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auroraapple22 · 7 months

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Hello everyone, I am really in need of some financial help if anyone is able to do so. I have most of the rent for my apartment for October, but I’m $200 short. I’ve been late on the rent a few times recently, my landlord has been really understanding. So far, she thankfully hasn’t charged me any late fees.

I unfortunately lost my job recently, it’s a long story but the store manager Jan passed away in March. The assistant manager Angelina took over after that and everything rapidly started deteriorating. I was next in command after Angie and we had a few employees quit one after the other. On top of that, Angie was a horrible manager.

My coworker, Tad, who was an awesome employee despite only being part time due to the fact he was on disability. I was another employee with a very good work ethic and did a great job. Because of this, Angie began relying solely on Tad and I to basically do all the tasks that kept the store running. The entire night shift wasn’t really required to do anything, Angie would act like she gave them tasks to do and it wasn’t her fault if it didn’t get done. But it was Tad and my fault if we didn’t pick up the slack. Tad got injured at work and ended up with a hernia requiring surgery because Angelina expected him to put away freight orders worth $17,000 (for the size of the store where we worked, an order of that size during a four hour shift and she expected me to do everything else to keep the entire store running while he did that.

After Tad ended up needing surgery, my job got even harder than it already was. Angelina would have me work full 8 hr shifts with just her and I there until 2pm. She managed to stay in the back office doing I don’t know what for entire days at a time. Something I never saw Jan do and something I never did on Angie’s days off when I was acting manager. She would take literally 15 smoke breaks during an eight hour shift. That’s seems like an exaggeration but it’s probably an under estimate. She would act like she didn’t have time to give me a ten minute break knowing that she was the only other employee that she scheduled to be there and therefore the only way I would be able to take any break.

I started having really bad stomach issues, and shoulder problems from being so tense all the time. I cried easily and panicked at the grocery store which is not the type of thing I am used to. I had to quit. This was the best job I ever had up until Jan died. I held this job way longer than any other. I am looking for work now and I think I will be hired somewhere by the end of this week but I really need some help.

My boyfriend unfortunately lost his job at the same time. We’ve done alright paying rent and bills up until now. I’ve got a utility bill that’s about $50 that is overdue and I know I won’t be able to pay it for a while, but they won’t shut our power off so really I’m most concerned about the rent. Please please anything anyone can give would be extremely helpful. I have cash app and I am able to sign up for paypal or Venmo if necessary. If you can’t donate, please help me out by sharing this post. I know things are tight for everyone right now, the cost of food and gas is astronomical. I appreciate anything anyone can give, bless you all and thank you for reading.

Also, I live in a very small town so driving for companies like Uber or door dash aren’t really an option. However, if anyone has any suggestions about how I could make some money quickly, please let me know. I always hear about those survey websites, if anyone knows of any that they’ve personally used and are not a waste of time, I would be so grateful to know about it. Thank you everyone once again, I love all of you.

I have llkkkks to Anything helps, if you can’t spare any money, please please just share this post. A share helps just as much as a donation would.

🥰🥹🤞

#donate if you can #pls donate #please consider donating #donations #charity #financial help #money help

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fallinginreversefanblog · 4 months

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Ronnie Radke helps out fan in need with money for the bills

On Jan 23rd Ronnie Radke got into a Twitter fight with a hater who called him out on backlashing another hater just before that. Ronnie's ironic and sharp comeback implied his actual wealth, which made a fan respond with asking for money to fix his credit card bills.

Ronnie answered promising him financial help.

After they ended conversation, a few hours later Brandon, the dude Ronnie helped out returned with a heartbreaking thanking video, in which he mentioned in literal tears how much this help meant to him. Watch below.

Ronnie got the message, reposted and replied with the same emotions.

This event stirred up the internet. Ronnie's fans were sharing the screenshots and the video all over the social media. People were adding their positive thoughts in comments.

Via YouTube

A day after this Loudwire released a news article about this donation issue of Ronnie's, highlighting its positive resonances all over the media.

RockFeed lined up to the news with a review as well:

#ronnie radke #falling in reverse #good deeds #donations #helping

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marvelsmostwanted · 3 years

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Hey American voters! 🇺🇸

Guess what?!!

🚨 It’s time to start worrying about the 2022 and 2024 elections. 🚨

(Yeah. We really gotta do this. It's... not looking great.)

Long story short:

Republicans have been working hard since the 2020 election to enact voter suppression laws, overturn election results, and set themselves up to steal the 2024 presidential election if necessary.

You’ve probably heard about the Georgia voter suppression law. But did you know that “Stop the Steal” conspiracy theorist Republicans are running to be election officials like Secretary of State in several swing states, setting themselves up to overturn future elections? They are dismantling democracy before our eyes.

So what’s the worst case scenario?

...Well, let’s start with the realistic scenario.

Republicans are likely to take back the House in 2022. They are possibly capable of doing it through gerrymandering alone. Is it possible for Democrats to keep the House? Yes, but it will take a huge effort.

Republicans could also win back the Senate since it's currently 50-50 and Democrats only have a narrow majority because we won the presidency.

Even if Republicans only win back the House, the Biden administration would legislatively accomplish very little from 2022-2024. Republicans would have the power to impeach Biden for no reason and cause another constitutional crisis, enable gerrymandering and voter suppression laws, and block any Democratic priorities from becoming law (gun control, climate change, and healthcare are just a few things that would be off the table entirely).

Then comes 2024.

Donald Trump is the most likely Republican candidate to run and win in 2024. In a recent poll (May 2021), 66% of Republicans indicated that they would vote for Trump again.

Yes, Trump can run even if he’s indicted on criminal charges. He can run even if he’s in prison!

Remember, although Biden won by 7 million votes, it was really a difference of about 44,000 votes in three swing states that prevented Trump from winning the Electoral College and becoming president again. That is a frighteningly small margin.

Even if the candidate isn’t Trump, this is still going to be a close election. 85% of Republicans say they would vote for a Trump-aligned candidate (same poll as above).

If Republicans win back or maintain control of Congress in 2024, this could set up an even more dangerous scenario:

The House has the power to choose the president if Congress does not award 270 electoral votes to either candidate.

How could that happen? Well, those "Stop the Steal" Republican election officials in swing states could refuse to certify the election, claiming fraud, and a close election could end up with neither candidate getting enough electoral votes. House Republicans could literally choose the next president without any input from voters and effectively end American democracy as we know it.

Because you know that Republicans will never let go of that power once they have it.

This is not far-fetched.

This is a realistic, highly likely scenario that will happen if we don’t do something to prevent it. Journalists and election experts are trying to sound the alarm, and we should listen:

New York Times - How Republicans Could Steal the 2024 Election

Washington Post - American democracy is in even worse shape than you think

Pod Save America - Stop the 2024 Steal (Discussion at 29:00)

LA Times - Trump’s allies are prepping to steal 2024 election

The only way to prevent this from becoming reality is to fight like hell against it. And I know we just did that in 2018 and 2020. But this fight isn't over until we restore and protect our democracy.

This isn’t about how much you like Biden & Harris, or even if you’re a Democrat in general. It’s about saving democracy in America.

What can we do about it?

Unfortunately, it’s going to be an uphill battle. But if we all engage in this fight, then we can make a difference.

TLDR, we need to raise awareness about the threat to democracy, encourage Democrats to end the filibuster and pass H.R.1 immediately, and organize, organize, organize to get voters back out there in 2022 and 2024.

Specific ways to help & additional resources below the cut.

How to help:

National Level:

*High priority: Call your Democratic Senator(s) right now and tell them to pass H.R.1, the For the People Act, with urgency.

*High priority: Call your Democratic Senator(s) right now and tell them that you are strongly in favor of ending the filibuster (Especially if your Senator is Manchin or Sinema.)

Call your Democratic Senator(s) and tell them to vote for the John Lewis Voting Rights Act.

Call your Republican Senator(s) and tell them you are in favor of all of the above, especially if you live in a swing state.

State Level:

*High priority: Find out who is running for state legislature and other positions that have control over elections, such as Secretary of State. Donate or volunteer for their campaigns. Spread the word amongst your family and friends and make sure they know who to vote for and the date of the election.

If no one is running against the Republican, consider running! I’m not joking. Or if you know someone who is qualified and/or interested in running, encourage them to do so.

Local Level:

*High priority: Same as on the state level: Find out who is running and support the person who is supporting democracy. Local election officials can have a huge impact, especially in swing states and counties. Spread the word about this candidate, the election date, registering to vote, where to vote, etc.

Again, if no one is running, consider running! Incumbents often stay in power because they are unchallenged. And a local position is a great way to get involved in politics and help your community.

Additional ways to help:

Make sure you are registered to vote.

Check in with 3 friends/family members and help them register to vote if they are not already.

Send reminders to friends/family to vote on Election Day - not just in November, but for special elections, local elections, etc.

Volunteer with a group specifically working to help progressives win elections: SwingLeft, EMILY’s List, etc.

Donate to the candidates you support early and often! One of the reasons Democratic House candidates struggled in 2020 was that a lot of money came in at the last minute. Donating early and/or on a monthly basis ensures that they have the funds to run a long, successful campaign.

More Info & Resources:

Read: Washington Post - American democracy is in even worse shape than you think

Excerpt/TLDR: "The radicalization of the Republican Party has outpaced what even most critical observers imagined,” Georgetown University historian Thomas Zimmer told me. “We need to grapple with what that should mean for our expectations going forward and start thinking about real worst-case scenarios." - Perry Bacon Jr.

