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PBS and NPR were never beholden to the US government.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting was created so that the US government could fund public media without public media being influenced by the government. It was a private non-profit funded by the government, not a part of the government itself. This is by design. This was a good thing. It meant that even small local TV and radio stations, could afford to create media for the public good, without government influence.

This meant TV and radio stations for poor communities. For non-english speaking communities. For rural communities. For minorities. It meant that free and accessible media could be created for everyone, even if the government didn't like it.

That's why conservatives defunded it.

Because if they couldn't control it, and if it helped the people they hated, then they would have to destroy it. Do you really think that a fascist government would defund their own propaganda machine?

Not only is the idea that PBS before being defunded was propaganda wrong, but ignores the fact that defunding it is going to have long-term negative effects on vulnerable communities.

familybomb intermission!! bc jinx lore is about to get bad again

extras for my lovely patr0ns <3

[PT: Over 100 million children are homeless and/or on the streets /End PT]

That's the numbers estimated back in 2015, and regardless of whether they've grown or shrunk since then, the issue still remains that there are MILLIONS of minors on the streets.

Homelessness and street survival is an intersecting issue for people of all marginalized groups, and that includes the youth.

Homeless youth are very likely to be sex trafficked and targeted by dangerous people to be groomed into criminal activities or otherwise unsafe practices.

Many homeless youth are runaways, usually trying to escape abusive households.

Note for clarity: "Children" and "kids" throughout this post will be referring to teenagers as well, since minors of all ages are grouped together in these statistics.

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What is homelessness and street children?

[PT: What is homelessness and street children? /end PT]

Homelessness is defined by a lack of stable housing. This includes living without shelter, in a tent, in a car, in a homeless shelter, couch surfing, or using public locations/transport for shelter.

"Street children" are children who spend a majority of their time on the street due to housing complications. Some of them are not considered "truly homeless", because they technically have a house, but this house is usually inaccessible or unsafe for them, and thus they do not reside in it much, if at all. Usually, they only spend the night there, but the rest of their time is spent outdoors.

When discussing the statistics of both these concepts, I cannot neatly discern between them, because so many of the studies use the statistics interchangeably. Street children have very few distinctions anyways, and thus trying to separate the two is usually not beneficial anyways.

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What are the statistics of homeless youth and street children around the globe?

[PT: What are the statistics of homeless youth and street children around the globe? /end PT]

Around 30 million children in Africa are homeless/on the street.

There is no overall consensus on how many children in Asia (including The Middle East) as an entirety are homeless/on the street, however it is estimated to be quite high, with individual locations being given statistics (Bangledash having 445,000 homeless/street children, India having 11 million, Pakistan having 1.5 million, Indonesia having over 170,000, Iran having anywhere between 60,000-200,000, the Phillipines having 1.5 million, Turkey having 88,000, etc.)

There is also no overall consensus on how many children in the Oceania are homeless/on the street, however Australia estimates around 76,000, and New Zealand estimates around 33,000.

Around 400,000 children in the EU (European Union) are homeless/on the street. There is no overall consensus on how many children in Europe as a whole (not just the EU) are homeless/on the street, however individual countries also have statistics.

Over 1.2 million children in the USA are homeless/on the street. Over 40,000 children in Canada are homeless/on the street.

Around 40 million children in Latin America are homeless/on the street.

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What ways do homeless youth and street children suffer?

[PT: What ways do homeless youth suffer? /end PT]

A higher risk of sex trafficking, rape, assault, and kidnapping. A higher risk of child labor/slavery. A higher risk of being poisoned or suffering from oral, throat, or gastrointestinal system damage (as malicious people often put poison, razors/glass/sharp objects, and other dangerous things into the food provided to the homeless.) A higher risk of sexual, reproductive, urogenital, and gastrointestinal disorders/infections. A higher risk of respiratory disorders. A higher risk of nutritional disorders, growth disorders, and starvation. Higher rates of substance use and addictive disorders. A higher risk of mental health disorders. Low or no accessibility to hygiene products or showers/bathing (which significantly increases risks of infections and diseases.)

And, of course, a higher likelihood of death and grave injury, due to weather conditions, untreated disease/injuries, hate crimes, overdose, and/or suicide.

