#Government Bus Timings
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public transit strike is letting me microdose living in an american city
#bus to work was late and let us off in the middle of the street cause the traffic was slowing us down so bad 👍#made it to the stop on time for the bus back home but it was full and had to wait 30 min for the next one 👍#this one also couldn’t let everyone waiting on 👍#fuck our government for real solidarity to the strikers i will be making a little gon&tonic when i get home 👍
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You can tell Biden's washed because the libs are already using like September/October You Have To Vote its the Most Important Election of Our Lifetime kinda language in January. Meanwhile Biden's website doesnt even have an issues page yet. lol.
#its sooooo funny how much the democratic establishment hates its base like damn youre really throwing your only shooters under the bus#no leadership its like they dont even want it!#hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm#its almost as if#like labour and the tories are discovering for the umpteenth time#its easier to fundraise and coast in your job when youre in the opposition and dont have to actually govern
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Was looking if there is literally any apartment in my area, and there is just none.
(At least based on size, because I can't have any that's bigger than 45 qm, if I remember that correctly, because that's the most the jobcenter would pay for, and there is technically one, but that one is in the far off village with the worst possible public transport and no store in the village, so you have to have a car to be able to live there. Or the little bit of public transport would also be too expensive, because fuck having public transport that is actually usable by people who are most dependent on it, fuck you, germany)
#the german government is just constantly ignoring poor people#especially those who can't have a job and just keep discouraging them from trying#when hartz iv is way too little but trying to have a part time job means you would lose most of that money#which. why would you work for hours if you only get like 30 euros extra#also public transport in villages and small towns is just horrible#i can barely afford going to my therapist twice a month because it's already over 30 euros#and the bus only takes 1 hour there and 1 hour back#and then they wonder why people aren't taking the bus#besides how villages barely get a bus#or how there is almost nothing on weekends#also just getting hartz iv already makes it almost impossible to get an apartment#because landlords think of us as the worst possible people#while we also get treated like shit by the jobcenter#i really hate this. okay? i had to deal with this for almost 4 years now#and it's not fun at all#at least i don't get so much pressuring to take whatever shitty job they have for me#because they themselves say i'm not able to work#-isaac
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being involved in local politics is exhausting
#primaries for city and state government are tomorrow#i haven’t done anything about state but i still have time#i’ve been too focused on the mayor and city council positions and developing strong feelings#there’s somebody running for city council who lives in elko new market and when asked about the state of business in my town had no idea#she’s running on principles of being a good business person that is her entire pitch and she doesn’t know anything about local businesses#she also doesn’t care at all about wage and says they should leave it to the state#which i think is ridiculous when minneapolis raised their wage to $15 because now the majority represented won’t care about state anymore#like most of minnesota already has living wage and so nobody is going to care about the rest of us#(reasons i would ideally be able to ride the bus 40 minutes a day to minneapolis to work)#anyway i’ve been researching candidates and telling my sister who to vote for since she’s 18 this year#i’m never going to personally vote in any minnesota elections (moving out at 17) so i’m doing all the advisory i can while i’m still here#anyway most of the people running for office are old white people with scandals in their past#or weird rich people who don’t even live here who just want an easier election than the cities#which makes me so angry honestly. people who run for office here because they wouldn’t make it in st paul#they run for office here because it’s a smaller voter base and not too far of a commute. and know absolutely nothing about who we are#and like. i don’t have immense loyalty to this town. i belong to three of them for goodness sake but just. idk!!#i want the people running the town i work in to be people who actually care about local businesses#and i want them to care about workers rights and raising the wage and encouraging diversity and stuff that personally affects me#i hate how all the elections in my town are people who are too conservative for the twin cities and don’t care what suburb they choose#because sure i live in just another stupid suburb but maybe i actually care about it a little and maybe i want people to care who we are#anyway. yeah. hopefully my encouragement of my family to vote will make a difference#sorry for ranting about suburban minnesota politics. audience of no one. but yeah idk#me. my post. mine.
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You know, if inflation is currently about 8%, saying you don't know what you'll set the annual rent increase cap at but it won't be higher than inflation doesn't exactly make people feel secure.
Especially if your government is actively fighting multiple unions—two of whom are on strike—because you refuse to update the contracts to account for inflation and cost of living.