Read: New York Times - How Republicans Could Steal the 2024 Election

“It occurred to me,” [Erica Newland, counsel for Protect Democracy] told her colleagues then, “as I dug into the rules and watched what happened, that if the current Republican Party controls both Houses of Congress on Jan. 6, 2025, there’s no way if a Democrat is legitimately elected they will get certified as the president-elect.”

Listen: Pod Save America - Stop the 2024 Steal (29:00-36:27 covers the bulk of it, and they go on for about another 10 minutes after that)

Excerpt: "If you just watch what's happening... it is a very clear indication of a minority party that knows it has no path to majority status rigging elections at every level to set the stage for minority rule in this country. (...) People are not alarmed enough about [this]. The great asymmetry in American politics is that Republicans view power as an end in itself, and Democrats view power as a means to an end. Republicans are using the power they have to put in place laws that allow them to hold onto political power. (...) We need to raise the alarm. There are disturbing signs of complacency in our party." - Dan Pfeiffer

Support H.R.1: VoteSaveAmerica.com/ForThePeople

#voting #democracy #mine #us politics #LONG POST #sorry democracy is at stake #do i think tumblr posts change these things? sometimes!#raising awareness is important #we do not have time to be complacent #anyway i just like to have all of this info in one place and the place is here #voting resources #voter resources #2022 #2024 #voter suppression

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orbees · 2 years

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donations needed

i apologize for this especially for asking during the holidays when everyones broke but unfortunately i need some help x_x my dad is officially no longer able to work and he was the only one bringing money in, besides me, but i wont be getting money again until jan-feb.

we've been getting by best we can, but law of poor is that when ur broke as fuck everything starts breaking. my bed is officially fucked, like literally the boards to the box springs snapped in half. long story short: i desperately need a new bed, especially as a disabled person who has extreme chronic back pain. the set im looking at costs about 200 dollars which is way more than we can afford rn... we can barely even afford food rn.

if possible, donations would be extremely helpful, and can be made to my kofi, which you can find here. reblogs are also deeply appreciated <3

thank you all for reading all this, and please keep an eye on the notes, ill be updating this post

#virtual memories #mutuals are also free to just ask for my paypal email i just dont want that floating around

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incense-and-iron · 2 years

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Please help or at least rb!!!!

I'm a disabled transmasc who was just today (jan 4, 2022) put under threat of being kicked out. My gf and I are on a short time to gtfo of here under literal threat of our shit and us being thrown out onto the street during winter. I'm opening up commissions to hopefully save up enough money for an apartment we are looking at. We just need to try and hold out until February when it becomes available.

I'd apologize for not doing a half off thing for commissions, but we REALLY need as much money as we can get since well be moving not only immeditly but also with virtually nothing, so all funds will be going to moving costs, furniture, and feeding ourself. Even if you can't commission me, I am begging you to reblog and spread this so we don't end up homeless in the middle of fucking winter.

Here's my commission info , you can also d*nate through my kofi thats linked on there, or if you'd rather donate directly through p*yp*l dm me and I'll send you my link.

#please rb this im begging #im sorry for not putting a like price amount idk how much this is all gonna cost #and im in the middle of a fucking anxiety attack #bc im getting kicked out of somewhere again #but this time bc im fucking disabled and they dont like that i cant do anythinf BECAUSE MY SPINE. IS COLLAPSING.

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overclocksaa · 2 years

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actually i’ve been thinking about this all day anyway, so i’m gonna do this and then let it go so i can actually write, but...let’s talk about the avengers. specifically, let’s talk about how the avengers work in 616, because this is a 616-based blog for a 616 avenger and how they function is important to tony because he’s a founding member.

classification: the avengers are classified as a nonprofit; they don’t make money for what they do in the traditional sense. there may be some cashflow inbound from licensing and trademarks, and there are definitely donations, and contributions from benefactor-members (notably tony and to a degree t’challa), but they don’t get paid as an entity for saving the world. they offer a service for the public good, and their whole motto is to fight the battles no single hero can take on alone.

founders: founding members are iron man (tony stark), the wasp (janet van dyne), ant-man (hank pym), thor (uh...thor, but also don blake), and the hulk (bruce banner). they came together to take on loki, who was up to his usual bullshit, and decided hey. we work pretty well together we should do this officially. jan gave them the name avengers. hulk bounced not long after, and then they found steve in the ice, thawed him, and offered him membership. it is, as i’ve said many times before, something tony refers to as the greatest day of his life. steve has also been grandfathered into founder status. there’s no real perks, necessarily, involved in being a founder, other than the occasional veto status and the prestige of being the first.

structure: there’s not a lot of structure to the avengers ranks, and what there is tends to be very simple. they aren’t a paramilitary organization, they don’t function under any branch of government or as a subgroup of any organization, they just vibe. sure, there’s the red tape they’ve had to cut through a billion times and that whole thing with the war between the pro- and anti-registration sides during civil war, but ultimately, this is how it works.

you have a chairman - they run the weekly meetings and are elected by vote. when the avengers were small you got voted in for the month and then it passed to the next person to be voted in. it still mostly functions this way, and nearly every old guard avenger has had a turn at being chairman. they have a field commander, typically steve rogers, who makes the calls in the field and deals in strategy. tony’s the tech guy. everyone else also fills a niche, teams are built for covering possible threats.

after that come the levels of membership. active avengers are full time. they might have jobs and lives outside of the avengers, but when the priority alert comes down the line, they’re like first responders; they show up the crisis and handle it. this is typically the main, visible roster, which changes with every team build. next are the reserve members, who will show up when they can, but don’t want the responsibility of full time membership or can’t commit full time for various reasons. there’s also the probationary members: these are members that are first timers and have been accepted by a vote of all the full time, active members in good standing to be added to the ranks in a trial basis to see how they work with the rest of the team. and there are the inactive members, who for various reasons are currently unable to act in any capacity but retain a right to a spot on the team if a slot is available for them.

and that’s it. that’s the structure. it’s literally no more complicated than that. members can move between the status levels at will as needed as long as there are slots for them to move back to active status. someone is also free to quit the avengers at any time, if they so choose. and being on another team (such as the x-men) does not bar someone from membership from the avengers. logan’s been an avenger for ages and he’s been on like a million teams at one time, it’s fine.

meetings: active members are required to attend the weekly meetings. obviously, if someone has a good excuse for not being there, it’s fine, but you probably want to let people know ahead of time instead of after (looking at you, tony, and your suspensions here and there for that thing exactly). missing meetings gets you in trouble! you can and will be suspended for a period of time or kicked out entirely if you don’t get your shit together and show. it’s one meeting a week, and the avengers is kind of like having a second job. reserve members have to attend one meeting a month, and inactive one a year to stay in good standing. these meetings aren’t long, and there’s usually food and coffee, so what’s your excuse.

identicards: avengers get a handy dandy identicard upon membership. it’s the size and shape of a credit card, comes with cloaking if the owner isn’t holding it, and has a number of features like: use as a credit card for emergency funds. access to the avengers databases. communication in low or no cell signal areas and as a fancy zoom call. locator beacon. you also get alerts for assembling on them so they’re important to keep up with. they also give you access to the avengers-only area of avengers buildings, such as avengers tower or avengers mountain.

benefits: active and reserve members, if they so choose, can also pick up a paycheck from the maria stark foundation in the form of the stipend. adjusted for inflation, active members get around $3k a week, and reserves get $300 a month. active members are also entitled to room and board, along with three meals a day. medical care and other sundries are also taken care of by the maria stark foundation, which is kind of like the financial arm of the avengers. tony set it up in the beginning and it’s still chugging along taking care of the financial worries of avenger life. there are audits. be prepared to explain why you crashed that quinjet into central park. bring receipts.

duties: outside of the obvious punch the bad guy save the world thing, there are things you have to do as an avenger! because it’s like having a job. after fights you’re expected to (if able) attend debriefs and to fill out action reports/field reports on the fight. yes, you have paperwork. you’re also encouraged to add reports of any fights you have that aren’t avengers-related for the betterment of the whole group from your experiences. when the fight’s over, you’re expected to stay and help with the clean up. you’re part crowd control, traffic director, first responder, and street sweeper. you don’t leave a mess for other people to clean up, you help. there’s also public outreach and charity/volunteering opportunities you’re expected to take part in, and there’s also training. lots of training. oh, and the quizzes. steve has put together a ton of know your villain tests and you’ll hurt his feelings if you don’t study hard and do well.

studying’s another thing you’ll have to do. you’re a liability if you don’t keep yourself informed and up to date.

team announcement day: the avengers don’t have a single, unchanging roster, and new teams form and dissolve all the time. when a new team is put together, a press conference is called, if tony’s on the team he’ll run you through the drill and tell you what to expect and how to handle it, you’ll go out and be announced as a new team and it’ll be all over the news because team announcement day is a whole thing, it’s kind of a big deal.

basically, what i’m overall saying, is that the avengers are not a social club. they may act like it eighty percent of the time, but it’s a job. it’s a responsibility. you’re expected to act a certain way (don’t kill people) and take your role as an avenger seriously, because when the avengers don’t act in a crisis, people die. it’s not for everybody. some people try it for a while and bounce, and that’s fine. it’s a big commitment and there’s some infighting here and there and for some people it basically becomes their lives (looking at you steve and tony). if you fuck up, the active members in good standing will decide if you deserve a second chance or not. if you see tony wandering around in a house robe and the iron man helmet and nothing but the house robe and the helmet, yes it’s probably an OSHA violation but just leave him alone. he’s not going to put on pants anyway. don’t agree to go running with steve in the morning. and if you bite it, they’ll put a nice statue of you in the memorial garden behind avengers mansion.