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What about intersectionality? How does that affect homelessness and street survival?

[PT: What about intersectionality? How does that affect homelessness?. /End PT]

Note: Whenever the discussion of employment comes up, we think it is important to remember that:

1- Unemployed adults can have children, and thus, the children in the equation will be effected.

2- Teenagers can also get employed in a majority of locations, and in many countries even minors younger than that, meaning their incomes could be contributing to housing as well.

The most obvious - being low income often risks loss of housing. Hell, being "average income" doesn't even afford housing anymore for most people, in the current financial crisis. Classism and homelessness go hand in hand, and the refusal to provide for the lower class their basic needs is the direct cause of homelessness.

Being a foster kid. Discussion:

Being a foster kid greatly increases the likelihood of homelessness, due to the foster system being notoriously abusive, and not providing minors with the proper funds, stability, and education necessary to survive in life. In the USA alone, 23,000 people age out of foster care a year. 25%-50% of those who age out end up homeless. Now imagine the statistics of that worldwide, of how many people are ending up homeless the moment they turn 18 (or younger, in countries where legal adulthood begins sooner)? Additionally, minors will often run away from foster homes, because it is unsafe for them there. They wish to escape the abuse. A depressing fact is that a majority of sex trafficked youth are from foster care, usually runaways who were living on the street to avoid abuse. (You can read our post about the statistics of foster kids here [link.])

Being disabled. (Note: Some of these statistics leave out emotional, behavioral, personality, or other mental disabilities, and also often leave out "small" physical disabilities, so the statistics may actually be higher if all disabilities were included.) Discussion:

We could not find any overall statistics on the intersection of homelessness and disability in Africa and Asia, unfortunately. However, disabled people in Africa often suffer forced evictions and are more likely to be impoverished, and we did find statistics on specific locations of Asia (ie; 42% of homeless people [including adults] in Nagoya Japan are neuropsychologically disabled, 15% of homeless people [including adults] in Hong Kong are physically disabled, in South Asia 85% of disabled people [including adults] are unemployed which greatly risks homelessness, etc.) We could not find any overall statistics on the intersection of homelessness and disability in the Oceania as a whole, however we did find statistics in Hawai'i, Australia, and New Zealand. in Hawai'i an estimated 62% of homeless people [including adults] are disabled. In Australia, an estimated 9.5% homeless people [including adults] are disabled, and 8.9% have an unknown disability status. In New Zealand, 4.1% of homeless people (including adults) are disabled. We could not find any overall statistics on the intersection of homelessness and disability in overall Europe, however in the UK alone, 35-39% of homeless people [including adults] are disabled (and for comparison, only 20-22% of the overall UK population are disabled.) In Canada, there is no minor-specific statistics for disability, however 50-60% of the overall homeless population (including adults) are disabled. In the USA, 19% of homeless K-12 [pre-college] students are disabled (and for comparison, only 14% of the overall USA student population is disabled.) We could not find any overall statistics on the intersection of homelessness and disability in South America as a whole, however in Latin America, disabled kids are 15% more likely to not attend school (and those who do attend are more likely to drop out), which inherently leads to employment issues down the line (and thus, housing issues) Additionally, 1 of every 5 households in extreme poverty houses a disabled person. And in some locations, people with disabilities are more likely to be unemployed (ie; in Argentina 91% of disabled people are unemployed), earn less money in work (ie; in Mexico and Costa Rica, disabled people earn 20% less than their abled peers), and/or have no insurance (in Ecuador, 84% of disabled people have no insurance), which can cause or exacerbate housing issues.

Being queer. Discussion:

In Africa, we could not find any statistics of the overall intersection of being LGBTQIA+ and homelessness, however homelessness is highly reported by LGBTQIA+ people (especially youth.) We could not find any statistics of the overall intersection of being LGBTQIA+ and homeless in Asia, however we did find a few for individual Asian locations (ie; in Singapore 20% of LGBTQIA+ people [including adults] experience homelessness, in the Philippines 12% of people who are 15-25 are homeless, In Japan 4 in 10 LGBTQIA+ people struggle with housing, in India there is a hidden housing crisis within LGBTQIA+ people, etc.) We could not find any statistics of the overall intersection of being LGBTQIA+ and homeless in the Oceania, however we did find some statistics for Australia and New Zealand. In Australia, queer-oriented people [including adults] are twice as likely to be homeless than nonqueer-oriented people, and 1 in 5 trans & gender diverse people aged 18-25 suffered homelessness (unfortunately we cannot find a statistics for people younger.) In New Zealand, 2.6% LGBQTIA+ people who are 15 and above are homeless, and unfortunately there is not a clearcut estimate on minors under the age of 15. In Europe, 17.39% of LGBTQIA+ people [including adults] have been homeless, with 1/3rd of intersex people and 1/4th of trans people being homeless. In the USA, LGBTQ+ minors are 120% more likely to end up homeless. They make up roughly 30-40% of homeless youth (and for comparison, only 9.5% of the overall population are LGBTQ+) LGBTQ+ minors of color have an 83% higher risk of homelessness than their white peers. 44% of Indigenous LGBTQ+ youth, 16% of LGBTQ+ Asian & Pacific Islander youth, 27% of Latinx LGBTQ+ youth, 26% of Black LGBTQ+ youth, and 36% of multiracial LGBTQ+ youth have experienced homelessness. 38% of trans girl youth, 39% of of trans boy youth, and 35% of non-binary youth have experienced homelessness (compared to 23% of non-trans & non-gender diverse homeless queer-oriented youth.) 39% of intersex youth have experienced homelessness. In Canada, 25% of homeless youth are LGBTQIA2S+ (and for comparison, only 5-10% of the overall Canadian population are LGBTQIA2S+.) We could not find any statistics on the overarching intersection of LGBTQIA+ and homeless in South America, however we did find a few in specific locations (ie; 30-40% of homeless youth in Brazil, 30-35% of homeless youth in Argentina, 30-35% of homeless youth in Colombia, 25-30% of homeless youth in Mexico, 15-25% of homeless youth in Chile, etc)

Being a person of color. Discussion:

We could not find any statistics on the overarching intersection of race and homelessness in the Oceania, however we did find some individual statistics for Hawai'i, Australia, and New Zealand. In Hawai'i, 28-50% of homeless people [including adults] are Native Hawaiian. In Australia, 1 in every 3 Indigenous Australian is homeless. In New Zealand, 31% of homeless people [including adults] are Māori, and 6.6% of Pacific Peoples [including adults] (and for comparison, 17% of the overall New Zealand population are Māori, and 8% are Pacific peoples.) We could not find any statistics of the overall intersection of homelessness and being a BIPOC, however we did find statistics in the England, Ireland, and the EU specifically. In England, Black people [including adults] are 4x more likely to be homeless than white people. In Ireland, 15% of homeless people [including adults] are Romanian, and 6% are Black. In the USA, Hispanic high schoolers are 2x more likely to experience homelessness than white highschoolers. Black highschoolers are 2.25x more likely to experience homelessness than white highschoolers. Black and Hispanic people [including adults] make up 64% of the homeless population. Pacific Islanders [including adults] have the highest rate of homelessness in the USA. Native Americans [including adults] have the second highest rate of homelessness in the USA. In Canada, 10-30% of homeless youth are Indigenous and 15.4% are Black (and for comparison, 5% of the overall Canadian population are Indigenous, and 4.3% are Black.) We could not find any statistics of the intersection of race and homelessness in Africa or South America, unfortunately.

Other. Discussion:

In the USA, 17% of English learners (which are usually immigrants) in K-12 [pre-college] school are homeless (and for comparison, 10% of the overall student population are English learners.)

Being in areas of the world subject to war, genocide, political violence, and environmental disaster. Discussion:

16% of the population in Sudan had to flee their homes due to conflict. 90% of Gaza [including adults] are homeless right now. 46% of homeless people [including adults] in Ukraine became homeless due to the invasion costing them their homes. Venezuelan immigration has led to a disproportionate amount of homeless Venezuelans in South America.

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Sources

[PT: Sources /End PT]

doing the best i can

sketched in aseprite, finished and process recorded in pixquare

Between August 1st and August 23rd, the Animate store (including the online one) will be carrying some new merchandise and orders of Story of Seasons and Rune Factory goods will come with a special postcard! At the same time, an official collaboration cafe will be opening courtesy of Gratte, including cookies with graphics on top. Animate goods will feature things like keychains, acrylic stands, bags, milk bottle-style drink containers, plushes, and more:

There will also be an art gallery at Gallery D.N.A in Ikebukuro.

