You must have heard the saying, “Don’t believe everything you read on the internet,” right? And that’s because there is a ton of fake news, fake data, just fake information all over the world wide web that leads to major misinformation.

Well, new research has found that by exposing social media users to the many tricks behind all the false information that’s shared online, they’ve managed to raised awareness of all of these different kinds of so-called “fake news.” In this light, Google is working towards putting an anti-disinformation campaign in place because of the study findings.

The online experiment, which was led by researchers from the University of Cambridge, put short animations in YouTube Ad slots, providing their viewers with an idea of the strategies used in many types of misinformation propaganda.

The team of psychologists from the universities of Cambridge and Bristol worked with Jigsaw, a unit within Google that works precisely to handle ‘threats to open societies,’ as they say on their website. Together, they made 90-second clips designed precisely to enlighten users to the manipulation techniques like ‘scapegoating and deliberate incoherence.’

This “pre-bunking” strategy, as they call it, is meant to exposes people early on to the very root of all of this malicious misinformation. That way, they don’t have to be victims but rather, they will be able to identify what is real and what is false online, regardless of what type of information they are looking at.

Called the Inoculation Science project, the researchers behind this undertaking compare it to a vaccine. They explain that by giving people a “micro-dose” of misinformation in advance, it actually helps stop them from falling for these types of misinformation in the future. This idea was actually based on what social psychologists’ call the “inoculation theory.”

The researchers published their findings in Science Advances, which were a result of at least seven experiments that involved at total of around 30,000 participants. This also included the first “real world field study” done using the inoculation theory on a social media platform, they note.

According to the research team, just a single viewing of even one of their film clips managed to increase the awareness to their viewers of misinformation online.

These videos managed to introduce the concepts form the “misinformation playbook,” which is illustrated with relatable examples from popular TV series’ or films, like that from Star Wars, which has false dichotomies, or from Family Guy.

Head of the Social Decision-Making Lab at Cambridge and study co-author, Prof. Sander van der Linden, who also led the study said, “YouTube has well over 2 billion active users worldwide. Our videos could easily be embedded within the ad space on YouTube to ‘pre-bunk’ misinformation.”

“Our research provides the necessary proof of concept that the principle of psychological inoculation can readily be scaled across hundreds of millions of users worldwide,” he added.

As for Dr. Jon Roozenbeek, lead author of the study also from the Cambridge Lab, he explaines the team’s videos as “source agnostic,” which avoids biases most people have about where their information comes from, as well as how it aligns, or doesn’t align, with what they may already believe.

He said, “Our interventions make no claims about what is true or a fact, which is often disputed. They are effective for anyone who does not appreciate being manipulated.”

He also shared, “The inoculation effect was consistent across liberals and conservatives. It worked for people with different levels of education, and different personality types.”

Google, which is YouTube’s parent company, they are already in the process of harnessing these findings. By the end of August, Jigsaw plans to roll out a ‘pre-bunking’ campaign on a number of different platforms, including Slovakia, Poland and the Czech Republic in order to debunk or disprove misleading information related to the Ukrainian refugees that have been forced from their country due to the Russian-led war. This particular campaign was also designed to ‘build resilience to harmful anti-refugee narratives,’ having partnered with such groups as the local NGOs, academics, fact checkers, and disinformation experts.

Co-author and Head of Research and Development for Google’s Jigsaw unit, Beth Goldberg, explained, “Harmful misinformation takes many forms, but the manipulative tactics and narratives are often repeated and can therefore be predicted.”

“Teaching people about techniques that manipulate them, like ad-hominem attacks, can help build resilience to believing and spreading misinformation, before harmful narratives take hold,” she said.

Moreover, the team contends that ‘pre-bunking’ may even be more effective at stopping misinformation than actual fact-checking each untruth since this is actually an impossibility at such a large scale. Plus it has the potential to even feed into more conspiracy theories as a result.

Another co-author, Prof. Stephan Lewandowsky from the University of Bristol claimed, “Propaganda, lies and mis-directions are nearly always created from the same playbook. We developed the videos by analyzing the rhetoric of demagogues, who deal in scapegoating and false dichotomies.”

He added, “Fact-checkers can only rebut a fraction of the falsehoods circulating online. We need to teach people to recognize the misinformation playbook, so they understand when they are being misled.”

