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http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/24/caitlyn-jenner-halloween-costume-sparks-social-media-outrage-.html

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/ne...een-costume-labeled-817515?utm_source=twitter

It's nowhere near October, but one ensemble is already on track to be named the most controversial Halloween costume of 2015.

Social media users were out in full force on Monday criticizing several Halloween retailers for offering a Caitlyn Jenner costume reminiscent of the former-athlete's Vanity Fair cover earlier this year.

While Jenner's supporters condemned the costume as "transphobic" and "disgusting" on Twitter, Spirit Halloween, a retailer that carries the costume, defended the getup.

"At Spirit Halloween, we create a wide range of costumes that are often based upon celebrities, public figures, heroes and superheroes," said Lisa Barr, senior director of marking at Spirit Halloween. "We feel that Caitlyn Jenner is all of the above and that she should be celebrated. The Caitlyn Jenner costume reflects just that."
 

Medical debt banned from credit reports by new Biden administration rule​



Unpaid medical bills will no longer appear on credit reports, where they can block people from getting mortgages, car loans or small business loans, according to a final rule announced Tuesday by the Biden administration.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule will remove $49 billion in medical debt from the credit reports of more than 15 million Americans, according to the bureau, which means lenders will no longer be able to take that into consideration when deciding whether to issue a loan.
The change is estimated to raise the credit scores by an average of 20 points and could lead to 22,000 additional mortgages being approved every year, according to the bureau.

Vice President Kamala Harris said in a statement announcing the rule that it would be "lifechanging" for millions of families, "making it easier for them to be approved for a car loan, a home loan, or a small-business loan. ... Our historic rule will help more Americans save money, build wealth, and thrive."

"No one should be denied economic opportunity because they got sick or experienced a medical emergency," she said.

But, the Reuters news agency points out, Tuesday's announcement came despite demands from Republicans in Congress that the Biden administration stop issuing new rules with President-elect Donald Trump set to take office. That means he or his congressional allies may try to reverse the ban.

"Though Team Trump is likely to try to freeze or reverse these actions, it is not guaranteed," Jaret Seiberg, an analyst with TD Cowen Washington Research Group, said in a report. "Trump 2.0 is more populist than in 2017, which is why undoing a ban on including medical debt on credit reports or dropping an enforcement action against a credit bureau may not be a priority."

Harris also announced that states and local governments have used a sweeping 2021 pandemic-era aid package to eliminate more than $1 billion in medical debt for more than 700,000 Americans.
The administration announced plans for the rule in fall 2023.

The CFPB said medical debt is a poor predictor of an individual's ability to repay a loan. Experian, Equifax and TransUnion, the three national credit reporting agencies, said last year that they were removing medical collections debt under $500 from U.S. consumer credit reports.

"Medical debt burdens millions of families across the country and can unfairly tarnish a person's credit record, making it more difficult to qualify for an affordable loan, get a job, or even rent an apartment," Chuck Bell, advocacy program director for Consumer Reports, said in a statement. "Many consumers have medical debt on their credit reports that is inaccurate or under dispute because our medical billing and insurance reimbursement system is so complex and confusing."

The new rule from the Biden administration is set to take on the outstanding bills appearing on credit reports.
 
The guys of Reason posted this article about the 10th anniversary of Charlie Hebdo shooting.

Top-Down Political Cowardice Helped Make Charlie Hebdo a Lonely Target​

From Jimmy Carter to Hillary Clinton to Barack Obama to John Kerry, politicians have led the abandonment of free speech.​

There is a plausible theory of the case for the dramatic rise in illiberal, speech-stultifying wokeness in America beginning a dozen or so years ago: that it's largely a bottom-up, millennial affair.

"In late 2013," Greg Lukianoff, president of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), explained in Reason's January 2022 issue, "there was an explosion in censorship that was student-led….The generation hitting campuses in 2013 had been educated by the graduates of…activist education schools. In some cases they were literally the children of the students who had pushed for (or at least were OK with) speech codes in the '80s and '90s."

Tuesday's 10-year anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo massacre—when a dozen staffers of the satirical antiauthoritarian weekly, including some of France's most beloved cartoonists, were gunned down by Islamists claiming offense at the depiction and mockery of their religion's prophet—is a timely reminder that the West's free speech knees got wobbly long before the millennials hit middle school. And it was political leaders, not stinky college kids, who led the retreat.
 
I'll place this video here. The reason is like many of us who have an open mind we recently saw things that our government blatently have done wrong. Again this is information to be viewed with an opened mind.