#. about #. earth's mightiest | avengers #// like it's just one of those things #// yes being an avenger can be super fun #// super exciting #// but you're also gonna do a lot of paperwork #// a lot of public service outreach #// and a lot of getting your ass kicked in the gym #// it really isn't for everybody #// and that's okay there are other teams to join

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earthlyemily · 3 years

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I’m struggling so much financially and honestly just wanted to vent somewhere. I’ve always lived in poverty and I think in my whole life I’ve had maybe 2 years where I didn’t have to stress about money and not be able to buy groceries or pay rent or be put into collections for not being able to make payments etc and that was when I was in college. For at least the past 5 years I’ve been struggling but I never talk about it. I don’t even know where to start haha I don’t even know what it’s like to not stress financially and be in debt. I’ll just start with the first things that come to mind with what I’m owing maybe. So it’s Dec. 23 and rent was due yesterday because we moved into this small suite attached to someone’s house on Nov. 22. It’s $1200 which is so expensive, but also the average price for BC if not even cheaper for a one-bedroom with a yard, utilities included. and no first and last, no pet deposits, etc because this is just short them for 4 months until the end of March because i reached out and asked and they said yes.

After 1 month I already remember why we went into the trailer almost 2 years ago and it’s literally because we can’t afford any other lifestyle. I think that’s the difference between us and some people that live in trailers, vans, etc. like we lived in a mouse & mouse shit infested trailer for 6 months breathing in their feces and urine and having it all over all our belongings. i literally had to take my whole life to the dump and we officially have no food storage because they ruined it all. there were at least 50-60 mice because a few birth cycles happened in the ceiling. I could write a whole post about my experience of living with field mice, but now isn’t the time so for rent, i only had $600 yesterday so that’s what I gave them. thank goodness they were okay with me asking for a few more days to make the other half. but I don’t even know when that’s going to be :(

my etsy shop veganveins has been doing so bad lately for more than one reason, most of my orders are just postcards and stickers, and while I’m grateful for them, that $1-3 profit isn’t going to keep my business going. and it’s so hard for me to work lately. the wifi doesn’t work sometimes for hours and I always get distracted by shawn and the dogs working from home in a small space. I need to get better at my time management. I got up at 8:30 today which is actually early for me so I’m proud of myself. I’m chronically ill and I really need to go get a blood test and see what’s happening because I haven’t gotten one since being diagnosed with graves disease again 1.5 years ago. anyways. i switched to a print on demand method this year for veganveins for some shirts and sweaters because i couldn’t afford to keep ordering shirts in bulk, and it’s honestly been so, so expensive and i barely make any profit. I’m currently owing my t-shirt printer $999 on one invoice (it was originally $2196 so I’ve at least paid half of it) but that was 2 weeks ago and I still need to pay it. Mario, my t-shirt printer has been with me since I started veganveins and I’m so grateful he gives me extensions on paying the invoices. every other t-shirt printer I’ve ever asked has said no. in addition to the $999 there’s going to be another $2200 invoice I’ll be receiving this week for my last order. I think because of the holidays he’s going to give me some time to pay off that too, but the problem is when I have outstanding invoices he doesn’t print new orders for me. He’s closed now until Jan. 4 so I just need to somehow make that much before then.

btw I don’t have a credit card ($8500 all used on veganveins and it got put into collections last march) and I had a fully used $5000 line of credit but I got a debt consolidation loan for $16,000 1 month ago and my payment for that is $167 a month. it fully paid off and closed my credit card and line of credit + $3000 overdraft which is nice. but now I don’t have any extra money except for what comes in. my credit is only 640 which is really bad in canada so I won’t get approved for a new credit card or loan until I build that up, which is going to be a few months of regular payments. so for regular payments, the $167 for the loan is due on Dec. 27. Yesterday the trailer loan which is literally unliveable from what the mice did until we renovate it came out for $260, that’s how much I pay once a month for it on the 22nd. I didn’t have $260 in my account so it got rejected and I got charged a $48 NSF fee. omg if anyone is reading this long i’m shook. i’m genuinely just writing this for myself to process my feelings and in case anyone was curious about my financial situation here you go haha. maybe some of you can relate, maybe some can’t. anyways. so now I somehow have to get $260 in my account for that for when they try to take it out again in the next few days.

another payment that was supposed to come out yesterday but hasn’t, but I’m sure will come out today is our truck loan. they deferred it for 8 months because of covid which was so nice, but we started paying it again 2 months ago. for both those months I called and made my payment a later date and that helped, but there’s barely any service here so when I called 4 times yesterday to try and change the date the payment comes out, I was on hold for 20-30 mins then my phone would disconnect and hang up. so that’s $586 and it will come out today, I have $0.46 in my account right now so it will get rejected and I’ll get charged another $48 NSF fee. this is why being poor always costs more and the banks are always harsher on those who don’t have money. today I’ll try calling again to see if I can ask for it to come out on a different day like january 10 instead, so I can first have time to pay rent and the trailer and also our $190 truck insurance which got rejected from my account 3 days ago, which was another $48 NSF fee. oh and something else i’m so stressed about is CIBC is going to put me into collections on December 28 if I don’t pay $1000, $700 of which is purely their fees. I have a $300 overdraft which they said i have to cover by then and the $700 is literally their $48 fees added up over the past 3 months. I got a text from them today saying my account is over and it’s because an amnesty international $11 monthly donation came out and obvi there’s no money in there, so that’s another $48 they charged. they’ve already given me a month to pay it and don’t want to wait any longer :(

I owe everyone in my family money, my sister $1650, my mom $700 and my brother also lent me $700. none of my siblings have money either and my mom definitely doesn’t so I hate that i had to borrow that much, and it’s literally been months. thankfully they’re so patient but i can’t wait to not owe them that

omg and i can’t even think about the amount of money shawn’s grandma has lent us. she’s genuinely the only reason we haven’t been completely homeless. but it’s a lot. like i don’t even want to say the number on here. she let us use it from her line of credit over the years and we’ve been slowly paying her back, but she lets us go months at a time without making a payment which i honestly hate doing, but have no choice. i’ve felt a lot of shame and guilt about this, but I also know that she genuinely would rather help us than see us suffer.

so i’m gonna talk about a big reason I’m broke this month especially - saving a pig named buster. his rescue cost me $1850 out of pocket that I didn’t have. but otherwise he was going to be killed in 2 days, he was my baby and I loved him so I had to do it. I somehow made $1350 that went towards it but I’m still owing $500, which I just asked for an extension for today until the new year. i’m not really supposed to talk about it but everything I’ve ever posted here has stayed here, so that cost was literally just from me buying the pig off the farmer. myself along with everyone else ive talked to is disgusted that he charged that much, but he wasnt budging and if that’s what it was going to take, of course I’m going to do it. I wouldn’t think twice about doing it for my dogs and Buster was smarter and more affectionate than them. i love him and I’m so happy he was saved. a non-profit organization transported him to a sanctuary and it was my biggest wish come true and the happiest moment I’ve had all year. my eyes are literally tearing up haha i love him so much. i could write a whole post about his neglect but basically he hasn’t had fresh water in weeks, he was only being fed handfuls of mixed nuts, he was constantly dirty in a muddy enclosure with an electric fence that he was always getting shocked on. he never got true love or affection except for when I gave him it. i posted an instagram story about him and asked people to message me and that i needed help, 2 people donated $111 and $120 each, and 2 other people donated $15 and $12. Someone also e-transferred me $20. These 4 donations equaled almost $300 ($277) and I was so grateful for those people wanting to help me help buster. if anyone else wants to help me with the cost of his rescue i still do need help and would appreciate it so much. this feels really weird and vulnerable for me to do and i’m sorry if anyone is annoyed by this post, I just genuinely am struggling and figured if someone does have extra and wants to help, there isn’t harm in that. but i do feel guilty for asking because i know there are so many other people struggling out there that need even more help than i do :(

i haven’t talked about it publically but i guess I will now, this farmer that I bought buster off of is the owner of the organic vegetable farm i was living and working at this past spring and summer. we worked really hard all summer to be able to stay there and park for free in the winter, but this past fall he told us no one was allowed to stay at the farm anymore, including us, so we had to find a new place to bring our 14ft trailer in to live. so that was an unexpected bummer and if we had known we wouldn’t be allowed staying there anymore (despite doing the labour of $1200 a month for free harvesting organic kale, for an off-grid spot he told us was worth $350 a month to park) we wouldn’t have driven 8 hours with the trailer and we would have stayed in the snow in northern BC and sucked it up and lived on the land we got the opportunity to rent this fall. Donna, the woman who is renting the land to us has been the biggest blessing in my life this year. I love her so much. Basically, she’s letting us live on 170 acres for $600 a month. letting us do whatever we want on the land (building a cabin, setting up rainwater catchment systems, having a solar passive greenhouse and a huge garden) LIKE WHAT. we could even open a farm sanctuary if we had money, i wanted to so bad but obviously that dream didn’t even come close to being reality. opportunities like this literally don’t exist in canada, especially not in BC. i cant even process my gratitude, i cry everytime i think about it. when we go back in the spring it’s going to be the beginning of the rest of our life :) i want to rescue so many senior dogs. everything we’ve always wanted to do we’ll be able to do, assuming we have money haha. but i want to have an organic farm and grow veggies to donate to families in need, especially since we live on stolen indiginious land and I see how the goverment actively restricts their access to fresh healthy produce. but anyways by then it was too dangerous to drive 8 hours back hauling a trailer in the snow and it was just easier to stay in the okanagan until the spring. i know the farmer probably doesn’t realize this and he’s also probably struggling financially but not being able to stay at the farm for the winter months we worked for, and buying buster for that price is a big reason I’m in the financial stress I am now so I figured i’d talk about it.

anyways. i think this is long enough and i think anyone reading this gets the point, i’m drowning in debt, my small business is almost costing me more to run and i’m not making nearly enough profit to live, the past few months ive been living off grid (not by choice) and just focused literally on surviving and not freezing and getting water etc and not having service or internet has affected me negatively. there’s internet now in the suite I’m in, it works really good in the morning and not as well at night, like for example tumblr doesn’t work past 5 pm for me to post photos. but ive been in a bad sleep schedule since i got here that i need to change. im sick and i need to heal myself. tomorrow i’ll set my alarm for 7:30. hopefully i make some money today. i got a social media managing job and it will end up being $1000 a month once i do the 3+ hours a day of work which im already feeling like i barely have time for my own basic life tasks. but i can do this.

if anyone reading this wants to help me out a bit, my paypal email is [email protected] or http://www.paypal.com/paypalme/veganveins

and my e-transfer email is [email protected] i have auto deposit so you won’t have to ask a question :)

this is my first time in 7 years i’ve made a post like this or asked for help. i won’t do it again but figured i have nothing to lose. if you read up to here i love you a lot and thank you so much for being here <3

#personal #finances #broke #poor #vegan #small business owner #graves disease #saving animals #off grid #I wonder if anyone will even read this all #debt #life update lol #p

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thecreepiestcarrie · 3 years

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I don't think I'm gonna refer to it as Scum not donating/failing to donate the money any longer.

That's a bit too polite of a way to say it and what I realised the other night (as sloppily expressed in my pigback on to this post) is the gravity of what she actually did, so let's get all the spades out and call them what they are, fucken spades. Let's call her exactly what she is, a gold-digging, cold-hearted, narcissistic sociopath. Let's stop softening the blow of what she did.

Amber Heard stole money from sick kids.

Point blank, dot com, period.

She also stole money from battered women, as if it wasn’t bad enough that her selfish actions have robbed them of credibility.

None of this was an accident, this was something wilfully done and it was a lie she happily repeated for four whole years. A lie that she used to cultivate a positive reputation and it worked.

(source) Found this supremely helpful, streamlined timeline this morning on Twitter.

But to satisfy my own curiosity and to put it all into something that would compute in my brain - I went through and gathered some more information to put it into chronological order. I did my best to track down the beginning of this storyline and to track how it was spoken of. I really wanted to get to the bottom of when she changed her story from the donations are gonna happen to, nah fam it’s already donated.

And oh my God you guys, I found some tea that had me literally screaming and laughing in delight. Soooooo good.

So keep reading for a breakdown of this falsehood - where it began, how it developed and where it stands today.

August 2016-

These screenshots are from one of the earliest dated articles I could find talking about Scum’s intent to donate the full $7 million to charity. She even names the charities and she explicitly says how important that donation would be to the Children’s Hospital of LA. She knew what good that money could do, she was fully aware of those children and their stressed families, and yet she tucked that 7mil into her back pocket. She stole from children, with full knowledge that the money was needed.

Congrats, you are literally heartless trash.

Later in August of that same year, came her deciding she needed to get her grabby hands on the money.

Prior to this, Johnny was very happily, without incident and with giving her full credit, donating the money in instalments to her selected charities.

Scum didn’t see the money, so she threw a temper tantrum. She threw even more mud at Johnny, but this is garbage mama. She tried to say that it was all for a tax deduction, because Johnny is a black-eyed monster, right? She went so far as to say he has never cared about these charities in the past.

Immediately this didn’t sit right to me. I’ve always been aware of Johnny’s charitable side and her trying to discredit that didn’t hold any weight, but I looked into it nonetheless.

Actually Scamber, the exact opposite is true. (and this is the part that had me screaming)

Let us all gather round and bask in the glow of Johnny’s spectacular character.

His donations and relationship with the CHLA can be even further backed-up by a link that Scum herself provided to a Depp-head when she thought she was doing a good job of defending herself on Twitter back in ‘18. The LooktotheStars website has a long list of Johnny’s history in helping out with children’s charities in so many different ways.

Thanks to a Google search, I was able to find out that Johnny actually has a history with the CHLA and an impressive history at that, the kind of history that prompts awards to be given. This occurred back in 2006, back when Scamber was still just doing small, mainly one-episode roles on TV shows. Her role in The O.C in 2005 is literally credited as ‘Salesgirl’.

But Johnny was being praised by a member of the Board of Trustees for the Childrens Hospital LA. And we can prove this happened, unlike Scum, we have receipts. There’s a video of him receiving said award on YouTube and he looks gorgeous and is the angel I’ve always wished him to be.

June 2019-

The CHLA had to reach out to Scum herself to say ‘kai have that money you promised us?’. The below copy of a letter sent to her, details how a donation was received in 2016, but it wasn’t from her, it was made on her behalf. It was $3.5 million and then after that, they didn’t get anything else from her. Just her using their name to make herself look better.

In addition to all of the information that we already have, this letter sure makes it seem like the only donations given were when Johnny was providing them in her name.

Feb 2020-

But that didn’t stop her from lying under oath and stating that the donations had been done. In the UK libel trial, she brought this lie back up to try to use it to clear her name. And the corrupt Judge bought it. But the rest of us aren’t henny.

Jan 2021-

But this is yet another thing that doesn’t stick. She had at least two years from the entirety of her settlement being paid to her, to when Johnny sued for defamation. She couldn’t find a way to get that money to those charities in the meantime? If it was never about money, why was any of it diverted from the charities? She sat with those millions for years and never followed through with that promise and now her team are deflecting like crazy.

And now we come to how the situation stands today: her team are no longer using past tense statements, instead trying to angle this as an ongoing thing and that she’s totally gonna get to it.

Why hasn’t the entire amount been donated in these 4 years? Of course she throws the blame onto Johnny.

She lied for four straight years and the media helped her to do that. How does anything she says have any credibility after this? If she lied about something as huge as this, what else has she lied about?

She is a disgusting excuse for a human being, she stole money from sick (some even terminally so) kids and from the very women whose image she stole for her own gain.

In conclusion: None of this had to happen. She brought this entirely upon herself and I can’t wait to see her go down in flames.

#justice for johnny depp #amber heard is a liar #confirmed #receipts #read the receipts and weep #amber heard #amber heard is scum #johnny depp is a survivor #i stand with johnny depp #depp-heads are the winning team

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fandomtrumpshate · 4 years

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FTH 2020 -- all the details

Look, shit is pretty bad right now. We appear to be in the early stages of a major global war. Large parts of the world are literally on fire. Antisemitism and anti-blackness are on the rise throughout the US, and both LGBTQ+ rights and women's rights are under increasingly dire threat, at both national and local levels. It’s a crappy way to start a decade.

If you’re like us, you’re feeling torn between wanting to retreat into fandom and wishing you could do something to help fix at least a little bit of everything that’s going wrong.

The good news is: you can do both at the same time. Fandom Trumps Hate is back for a fourth (fourth!) year, raising money for a host of excellent organizations that are resisting the Trump agenda and fighting to protect those whom it seeks to harm. We’re hoping you’ll be back to join us, and help make this the biggest and most successful auction yet.

This post has (almost*) everything you need to know -- a full calendar, plus links to all of the important information about this year’s auction all in one convenient, easily-rebloggable post! Please help us spread the word to friends and followers.

CALENDAR

Monday, Jan 13th: creator signups open

Friday, January 31st: creator signups close

Monday, February 17th: Browsing week begins

Monday, February 24th, 8am EST: Bidding opens

Friday, February 28th, 8pm EST: Bidding closes

Friday, March 6th, 8pm EST: Proof of donation due from winning bidders

Thursday, December 31st, 11:59pm EST: Fanworks due

LIST OF SUPPORTED NONPROFITS

We are continuing our policy from last year of putting our support behind smaller organizations that are doing important progressive work. This year’s nonprofits include immigrant protection organizations, education organizations that are combating racism and antisemitism, community-based environmental groups, organizations working for the integrity of the press and of US elections, and more. You can find the full list here!

We’re also continuing the policy of allowing creators to add in one other nonprofit of their choice. You can read more about it here.

FAQ

All of your basic questions answered (we hope)! if there’s something you’re curious about that’s not there, try checking the FAQ tag. If you still can’t find what you’re looking for, please send us an email at fandomtrumpshate at gmail dot com.

We’ve also added a new page on bidding policies. This won’t become important until closer to the actual auction, but it’s here anyhow! (We’ll post reminders later, too.)

*probably. We did try to get it all in here, but there’s always something.

#fth 2020 #fandom trumps hate #fanworks auction #charity auction

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idk-my-aesthetic · 4 years

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Ask Game

Tagged by: @teetletottle !!! ty for the tag!!

Instructions: tag 10 followers you wanna get to know better :)

Name: Blue! or Pluto! i go by both :)

Gender: pangender nb? i thinks? gender is hard..... i go by any pronouns tho!

Star sign: capricorn? im born jan 10 2003. tho i’ve been told im not very capricorn like and that im probably like my moon sign but idk enough about astrology to tell....

