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redqueen

redqueen's Journal
redqueen's Journal
March 1, 2024

'I eat or I pay my bills': Americans describe rent burden fears, concerns

...
Rent reached historic highs in 2021 and 2022, the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University report found. And currently, more Americans are burdened by rent than ever before. Harvard defines "cost-burdened households" as those that spend more than 30% of income on rent and utilities.

Median rents were 21% higher in 2022 than they were in 2001, with adjustments for inflation. However, renters’ incomes have risen just 2% during the same period.

And though rental costs are cooling, they remain well above pre-pandemic costs.

Of the 22.4 million renters who are rent-burdened, the study found that roughly half of them are spending more than 50% of their income toward rent.
...


https://abcnews.go.com/amp/US/eat-pay-bills-americans-describe-rent-burden-housing/story?id=107566391
February 27, 2024

Key Witness Against Fani Willis Completely Crumbles on the Stand

Terrence Bradley, a key witness for Donald Trump’s team, sounded more like an office gossip when he took the stand in the Georgia trial.

A key witness who was supposed to testify against Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis seemed unable to answer a single question on Tuesday.

Donald Trump and several of his co-defendants in their Georgia election interference case have accused Willis of an improper relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade. Trump’s team says that Willis and Wade began dating in 2019, while the couple says they didn’t start seeing each other until 2022, after Willis hired Wade for the Georgia case.
...
When asked why he initially said Willis and Wade began dating in 2019, Bradley said he was just “speculating.” He said he’d actually only had one conversation with Wade about the relationship, and Bradley couldn’t remember when that discussion had taken place. He repeated that he was only speculating so many times that many people on social media began to point out that Bradley seemed more like an office gossip than a credible witness.
...


https://newrepublic.com/post/179339/key-witness-georgia-fani-willis-crumbles
February 27, 2024

Can we get a handle on Capitalism?

Huge corporations steer public policy - concentration of media ownership is part of this effort. We would need supermajorities in both houses plus the white house to make a significant dent in the stranglehold the rich have over everyone else. Given the media's constant interference and failure to inform - is there any chance of this happening?

Sorry. Just the despair again.

Kellogg’s CEO: Let them eat Corn Flakes for dinner
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2024/02/26/food/kellogg-ceo-cereal-dinner/index.html

Why SpaceX, Amazon, and Trader Joe’s are pushing an aggressive lawsuit that would fundamentally undermine labor organizing
https://www.fastcompany.com/91035382/why-spacex-amazon-and-trader-joes-are-pushing-an-aggressive-lawsuit-that-would-fundamentally-undermine-labor-organizing

Most homes for sale in 2023 were not affordable for a typical U.S. household
https://www.npr.org/2023/12/24/1221480443/most-homes-for-sale-in-2023-were-not-affordable-for-a-typical-u-s-household



https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTL1D6dwy/
February 26, 2024

Missouri law says pregnant women can't get divorced

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – As it stands, Missouri judges cannot legally finalize a divorce if a woman is pregnant.

Three other states have similar laws: Texas, Arizona, and Arkansas. While a couple can still file for divorce in Missouri, the court must wait until after a woman gives birth in order to finalize child custody and child support.

When it comes to domestic violence, there’s no exceptions.

“It just doesn’t make sense in 2024,” said State Rep. Ashley Aune, a Democrat representing District 14 in Platte County, and that’s where it becomes a problem for her.
...


https://fox4kc.com/news/missouri-law-says-pregnant-women-cant-get-divorced/

February 25, 2024

Vice President Kamala Harris is doing good work. Shame on the M$M for ignoring it.

https://twitter.com/VP/status/1761166897398088120

https://twitter.com/david_darmofal/status/1761226971374096549


From VP Harris
Alaska just became the 44th state to answer my call to extend Medicaid postpartum coverage from two months to 12.

Together, with our nation's governors, President Biden and I are taking on the crisis of maternal mortality.


Retweet:
She's gotten 44 states to make this life-changing policy change. The media needs to start reporting on this.
February 25, 2024

One of the world's biggest cities may be just months away from running out of water

...
Mexico City, a sprawling metropolis of nearly 22 million people and one of the world’s biggest cities, is facing a severe water crisis as a tangle of problems — including geography, chaotic urban development and leaky infrastructure — are compounded by the impacts of climate change.

Years of abnormally low rainfall, longer dry periods and high temperatures have added stress to a water system already straining to cope with increased demand. Authorities have been forced to introduce significant restrictions on the water pumped from reservoirs.

“Several neighborhoods have suffered from a lack of water for weeks, and there are still four months left for the rains to start,” said Christian Domínguez Sarmiento, an atmospheric scientist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).

Politicians are downplaying any sense of crisis, but some experts say the situation has now reached such critical levels that Mexico City could be barreling towards “day zero” in a matter of months — where the taps run dry for huge swaths of the city.
...


Migration due to climate change is something we need to start thinking about how to deal with. We can't afford to wait till it's a problem. Failure to effectively deal with migration-related issues will help steer more votes to the far right.
February 24, 2024

"OK. For every bro who has EVER taken issue with the term MANSPLAINING. Bros. Here it is."

https://twitter.com/RemakingManhood/status/1760735442373365868

OK. For every bro who has EVER taken issue with the term MANSPLAINING. Bros. Here it is. 100% right here. He makes my blood boil. She calmly gives this guy rope and he just keeps hanging himself.

Like most mansplainers, he'll never know how MADDENINGLY FRUSTRATING he is.


Here's the video from the tweet:

?si=FsT4QyQFgwXbYo14
February 24, 2024

Got chocolate milk? As US schools consider a ban, an old, sketchy study holds sway

Apparently the belief that sugar loaded milk should be available to kids is based on flawed research from a now discredited academic. The dairy industry and their friends in congress aim to stop anyone from changing it.

...
The USDA is eyeing a proposal to allow flavored milk only at high schools starting in the 2025-2026 school year; children in grades K-8 would have access to fat-free or low-fat unflavored milk. The agency reviews national dietary guidelines every five years, and the milk question has generated hundreds of comments from parents concerned about sugar consumption; nutritionists; school workers who believe any milk is better than none; and the dairy industry, which has stoked that belief.

The sweetened drink accounts for more than 70% of milk consumed on campuses. It’s so popular that many school nutrition directors fear that, without it on the menu, more kids will ditch school lunch altogether.
...
Marion Nestle, a public health advocate and nutrition professor who has written extensively about conflicts of interest in nutrition research, said: “The dairy industry did a really great job of convincing people that milk was an essential food. That it was the perfect food for kids and everybody should have three servings a day.” Those recommendations “got incorporated into nutritional training so that many, many people trained in nutrition believe that milk is an essential part of diets”.

The USDA has an entire dairy industry-funded program dedicated to researching and promoting dairy products, along with providing nutrition education in schools.
...

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/23/chocolate-milk-schools-ban-study
February 23, 2024

Racists are so dumb

https://twitter.com/jdcmedlock/status/1761053875422064809

Sadly not the first time this has happened. Tried to link an example posted in a reply to the above tweet but it wouldn't work.

We have to get everyone to understand how important it is to vote - these idiots have way too much representation in government.

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About redqueen

"Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people." - Eleanor Roosevelt "Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything." - George Bernard Shaw
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