#and three more unions are looking to strike in the fall over this#with the government having tried to get around one of the current ones#until it was found out and the union went 'lol no' and now there's million dollars of product that no union member will touch#also the government is saying people are being stupid for not taking a one-time $2500 bonus and a $0.25/h increase#as if that bonus won't be gone in a month or two at the latest#and $2/day is pathetic and can't buy anything#can't even ride a bus for that amount#but they're putting out all this propaganda that it's a super amazing deal and the unions are being selfish#(meanwhile the government gave itself a 10% raise PLUS cost of living wage indexing less than a year ago)#(saying they were paid too little and needed it because it's so expensive to live due to inflation and static wages)#but yeah#government employees (not politicians) are currently on strike#parts of the public employees union are on strike and the rest looking to follow#teachers are looking to strike later in the year when their contract is up#and the nurses union also has their contract up in a few months and are figuring out strike action now#there's another union also looking to strike but i can't remember which one#i think hydro? or maybe ferries#or both#basically every union in the province is planning on striking in bc by end of the year since all the contracts are up or coming up#and the government refuses to address anything with the finance minister having gone mia
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Actually, I think that homophobes in Congress wanted to find a way to criminalize being gay well before a twink got fucked on camera in a Senate hearing room and the video was released to conservative media as an act of revenge porn because the staffer in question told a genocidal and homophobic congressman “Free Palestine” to his face.
There are rapists on the US Supreme Court and I’m supposed to clutch my pearls over two men having consensual sex in the Senate? Oh! Heavens to Betsy! The first time sex acts have been committed in a government building! Are the shades of Congress to be thus polluted?
But, for the record, no amount of sanitizing your sex life or sanding down of your LGBT edges will make bigots accept you. So, don’t debase yourself by capitulating an inch to them, especially in ways that throw your fellow community members under the bus.
#not people in the comments thinking I was serious about believing this was the first sex act in a government building#i was alive during the Clinton admin folks lol
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🗣️THIS IS WHAT INCLUSIVE, COMPASSIONATE DEMOCRACY LOOKS LIKE
Minnesota Dems enacted a raft of laws to make the state a trans refuge, and ensure people receiving trans care here can't be reached by far-right governments in places like Florida and Texas. (link)
Minnesota Dems ensured that everyone, including undocumented immigrants, can get drivers' licenses. (link)
They made public college free for the majority of Minnesota families. (link)
Minnesota Dems dropped a billion dollars into a bevy of affordable housing programs, including by creating a new state housing voucher program. (link)
Minnesota Dems massively increased funding for the state's perpetually-underfunded public defenders, which lets more public defenders be hired and existing public defenders get a salary increase. (link)
Dems raised Minnesota education spending by 10%, or about 2.3 billion. (link)
Minnesota Dems created an energy standard for 100% carbon-free electricity by 2040. (link)
Minnesota already has some of the strongest election infrastructure (and highest voter participation) in the country, but the legislature just made it stronger, with automatic registration, preregistration for minors, and easier access to absentee ballots. (link)
Minnesota Dems expanded the publicly subsidized health insurance program to undocumented immigrants. This one's interesting because it's the sort of things Dems often balk at. The governor opposed it! The legislature rolled over him and passed it anyway. (link)
Minnesota Dems expanded background checks and enacted red-flag laws, passing gun safety measures that the GOP has thwarted for years. (link)
Minnesota Dems gave the state AG the power to block the huge healthcare mergers that have slowly gobbled up the state's medical system. (link)
Minnesota Dems restored voting rights to convicted felons as soon as they leave prison. (link)
Minnesota Dems made prison phone calls free. (link)
Minnesota Dems passed new wage protection rules for the construction industry, against industry resistance. (link)
Minnesota Dems created a new sales tax to fund bus and train lines, an enormous victory for the sustainability and quality of public transit. Transit be more pleasant to ride, more frequent, and have better shelters, along more lines. (link)
They passed strict new regulations on PFAS ("forever chemicals"). (link)
Minnesota Dems passed the largest bonding bill in state history! Funding improvements to parks, colleges, water infrastructure, bridges, etc. etc. etc. (link)
They're going to build a passenger train from the Twin Cities to Duluth. (link)
I can't even find a news story about it but there's tens of millions in funding for new BRT lines, too. (link)
A wonky-but-important change: Minnesota Dems indexed the state gas tax to inflation, effectively increasing the gas tax. (link)
They actually indexed a bunch of stuff to inflation, including the state's education funding formula, which helps ensure that school spending doesn't decline over time. (link)
Minnesota Dems made hourly school workers (e.g., bus drivers and paraprofessionals) eligible for unemployment during summer break, when they're not working or getting paid. (link)
Minnesota Dems passed a bunch of labor protections for teachers, including requiring school districts to negotiate class sizes as part of union contracts. (Yet another @SydneyJordanMN special here. (link)
Minnesota Dems created a state board to govern labor standards at nursing homes. (link)
Minnesota Dems created a Prescription Drug Affordability Board, which would set price caps for high-cost pharmaceuticals. (link)
Minnesota Dems created new worker protections for Amazon warehouse workers and refinery workers. (link)
Minnesota Dems passed a digital fair repair law, which requires electronics manufacturers to make tools and parts available so that consumers can repair their electronics rather than purchase new items. (link)
Minnesota Dems made Juneteenth a state holiday. (link)
Minnesota Dems banned conversion therapy. (link)
They spent nearly a billion dollars on a variety of environmental programs, from heat pumps to reforestation. (link)
Minnesota Dems expanded protections for pregnant and nursing workers - already in place for larger employers - to almost everyone in the state. (link)
Minnesota Dems created a new child tax credit that will cut child poverty by about a quarter. (link)
Minnesota Democrats dropped a quick $50 million into homelessness prevention programs. (link)
And because the small stuff didn't get lost in the big stuff, they passed a law to prevent catalytic converter thefts. (link)
Minnesota Dems increased child care assistance. (link)
Minnesota Dems banned "captive audience meetings," where employers force employees to watch anti-union presentations. (link)
No news story yet, but Minnesota Dems forced signal priority changes to Twin Cities transit. Right now the trains have to wait at intersections for cars, which, I can say from experience, is terrible. Soon that will change.