Height: 5′ 5′’ i think?? i don’t pay too much attention to my hight... on a related note even though i’m average hight i have a very lorge build and can lift over 300 lbs,,,,,, my little sisters climb on me like i’m a jungle gym and i just have to be like ‘this is fine’

Sexuality: aro/ace spec pan!! which is almost counterintuitive?? it’s like,,,, i only sometimes feel attraction but when i do gender has no effect on it....

Hogwarts house: proud Hufflepuff!!! i got a hat + scarf for hannukah!

potato (my sister) wants y’all to know that she is also a Hufflepuff, and has a Hufflepuff button she loves, and that our little sister is a Gryffindor.

Favourite animal: oh g-d don’t make me choose!!!

i actually ADORE all animals so much!!! even gross ones!!! like bugs are so interesting?? and fish are so pretty!! and snakes are just babies!!! agh i really can’t choose even though those are all such broad groups.... literally you could mention just about any animal to me and i could give you some random facts about them!!! (pls do tbh come into my inbox i will give u facts)

though i know the most about cats so i guess they are my favorite??

Average hours of sleep: hmmmm. ok so i have like Bad adhd insomnia, but!! i’m trying real hard to take care of myself. so if i have school its about 6 hrs?? which isn’t enough but ehhh.... since we’ve been home i’ve been sleeping 8-10 hrs.

(which if you didn’t know teenagers are supposed to sleep 10-12 bc our brains are still rapidly develping!! pls sleep more if you get the chance y’all take care of urselves ily!! )

Current time: 12:25!

Dogs or cats: like i said before i love all animals, including dogs!! i adore puppies!! but i do prefer cats!! there just such babies and i hyperfix on them enough that i know alot about cat body language. anytime w/ go over someone’s house and they have a cat i befreind it. they’re usually very supprised....

i can’t have any pets rn, but when i’m an adult i want like 3 cats!!

Blankets you sleep with: ok call out time for me.... i sleep w/ like. a comforter, a fluffy blanket, and a weighted blanket. and So Many pillows i don’t actually know how many of them i have. alot of them tend to end up on the floor. most are like random old full soze ones noone else wants, but a bunch are like throw pillows that came w/ my bed spread like 6 years ago XD

i think it’s an adhd thing but i just like to.... nest ig?? is the best word?? i like pillows ok?? i don’t sleep on my bed like a normal person.

Dream trip: go back to italy probably! i have alot of family there, so we’ve been a few times to see them. which definatly helps cut down costs lmao, we don’t have to pay for like hotels or anyting and ig it’s an italin thing to fight over who pays for food??

Dream job: ok,,,, rn i really wanna get like,,,, super rich so that i can donate alot of money to charity and shit. we’ll see how that works out but im trying

anyway, if we lived in like an actual functional world, i’d probably wanna be a stay at home writer/ parent. and by probably i mean definitely,,,, i’m already kinda doing that and raising my sisters, and i want to adopt alot of kids, so being able to do that would make me really really happy

When I made my blog: middle school? it’s been a pretty long time actually, and i’ve stuck w/ the same one for the whole time i’ve been here so i don’t rememeber exactly

Followers: 172! hi y’all!! ily!!

Why I made a tumblr: i don’t rememeberrrrrr :( but i know why i stay here!! bc i have alot of lovly freinds and theres alot of lovly people here!!

Reason for my URL: when i first made my acct my username was actually idkkkkkkkkkkk10 (it’s suposed to have 10 ks hope thats the right amount lol) bc i.... literally didn’t know what to make my url. eventually i switched it bc obviously it’s sort of ridiculous, but i wanted to keep the idk theme! so, idk-my-aesthetic!

on a semi related note, my header is ‘i like hugs’ bc for a while when i wasen’t in a great place it was ‘i need a hug’ but i’ve been doing better for a while, and changing it to something more positive was very meaningful to me

People I’d love to get to know: if anyone I didn’t tag wants to do this consider this an @ from me!!

@manic-pixie-nightmare-enby @feydrian @maeofthedead @non-binarypal7 @trappedinamethaphor @huffiewalkingonsunshine

#ask game

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theexleynatureblog · 3 years

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The Bundy Group

So I just learned something startling I thought I should post: In Jan 2016, a group of extremists seized the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon. The act was in protect to the incarceration of two ranchers who purposely set fire to their land, which spread onto the refuge. Untimely, the acts were rebellion against federal control of land. Below are some quotes from the protestors. primarily from the Bundy brothers who orchestrated the assault:

"All comfort, all wealth ... comes from the Earth, and we cannot have the government restricting the use of that to the point where it puts us in poverty."

"I will say this refuge from its very inception has been a tool of tyranny."

“This refuge here is rightfully owned by the people and we intend to use it.”

“The best possible outcome is that the ranchers that have been kicked out of the area, then they will come back and reclaim their land, and the wildlife refuge will be shut down forever and the federal government will relinquish such control.”

While protesting in a nearby town, a small but armed group split off and occupied the Malheur NWR center. The standoff lasted 41 days with the occupants saying they wouldn’t leave until they regained their rightful land. The occupancy resulted in property damage to the building, land damage from unauthorized excavations (trenches used for toilets), broken fences, fights with conservationists, neighboring tribe members, and law enforcement. One confrontation resulted in several arrests and one protestor fatality who apparently threatened police. The final days of the occupancy was with four people who protested the shooting until they were seized by police.

Now, on the surface this may seem like a ‘noble’ display of patriotism and rebellion, but let me inform y’all what a wildlife refuge actually is.

Map of the current refuges in the US.

The first wildlife refuges were created by Theodore Roosevelt, who was an active sport’s hunter and a member of the Boon and Crockett Club - a rich-person’s sporting club. Roosevelt’s goal was preserving North America’s ‘big game’ for future generations to enjoy.

Wild spaces were not created out of concern for the environment, but preservation for human use. When colonizers came to the America’s, they disregarded the thousands of years of management for wildlife by native tribes. A mixture of market hunting (commercially hunting to stock restaurants and stores) habitat loss, and introductions of invasive species changed the landscape and its animals drastically, sometimes to a point beyond repair. The recognition of the loss of timber and water sources sparked the designation of national parks and refuges for the identical reason - preservation for human use.

President Theodore Roosevelt on Pelican Island, casually allowing one of the islands inhabitants devour his hand.

Pelican Island was the first Wildlife Refuge created in 1903 by Theodore Roosevelt, who would later add many more designated wildlife areas. Despite the purpose of the refuges being anthro-centric (and further, only accessible to upper-class white society), the refuges served an important function to wildlife. As regulated hunting laws were still in development or lacked enforcement, it gave animals a place to escape hunting pressure. The actual shooting is only one factor - the influx of foot and vehicle traffic, noise from ammunition, startled herds and flocks, human camps, and later-on effects of pollutants from lead shot all contribute to stresses that impact individual survival. These refuges were not open to hunting or any resource harvest at certain times of the year or in certain sections.

The Malheur Refuge was one of the original areas designated by President Roosevelt himself. Many of these refuges were focused on protecting birds, victims of the millinery trade. Feathers of adult birds (mainly targeted during breeding seasons) and sometimes entire birds were used to decorate woman’s hats. This attack on the breeding population led to a sharp decline that alarmed outdoor enthusiasts and bird-watchers alike. Read more about the Feather Hat Trade.

Today, the refuge has multiple uses. A stop along the Pacific Flyway, it is an important space for migrating waterfowl. Besides biology, refuge also is used in studying geology. Having once been inhabited by native tribes, the refuge provides members of the Burns Paiute Tribe to continue cultural traditions and hunting/fishing practices.

Map of habitats.

The refuge does important work for wildlife, but it comes at a cost. Roosevelt designating ‘wild’ areas to be free of human contact also meant native tribes had no access to the resources they depended on. Today luckily, some of that is changed, and tribal members play an important part of managing in some of the refuges.

Read some of the Tribal Wildlife Conservation success stories!

The loss of access also sparked problems with ranchers. In the Western US, large expanses of grazable land were claimed by farmers ready to make money on their stock. The history of homesteading ranchers is messy, often colliding with native groups, conservationists, and others.

All human activity has environmental impacts, and ranching is no exception. Whether those impacts are good or bad depends on the responsibility and knowledge of the rancher. For example, grazing in an important management technique that can both reduce grasses and spread them. A herd of cattle can save a grassland from desertification or cause it. Its all on the rancher to be environmentally caution - but caution is often more expensive and risky.

For the past centuries, fragmenting the landscape with barbed wire, fences, and roads and rails that have caused problems for wildlife also cause problems for ranches trying to move their herds. National Parks with grazable (or even in some cases areas that were sensitive to grazing but used anyway) areas became available for livestock owners to rent. But still remained constant competition with multiple interests - mining, development, hunting, and conversation efforts.

The events from the Malheur Occupancy seemed to stem from these kinds of frustrations.

Now here comes the part where I make people aware of my personal opinions and biases, because I believe its important to understand what I am trying to say. My biases lean towards environmentalism based in western scientific technique. This is because I have a passion for wildlife and a drive to protect it. So far, I have acquired most of my knowledge from institutes that teach the important of science - mostly from western sources, though I do hope to learn from other parts of the world as well. To be bluntly honest, I don’t give a darn about ranchers, especially in light of the historical impacts of grazing in the Western US - that being said, I do try to understand their position. I can understand the lure of working with animals and the outdoors. Its also important to understand that this kind of work requires a lot of time and a specific skillset. If you donate your time to mastering a career like this, odds are your haven’t mastered much else. You can’t afford to ‘just change jobs’. If you livestock or crop fails, you’re screwed financially. This is why some farmers just can’t risk going organic, or not expanding their fields. They can’t always consider the environmental impacts. A farmer/ranchers whole life is quite literally tied to the land they have to work on. This is why they feel so strongly about federal lands.

