it, which seemed to be more about geoengineering and terraforming than habitat restoration, particularly when the academic references to support his narrative are analysed. This climate-washing of the narrative has got to stop. 
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/apr/03/natural-world-climate-catastrophe-rewilding
The Climate Emergency Fund (USA), set up by Trevor Neilson and funded by Aileen Getty and Rory Kennedy are just one of the big money foundations who now fund the movement she helped create, Youth Strike. I was at the first big Youth Strike protest in London; it was organic and spontaneous. Children took the roads and risked arrest; the cops brought out mounted patrols, some children were arrested, later de-arrested. I noticed that several people within the UK, who’ve positioned themselves at the heart of the climate movement, people from 350, UK Youth Climate Coalition, Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth etc. were already there on the sidelines, coordinating and framing the media message. 
At the second big Youth Strike protest in London, the children were pushed aside, the speakers on the big red bus that positioned itself on Victoria Embankment were now mostly adults. The Trade Unions were now also in attendance, alongside other NGOs like Global Justice Now, War on Want and MPs like Jeremy Corbyn (he gave a great speech that day) and Caroline Lucas (she did not and seemed very irritable afterwards when I tried to speak to her, a first). The SWP were eagerly recruiting youngsters and filling their heads full of propaganda. It was painful to observe. 
By the third big protest, the children were told to march aimlessly around the streets of London, whilst 'activists’ from Greenpeace, FoE and 350 who had coordinated the event looked on. Something so energetic faded so quickly. Very little has happened since that day in Autumn last year, although #Covid19 perhaps has also been responsible for muting any efforts to mobilise. 
Her marketing team now seems to think a film about her, to go with the numerous books (yes, I’ve read one of them, the speeches have aged very badly) is now what’s required. Roger Hallam recently made a film, called 'The Troublemaker’, it was largely a work of propaganda. I wonder what Greta’s film will say? 
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/sep/16/i-am-greta-review-slick-yet-shallow-thunberg-documentary
“Intriguingly, even bafflingly, Grossman’s film begins by showing Thunberg’s pre-famous self as a high-schooler with her homemade climate strike placard, enduring a lonely vigil outside the Stockholm parliament every Friday with a few grumpy older shoppers coming up and telling her off for not being in school. Here she is: the non-famous nobody, and these scenes lead seamlessly to later moments showing her campaign taking off. So … does this mean Grossman has been prophetically following her career from the very beginning?“ 
This journalist has clearly not been following the story. That all these early protests were filmed shows they had much larger plans.
Do people think any of this is normal? This post is likely to grate with people. If it does, may I suggest you’re emotionally invested in this story and you can’t see what’s really happening. Step back and get some perspective. I invite discussion but nobody is fooling me with what’s happened over the last two years.
https://starecat.com/greta-thunberg-theyve-stolen-my-childhood-hardworking-kid-cool-story-bro/
Many people seem to be of the opinion that Greta can’t be criticised. There’s a confirmation bias in wanting to believe her story, from a one person protest to meeting world leaders, the UN and the Davos set at the World Economic Forum, where she platformed herself alongside David Attenborough and Jane Goodall. These people won’t engage with the narrative that indicates she’s been manufactured. This is compounded by her support from those in XR, who also can’t seem to see their own movement is also constructed and coupled to her story. A lot of the themes in her speeches, that of the planet being 'on fire’ or that we’re running ‘out of time’ are common to XR and Youth Strike and then later authors like Naomi Klein, and are based on mobilising people based on urgency. We’ve seen this go very badly wrong many times, notably in Afghanistan (See Adam Curtis - The Power of Nightmares)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwvSQ56HYg8&list=PL46FkcYcj-72IK9xFcWVRwoIu9Lfsi1S9&index=1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwvSQ56HYg8&list=PL46FkcYcj-72IK9xFcWVRwoIu9Lfsi1S9&index=2
 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GB8m6nNWpMA&list=PL46FkcYcj-72IK9xFcWVRwoIu9Lfsi1S9&index=3
In her film trailer, we see the time theme being repeated once again. Her father also continues to perpetuate the myth that she did this on her own.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mwk10YGPFiM
“My name is Greta Thunberg and I want you to panic!” - but this repeated doomerism has had a paralysing effect on many people. Other flanks of people have been mobilised to take action, notably within the UK as XR, which is a larger movement than Youth Strike. However, much of the mobilisation has been about virtue signalling, their virtuous non-violence and colourful boats has meant their movement has failed to really diversify beyond it’s white, middle class base. The movement appears to have now peaked and largely run out of money.
There is also the common theme of expecting governments to act to resolve this. When are people going to realise that’s not going to happen. Parliaments are not going to end capitalism. Who was the last parliamentary candidate who ran on a #degrowth platform? As such, both movements are self defeating and tend to reinforce hierarchy and statism. In the worst case scenario what they are asking for is EcoFascism. If people are struggling to deal with Covid19 restrictions on movement which have only brought about around a 6-7% decrease in greenhouse gas emissions, then how would they cope when they are told the truth about what ‘Net Zero’ would really mean: private cars would be banned, consumption would be drastically reduced along with an end to pointless bullshit jobs, international flights would be rationed and restricted and people in the Global North would have to eat perhaps 75% less meat. Some of us have made or are making these changes already and will be ready for this world when we run out of oil and when critical metal resource depletion also punctures the myth of the electric car. 
Net Zero within 5 years is a fallacy. Anyone who’s looked at the data knows this. The Centre for Alternative Technology in Machynlleth, Wales appear to be asking for a radical strategy in stating that a 60% reduction in primary energy usage is required, then you realise that they’ve massively underestimated the actual emissions as they don’t include consumption emissions from overseas. This suggests an 85-90% reduction in energy demand would be required. 
Meanwhile the IPCC based their models on a doubling of energy consumption between now and 2050. The pretence is maintained by claiming there are ‘Negative Emissions Technologies’ that will magically sequester away our historical and future carbon debt. The primary technology that they envision will do this, Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) is not yet technically viable and never will be. It’s neither safe, nor ethical and it won’t reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Delaying the urgent mitigation required now leaves a larger problem for future generations. BECCS would also require huge amounts of land, freshwater and fertiliser and would destroy biodiversity, threaten food security and trample on Indigenous land rights. The IPCC ‘science’ that Greta Thunberg claims is her version of the truth, is merely only one part of the picture. There are good scientists and bad scientists. Which ones is she backing?
https://twitter.com/GretaThunberg/status/1318216965639503873
She seems blind to the modelling work going on which assumes that #BECCS is viable and cost effective, a trick of economic models within which subsidies and discounting correct for impossibilities. BECCS will never happen at scale as citizens will mobilise against it. Thus Thunberg’s attempt to lecture Joe Biden, who is well aware of what carbon capture is and has opened the door to it, merely show how little she understands the bigger picture. In the following article, Steve Horn explains how Biden has embraced carbon capture under pressure from oil industry lobbying, which will lead to enhanced oil recovery and won’t reduce emissions.
https://www.drillednews.com/post/biden-climate-change-platform-fossil-fuel-carbon-capture
In reality, what we now have is this pretend world of ‘Net Zero’ False Solutions, where corporations have taken centre stage. Yet, XR, Youth Strike and Greta Thunberg  are largely silent on this and are still screaming for governments to take action. In the UK, they did take action as XR suggested and set up a citizen’s assembly, which was then rigged to provide the wrong outcome as these resources clearly show. Under the guidance of the Committee on Climate Change, the process has been captured by false technofix solutions and corporate thinking. 
https://www.climateassembly.uk/resources/
The conversation is so far from where it needs to be. Greta now has a film about her life, which will make the middle classes feel like they can change the world if they just shout loudly enough. The trouble is their dominance of the debate and misdirection has wasted two years. Only Covid19 has really reduced emissions, as its forced a much needed reduction in hypermobility and a reduction in oil use. 
I hope people can start to see what’s happened over the last two years now. Some folks are waking up to the reality of what needs to be done. No one else is going to fix this mess but us. The only way we can do that is by collectively disengaging from the system, but in more constructive ways, where we can come together, build community and connection. I’ll be writing more about how we do this another time. The solutions need to be centred on mutual aid, land rights, agroecology and permaculture.
5 notes · View notes
klarkkent71 · 4 years
Text
How Kappa Started for Me
I know it’s been a while since my last blog but I had to focus on my final training rotation for the year before packing and coming to Shreveport for vacation.  I spent a limited amount of time at home during this training exercise coming home really to sleep and get back out the door.  With the 11th anniversary of my crossing date which was December 1st 2008, I wanted to talk about an experience that played a big part in my life and that’s initiating and becoming a member of Kappa Alpha Psi.  Just like my army blog, depending on who you talk to everybody has their own motivation of why they joined a certain organization below starts my story. 
There I was in the spring of 2007.  I just returned back to college from basic training and I was completely changing my life around to become a better person.  For those that don’t know during my first year of college I was thuggin from wearing a durag, to grill, and wearing baggie clothes to keeping a throwaway pistol on me at all times.  Before college, I was still starting to grow into myself.   When I came back to Northwestern I adopted a new demeanor from wearing clothes that fit to actually applying myself in school. Even my best friend was teaching me how to network and socialize with people around campus. At that point, I was still completely naïve to greek life though besides the parties we would go to where I just wanted to drink punch and talk to girls. One weekend my cousin Darius was visiting Shreveport from Houston after he just crossed.  He was showing me all these steps and moves and telling me how cool greek life was and that moment I decided to do my own research into Kappa Alpha Psi.  I was fascinated by everything I was learning about the organization from their stylish appearance to brotherhood, and the programs that they set up to help the community and campus life.  That night I planted the seed in my head and told myself that I have to make this happen and my aspirations grew daily.  One of the biggest roadblocks at the time was that my chapter at Northwestern was suspended so I struggled to find Kappa to network with along with my GPA which I started to get all A’s once determined.  When I told my mom about my dreams she introduced me to a family friend Alonzo Jackson Sr(RIP) who was over Shreveport Chapter and he told me about his son who crossed at NSU along with giving me the names of Kappas at Northwestern that I needed to introduce myself.  I remember it like yesterday; in order, I introduced myself to Demarcus, Rob, Sylvester T Vince Tremaine, and new members at the time Eric and Mr. Cartwright who would later become the advisor as the chapter got back situated and active on campus and overall people who will forever be legends in my mind.  At the end of spring 2007, I was informed that the chapter would be activities again that fall and I was more determined than ever to get selected.
It was fall 2007 and I was excited that school finally started back up.  That summer I stayed in Natchitoches to catch up on classes since I missed the fall of 2006 and I was working so that I could save up money so that I could pay my intake fees if selected.  I would go to softball games to continue to network.  The whole semester I was looking for the informational posters which listed the times and place to meet for those interested in joining the organization.  When I went to the informational it was crowded and I remember the last thing Mr. Cartwright telling us was “be humble you want to join us we don’t need you). I turned in all my documentation and recommendation letters which were signed by Kappas who had a lot of power in northern LA and I thought I was a shoe-in to get picked.  A week later I remember going to Mr. Jones's office who was also an advisor and having it broke down to me that I didn’t get the votes needed and that I had to work on a few things.  Specifically my involvement with campus organization and becoming an officer along with getting my name out there more.  I was honestly hurt at the moment because I thought it’ll be my time but honestly, that hurt did not last long and it lit the biggest fire in my heart to get picked next over.  Over that next year at NSU, I joined over 10 organizations and was an officer in five of them by the time next year information rolled around.  I won plenty of spoken word poetry contests and even won Mr. Delta Sigma Theta because I noticed a Kappa prospect won it the year prior. I made sure I attended every greek and campus event introducing myself to people and anytime Kappa Week came around I attended every event no matter the size to show that I supported and wanted to become a part of the organization which worked because people took notice at that point.  It was the summer of 2008 and I saved more money was just waiting on the fall to come so that I can go the information and get my shot.  
It was fall 2008 I was excited and ready and then another major roadblock hit.  During the first week of school, my National Guard unit was activated and called to New Orleans to help hurricane Gustav which means I had to be pulled away from school and go do hurricane duties.  The whole time during hurricane duties I was sad because I knew I’ll miss my opportunity to pledge but it turns out I had a blessing in disguise and didn’t even know.  My supervisor SGT Cornel Sims pledged in 2004 at Northwestern and kept me in the loop on everything.  I had no idea he was an NSU Kappa until then.  Every day he would call my future dean of pledges and would keep me updated. Once the hurricane passed my mom organized people and wrote to state officials about letting college kids go back to school.  I was so surprised when I found out I’ll be going back to college and didn’t have to stay the additional two weeks.  I remember driving back home on a Thursday and attending the Kappa party.  That day my Dean & Pops for life Phil told me I need to get my paperwork submitted by Saturday which Sylvester reviewed and gave me the green light on and told me to meet my future line brothers at a designated location.  I knew three of my line brothers(TC, Rick, and Waskie) already and was introduced to the final three(Mojo, Seawood, and Javand) at the spot.  At that point, I was relieved to know that I made it and the rest was history.  Obviously, we spent plenty of nights of studying and working hard to become nupes. I had gift a that I had since I was a child and that was the ability to memorize a lot of information by taking one glance at it which helped during some nights studying.  At times it become a struggle trying to balance everything along with school and I remember constantly getting in trouble by my peers in ROTC for not being attentive.  Mentally it took a toll because I could not hang out with certain people as much anymore and people felt neglected since I was maintaining a secret.   One December first came and we crossed though I was relieved like no other.  I considered that to be the best moment of life after being born.  I remember probating and waking up the next day to 200 friend request on facebook and a ton of strangers writing and telling me congratulions.  Overall when everything was done I was 7 Klub, Tail, Timekeeper, and Rock klub and I remember going from 186lbs when starting to 167.  
That semester I was voted chapter president and vowed every day to due to my best.  I learned a lot of my current leadership tactics from working with my chapter and overall had some of the best experiences of my life from throwing socials in my apartment to overall school socials at various event centers.  I learned was it was like to play to give back to campus and get involved with community service.  I had a huge social status on campus and I had people from other organizations such as Jeremy Evans mentoring me on how to deal with NPHC and networking with other orgs which I became really good at.  One of my proudest moments was making homecoming court and showing my parents that I was out of my shell on campus.  When I left Northwestern I was involved in 16 organizations and had a leadership role in 9 from being the president to the treasurer.  My final semester which was also one of my biggest tests was being a Dean and working to train the following line(my sons)  on how to be Kappas.  At times it truly felt like I was doing study nights again but it was cool to exit college that way.  Since then Kappa opened plenty of door ofs from me and no matter where I move or get stationed I also have a network to tie into.  I’m still very much active and do the bests that I can.  The pictures shared are people I mention throughout my post.  
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
0 notes
queuepeaceandcandy · 5 years
Text
Take Down That
I wrote most of this post up for private consumption, but given the recent news about: http://blog.archive.org/2019/04/10/official-eu-agencies-falsely-report-more-than-550-archive-org-urls-as-terrorist-content/ it spurred me to make it more public.
So reposting with some minor edits, plus one large additional note, to my zen blog to try and find some zen by venting. I’m just so very tired of the world right now. 
So firstly I just want to say I like the Internet Archive a lot. I find it very soothing for the "is my memory faulty or is this person saying something that is untrue"  - http://web.archive.org/ 
So when they do their fundraiser I generally donate to it these days as I have the cash flow to support it, and it’s helped me out significantly over the years, even when I didn’t have the cash flow. So here is a cup to The Web Archive, who’s helped protect many sanity for many years, and I hope will continue for many years to come. They accept donations year round here: https://archive.org/donate/
This is a correction to a bit of misinformation that I’ve seen lately that’s annoying me, even though some of the posts that talk about it are quite nice. Disclaimer: while I was in fandom at the time, I was not involved in OTW and in fact at the time all of this happened I was a bit skeptical of it’s chances of long term success - I’m glad to have been proven wrong. I do volunteer for OTW now but not for either of their Policies or Legal teams. Ao3/OTW is also not affiliated as far as I’m aware to Internet Archive in any way.
OTW was not started because of https://fanlore.org/wiki/Strikethrough_and_Boldthrough where a lot of stuff was being deleted from LJ, especially if it was LGBT content, including things that should have been fine according to their terms of service. Much like Tumblr insisting on banning the truth emerges from her well, even though technically it should be find if you took the CEO's letter seriously about classic art being fine.
OTW was started because of https://fanlore.org/wiki/FanLib - this pre-dates strike through. You can see this in the very initial post where they were talking about OTW here: https://fanlore.org/wiki/An_Archive_Of_One%27s_Own_(post_by_astolat)
Think of it as like Pillowfort - Pillowfort was not created because of the https://fanlore.org/wiki/Tumblr_NSFW_Content_Purge, it predated it significantly, but it got a lot of support because of said tumblrpocalpse, since people had a specific need that they were concerned about, which meant that an alternative being available was super useful!
Who was fanlib? Fanlore article here, https://fanlore.org/wiki/FanLib but to summarise... Fanlib was a couple of dudes who wanted to basically incorporate fandom for purposes of making money.
A lot of people at the time, were extremely concerned that this was going to get fandom sued out of existence, and increase the likelihood of militant take down notices. There was also the concern that by submitting work there, you lost any future rights to it - because that’s what the TOS effectively said.
If you wonder if that seems a bit extreme, yeah well, here is a news article from May 1, 1989, about disney suing a, day care center, for putting up some art of disney characters on the walls of the center. https://www.apnews.com/4d98c8dee1c72fa5ac42ce01dff143fd
Like, this is effectively fanart done on the walls. The way it's described - it's not in advertising, not sold directly, just to help make the place brighter and more friendly.
I always remember this example because it's one that tends to get people outraged, but I really want to emphasis that it wasn’t a once off situation, this used to be extremely common that people would link or gossip to me about these kinds of things.
That’s still an issue, by the way. Now days it's less about "fandom" stuff - but take down notices for "criticism" which are protected by fair use*, the same thing that OTW claims helps enable fandom, are still not that uncommon here’s one that’s quite recent with some of the publicity that it’s gotten: https://torrentfreak.com/vox-targets-the-verge-critic-with-dubious-youtube-takedown-190215/
In fact in some countries, criticism technically has more protection via fair use equivilents than fandom does.
This is Anne Rice: https://fanlore.org/wiki/Anne_Rice
I have nothing to say about Anne Rice that has not already been said. She’s not an isolated case.
In general I’ve found if people want to take down one thing - they won’t stop at one, they won’t draw boundaries, they won’t use judgement, because they don’t care - they’ll try to take down everything they can. It’s become an emotional issue in some cases, or a financial one. Neither provide incentive for trying to be diplomatic or fair.
Effectively if people don’t like you, they will try to find a way to make your voice go away and turn take down notices into a bully tactic even if everything you do is fine, and technically could help benefit them. There’s no incentive to not be a dick, if you want to be a dick, other than bad publicity, and the people who want to try really hard to get everything taken down will find the one thing that could be considered “acceptable to remove” to try and push the other stuff off the internet table.
If you can’t get it by hook, then you can get it by crook and they will add as much grease to the slippery slope as they can if they think it will benefit themselves. 
New Note: This is why the Internet Archive being threatened on being blocked in France really concerns me, because it helps provide a lot of information and history. I know that they do respond to take down notices, but the fact that Gutenberg project is being asked to be removed in it’s entirety, and the push with the recent EU Single Market Directive makes me concerned that this is not about legitimate concerns such as terrorism, and more using buzzwords to help push copyright boundaries, even on things where that has lapsed.
Basically given the very short time frame - only one hour from receiving the notice to successfully removing the content, with the ruling their trying to implement, is basically setting it up so only one thing can be implemented to resolve - upload filters, of which, Tumblr is an excellent example of why I am extremely skeptical, given that it’s also definitely targeting platonic LGBT content at times. Also, given the stretch of what their demanding - seriously, commentary on the Quran is now considered a terrorism item.
This just in, Muslims are not allowed to talk about their religion in any way shape or form - because all of this is supposed to be taken down: https://archive.org/details/002Baqarah_201712
First comes that beautiful Surah, 15. Each chapter or portion of the Quran is called a Surah, which means a Degree Or Step, by which we mount up. Sometimes whole Surahs were revealed, and sometimes portions, which were arranged under the Prophet's directions.
That means that a lot of information is going to become harder and more expensive to find, and we’ve seen historically used to limit information the public has to make decisions. https://www.freetibet.org/news-media/na/blog-great-firewall-china 
You can decide where your judgement falls on that.
I don’t really want to go into the if’s that’s about censorship which is usually why people yell about OTW and make reference to Strikethrough in the tweet/post. People generally make a choice about where they fall on it. I think that some websites may choose to be more restrictive, and some sites may choose to be less and that’s fine. I think that there should be multiple websites out there to met different peoples needs. In fact I really want there to be multiple websites - I think that makes for a much healthier fandom environment.
 … I just also think it really sucks when 30,000+ sailor moon fanfics get deleted with no warning (that’s the 2012 one): https://fanlore.org/wiki/FanFiction.Net%27s_NC-17_Purges:_2002_and_2012 It also sucks when people try to make themselves an online home and are forced to move on - even when they were responsible for helping to make a product a success to begin with.
This is Ao3’s terms of service: https://archiveofourown.org/tos 
If you actually read it, Archive of our own doesn’t host things that illegal in the US. That means if it’s legally defined as something that is illegal, it’s not allowed on the archive. There are also many things which the archive is willing to host, but  has decided need to be marked in some way to stop people from clicking it accidentally.
Additionally some of the things that the archive may be illegal in other countries. For example, all same sex stories that are told in a way that is promotes “homonormativity — content presenting homosexuality as being a norm in society”  are illegal in some countries.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_gay_propaganda_law 
I think that the latter is profoundly wrong, and if you think that the Russian law I linked to is an ideal then I don’t even know why you got to this point in my post. There’s literally nothing we have to talk about. Plus! Russia is not the only country that has these kinds of laws! It’s just one of the physically largest ones. 
Also in my experience, in general, even if the censorship applies to all kinds of relationships “fairly” in theory, in practice it’s often unfairly applied.
It can be used to bully women: : https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/global-opinions/wp/2018/03/01/xi-jinpings-authoritarian-rise-in-china-has-been-powered-by-sexism/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.a4174f02a74c 
And it will far more often be applied to minorities than the majority: https://www.advocate.com/commentary/2018/12/11/straight-male-gaze-rules-sanitized-social-media 
Just.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/jan/18/stonewall-defends-vital-lgbt-childrens-books-after-spate-of-ban-attempts
So if you’re someone who is very tired of having censorship applied unfairly to you, you’ll often when you make a new service wonder, “how can I fairly police this” and you’ll draw up some lines.
Because Ao3 is not actually interested in hosting everything - they’re specifically a non-commercial archive for fandom. Things that fall outside of that aren’t allowed to be hosted there and can/will be taken down. Ao3 decided one of it’s lines would be “is this legal in the US?” 
This is to try and remove as much judgement as possible, attempt to be consistent with rulings. Not the boss says this, but the minion says that. Not, the user is reporting this, but the person they’re complaining about is the founders best friend so we’re going to give them an exemption. It’s also trying to minimise the debate points. For example a length debate I’ve seen online: where “holding hands” now has to be debated over whether it’s shippy (and thus banned) or just “cute” (and thus allowed).
My example is not an exaggeration. That’s an actual argument I’ve seen in the wild, where I genuinely believed that parties implementing an adblocker to image block stuff probably would have been a lot better off mentally; rather trying to fine tune the argument with a rules lawyer who was very dedicated to the cause of annoying a particular individual and/or community. (It’s also why some maid costume outfits are banned on reddit! Like, here is an example of a banned image which I personally think is quite a bit of a stretch: https://i.imgur.com/GBxopor.jpg )
So if you’re wondering what I'm getting at… When I say that it’s not inspired by Strikethrough and instead by fanlib and then spend a lot of time talking about cases where censorship has been abused. 
Yes censorship is important to many people in the OTW. But it’s not “some works being deleted” that inspired it.
It’s being tired of the threat of having all fan works being deleted.
5 notes · View notes
veryfineday · 3 years
Text
Sunday 21 May 1837
7 3/4
11 1/4
Q  Vc  L
..[Anne’s period]
with A[nn] last night till one and a quarter and had a good kiss and a slumber afterwards
ready at 8 20/.. and off with A-[Ann] at 8 40/.. to walK to the school – 50 minutes walKing then left her and walKed leisurely bacK – stopt a few minutes at the wheel-race in returning – Joseph mann and Pearson there – J.m.[Joseph Mann] told me yesterday afternoon T.P-[Thomas Pearson] had agreed to pull down and cart the WalKer pit cabin to ListerwicK pit for 30/.[shillings] – J.m.[Joseph Mann] to looK after the oiling up the wheel –
met Robert m-[Mann] going to yew trees to tell marK to cart tomorrow footings to Hill top (for dry walling against the road) and to bring his wood waggon here on Tuesday – home and breakfast at 10 1/2 in 40 minutes having George in 10 minutes and spoKen to him about teaching Zebedee to groom a horse and clean a carriage ��� and told George he might have a pair of new smalls to ride in –
out at 11 1/4 – went into the west tower top room – up the ladder outside and crept in at the East window over the house roof – a long there musing and thinKing about my arranging my booKs there – then Had mr. Gray there – then sauntered about the rocKs with him – he wants the line of little hill along the north east side taKing (between the pool and walK) taKing away – then had him in the drawing room planning how to mount the model of Switzerland – thought of so covering it, that it would be a dining table, and stand in the hall – I inclined to some sort of table fit for the drawing room –
He would liKe to go away on Thursday morning early – wished him to do as suited him best – promised to be here again – by the 15th of next June and complete his job – said I should liKe to see his job done before I went away, and should not liKe being Kept here longer than the middle of July I happened to name the 13th of that month – Had told A-[Ann] as we walKed along this morning I thought we should stay over the rent day –
out till after 2 – then washed and dressed for cousin (found him gently come) and church and  off to church at 2 3/4 (our clocK 1/4 too soon) – mr. Gray had letters to write and did not go – I did not press him – just in time – found A-[Ann] at church – mr. W-[Wilkinson] did all the duty – heard the girls (43 of them – about 1/2) say their Catechise 1/4 hour – preached 20 minutes from acts ii. 47.  Called and sat 25 minutes at Cliff hill mrs. A-[Ann] W-[Walker] glad to see us – looKed well as usual, but said she had not quite recovered going to church last Sunday –
home at 6 – wrote the whole of the above of today till now 6 1/2 – dressed – dinner at 7 coffee at 8 1/2 A-Ann had gone upstairs 1/2 hour before very sleepy and tired after her school labours and anxieties sKimmed over the paper – had mr. Gray in the library passage about the ceiling till 10 20/.. – tonight’s paper mentions the arrival of Lady S.Stuart de R-[Rothesay] and miss Stuart in Paris from Italy – Letter tonight from messers Gray yorK – They disappointed at the non-payment of the money but would take care it should be paid into the Yorkshire District BanK on the 27th - £7000 – A-’s[Ann’s] interest due for this 1st 1/2 year to mr. G-[Gray]  found A-[Ann] asleep in bed at 10 20/.. fine day –
0 notes
Text
Restaurants Have Accidentally Promoted Coronavirus Info From Scientologists
Several months ago, New Zealand's Government produced a "Unite Against Covid-19" campaign that provided health advice, information about good hygiene, and other resources for the country's residents. (It has since been renamed "Unite for the Recovery," since there are currently zero active cases of coronavirus in the country.) Those campaign materials had a minimalist design and an understated black, white, and yellow color palette, so when a similar-looking stack of pamphlets appeared in an Auckland restaurant, no one thought they were at all out-of-place. The 30-plus page booklets, called "How to Keep Yourself & Others Well" shared tips for staying safe during a pandemic, offered some more general health tips... and also had a QR code on the back cover that took readers directly to the Church of Scientology's website.
According to the NZ Herald, as soon as the general manager of the Mexican Cafe realized that the literature hadn't been provided by the Ministry of Health, he removed them from the premises. "We are taking them out just because we are not happy about promoting the Church of Scientology at all," he said.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Health told the outlet that there was nothing fundamentally wrong with individual organizations—even the Church of Scientology—"choosing to share general hygiene advice, which is what this appears to be." (Dr. Susie Wiles, a microbiologist who co-created a now viral GIF that explained the concept of "Flattening the Curve" in the early days of the pandemic, was slightly less diplomatic about taking advice from unscientific sources. "You can always just be polite," she said. "Just take the pamphlet and then pop it in the recycling bin.")
twitter
The Mexican Cafe wasn't the only business fooled by the muted colors and clip art-caliber graphics of the Scientology pamphlet. In Australia, retailers have accidentally put the pamphlets on display, believing that they'd been printed by that country's government. A "horrified" shopper had to tell the manager at one Woolworth's supermarket about what they'd made available to their customers.
"We didn’t authorize the placement of these materials in our check-outs," a spokesperson for the chain told 7News. "As soon as this was brought to the attention of our team by a customer, the pamphlets were removed and discarded." (A 7-11 spokesperson basically said the same thing after a box of the brochures were found in one of its Brisbane stores.)
Dr. Danielle McMullen, the President of the Australian Medical Association - New South Wales said that it was "frustrating" that these booklets were being disseminated. "Don’t take health advice from the Church of Scientology, rely on doctors and the Health Department," she said.
This hasn't just happened in the Southern Hemisphere either. During a May press briefing, Ohio governor Mike DeWine mistakenly showed off a Scientology brochure that he said would be included in a "health kit" that would be distributed to members of minority communities that had been disproportionately affected by coronavirus. (The other items in the kit included face coverings, hand sanitizer, and what DeWine called "equally important literature.")
After the brochure was called out, DeWine's office was quick to say that he had the only copy of "Keep Yourself & Others Well," and that it had not been included in any of the packets that would be given out. Dan Tierney, DeWine's spokesperson, told Cleveland.com that the Scientology booklet had been added by an employee from the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (DRC). "The bag was assembled by a DRC staff member as far as what we’ve been able to determine at this point,” he said. “We’re still looking into it.”
twitter
Earlier that month, a group of volunteers who were assembling student meal boxes for the Pinellas County (Fla.) public school district slipped some of their literature—this time, a brochure called "How to Prevent the Spread of Illness with Isolation—into more than 80 boxes.
Those pages violated the district's policy against "engaging in religious activities on school property," and prompted complaints from parents and from members of the school board. Scientology spokesperson Ben Shaw basically told the Tampa Bay Times that the church's volunteers just didn't know that they weren't supposed to give that info to school kids.
"[The church members] confused the different volunteer activities and, in their exuberance, thought the booklets would be helpful to the families receiving the food distribution at home," he said. "We are sorry if anyone was offended. Our volunteers offer assistance in the community for the same reason any volunteer does: they want to help.”
But the situation felt "kind of sneaky" to Bill Dudley, a member of the School Board. "It’s religious advertising, but kind of back-dooring it,” he said. “I appreciate the volunteering. But it should be for the right reasons, not to promote something without authorization."
The Church of Scientology has defended its series of pandemic-related booklets, which include the previously mentioned "How to Keep Yourself & Others Well" and "How to Prevent the Spread of Illness With Isolation," along with "How to Protect Yourself & Others With a Mask & Gloves." A spokesperson has said that they "could not vaguely be considered 'religious literature'" and they don't mention anything about the Church's beliefs—although each one does have a URL and a QR code for the Scientology website, as well as "Courtesy of Church of Scientology International" printed on the back cover.
Printing assorted booklets isn't a new tactic for the church; you can also request copies of other literature like "The Truth About Drugs," "A Description of Scientology," or "The Way of Happiness," which is distributed through the Scientology-adjacent Way to Happiness Foundation. But some of the church's critics (who are often former members) say that these freebies—and the volunteer programs that hand them out—are part of Scientology's plan to be taken seriously, to gain "mainstream" acceptance, and to attract donations and financial support.
"Those activities are never done for the intrinsic value of helping people. It’s always done for the PR," Dani Ballou, who previously worked for Scientology’s Sea Org, told the Tampa Bay Times. "Just the simple act of packing food into a bag for kids for the school system, you wouldn’t dare waste that opportunity to promote church."
The information contained in the "Stay Well" series also seems to be at odds with Scientology leader David Miscavige's personal beliefs about coronavirus. In a March memo he wrote to members of the church, he referred to the "the current hysteria" of the developing pandemic. He also claimed that church members were "preventing and/or killing" coronavirus by cleaning their buildings with "nebulized peroxide and Decon7.” (Neither of those sanitation methods are mentioned in the "Stay Well" booklets.)
Tony Ortega, the former Village Voice editor who has fervently reported on Scientology for his own website, told the Daily Beast that Miscavige had instructed Scientologists to go to their local church to read his letter. "They’re trying to get people to come in. They’re saying you gotta stay with the courses and auditing, and they’re worrying about the money drying up," Ortega said. "Scientology was not set up to be done over the internet. It really requires person-to-person contact."
Last month, a church spokesperson said that there had been zero cases of coronavirus among the congregation of its West Coast headquarters in East Hollywood, Los Angeles. "Our Church’s message to its members is: An ounce of prevention is worth a ton of cure," she said.
via VICE US - undefined US VICE US - undefined US via Mom's Kitchen Recipe Network Mom's Kitchen Recipe Network
0 notes
cyberpoetryballoon · 4 years
Text
Restaurants Have Accidentally Promoted Coronavirus Info From Scientologists
Several months ago, New Zealand's Government produced a "Unite Against Covid-19" campaign that provided health advice, information about good hygiene, and other resources for the country's residents. (It has since been renamed "Unite for the Recovery," since there are currently zero active cases of coronavirus in the country.) Those campaign materials had a minimalist design and an understated black, white, and yellow color palette, so when a similar-looking stack of pamphlets appeared in an Auckland restaurant, no one thought they were at all out-of-place. The 30-plus page booklets, called "How to Keep Yourself & Others Well" shared tips for staying safe during a pandemic, offered some more general health tips... and also had a QR code on the back cover that took readers directly to the Church of Scientology's website.
According to the NZ Herald, as soon as the general manager of the Mexican Cafe realized that the literature hadn't been provided by the Ministry of Health, he removed them from the premises. "We are taking them out just because we are not happy about promoting the Church of Scientology at all," he said.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Health told the outlet that there was nothing fundamentally wrong with individual organizations—even the Church of Scientology—"choosing to share general hygiene advice, which is what this appears to be." (Dr. Susie Wiles, a microbiologist who co-created a now viral GIF that explained the concept of "Flattening the Curve" in the early days of the pandemic, was slightly less diplomatic about taking advice from unscientific sources. "You can always just be polite," she said. "Just take the pamphlet and then pop it in the recycling bin.")
twitter
The Mexican Cafe wasn't the only business fooled by the muted colors and clip art-caliber graphics of the Scientology pamphlet. In Australia, retailers have accidentally put the pamphlets on display, believing that they'd been printed by that country's government. A "horrified" shopper had to tell the manager at one Woolworth's supermarket about what they'd made available to their customers.