Video: The Deep State Exposed. By Forgotten History.

Archive
 
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My boy Danisch opines on USA+Greenland in 1 [A], 2 [A], 3 [A], translated by yours truly:

USA - Canada - Mexico - Greenland​


A monster state in the making?

In the past few days, I've already seen comments on Twitter in which people brought up the topic of unifying the USA with Canada and Mexico, under names like C.U.M. [note: I'm certain the author did not want to make a lewd joke there, considering "Canada" starts with a "K" in German, and "K.U.M." is used in the article], to build the biggest and most powerful state in the world, in terms of area, economy, and resources (labor, natural resources, space).

Yesterday/Two days ago, Trudeau announced his resignation after he more or less completely destroyed Canada.

Then came the discussion on Greenland. (I'm curious how many people first had to google where Greenland even is.)

Basically, Greenland would be the icy front yard of a unified C.U.M., and a giant reservoir of natural resources, probably similar or superior to Alaska.

A reader in Canada already described to me that Canada is being pseudo-governed by an incapable government and it's not going well economically, even though the country should actually be filthy rich with its natural resources.

Mexico, on the other hand (namely, the lower one), has got its own problems. Many Mexicans want to get into the USA for economic reasons while Mexico itself is powerless against its drug cartels.

Many Canadians will flat out reject a unification with the USA, but the question is how big their political and economic wiggle room still is.

I don't find the thought completely far-fetched. Not in the sense that I'd like it or support it, but in the sense that I wouldn't think that's implausible.

And that would now also explain why Trump is after Greenland. Because, geographically, that would be the monster state, a giant, undefeatable, unconquerable boulder that got almost no exterior borders and is surrounded by a lot of water.

Then, they wouldn't care about Europe and Russia, China wouldn't bother them anymore, and they would - America first and great again - be the state, take care of nothing else anymore, and plainly and simply leave the rest of the world to its own devices. Then there'd be a last "Do whatever you want! You can have Europe, and Ukraine, we don't care!" and that's it.

Quite a few signs are pointing towards Trump planning precisely that, and we in Europe are actually just fish feed and become West Asia, a meaningless and natural-resource-less Arabic province.



How much does Greenland cost?​


Interesting thought:

Imagine that, for a popular referendum, Trump promises 1 million dollar each to every inhabitant of Greenland. Greenland would cost Trump just 56 billion US dollars. Not much more than what Musk paid for twitter.​
— tomacell (@tomacell) January 8, 2025

Probably, even ten times that amount would still be a steal for those natural resources.



The second thought on Greenland​


I wonder if Trump is merely bluffing with Greenland in order to deter Putin. Pattern: If you take Ukraine, I'll take Greenland.
 
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Mark Zuckerberg Orders Removal of Tampons From Men's Bathrooms at Meta Offices

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Mark Zuckerberg has ordered the removal of tampons from men's bathrooms at Meta's offices. As per reports, Mark Zuckerberg ordered the removal of tampons from men's restrooms at Meta offices in New York, Texas, and California, including Silicon Valley, reports New York Times. It is also reported that business managers were instructed to remove tampons from men's bathrooms, which Meta provided to non-binary and transgender employees using the men's bathroom. On Friday, January 10, Mark Zuckerberg also said that his Meta company, which operates Facebook and Instagram, had abandoned its DEI practices.


LITERALLY
GENOCIDE
 

Mark Zuckerberg Orders Removal of Tampons From Men's Bathrooms at Meta Offices

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Mark Zuckerberg has ordered the removal of tampons from men's bathrooms at Meta's offices. As per reports, Mark Zuckerberg ordered the removal of tampons from men's restrooms at Meta offices in New York, Texas, and California, including Silicon Valley, reports New York Times. It is also reported that business managers were instructed to remove tampons from men's bathrooms, which Meta provided to non-binary and transgender employees using the men's bathroom. On Friday, January 10, Mark Zuckerberg also said that his Meta company, which operates Facebook and Instagram, had abandoned its DEI practices.


LITERALLY
GENOCIDE
how long till google jumps on and removes the troon?
 

Zuck more based by the minute! This is actually going to levels I didn't expect at all.

Him saying he was going to stop censoring was a big deal, but this move is so specifically anti troon that it has to be deliberate hate for them.

I actually have one of these dispensers in my guys bathroom at work and its the saddest shit ever. It's always filled anyway - its just there to remind us that we live in a cringe society. Even if you are a pooner, just buy them like every other woman (because you are one, YWNBAM).
 
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