Permanently Deleted

  • a_jug_of_marx_piss [he/him]
    ·
    4 years ago

    On a planet that produces more than enough food to feed everyone, around 10 million people still die of hunger related causes every year. That's the population of the US every 30 years.

      • eduardog3000 [he/him]
        ·
        4 years ago

        Funny how even the most egregious bullshit estimates are beat by 10 years of capitalism caused starvation.

    • wtf [none/use name]
      ·
      4 years ago

      lol Carter laid the ground work for our never ending wars in the middle east: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carter_Doctrine

  • CoralMarks [he/him]
    ·
    edit-2
    4 years ago

    In Germany, a country with a population of 83 million, almost 3 million children or almost a quarter of everyone below the age of 18 are growing up in poverty.
    source

  • Samsara [he/him,he/him]
    ·
    4 years ago

    The US has been fucking up its neighbours ever since it's inception, yet a large number of people still believe it to be the global good guy.

    Death to america.

  • Kestrel [comrade/them]
    ·
    edit-2
    4 years ago

    The overwhelming majority of municipalities in the United States will be bankrupted by the cost of suburban sprawl maintenance in due time, depending on the age of their infrastructure (some places right now, others in 5-20 years). Suburban roads and sewer pipeline are vastly inefficient systems in terms of cost to maintain versus the tax revenue cities are willing and able to generate to pay for them (property taxes on low density suburban homeowners, especially). Federal subsidies incentivize this but also towns and cities encourage it by letting suburban developers build what they say the market wants and ignoring the huge costs to taxpayers down the road to pay to service those subdivisions. Most places either aren't equipped to analyze the consequences of these decisions or are going about studying it incorrectly based on false assumptions.

    A handful of urban planning professionals and groups have been sounding the alarm (Joe Minicozzi of Urban3, Strong Towns, Verdunity), but the reach of their voice is too small and the enormity of these brutally uncomfortable facts is scary to consider.

    If you're an active citizen I strongly encourage you to read about what Strong Towns calls "The Growth Ponzi Scheme" and try to get your local leaders to examine your municipality's long term infrastructure costs. People think there's an infrastructure crisis right now with bridges and shit, but just wait until the bill comes for all those endless suburban roads. It's insane to think about.

  • KingRalphus [they/them,undecided]
    ·
    4 years ago

    Jimmy fucking Savile.

    He was heavily involved in several hospitals, in particular the Broadmoor psychiatric hospital, which is basically what Arkham Asylum is in the Batman franchise. He began his association with the hospital in 1968 as a volunteer, using his celebrity status as a national DJ and TV presenter to gain influence at the hospital. Savile had his own set of personal keys to the wards, as well as his own quarters on the grounds, and free reign to visit the hospital as and when he wanted. He used this access to sexually assault multiple female patients over the decades. This included taking advantage of a rule at the hospital where female inmates could not bathe alone, and had to be watched by guards so they didn't attempt suicide. Savile would watch women strip to their underwear and bathe, often alongside hospital staff. Following a dispute between management, the prison officers union and the government in the late 1980s, Savile was placed into a management role at the hospital temporarily as it reorganised. The government overlooked this unusual arrangement (Savile was a TV presenter, not a healthcare official) as Savile helped them with the dispute:

    "Savile met Mrs Currie (then Health Secretary), at his request, when she visited another hospital. He reported having discovered widespread false overtime claims, occupation of staff residences by people not entitled to them, and financial irregularities concerning the capital building project. He said he intended to use his knowledge of these to control the [Prison Officers Association]’s activities by threatening to expose them to the press if the union would not cooperate with him. Mrs Currie did not discourage him in this, although it would have meant tolerating alleged fraud in return for union co-operation." - from the UK government's report into Savile's activity at Broadmoor.

    This is only the surface. He had access to at least 2 other hospitals, and abused children on the wards for decades. There are even reports of necrophilia taking place, where Savile would go to the hospital morgue after a child died.

    And the worst part? Everyone knew, and nobody said anything. Quote: "Paul Gambaccini, who worked next door to Savile's office at BBC Radio 1 from 1973, said he was aware of rumours of Savile being a necrophile and stated:

    "The expression which I came to associate with Savile's sex partners was ... the now politically incorrect 'under-age subnormals'. He targeted the institutionalised, the hospitalised – and this was known. Why did Jimmy Savile go to hospitals? That's where the patients were.""

    Yeah, so if you want to look into that, it's a whole basket of awful.