Forum Replies Created
-
AuthorPosts
-
wvParticipantmint:https://www.mintpressnews.com/tech-giants-position-themselves-as-landlords-as-end-of-eviction-moratorium-could-leave-millions-homeless/269744/?fbclid=IwAR0JL1Yf_XR8TrDyhRi-QQIh6tAOsO7YrmlhcC37RBCOu1HIS78jgqGrowM
Tech Giants Eye Lucrative Rent Market as End to Eviction Moratorium Could Leave Millions HomelessA “tsunami” of evictions is about to sweep across the United States when the 120-day moratorium ends today, threatening millions of Americans with homelessness or worse – a new set of landlords called Facebook, Google and Apple.
In a ‘normal’, pre-pandemic economy, a number roughly equal to the population of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania – or about 3.7 million people – are evicted every month in the United States, according to Matthew Desmond, principal investigator of Princeton University’s “Eviction Lab” project, which tracks evictions throughout the country and produces the first nationwide eviction database.
But, come Friday, July 24, those numbers could rise precipitously should the moratorium on evictions, included in the CARES Act be allowed to expire. The legislation afforded renters with a 120 days’ grace period from “fees, penalties, or charges in relation to nonpayment of rent” and barred landlords from filing eviction notices of any kind during that period….
…A “semi-permanent renter class” has developed among poor African Americans, in particular. 1 in 11 people who fall into this demographic face eviction every year. For the rest of the United States, the rate is 1 in 20….
…..Parallel to this and largely under the radar, however, the private tech sector is moving into position to swoop in and take advantage of the impending housing crisis. Just as news of a mysterious virus was breaking late last year, Facebook invested $1 billion for the construction of 20,000 new affordable housing units in California, following Google’s lead which had made the exact same commitment a few months earlier. Apple more than doubled Google’s and Facebook’s investment, combined, when it put down $2.5 billion for the same cause.
wvParticipantPosted by a resident of Portland, OR
….
7. The Elk statue was taken down by the Police to “protect” it, but the Elk statue was a favorite of the protesters because it was uncontroversial; so they got a blow-up elk and put it where the real statue used to stand. It’s sort of a rallying point.”
… This is literally how the “secret police” in other authoritarian regimes began…————————-
I just wanna know where one gets “blow up Elk” dolls from.
w
v
“Lakota believed that the mythical or spiritual elk, not the physical one, was the teacher of men and the embodiment of strength, sexual prowess and courage…”
wikiwvParticipantI’ve been thinking about doing this as well. I’m mostly in the planning stage at this point.
I was mildly surprised to learn that Black-eyed Susan is native to Vermont. I always figured that was some domestic variety originally bred in a green house.
I’ve also started taking inventory of the native plant species on my property before I start planting.
So far I have Black-eyed Susan.
==================
Well, as you probly know there are a gazillion kinds of ‘black eyed susans’ nowadays. Some might be considered ‘native’ and some not.
At any rate, I’ve planted a lot of them and hardly any bugs ever go on them. Tallamy does not rate them very high, apparently, fwiw.Which brings up the tricky frustrating subject that gnaws at the brains of Native-Plants-Folks — Are ‘Nativars’ just as useful as more ‘pure’ Native plants? (Nativar is taking two native plants and producing something new).
And is every cultivar, inferior to every native? Science sez no. But there’s not a lot of science on it.wvParticipantOkay. Well. Thank you. I guess.
Now do New Zealand.
================
New Z-land is fine. Except for the Orcs.
w
vwvParticipantI have added Vietnam to my list of countries to look at seriously. I skimmed over some article praising VN the other day. They’re not letting Americans in right now, though.
============
Well, if you move to Vietnam, take a lifejacket. No.2 on the list.
wvParticipantBiden is not Hillary. Thats his best political-attribute.
Older voters like him. (His dementia is endearing, not a flaw to them. Kinda like Bush/Reagan’s stupidity was endearing to many Reps.)
But yeah, the question is will young people, minorities, progressives turn out, and vote for Biden.
And Covid is the X factor.
And Rep-Vote-Supression tactics are the Y factor.
And will Trump start a war with Iran. Or Portland.
And will Trump’s “Law And Order” card play well with the middle-class. It has played well all through history, in many countries. The bourgeoisie loves stability and order.
