The FDA says the proposed rule will apply to traditional cigarettes, roll-your-own tobacco, cigars and pipe tobacco.

Argh! I’ve been smoking pipe tobacco this whole time to save money and avoid additives. Why not force companies to stop adding dangerous and unnecessary chemicals to their products? And if they care about people’s health and the burden on the healthcare industry so much, why not try actually fixing the broken healthcare/insurance system?

I may have to try growing my own tobacco.

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.

With climate change causing massive heat waves, everyone probably realized they could have Burning Man at home…

Maximum Worf

That’s what I’ve heard as well. Passing them on the street you’d probably think they weren’t even homeless at all. Not everyone finds it possible to get their life together that much, though :/

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.

That’s why you branch out

Beelzalel Smotrich, ugh. I can’t fathom the mindset required to keep supporting Israel as it travels this path.

I wish more people would realize that what those in power do to the most disadvantaged among us, they will eventually do to the rest us, should we get in their way.

On top of everything else, they don’t actually produce pears.

Ugh, it’s like people are against free food. I know fruit trees can make a mess, but why not plant fruitless trees over paved areas, and fruiting trees in parks and other wooded areas? It’s also true that the fruit will attract so-called ‘pests’, but they would also attract more beneficial creatures as well…

We are so alienated from life in this country :(

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.

Ah, the fun of copying the Mandelbrot code from the book, running the program, and waiting only 16 hours for the image to finish. Fun times!

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.