"We didn’t authorize the placement of these materials in our check-outs," a spokesperson for the chain told 7News. "As soon as this was brought to the attention of our team by a customer, the pamphlets were removed and discarded." (A 7-11 spokesperson basically said the same thing after a box of the brochures were found in one of its Brisbane stores.)
Dr. Danielle McMullen, the President of the Australian Medical Association - New South Wales said that it was "frustrating" that these booklets were being disseminated. "Don’t take health advice from the Church of Scientology, rely on doctors and the Health Department," she said.
This hasn't just happened in the Southern Hemisphere either. During a May press briefing, Ohio governor Mike DeWine mistakenly showed off a Scientology brochure that he said would be included in a "health kit" that would be distributed to members of minority communities that had been disproportionately affected by coronavirus. (The other items in the kit included face coverings, hand sanitizer, and what DeWine called "equally important literature.")
After the brochure was called out, DeWine's office was quick to say that he had the only copy of "Keep Yourself & Others Well," and that it had not been included in any of the packets that would be given out. Dan Tierney, DeWine's spokesperson, told Cleveland.com that the Scientology booklet had been added by an employee from the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (DRC). "The bag was assembled by a DRC staff member as far as what we’ve been able to determine at this point,” he said. “We’re still looking into it.”
twitter
Earlier that month, a group of volunteers who were assembling student meal boxes for the Pinellas County (Fla.) public school district slipped some of their literature—this time, a brochure called "How to Prevent the Spread of Illness with Isolation—into more than 80 boxes.
Those pages violated the district's policy against "engaging in religious activities on school property," and prompted complaints from parents and from members of the school board. Scientology spokesperson Ben Shaw basically told the Tampa Bay Times that the church's volunteers just didn't know that they weren't supposed to give that info to school kids.
"[The church members] confused the different volunteer activities and, in their exuberance, thought the booklets would be helpful to the families receiving the food distribution at home," he said. "We are sorry if anyone was offended. Our volunteers offer assistance in the community for the same reason any volunteer does: they want to help.”
But the situation felt "kind of sneaky" to Bill Dudley, a member of the School Board. "It’s religious advertising, but kind of back-dooring it,” he said. “I appreciate the volunteering. But it should be for the right reasons, not to promote something without authorization."
The Church of Scientology has defended its series of pandemic-related booklets, which include the previously mentioned "How to Keep Yourself & Others Well" and "How to Prevent the Spread of Illness With Isolation," along with "How to Protect Yourself & Others With a Mask & Gloves." A spokesperson has said that they "could not vaguely be considered 'religious literature'" and they don't mention anything about the Church's beliefs—although each one does have a URL and a QR code for the Scientology website, as well as "Courtesy of Church of Scientology International" printed on the back cover.
Printing assorted booklets isn't a new tactic for the church; you can also request copies of other literature like "The Truth About Drugs," "A Description of Scientology," or "The Way of Happiness," which is distributed through the Scientology-adjacent Way to Happiness Foundation. But some of the church's critics (who are often former members) say that these freebies—and the volunteer programs that hand them out—are part of Scientology's plan to be taken seriously, to gain "mainstream" acceptance, and to attract donations and financial support.
"Those activities are never done for the intrinsic value of helping people. It’s always done for the PR," Dani Ballou, who previously worked for Scientology’s Sea Org, told the Tampa Bay Times. "Just the simple act of packing food into a bag for kids for the school system, you wouldn’t dare waste that opportunity to promote church."
The information contained in the "Stay Well" series also seems to be at odds with Scientology leader David Miscavige's personal beliefs about coronavirus. In a March memo he wrote to members of the church, he referred to the "the current hysteria" of the developing pandemic. He also claimed that church members were "preventing and/or killing" coronavirus by cleaning their buildings with "nebulized peroxide and Decon7.” (Neither of those sanitation methods are mentioned in the "Stay Well" booklets.)
Tony Ortega, the former Village Voice editor who has fervently reported on Scientology for his own website, told the Daily Beast that Miscavige had instructed Scientologists to go to their local church to read his letter. "They’re trying to get people to come in. They’re saying you gotta stay with the courses and auditing, and they’re worrying about the money drying up," Ortega said. "Scientology was not set up to be done over the internet. It really requires person-to-person contact."
Last month, a church spokesperson said that there had been zero cases of coronavirus among the congregation of its West Coast headquarters in East Hollywood, Los Angeles. "Our Church’s message to its members is: An ounce of prevention is worth a ton of cure," she said.
via VICE US - undefined US VICE US - undefined US via Mom's Kitchen Recipe Network Mom's Kitchen Recipe Network
0 notes
carolrhackett85282 · 4 years
Text
Restaurants Have Accidentally Promoted Coronavirus Info From Scientologists
Several months ago, New Zealand's Government produced a "Unite Against Covid-19" campaign that provided health advice, information about good hygiene, and other resources for the country's residents. (It has since been renamed "Unite for the Recovery," since there are currently zero active cases of coronavirus in the country.) Those campaign materials had a minimalist design and an understated black, white, and yellow color palette, so when a similar-looking stack of pamphlets appeared in an Auckland restaurant, no one thought they were at all out-of-place. The 30-plus page booklets, called "How to Keep Yourself & Others Well" shared tips for staying safe during a pandemic, offered some more general health tips... and also had a QR code on the back cover that took readers directly to the Church of Scientology's website.
According to the NZ Herald, as soon as the general manager of the Mexican Cafe realized that the literature hadn't been provided by the Ministry of Health, he removed them from the premises. "We are taking them out just because we are not happy about promoting the Church of Scientology at all," he said.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Health told the outlet that there was nothing fundamentally wrong with individual organizations—even the Church of Scientology—"choosing to share general hygiene advice, which is what this appears to be." (Dr. Susie Wiles, a microbiologist who co-created a now viral GIF that explained the concept of "Flattening the Curve" in the early days of the pandemic, was slightly less diplomatic about taking advice from unscientific sources. "You can always just be polite," she said. "Just take the pamphlet and then pop it in the recycling bin.")
twitter
The Mexican Cafe wasn't the only business fooled by the muted colors and clip art-caliber graphics of the Scientology pamphlet. In Australia, retailers have accidentally put the pamphlets on display, believing that they'd been printed by that country's government. A "horrified" shopper had to tell the manager at one Woolworth's supermarket about what they'd made available to their customers.
"We didn’t authorize the placement of these materials in our check-outs," a spokesperson for the chain told 7News. "As soon as this was brought to the attention of our team by a customer, the pamphlets were removed and discarded." (A 7-11 spokesperson basically said the same thing after a box of the brochures were found in one of its Brisbane stores.)
Dr. Danielle McMullen, the President of the Australian Medical Association - New South Wales said that it was "frustrating" that these booklets were being disseminated. "Don’t take health advice from the Church of Scientology, rely on doctors and the Health Department," she said.
This hasn't just happened in the Southern Hemisphere either. During a May press briefing, Ohio governor Mike DeWine mistakenly showed off a Scientology brochure that he said would be included in a "health kit" that would be distributed to members of minority communities that had been disproportionately affected by coronavirus. (The other items in the kit included face coverings, hand sanitizer, and what DeWine called "equally important literature.")
After the brochure was called out, DeWine's office was quick to say that he had the only copy of "Keep Yourself & Others Well," and that it had not been included in any of the packets that would be given out. Dan Tierney, DeWine's spokesperson, told Cleveland.com that the Scientology booklet had been added by an employee from the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (DRC). "The bag was assembled by a DRC staff member as far as what we’ve been able to determine at this point,” he said. “We’re still looking into it.”
twitter
Earlier that month, a group of volunteers who were assembling student meal boxes for the Pinellas County (Fla.) public school district slipped some of their literature—this time, a brochure called "How to Prevent the Spread of Illness with Isolation—into more than 80 boxes.
Those pages violated the district's policy against "engaging in religious activities on school property," and prompted complaints from parents and from members of the school board. Scientology spokesperson Ben Shaw basically told the Tampa Bay Times that the church's volunteers just didn't know that they weren't supposed to give that info to school kids.
"[The church members] confused the different volunteer activities and, in their exuberance, thought the booklets would be helpful to the families receiving the food distribution at home," he said. "We are sorry if anyone was offended. Our volunteers offer assistance in the community for the same reason any volunteer does: they want to help.”
But the situation felt "kind of sneaky" to Bill Dudley, a member of the School Board. "It’s religious advertising, but kind of back-dooring it,” he said. “I appreciate the volunteering. But it should be for the right reasons, not to promote something without authorization."
The Church of Scientology has defended its series of pandemic-related booklets, which include the previously mentioned "How to Keep Yourself & Others Well" and "How to Prevent the Spread of Illness With Isolation," along with "How to Protect Yourself & Others With a Mask & Gloves." A spokesperson has said that they "could not vaguely be considered 'religious literature'" and they don't mention anything about the Church's beliefs—although each one does have a URL and a QR code for the Scientology website, as well as "Courtesy of Church of Scientology International" printed on the back cover.
Printing assorted booklets isn't a new tactic for the church; you can also request copies of other literature like "The Truth About Drugs," "A Description of Scientology," or "The Way of Happiness," which is distributed through the Scientology-adjacent Way to Happiness Foundation. But some of the church's critics (who are often former members) say that these freebies—and the volunteer programs that hand them out—are part of Scientology's plan to be taken seriously, to gain "mainstream" acceptance, and to attract donations and financial support.
"Those activities are never done for the intrinsic value of helping people. It’s always done for the PR," Dani Ballou, who previously worked for Scientology’s Sea Org, told the Tampa Bay Times. "Just the simple act of packing food into a bag for kids for the school system, you wouldn’t dare waste that opportunity to promote church."
The information contained in the "Stay Well" series also seems to be at odds with Scientology leader David Miscavige's personal beliefs about coronavirus. In a March memo he wrote to members of the church, he referred to the "the current hysteria" of the developing pandemic. He also claimed that church members were "preventing and/or killing" coronavirus by cleaning their buildings with "nebulized peroxide and Decon7.” (Neither of those sanitation methods are mentioned in the "Stay Well" booklets.)
Tony Ortega, the former Village Voice editor who has fervently reported on Scientology for his own website, told the Daily Beast that Miscavige had instructed Scientologists to go to their local church to read his letter. "They’re trying to get people to come in. They’re saying you gotta stay with the courses and auditing, and they’re worrying about the money drying up," Ortega said. "Scientology was not set up to be done over the internet. It really requires person-to-person contact."
Last month, a church spokesperson said that there had been zero cases of coronavirus among the congregation of its West Coast headquarters in East Hollywood, Los Angeles. "Our Church’s message to its members is: An ounce of prevention is worth a ton of cure," she said.
via VICE US - undefined US VICE US - undefined US via Mom's Kitchen Recipe Network Mom's Kitchen Recipe Network
0 notes
melodymgill49801 · 4 years
Text
Restaurants Have Accidentally Promoted Coronavirus Info From Scientologists
Several months ago, New Zealand's Government produced a "Unite Against Covid-19" campaign that provided health advice, information about good hygiene, and other resources for the country's residents. (It has since been renamed "Unite for the Recovery," since there are currently zero active cases of coronavirus in the country.) Those campaign materials had a minimalist design and an understated black, white, and yellow color palette, so when a similar-looking stack of pamphlets appeared in an Auckland restaurant, no one thought they were at all out-of-place. The 30-plus page booklets, called "How to Keep Yourself & Others Well" shared tips for staying safe during a pandemic, offered some more general health tips... and also had a QR code on the back cover that took readers directly to the Church of Scientology's website.
According to the NZ Herald, as soon as the general manager of the Mexican Cafe realized that the literature hadn't been provided by the Ministry of Health, he removed them from the premises. "We are taking them out just because we are not happy about promoting the Church of Scientology at all," he said.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Health told the outlet that there was nothing fundamentally wrong with individual organizations—even the Church of Scientology—"choosing to share general hygiene advice, which is what this appears to be." (Dr. Susie Wiles, a microbiologist who co-created a now viral GIF that explained the concept of "Flattening the Curve" in the early days of the pandemic, was slightly less diplomatic about taking advice from unscientific sources. "You can always just be polite," she said. "Just take the pamphlet and then pop it in the recycling bin.")
twitter
The Mexican Cafe wasn't the only business fooled by the muted colors and clip art-caliber graphics of the Scientology pamphlet. In Australia, retailers have accidentally put the pamphlets on display, believing that they'd been printed by that country's government. A "horrified" shopper had to tell the manager at one Woolworth's supermarket about what they'd made available to their customers.
"We didn’t authorize the placement of these materials in our check-outs," a spokesperson for the chain told 7News. "As soon as this was brought to the attention of our team by a customer, the pamphlets were removed and discarded." (A 7-11 spokesperson basically said the same thing after a box of the brochures were found in one of its Brisbane stores.)
Dr. Danielle McMullen, the President of the Australian Medical Association - New South Wales said that it was "frustrating" that these booklets were being disseminated. "Don’t take health advice from the Church of Scientology, rely on doctors and the Health Department," she said.
This hasn't just happened in the Southern Hemisphere either. During a May press briefing, Ohio governor Mike DeWine mistakenly showed off a Scientology brochure that he said would be included in a "health kit" that would be distributed to members of minority communities that had been disproportionately affected by coronavirus. (The other items in the kit included face coverings, hand sanitizer, and what DeWine called "equally important literature.")
After the brochure was called out, DeWine's office was quick to say that he had the only copy of "Keep Yourself & Others Well," and that it had not been included in any of the packets that would be given out. Dan Tierney, DeWine's spokesperson, told Cleveland.com that the Scientology booklet had been added by an employee from the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (DRC). "The bag was assembled by a DRC staff member as far as what we’ve been able to determine at this point,” he said. “We’re still looking into it.”
twitter
Earlier that month, a group of volunteers who were assembling student meal boxes for the Pinellas County (Fla.) public school district slipped some of their literature—this time, a brochure called "How to Prevent the Spread of Illness with Isolation—into more than 80 boxes.
Those pages violated the district's policy against "engaging in religious activities on school property," and prompted complaints from parents and from members of the school board. Scientology spokesperson Ben Shaw basically told the Tampa Bay Times that the church's volunteers just didn't know that they weren't supposed to give that info to school kids.
"[The church members] confused the different volunteer activities and, in their exuberance, thought the booklets would be helpful to the families receiving the food distribution at home," he said. "We are sorry if anyone was offended. Our volunteers offer assistance in the community for the same reason any volunteer does: they want to help.”
But the situation felt "kind of sneaky" to Bill Dudley, a member of the School Board. "It’s religious advertising, but kind of back-dooring it,” he said. “I appreciate the volunteering. But it should be for the right reasons, not to promote something without authorization."
The Church of Scientology has defended its series of pandemic-related booklets, which include the previously mentioned "How to Keep Yourself & Others Well" and "How to Prevent the Spread of Illness With Isolation," along with "How to Protect Yourself & Others With a Mask & Gloves." A spokesperson has said that they "could not vaguely be considered 'religious literature'" and they don't mention anything about the Church's beliefs—although each one does have a URL and a QR code for the Scientology website, as well as "Courtesy of Church of Scientology International" printed on the back cover.
Printing assorted booklets isn't a new tactic for the church; you can also request copies of other literature like "The Truth About Drugs," "A Description of Scientology," or "The Way of Happiness," which is distributed through the Scientology-adjacent Way to Happiness Foundation. But some of the church's critics (who are often former members) say that these freebies—and the volunteer programs that hand them out—are part of Scientology's plan to be taken seriously, to gain "mainstream" acceptance, and to attract donations and financial support.
"Those activities are never done for the intrinsic value of helping people. It’s always done for the PR," Dani Ballou, who previously worked for Scientology’s Sea Org, told the Tampa Bay Times. "Just the simple act of packing food into a bag for kids for the school system, you wouldn’t dare waste that opportunity to promote church."
The information contained in the "Stay Well" series also seems to be at odds with Scientology leader David Miscavige's personal beliefs about coronavirus. In a March memo he wrote to members of the church, he referred to the "the current hysteria" of the developing pandemic. He also claimed that church members were "preventing and/or killing" coronavirus by cleaning their buildings with "nebulized peroxide and Decon7.” (Neither of those sanitation methods are mentioned in the "Stay Well" booklets.)
Tony Ortega, the former Village Voice editor who has fervently reported on Scientology for his own website, told the Daily Beast that Miscavige had instructed Scientologists to go to their local church to read his letter. "They’re trying to get people to come in. They’re saying you gotta stay with the courses and auditing, and they’re worrying about the money drying up," Ortega said. "Scientology was not set up to be done over the internet. It really requires person-to-person contact."
Last month, a church spokesperson said that there had been zero cases of coronavirus among the congregation of its West Coast headquarters in East Hollywood, Los Angeles. "Our Church’s message to its members is: An ounce of prevention is worth a ton of cure," she said.
via VICE US - undefined US VICE US - undefined US via Mom's Kitchen Recipe Network Mom's Kitchen Recipe Network
0 notes
Text
Restaurants Have Accidentally Promoted Coronavirus Info From Scientologists
Several months ago, New Zealand's Government produced a "Unite Against Covid-19" campaign that provided health advice, information about good hygiene, and other resources for the country's residents. (It has since been renamed "Unite for the Recovery," since there are currently zero active cases of coronavirus in the country.) Those campaign materials had a minimalist design and an understated black, white, and yellow color palette, so when a similar-looking stack of pamphlets appeared in an Auckland restaurant, no one thought they were at all out-of-place. The 30-plus page booklets, called "How to Keep Yourself & Others Well" shared tips for staying safe during a pandemic, offered some more general health tips... and also had a QR code on the back cover that took readers directly to the Church of Scientology's website.
According to the NZ Herald, as soon as the general manager of the Mexican Cafe realized that the literature hadn't been provided by the Ministry of Health, he removed them from the premises. "We are taking them out just because we are not happy about promoting the Church of Scientology at all," he said.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Health told the outlet that there was nothing fundamentally wrong with individual organizations—even the Church of Scientology—"choosing to share general hygiene advice, which is what this appears to be." (Dr. Susie Wiles, a microbiologist who co-created a now viral GIF that explained the concept of "Flattening the Curve" in the early days of the pandemic, was slightly less diplomatic about taking advice from unscientific sources. "You can always just be polite," she said. "Just take the pamphlet and then pop it in the recycling bin.")
twitter
The Mexican Cafe wasn't the only business fooled by the muted colors and clip art-caliber graphics of the Scientology pamphlet. In Australia, retailers have accidentally put the pamphlets on display, believing that they'd been printed by that country's government. A "horrified" shopper had to tell the manager at one Woolworth's supermarket about what they'd made available to their customers.
"We didn’t authorize the placement of these materials in our check-outs," a spokesperson for the chain told 7News. "As soon as this was brought to the attention of our team by a customer, the pamphlets were removed and discarded." (A 7-11 spokesperson basically said the same thing after a box of the brochures were found in one of its Brisbane stores.)
Dr. Danielle McMullen, the President of the Australian Medical Association - New South Wales said that it was "frustrating" that these booklets were being disseminated. "Don’t take health advice from the Church of Scientology, rely on doctors and the Health Department," she said.
This hasn't just happened in the Southern Hemisphere either. During a May press briefing, Ohio governor Mike DeWine mistakenly showed off a Scientology brochure that he said would be included in a "health kit" that would be distributed to members of minority communities that had been disproportionately affected by coronavirus. (The other items in the kit included face coverings, hand sanitizer, and what DeWine called "equally important literature.")
After the brochure was called out, DeWine's office was quick to say that he had the only copy of "Keep Yourself & Others Well," and that it had not been included in any of the packets that would be given out. Dan Tierney, DeWine's spokesperson, told Cleveland.com that the Scientology booklet had been added by an employee from the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (DRC). "The bag was assembled by a DRC staff member as far as what we’ve been able to determine at this point,” he said. “We’re still looking into it.”
twitter
Earlier that month, a group of volunteers who were assembling student meal boxes for the Pinellas County (Fla.) public school district slipped some of their literature—this time, a brochure called "How to Prevent the Spread of Illness with Isolation—into more than 80 boxes.
Those pages violated the district's policy against "engaging in religious activities on school property," and prompted complaints from parents and from members of the school board. Scientology spokesperson Ben Shaw basically told the Tampa Bay Times that the church's volunteers just didn't know that they weren't supposed to give that info to school kids.
"[The church members] confused the different volunteer activities and, in their exuberance, thought the booklets would be helpful to the families receiving the food distribution at home," he said. "We are sorry if anyone was offended. Our volunteers offer assistance in the community for the same reason any volunteer does: they want to help.”
But the situation felt "kind of sneaky" to Bill Dudley, a member of the School Board. "It’s religious advertising, but kind of back-dooring it,” he said. “I appreciate the volunteering. But it should be for the right reasons, not to promote something without authorization."
The Church of Scientology has defended its series of pandemic-related booklets, which include the previously mentioned "How to Keep Yourself & Others Well" and "How to Prevent the Spread of Illness With Isolation," along with "How to Protect Yourself & Others With a Mask & Gloves." A spokesperson has said that they "could not vaguely be considered 'religious literature'" and they don't mention anything about the Church's beliefs—although each one does have a URL and a QR code for the Scientology website, as well as "Courtesy of Church of Scientology International" printed on the back cover.
Printing assorted booklets isn't a new tactic for the church; you can also request copies of other literature like "The Truth About Drugs," "A Description of Scientology," or "The Way of Happiness," which is distributed through the Scientology-adjacent Way to Happiness Foundation. But some of the church's critics (who are often former members) say that these freebies—and the volunteer programs that hand them out—are part of Scientology's plan to be taken seriously, to gain "mainstream" acceptance, and to attract donations and financial support.
"Those activities are never done for the intrinsic value of helping people. It’s always done for the PR," Dani Ballou, who previously worked for Scientology’s Sea Org, told the Tampa Bay Times. "Just the simple act of packing food into a bag for kids for the school system, you wouldn’t dare waste that opportunity to promote church."
The information contained in the "Stay Well" series also seems to be at odds with Scientology leader David Miscavige's personal beliefs about coronavirus. In a March memo he wrote to members of the church, he referred to the "the current hysteria" of the developing pandemic. He also claimed that church members were "preventing and/or killing" coronavirus by cleaning their buildings with "nebulized peroxide and Decon7.” (Neither of those sanitation methods are mentioned in the "Stay Well" booklets.)
Tony Ortega, the former Village Voice editor who has fervently reported on Scientology for his own website, told the Daily Beast that Miscavige had instructed Scientologists to go to their local church to read his letter. "They’re trying to get people to come in. They’re saying you gotta stay with the courses and auditing, and they’re worrying about the money drying up," Ortega said. "Scientology was not set up to be done over the internet. It really requires person-to-person contact."
Last month, a church spokesperson said that there had been zero cases of coronavirus among the congregation of its West Coast headquarters in East Hollywood, Los Angeles. "Our Church’s message to its members is: An ounce of prevention is worth a ton of cure," she said.
via VICE US - undefined US VICE US - undefined US via Mom's Kitchen Recipe Network Mom's Kitchen Recipe Network
0 notes
latoyajkelson70506 · 4 years
Text
Restaurants Have Accidentally Promoted Coronavirus Info From Scientologists
Several months ago, New Zealand's Government produced a "Unite Against Covid-19" campaign that provided health advice, information about good hygiene, and other resources for the country's residents. (It has since been renamed "Unite for the Recovery," since there are currently zero active cases of coronavirus in the country.) Those campaign materials had a minimalist design and an understated black, white, and yellow color palette, so when a similar-looking stack of pamphlets appeared in an Auckland restaurant, no one thought they were at all out-of-place. The 30-plus page booklets, called "How to Keep Yourself & Others Well" shared tips for staying safe during a pandemic, offered some more general health tips... and also had a QR code on the back cover that took readers directly to the Church of Scientology's website.
According to the NZ Herald, as soon as the general manager of the Mexican Cafe realized that the literature hadn't been provided by the Ministry of Health, he removed them from the premises. "We are taking them out just because we are not happy about promoting the Church of Scientology at all," he said.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Health told the outlet that there was nothing fundamentally wrong with individual organizations—even the Church of Scientology—"choosing to share general hygiene advice, which is what this appears to be." (Dr. Susie Wiles, a microbiologist who co-created a now viral GIF that explained the concept of "Flattening the Curve" in the early days of the pandemic, was slightly less diplomatic about taking advice from unscientific sources. "You can always just be polite," she said. "Just take the pamphlet and then pop it in the recycling bin.")
twitter
The Mexican Cafe wasn't the only business fooled by the muted colors and clip art-caliber graphics of the Scientology pamphlet. In Australia, retailers have accidentally put the pamphlets on display, believing that they'd been printed by that country's government. A "horrified" shopper had to tell the manager at one Woolworth's supermarket about what they'd made available to their customers.
"We didn’t authorize the placement of these materials in our check-outs," a spokesperson for the chain told 7News. "As soon as this was brought to the attention of our team by a customer, the pamphlets were removed and discarded." (A 7-11 spokesperson basically said the same thing after a box of the brochures were found in one of its Brisbane stores.)
Dr. Danielle McMullen, the President of the Australian Medical Association - New South Wales said that it was "frustrating" that these booklets were being disseminated. "Don’t take health advice from the Church of Scientology, rely on doctors and the Health Department," she said.
This hasn't just happened in the Southern Hemisphere either. During a May press briefing, Ohio governor Mike DeWine mistakenly showed off a Scientology brochure that he said would be included in a "health kit" that would be distributed to members of minority communities that had been disproportionately affected by coronavirus. (The other items in the kit included face coverings, hand sanitizer, and what DeWine called "equally important literature.")
After the brochure was called out, DeWine's office was quick to say that he had the only copy of "Keep Yourself & Others Well," and that it had not been included in any of the packets that would be given out. Dan Tierney, DeWine's spokesperson, told Cleveland.com that the Scientology booklet had been added by an employee from the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (DRC). "The bag was assembled by a DRC staff member as far as what we’ve been able to determine at this point,” he said. “We’re still looking into it.”
twitter
Earlier that month, a group of volunteers who were assembling student meal boxes for the Pinellas County (Fla.) public school district slipped some of their literature—this time, a brochure called "How to Prevent the Spread of Illness with Isolation—into more than 80 boxes.
Those pages violated the district's policy against "engaging in religious activities on school property," and prompted complaints from parents and from members of the school board. Scientology spokesperson Ben Shaw basically told the Tampa Bay Times that the church's volunteers just didn't know that they weren't supposed to give that info to school kids.
"[The church members] confused the different volunteer activities and, in their exuberance, thought the booklets would be helpful to the families receiving the food distribution at home," he said. "We are sorry if anyone was offended. Our volunteers offer assistance in the community for the same reason any volunteer does: they want to help.”
But the situation felt "kind of sneaky" to Bill Dudley, a member of the School Board. "It’s religious advertising, but kind of back-dooring it,” he said. “I appreciate the volunteering. But it should be for the right reasons, not to promote something without authorization."
The Church of Scientology has defended its series of pandemic-related booklets, which include the previously mentioned "How to Keep Yourself & Others Well" and "How to Prevent the Spread of Illness With Isolation," along with "How to Protect Yourself & Others With a Mask & Gloves." A spokesperson has said that they "could not vaguely be considered 'religious literature'" and they don't mention anything about the Church's beliefs—although each one does have a URL and a QR code for the Scientology website, as well as "Courtesy of Church of Scientology International" printed on the back cover.
Printing assorted booklets isn't a new tactic for the church; you can also request copies of other literature like "The Truth About Drugs," "A Description of Scientology," or "The Way of Happiness," which is distributed through the Scientology-adjacent Way to Happiness Foundation. But some of the church's critics (who are often former members) say that these freebies—and the volunteer programs that hand them out—are part of Scientology's plan to be taken seriously, to gain "mainstream" acceptance, and to attract donations and financial support.
"Those activities are never done for the intrinsic value of helping people. It’s always done for the PR," Dani Ballou, who previously worked for Scientology’s Sea Org, told the Tampa Bay Times. "Just the simple act of packing food into a bag for kids for the school system, you wouldn’t dare waste that opportunity to promote church."
The information contained in the "Stay Well" series also seems to be at odds with Scientology leader David Miscavige's personal beliefs about coronavirus. In a March memo he wrote to members of the church, he referred to the "the current hysteria" of the developing pandemic. He also claimed that church members were "preventing and/or killing" coronavirus by cleaning their buildings with "nebulized peroxide and Decon7.” (Neither of those sanitation methods are mentioned in the "Stay Well" booklets.)
Tony Ortega, the former Village Voice editor who has fervently reported on Scientology for his own website, told the Daily Beast that Miscavige had instructed Scientologists to go to their local church to read his letter. "They’re trying to get people to come in. They’re saying you gotta stay with the courses and auditing, and they’re worrying about the money drying up," Ortega said. "Scientology was not set up to be done over the internet. It really requires person-to-person contact."
Last month, a church spokesperson said that there had been zero cases of coronavirus among the congregation of its West Coast headquarters in East Hollywood, Los Angeles. "Our Church’s message to its members is: An ounce of prevention is worth a ton of cure," she said.
via VICE US - undefined US VICE US - undefined US via Mom's Kitchen Recipe Network Mom's Kitchen Recipe Network
0 notes
thewebofslime · 5 years
Link
The Democracy Integrity Project, a nonprofit that receives funding from George Soros, paid firms tied to Fusion GPS and Christopher Steele more than $3.8 million in 2017. Tax filings show that The Democracy Integrity Project provided its research to “government entities.” The group’s founder, a former staffer for Dianne Feinstein, has described it as a “shadow media organization” that helps the government. A nonprofit group partially funded by billionaire activist George Soros paid firms tied to Fusion GPS and dossier author Christopher Steele more than $3.8 million in 2017 to provide research and analysis to “government entities,” according to IRS filings. The payments made by The Democracy Integrity Project are more than three times what the DNC and the Clinton campaign paid Fusion GPS and Steele during the 2016 presidential campaign to investigate Donald Trump’s possible ties to Russia. Perkins Coie, the law firm that represented the DNC and Clinton campaign, paid $1 million to Fusion GPS in 2016 to investigate Trump. Fusion GPS in turn paid Steele, a former MI6 officer, nearly $170,000 for a project that resulted in the infamous Steele dossier. Steele’s report, which alleged a “well-coordinated conspiracy” between the Trump campaign and the Russian government, has come under intense scrutiny in the wake of the special counsel’s findings in the 22-month Russia probe. Daniel J. Jones, a former staffer to California Democrat Sen. Dianne Feinstein, founded TDIP on Jan. 31, 2017, seemingly to resume Democrats’ investigation of Trump’s possible links to Russia. Jones operated what he called a “shadow media organization helping the government” to investigate Russian meddling in the 2016 election. He also told the FBI in March 2017 that he received funding from a group of between seven and 10 wealthy donors and that he planned to provide information to federal investigators, the press and lawmakers. TDIP’s tax filing confirms some aspects of what has been reported about the group. The group planned to work with a “network of experienced organizations and individuals” to gather information on foreign actors’ efforts to interfere in democratic elections around the world,” according to TDIP’s 2017 form 990, which is listed in a database maintained by ProPublica, TDIP also says it provides “original, credible, and fact-based information” to a variety of organizations, including “government entities.” The 990 form lists five separate independent contractors, including four that provided “research consulting,” and one law firm, Zuckerman Spaeder. The group paid $3.3 million to Bean LLC., the holding company that controls Fusion GPS. Another $250,000 was paid to Walsingham Partners Ltd., a London-based firm owned by Steele and his partner, Christopher Burrows. TDIP paid another London-based intelligence firm called Istok Associates Ltd. nearly $150,000, also for “research consulting.” The company has released investigative reports looking into whether Russia helped fund the Brexit campaign. Nearly $130,000 was paid to Edward Austin Ltd., a London-based intelligence consultancy operated by Edward Baumgartner, a Fusion GPS contractor. Another $148,000 was paid to the law firm Zuckerman Spaeder, which has represented Fusion GPS in a variety of dossier-related legal matters. List of independent contractors for The Democracy Integrity Project (2017 IRS Form 990) The full extent of TDIP’s work remains a mystery, as do the identities of most of the organization’s donors. Real Clear Investigations reported on March 20 that TDIP sends out daily newsletters with a roundup of news stories about the special counsel’s investigation and other Trump-related matters. Jones has also taken credit for planting anti-Trump news stories. Adam Waldman, an attorney with links to Christopher Steele, revealed text messages showing that Jones took credit for a Reuters news article that raised questions about Russian purchases of Trump properties in Florida. “Our team helped with this,” Jones wrote Waldman on March 17, 2017, in a text message provided to The Daily Caller News Foundation. Waldman testified to the Senate Intelligence Committee in November 2017 that Jones told him that Soros, the progressive billionaire financier, was one of TDIP’s backers. That was confirmed in October, when The New York Times reported that Soros donated at least $1 million to TDIP. TheDCNF has since found that a California-based nonprofit called the Fund for a Better Future (FBF) contributed nearly $2.1 million to TDIP in 2017. It is not clear who provided the donation to FBF as the group does not disclose its donors. (RELATED: Cabal Of Wealthy Donors Funding Fusion GPS-Linked Group) According to TDIP’s tax filings, Jones’ group received just over $7 million in contributions in 2017 and spent close to $5 million. Of that, Jones received a salary of $381,263. Another $95,914 was spent on travel. TDIP’s link to Istok Associates has not been previously reported. The company’s founder is Neil Barnett, a former journalist who has recently investigated possible Russian influence in the Brexit campaign. Barnett co-authored a report released on Oct. 17, 2018, for The Atlantic Council, a Washington, D.C. think tank, which focused on British businessman Arron Banks’ contributions to the Brexit campaign. Barnett also suggested in the report that the Trump campaign received millions of dollars in illicit donations, possibly from foreign adversaries. Barnett’s argument hinged on a large amount donations under $200, which is the cutoff point where donors are required to disclose their names and addresses. Politicians typically hype small-dollar donations, which are seen as one gauge of grassroots support for political campaigns. But Barnett seemingly saw something more nefarious in the outsize ratio of small-dollar contributions flowing to the Trump campaign. “Trump’s campaign team has presented these statistics as a positive, positioning him as a candidate with genuine support from grassroots donors. But, because it is without a doubt technically possible to automate and anonymize these donations electronically, the money actually came from unknown sources,” reads Barnett’s report, entitled “Democracy in the Crosshairs.” Fusion GPS Co-Founder Glenn Simpson on Capitol Hill on October 16, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Zach Gibson/Getty Images) There is no evidence that TDIP was involved in Barnett’s report for The Atlantic Council. One of TDIP’s founders and board members is Adam Kaufmann, a former prosecutor in the Manhattan district attorney’s office. In private practice, Kaufmann served as an attorney for Derwick Associates, a Venezuelan firm that has come under scrutiny for money laundering and embezzlement. Derwick hired Fusion GPS in 2014. Reporters and human rights activists have claimed that Kaufman and Fusion GPS co-founder Peter Fritsch pressured them to back off stories critical of Derwick. Baumgartner, the Edward Austin Ltd. executive, has worked for years as a Fusion GPS contractor. Glenn Simpson, another Fusion GPS co-founder, said in congressional testimony in 2017 that Baumgartner helped the firm with an investigation of London-based financier Bill Browder, who is the leading proponent of the Magnitsky Act, a sanctions law opposed by the Kremlin. After the Steele dossier was published by BuzzFeed in January 2017, Fusion GPS tapped Baumgartner to conduct a background investigation of Aleksej Gubarev, a Russian businessman accused in the dossier of having been recruited as a Russian spy and of hacking DNC computer systems. Gubarev vehemently denied the allegations and filed defamation lawsuits against BuzzFeed and Steele. Baumgartner’s report undercut the dossier’s claims about Gubarev. He found that Gubarev’s peers did not believe that he was working for the Kremlin to hack Democrats. TDIP has also been linked to a controversial technology company that has been implicated in a disinformation campaign that targeted a special election for an Alabama Senate seat in 2017. TDIP partnered with the tech company New Knowledge on DisInfo 2018, a project that aimed to track social media disinformation during the 2018 midterms. New Knowledge gained national attention in December after releasing a report in partnership with the Senate Intelligence Committee regarding Russian social media disinformation. Days later, New Knowledge came under fire for using bots and fake social media personas in the Alabama special election. Jones operates another nonprofit group that appears to focus on the same issues as TDIP. On Jan. 29, 2018, Jones registered Advance Democracy Inc. That group received a $500,000 contribution last year from the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, a donor-advised fund that masks its contributors. (RELATED: Dark Money Org Gave $2 Million To Group Working With Fusion GPS, Steele) Jones founded Advance Democracy four days after Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, the former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, released a letter seeking information from associates of Fusion GPS and Steele. TDIP did not respond to a request for comment.