I dunno.
w
vThis is amazing. I mean…Biden could very well win this election without ever really showing up. Why isn’t he LEADING the Democrat coronavirus response? There should be a covid plan with his name on it. I can’t stand the Democrat party. They are just so useless. Just like Biden is supposed to get our vote because “He’s not Trump,” the Democrats are supposed to get all our votes because “We’re not Republicans.”
What are they fucking DOING? There is a pandemic going on without any leadership, and riot police are storm-trooping their way around largely peaceful protests creating most of the violence, and the economy is about to crash and where are the Democrats? Where the hell ARE THEY?
The time is ripe for action. This is what I’m saying. And…like that tweet zn posted the other day…the Democrats plan is to put identification on the federal officers and their vans. That’s their counter proposal. Their big principled stand. Fuck me, man.
And they have completely thrown the country overboard on fighting the virus, and on protecting the American people from the coming economic collapse. Jesus, the GOP is coming for Social Security as we speak. Where the FUCK is Joe Biden? Where are the Democrats?
Anyway. I was going to respond to the content of your post, and I got sidetracked. I agree with everything you said. I think on the Law & Order thing, that’s really all Trump’s got to run on. His handling of the coronavirus has been devastating to him, so he has to run on the Tough Guy crap, but so far, that doesn’t appear to be working. The crowds in Portland have grown larger in response to this, and that strongly suggests support for the protest, and opposition to Trump. You are right that Law & Order has appeal in this country, but that has so far been a two-edged sword for Trump. Not everybody sees him as the right guy to establish L & O, and he is seen, in fact, as partly responsible for the disruption. He’s failing to deliver the Law & Order he stands for.
I think election comes down to voter suppression, and I think there will be significant legal battles. I mean…both sides have drawn up battle plans already. The Democrats are revving up for that, and Trump is going to throw gas on the fire. You know he is. So we’re going to have an exciting few months here, what with the economy about to collapse, corona partying up the place, stormtroopers doing a national tour with each stop bigger and better than the previous one, and the nastiest election fight we will have ever seen.
Good times.
Still waiting for my passport. Not that any country will let me in. Turkey will. I have a friend in Istanbul, but Turkey isn’t much better, is it?
===============
Well, i got nuthin. As per usual. I will say this though — Once Biden became annointed, the Dems were stuck with his pluses and minuses. And given his limitations, i think perhaps its best if he does not try to do to much. Ya know what i mean. Just sit in the basement, talk as little as possible and dont lose the game. Prevent-Defense, in other words. The Dem-numbers-weasels have crunched the numbers and think he has it won, as long as he doesnt make a big mistake.
Run the ball. Dont fumble it. Run out the clock. Say nothing.And then govern like Obama/Clinton and fuck the country in that Same Ole Sorry Ass Dem Way.
…btw, on the ‘law and order’ thing. Its funny, i just finished ‘Love and Capital’ about the Karl Marx and F.Engels families. And the time period of the book is from about 1825 to 1910 or so, basically. Anyway, all during the mid 1800’s there were all these little revolutions and uprisings and strikes and upheavals in France/Austria/Prussia/Spain/Russia. Long story short, the upper-middle-classes ALWAYS fucked over the ‘progressives’ in every country, LoL. They would lean toward mild reform or medium reform, but in the end they ALWAYS supported the ‘law and order’ repressive forces. Over and over and over, in every nation in Europe. It was hilarious reading about it, and reading Marx reaction to it.
‘Law and Order’ — a powerful aphrodisiac for the comfortable upper-middle-class weasels, among others.
We shall see if its enough to save Trump. I think it will take more than that. Voter Supression and Covid AND law-and-order might do it.
w
vwvParticipantSince we dont have an International Incident thread, I’ll put this here:
===================
link:https://mondoweiss.net/2020/07/israel-destroys-covid-19-testing-clinic-in-hebron-as-cases-soar/Israel destroys COVID-19 testing clinic in Hebron as cases soar
As the number of coronavirus cases in Palestine continue to soar, Israeli forces demolished this week a COVID-19 testing clinic in the city of Hebron, the epicenter of the outbreak in the occupied West Bank.
According to locals, Israeli forces demolished the clinic in the middle of the night, just before sunrise on Tuesday morning.
wvParticipantThe repugnant-weasel-shapiro doesnt like Trump’s chances.
=================
wvParticipantAmy Goodman’s question: “Is the United States being run by a MadMan?”
This is where we are at now 🙂
=============
wvParticipantNaturalizing in the 1780s.
