Category: Local / Living

What do you KNOW is true without evidence? What are you certain of, right down to your bones, without proof? – Askreddit

What do you KNOW is true without evidence? What are you certain of, right down to your bones, without proof? from r/AskReddit

shiftycornfeathers
Dejavu comes from previous dreams

koreanwings
My phone is listening to me, it’s simply not a coincidence any more how my targeted ads change directly related to and after a conversation. People say we are just more predictable than we think but I mention something I haven’t even thought about for years and there it is on Instagram.

NeighborhoodNerd0
There’s a travel agency that’s been around in my town for as long as I can remember. I wholeheartedly believe it’s a front for the mob.

DeshaundreWatkins
Flat earthers are just doing it for attention. They really don’t think the earth is flat.

spazmcgee1
Epstein didn’t kill himself

Locust627
McDonald’s coke hits different than any coke I’ve ever had.

covid-19survivor
Life exists outside of Earth. I can’t imagine a universe where we are the only life.

HeronBaron
Every generation after my own is fuuuuuuucked.

Skiigga
People with lower IQ’s are happier because they aren’t constantly overthinking, looking for self-transcendence, analyzing everything around them, and expecting too much of themselves

SandF
Gut bacterial imbalance can change a person fundamentally — physically, mentally, emotionally. One day they’re going to cure some impossibly vexing diseases and conditions when they figure out that it’s all connected to what lives in your guts.

Homelessness in Denver, In the News

Homeless advocates, including the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless and Denver Homeless Out Loud, who are bringing water and coronavirus tests to the camps, say it’s never been more obvious that Colorado needs better long-term solutions, mainly affordable housing. Sweeping the camps and booting people without homes out of downtown, advocates say, only pushes them to the underpasses, along the river paths and out to the suburbs.

…
People have always camped outside at night in Denver, but many of them spent their days at the public library or recreation centers or day shelters — places that have closed during the pandemic. Now, more people who are homeless set up camp and stay put all day.

Homeless camps in downtown Denver are “out of control” as the pandemic drags on. So what’s the solution?
One nonprofit counted 30 encampments and 664 tents. The tent cities are growing more persistent as Denver has backed off enforcing the camping ban.
Jennifer Brown
Colorado Sun

Tell Your Lawmaker to Protect the Programs That Feed Hungry Kids

1 in 7 kids in America struggle with hunger. This takes a profound toll on their health, their happiness, and their ability to find success in the future.

But ending childhood hunger is a problem with a solution. As a member of congress, you have the chance to help end hunger for kids in our country. Please support and protect the federal nutrition programs that provide children in need with consistent, reliable access to food.

This is important for kids; it’s also important for your state. When we make sure kids get the food they need, they feel better, learn more and grow up stronger. And that means a smarter, healthier, economically stronger state.

Programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, school meals and WIC work together to make sure kids have access to the food they need, regardless of zip code, age or time of year. This is fundamental to ending childhood hunger in our state and across America.

I urge you to support these programs. Kids are counting on you.

You can go here and send this message to your lawmaker:
No Kid Hungry

JBJ Soul Kitchen

At his JBJ Soul Kitchen, a non-profit community restaurant in New Jersey, diners pay a cash donation that covers their meal and a meal for someone in need.

But amid earlier Covid-19 restrictions, the restaurant — run by the Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation — could only remain open for takeout.

Without its regular in-house volunteer base, the kitchen kept operations afloat with the help of the rock star dishwasher.

“There’s an in-need population here in New Jersey who depend on us,” Bon Jovi told CNN in April. “Hence, the All-Star Hall of Fame dishwasher is back in business.”

From rock superstar to all-star dishwasher, Jon Bon Jovi is keeping his community fed
Allie Torgan, CNN

Bureaucratic Complexity, Example Of

Working beneficiaries of S.S.I. generally keep their first $85 in income each month, after which they lose $1 in benefits for every $2 of earnings, what amounts to a 50 percent marginal “tax rate.” Receiving food and shelter from family or friends cuts the amount of the benefit by one-third. Beneficiaries are prohibited from saving more than $2,000. This limit has been the same since 1984.

Beneficiaries can keep additional assets and income by setting up a Plan to Achieve Self Support — a written plan that must be submitted to and approved by the agency — but doing so is sufficiently complex that only 568 people in the entire country made use of this option in 2018. Nor are benefits so generous that recipients have no need to work — the monthly federal S.S.I. payment for 2020 was a mere $783. While many states supplement this, recipients still face terrible poverty.