There were initially six controlled experiments, featuring 6,464 participants. The sixth experiment was conducted a whole year after the first five experiments in order to make sure the earlier findings could be duplicated.

Every participants was asked for their data, from the basic info like age, gender, education and political preferences, to their levels of numeracy – which is their ability to understand and to work with numbers. They were also asked about conspiratorial thinking, gullibility, how many hours they spend looking at social media and news, as well as personality inventory and on many other parameters.

After collating all the data, the team saw that the inoculation videos managed to improve the participants’ abilities to spot misinformation, boosting their confidence when it came to being able to spot misleading information again. Moreover, the clips also improved the decision making for “sharing decisions,” which was whether or not they should share the alleged “damaging” content.

Afterwards, two of the animations were tested to be part of a large YouTube experiment. The clips were placed in the pre-video advert slot of the website which provides the option to skip it after five seconds.

Google’s Jigsaw managed to show it to around 5.4 million Americans YouTubers, with around a million watching it for at least 30 seconds. Then, they gave a random 30% of users made to watch the video a voluntary test question within the first 24 hours of their first viewing.

The clips were developed precisely to inoculate people against the tactics normally used to spread misinformation, such as the use of hyper-emotive language and the use of false dichotomies. They then did follow-up questions, which were based on fictional posts created just to test for the detection of such propaganda. Then, YouTube also provided a “control” group of users that didn’t view the video with the same test question. What they found was that 22,632 users answered a question.

You can see more about this in the clip below:

Regardless of the major distractions there are on YouTube, the ability to recognize manipulation techniques at the very center of this misinformation has increased by at least 5% on average.

Prof. van der Linden shared,  “Users participated in the tests around 18 hours on average after watching the videos, so the inoculation appears to have stuck.”

The researchers also explain that if other social media platforms joined in, there could be a rapid increase of misinformation recognition. And moreover, it would be quite inexpensive to do since the average case for every view of a significant amount of time would only cost $0.05.

Prof. Roozenbeek added, “If anyone wants to pay for a YouTube campaign that measurably reduces susceptibility to misinformation across millions of users, they can do so, and at a minuscule cost per view.”

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In the last few months alone, laser removal specialists, tattoo artists, and anti-hate speech advocates share that they’ve seen a major influx of requests to cover up or remove hateful and racist tattoos.

For one such ex-prisoner, Bryan Nicosia from Steubenville, Ohio, having been incarcerated in the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility, he joined the Aryan Brotherhood for safety. He got two separate tattoos to commemorate his rise in the ranks. One was an Iron Cross with two lightning bolts on his right forearm. The other, which was placed on his left shoulder, was of the letters A and B followed by another five swastikas.

Nicosia shared with VICE News that he got the tattoos in order to stay alive while he was in jail, but as soon as he got out in 2018, he completely separated himself from the Brotherhood. The problem was he was left with an unmistakable reminder on his body that he couldn’t wait to remove.

The 37-year old steel mill worker explained, “When I show up at my friend’s place during a cookout, who wants to see that?” Nicosia adds, “When their kids want to play basketball with me or when they want to go to the pool, they’ll ask me, ‘Oh, what does this mean? What does that mean?’ It’s an eye-opening experience when you have kids ask you that. It’s a real awakening.”

Although Nicosia had hoped to have the tattoos removed as soon as he was released from prison, he didn’t get the chance straight away. He needed to find a way to get back on his feet after getting out of prison, and having tattoos removed was sadly not the priority at the time.

But after the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and many others killed by police, as well as the countless protests occurring for months all over the country, Nicosia finally managed to schedule his cover-up. With the help of his fiancée, he found tattoo artist and Ohio resident, Billy White, who actually specializes in this particular kind of tattoo work.

According to tattoo artist Billy White, “A lot of these people have walked away from this ideology many years ago. And I think, with the climate of society, it’s just kind of lit the fire under their butts a little bit for them to really want to make that jump.”

White shares that Nicosia is only one of the many clients hoping to cover up any hateful imagery they have on their bodies that he has served in recent months. His shop, Red Rose Tattoo, is located in Zanesville, Ohio, has actually had a 20% increase in those coming in for cover-ups of their racist ink. Meanwhile, in a number of other states all across the country, not only tattoo parlors have seen a rise in cover-up work, but laser removal specialists and other anti-hate speech advocates have said the same. In fact, aside from Nazi markings like swastikas and the like, a lot of the work to be covered are actually tattoos of Confederate flags.