Minnesota Dems provided the largest increase to nursing home funding in state history. (link)
They also bumped up salaries for home health workers, to help address the shortage of in-home nurses. (link)
Minnesota Dems legalized drug paraphernalia, which allows social service providers to conduct needle exchanges and address substance abuse with reduced fear of incurring legal action. (link)
Minnesota Dems banned white supremacists and extremists from police forces, capped probation at 5 years for most crimes, improved clemency, and mostly banned no-knock warrants. (link)
Minnesota Dems also laid the groundwork for a public health insurance option. (link)
I’m happy for the people of Minnesota, but as a Floridian living under Ron DeSantis & hateful Republicans, I’m also very envious tbh. We know that democracy can work, and this is a shining example of what government could be like in the hands of legislators who actually care about helping people in need, and not pursuing the GOP’s “culture wars” and suppressing the votes of BIPOC, and inflicting maximum harm on those who aren’t cis/het, white, wealthy, Christian males. BRAVO MINNESOTA. This is how you do it! And the Minnesota Dems did it with a one seat majority, so no excuses. Forget about the next election and focus on doing as much good as you can, while you still can. 👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿
👉🏿 https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1660846689450688514.html
#politics#minnesota#social justice#culture wars#this is what democracy looks like#republicans are evil
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I've been thinking a lot lately about the gaps i had in my education growing up on elements of local government and community projects, at least through school.
Rules of Order, and the assumed standards for community meetings. I grew up the around them, and I'm familiar with the structure, but it was never explicitly given explanation to me. Also organizational roles and the basics of parliamentary procedure. navigating how goddamn easy it is to get lost in the weeds of details in these things
Local government positions and the extent of what they can do
the frameworks of local governing boards, and how regulations are enforced (i think especially about contracts, in relation to HOAs and along that line).
workers rights (STILL mad about that. flat out)
County news circulation and the full extent of public records, like where to access what information, or why it's important
the full extent of library resources
#ive been thinking a lot about the weird constant shifting dynamics of town county state and federal governance#and i just mean stuff concretely - there are plenty of things you end up navigating peripherally#i also know that (for my generation specifically) that folks were trying very hard to keep up with how things have changed technologically#and that research skills have shifted#also this is an aside but i find it hugely frustrating how little you can access on a community level without a phone/computer/internet#like meeting details or times#or even just??? a bus schedule??
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in this time where people will talk about not wishing ill will on an old woman let it be known the uk government have shown nothing but vicious apathy towards pensioners, during covid and during the cost of living crisis.
boris johnson was told how pensioners were riding the bus to avoid staying at home due to the horrendous cost of heating their homes and he waved it off by talking about his implementation of the scheme that allowed pensioners free transport.
the hypocrisy is clear.
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i hate when i get completely derailed from studying by massive panic about something completely irrelevant
#was studying for calc#and after about an hour or two decided to give myself a break#and in that time i saw the countdown till my flight home i have on the home screen#at which point i was hit by an wave of panic that im 1) 18 now so need a government id and 2) i don't fucking have a government id#this led to me frantically googling assorted tsa shit for literally three hours straight#because I can't get a non driver id bc im out of state and the only passport place you can get a passport within two weeks is over 5hr away#so then i started frantically googling alternatives and while they do have secondary ids or an interview as options#they recommend getting there hours early and the earliest a bus gets there is 2.5 hr before my flight#so THEN i started scouring the internet for random stories of people encountering the same thing#and found several sources saying i can bring a student id birth certificate and ss card#which i have so there's at least a chance ig#and that's when i remembered i have a calc exam tomorrow morning and still have a ton of studying to do AND haven't eaten since yesterday#so ig imma make some ramen and cram till 5am#well at least i can probably ask my parents to take me to get an id at the DMV#because im actually a resident where i livr
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incomplete list of fun stories about my dad:
at uni he and half a dozen of his friends stole a half-ton stone statue of a lion from another college, got it on a barge, and hoisted it up under London Bridge where it was found hanging the next morning
my mother and I once lost him at Trafalgar Square and he told us later he was just sitting on top of the plinth of Nelson's Column waiting for us. we never found out how a 55-year-old professor who barely ever went outside scaled a 6 metre bronze relief of the Battle of the Nile or why he thought we would look for him up there
he worked for the UN for a while and ended up in Prague on a research trip in the '60s. within three hours of landing he'd ditched his government handler and found his way to an underground anti-Soviet resistance speakeasy
he was raised Catholic. when the Vatican came out against the birth control pill he formally left the church but only after screaming "all you care about is controlling women" at his priest in public and sending the Pope a personal hate letter
when I emailed him to tell him I had started seeing a nonbinary person he wrote back with a six-paragraph rant about how much understanding of the wondrous variety of human experience had been denied to his generation
he got invited to an event at Buckingham Palace back in the '80s and responded with a letter addressed directly to the Duke of Edinburgh saying he might try and make it if he didn't have anything to do at work or anything he wanted to watch on TV that day
one time I was on a bus with him and he saw someone he thought was doing a cosplay but he was very wrong and basically went up to a stranger who was out having a perfectly normal time and complimented her on looking like a robot assassin
he started a formal debating society in his nursing home without any of the staff knowing about it
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Hey Mei 🫶
Here’s my idea - BAU!wife who yells at Hotch when he yells at their team members because she’s a protective momma bear. And hotch secretly loves it because his wife yelling gets him all hot and bothered.
Love you 🫶 and your writing thank you 🧡
Perhaps it's an unwise idea to pick a fight with your surly husband, especially because he doubles as your surly boss. But Spencer hadn't even been that late, and you know he only walked in late because he takes public transportation, and he couldn't control that the bus was late. And, Aaron's only in such a sour mood because Jack had given him typical teenage attitude before school this morning. So really, Spencer didn't deserve the near-shouted lecture he'd gotten.
You march over to the young doctor's desk, happy that his aversion to touch applies to people he's not familiar with. He leans into your stomach when you pull his head to rest on it, albeit stiffly, and you call after your husband with narrowed, fierce eyes.
"Aaron, come back here right now and apologize." You demand, and the already icy mood in the office shifts a few degrees colder. Aaron stops on the stairs and by the tightness of his shoulders he's composing himself, then he turns on his heel and raises a thick brow at you.
"What?"
"He didn't deserve that," You scold him, keeping Spencer's head cradled to your stomach as you stroke down his back, "He's a baby."
Aaron rolls his eyes, "He is not a baby, Y/N. He's a grown man with a government job, and I expect him to show up to it on time."
"He does! He's early every single other day," You remind him, "But the bus came late today! How was he supposed to get here? Uber? You know he doesn't know how to download new apps! Let alone link his bank account to pay the guy. He was seven minutes late, for fuck's sake, just leave him alone!"
Aaron looks like he wants to snap. You've gnashed your teeth at him, and he's lived the life of a fighting dog thus far, so you know you're treading in dangerous waters. But after a rather intense stare down in which you feel Spencer's face heating up through the fabric of your shirt, your husband swallows his pride and mutters, "I expect you in my office within five minutes, Y/N."
Spencer mumbles some feeble protest on your behalf but you pat his back to shush him, letting go so that he can straighten up again.
"Don't worry," You send him a warm smile, "I can handle him. Call me if you ever need a ride again, okay? We can come pick you up."
"Okay." He nods, but it's most likely only to deter you from pampering him with any more motherly affection, as he looks like he's going to wilt from it, "Thanks, Y/N."
"Anytime," You squeeze his shoulder, passing your concerned teammates unbothered smiles as you make your way to Aaron's office.
He's only recently sat down when you arrive, but you notice that he's conveniently sitting so that the desk blocks your view of his lower half. You stand at attention in front of his desk, playing coy like you don't know what's coming next.
"Do you enjoy questioning my authority in front of my team?" He asks you, voice carefully even and tight.
"I enjoy doing anything that makes your dick twitch, Aaron." You announce, your tone deceptively casual for the filth you're spewing, "Did you haul me in here to fuck me over the desk? The blinds are still open, don't you think that's a little distasteful?"
Your attitude only makes him more uncomfortably aroused, and he regrets getting his suits tailored so precisely, as his pants have little give. He leans forwards across his desk, dark eyes boring into yours.
"No. I hauled you in here to tell you that I'm going to fuck you over the desk. But not yet. You're asking for it now, so I'm not giving it to you. Maybe if you'd been a little more polite, I'd have given you what you wanted. But now you're going to wait, because you decided to bicker with me over the rules of this office. Rules that I set, because I am in charge of keeping this team on track."
The harsh tone of his voice makes your stomach twist, and you're feeling your heartbeat in two places. You stand there, saliva slowly accumulating on your tongue, until he raises a brow at you, unimpressed.
"Don't do that again. Am I clear?"
"Yes, sir." You lay on the formality hot and heavy, practically purring it and watching as he shifts slightly in his seat, "I'll be waiting, whenever you decide you can't take it anymore."
"Careful." He snaps, eyes ablaze at your implication that he'll be the one to break, "Don't dig yourself any deeper. Dismissed."
You turn to leave with a satisfied smirk on your face, and perhaps you exaggerate bending over to pick up a stray paperclip that you notice on the floor by his door.
"Here," You pad back across the room to hand it to him, not missing the way that he's tense all over, "See you in twenty, Hotchner."
#aaron hotchner x reader#aaron hotchner imagine#aaron hotchner scenario#aaron hotchner oneshot#aaron hotchner one-shot#aaron hotchner one shot#aaron hotchner headcanons#aaron hotchner headcanon#aaron hotchner hc#aaron hotchner hcs#aaron hotchner fanfiction#aaron hotchner fanfic#aaron hotchner fic#aaron hotchner blurb#aaron hotchner drabble#aaron hotchner dialogue#aaron hotchner fluff#aaron hotchner x reader fanfiction
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Danny Fenton was alone.
The entirety of Amity Park was locked down by the GIW, on the prowl for any and all ghosts, so much so that even Vlad of all people had to make an excuse to escape from Amity Park.
Danny was... not as lucky in his escape like Vlad.
His parents helped where they could, diverting the GIW's attention and suspicions from him where they could, making small and subtle changes to the Anti-ecto acts that gives any ghostly entity more rights, however small they were lest they be noticed by the GIW.
Jazz, Sam and Tucker tried to help out where they could too, Tucker giving Danny options for where he could go if shit hit the fan, Jazz teaching him what she could and Sam giving him some money to fall back on if he had to run.
Danny knew something was going to happen, something big. He just didn't know what.
It came in the form of his identity being leaked, by one Wes Weston.
He didn't hold anything against him, really, he's been trying to prove that he was Phantom for a while now and literally no believed him, so of course he didn't think that the government of all people would believe him either.
Either way, he had to run. Run away from Amity, from his friends and family, from everything and everyone he knew.
He didn't like it, but he couldn't do anything about it.
So, he jumped on a bus and headed away from Amity Park in the short window of time he had before the GIW cracked down on his household.
His final stop was Gotham City, not because it was the last place the GIW would check for him, no. It was because he had one relative over here, one he hadn't seen since he way younger.
Uncle Waylon.
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Things Biden and the Democrats did, this week #10
March 15-22 2024
The EPA announced new emission standards with the goal of having more than half of new cars and light trucks sold in the US be low/zero emission by 2032. One of the most significant climate regulations in the nation’s history, it'll eliminate 7 billion tons of CO2 emissions over the next 30 years. It's part of President Biden's goal to cut greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030 on the road to eliminating them totally by 2050.
President Biden canceled nearly 6 Billion dollars in student loan debt. 78,000 borrowers who work in public sector jobs, teachers, nurses, social workers, firefighters etc will have their debt totally forgiven. An additional 380,000 public service workers will be informed that they qualify to have their loans forgiven over the next 2 years. The Biden Administration has now forgiven $143.6 Billion in student loan debt for 4 million Americans since the Supreme Court struck down the original student loan forgiveness plan last year.
Under Pressure from the administration and Democrats in Congress Drugmaker AstraZeneca caps the price of its inhalers at $35. AstraZeneca joins rival Boehringer Ingelheim in capping the price of inhalers at $35, the price the Biden Admin capped the price of insulin for seniors. The move comes as the Federal Trade Commission challenges AstraZeneca’s patents, and Senator Bernie Sanders in his role as Democratic chair of the Senate Health Committee investigates drug pricing.
The Department of Justice sued Apple for being an illegal monopoly in smartphones. The DoJ is joined by 16 state attorneys general. The DoJ accuses Apple of illegally stifling competition with how its apps work and seeking to undermining technologies that compete with its own apps.
The EPA passed a rule banning the final type of asbestos still used in the United States. The banning of chrysotile asbestos (known as white asbestos) marks the first time since 1989 the EPA taken action on asbestos, when it passed a partial ban. 40,000 deaths a year in the US are linked to asbestos
President Biden announced $8.5 billion to help build advanced computer chips in America. Currently America only manufactures 10% of the world's chips and none of the most advanced next generation of chips. The deal with Intel will open 4 factories across 4 states (Arizona, Ohio, New Mexico, and Oregon) and create 30,000 new jobs. The Administration hopes that by 2030 America will make 20% of the world's leading-edge chips.
President Biden signed an Executive Order prioritizing research into women's health. The order will direct $200 million into women's health across the government including comprehensive studies of menopause health by the Department of Defense and new outreach by the Indian Health Service to better meet the needs of American Indian and Alaska Native Women. This comes on top of $100 million secured by First Lady Jill Biden from ARPA-H.
Democratic Senators Bob Casey, Tammy Baldwin, Sherrod Brown, and Jacky Rosen (all up for re-election) along with Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, and Sheldon Whitehouse, introduced the "Shrinkflation Prevention Act" The Bill seeks to stop the practice of companies charging the same amount for products that have been subtly shrunk so consumers pay more for less.
The Department of Transportation will invest $45 million in projects that improve Bicyclist and Pedestrian Connectivity and Safety
The EPA will spend $77 Million to put 180 electric school buses onto the streets of New York City This is part of New York's goal to transition its whole school bus fleet to electric by 2035.
The Senate confirmed President Biden's nomination of Nicole Berner to the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Berner has served as the general counsel for America's largest union, SEIU, since 2017 and worked in their legal department since 2006. On behalf of SEIU she's worked on cases supporting the Affordable Care Act, DACA, and against the Defense of Marriage act and was part of the Fight for 15. Before working at SEIU she was a staff attorney at Planned Parenthood. Berner's name was listed by the liberal group Demand Justice as someone they'd like to see on the Supreme Court. Berner becomes one of just 5 LGBT federal appeals court judges, 3 appointed by Biden. The Senate also confirmed Edward Kiel and Eumi Lee to be district judges in New Jersey and Northern California respectively, bring the number of federal judges appointed by Biden to 188.
#Thanks Biden#Joe Biden#Democrats#politics#US politics#climate change#climate crisis#student loans#debt forgiveness#shrinkflation#women's health#drug prices
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Eddie’s Memory Log Day 1:
part 2 here | part 3 here | part 4 here | part 5 here | part 6 here
(ao3 link here)
The only reason Steve volunteers to keep a journal to track Eddie Munson’s skim-milk memories, is because of the twerps.
They have school, they can’t commute to the government-protected hospital that’s all the way in the city. That, and they gave Steve this well-rehearsed, tearjerker performance about how grateful they would be.
About how grateful Eddie would be.
Pfft like shit on a stick, he’ll be grateful. The dude doesn’t even remember how old he is, how the hell is supposed to be grateful for Steve Harrington jotting down notes in binder?
But those kids have been through Spielberg-level disaster shit. Steve has too, but they’re just kids.
So he’ll do it. He’ll do it for them and only them.
Eddie knows his name today.
He’s pissy - he’s always pissy cause Eddie is battered up beyond belief. But still, he’s extra pissy today because Dustin is his favorite visitor and he hasn’t stopped by in almost a week.
Eddie knows Dustin’s name today too.
And guess who’s his least favorite visitor?
“Harrington.” Eddie grumbles, mouth full of lime jello. “Who paid you to be here today?”
Remembers Steve’s name… last name.
“No one.” Steve makes himself comfy in the vinyl armchair. “Call me crazy, but I’m not too big on taking lunch money from sophomores.”
Speaking of which…
“Do you know you know how old you are?”
Eddie crumples the plastic jello container. “You’re a patronizing sack of shit.”
Steve rolls his eyes, starts to write down:
Eddie doesn’t know his age.
“Twenty.”
Eddie does know his age (20).
“Swell.” Steve fakes his amusement. The kids are much better at cheerleading Eddie along in this process. But Steve’s poker face is nonexistent. Sarcasm and assholery occupy every seat in his brain these days.
They go through a few more questions before Eddie begins to get tired. He’s tired a lot, even though the coma knocked him out for almost four months.
Guess holding hands with Death really takes it out of a person.
Eddie doesn’t know his birthday.
But Eddie does remember it’s in the winter (has a memory of seeing leafless trees from an early childhood birthday party).
Eddie remembers his uncle’s name.
Eddie doesn’t remember which street he lives on.
Eddie has a headache (that’s not a memory thing - he’s just told Steve a thousand times now).
“I’ll let you rest.” Steve folds the binder shut, sort of desperate to do anything to get Eddie to stop whining. Seriously, he thought this guy was funnier pre-bat attack.
Eddie doesn’t remember he has a sense of humor.
“You don’t have to stay, you know.” Eddie settles into his pillows.
Steve shrugs, puts his hands behind his head. “I took the bus from Hawkins today. The next one doesn’t leave for another few hours.”
“Still… it’s a city, right? You can go explore or whatever. Be a tourist.”
Yeah Eddie’s persuasive skills aren’t completely back either, it’s all very half-assed.
“Been here before.” Steve lounges deeper into the squeaky chair material. “I’m good.”
“Probably haven’t seen everything is all I’m saying -”
“Do you want me to leave that bad?”
Steve doesn’t shout, but his tone takes up space. Makes the room feel crowded with accusations and cutthroat honesty.
Eddie stares back hard. Sometimes, he doesn’t look like Eddie Munson - he looks like this war victim with knotted-up hair and sulky brown eyes.
Like a John Doe cadaver - tagging his foot with the possibility of Eddie Munson.
Anyways, that’s how he looks right now as he stares at Steve. Barely Eddie.
“Just. I don’t know you.” That’s a shitty ass comeback for someone with a memory-tank that’s perpetually blinking with the low-engine light on.
Eddie continues with his weak argument. “Were we close enough back home that you’d stay here while I sleep?”
Eddie doesn’t remember Steve ignoring him in high school for four years.
Steve finds no reason to lie. “No. We weren’t close at all.”
“Right.” Eddie nods once. “So why do this? What are you getting out of this?”
This is a complicated situation to explain to anyone, let alone to someone with fuzzy comprehension abilities. But Steve gives it a whirl:
“Look, we have mutual friends that are… younger. Dustin’s age. And whether I like it or not, they’re like siblings to me now - I’d do anything for them. But they’re in school, they can’t be here every day like I can.”
“Why can you be here?” Eddie asks.
“I lost my job.”
Eddie attempts sympathy. “Sorry.”
Eh, Steve gives him a B-minus.
“Didn’t like it anyways.” Steve reassure him plainly. “The point, I’m doing this for them. For you too, but they’re the anchors in this.”
Eddie thinks for a moment - readjusts to laying on his side, facing Steve. “Won’t you need a new job eventually?”
“Nah. Trust Fund Baby.” Steve points both thumbs at his chest.
“Yeesh.” Eddie rolls to the other side, away from Steve. Disgusted by his comment, yet still chuckling very quietly.
Okay… Eddie does remember he has a sense of humor (just a teensy bit).
His breathing becomes long and hard - sleep heavy breathing. It doesn’t take long, sleep seems more natural to Eddie right now than being awake.
Steve watches him for a moment. There’s always the ghostly-distant fear that Eddie might stop breathing. He’s done it before - four months ago and once more while he was still at the hospital in Hawkins.
Max is still asleep. Steve hates thinking about that detail because it’s cruel. This twisted game that the universe is playing is truly unjust.
Like an Almighty Asshole rolled Eddie’s stupid dice and decided, ‘I’ll let one of your friends wake up, but he won’t remember that he battled along side you in the trenches of darkness. Take it or leave it, douchebag.’
Steve will take it.
Eddie is still sleeping when Steve decides to head out - the bus will be arriving soon and he’s gotta get a window seat. Needs control over the window cause he gets carsick way too fucking easily these days.
“Heading out?” Eddie mumbles, eyes not even open.
“Yeah - sorry.” Steve doesn’t know why he whispered that. “Didn’t think I should wake you.”
“I gotcha. I’m assuming you’ll be back tomorrow?”
Huh… Steve thinks there might be a hint of implication that Eddie wants him to come back tomorrow. Interesting.
“Your memory isn’t as shitty as you think it is.” He’s overly smug when he says it.
Eddie gives him a closed-lip smile. Only Dustin and Wayne receive those.
“Want me to pick up some food on my way in?” Steve decides to give generosity a try, since Eddie is tolerable enough to give him a smile. “Get you off of this lousy hospital meal-plan temporarily?”
The smile is gone. “Nah, you don’t have to do that.”
Right.
Eddie definitely remembers how to be Stubborn with a capital ‘S’
But Steve is a Trust Fund Baby, so he’s unfazed with difficult behaviors. He can match difficulties all damn day if he wanted to.
Which he does.
“Suit yourself, Munson.” Steve acts so uncaring. Very uppity and douchey. “I’m thinking Chinese takeout for me personally.”
“Cool.”
“Cool. See you tomorrow then.”
There’s a pause, so Steve takes that as his sign to turn the handle, get the hell out of here.
“Steve?” Eddie calls weakly just before he shuts the door behind him.
He cracks it open, peeks his face back in. “Yeah?”
Eddie sighs. “Kung Pao Chicken.”
“Excellent choice.”
Eddie gives him another closed-lip smile.
Steve grins wildly, with all of his teeth. “In fact, I think I’ll do the same.”
And as Steve claims his middle seat on the bus, he pulls the binder back out of his backpack to add one more note for the day:
Eddie remembers that he likes Kung Pao Chicken.
#steddie#steddie fic#steve harrington#eddie munson#post s4 au#trying to decide if I should make this a thing or not#I’m not even sure if this is any good so please ignore if it is incoherent#my mind is being cruel today so if it’s bad pretend it never happened 🙂
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sorry if this is a dumb question and i understand if you don't want to answer but do you have links to posts explaining why israel isn't an apartheid state? i swear i read posts like that on your blog before but i don't know how to refind them
Israeli Arabs have legal equality with Jews. Same restaurants, same pools, same seats on the bus, same voting rights. I would favorably compare the treatment of Israeli Arabs with that of any minority group in any country on Earth.
The West Bank has a military occupation, with (pretty fast) checkpoints and no right to vote about the government running that military. Military occupations are bad and some of us have been against this particular one for decades. The anti-occupation movement hasn't gotten anywhere, they've just been stuck. Being stuck in a military occupation for X more years doesn't make it apartheid, just like being stuck in a bad marriage for X more years doesn't make you divorced. Meanwhile, the 2020 Abraham Accords showed that multiple Arab states were willing to accept this unchanging status quo and deal with Israel as it is. Those two factors - the stagnant, unchanging nature of the occupation, and the clear loss of interest in the Palestinian cause - combined to have the latest crop of awareness-raising college interns at some shifty NGOs try to force change by abracadabra'ing together a new concept of "apartheid" that exists solely for Israel. And it is working, just like "Christ-killer" and "stabbed Germany in the back" worked.
In 2010, Human Rights Watch published an extremely critical report on Israel's occupation of the West Bank. Dragged them up one wall and down the other. Yet there was no accusation of "apartheid" there. In the report, page 33, they cited a lawsuit by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel that had said it was apartheid for the West Bank military occupation authorities to ban Palestinians from driving on Highway 443 after repeated firebombings / shootings against Israelis. The Israeli High Court ruled that it was inappropriate to ban Palestinians from the road, and it re-established their equal driving access - they have had it ever since. The court also said that the accusation of apartheid behind that now-ended ban was dishonest, because the security concerns were not based on race; there were and are no "Jewish-only" roads anywhere, even when WB Palestinians were denied road access, Israeli Arabs could and did drive there. The HRW 2010 report included a long summary of that finding, without challenge. As bad as they saw Israel, they agreed it wasn't apartheid.
Then in 2020 came the Abraham Accords, so while nothing at all had changed in the administration of the West Bank, in 2021 HRW said it actually was apartheid. It really is that simple. The most famous legal convention banning apartheid specifies that it is race-based. HRW instead went with a different legal convention on apartheid, one that says it could be based on national origin if it involves discrimination among citizens of the same country.... and then they up and added their own twist to that, saying they will consider it apartheid if there is discrimination based on national origin AMONG PEOPLE WHO AREN'T CITIZENS OF THE SAME COUNTRY. In a very real sense, HRW declared Mexico is an apartheid state because Americans can't vote in its elections.
In 2022, Amnesty International followed with their own report, saying that not only was the military occupation now "apartheid," but that Israel itself had been an apartheid state ever since it was established in 1948. This moral perversion had the effect of saying Israel literally INVENTED apartheid since in May 1948 it didn't even exist in South Africa yet. It also said that Amnesty International - founded 1961 - had been looking at an apartheid the whole time but never recognized it. To make things even more dishonest, Amnesty said they "are not claiming Israeli conditions are analogous to South Africa," meaning anything that shows how Israel is different from South Africa doesn't count. They're using the South African word for the South African policy but it's actually not like South Africa at all so be quiet, neener neener no backsies.
I shouldn't have to take that seriously. Neither should anyone. Palestinians and their advocates should be ashamed to have to lean on such an obvious bad-faith lie.
Nelson Mandela, who died in 2013, never once accused Israel of apartheid, and instead repeatedly said he supported Zionism and a 2-state solution. Mandela's lawyer, still alive, says the accusation is a lie. Mansour Abbas, leader of the Arab Islamist party that joined Israel's governing coalition in 2021, says the accusation is a lie. And if people want to bandy around NGO business cards, here is the International Committee of the Red Cross in 2017:
“The Red Cross was very familiar with the regime that prevailed in South Africa during the apartheid period, and we are responding to all those who raise their claim of apartheid against Israel: No, there is no apartheid here, no regime of superiority of race, of denial of basic human rights to a group of people because of their alleged racial inferiority. There is a bloody national conflict, whose most prominent and tragic characteristic is its continuation over the years, decades-long, and there is a state of occupation. Not apartheid.”
There's a lot more you can see about the shifty terminology, unreliable sourcing, and longstanding culture of antisemitism and racism within Amnesty International. People who can cite chapter and verse of why the Salvation Army, Autism Speaks, Chik-Fil-A and Harry Potter are problematic should not be shocked.
#israel#palestine#amnesty international#apartheid#antisemitism#leftist antisemitism#false accusations#european antisemitism#jumblr#human rights watch
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