0 notes
kennethherrerablog · 5 years
Text
53 Creative Ways to Make Some Cash (No 9-to-5s Allowed)
Typical 9-to-5s aren’t cutting it anymore. And second or third jobs aren’t cutting it either.
The cost of living is skyrocketing, while wages remain largely stagnant for most Americans. We can’t just wait around for wages to catch up.
We have to get a little creative.
53 Creative Ways to Make Money
As you might suspect, many of these unique ways to make money involve the internet — but not all of them. Some are one-off ways to pocket some cash, while others are decent-paying jobs. A few ideas have the potential to generate huge profits.
If a job, business or investment requires you to toil away at a stuffy corporate office to make your dough, you won’t find it here. This list consists only of creative ways you can make money. Leaving your house is optional.
Online Jobs
Have an internet connection? You’re all set to try these jobs. (To apply to fresh gigs you can do from your computer, be sure to check out our work-from-home jobs portal.)
1. Work for a Call Center
Customer-service jobs are common with companies that hire at-home workers. You typically spend your days responding to customers over the phone, via email or through instant messages. Tracking trends in customer complaints and questions are a large part of these roles as well.
Since the employers vary dramatically, you may find yourself fielding questions about deliveries and shipments or giving details about products and services.
Companies that frequently hire these types of jobs include AAA, American Express and Apple — as well as several other companies that don’t start with the letter A.
2. Be a Transcriptionist
To make money as a transcriptionist, you need to listen well and type fast. You’ll listen to audio files of varying quality and type out what you hear perfectly.
Transcriptionists can make up to $25 per hour. To land a job, apply with these companies that frequently hire remote transcriptionists: Allegis Transcription, NetTranscripts, TransPerfect and Rev.com.
Basic requirements include:
A computer and headset
Native English fluency
The ability to type with high accuracy at 80 or more words per minute
Some companies also require (or supply) transcribers with a foot pedal that controls audio speed, rewinding and fast forwarding.
To test your typing speed, several companies rely on TypingTest.com.
Not sure you want to do the typing yourself? Consider being a transcript proofreader, which is someone who reviews transcripts (usually courtroom and legal documents) for grammar and spelling errors.
These proofreading positions range from entry-level to post-graduate, depending on the material. U.S. Legal Support hires transcript proofreaders nationwide, as does ProofreadingPal.
To dip your feet into the field before committing to a professional project, check out Transcribe Anywhere and Proofread Anywhere for tips, ecourses and hands-on practice.
3. Be a Virtual Assistant
As a virtual assistant, you might answer calls, send email, prepare reports or do any number of other tasks for busy executives and business owners. It’s a lot like an online secretarial position.
You can list your services on freelance sites like CloudPeeps, Fiverr, Upwork, Guru or Freelancer, or you can get a job with a virtual assistant company like Zirtual.
Base requirements for jobs at Zirtual include:
Some administrative or equivalent college experience
Tech savviness, including proficiency with G Suite and other email software
Typing skills (50 words per minute or more)
Online Businesses
If you’d rather run your own show, you’ve got a lot of options.
4. Design Websites
Web designers can expect to take home an average of $49,000 per year, according to Payscale. It’s tough to get to that point if you’re freelancing, but plenty of sites exist to help you to build up your clientele.
TopTal pays top dollar for design pros, but be warned: The company boasts that it only hires the top 3% of freelancers.
If you’re not yet ready for the big leagues, try sharpening your skills by signing up and accepting clients from these freelance websites:
Freelancer: A freelance marketplace where both workers and employers can create listings and specify hourly rates.
Upwork: The largest freelance platform in the world and another marketplace for freelancers in any industry.
Gigster: An on-demand software development website that offers freelance work to designers, developers and product managers.
Guru: A site where freelancers can bid on projects and jobs posted by employers. Employers can also reach out directly to freelancers.
5. Create Podcasts
When you create podcasts, you can sell them or use them as an advertising platform. Either way, try to provide an interesting and/or useful series of podcasts. This post outlines how to start a podcast to become the next Serial.
You can make money through several methods; advertising is the most common. Once you amass a decent amount of listeners, you can attract advertisers who will pay to be featured in your podcast, usually in the form of native ads — ads within the podcast, usually read directly by the host. (Nothing like listening to 99% Invisible’s Roman Mars rave about his Casper mattress.)
You may also charge a monthly subscription fee (usually between $5 and $15) or crowdsource funding directly from your listeners on websites like Patreon, Go Fund Me or Indiegogo.
It’s probably best to incorporate an all-of-the-above approach.
6. Create and Sell Courses
Are you a self-taught coder with a knack for simplifying instructions? You could create an online course about it. Maybe you’re an expert at finger-picking techniques on acoustic guitar; you could make a course about that, too.
If you’re good at explaining whatever it is you specialize in, people out there are eager to learn, and with Udemy, you can create and host online courses — no master’s degree required.
Nick Loper made $4,000 in the first few months of his Udemy class for small-business owners. He wrote our guide on how to make an online course and sell it.   
7. Freelance Online
Whether you’re good at math or marketing, you can sell your services online. Plenty of sites will pay you for just about anything, but you have to be wary of scams.
This post outlines some of the best freelance websites — including nDash for writers, Gigster for techies and PeoplePerHour for experts in just about any field.
You can sign up on the sites for free, and they can earn you a quick buck or a longtime client. And don’t worry, we vetted them, too.
Other Ways to Make Money Online
We’ve only scratched the surface of ways to make money online.
8. Be an Online Mock Juror
A mock or surrogate juror reviews evidence and renders a decision to help lawyers prepare for real cases. Participation usually requires a full day cooped up in a hotel conference room.
Fortunately, there are online surrogate juror options, too: eJury and OnlineVerdict. Those opportunities pay $5 to $60, but they can take less than an hour.
To qualify as an online juror, applicants must be:
A U.S. citizen
18 years or older
Free of any past felony convictions
Creating an account for either site above is free but will require a questionnaire that will ask very personal questions about your age, marital status, criminal history, income, political opinions and more.
9. Answer Questions
“Where do babies come from?”
Are you a linguist who can satisfy the curiosity of a 7-year-old? Or a board-certified gynecologist who can detail the complex inner workings of the reproductive system?
Each is an expert in their own way.
A number of websites will pay you to answer people’s questions. It’s as simple as that. Try JustAnswer.com to see if you qualify as an expert.
Creating an account on JustAnswer requires three steps.
Selecting your expertise category (as many as you want).
Uploading your resume, experience and education.
Submitting credentials, if needed. (Not all fields require licenses or degrees.)
After you submit your application, you’ll have to wait five to 10 business days for be vetted and accepted. Experts can answer as many questions as they want.
While rates range depending on your qualifications and how many questions you answer, the site says top earners in each category make thousands of dollars per month.
And even if you don’t qualify as an expert, you could refer one for a $50 gift card to Amazon.
10. Flip Domain Names
When it comes to domain names, websites are a lot like real estate.
Brent Cumberford is an online entrepreneur who’s made hundreds of thousands of dollars buying and selling websites.
“Just like houses and apartment buildings, online real estate comes down to ‘location, location, location,’” Cumberford told The Penny Hoarder.
He recommended buying .com website names instead of .org or .net. Once you have a good domain name in mind, buying it is simple. Go to a website hosting company like Namecheap or GoDaddy to see if your desired domain name is available.
Once you purchase it, you can reach out to potential businesses directly or use Flippa, a business marketplace, to find a buyer.
11. Get Paid to Watch TV
Among all the fun ways to make money, this one really takes the cake. You can actually get paid to watch TV.
For example, HowToWatch hires people to watch 100 hours of TV for $2,000. It requires some intense focus and note-taking, but hey, it’s money. For watching TV.
To snag this dream job, apply during an open application period. If you’re accepted, you’ll have about a month to binge on 100 hours of TV and keep a scorecard that tracks buffer speeds, load times and picture quality.
If that sounds like too much for you, the app Swagbucks also pays you to watch videos and TV from your smartphone. For each task completed, you’ll earn points, aka Swagbucks, which you can cash out for gift cards between $5 and $25.
12. Take Surveys
You really can make money doing online surveys. There are several legitimate paid survey sites out there to earn you some quick cash.
When you sign up for Swagbucks, you’ll earn an extra $5 toward a gift card if you complete a certain amount of surveys or tasks within 60 days.
InboxDollars is another paid survey site that could net you up to $5 per survey (though it’s usually closer to 50 cents).
13. Work on Mechanical Turk
Amazon’s Mechanical Turk platform lets you complete small tasks online for a price.
According to Michael Naab, who wrote our guide (and a book) on making money with Mechanical Turk, you can expect to earn around $6 to $12 an hour doing Human Intelligence Tasks (HITs) on the platform. HITs range anywhere from completing surveys to Excel spreadsheet tasks to audio transcription.
14. Test Websites
Websites should be very user-friendly — so easy to use that an intoxicated person should be able to navigate it.
User experience consultant Richard Littauer took that idea very seriously. He started “The User Is Drunk,” a business where he tested people’s websites after drinking too much beer. And his idea took off.
“I raised my price for reviews from $50 to $500 very quickly,” Littauer told The Penny Hoarder, “hoping that people would stop buying so that I didn’t have to be drunk permanently.”
To get a steady stream of jobs, you may have to be creative like Littauer and build up your client base. For a shot at getting more assignments, sign up with websites like UserTesting and TryMyUI.
15. Be a Search Engine Evaluator
It’s scary how good Google’s search algorithm is becoming, but it’s not perfect… yet. Neither are other search engines, such as Yahoo or Bing.
To fix those flaws and make search results more relevant, companies like Appen and Lionbridge frequently hire search engine evaluators as independent contractors. Positions are typically part time, with hourly rates up to $15.
No previous experience is required — just tech savviness and a laptop or Android smartphone. For open positions, check Appen and Lionbridge’s career portal.
Using Your Home to Make Money
Your home likely costs you a fair amount of money, so it’s time to enlist its help to earn that money back.
16. Rent Out a Room with Airbnb
Have a spare room? May as well try to earn some money by listing it on Airbnb
If you’re a good host with a desirable space, you could add hundreds — even thousands — of dollars to your savings account with Airbnb.
A few simple steps can make the difference between a great experience and a less-than-satisfactory one. We talked to Terence Michael, an Airbnb superhost based in Los Angeles.
Here are some of his tips:
Break out the labelmaker. “I have the entire house loaded with labels,” Michael says. “They look nice; they’re modern. This helps people feel less helpless.”
Be a good host and stock your place with the toiletries you’d expect at a hotel — toilet paper, soap and towels. Here’s a little hack from Michael: “I order on Amazon and have it delivered when people are there.”
Be kind to your neighbors. “I say, ‘I’m not going to put anyone here who I think won’t be good for you,’” Michael explains. “And I turn a lot of big groups away, especially in Nashville. I don’t want anyone going to the cops or the city.”
(Hosting laws vary from city to city. Please understand the rules and regulations applicable to your city and listing.)
17. Rent Your Yard for RV and Boat Storage
People need a place to put their boats and recreational vehicles during the off-season, which spells profit for you if you have the space. Your home insurance policy probably won’t cover damage, so you might have to add additional liability insurance (and check those local ordinances again).
Once your insurance is in shape, find a storage-space website and create a listing. While it’s possible to list your storage space on sites like Craigslist or on Facebook marketplaces, other alternatives are dedicated to RV or boat storage. One example is Neighbor.
Making a listing on Neighbor is free. You can set the rules and the price. Once you find a client, the agreed-upon amount will automatically be paid to you monthly (minus a 3% fee from the site). Regardless if the client misses a payment, Neighbor will pay out the full listing price.
It’s a win-win. You’ve got the space, and your neighbor won’t have to spend thousands of dollars on a storage facility.
18. Rent a Parking Spot
If you live in a large city or any town that occasionally hosts busy events, you can put out a sign and rent your driveway. Or you can rent out your parking space online using JustPark.
To register your parking space with JustPark, you must first create an account and answer questions about the spot. Is it a covered location? Can it fit only compact cars? Is it street parking or a driveway? Then you’re free to list your parking space as an “instant” spot (available right now) or take reservations whenever you’d like.
Writing Jobs
Are you a wordsmith? Put those writing skills to work to earn extra cash.
19. Get a Book Published
The publishing industry has changed. More than ever, a writer is expected to be the primary marketer of his or her books. That means the work isn’t over once you send the manuscript off to the presses (or inDesign). Now you have to promote it on social media and on book tours and earn solid book reviews.
That’s why most authors opt for ebooks and self-publishing through the Kindle Direct Publishing program, which is free. It’s possible to make money with your ebook even if you give it away.
Author Steve Gillman makes hundreds of dollars a month in passive income from his ebooks on Kindle Direct Publishing. In his guide to ebook publishing for The Penny Hoarder, he said it’s best to price your ebooks between $2.99 and $9.99.
Since Amazon gives you 70% royalties (which is good compared to publishing firms), it’s best to stick to a low price so most people can afford it.
20. Be a Copywriter or Editor
Content sites hire freelancers to write and edit articles. You have to work fast to make money on these sites, since you may earn less than 3 cents per word. Low pay aside, they are great for beginning freelancers to make some cash and get some experience.
In our list of the best freelance websites, which includes Upwork, Fiverr, Freelancer and Guru, we included several writer-focused sites that pay between $30 and $200 per article.
21. Write for Blogs
Blogs typically pay more than content sites. Many blogs pay $100 per post, but many writers are also trying to get those assignments.
Usually, blogs aren’t big businesses, and bloggers can’t afford Indeed listings, so it takes a little digging to find paying gigs.
Fortunately, several websites specialize in these types of jobs. Try these aggregators:
WriteJobs.info: a no-frills job listing site tailored for writers and editors. The free version is more than enough to snag a few clients, but a paid version is available if you donate $5 a month.
ProBlogger.com: a one-stop-shop for budding bloggers. Beyond listing a steady stream of jobs for writers, photographers and editors, ProBlogger has a ton of free resources for new writers, podcasts, ebooks and courses.
AllFreelanceWriting.com: a curated list of writing jobs that are paid directly from the client listed. Each job includes a pay rating from “LOW RATE” to “PRO RATE.”
As with all odd jobs, use your spidey sense when applying. Don’t do work for free or give sensitive information like your Social Security number up front.
22. Become an Affiliate Marketer
Affiliate marketing is simple in theory: Write emails, blog articles or comments that contain links to sponsored products, and when people use your coded link to visit and buy something, you make a commission.
Our sponsored posts at The Penny Hoarder are such examples of big-name affiliate marketing partnerships.
To get your feet wet, you can start making money as an affiliate partner at Amazon and earn up to 10% on e-commerce purchases that you linked to.