Although White points out that removing swastikas and other forms of iconography is nothing new, what has been a slight surprise is the amount of people coming in to remove their Confederate flag tattoos. Yet it also seems that it’s become a new trend, not just in tattoo removals and cover-ups, but amongst a number of American cities where protestors and politicians alike are removing monuments that are odes to former Confederates.

White goes on to say, “We’re seeing an uptick in people who have Confederate flag tattoos and have really decided that the verdict is out and it’s really time to get those things off of them. Your Confederate-flag guys, a lot of times they’ve never really aligned with any kind of hatred or bigotry. It was just kind of a symbol of being a redneck and a good ol’boy, especially where I’m at.”

“We have a lot of that ideology: the country boy mentality. I’ve noticed a lot of those dudes who got them when they were 16, 17, 18, who are now in their 30s and have decided that’s not who they are,” he adds.

This especially rings true for ex-con Nicosia, who had actually joined the Aryan Brotherhood 12 years before. He explains, “Going to prison, I don’t care who you are, where you’re from, what culture you are, you are going to get in where you fit in. If not, you’re going to be eaten alive.”

But now Nicosia says, “Today, I’m not that man. I work hard. I have a beautiful fiancée. I love my community. I try to give back. I try to do the right thing.”

Although White has been tattooing for the past 15 years, it was in 2017 when he decided to offer free removals. In the past three years since he began, his cover-up work has proven to be just as popular as his regular work. In fact, he already has over 56,000 followers on his Instagram account @billywhitetattoos.

White explains, “I enjoy doing cover-up work. I excel at it, and I’ve always considered it to be a form of healing.”

Meanwhile, 39-year old Corey Fleischer from Montreal is some kind of “middle man” assisting people that have reformed from their old ways to get rid of their tattoos as well. He actually heads the social media brand Erasing Hate, which is dedicated to ‘exposing and destroying hate speech and racism in all forms.’

Although Fleischer does not do removals or cover-ups himself, he does use his platform as a way to connect people that are ashamed of their old tattoos who want to cover them up with artists that are willing to do the work for free.

He also shares that after the protests that began from police brutality and the like that spread like wildfire across the country, he too has seen a spike in individuals looking for a way to get their tattoos either removed or covered.

He shared with Vice, “in the last 35 days, there’s been an extraordinary amount of Confederate flags being removed. It’s like the bridge broke.” As a matter of fact, he had over 100 new requests just recently from people asking if he could help them with their racist tattoo removals.

“All of a sudden, we have all these people that were living with this [symbol], and now because of social media and the news and the movement, it’s brought it to a point where now it’s something very shameful.”

Until the next time.. We Love You! #ErasingHate pic.twitter.com/cM48HXSpSx

— Corey Fleischer (@ErasingHate_) August 17, 2019

And it isn’t just tattoos where Fleischer is erasing the hate. He also begun removing racist graffiti, which he documented through his company just 10 years ago, that could actually be regarded as quite small before. Now a decade later, his brand actually boasts of 144,000 followers on Instagram, with another 200 million viewers on Facebook.

Just last year, he also founded a nonprofit which he gave the same name, Erasing Hate, which also fights for the same cause. Fleischer says, “I remember the first time I removed a piece of hate, the feeling that I got made me go crazy. It was this crazy euphoric feeling. And so after that, I started the chase.”

He also explains that his entire initiative is truly a win-win situation since individuals that have made a major heart change are given the chance to get their tattoos changed while some of North America’s greatest tattoo talents that want to help the cause and make a difference also get free promotion on his social media pages at the same time.

It’s notable to share that cover ups are not the only solution for people to remove their old ink. Over the past decade, laser removal clinics have also seen an increase in business, having become more affordable in the past few years. At the beginning of 2020, four of the country’s leading laser tattoo removal clinics, namely Invisible Ink, Precision Laser, Eraser Clinic and the Refinery, chose to merge into one entity which is now called Removery, a fitting name if there ever was one.

Although the company doesn’t only do hate symbols, VP of Clinical Operations Carmen Brodie told VICE News that she too has seen a jump in requests from customers wanting to remove their Confederate flag tattoos and other white supremacist symbols in the last few months alone. She even shares that around 75 clients have recently made schedules to remove such types of tattoos, which has since made up the last 7% of Removery’s business in those particular months. And just like White, their laser specialists also remove these types of imagery for free.

