Is the US a dystopia?

it turns out that's kind of an urban legend and in most cases they do not get to write off those round-up donations as their own donations for tax benefits. it's mostly a PR move

an actual tax expert like sarahell can probably clarify

although there was a really funny one where Panera was asking you to round up for the "Panera Foundation" or something and it was a screw-up because there was not yet a registered Panera non-profit

I only ever heard about this from one guy tweeting about how he'd contacted their company for information and they quietly changed the wording to not reference a non-existent org

https://www.healthline.com/hlcmsresource/images/diabetesmine/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/strips.jpg

for a little while apparently you could donate your poop for money at some clinics

really said I missed out on that cos it was lucrative

I feel like my gut biome would be pretty rich - I grew up on a far with animals, unpasteurized milk, etc.

If you find the poop-buyers, let me know.. I think my scat would be in high demand

This is hilarious to me pic.twitter.com/jDHci6oj6A

— Ray (@lobotomyze) May 19, 2023

The trifecta - hilarious, bleak and cringe.

.

Okay, comments really bring out the black comedy of the whole thing.

Amazing beginning -- and lots of passages describing a kind of hell -- in the review of this book on Private Equity

https://prospect.org/culture/books/2023-06-02-days-of-plunder-morgenson-rosner-ballou-review/

https://nbc16.com/news/nation-world/arbys-employee-found-dead-inside-freezer-beat-her-hands-bloody-trying-to-escape-houston-texas-lawsuit-regional-manager-collapsed-freezing-restaurants

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5weq6FNKcHI

Jesus christ, one of my biggest nightmares working in places w/ walk-in freezers. how awful

the Plunder review linked above, incredibly depressing, will not read that book

yeah I've been reading that review slowly since yesterday, incredibly grim, I can't imagine reading the books.

I also wasn't aware of Monowitz before reading that, I can't believe (I can def believe it) that's not a more widely known fact.

yah xyzzzz thank you for sharing that, it's horrifying & vital reading

my high school had an active shooting threat earlier. no one got hurt but students did find the shooters ig pic.twitter.com/3EkxBL2pjM

— tony🗣 (@ratatatvandal) June 8, 2023

This is truly depressing— gift read. Federal Policy on Homelessness Becomes New Target of the Right

Senator J.D. Vance, Republican of Ohio, used two recent hearings to argue that Housing First ignores the root causes of homelessness.

What, capitalism?

Joe Lonsdale, the tech mogul behind the Cicero Institute, has called Housing First part of a “Marxist” attempt to blame homelessness on capitalism

Ah, OK then.

The Delaware House will vote today on a bill that would allow hundreds of LLCs to vote in local elections in the small town of Seaford.

In the town of 8,500, hundreds of businesses voting could be the deciding factor in every election.https://t.co/61zVbv0P7B

— More Perfect Union (@MorePerfectUS) June 20, 2023

corporations really are people ;_;

an impressive showing for the thread, kudos

no doubt at least five of the justices on the present day SCOTUS would beam and nod approvingly at corporations voting in elections, finding it to be an innovative improvement on US-style democracy

hell the 'corporations are people' bit was green-lit by a SCOTUS much further left than this one.

lovely! plus, it might be possible for five or six billionaires to club together to create thousands of corporations in a swing state, allowing them to cast thousands of votes, while structuring them as tax shelters at the same time. best of all possible worlds!

https://www.click2houston.com/news/local/2023/07/26/hisd-to-eliminate-librarians-turn-libraries-into-discipline-centers-at-28-campuses/

Houston Independent School District will be eliminating librarian positions at 28 schools this upcoming year and converting the libraries into ‘Team Centers” where kids with behavioral issues will be sent, the district announced.

This comes as part of the new superintendent Mike Miles reform program, New Education System (NES). Currently, there are a total of 85 schools that have joined Miles’ program, and of those, 28 campuses will lose their librarians. The district said they will have the opportunity to transition to other roles within the district.

The comments have a reference to "feral attention-seekers."

The comments have a reference to "feral attention-seekers."

Huh, I did not realize my children went to school in Houston

Laws against feeding ppl

A man has been found not guilty of breaking a law against feeding homeless people in Houston, concluding the first trial to be held after dozens of tickets were issued against volunteers for the group Food Not Bombs. https://t.co/g6qCgajNOE

— The Associated Press (@AP) August 2, 2023

I like that this thread and the USpol ones have converged

It's a bad law, but tbc, it doesn't prohibit anyone from giving a sandwich to someone on the sidewalk. The ordinance holds that anyone organizing an event at which food is given out to more than five people in need is required to publicly register the event and get permission from the property owner (in this case the city of Houston since it was on the grounds of the library).

but also tbc the city would not have given permission

Goes without saying the city should give permission, as the least they could do.

It's a bad law, but tbc, it doesn't prohibit anyone from giving a sandwich to someone on the sidewalk. The ordinance holds that anyone organizing an event at which food is given out to more than five people in need is required to publicly register the event and get permission from the property owner (in this case the city of Houston since it was on the grounds of the library).

much like the time a potluck for the homeless was shut down a few years ago in some state, with all of the food seized, and then doused in bleach so nobody would eat it afterwards. they claimed it was because the food handling wasn't up to code/improper temperatures etc and "homeless people deserve the same food standards that everyone else does", but you know damn well that if it was some other type of potluck for any other reason, nobody would have given a shit.

i would imagine it’s motivated more by “CYA” rather than any genuine concern for unhoused folks’ well being

nah table is absolutely otm

the state is great at throwing up a bunch of valid-sounding reasons that ultimately have the same effect, protecting capital

yep, table otm

right, wasn’t disputing his point, more just responding to straw men

I'm ambivalent about 'dystopia' because that implies there's an attempt to create kind of ideal utopian society, but goes horribly awry (1984, Brave New World, etc.)

Any country that can't/won't feed its people, and then criminalizes others who attempt to do so, is in no way a failed utopia.. it's just a failed state

a potluck for the homeless was shut down a few years ago in some state, with all of the food seized, and then doused in bleach so nobody would eat it afterwards

^ if that's not dystopian i don't know what is?

i think it implies a failed utopia, it's comparable to a utopia more in the sense that it seems unreal or impossible

*don't think

like, it's just beyond belief

Yeah, I've always thought of it as the opposite of utopia.

The general "attitude" towards homeless people in this country borders on genocide. Trump is campaigning on a "Escape from the Bronx"-esque roasting homeless alive with flamethrowers.

As a person who lived in a truck while holding a full time job, I can attest to the hatred and loathing that the US and many of its people have for the unhoused or marginally housed. The “fuck you i got mine” bootstraps ethos is so inculcated in the populace, no wonder this country is broken and so full of rage and pain.

It's a problem as well because yea ok we know a lot of liberaly people are massive hypocrites, but homeless people are where many of them dngaf about proudly demonstrating it

ten degrees to the left of center in good times, ten degrees to the right of Mussolini if someone wants to build a shelter in my zip code

The general "attitude" towards homeless people in this country borders on genocide. Trump is campaigning on a "Escape from the Bronx"-esque roasting homeless alive with flamethrowers.

― Moritz von Oswald von Wolkenstein (Boring, Maryland)

y'all i figured out where it all went wrong

A website dedicated to both this film and its predecessor 1990: The Bronx Warriors was set up in 2004.[12] The site contains two interviews with Enzo G Castellari and details an ongoing attempt to locate Mark Gregory (Trash) who vanished from public view in about 1989.[13] There is also a message in MP3 format (in Italian) from Enzo and his son Andrea to Mark asking him to get in touch and saying how much they miss him.

we need mark gregory now more than ever in these dark times