I really hate that sometimes it comes down to farmers versus wildlife. It shouldn’t be this tug-o-war, we should all be working together to do what’s best for the land that so many different people and animals have to use. Land managers have to consider farmers, wildlife, and public interest when planning lands for use. Each of us should also have consideration for each other.

The occupation of the facility costs approximately $6 million in damages and facility security. That is money that could have gone to wildlife projects. There was also the damages of mental trauma, emotional trauma, and damages of Burns-Paiute cultural artifacts desecrated.

The Malheur refuge was also working on an important Invasive Carp Control project. These fish, introduced from Eurasia, caused big problems for native fish, plants, and even birds. They are known for muddying water quality, which inhibits the functions of plants and fish.

"Carp are so hard to eradicate because they're the perfect invasive species," Beck said. "They're kind of like the feral pig of the waterway."

The project has gone on for many years with many different methods tested, from dynamite to robotics. Controlling invasive species is a time-sensitive operation. There are moments - spawning/migrating - that occur only a few weeks out of the year that are prime for removing large numbers of individuals. Work is also non-stop. Fish like carp are prolific breeders. A few days rest could result in a few hundred extra.

The occupancy of Malheur made the carp project and other work come to a total halt for months. This has ultimately set the projects back by decades.

In Oct. of 2016, the leaders of the standoff, Ammon and Ryan Bundy, were Pardoned by the Trump Admin.

In regards to how this whole thing started, I sincerely can’t say whether who was in the wrong. The ranchers claimed to be practicing brush control by fire, but Federal investigation suspected the fires were set to hide evidence of poached deer. Whether it was in the right or not, the fires spread onto Refuge land, which put the farmers in violation. Burning private land for management purposes was legal in this case, but it is the manager’s responsibility to keep the fire under control. Fires should be kept low to the ground with bounders (roads, rivers) to prevent it from spreading. Wind direction should be constantly monitored, and there should be a small team of people at the ready in case the fire gets too big. There’s no evidence to suggest the group took the proper precautions.

While the street march and protect was entirely within the group’s rights, I believe the occupation of the Malheur refuge was unjustified. There was no reason for the protestors to be armed, and the individuals acts of desecrating the building, grounds, and cultural artifacts went well beyond what the group stated to be their original purpose. The occupancy had no regard for the safety of the workers or surrounding residents, and certainly no regard for the conservation work currently taking place.

The group wanted to protest the Federal authority over land they believed was theirs, and they did so by damaging the refuge and threatening the workers there.

I believe all action taken on lands should be done with environmental and ecological impacts considered, which was not the case in this instance.

Sources:

The NY Times

NPR

The Washington Post

Reuters

Fish and Wildlife Service

KGW8

The Oregonian - events timeline

#science #enviromentalism #history #nature #animals #national parks

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fuck-customers · 4 years

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no receipt, no cash

I work at a grocery store and had this super lovely tweaker couple come to the service desk wanting to return a bunch of pantry type items (canned soup, canned tuna, canned fruit, boxed stuffing) without a receipt, demanding cash. Hahaha. No. The canned fruit wasn't on file, meaning my store doesn't even sell it. Based on the shit they were returning and what a coworker later told me (that they'd been coming in regularly doing this), it was probably food donated to them through a food pantry.

I told them firmly but politely that I was not going to give them cash. Receiptless returns get put on a gift card. The woman told me that I didn't need to "get an attitude" with her, despite me being perfectly professional. They were the ones lowkey freaking out, probably because they were jonesing for a fix and dealers don't take gift cards.

They started trying to badger me into giving them cash. "She gave us cash yesterday!" Even if you managed to browbeat one of my poor coworkers into giving you cash, that doesn't mean I'm going to do the same. Fuck off. "Well then that other girl needs to get in trouble! Get her in trouble!" What the actual fuck? My coworker did you a kindness breaking the rules for you and you want her to get in trouble for it??? Go fuck yourself. "Split it into two different transactions so it's less money." lmao, what? No. It's still the same amount of money, dumbass, and you still don't have a receipt. "We shop here all the time." I literally don't care. What bearing does that have on the current situation of you trying to get cash when you have no receipt? And if you shop here all the time, why the big issue with a gift card? "We live right across the street!" Okay, and??? "Well can you put it back on his card, since that's how he paid for it?" LMAO, no. You have no proof that's how he paid for it. You have no proof it was paid for at all. And now you're blatantly telling me that you didn't pay cash for these items, so in what universe would you expect to get cash for them? Like, even if you had a receipt showing that you paid for this shit with a card (which you don't, because you didn't pay for this shit), you wouldn't get cash.

And then my favorite game of chicken: "WeLl CaN't YoU lOoK uP mY rEcEiPt?!" Lady, you're in luck! Because one of the only two people who can do that actually happens to be working at the moment! It's an involved process and will take some time, but just write down the card number that you used and we'll go check! This bitch proceeded to give me like four different card numbers and they were all out of HER wallet. She'd just told me like two minutes ago that HE'D bought them with HIS card. She then made a show of looking through all her cards and being like, "Oh no, it might be the one that I left at home." 🙄🙄🙄 Sure, Jan.

So I had my coworker look up every single one of her cards, setting the transaction period from January 1st, 2019 to current day, and there was NOTHING. Literally not a single transaction. When she was going through her cards I noticed she has an EBT card (no judgement, I have one too), so if she does buy food at our store it's probably with that and it's probably not a coincidence that she didn't give me that number. So I came out of the back and told them there were no transactions and I was like, "Well maybe it was the card you """left at home""", across the street? Do you want to pop over and get it?"

It was at that point she realized that she lost and suddenly it's all, "It's FINE we'll just take the GIFT CARD this is a waste of our FUCKING TIME." Like yes, it absolutely is a waste of both our time, lmao. But you're the one doing shit like having us look up your transaction history when you know DAMN WELL you didn't actually pay for any of this shit, or if you did it was with EBT (which you intentionally didn't give me the number for) and you know the refund would get put back on your EBT card. Have a nice day! And honestly, maybe consider taking a long hard look at your life because you're actually pathetic standing in a grocery store for half an hour trying to return $25 worth of random shit and falling apart when you don't get it in cash. This should be your wake up call.

#submissions #fuck customers #cashier problems #happy ending #embarrassing #retail justice #retail law #submission

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isabelisfun · 4 years

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drag race commentary “gays anatomy”

ok this is a really good season i just think the judges may or may not be on crack

i’m slightly growing on brita she still isn’t my absolute favorite but she seems a little more humble. she’s also really pretty so

jackie and brita baby same i’m so sad ab rock :(

NICKY SPEAK THOSE FACTS YOU ARE 1000 TIMES MORE SPECIAL THAN AIDEN

also thanks jaida for calling aiden out love that

jaida is the trade of the season and we all know it

acting challenge is fun but i’m worried ab a lot of people

pink pills said: icons only

WE THINK SHE COULD DO GOOD AS A GHOST but i mean they aren’t wrong

crystal’s mullet is pretty fire

ru is cutting aiden too much slack

gigi looks so cute with that little cat

NICKY AS THAT BABY I-

nicky is like truly my favorite person like ever

i adore gigi and nickys friendship

is this a competition to see who has the saddest story about their mom

but i also really love how supportive everyone is this season like all the time they take care of each other and i think that’s really sweet

ooh normani she looks so pretty

cape runway review: jaida’s isn’t my personal taste but it’s well done, brita’s is kinda pretty i don’t love the skirt part tho, jackie’s is fine it’s not my favorite but it’s pretty, jan’s run was adorable and i think the look is cool, gigi’s is good she has definitely had better looks tho, 🍒’s is smart but i don’t love elvis so don’t love it, heidi‘s is just a black catsuit and a cape did we not learn from akeria’s butterfly caftan, crystal’s is pretty and her makeup looks pretty too, aiden’s is...very low effort, widow’s is very tacky looking, nicky’s is gorgeous she looks so hot i love the hair like i am very much into this look AND THOSE LEGSSS

ok acting challenge time! jackie is so good my god. gigi is good too. 🍒 is doing really good as well. brita ain’t bad. aiden was fine. jaida is pretty good. widow is doing really well. again jackie is really really good. nicky wasn’t painfully bad but it wasn’t phenomenal. ok yah 🍒 is good. jan is pretty good. heidi is fine and crystal is doing well. WHY TH IS DAHLIA HERE I-

ok wth that was a surprisingly good acting challenge no one really dropped the ball entirely and a lot of them did really well

i think my top 3 would be jackie, jan, and i hate to say it but 🍒 did really good

oh they’re all top that’s weird

also didn’t think aiden was THAT good

and jackie was robbed of that win let’s be honest

i thought brita looked pretty tonight i think the look was good without the skirt thing

wth is this extremely backhanded compliment from michelle on crystals makeup

nicky wasn’t even that bad but i agree everyone else was really really good

i’m literally gonna cry nicky is my favorite ever and she said herself and i just- 🥺😭

yah heidi definitely isn’t a fashion queen we all know that

also yah nickys runway walk felt a little defeated

i know what’s gonna happen in this lip sync and I DONT WANNA WATCH

nickys too nice to be here

oh i love this song but i hate that ima be sad at the end of this when it was such a good song

HEIDIS WIG

ok yah we all can tell heidi won that cuz i think honestly nicky just felt like she deserved to go home so she didn’t fight as hard but nicky did do a good job still and it was more like emotional ig so it’s just making me really sad that’s all

they’re hug i- i’m literally in tears

SHE WILL ALWAYS BE MY BABY

i. am. sobbing.

that was such a graceful beautiful exit

i’m not french but SHE MADE ME SO PROUD

i will not recover from this ever

also i highly respect them donating money to the trevor project every time 🍒 wins

snatch game next week!!

