USA - Tumblr Posts
Michael Wesely is a German art photographer who is best known for his photos of cities, buildings, landscapes, and still lives of flowers taken with a specialultra-long exposure technique. Michael Wesely lives and works in Berlin.
Why would I be scared of a highway what are you guys talking abouHOLY SHIT NONONONO ABORT MISSION ABORT-
I-80 highway through Wyoming. nicknamed The Sisters, for the three sets of hills that create an optical illusion of the road rising into the sky
I always thought the whole “Lex Luther Becomes President" gambit seemed so crazy. Like, he’s OBVIOUSLY evil. I understand that politics can have a lot of subjective grey areas, but, the American people wouldn’t elect a straight-up evil guy who literally has a tower of villainy with his name on it, right? Right…? The American people have to have a more shrewd moral compass than THAT. Electing a super villain- that’s preposterous!
On this day in history:
Abraham Lincoln elected as president of the United States of America in 1860
Source
Small businesses are awesome.
This guy, a veteran and park ranger named Steve, opened this place called TreeRock in Asheville, NC as a sort of passion project, to celebrate Mead and Cider, and showcase an incredible selection of the world's first alcoholic beverage.
I just had an hour and a half long conversation with the guy. He's so personable and knowledgeable, and I had an absolute blast- I tried like 10 different drinks, and they were all awesome, and he told me about the history and making of each and every one. After a while, I decided this is my new favorite place to go.
But they're closing, in March.
These past few years have been devastating for small businesses, and they are no exception. They are going to close in March, unless something drastic happens that changes things.
So if you're in Asheville, or you know somebody in Asheville, or you have been meaning to go to Asheville to bury that body in the trunk of your car somewhere along the Appalachian trail but you just haven't gotten around to it yet, please stop by TreeRock for a flight of meads, ciders, and beers from all around the world, for less than the cost of a Chipotle burrito.
(also they love dogs!!! my dog had a great time, and I'm sure yours will too!)
For all of my US followers for whom general public official election day is coming up (Nov. 7th) PLEASE do not become so disillusioned with the current state of higher power politicians that you skip out on voting for local offices; off year and local elections are already critically unemphasized but these are the people who have the most direct power over jails, police, school curriculum, etc. Do not let your grief be weaponized as a distraction from also continuing to fight police brutality, queer and bipoc censorship in schools, bodily autonomy, housing inequality, etc, on the smaller scale battlefields where every vote truly does count
USA please listen to me: the price of “teaching them a lesson” is too high. take it from New Zealand, who voted our Labour government out in the last election because they weren’t doing exactly what we wanted and got facism instead.
Trans rights are being attacked, public transport has been defunded, tax cuts issued for the wealthy, they've mass-defunded public services, cut and attacked the disability funding model, cut benefits, diverted transport funding to roads, cut all recent public transport subsidies, cancelled massive important infrastructure projects like damns and ferries (we are three ISLANDS), fast tracked mining, oil, and other massive environmentally detrimental projects and gave the power the to approve these projects singularly to three ministers who have been wined and dined by lobbyists of the companies that have put the bids in to approve them while one of the main minister infers he will not prioritise the protection of endangered species like the archeys frog over mining projects that do massive environmental harm. They have attacked indigenous rights in an attempt to negate the Treaty of Waitangi by “redefining it”; as a backup, they are also trying to remove all mentions of the treaty from legislation starting with our Child Protection laws no longer requiring social workers to consider the importance of Maori children’s culture when placing those children; when the Waitangi Tribunal who oversees indigenous matters sought to enquire about this, the Minister for Children blocked their enquiry in a breach of comity that was condemned in a ruling — too late to do anything — by our Supreme Court. They have repealed labour protections around pay and 90 day trials, reversed our smoking ban, cancelled our EV subsidy, cancelled our water infrastructure scheme that would have given Maori iwi a say in water asset management, cancelled our biggest city’s fuel tax, made our treasury and inland revenue departments less accountable, dispensed of our Productivity Commission, begun work on charter schools and military boot camps in an obvious push towards privatisation, cancelled grants for first home buyers, reduced access to emergency housing, allowed no cause evictions, cancelled our Maori health system that would have given Maori control over their own public medical care and funding, cut funding of services like budgeting advice and food banks, cancelled the consumer advocacy council, cancelled our medicine regulations, repealed free prescriptions, deferred multiple hospital builds, failed to deliver on pre-election medical promises, reversed a gun ban created in response to the mosque shootings, brought back three strikes = life sentence policy, increased minimum wage by half the recommended amount, cancelled fair pay for disabled workers, reduced wheelchair services, reversed our oil and gas exploration ban, cancelled our climate emergency fund, cut science research funding including climate research, removed limits on killing sea lions, cut funding for the climate change commission, weakened our methane targets, cancelled Significant National Areas protections, have begun reversing our ban on live exports. Much of this was passed under urgency.
It’s been six months.
“I have yet to find one of them that I felt was credible enough for me to actually file documentation for that voter,” he said. “So as a good steward for voter registration, which is what I’m charged with doing, I should not act upon stuff that is proven to be not credible.
”This year, election officials like Wilcox have spent valuable time sorting through pages of these mass voter challenges. And voting rights advocates worry that the trend could result in eligible voters being removed from the rolls, or from accommodations like being on lists to automatically receive ballots in the mail.
. . .
But experts and election officials who spoke to HuffPost said voters should confirm their registration status now — before the November election season heats up — just to be safe.
. . .
The month following that election, True the Vote teamed up with Georgia Republicans to challenge the eligibility of more than 364,000 voters in the state, based in part on U.S. Postal Service address-change data.
. . .
Some voters only found out their registrations had been challenged when they didn’t receive requested ballots in the mail for Georgia’s January 2021 U.S. Senate run-off election. Ultimately — after courts stepped in — the vast majority of these challenges were rejected. True the Vote’s list “utterly lacked reliability” and “verge[d] on recklessness,” a federal judge later observed.
. . .
At least one Georgia county has signed a contract to use the software, and in May, the director of the Florida Division of Elections sent county officials a list of 10,000 names to review that a local “concerned citizen” had generated with EagleAI.
. . .
Other efforts are state-based, including the “Pigpen Project” in Nevada and “Soles to the Rolls” in Michigan. Some even go so far as to go door to door to ask voters to confirm their information, raising concerns about intimidation. The Republican Party is also involved in the effort — in June, a federal judge rejected a GOP lawsuit alleging Nevada officials had failed to properly maintain voter rolls. (The GOP’s data was “highly flawed,” the state said.) A similar suit, against the state of Michigan, is ongoing.
And some states have made mass challenges even easier. In Georgia, S.B. 202, passed in 2021, allowed anyone to formally challenge an unlimited number of registrations, and S.B. 189, passed this year, requires voters to defend their registration against even frivolous challenges, sometimes at in-person hearings. It faces a lawsuit.
More at the link. Check your registration!
Since yesterday (14.10) marked the official 2 years of me being back in the Countryhumans fandom (I first joined in 2019) I decided to remake one of my 2022 art pieces.
For that I choose my Countryhumans x Vocaloid one based on the song FLYER! I am also a huge Vocaloid fan so I was like "Why not both" and Japan already had ponytails that were directly referencing Hatsune Miku, anyways
Here's OG from 2022
And remake from 2024
Here's explanation of my choices if u want to read that or hate me for the choices
Japan as Hatsune Miku, obviously as I mentioned her ponytails are referencing Hatsune Miku and she's Japan
USA as KAITO, bc they're both my favorites, yeah that's basically it
South Korea and North Korea as Kagamine Rin and Kagamine Len, this might be a controversial choice but I was originally going to do Asian countries from the areas of Japan (I think it's called East Asia) before deciding not to do so, and the first twins that came to my mind were obviously them, so I decided to go with them
Poland as Megurine Luka, well this is where I decided I do what I want and since I live in Poland and Luka is another one of my favorites I decided to go with Poland for this one
France as MEIKO, lastly we have her, this was really a random choice, there's no reason behind it I just chose a random Countryhuman, and besides it fits in a way? I mean they're both mother
It's a silly little concept I made and had fun with, drawing them as many Vocaloid songs which I listened to 24/7 at the time was a fun way fo get my 2 interests together, I don't really do that anymore but eh
This may seem like a meme, but it is real. It's formatted like this to get people's attention and be memorable, in the hopes that maybe it saves some lives.
Edit 1: If any of you are unsure that this is real, check out the notes of folks talking about it.
Transcript:
[transcript of sign]
Are you currently struggling with … MEDICAL BILLS?
… Perhaps you should try … FAPping!
Financial Aid Policy
Did you know that most hospitals and some doctor’s offices are what is known as a 501r, or “medical non-profit”?
This means they are legally required to have a “financial aid policy” or “charity care policy”
What is means, is that they are LEGALLY REQUIRED under United States Law to provide FREE OR DISCOUNTED healthcare, and also to FORGIVE EXISTING MEDICAL DEBT to individuals with financial difficulty.
Basically, every household making und $100K a year is eligible for a reduction in their medical costs.
Billing departments often try to push people to get on a “payment plan” if someone asks, but don’t accept it!
Ask if they have a Charity Care or Financial Aid policy “Based On Income.”
If it looks like you might not qualify?
Apply anyway. They try to scare people away with scary processes.
YOU QUALIFY. EVEN IF YOU ARE ALREADY IN COLLECTIONS.
[/end sign] (Credit to Moonlit-wings for the transcription.)
the university which administers the Pulitzer prizes is not allowing press on campus, to make sure nobody on-site can document what is happening.
the nypd threatened student journalists qnd their dean with arrest if they leave a building named after Joseph Pulitzer.
at this point it isn't even worth remarking on the sheer horror, the baffling irony of it all.
entire new york roads have been closed to traffic so that nobody can prevent the world's largest police force's brutalization of students protesting THEIR tution fres and tax dollars contributing to killing kids.
all of this to... keep investing in an apartheid regime.
Columbia University would rather risk their students getting murdered than divest from genocide...