23. Write Slogans
Several websites will pay you to write slogans for companies. Some pay cash for each slogan (Freelancer and Fiverr, for example), while other sites host contests in which you can earn big bucks for the winning creation.
Slogan Slingers is one such site that’s completely free for copywriters to sign up and start writing slogans. Winning entries earn up to $999 (minus a 15% service fee) and are paid out via PayPal, which is required to register.
24. Get Paid to Write Greeting Cards
Some of the highest pay-per-word rates out there for writers aren’t in the New Yorker. They’re in the greeting-card industry.
Writing greeting cards could earn you hundreds of dollars for as little as five or ten words. But they have to be funny, clever or insightful, says Nicky Burton, founder of Calypso Cards.
“They really do have to be original,” Burton told The Penny Hoarder. “They have to have something fresh. We can’t keep going back to ‘gray hair’ and ‘over the hill.’”
To get started, you can pitch your ideas to Blue Mountain Arts or SNAFU designs. If they like your pitch, they’ll pay you $300 and $100 per idea, respectively.
So get writing, and be creative.
25. Enter Writing Contests
Many writing contests pay cash prizes. Some pay more than $1,000 for first place and also award a publishing contract. A few pay prizes of $5,000 to $10,000.
If you’re a poet, submit to Poetry Nook, which holds weekly contests that pay $50 for the winning poems. You can also submit to several magazines and publications for free if you want to get paid for creative writing.
26. Write Resumes (and Cover Letters)
Some people just hate writing, and they hate resume writing in particular. You can help them put their resumes together using free resume makers online. And after reading our guide on how to write a resume, you’ll be an expert.
Some people charge as little as $20 to do this, but others charge upwards of $800 a pop.
In 2014, Charmaine Pocek quit her day job to write resumes and cover letters on Fiverr. A couple years later, she became the first U.S. millionaire on the site.
When Pocek was starting out, she told The Penny Hoarder that she charged her clients as little as $5. Now she charges up to $800 for resume, cover-letter and LinkedIn profile services.
Since Pocek has the resume market on Fiverr cornered, you may want to give other resume-writing services a shot. Talent Inc. frequently hires resume writers. No professional experience is required to qualify, but you will need to be a master of Microsoft Word.
27. Write for Revenue-Sharing Sites
Among the websites that pay for articles, the revenue-sharing ones are the easiest to break into — sites like Dotdash, HubPages and ShoutMeLoud.
These sites don’t require you to be a well-renowned author per se. You can pen as many articles as you want, and if they generate revenue (aka clicks, views, sales or shares), you’ll get a part of it.
Some sites pay you 70% of what they make from your work, while others pay per view or comment. Either way, if nobody reads your article, you make nothing. But, hey, at least you still get a byline. If you’re a beginning freelance writer, those can really bolster your portfolio.
28. Write Reviews
If you have a website or blog, you could connect with companies willing to pay for product reviews. For example, at SocialSpark.com you can get paid to blog, tweet or post videos. To avoid selling false reviews, only accept assignments for products you actually love.
There are other ways to get paid for your opinions, too. Our guide to writing reviews on G2 Crowd could get you $50 or more to Amazon or Starbucks.
Selling Things
We all have a few items we could do without. Instead of letting them gather dust, turn them into cash.
29. Have a Garage Sale
Hosting a garage sale may sound like more work than is worth the effort, but if you do it right, you could rake in a ton of money.
Garage sale millionaire Aaron LaPedis shared his tips on holding a successful garage sale. His advice can help your next garage sale be a hit.
The takeaways?
Timing is everything. When you plan your Saturday morning sale, you put yourself up against all the other garage sales in the area. Try a different day of the week. Thrifty Thursday, anyone?
Advertise. Let everyone know well beforehand — on Facebook, Craigslist, Twitter and in person with signs. About 20 will do.
Involve thy neighbor. If you get your neighbors involved, everyone wins. Less competition. More customers.
Price it right. For larger items, think 10% to 15% of its original value. For anything under $15, don’t tag it at all. Haggle it out.
30. Sell Items on Craigslist
This might be a better bet than a garage sale since you don’t have to spend hours sitting outside hoping people will stop by.
If you don’t already know what Craigslist is, it’s basically an online version of a garage sale combined with a newspaper classified section — only you don’t pay for the ads.
You can buy and sell just about anything, and people give away tons of free things on Craigslist, too. You’ll be sure to make a few bucks, whether you want to flip some freebies or sell your own stuff.
31. Start a Used Books Business
There are a number of ways to sell used books online, and yes, you can do this at home.
Start by selling the books you aren’t going to read from around the house. Amazon, eBay and Etsy are all reasonable options to lighten your load.
If you have textbooks, those could really bring in some cash. Use BookFinder and enter your ISBN to compare buyback prices. When you’re ready, you can sell your books to vendors on BookScouter.
If you’re looking for a more consistent way to make money, use the above sites to appraise a book so you know its worth. Then, when you see a book selling low, you can purchase it and flip it on another site for profit.
32. Sell Your Used Clothes
You know that giant pile of clothes in your closet? You can turn that into cash, too. Stores like Plato’s Closet and Once Upon A Child will take your used clothes, accessories and even baby gear and give you cash on the spot.
If you really don’t want to leave your house, you can sell by mail at Buffalo Exchange. Follow our guide for tips on where to sell used clothes and how to get the best quote.
33. Sell Things Through Amazon
When you sell through Fulfillment by Amazon, you never ship anything directly to customers. Amazon handles that.
A lot of Amazon sellers are private-label businesses that buy generic products from abroad, brand and pack them, then send them off to Amazon, which does the rest for you.
34. Sell Coupons Online
A common way to make money selling coupons is on eBay.
While individual coupons won’t usually make you bank, when you sell them in multiples of 10 or so, you can charge much more. Besides eBay, there are marketplaces dedicated to coupon selling, such as the aptly-named The Happy Couponer Marketplace.
Becoming a Happy Couponer vendor takes only a couple minutes. It’s free to create an account and start listing your coupons, coupon books, coupon fliers and newspaper inserts. No digital coupons, links or other intangible items are allowed. Once your coupons start selling, the site charges a fee of 42 cents per $7 in sales (and no fees under that amount).
It should go without saying, but don’t list already-redeemed or counterfeit coupons.
35. Sell Your Photos
Whether you’re a beginner with an iPhone or a hobbyist with a DSLR camera, selling stock photography is easy now that several great sites help you list your photos.
Check through your cache of iPhone photos, select the best ones and list them on Foap, an app that works like a photo marketplace. When someone buys your photo, you get 50% of the price; Foap takes the other half.
If you have the photography chops and a solid camera, microstock websites will be a little more lucrative. These are sites that host and sell stock photography. Common companies include iStock, shutterstock and Getty Images.
Microstock photo sellers Rich Legg and Eliza Snow shared their stock photography tips with The Penny Hoarder. They include:
Keep your photos as generic as possible.
Don’t include any visible brands.
Describe your photos with relevant keywords in the microstock listing.
36. Sell Your Used Video Games
There are plenty of ways to sell used video games: Decluttr, eBay and Facebook for-sale groups are all online options.
If you want to avoid the fees associated with selling video games online, you can can always take the games to the store. Follow this guide from The Penny Hoarder to learn about a technique that can get you up to 50% extra cash when you sell games and electronics at GameStop.
Helping People
Love sharing your knowledge with others? Here are a few ways to get paid for it.
37. Tutor People
You can tutor people on any subject you know well, from academics to writing a business plan. When you open an account with websites like Wyzant and SuperProf, you set your own rates, which can go as high as $50 per hour.
Tutoring websites typically take around 20% of your hourly rate in fees, but it’s free to sign up and create a listing. Be sure to include your professional experience and any relevant credentials to boost your rates and distinguish yourself from other tutors.
If you’re not a fan of academic tutoring, you can also get paid to play video games by tutoring beginners on Gamer Sensei. Senseis set their own schedules and hourly prices. Popular games include Dota, League of Legends and Fortnite.
38. Teach English Online
The international business world runs on English, and somebody’s got to teach all those people.
To fill the demand for English, several companies hire native English speakers to run classes online. In most cases, online teachers can set their own schedules and earn up to $25 an hour.
To meet baseline qualifications, all you need is English fluency, a high school diploma and a computer with a high-speed internet connection.  Ready to get started? Here are seven legit sites that will pay you to teach English online.
39. Babysit
As a babysitter, you can make up to $18 an hour, and you don’t even have to leave your house. Let the babies come to you.
At Sittercity, you can create a babysitter profile for free and start searching for listings in your area. Care.com is another good choice for child care (and elder care). Even teens (14-17) can apply if they have permission from a parent or guardian.
Be sure to include previous sitting experience and credentials such as CPR or first-aid training to improve your profile and hourly rates.
If all else fails, try word of mouth. It’s likely that someone you know would enjoy a night without their little monster adorable angel.
Other Creative Ways to Make Money
Still looking for ideas? Here are a few more creative options.
40. Be a Pet Sitter
You can make good money as a pet sitter. Rates for an overnight stay go as high as $100, but if you watch pets only at your home, you may have to charge less.
One pet sitter, Diana Sanchez, is able to rake in $200 to $300 over the weekends watching the fur babies.
Check local regulations to see how many animals you can watch at once without needing to be licensed as a kennel. Our pet-sitting guide will walk you through the process.
41. Charge for Your Friendship
You may have heard of selling your friendship on websites like RentAFriend. Some people claim to make $2,000 per week being a strictly platonic “friend.” That can mean anything from playing tennis with someone to showing a new resident around your hometown. The going rate on RentAFriend ranges from $10 to $50 an hour.
To make this a stay-at-home gig, just list services like “phone advice” and “email friend” on your account page.
42. Find Lost Money
In 2017, a New Yorker got a call about $763,000 in unclaimed cash. Of course, he thought it was a scam, but it turned out to be true.
While that’s not going to be the case for the vast majority of us, pocketfuls of cash are still waiting to be collected. After you check under your couch cushions, there are several places you can look to find missing money online.
A good place to start is the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators, most states and provinces in North America are members. It takes only seconds to conduct a free search, and you never know what you might find.
43. Scalp Tickets
You used to have to stand outside of concert and sports venues to resell tickets, and it was of questionable legality. Now you can legally scalp tickets online, right from home, using online platforms like Stubhub or Ticketmaster.
If you’re good at predicting what events will sell out, you can buy cheap early and sell tickets for big profits as the event date gets closer.
44. Sell Your Junk Mail
Yes, there really is at least one company that will buy your junk mail, the Small Business Knowledge Center, a market-research firm, is one such company. You won’t make much, but hey, what better use do you have for the stuff?
To get started, fill out an application to become a consumer panelist. Once approved, they’ll send you self-addressed envelopes for your to stuff full of your junk mail. You’ll start accruing points over time, which are redeemable for gift cards.
“I earn five to six gift cards per year on average,” Abby Hewes, an avid couponer, told The Penny Hoarder, “so it averages out to be $20 every two to three months. Not bad, in my opinion, for something that was just going to be shredded or thrown away.”
45. Cut Up Old Magazines
Odd money expert Steve Gillman regrets selling a stack of old National Geographic magazines for a few bucks at a garage sale.
After a bit of research, he found that old ‘40s and ‘50s magazines sell for more than $50 a piece on eBay. So he was determined to learn how to better make money with old magazines. In his guide for The Penny Hoarder, he explains how to cut out old advertisements and sell them online to nostalgic collectors.
If you aren’t already sitting on a stack of vintage magazines, a lucrative strategy is to purchase old magazines online, cut out several of their ads (especially ones for cars, trains, guns sports or furniture), put it in a nice frame or protective sleeve and resell each ad for $5 or $10.
46. Make Money (and Art) With Old Newspapers
The ads in old newspapers sometimes have nostalgic value similar to magazine ads, but since newspapers are more timely, they let you get more specific with dates. Just like with magazines, online stores such as eBay or Etsy are good places to sell ads.
Another more creative way to make money with old newspapers is with erasure poetry, said Jerrod Schwarz, managing poetry editor of Driftwood Press Literary Magazine and expert of erasure, aka blackout poetry.
“Erasure poetry is taking any text that already exists, like a newspaper, a book or a magazine, and using some method to erase parts of it — using Sharpie or Wite-Out — to make a new work of art,” Schwarz said. “It’s a fun sort of entry way into poetry.”
His biggest advice is to “find a original newspaper or text that interests you and let it be kind of a call and response. It’s your chance to respond to a big news event in a way you probably wouldn’t be able to normally.”
Several literary magazines will pay for poetry. Some magazines that accept (and pay for) erasure poetry include:
Isacoustic is a small online publication that pays $15 per accepted poem.
Geist holds annual contests that pay up to $600 for the winning erasure poem.
Poetry Nook hosts weekly poetry contests that publish every Sunday. Winners earn $50, and honorable mentions get $20.
47. Rent Out Your Car
If you try to rent out your car on your own, you’ll probably invalidate your insurance. And you have to find customers.
But companies like GetAround and Turo will find the customers for you and provide the insurance. Even General Motors launched a car-sharing service called Maven for owners of a GM vehicle (Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet or GMC) that’s a 2015 model or newer.
Creating an account with all three companies is free.
Listing your car on GetAround costs $20 a month, plus a one-time $99 installation fee for a remote receiver to unlock your car for customers. Maven and Turo don’t charge monthly fees but take a percentage of earnings from your listing.
According to Maven estimates, renting out your car for a day could earn you between $80 and $225 a day depending on the model.
Payout is in as little as five days (for Turo) or as much as a month (for Maven).
48. Rent Out Your Stuff
Got a Ping-Pong table you don’t use? Someone might need it for a party, so why not rent it out? You can make money with almost anything in your home now thanks to websites like Zilok that make it easy to rent out your stuff.
Zilok is free for individual members to create listings, but rental businesses have to pay fees. To list your item on Zilok, you’ll have to create a post with a description, photos and a price per day. Once a renter finds your product, Zilok takes a commission depending on the listing price. For everything under $10, the commision fee is $1. Fees range between 5% and 9% for all other price categories.
49. Sell Your Music
If you create music (perhaps in a home studio?), companies like TuneCore and Bandcamp make it easier than ever to sell.
With Bandcamp, it’s free for artists to upload their music directly on the site and charge whatever amount they want (usually nothing). The pay-what-you-want model is popular among musicians as well because it allows fans to feel like their money is more of a donation than a purchase.
TuneCore works a little differently. There, you pay a small fee ($9.99 per song and $29.99 per album), and the service will distribute your music through Amazon, iTunes, Spotify and other digital vendors. You get paid depending based on the amount of plays, and you keep 100% of the royalties.
50. Sell Your Gift Cards
Don’t you hate it when you get a gift card for someplace you never shop? Instead of letting it sit unused in your wallet, cash it in.
Depending on where you sell it, it’s possible to get more than 85% of the gift-card value in cash. In our guide, we sort through the best places to sell gift cards online.
We experimented with various $25 dollar gift cards to find the top sites.
  $25 Starbucks $25 Banana Republic $25 Target Cardpool $20.01 Amazon gift card; $18.88 cash $18.55 Amazon gift card; $17.50 cash $21.46 Amazon gift card; $21 cash CardCash $19.73 $17.52 $20.54 Card Kangaroo $18.88 $19.07 $20.26 ClipKard $18.88 $19 $19.13
51. Become a Calligrapher
Do you have great handwriting? Sell that skill. Start a calligraphy business, and you can make up to $5 per envelope addressing wedding invitations.
“Calligraphing and designing wedding or baby-shower invitations is always special because I feel so honored to be part of such an important event in someone’s life,” calligrapher Lyndsay Wright told The Penny Hoarder. “While I usually find addressing envelopes to be less intellectually challenging, I find the work to be a very rewarding, Zen and centering activity.”
Start-up costs may set you back about $65 for supplies, but once you hone your craft, the Art Career Project, a website that supports arts education and careers, estimates you could earn more than $50,000 a year.
52. Treasure Hunt at Home
People have found treasures in their attics, valuables in their floorboards and cash in their walls. It’s amazing how many things people hide in and around their homes. Maybe it’s time to start looking for items your home’s previous owners left behind.
It’s more popular than you might think. There’s a whole section of Reddit dedicated to the topic called r/WhatsInThisThing, where people frequently post stories about finding treasures — usually old locked safes — in their houses.
53. Install Apps on Your Phone
Market research firms are always looking for ways to track consumer behavior. That’s why you can get paid to install apps such as Nielsen Consumer Panel and MobileXpression for iPhone or Android.
Once you sign up, you can rack up points by using either Nielsen’s barcode scanner or your smartphone to scan the barcodes of products you’ve purchased. Then you can redeem your points for products in Nielsen’s gift catalog.
Participating in the panel automatically enrolls you in cash sweepstakes and a curated list of surveys, which can be completed for cash.
MobileXpression works a little differently. For that program, you don’t have to do much but let the app track how you use your cell phone. Once you’ve had the app installed for at least a week, you’ll be eligible for gift cards and other compensation.
Adam Hardy is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. He specializes in unique ways to make money and legit work-from-home job opportunities. Read his full bio here or say hi on Twitter, @hardyjournalism.
Steve Gillman contributed to this article.
This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.
The Penny Hoarder Promise: We provide accurate, reliable information. Here’s why you can trust us and how we make money.
53 Creative Ways to Make Some Cash (No 9-to-5s Allowed) published first on https://justinbetreviews.tumblr.com/
0 notes
never-lock-the-door · 6 years
Text
My ojiichan was a man of few words but his actions spoke far louder and resonated within one’s impression of him. He was also a numbers man and someone who always did things according to his “plan”. He passed away exactly 5 months before his 90th birthday and within the last year of the Heisei era. While he always told us he would live until 100, according to Buddhist (Nichirenshu) tradition, his time in his mother’s womb counts as 1 year so he passes at age 90. He likes these kinds of numbers… lol my mom is exactly 30 years younger than him, my aunt 40 years younger, and their cousin is 20 years younger. It’s something we always told him the last 9 years of his life as he battled with Alzheimer’s. I always selfishly wished that I would be able to ask him more questions about his grandeur life and why he was always a man with a plan, but this past year I’ve learned a lot about the kind of a person he was.
To my surprise, he served as PTA president for both my mom and my aunt’s schools and took in many of his nephews to live with them when their families were going through troubles or school was too far away from home. I think that the fatal passing of his older brother left a huge impact on his role in holding responsibility for taking care of his family. (as the story goes, my ojiichan was the one who was supposed to pick up the peaches from someone but his older brother went instead and the train he took was bombed (wwII period). In all synchronicity, the station I use for my commute to school is the same station that my great uncle faced his passing). Anywho, I heard this one story from my mom’s cousin where my ojiichan used to operate some vending machines and one time gave his nephew a part time job to collect the change from the machines and in exchange he was allowed to take as many coins as he could fit in his pockets as his payment. Lol it reminds me of this one time when my ojjichan came to Cali for my high school graduation… I was hanging out with my best friend James and his younger brother and we all ended up taking a nap on the living room floor. When we all woke up, he had placed a $50 bill on each of our chests to have as spending money… He of course didn’t say anything. He liked big gestures. He paid for my mom to have two wedding ceremonies lol and the Japanese one apparently had someone from the infamous comedy powerhouse Yoshimoto-Kyogo. *oh what it must have been like to live in the bubble era… hah.
For the many highs and ups he experienced, he also had his share of lows and downfalls. 人生チャラの論. Reflecting on his life, I really do believe things end in kind of a harmonious balance especially if you live your life with good heart. One of things I’m most grateful to my ojiichan is for giving me his last name. A couple of years ago, my dope bosses at the radical social justice orgs I was working at gave me time off so I could have the opportunity to go to the family grave with my grandparents for the 23rd anniversary of my great-grandparents passing. This is where I first learned that the Kondo family can trace its lineage back to the 1500s in a rural town called Miyoshi in Hiroshima. I also learned that the land that the grave and temple is on was gifted by the Kondo family many generations ago. My ojiichan will mark the 15th generation… It feels surreal that I can trace back the names of people repping the Kondo family name that far back. I even found a women’s name! at like generation 4 or 5. I’m not sure if knowing this kind of history helps me know where I’m going, but it does provide me with a lot of grounding as someone who has always felt a little lost with my identity. While I’m not very sure if my mom and I can continue to be part of a place we have no real connection with, I will always honor this diasporic connection and history I am part of.
I’ll be forever grateful for my ojiichan for living a bold life. One of the last jokes he told to his care manager at the group home he spent his last half year was beyond witty. So, theres a comedian by the name of Daigo who has created many acronyms called DAI語 like GFM (great fantastic movie) and when the care manager asked him if theres anything he is concerned about, he responded with “hmmm yes. MMK.” To which the caretakers asked, “what is MMK Kondo-san?” He simply replied, “モテてモテて困る” “I’m so popular with the ladies, it’s becoming a problem.”  It’s peculiar because he is hard of hearing so can’t watch tv and no one had taught him to say that… sometimes we believe his Alzheimer’s was a conspiracy plot he pulled but I think that he was just really good at bringing a smile to those around him.
May his soul and spirit transition and rest peacefully so that he can have fun with all of the games he likes to play and drawing in others as they listen to his amusing life stories. Thank you for letting me take part in honoring your transition. It was really beautiful to fill your casket with your birth flower, bouquets of flowers, white orchids, your favorite sea bream dish, snacks, and letters we wrote. The cremation process was also very new to me and felt sacred in ways I never felt before. It’s funny lol that I was able to find your one and only tooth! I hope that you’ll get to meet my best friend Mack up there. He also likes them gambling games. Thanks ojiichan. Even though you aren’t here with us in this world, I know I’ll continue to learn from you. I’ll do my best to bring good things forth to this world.
  side tangent about the cute bachans in my life: Lol this side of my family makes so many inappropriate jokes. We are not typical Japanese… When the monk asked my grandma to say any last words, She at first was just like “bye bye”. Lol and then said some nice words of course but then ended with “don’t come and get me too soon because I need to go find a husband.” Lolol. Even at the cremation ceremony, she thought his remaining bones were meant for eating. Bahahahaha. My ojiichan’s sister was just as hilarious, we had a day before the ceremonies started so that my mom could arrive in time and I “baby sat” both my grandma and his sister while my aunt was running around making phone calls and preparing the funeral. Both my obaachan and obachan have dementia so maybe that’s why all the usual ways of respectful behavior get thrown out the window but his sister would play this game where we would cover part of my ojiichan’s mouth with a towel to see if his mouth would open even more than before. It’s very interesting to see how even though his was “dead” there were still parts of him that were alive, like your hair keeps growing or his face looked different with each passing day and in particular his mouth kept opening even though we would try and close it. I really appreciated how humanizing the whole experience was.
to my おじいちゃん who loved las vegas My ojiichan was a man of few words but his actions spoke far louder and resonated within one's impression of him.
0 notes
purplesurveys · 6 years
Text
205
What is the title of the strangest book you own? I know I have an old book somewhere entitled Sing a Song of Tuna Fish, which I got when I was I think 8. Enjoyed quite a bit at the time and reread it a few times too. That’s the weirdest one I have. How often do you actually wake up in a good mood? Kind of rarely these days. I hate 6 AM call times EVERY DAY. What can we usually find you doing on a Friday night? Friday nights are always reserved for Gabie, whether we’re staying in or eating out. We mix up the itinerary every week, so there’s no usual. What would you say is your guiltiest pleasure? Right now that title belongs to Charlie Puth, but I don’t necessarily feel guilty about enjoying his music... Tell me all about your special lady/gentleman. She has just the prettiest, the purest, and the sweetest soul. She has this vibe about her that makes her loved by everyone; even all of my orgmates love having her around. She’s great at reading and making poetry, and is the smartest person I know.
What is the highest outdoor temperature you've ever had to endure? Malaysia was pretty hot and dry, but I was never able to note the temperature. Here in the Philippines, the worst was probably 36-37ºC. The humidity made it worse too so technically that would increase it to around 42ºC. And the lowest? That belongs to either Japan (too cold I couldn’t even speak and stayed clinging to my dad so I could walk properly) or Sagada at 4 AM. Japan at the time had a one-digit temperature in Celsius, and Sagada was 10ºC. What is the funniest thing a child has ever said to you. I don’t actually know...Filipino kids aren’t all that witty. I just remember being entertained by my godson one time, who genuinely cared for ants and thinks they should be left undisturbed. It was even funnier the way his eyebrows were knitted so much in concern. Do you let your pets on your furniture? Sure, the only exception being the dining table. Can you usually tell when someone has feelings for you? The fact that I don’t know anything right now means I probably can’t, haha. I had no slight clue Mike liked me the way he did and how serious he was about it, that’s another case. I can read people very well, but I’m just very oblivious when it comes to this. Do you know what things your pet(s) prefers to eat? My dog loves his rice and his meat. In other words, human food. That’s what he grew on and that’s what he ended up loving most. What would you plant in your dream garden? Please don’t trust me with plants. Do you believe in fairies, gnomes, or elves? .....No? What does your wallet look like? Filled with pieces of paper that I know I have to throw out but just can’t be bothered to. Some bills in it too, and tons of coins. What is your favorite thing to cook for someone else? I can only make instant noodles for Gab but thankfully she never gets tired of it. Tell me about the last book you read. It talks about Asian imperialism and touched on how the Japanese basically became the bully in the entire continent. It was annoying to contemplate on it in the first place since I definitely knew what my country had to go through under them, come to find out even more of their atrocities in China. Apparently they liked raping women and either cutting children in half or burning them, so that was an absolute joy to read. Who was the last person to leave you flustered? Haven’t felt that recently. What's the last thing you ate that was made with phyllo dough? I’m not sure. Have you ever bought underwear simply because it made your underwear drawer look nice? I guess, yeah? Describe the outfit that makes you look and feel your best. I have a variety of those that I just whip out whenever I want to have the feeling that I know I look good. A tight black tank top and ripped jeans usually does the trick most times though. What can you see from where you're sitting? The entire dining area and part of the kitchen. I would also see the guest bathroom from here but the door is closed. When you have a chance at happiness, do you allow yourself to take it? Yes, but most of the time I can be wary at first; and generally I don’t let myself wallow in being happy for too long because it’s always taken away from me harshly at some point. What are some bands others would be surprised to find in your music library? I never let anyone know about my punk taste to begin with so I’m sure they’d be most surprised if I suddenly tuned into my Misfits or Cro-Mags discography. How do you feel about kettle cooked chips? I’m not familiar with the name. I might know what they are as chips, but I never bother learning about what they are called most of the time haha. Tell me something about yourself that you're most proud of. I study in the top university in the country. What do you like to dunk in your coffee, if anything? I dont dunk my food in it. What was the subject of the last documentary you watched? Haven’t sat down to view a docu in so long but the last one was probably about the feral child, Genie. What sort of things do you do when you have the entire evening to relax? Surveys, call my girlfriend, watch YouTube videos, sometimes sleep early. Are there any books I should check out next time I'm at the library? Yup, not really the person to go to for book recommendations. Opinions on cold pizza? The only way to eat pizza. Do you have a favorite brand of tea? I don’t even drink tea. What's the last stupid question you were asked? (Besides these.) Hahahaha good save. Gabie asked me who Gianina (an org-mate) was even though they have met each other like five times. Her memory is so bad but sometimes it’s just asking for an eyeroll from me lol. What's been on your mind lately? How I’m going to see Paramore up close in three months. Tell me about the best thing you created with your own two hands. A pot! I made one from clay on my trip to Ilocos last August. I’ve wanted to do it since I was maybe 5 and was sooooo excited to get my hands on the wet clay. Definitely not as easy as it looks on screen but I loved how mine turned out. I couldn’t take it home though since it had to be baked and everything for a week, but I was only staying there for two days :( How strong do you like your coffee? Not strong. I want milk in my coffee. Do you feel like you need to get something off your chest? Not right now. Describe your morning routine. Sluggish. Always lazy. Always grumpy. What strange food combinations do you thoroughly enjoy? I would experiment mayonnaise on anything edible. What's your favorite Elvis song? I don’t have one. Are there any songs you wish your favorite band would cover? Welp not really into covers, so. Paramore’s Fleetwood Mac and Drake covers are all a solid 12/10, though. Do you enjoy talking on the phone? Only with my girlfriend. Otherwise, it’s dreadful. Are you currently waiting for something to come in the mail? Nope. Would you rather see someone of the opposite sex naked or nicely dressed? Away from me. What makes your best friend the best? They are patient with me. That’s all I’ve always asked for. When was the last time you felt incredibly stupid or embarrassed? Ughhhhh fuck, awhile ago because I’M THE WORST. I was at a buffet and this waiter guy is making small talk, being super friendly. Unfortunately my ears decided to be the biggest pricks right at that moment and when he asked, “Have you been seated?” I couldn’t get myself to understand him and had to ask ‘sorry?’ FOUR. TIMES. Four times to repeat the freakin’ question. I couldn’t believe my guts. I suck. Made up for it by being just as friendly after that slipup. How do you go about cheering someone up? Depends on the person because they all have their own solutions. Others want to be left alone, some want to be hugged, to be listened to, to be given advice, need a shoulder to cry on, or just need a companion to stay silent with. I do all of those with or for my loved ones. How would you react if someone told you they had feelings for you? Yikes. Serenade me with some lyrics from the song currently stuck in your head. “If I smile with my teeth, bet you’d believe me / If I smile with my teeth, I think I believe me.” What is the last thing you wrote down? (continuing this from last night) Notes I’ve written on my readings for history class. Tell me something great about the day/night you're having. ...I had just woken up. Get back to me with this question later on in the day.
Would you ever participate in a suspension? Of? What was the last thing to annoy you? My schedule doesn’t work with everyone else’s today. :/ Name five things that begin with the letter C. Cactus, coconuts, credit card, claw, cane. What's the title of the last book you bought? Yeah about that... Would you ever consider visiting Texas? I would, actually; but mostly because I have family living there. One of my second cousins that I’m really close with, Ate Joelle, urges me every year to come hang in Texas so I probably would once I’ve the money to. I don’t know much about the state though except Christianity is kind of huge. Where do you go when you need to escape? My room, Skywalk, or the college library. How big is your town's library? Ask that to our government, who never allots enough money for institutions like that :----) We don’t have any local libraries, nor parks, nor memorials, nor a museum save for one. Which bands would play in your dream concert? My favorites won’t merge well in a concert so meh. Do you know of any home remedies that work surprisingly well? No. If you could make a movie, what would it be about? I’ll leave that to my girlfriend, the bigger film major between the two of us. Tell someone something they need to know. That they’d have to be a huge dick to wake me up the way they did earlier. What's something you've never been able to live down? When I sang for a hundred or so party guests on my 7th birthday party. My parents definitely would never let me forget it–the entire thing is on CD. What's something that's been on your to-do list for awhile? Hahahahaha ughhhhh the mockery of this question. I guess do the stuff that I’ve been needing to do in Filipino. How do you take your mind off things? Surveys usually. YouTube videos sometimes. Tell me a joke. Eh, all the good ones I know of are in Filipino. Do you own a battle jacket? Nope.
1 note · View note
topsolarpanels · 7 years
Text
What You Can Do Right Now To Stop Trump’s Dangerous Climate Agenda
We don’t know much about what climate policy might look like under President-elect Donald Trump, but what we do know isn’t very encouraging. Trump has called global warming a hoax and vowed to reinvigorate the fossil fuel industry, “cancel” the Paris Climate Agreement and ditch the Clean Power Plan.
Former Vice President Al Gore warned in October that electing Trump could “take us toward a climate catastrophe.” And then Gore met with Trump and his daughter Ivanka this week a conversation Gore called “extremely interesting” creating the prospects that the president-elect might not be as hostile to climate change as he has indicated.
He has since announced Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, who has blamed environmental regulations and defended fossil fuel interests, as his pick to head the Environmental Protection Agency.
But people who are concerned about climate change shouldn’t lose hope merely because the incoming chairman is wishy-washy on such issues. “Remember, most of the world is aligned against climate change even if the future occupant of the White House doesn’t want to recognize reality, ” Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, told The Huffington Post.
As 2 degrees Celsius looms ever closer the temperature increase scientists say the world must stay below to avoid the worst effects of climate change there is a lot that individuals, organizations, cities and nations can, and must, do to battle climate change over the next four years.
“As consumers, as investors, in schools, in workplaces, at churches, synagogues or other places of venerate, there are lots of positive ways to impact change for the climate, ” Brune said. “We’re going to have to give the president-elect the struggle of his life.”
Here are some things you and your community can do TAGEND
1 Strengthen city, district and state climate efforts
Eduardo Munoz/ Reuters
If the federal government refuses to stand up against climate change, itll be more important than ever for cities, counties and states to pick up the slack and become climate leaders. That entails committing to divest from fossil fuel, embrace clean energy, defined emissions targets and develop climate action plans, among other measures.
The ominous signals coming out of D.C. point to even more work be necessary for the city and state level, said Kate Kiely, information media deputy director at the Natural Resources Defense Council. In November, the NRDC announced the partnership agreement with 20 cities across the country from St. Paul, Minnesota, to Houston, Texas, to make strides in renewable energy.
According to Brune, cities could havean especially big influencein the climate change fight.We should be pushing cities to go 100 percentage clean energy and to repudiate natural gas and coal and other fossil fuel, he said. A majority of people now live in cities, so this could have a dramatic impact.
In the U.S ., 20 cities have already constructed commitments to rely wholly on clean energy.
People should organize and get their own cities has progressed, Brune said.
Contact your mayor, city council, or district or state representative and get them to set a timeline to stop usingfossil fuels.
2 Push companies and organizations to divest from fossil fuels
Bloomberg via Getty Images
There are a lot of things that the president cant undo. He cant stop the fact that solar and gust are cheaper than coal and gas. He cant change the fact that dozens of businesses have already committed to clean energy, Brune said.
As of December, more than 640 organizations worldwide, including several universities, churches and for-profit companies and banks, have pledged to divest from their fossil fuel investments. According to Go Fossil Free, a 350. org campaign, the commitments amount to more than $ 3.4 trillion.
Consumers should petition companies to ditch their fossil fuel investments, and students should urge their schools and colleges to do the same.
As we wrap up the most wonderful year in history, we know that investments in the fossil fuel industry money these climate impacts. Thats why its more critical than ever that we push our institutions to divest from the fossil fuel companies that are knowingly perpetuating the climate crisis, Lindsay Meiman, U.S. communications coordinator for 350. org, told HuffPost last week.
Want to push a company, school or place of worship to divest from fossil fuel? 350. org has a list of resources to help you start a campaign. Or find an existing one to get involved in.
3 Put your fund where your mouth is
Andrew Burton/ Getty Images
Petitions and protests can be powerful, but moving your fund speaks volumes too. As a consumer and as an investor, ensure you’re not personally financing climate change. This entails, for example, selecting banks that are free of fossil fuel connections.
Your ATM card or checking account or your mortgage, these should not be financed by companies that are taking your checking fees or other payments to subsidize the Dakota Access Pipeline or finance drilling offshore. Construct sure your fund aligns with your values, Brune said.
In September, Amalgamated Bank became the first North American bank to commit to divest 100 percentage from fossil fuel. Aspiration has bank accounts the hell is fossil fuel-free, and Beneficial State Bank has credit card that dont invest in fossil fuels.
Anthony Hobley, CEO of the Carbon Tracker Initiative, said consumers should also ensure that their pensions, 401( k) or other retirement savings accounts are similarly not underwriting fossil fuel companies.
A lot of pressure can be made through the financial industry, Hobley said from London. Ordinary people who hold pensions can put pressure on companies through their pensions. Put pressure on the ones who manage your fund and thats one way to keep pressure on those companies too.
The financial services companies that manage retirement accounts arent used to getting many letters from the people whose fund they manage, Hobley added. It wouldnt take much of an organized attempt in order to be allowed to take notice.
Are your investments supportingfossil fuels? FossilFreeFunds.orgis a web tool that allows people to check whether their individual investments or employer-provided 401( k) issupporting coal companies, oil and gas producers, and fossil-fired utilities.
4 Making a “financial case” for clean energy
Aaron Bernstein/ Reuters
Hobley believes the best chance we have ofconvincing Trump to care about climate change is to make a compelling financial instance for renewables.
With new clean energy technologies getting more efficient and cheaper than fossil fuel, a transition to renewables is inevitable, said Hobley. Its merely a matter of time.
Trump can no more stop this transition than a previous U.S. chairman couldve stopped the transition from steam locomotives to the vehicle or the typewriter to the computer. The technological genie is already out of the purse, he said. Its not a instance of if, but when. But the when is important because of the 2 degrees budget, and thats where a lack of political leadership or resistance can have a real impact.
Clear political leadership from both the U.S. and China could entail a “smoother” and faster transition to clean energy. A absence thereof, however, could make it easier for big oil and gas companies to stay in denial and that would be to their detriment, Hobley said. It would entail pouring more fund, billions or trillions of dollars, into fossil fuel assets that we simply dont need.
Trump currently has the opportunity to attain the United States a leader in clean energy.
These are complicated and highly technical products, Hobley said. With an trained and skilled labour force, these are the kinds of things that should be manufactured in the U.S.
Creating new jobs was a central part of Trumps election platform. Maybe someone should remind him that the clean energy industry makes more undertakings per unit of energy than coal and natural gas. Last year, the number of U.S. employment opportunities in solar energy overtook those in oil and natural gas extraction for the very first time.
A 2015 reportbyNextGen Climate America found that a transition to clean energy would add a million jobs by 2030 and up to 2 million jobs by 2050, while increasing the nation’s gross domestic productby $290 billion and boostinghousehold income.
Weshould be quoting such figures and urging utility companies and public utility commissions to espouse clean energy.( Public utility commissions regularly hold hearings that are open to the public. Attend them, and voice your thoughts !)
5 Speak out!
Pacific Press/ Getty Images
Whats the single biggest way you can influenceclimate change? According to the NRDC, its speaking up.
Talk to your friends and family, and make sure your representatives are making good decisions, Aliya Haq, deputy director of NRDCs Clean Power Plan Initiative, wrote in a blog post. The main reason elected officials do anything difficult is because their constituents attain them.
In the coming months and years, there will be mass mobilizations that folks should join to push back against Trumps regressive policies and hateful rhetoric, said 350. orgs Meiman. Folks can engage online by joining online actions, signing petitions and contributing their voice on social media to push back on Trumps agenda.
You can alsoparticipate in protests in yourarea or join and support local nonprofits in theirfight against climate change.
6 Reduce your own carbon footprint
Hinterhaus Productions/ Getty Images
Power your own home with renewable energy, invest in energy-efficient gadgets and lightbulbs, and recollect to weatherize.
Building heating and cooling are among the biggest uses of energy, said NRDCs Haq. Construct your home more energy-efficient by sealing drafts and ensuring your home is adequately insulated and ventilated too.
Also consider changing your diet. Cut down on meat intake or even eliminate it from your diet wholly, Brune said. I do think that people can have a powerful impact on the environment merely by feeing less meat.
It takes 14 days as much biologically productive land to create 1 ton of beef as it takes to produce 1 ton of grain, according tothe Global Footprint Network.
Global livestock is also responsible for 9 percentage of all anthropogenic carbon emissions, data fromthe United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organizationshow.
Driving a fuel-efficient vehicle is another way to reduce your carbon footprint. You can also take steps to be more fuel efficient when you’re on the road , no matter what vehicle you drive.
7 Support environmental journalism
Jewel Samad/ Getty Images
A majorshortcoming of journalistsduring the presidential election was theirfailureto highlight climate change as a vital topic and to force Trump( and Hillary Clinton, too) to address this crisis.
Over the next four years, Trump needs to be held accountable, and the press must make climate change a central question in his presidency.
The Society of Environmental Journalists, a nonprofit membership organisation supporting environmental the reporters in the U.S. and around the world, aims to improve the quality, accuracy and visibility of reporting on the environment. You can also support nonprofit environmental news outlets such asInside Climate, Gristand High Country News.
Hannah McKay/ Reuters A man wearing a Trump mask protests during a demo against climate change outside the U.S. Embassy in Londonin November.
There is certainly reason to worry about what a Trump presidency could mean for countries around the world.
But as Gore reminds us, worrying isn’t doing the Earth any favors. “There is no time to hopelessnes, ” Gore told The Guardian on Monday. “We don’t have time to lick our meanders, to hope for a different election outcome.”
In homes, at schools, in cities and in nations across the country, people need to act and act now.
“We have to win this struggle and we will win it; the only question is how fast we win, ” Gore said. “But more damage is baked into the climate system every day, so it’s a race against time.”
Related…
This Is VERY Bad For The Fight Against Climate Change Al Gore: Climate Threat Is Way More Dire Than Trump’s Victory Al Gore Fulfills With Donald And Ivanka Trump Over’Climate Issues ‘ 11 Reasons Why We Should Be Terrified Of Trump’s EPA Guy Donald Trump Is Honored To Have The Greatest Temperament, Donald Trump Says
The post What You Can Do Right Now To Stop Trump’s Dangerous Climate Agenda appeared first on Top Rated Solar Panels.
from Top Rated Solar Panels http://ift.tt/2rM0I7c via IFTTT
0 notes
__ of: done with Zeros Wide shoe widths Truly Tree's sticky output Traditional Hindu retreat The USA's 50 The Judds, e.g Taking the place (of) Suffuse (with) Suffix with pay State without proof Spitball need Slowing, on a music score: Abbr Skating leap Silly sort Sick __ dog Series of related emails Samoan capital Razor name R&B singer Baker Queried Prefix with -lithic Postwar British prime minister Polish port where Solidarity was founded Pay with plastic Ornamental pin Numbered musical piece Not at home Not accented, as syllables Nissan model Next of __ Neck mark from necking Music producer Brian Move in the wind Migration formation Lustrous fabric Luau instrument Little point to pick Layered cookie Ivory in the tub Irish county bordering Limerick Infantile vocalizations, and a hint to the starts of 17-, 25-, 37- and 50-Across Illegal parker's risk Help with a heist Have a good laugh Guffaw Grunting female Fort Bragg mil. branch Formal pronouncements Fermented honey drink FDR agency Facial expression Face adversity well Eyelid sore Ex-GIs' gp Dueling sword Doofus Disputed Mideast territory Delivers a lecture Dates one person exclusively Dandelion, e.g Curved molding Cries of triumph Confined, as a bird Bridal attire Boston hrs Bogart film set in a California range Bell hit with a padded mallet Baja vacation spot Avocado dip, for short Autumn blossom Anniversary celebration at the Met, say Address for a noblewoman Actor Erwin 'That's all __ wrote' 'Hannah and __ Sisters': Woody Allen film 'Come again?' sounds - See more at: http://crosswordssolver.net/clue/L.A.-Times-Daily-Crossword-Answers---Jan-17-2017#sthash.1L9brcz4.dpuf
___ de Triomphe ___ Aviv, Israel Word with 'flotation' or 'mnemonic' Where to let your fingers do the shopping? Where to find Santiago Wheel shafts Wet marshy place Was picturesque? Turn tail Tree part used for timber The Inuit, old-style Temporary property holder Taking a personal day Supply the food Spiral-horned African creature Some missing soldiers Soccer mom's org Soaked up some rays Shoe type Sheepish expanse See 32-Across Sang 'Silent Night' here and there Royal Indian woman (var.) Resist a roaming charge Ran its course Ramble on Plumber's pipe material (Abbr.) Part of an English exam, often Part of a willow tree Not a st Neptune is one Name tag, essentially Muzzleloader accessory Miner's valuable discovery MacKenzie of old beer ads Long, broad strips Like some islands Like Count Basie's 'Doll' Least wild It's far from the point? It knows which way the wind is blowing Infra's opposite Honey relative? Hit the horn on a subcompact Handy pencil holder Greek lyric poet Glide high Flat back muscle, briefly Flaps the gums Feature of a building in Oz? Fairy-tale beast Eye part Equipped and trained for the job Eggs, in a lab Drummer's forte Dressy trousers feature Dentist's directive Den newcomer Comedy, sci-fi or drama, e.g Columbus' state Cleans oneself Chisel for a stonemason Cancel, as a law Butting heads Bracket-braced window Blooper originating in an alley? Batting practice structures Bad thing to have at a housewarming? Atty's. group Athletic supporter? Alfred Hitchcock-shaped fruit Achieve victory 90-degree joint 'It doesn't matter which' 'Here!' 'Eight ___, and all's well!' - See more at: http://crosswordssolver.net/clue/Universal-Crossword-Answers---Jan-17-2017#sthash.tQWCMrrj.dpuf
World Series official With 61- and 37-Across, famous line by 53-Across in [see circled letters] With 51-Down, late, beloved actress When Polonius says 'Brevity is the soul of wit' Tusked beast Turnoff for drivers Tree-lined walkway, in France The 'E' in HOMES Tennis champ Agassi Swoon Swindles Squeak stopper Speak with a gravelly voice So far, informally Sign of things to come See 2-Down See 18-Across See 18-Across Renaissance Faire instrument Reference in 'Treasure Island' Real head-turners? Rae Sremmurd, e.g Puppy sounds Place where trials are conducted Online crafts seller Nubian heroine of opera Not deceived by Nosedive Non's opposite Mont Blanc, e.g., to locals Modern lead-in to space or security Michelangelo masterpiece Merit badge displayer Makeup of the planet Hoth Make slo-o-o-ow progress Like old, neglected sweaters, maybe Knock 'em dead Kind of threat Is victorious in Influence In fine ___ (healthy) Iconic role for 2-/51-Down Hitting blackjack after blackjack, say Hell-bent (on) Heeds Having four sharps Hairstyle for 53-Across, colloquially Formerly named Figure on an Aussie Xing sign, perhaps Family member who was probably adopted Essential point Entitled sorts? Drag Deviate during flight, as a rocket Deal with a broken teleprompter, say Cripple Country singer Judd Concealed mike Coffee container Chant after a fútbol goal Certain marketing gimmicks British derrière Brand of artificial fat Beer barrel Amy Adams's 'Man of Steel' role Ambience Alan who played Captain Pierce Agree to a proposal Agonizes (over) A few '___ late!' '___ a trap!' 'What have we here?!' 'Same here!' 'Harrumph!' 'Doctor Faustus' novelist Thomas - See more at: http://crosswordssolver.net/clue/New-York-Times-Crossword-Answers---Jan-17-2017#sthash.5SfJNoYV.dpuf
___ Minor (Polaris setting) World's longest river Without charge Winter Olympian Winning hand, and a hint to the puzzle theme Williams of 'Game of Thrones' Wax-coated cheese Two-time role for Jim Carrey Ticklish Muppet Tap Take home Take advantage of Supporting vote Source Snake-haired monsters of myth Small bills Skilled in Skating sites Singer DiFranco Salad bar item RuPaul, notably River through Florence Pressing need? President before Hayes Poker ploy Pleasant Place to get pampered Pile Ocean off Calif Not barefoot Musical sound Movie beast billed as 'the Eighth Wonder of the World' Mother who was sainted in 2016 Monsoon weather Miles away McGregor of 'Moulin Rouge!' Malleable metal Mah-jongg piece Lip curls Like cigars and enchiladas Like an old cuss Lamb's mother Knotted mass Headache helper Halliwell also known as Ginger Spice Glacier National Park locale Generous General Bradley Fraternity letters Former Yankees slugger, familiarly Fast-running bird Fashion designer Michael Farrow of 'Rosemary's Baby' Even so Drink cooler Deteriorate Danny of 'Moonstruck' Cut, as hay Countless Coffee dispensers Chamber group Busy hosp. areas Bullring cry Bullring beast British flag Bread for a Reuben Bloomingdale's rival Bicycle type Bearded antelope Bauxite and magnetite Banned insecticide Asian entertainer Army address Archipelago unit 'Yo!' 'Scarface' star 'Oh, got it!' 'Maple Leaf Rag' composer - See more at: http://crosswordssolver.net/clue/Wall-Street-Journal-Crossword-Answers---Jan-17-2017---Good-Deal#sthash.4y4sGb49.dpuf
Words on a box of dishes, maybe Word after black or photo West Virginia resource URL suffix for AA or AARP Triumphs over Trade verbal jabs Tex-Mex snacks Ten C-notes Tabloid twosomes St. Louis landmark Sporty auto, for short Spock, in part Sell, as an automat does Score before ad in Ready to serve Rash symptom Rail rider Put on hold Princess Fiona, for one Picnic contest, perhaps Parkinson's treatment Paleontologist's find Origami bird Off one's rocker O, on a greeting card Norman who created the Bunkers Minnesota state bird Merchant's supply Memory unit Luau greeting Like some family history Like Mayberry Like die-hard fans Level or bevel Leprechaun land, in poetry Kitchen allure Kept back Jury member, in theory Judgment slip-up Jawbone source, in the Bible Jagger and McCartney, for two It's on the house Inherited item In a funk Honor ___ thieves Henry VIII's house Hefty volume Heart chamber Hard to rattle Goes to seed Gathering clouds, to some Fraternal fellows Flipped item Fifth-century sacker of Rome Fairy tale starter Destinations of some errant drives Deejay's smooth transition Dark ___ (Hogwarts subject) Cruiser driver Cross to bear Come-on Cat calls Carbon monoxide's lack Calculus pioneer Leonhard Brief time, briefly Baskin-Robbins implement Barley brew Bake sale sponsor (Abbr.) Arabian Peninsula sultanate Any of the Dionne quints Aerie babies ABM part 44-Down, e.g 41-Across multitude 1933 Erskine Caldwell novel 1-Down et al 'Sully,' for one 'Frozen' snowman - See more at: http://daily-crossword.com/clue/USA-Today-Crossword-Answers---Jan-17-2017#sthash.J15TgIzV.dpuf
__ monster (Arizona lizard) __ Major (Big Dipper locale) When planes should leave: Abbr Vote in Vocal inflections Veggies in minestrone Urgent Unruly kid Unable to move Traffic tie-up Tango or waltz Talks and talks Takes advantage of Take to court Swelled heads Squeaking rodents Spherical hairdo South Pole's region Small citrus fruits Singing star Lady __ Side order with eggs Short golf stroke Second-year student School attendee Sandwich fish San Francisco baseballers Sacred music genre Remove chalk from Read electronically Ram of the zodiac Racing bikes Postpones Players who are paid Pellet shooter Pay-__-view movie Pacific or Atlantic Overwhelmingly Offer for purchase Movie excerpt More elegant Loch __ monster Likes a lot Less common Laundry appliance Japanese money Japan's continent Informal talk Huff and puff Hoofbeat sound Honey source Greek liqueur Great poker cards Get a glimpse of G sharp alias Furniture to sleep on Football arbiters Fly high Entice Ensnare Embarrass Drop __ (visit briefly) Copper-coated coin Competent Classroom furniture Charged towards Breakfast potatoes Block, as a river Billionaires' boats Barnyard cacklers Baking appliance Backbone Atmospheric layer All over again A Great Lake ''That's too bad'' ''Taps'' instruments ''Once __ a time . . .'' ''Hurry up!'' - See more at: http://daily-crossword.com/clue/Newsday.com-Crossword-Answers---Jan-17-2017#sthash.wEoUkjOP.dpuf
___ choice Words that encourage people to do as they're told With a traveling band Wind down Washed Ward off Varsity QB, to some Trojan War hero They smell in a pigsty Taking care of business Swindle Stinger Sounds of disapproval Snapped out of it Small diamond, perhaps Served up a whopper Sean Connery, for one Really bad coffee Raggedy doll Pulled tight Proctor's call POTUS appointee Participates at a certain kind of meet One who gets everything Muscle quality Most intense Middle of London? Man of La Mancha 
'Hannah and __ Sisters': Woody Allen film 'Come again?' sounds
0 notes