Do exactly what you're paid for and nothing more

Absolutely refuse to be available to contact when you're off the clock

Never prioritize work over your own health, wellbeing, or family because that would be insane, it's just a job.

Have a little glass of wine

Take as long as you feel like for lunch

Deeply understand that work doesn't matter

Old Millennial American speaking here. I need you to adopt this mentality as early as possible and hold to it. The older you get, the harder it is to begin this practice and claw back the extremely unhealthy effects of a workaholic lifestyle. I am speaking from 20 years of experience.

This does not mean having a shitty attitude at work, or not doing your job, or relying on co-workers to carry your water.

This means you do what it says above. It also means not making work and productively your entire personality; not tying your productivity to your value; and not becoming so emotionally enmeshed in your work and workplace so that you are living and dying by what happens there.

“So... We got the exploding diarrhea. Here's my advice for anyone who doesn't have it yet:

It's going to take a minute for the government to pin down where this is coming from, and then issue a recall, because the FDA has been gutted. But, I can tell you, without a shadow of a doubt : this is coming from Taylor Farms produce, and you will see them recalled.

You'll want to avoid all Taylor Farms produce in the grocery store. They supply McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut, about any fast food place you can think of.

Raspberries, watermelons, cilantro, and the veggies you're hearing about are not causing this many people to get sick. It's the shredded lettuce, specifically, that's the problem. But, you'll want to stay away from every type of produce this company puts out, because one strand of shredded lettuce is all it takes to contaminate bushels.

Taylor Farms is the source. Taco Bell proactively pulled their produce from their restaurants. You're going to see other fast food places doing this, and probably will see that before the government names a source. The FDA knows this, but they can't come out and tell us all until there's proof, which takes resources and research, which takes manpower, but the FDA has been cut by about 20-30%

During the Biden term, onions at McDonald's had ecoli. We knew this because DNA testing was done quickly and they were able to narrow it down to one place that caused the outbreak. And, it was traced back to Taylor Farms. This isn't going to be solved as quickly though.

When you get this, make a virtual appointment to your PCP - a "same day sick" appointment. Tell them someone in your family just tested for this and was positive and was prescribed Bactrim. If you go in person, they're probably going to make you poop in a cup and wait until results come back to prescribe.

You'll know when you get this. Trust me on all of this.

You'll want to stay hydrated because this parasite damages the lining of the small intestine. Your small intestine, in turn, secretes more water into the gut, and less nutrients and liquid are able to remain in the body. So no matter how much you shit, you're going to want to drink. A day of this leads to dehydration if you don't increase your fluid intake, and a few days will land you in the hospital.

If you have headaches, weakness, muscle cramps, dizziness, or an increase heart rate - hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. Go to the ER for fluids if you can't drink enough.

Thank you for coming to my Ted talk. Brought to you by America's 250 birthday celebrations, workforce reduction in the FDA and CDC, and viewers like you.

Please feel free to share this.

And, MAGA - don't blow up the comment section. I argued with y'all on COVID bc I was afraid y'all would die, but I really don't care if you get explosive diarrhea.

however, several items besides lettuce have tested positive, according to this article:

(screenshotted list from article of produce that has tested positive for cyclospora includes parsley, cilantro, snow pease, mesclun lettuce, spinach, salad mixes, raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries)

so like any other sourceless screenshot, double check info for yourself, because this is only partially true. I can't speak to their other advice, except that yes, hydration is very important in cases of diarrhea and you should go to the ER for fluids if you're experiencing the listed symptoms. remember to consume sodium as well so your body is able to retain the water better. it's also worth emphasizing that this one company might not be the only source of the outbreak, so please use the same caution even if the produce is from somewhere else.

Please support some of the following (and please feel free to tag more)

Thunder Bay Community Pasture

Northern Reach Network

Also consider Mikinakoos' as they're extending support beyond their traditional service areas due to the scale of this emergency!

Donations for Namaygoosisagagun First Nation:

Donations for Whitesand First Nation: