A Boring Dystopia

A measured response to a common feeling in the dystopian zeitgeist

PS: testing if the video is playable from a link

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/25218430

Quick vid summarizing it all for those who do not have time to read through

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0M-e9GEn_A

Less than two weeks after their release from Hamas captivity, former hostages Liri Albag, Naama Levy, Agam Berger, Daniella Gilboa and Karina Ariev have asked to return to the army, according to Israel’s Channel 12.

The young women, all former surveillance soldiers, surprised even their families when they announced their joint decision to resume service in the IDF, though not in their former lookout positions. However, the IDF reportedly told the families of the five women that they “still need to rest and heal from their long period in captivity.”

They would not be the first to seek a return to service. Ori Megidish, a former hostage who served with the five at the Nahal Oz army base before October 7, was rescued from captivity by the IDF and Shin Bet on 30 October and returned to active service four months later in the army’s Intelligence Division.

I was violently sexually assaulted in college in an attack that left me so damaged that I had multiple surgeries (which didn't help much) and no longer date. Multiple failed suicide attempts later, including a long stay in a hospital after my last major unsuccessful overdose attempt, I ended up getting SSI disability for bipolar disorder since depression has made it hard for me to work.

I heard about something called Expedited Reinstatement to allow people to return to SSI quickly if they tried out working and need to go back without a lot of paperwork or hassles. A job counselor at the county mental health agency told me about it. It's meant to encourage disabled people to try working. As a result of hearing about this program and feeling a bit better, I applied for jobs and was able to work, despite being depressed at times. I wanted to try working and being a normal functioning member of society, despite being broken.

This webpage talks about this program: https://www.ssa.gov/ssi/text-expedite-ussi.htm

Public service announcement: if you are on SSI, I highly recommend to NEVER try working because they are not honest about this program and can deny you later on obscure technical grounds not published on the website. The conventional wisdom among people on SSI and SSDI is to never try working out of fear of losing benefits, and that conventional wisdom is right.

The program is supposed to allow 60 months in which a person can go back to being on SSI or SSDI quickly, without a lot of paperwork or needing to reapply, and payment start right away. People can still lose benefits 6 months later if found to be not disabled.

After 4 years of working, my former roommate at the hospital ended up killing someone (and he had threatened to kill me while I was there). I also lost my best friend who died, and I've been extraordinarily depressed as well as having flashbacks from the horrible stay in the hospital, which was a terrifying experience and damaged my already broken brain and trust in people in new, unexpected, and permanent ways.

I am extremely unhappy, poor, and expect life to only get worse. I can't afford anything, including medical treatment, because my income disqualified me from low income programs and my income was garnished by the government due to my stay in the hospital (and the garnishment isn't factored into low-income program eligibility). I am poor and can't really afford medical proof that things aren't going well. Since it's less than 60 months, and this website says you can apply for Expedited Reinstatement "within five years from the month your benefits stopped," I applied. I am out on leave at work and don't expect to return and have no savings as a result of the garnishment, which took my wages below minimum wage levels.

When I applied, I was told at first I am ineligible for EXR because it's only for those who were on SSDI and not SSI. (There's nothing in the Federal Code of Regulations 416.999 about that and it's false.) I was also told by SSA representatives that EXR didn't exist. Finally, after complaining enough, I spoke with Marina, the technical expert from SSA who works in a San Francisco office.

I was told by Marina, the cruel SSI technical expert in San Francisco, that because when I started working my bank account went over the maximum amount of 2,000 (which it did literally because I started working) I am ineligible since my Social Security didn't stop because of working, but rather because my account balance was too high. She said that when they ended my disability payments for this reason of my bank account balance being too high instead of getting too many deposits from work that if had wanted EXR, I should have immediately appealed, as though ANY person would understand their obscure technical agency rules that aren't published clearly on the website or in the Federal Code of Regulations could preclude EXR and the impact of such a determination.