A ‘Safety Net’ That’s a Kafkaesque Mess
The Supplemental Security Income program, on which millions of disabled Americans depend, is daunting by design.
Ari Ne’eman
NYTIMES

Cenikor, Rehab, and Forced Labor

A nationally renowned drug rehab program in Texas and Louisiana has sent patients struggling with addiction to work for free for some of the biggest companies in America, likely in violation of federal labor law.

The Cenikor Foundation has dispatched tens of thousands of patients to work without pay at more than 300 for-profit companies over the years. In the name of rehabilitation, patients have moved boxes in a sweltering warehouse for Walmart, built an oil platform for Shell and worked at an Exxon refinery along the Mississippi River.

“It’s like the closest thing to slavery,” said Logan Tullier, a former Cenikor participant who worked 10 hours per day at oil refineries, laying steel rebar in 115-degree heat. “We were making them all the money.”

They worked in sweltering heat for Exxon, Shell and Walmart. They didn’t get paid a dime
Constant work leaves little time for counseling or treatment, transforming rehab patients into a cheap, expendable labor pool for private companies.
Amy Julia Harris and Shoshana Walter,
Reveal

See also: Debtors Prisons, Return of in Mississippi

Crises in Lebanon

A currency collapse is raising prices for everything and an overall economic collapse is making imported meat soar to about $25 a pound, driving Lebanese to the brink.

“Some people perceive bartering as a terrible thing, using it to explain how desperate we are… No, Lebanese are not poor, they are generous people who need to maintain their dignity,” “Lebanon barters” creator told Hassan Hasna.

“A Lebanese person would say: ‘Yes, the economic situation is tough, and the situation is deteriorating but it doesn’t mean I want to humiliate myself and beg. I am willing to barter a piece of clothing in exchange for bread.’ I am proud of such people. They’re doing the impossible to survive and live with dignity.”

france24.com

Lebanon Barters facebook group

Counting Tents for the Homeless in Denver

DENVER — Anyone who drives by the Capitol can see a community in crisis.

For months, tents have filled the grounds of Lincoln Park just east of the building.

“The fact that we have a moment now where our mass homelessness is visible means that we have a moment to face reality and start working on real solutions which means housing,” said Terese Howard, an activist with Denver Homeless Out Loud.

664 tents counted in homeless camps across Denver ‘shows a picture of just how massive our homelessness crisis is’
Noel Brennan
9News.com

What’s classy if you’re rich but trashy if you’re poor? AskReddit


What’s classy if you’re rich but trashy if you’re poor? from AskReddit

chowderneck
The most expensive thing you own is a really old car.

splonkFlooper
Having a lawyer’s business card in your wallet.

Spoonhorse
Being called Duke. Or Earl.

Itskevin91
Living at a hotel

audguy
Getting money from the government.

waleed2198
Showing up to a formal occasion in t-shirt and jeans.

Cocobean4
Substance abuse. Rich people are ‘troubled’ whereas poor people are just junkies.

CadetCovfefe
Also mental disorders. Howard Hughes locks himself in his room, doesn’t shower and starts pissing in bottles and he’s an eccentric genius that gets a movie made about him by Martin Scorsese. Dude down the block does it and he’s just a nut.

reddit

My take – Moving around. If you’re rich it means you travel and are jet set. If you’re poor it means your transient and rootless.

Strike For Black Lives

From Boston to San Francisco, essential workers in cities around the U.S. walked off their jobs and took to the streets Monday to demand racial and economic justice as part of a nationwide “Strike for Black Lives.”

The planned day of strikes and protests was organized by 60 different labor unions and racial and social justice organizations, from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters to the Movement for Black Lives to the U.S. Youth Climate Strike Coalition.
…
In Chicago, fast food workers marched to a local McDonald’s where multiple workers had tested positive for the virus. Fast food workers in Florida walked off the job. In Durham, N.C., crowds observed a moment of silence before breaking into chants calling for $15 an hour. They also painted “Strike For Black Lives” in block letters on the street.

In Detroit, workers at five nursing homes participated in a walkout to protest low wages and poor working conditions, exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic. And in San Francisco, 1,500 janitors walked off the job.