ALSO VANJIE NEXT WEEK YAYYY SHE LOOKS AMAZING IM SO EXCITED

#rpdr #drag race #rupaul’s drag race season 12 #rupauls drag race #rupaul’s drag race #rpdr12 #rpdrs12

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festfashions · 4 years

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Giving Back - PLUR Outside the Festival

Happy 2020 fam! It’s a new year, which means it’s a clean slate and time to feel fresh and ready to hit the ground running! While you’re working on your resolutions or goals, I wanted to share a 2020 goal you should consider adding to your list: giving back to the community!

Giving back, doing charity work or finding ways to help others not only supports what PLUR really stands for, but makes you a happier person. It’s proven, you feel happier and better about yourself when you do things for others! So give back, and do good!

There’s lots of ways to participate in this within the EDM community, so I want to highlight a few ways the community is giving back and some ways you can contribute as well!

Insomniac Cares

Insomniac Cares is dedicated to making a positive impact on issues facing the communities and neighborhoods where Insomniac Events are held. For every event that sponsors Insomniac Cares, $1 per ticket transaction and all guest list attendees are required a mandatory donation which helps fund the programs.

Since 2011, Insomniac Cares has partnered with over 50 local and national charities and community organizations, donating over $2 million. Projects in the past have focused on defunct children’s art and music programs, providing housing for homeless youth, funding cancer research, and reforesting local parks.

Each year, the milestone event for Insomniac Cares is their EDC Las Vegas Charity Auction. Hosting numerous items up for bid from helicopter rides into the venue to artist meet and greets, the Charity Auction is an awesome opportunity for artists to give back AND fans to contribute in a larger way to the community!

In 2019 alone, the EDC LV Charity Auction raised $70,000 for Communities in Schools of Southern Nevada, a nonprofit devoted to working with schools and providing resources that are needed to help low-income students in K-12 succeed.

You can learn more about Insomniac Cares here.

Tomorrowland Foundation

Insomniac isn’t the only events company that gives back, the Tomorrowland Foundation is also doing amazing things to send good back to the world. They focus on children and young people ages 40-21, living in developing countries or regions in crisis, with parents that are preoccupied with ‘survival’ or with unequal chances in life.

These children are very often raised in poverty and have a high risk of spending themselves their whole life in poverty. The Tomorrowland Foundation wants to break this vicious circle by giving them chances to express themselves creatively and work on their self-esteem.

On April 18th 2018, the first Music & Arts School opened in Sekha, a small Nepalese village situated in the heart of the Himalayas. This Music & Arts School features four fully-equipped classrooms, a central courtyard and a stage. Teachers offer the children instruction in music, dance, art and theatre.

This school is 100% funded with the gifts of our festival goers and was officially opened by Lost Frequencies who represented the People of Tomorrow.

In 2019-2020 the Tomorrowland Foundation will collaborate with Mobile School, a nonprofit organization focused on working with street children all over the world. There are currently 57 mobile schools in 30 countries across four continents. Thanks to Tomorrowland Foundation they are able to continue and expand their great work around the world.

Tomorrowland Foundation is funded by a yearly contribution from WeAreOneWorld (the organization behind Tomorrowland) and attendee contributions. During the festival there are Donate Here carts where visitors have the opportunity to donate 2 “Pearls” (the Tomorrowland currency) to directly support the foundation. Plus all guest tickets require a mandatory contribution to the foundation.

Even cooler, each year, a secret restaurant is hidden inside the magical Tomorrowland Mainstage, where an exclusive dinner created by a world-class chef and his team is served to a select group of people. The full price of this experience is 100% donationed to the foundation.

You can learn more about Tomorrowland Foundation here.

There’s also lots of artists that have started their own foundations or organizations or unique ways to give back.

Bassnectar’s Be Interactive

Bassnectar is notorious for encouraging his fans to give back to their communities in various ways. For two decades the Bassnectar Team has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for charity and invested countless hours in creative campaigns which catalyze giving, good deeds, and volunteer DIY charity activism.

In 2018 he the team established Be Interactive -- a nonprofit organization inspiring ‘the empathic to make an impact through radical kindness, respectful creativity, volunteering, and charity.’ Four times a year they announce a new theme to rally around, and ways fans can collaborate with them. They also give money they raise from shows back to the community by funding projects directly in a grant application that anyone can apply for.

Funds come from $1 for every ticket sold to a Bassnectar-produced event, as well as fundraising events or donations made at the Love Here booth at Bassnectar Events.

Learn more about Be Interactive here. Be sure to follow their Instagram too if you want to stay up to date.

There’s also a lot of DJs doing charity that we don’t hear about at times until something major happens and they use their social platforms as a speaker box.

Recently, with the wildfires destroying Australia, lots of DJs have made a point to talk about how they are donating or how fans can as well. Flume (an Australian native, spoke about his personal donation, and Alison Wonderland updated her store for the month of January so that 100% of all profits will go towards helping.

Sometimes finding out how your favorite DJs are giving back is all about following their socials and seeing what they’re up to.

Matoma announced something awesome on his socials on Jan 15 about the importance of climate change and the effect touring has on the planet. He announced that his next tour of the US will be the first tour in the WORLD to use carbon drawdown initiatives to remove the carbon footprint it creates. He’s done work like this before, with is 2018 tour which was climate positive, as certified by the United Nations.

I think Matoma is onto something great, and we should all pressure our favorite artists and events companies to look into doing something similar.

Many events work really hard at sustainability and focusing on their environmental impact. This is something we should all consider when we attend an event, and do our part to positively impact the environment. Whatever event you’re attending, check out their website for details on how they are giving back, and if you can’t find anything, maybe reconsider that event. We need to put pressure (with our dollars) on event organizers to think about this stuff ahead of time!

I could literally turn this article into a book with the ways you can give back, be sustainable and help out the community via EDM. It is so easy to spread PLUR outside the festival. Our EDM community is already a great one, so doing some charity work or donations with groups in the community just helps show others how special we are. What will you do to give back this year? Share in the comments below some opportunities I didn’t mention!

#words #text #plur #EDM community #matoma #flume #Alison wonderland #Tomorrowland 2020 #Tomorrowland foundation #insomniac events #insomniac cares #sustainability #bassnectar #be interactive #EDC #Pasquale rotella #charity

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celestialmazer · 4 years

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Such an interesting history and evolution to an impressive and overlooked form of art, and now some of them are in Glasgow!

The Backstory on a Hollywood Backdrops - CBS

In Hollywood's Golden Age, hand-painted backdrops played a vital role in the magic of movies, creating cities, sunsets, or any other setting a director could imagine. These massive artworks were some of the largest paintings ever created, by artists whose work often went unappreciated. John Blackstone reports on the Backdrop Recovery Project, an effort to rescue these works of cinema history, and talks with Karen Maness, coauthor of "The Art of the Hollywood Backdrop," and with Lynne Coakley, whose family business, JC Backings, has been providing the backgrounds to movies and TV shows for generations.

https://www.jcbackings.com/index.php

https://youtu.be/qvVc2i4euQY

youtube

How 200 historic Hollywood backdrops were saved from the dumpster

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2019-12-20/saving-the-lost-art-of-hollywood

By MARY MCNAMARA - CULTURE COLUMNIST AND CRITIC - DEC. 20, 2019

On top of a hill in Valencia, where the wind blows most days, the buildings are big, new and absolutely nonforthcoming. They could house anything — a doctor’s office, a car dealership, a secret government agency. Inside one, against the back wall, lies a pile of large equally nondescript pieces of canvas. Most are long and tied up with string; some have been folded into thick squares and stacked. They could be anything — enormous window treatments or very thin floor coverings.

For the record:

3:56 PM, Jan. 06, 2020 This article says several backdrops went to the Royal Scottish Academy. They went to the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

Hillsides, houses, airports and cathedrals; cityscapes, landscapes and the ocean rocking toward the horizon; courtrooms and bedrooms, bungalows and castles; gas stations, skyscrapers, apartment buildings; the roofs of Paris and New York, corridors, tapestries, train depots and a mineshaft burrowing into an icy mountains.

These are the 90 painted backdrops that remain of more than 200 saved through the Art Directors Guild Backdrop Recovery Project, a two-year attempt to keep a relatively few pieces of irreplaceable art and Hollywood history from the fate of so many sets, props, costumes and backdrops: the studio dumpster.

“Hollywood started as a green industry and then became brown,” says former ADG president and Recovery Project founder Tom Walsh. “Everything was used repeatedly; nothing went into storage. Then when studios began to decline, they got rid of everything, sold things in auctions or just threw them away. And the first to go were backings. We will never know how many were lost, and if I go down that road I will just start to cry.”

“These, though,” he says, “we were able to save.”

There is no more iconic Hollywood image than the backdrop. Backdrops, or backings, are the enormous paintings that make the movie and television industries possible by stretching the confines of a studio set into endless possibility. With a good backdrop, western plains can stretch to the horizon, snowy peaks of mountains create the suspense of dizzying heights, jungles bloom, skyscrapers loom and cities wink through apartment windows. Sets cradle the action; actors, writers and directors create characters and drama; but backdrops build worlds.

Many are imprinted on our collective memory — the Georgian sunset against which Scarlett O’Hara vowed never to be hungry again, the island beaches of “South Pacific,” the view of the Danube from the Von Trapp family’s terrace in “The Sound of Music,” Mt. Rushmore in “North by Northwest.”

In the early years of Hollywood, studios hired artists to paint their own backings, which were sometimes used repeatedly and sometimes thrown away, depending on need, space and the studio’s financials. In the 1950s, a few scenic artists realized this was not a great system, that studios somehow sharing backings might work better, and a few artists began striking out on their own, painting and purchasing various backdrops they would then rent out.

Nowadays almost all backings, painted and otherwise, are furnished by rental companies.

JC Backings is one of the best known of the now handful of rental companies with the most notable collection of historic backdrops in the business. A business that has increasingly shifted away from painted backings to photograph and digital versions. Over the years, JC Backings has regularly, and out of necessity, culled its collection. Even when rolled or folded, backdrops are big, difficult to move, and require temperature-controlled storage. Those not making money as rentals are literally just taking up space.

Two years ago, President Lynne Coakley decided the company no longer needed 207 of its older backings. But this time, instead of filling up an oversize dumpster, she donated them to the Art Directors Guild, which unrolled, photographed and cataloged each one, and then set about finding each one a home.

Most of the more famous images went quickly. The film academy took the backdrop from the “Fit as a Fiddle” number in “Singin’ in the Rain,” the eerie landscape of “Forbidden Planet,” the tapestried walls of “Marie Antoinette,” the office from “Adam’s Rib.” Others, like the Sistine Chapel from “The Shoes of the Fisherman” were given to colleges; the Autry Museum of the American West has eight (including two from the 1947 Katherine Hepburn/Spencer Tracy Western “The Sea of Grass”) and a few went to the Royal Scottish Academy. (George Gibson, the legendary head of MGM’s scenic design department, where many of the backdrops were painted, was Scottish.)

In their new homes, the backings function in a variety of ways — as exhibits, teaching tools and occasionally theatrical backdrops, but all, including the ones still in storage in Valencia, mark another important shift in Hollywood. For many who work in the cinematic crafts, the real tragedy of the digital revolution and the end of the studio system has been the loss of so many iconic props and artworks. Now, as more studios are dismantled, absorbed or re-purposed, there is a growing demand that the working assets of old Hollywood, be they research libraries, backdrops or remainders of sets, be preserved.

In the short version of the story, the Backdrop Recovery Project began with a phone call. In 2017, Walsh was working in New Mexico as production designer on the Netflix western series “Longmire” when he got a call from Coakley.

She said: “Well, Tom, we’re going to move.”

He managed to not drop the phone, but it was a big and upsetting announcement. JC Backings was founded by the Coakley family, which has been part of the scenic art world for five generations. Over the years, the company acquired the collections of MGM, Universal, 20th Century Fox, Disney and Paramount.

For 40 years, the company operated out of the famous MGM scenic paint studio on what is now the Sony lot in Culver City and had a history with the studio for even longer. Lynne’s great-grandfather, John Coakley, was a scenic artist there, working under Gibson’s tutelage, when, in 1936, he fell to his death from a studio scaffolding. MGM’s method of compensation was to hire his son, John Harold Coakley, as an apprentice. John Harold eventually went to 20th Century Fox and, after “Cleopatra” nearly bankrupted the studio, he bought its backdrop collection. In 1962, he formed JC Backings with his son, John Gary Coakley.

In 1972, the company moved to MGM and its still gold-standard scenic studio.

JC Backings remains in the painted backdrop business — a backing from the 1958 musical “South Pacific,” for example, was recently used on an upcoming Netflix series and several equally venerable backings were recently rented for new Marvel projects (none of which Lynne can name because she signed nondisclosure agreements). But at least half of the company’s inventory is photo and digital, and it made no sense to pay for the MGM studio, which was built for painting scenic backings and did not have the storage space the company needed.

When Lynne Coakley decided to move the headquarters to a larger facility in Culver City, with a warehouse equipped for painting in Gardena, she eyed the 3,000 or so painted backings in the company’s collection and realized that more than 200 of them had not been used in years.

A decade ago, she says, she would have just chucked them; some were faded or damaged, some so specific they could never be used again.

“It’s only in the last 10 years that we’ve started thinking of them as having historic value,” says Coakley. “For years, we thought of backings as a commodity; that’s our business.”

In the long version of the story, the conversation that resulted in the Backdrop Recovery Project occurred almost 10 years ago.

An award-winning production designer, Walsh had worked with JC Backings for much of his career. As president of ADG, from 2003 to 2013, he was committed to making the public aware of scenic artists and preserving the historic work that remained. “I started as a pot boy,” he says, referring to the young workers who mixed the paints that scenic artists used for backdrops. “It was the last days of the old ways, and ever since then, I have a soft spot for scenic artists.”

And not just as a preservationist. Walsh believes that old Hollywood arts are crucial in developing the new ones and bemoans the fact that many cinema schools now view scenic painting as an elective for their arts programs.

“A lot of people are going into the digital arts,” he says, “but the best artists I’ve worked with, digital or not, are the ones who can pick up a pencil, who can look at something and see it before they start re-creating it. No matter how they do it.”

In 2012, he founded the ADG archives, which contains resources gleaned from old studio research libraries — books and photos, paintings and advertisements, anything and everything that could help artists of all types make the sets, props and backings beautiful and believable.

That same year, he approached Lynne about publicly displaying some of the iconic backdrops and the small paintings from which they were created; over seven years, the ADG and JC Backings co-hosted five open-house nights at the historic MGM studio.

The events were so popular, Walsh says, that he wondered if there was a book to be done. While giving a guest lecture at the University of Texas, Austin, he had met Karen Maness, a former scenic artist who loved backdrops almost as much as he did.

“I grew up in San Diego,” Maness says, “and I fell in love with all the murals in Los Angeles. When I saw my first theatrical backdrop, I knew this is what I wanted to do: I wanted to work big.”

She had been teaching theatrical arts at UT Austin for several years when Walsh approached her about doing a book, and she immediately said yes. “It was a passion project to understand these artists, to help them be seen for their work.”

For the next four years, she and Richard M. Isackes interviewed Hollywood masters and in 2016 produced “The Art of the Hollywood Backdrop,” a gorgeous doorstop of a book that tells the story of an art form that is at its best when it does not appear to exist

“The publisher said it was the most beautiful book they had ever made,” Walsh says. “Certainly it is the heaviest.”

“Tom saw the urgency,” Maness says. “A lot of the artists we interviewed for the book are gone now, and I am so grateful that I got to speak with so many. It’s changed the way I paint and think about painting. I have never seen painting with such sensitivity to color, temperature and value structure. I am so embarrassingly in love with it.”

The Coakleys and their unique collection are a big part of “The Art of the Hollywood Backdrop,” in which the family’s story was told publicly for the first time. Lynne’s parents are, she says, very private and reserved individuals. Working with Walsh and Maness, Lynne began to think of JC Backings’ collection of painted backdrops as something more than company assets.

“After the book came out,” Walsh says, “we started hearing from a lot of people who were also interested in preservation.”

During the early years of the backdrop exhibitions, Lynne had been surprised when Anne Coco, the motion picture academy’s graphic arts librarian, had asked if she would be willing to donate some of the small paintings done as blueprints for the backings, which she happily did. So when Lynne decided there was no point in moving the 200-plus backings that were no longer in use, she called the academy first.

“The academy took about a dozen right away,” Lynne says. “The cream, obviously. The rest went to the ADG, and,” she adds laughing, “Tom got them to take about 10 more.”

Although the academy will not reveal anything about how, or which, backings will be displayed in its new Museum of Motion Pictures, Walsh says he put together an exhibit for architect Renzo Piano and his staff when they were in the designing phase.

For the remaining 207, she called Walsh, who was thrilled.

Thrilled and a little daunted. Moving more than 200 backings, some of which are more than 30 feet wide and, affixed to wooden battens, weigh several hundred pounds, is no joke. Nor is the work of unrolling each one and trying to identify the films for which it was used. Especially when you have only a couple of weeks to do it.

“There were some of backings that hadn’t been opened,” says Maness, who, along with a dozen or so ADG members, helped with the moving and cataloging. “The reason they survived when so many assets were lost or sold off in auction was that they were able to keep them at MGM so they were up and out of sight.”

But if the three weeks it took to catalog and move the backings were difficult, they were also exhilarating. There was gold in them there rafters.

“No one knew the ‘Fit as a Fiddle’ backing was in there,” says Walsh. “Or the tapestries from ‘Marie Antoinette.’ And the ‘Forbidden Planet’ landscapes were so amazing. But even the ones that weren’t famous, are gems. If it weren’t for JC Backings,” he says, “this library, which dates back to the 1930s wouldn’t exist.”

He has spent the past two years finding homes for the original 207 and then an additional 65 donated by Scenic Express. As of publication, there are still 50 or so in the Valencia warehouse that he hopes will find homes at some film or theatrical school. The University of Texas, Austin took 47, including the 24 from “The Shoes of the Fisherman,” which Maness uses to teach painting and design to her students; one of her classes is reproducing the Sistine Chapel.

“Everything you need to know about how to paint is in those backdrops,” she says. “I recognize that we are living in a digital world, but there’s so much power in the painting. “After the book came out, it raised consciousness about preservation. Photographic backings are fine — I use them, we all use them — but painted backdrops are art. Some are so simply drawn that when you look at them closely they don’t look like anything.

“And then you step back and you see the world.”

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