Spyke

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Harris to endorse protections for renters and removal of key tax benefits for Wall St. investors buying homes

enforce fair housing laws

Hopefully this includes not kicking out people who can still pay rent, just so the landlord can have themselves a weekend vacation cabin or higher-priced rental. And there should be a law forcing landlords to offer a rent-to-own option. Also, how about recalculating inflation to account for every expense that has gone up, so that the percentage a landlord can raise rent each year isn't so damned high. While we're being fair, of course :|

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'Very aggressive' homeless camp crackdown coming in August, mayor says

Too many people lack compassion.

I almost became homeless myself recently because the landlord wanted his house back after me renting the place for 19 years. It wasn't my fault, and I simply cannot afford rent anywhere else with my SSDI income.

All the usual suggestions and arguments in favor of homeless sweeps and victim blaming fall apart for people like me: shelters are not an option because I don't always stay sane when exposed to too many people; I'm not on recreational drugs at this time, so I can't be dismissed as deserving of homelessness for that reason; I'm taking my meds as I should; I can't get HUD vouchers because I'm sleeping on a relative's porch; mental institutions are not an option unless I'm in imminent danger of hurting myself or others; etc.

The reality is that a person in need often faces roadblock after roadblock when trying to find housing, and there aren't enough funds handed out to solve the problem. I'm just grateful to be one of the lucky few who is stabilizing with a roof over my head, incomplete as it is.

I think most people just won't care until it happens to them.

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Freed Israeli captive Noa Argamani says she was wounded by Israel, not Hamas

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https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-815947

Despite media reporting that she was beaten by Hamas, Argamani went to social media on Friday to say that her words had been taken out of context. She said she was not beaten and her hair was not cut.

"I said, I had cuts all over my head and I was hurt all over my body." Argamani emphasized that her wounds came from the collapse of a building after it was bombed by the IAF.

"As a victim of October 7, I will not allow myself to be victimized once again by the media," she said.

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US declares controversial Israeli battalion eligible for assistance

The administration of President Joe Biden had considered blocking the battalion from receiving US assistance amid reports of involvement in human rights violations, but Department of State spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Friday that such abuses had been “effectively remediated”.

So, we effectively dragged our feet until we got assurances that the battalion corrected its behavior? Yet, when it comes to the UNWRA, we're quick to cease funding on a faint glimmer of a rumor.

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US Forest Service failing to protect old growth trees from logging, critics say

The logging industry sucks. They log old growth and plant a single species in what was previously a diverse ecosystem. They spray poison to protect their saplings from competition, and among the poisoned dead are fruit plants which fed the local wildlife. All wildlife suffers as a result.

I met up with some loggers who took down a very old pine I used to walk past. They told me that it looked like it contained a lot of good wood, but after it fell they realized it wasn't so good after all. So they left it laying there, and their attitude was 'oh well.'

Adding to all this suckage, the industry takes trees from the land we all share and if they don't get exported to another country, they get processed and sold here for exorbitant prices. That wood could be used to build affordable housing but no, the rich have to get richer, even if it means shitting all over everything.

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Newsom threatens to take money from counties that don't reduce homelessness

The safety net has people-sized holes in it. I nearly became homeless in June, and it wasn't the state that came through for me, it was a relative. Even though I'm stll sleeping on a porch, I count myself lucky.

The programs that are supposed to help people stay housed are failing: not enough funds for housing vouchers, restrictions too high for enrollment, and waiting lists too long for practicality.

And Gavin is a wannabe autocrat. If it weren't for him and his vetomania, we would have legalized natural psychedelics in CA by now. But no, instead we have people out there getting sick from sketchy products. And it seems like it's the same with everything: do the exact opposite of helping while making it look like you care.

Edit: there are decent leaders out there though, such as this mayor who lived as a homeless man for a week to gain some insight on the matter.

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What was your funniest date experience?

One time when I worked at a hardware store, I was loading concrete bags for a woman and I asked her, "you wanted eight?" to confirm how many she requested. She asked back, "do I want a date??" Anyway, I was too shy to pretend that I was asking her out, so this comment is only sort of about dating.

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A 12-year-old girl is accused of smothering her 8-year-old cousin over an iPhone

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Psychopathy, not psychosis. It's easy to get the two disorders confused.

From Psychology Today:

Psychopathy is a condition characterized by the absence of empathy and the blunting of other affective states. Callousness, detachment, and a lack of empathy enable psychopaths to be highly manipulative.

Psychosis occurs when an individual loses touch with reality—a break that can be terrifying to experience or to observe in a loved one. Psychosis can include hallucinations, delusions, disorganized speech, and abnormal movements.

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Judge declines to dismiss excessive force case against city of Burlington VT for 2021 use of handcuffs, spit hood, and ketamine on disabled 14 year old accused of stealing vape pens

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If you wanted it for therapeutic use, you'd have to jump through hoops and spend a lot of $ just to get little bit. Meanwhile, cops can have you sedated with it at will.

I've never used ketamine, but if it's anything like similar dissociatives, an unexpected trip could be very disturbing. And on top of the other abuses from police, I can imagine the whole ordeal would cause life-long trauma (if you survived in the first place).