============
“….1780s…most prosperous Americans tended to have a vastly different perspective on relief legislation than that of most debtor farmers…
…..from the perspective of more affluent Americans, people’s failure to pay taxes was primarily attributable to their indolence and licentiousness. Governor William Livingston of New Jersey, writing as a ‘Primitive Whig,’ complained…of the ‘lazy, lounging, lubberly’ fellows who sat around drinking, ‘working perhaps but two days in the week and receiving for that work double the wages [they] earn and spending the rest of [their] time in squandering those….non-earnings in riot and debauch,’ yet then dared to complain ‘when the collector calls for his tax of the hardness of the times.’ The farmer who protested that he could not pay taxes was ‘a man whose three daughters are under the discipline of a French dancing master when they ought every one of them to be at the spinning wheel,’ and while they should be ‘dressed in decent homespun, as were their frugal grandmothers, now carry half of their father’s crops upon their backs.’
The well-to-do held a similar perspective on paper money laws and debtor relief legislation opining that these measures ‘enabled idle spendthrifts and dissipating drones of the community’ to live upon the ‘sweat of their neighbor’s brows.’ Because private debt ‘almost universally arises from ‘idleness and extravagance,’ Richard Henry Lee of Virginia argued……
…”
Constitutional Coup, M.KlarmanwvParticipantBiden is not Hillary. Thats his best political-attribute.
Older voters like him. (His dementia is endearing, not a flaw to them. Kinda like Bush/Reagan’s stupidity was endearing to many Reps.)
But yeah, the question is will young people, minorities, progressives turn out, and vote for Biden.
And Covid is the X factor.
And Rep-Vote-Supression tactics are the Y factor.
And will Trump start a war with Iran. Or Portland.
And will Trump’s “Law And Order” card play well with the middle-class. It has played well all through history, in many countries. The bourgeoisie loves stability and order.
I dunno.
w
vwvParticipantNot sure where to put this one: Historian on Police
wvParticipantWell, maybe not every GMO is good though. I mean why would it be?
Maybe some GMO’s will have unintended bad-consequences?I hate to bring up irrefutable hard-science again, but there was
that whole Jurassic Park incident. Parts one and two. And i think there was even a third.w
vwvParticipantFox version of the Portland Mayor getting himself tear-gassed.
(I like to listen to fox sometimes, to make sure i dont get all bubbled.)
=============
wvParticipantI started this at the 4 min mark. Klarman sums up his admittedly non-original interpretation of the Constitution:
“….the Constitution is a kindof conservative counter-revolution against the forces that were set in motion and accelerated by the revolutionary war.”
=================wvParticipantlink:https://truthout.org/articles/philadelphia-da-says-trumps-police-will-be-arrested-if-they-assault-protesters/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=942d717f-fc0c-4c92-8cf7-905531f23694
Philadelphia DA Says Trump’s Police Will Be Arrested If They Assault Protesters“My dad volunteered and served in World War II to fight fascism, like most of my uncles, so we would not have an American president brutalizing and kidnapping Americans for exercising their constitutional rights and trying to make America a better place, which is what patriots do,” Krasner said. “Anyone, including federal law enforcement, who unlawfully assaults and kidnaps people will face criminal charges from my office.”
On Wednesday, Krasner reiterated what he had said earlier in the week, tweeting out that his office “will not make excuses for crimes committed by law enforcement that demean the democratic freedoms so many Americans have fought and died to preserve.”
wvParticipantOn the 3rd vid with Brooks, the one posted by you (wv) that’s titled “Michael Brooks on his background, his book, and Bernie (opening remarks at Lafayette).” One key point in that which I completely buy is that one key difference between the left and right (and centrism too) is the distinction between historicizing and naturalizing. Leftists go, what are the material and historical conditions and forces that led to this thing. The right goes, this is how people are and it;s just how things work. I think he starts that bit at about 9:10 in.
================
Yup. There’s a similar dynamic in Court. Prosecutors/Cops/Judges tend to Naturalize, and public-defender-types tend to Historicize.