There's nothing on the website about this EXR rule, nothing in the Federal Code of Regulations 416.999 about this, but she said because this determination was mailed to me, I should have known it precluded EXR and should have appealed immediately, as though everyone who gets such a decision should have extreme technical knowledge about SSA agency rules that aren't easily available to the public.

Marina told me to try reapplying not under EXR, which means waiting half a year without income and dealing with a huge amount of paperwork and uncertainty, including the fact I don't have enough money for many medical treatment or to even prove what is going on. And, after this agony, I could still be denied, so not only am I dealing with huge amounts of depression, but in order to get SSI I have to go without income and hope that I perhaps get it nearly half a year from now.

So, this is just a warning to anyone on SSI or SSDI encouraged to work by the government or a career counselor: don't do it. They don't honor their promises or if they do, their promise has a caveat and that caveat is only clarified within agency rules that they will never show or discuss with you when promoting this program. I'm now dealing with having to think about what it would be like to live outside in a tent because I tried to work and believed the government. Make sure others don't make the same mistake and discourage anyone on SSI or SSDI from believing the lie about EXR.

Honestly the original title is appropriately boring but the real headline should be

A new memo from the U.S. Department of Transportation indicates that it will direct more funding to states with higher birth and marriage rates

Here's the article

CONCORD, N.H. —

A New Hampshire executive councilor is raising concerns about new language tied to federal highway funding.

Executive Councilor Karen Liot Hill said a new memo from the U.S. Department of Transportation indicates that it will direct more funding to states with higher birth and marriage rates.

"New Hampshire is one of the oldest states in the nation, and we have one of the lowest birth rates in the country," she said. "And so, I'm very concerned if all of a sudden, there's going to be new strings attached to federal funds."

State Department of Transportation officials said the prior administration also had its own initiatives, and New Hampshire still got its highway money.

We don't anticipate that this will cause any problems," said DOT deputy commissioner Andre Briere. "In the last Justice40 (Initiative), we're also a state that doesn't have a lot of communities that meet those criteria, but we were nonetheless granted discretionary grants."

Briere was referring to a program under President Joe Biden that prioritized programs related to climate change, clean energy, pollution reduction and other categories.

As the Trump administration's freeze on federal grants gets litigated in the courts, nonprofit organizations and other initiatives that receive federal funding are watching and waiting.

Executive Councilor John Stephen said he's all for cutting government spending, but he said that allocated funds New Hampshire organizations are counting on should be delivered.

"It's important that the nonprofits and the organizations that have been pretty much guaranteed current funding for their operations, that we continue, and we're fiscally responsible in everything we do at the state level," Stephen said. "What I'd like to see going forward, though, is that we're looking, working closely, collaboratively with the federal government to make sure that New Hampshire is not adversely impacted."

Gov. Kelly Ayotte said she hopes the Trump administration takes a closer look at where the resources being targeted by the freeze are actually going.

"Because they could be going to public safety issues," she said. "They could be going to drug prevention, interdiction – all those things are critical."

cross-posted from: https://ponder.cat/post/1485960

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum wrote a letter asking Google to reject the U.S. decision to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America on its mapping service.

@gnukeith on X, a @Brave + $BAT Ambassador specifically chosen by Brave is now promoting far-right extremists on X.

Brave CEO, Brendan Eich, was previously ousted from his role as CEO of Mozilla, after it was found that he had donated to Prop 8, a campaign in California aimed at banning gay marriage. Despite Brendan Eich claiming at the time that he regrets his decision, he has since made multiple social media posts defending his anti-gay position.

At some point people must decide whether they wish to ditch the Fox, as Brave started advertising to users searching up Firefox on the Google Play Store, or if they want to ditch the anti-LGBTQ+ browser.

Andrew Callaghan is the famous guy behind all gas no brakes and now channel5news. Basically an expose into the weird and whacky ways of maga and fringe worlds. This movie according to the trailer follows a specific person who is in these movements. I'm sharing this here because I like supporting independent media and this is an unique look into these worlds.