NPR

“I can afford to stay alive a little while longer” – Paying for Insulin in the US

"I can afford to stay alive a little while longer" from ABoringDystopia

Negatoris_Wrecks My cousin needs a kidney. He has a volunteer match. Donor’s insurance wont cover it.

TechnicallyHuman But fuck is our health care system broken. I went to a new hospital WITH insurance that’s with in my network and bam. 300$ new patient fee. Never mentioned. Fucking racket.

Straight men of Reddit, what is the strangest thing you have been told not to do because “that’s gay”?


Straight men of Reddit, what is the strangest thing you have been told not to do because "that’s gay"? from AskReddit

TheDeadGunslinger
I said I like it when it rains.

omgitzrick
Raining men?

justinduderino
Putting on sunscreen.

rubbleone
Somebody called me gay for doing that before too. I didn’t realize as a hetero I was supposed to die of skin cancer.

kindredflame
I’m gay and I wear sunscreen because skin cancer is for straight men.

mybustersword
One time a girl thought I was gay because I was attentive during sex. I’m not even joking

LoloXIV
Loving your girlfriend / wife and wanting her to feel good?
What kind of gay shit is this?

random_username_94
Eating at a sushi restaurant with another guy

irishamerican
At work I once complimented another man on his outfit. My male co-workers looked at me as if I had asked if he had naked photos of himself I could see.

Grumpel-Stiltskin
Broke a guy’s jaw in high school, sent him a get well card while he was in the hospital. He called me gay for sending the card

Collucin
80s kid here. Anything involving showing emotion is gay. Wearing any clothing that isn’t muted is gay. Stating that something is cute is gay. Getting excited about hobbies is gay. Calling your guy friends to talk is gay. Crying is gay. Airing grievances of everyday life is gay. Washing your butthole is gay. Using lotion other than jacking off is gay. Shaving anything other than your face and neck is gay.

beencaughtbuttering
I grew up in the 80’s too. My teenage son came along with me once to a get-together of some old high school friends of mine. I had a great time shooting the shit, playing cards, and having beers with those guys. Afterwards, my son remarked that it seemed like we didn’t actually like each other all that much – like there was an undertone of aggression to the whole night. I didn’t notice it at all, but watching him and his friends interact, it became clear to me why he would think that. He and his friends seem to always be genuinely kind to each other and supportive of one another and don’t make “jokes” at each other’s expense. That’s actually pretty cool. Kinda gay, but cool.

Unequal Justice, Example of

Judge Les Hayes once sentenced a single mother to 496 days behind bars for failing to pay traffic tickets. The sentence was so stiff it exceeded the jail time Alabama allows for negligent homicide.

Marquita Johnson, who was locked up in April 2012, says the impact of her time in jail endures today. Johnson’s three children were cast into foster care while she was incarcerated. One daughter was molested, state records show. Another was physically abused.

“Judge Hayes took away my life and didn’t care how my children suffered,” said Johnson, now 36. “My girls will never be the same.”

Fellow inmates found her sentence hard to believe. “They had a nickname for me: The Woman with All the Days,” Johnson said. “That’s what they called me: The Woman with All the Days. There were people who had committed real crimes who got out before me.”

In the past dozen years, state and local judges have repeatedly escaped public accountability for misdeeds that have victimized thousands. Nine of 10 kept their jobs, a Reuters investigation found – including an Alabama judge who unlawfully jailed hundreds of poor people, many of them Black, over traffic fines.

Michael Berens And John Shiffman
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-judges-misconduct/

Spinoza and the False Tag

“More than three centuries ago, Baruch Spinoza pointed out that the human mind cannot suspend disbelief in the truth or falsity of a statement and leave it hanging in logical limbo awaiting a “true” or “false” tag to be hung on it. To hear or read a statement is to believe it, at least for a moment. For us to conclude that something is not the case, we must take the extra cognitive step of pinning the mental tag “false” on a proposition. Any statement that is untagged is treated as if it is true. As a result, when we have a lot on our minds, we can get confused about where the “false” tag belongs, or can forget it entirely. In that case what is merely mentioned can become true. Richard Nixon did not allay suspicions about his character when he declared, “I am not a crook,” nor did Bill Clinton put rumors to rest when he said, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman.” Experiments have shown that when jurors are told to disregard the witness’s remarks, they never do, any more than you can follow the instruction “For the next minute, try not to think about a white bear.””

Pinker, Steven. The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person’s Guide to Writing in the 21st Century