Cop/Prosecutor: “Defendant is lazy, bad, evil…”
Public-Defender: “…poverty, poverty, poverty…”w
vwvParticipantDays to the November Election:https://www.timeanddate.com/countdown/election?p0=263&iso=20201103T00&msg=2020%20US%20Presidential%20Election
102 Days, and counting.
w
vJuly 23, 2020 at 8:04 am in reply to: For those contemplating sitting out November elections #118281wvParticipantI don’t think its a matter of political philosophy any more. Its a matter of survival. I hope ZN is right that there will be a large electorate turnout in November. We need to have the young voters, especially those that support Sanders, to actually come out, stand in line, and vote. That along with the African American and Mexican American vote as well as women just might be enough to overcome Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, should they follow 2016. Otherwise raise your right hand high in salute to the King.
====================
I dont think the problem will be progressives sitting out. I think the problems will be:
1. Covid. We just dont know what kind of X Factor it will be.
2. Rightwing Vote-Suppression tactics.
3. Gazillions of Americans love Trump.w
vJuly 22, 2020 at 2:12 pm in reply to: Humans arrived in North America at least 15,000 years earlier than we thought #118248wvParticipant“…. Ardelean said, adding, “the panorama of human arrivals during the Last Glacial Maximum is much more complex than we thought.”
Lorena Becerra-Valdivia… told Business Insider that “the new findings suggest that humans likely took a coastal route.”
That means they were probably seafarers who arrived by boat, possibly from modern-day Russia…”
=================Well, so Russians were interfering, again.
w
vwvParticipantwvParticipantwvParticipantThats good stuff in that last vid. But i think part of that is just….oh….the ‘wisdom’ that comes from age. I dont know that very many young people can learn that. I dunno.
I still dont think Bernie would have won if he had called himself an FDR liberal, or something other than a democratic socialist. There’s only so much ‘good packaging’ can accomplish. The left does have some packaging problems, but thats not the main problem. The main problem is decades and decades of corporate money/propaganda coupled with flat-out force (mccarthyism, capitalist-laws, etc)
w
vwvParticipant=====================
“…The NFL previously had cut the preseason from four games per team to two games per team and was planning for testing every other day.
But the NFL Players Association had been adamant about daily testing for players and no preseason at all.The NFL’s offer Monday of zero preseason games was accompanied by other player-friendly provisions. The acclimation period for veteran players arriving at training camps was increased from seven days to 18 days before they must start practicing, and any player is allowed to opt out of playing this season, according to a person familiar with the deliberations.
Under the testing agreement, players will be tested daily for the first two weeks of training camp. Daily testing will continue as long as the rate of positive tests of players, coaches and other team staffers is above 5%. If the rate falls below 5%, players will be tested every other day. The league expects to receive test results within 24 hours…”
============First off — what the hell is wrong with those NFLlowlife-corporate-Weasel-Owners, who wanted every other day testing. What kind of lowlife Billionaire argues against everyday testing for the players? What pieces of shit.
2nd — this ‘opting out’ thing is important and interesting i think. But what does it mean that a player can ‘opt out’ ? What does it do to their years accrued and all the details of their contracts? At any rate, I’m glad the Union got them an “opt out” rule. It will be interesting to see if any players opt out this year.
w
vwvParticipantI can’t tell you how heartbroken I am. A beautiful and courageous human has passed on. I will miss him terribly. https://t.co/jiNW8e5t0M
— Krystal Ball (@krystalball) July 20, 2020
wvParticipantThis is what the internet will miss, now:
———-wvParticipant“The good and just society is neither the thesis of capitalism nor the antithesis of communism, but a socially conscious democracy which reconciles the truths of individualism and collectivism.” — Martin Luther King jr
Kind of the slogan of the principled moderate social democrat.
================
I’m ok with Social Democracy,
but without People.w
vwvParticipantI am here outside the Federal Courthouse in Downtown Portland, where a crowd of mothers have gathered again after being tear gassed last night by feds.
This is one of the largest Portland crowds we have seen this month. pic.twitter.com/QuAwj8xvD2
— Robert Evans (The Only Robert Evans) (@IwriteOK) July 20, 2020
wvParticipantJuly 19, 2020 at 11:29 am in reply to: big story coming on the Washington no-name-yet team… scandals brewing #118137wvParticipant“There’s no question it’s a juggling act for the N.F.L.
to maintain their profits while trying to do the right thing,
and there is often a connection between those two things,” said Kim Gandy,
the former chief executive of the National Network to End Domestic Violence who advised the N.F.L. after Rice assaulted his then-fiancée.
=====================Yeah, thats a tough juggling act. Trying to maintain profits, while not abusing women. Yup. Thats a tough one.
w
v -
AuthorPosts