Brodie iterates, “Tattoo removal is not normalized because it’s a nascent industry. Anything that we do as a give-back is part of our initiative program. So anything where we’re trying to help people who want to change.”

Incredibly, Removery also gives help by doing free removals for those that are either newly released incarcerated people, human trafficking victims, or reformed gang members as well.

Dustin Ortel, who happens to be one of the laser techs at the organization explains, “People are always a little reluctant until you kind of step back and show that you’re there to help them change. You’re trying to make the world a better place, and they’ve had the courage to step up and do it themselves. So there’s a lot of pride in that.”

This new movement to remove these hateful and racist tattoos has found a network on social media, where White, Removery, and Fleisher have managed to converge on the same space, alongside a number of other activists, artists, and laser techs from all over the world.

White shares, “We just thought it would make more sense if we work together. We’d be able to help way more people that way.”

Both White and Fleisher have been working on a digital database of tattoo artists across America and Canada who are willing to do cover up work pro bono. They also ensure that the artists they’ve put on the list are skilled enough to do the work needed, as well as ensuring that they aren’t some white supremacists or bigots in hiding, waiting to pounce on those working to get a new lease on life away from the former hate.

Incredibly, the duo also uses donations in order to find transportation or child care for clients that need it so they don’t miss their scheduled appointments. Although the group is mostly based in North America, they’ve also started searching overseas to find other tattoo artists willing to do the same work and have found new contacts in Spain, Brazil, France, Spain and other countries.

Fleischer goes on to say, “Everybody makes mistakes. I’m a firm believer that people grow. Just because one day you were so narrow-minded that you thought a certain way doesn’t mean that you can’t grow and realize what you did was wrong.”

Nicosia shares that his cover-up of his racist tattoos makes him feel like he’s gotten a fresh start. He says, “I feel blessed, I feel hopeful. My fiancé was in tears when I was getting covered up because she knows how much it means to me. It’s a very emotional experience. It feels like a transformation.”

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They say that desperate times call for desperate measures. The idiom has been used over and over again throughout history, with different versions, but all alluding to resorting to extreme measures during drastic times, which may not be needed during normal circumstances. And definitely the current pandemic has brought about desperate and extraordinary times. Millions of people in the US, and billions of people all over the world are facing desperate and critical times. Many are perishing because of the virus, and economies are devastated. There is confusion, anger, despair, and sorrow, but there is always hope.

The US issued federal stimulus checks to citizens to help them cope with the devastating economic repercussions of the coronavirus pandemic, and the lockdowns. It surely helped, though was not quite nearly enough. Most individuals spent the money on basic necessities like food, rent, utilities, mortgage payments, and other essentials. Any assistance is appreciated, but more has to be done.

One man from Tampa, Florida, decided to do more. He invested in a long term project – building his own garden at home to provide food for himself…initially. He is now teaching his community about the substantial benefits of food independence. It’s his way of helping the community thrive during these desperate times.

Michael Chaney, nicknamed “Spirit Mike,” has always been interested in gardening. But it wasn’t until the pandemic hit, and local groceries were affected by the crisis, that he got motivated to turn his hobby into a passion and a mission. Upon receiving his first stimulus check, he decided to purchase pots to start growing some tomatoes. He sought the advice of seasoned gardeners at the nearby A Land of Delight Natural Farm, to get the right materials and supplies to help him grow his own food. He explained this in an interview with the local radio station WMNF.

From tomatoes he prospered into growing eggplants, collard greens, mustard greens, onions, papaya, ghost peppers, apples, lemons, strawberry guava, lettuce, yucca, sugar cane, and other plants, on his 3 acres of land. He said, “I do biointensive gardening, which means planting as much as you can in a small space…I specifically picked these types of fruits [dwarf plants] because they grow fruits fast.”

His pride and joy are the moringa trees which he values for its high vitamin C content and legendary medicinal properties – as well as antifungal, anti-inflammatory, antiviral and anti-depressant qualities. “That is the Michael Jordan and the Kobe Bryant together,” he says with pride. “If you were stranded somewhere and all you have is this and water you would not only survive, you would thrive.” Chaney adds, “I don’t work out. All I did was add this to my diet and add flax seed fiber and I lost 65 pounds.”

But he hasn’t turned vegetarian, he also has 9 chickens, which he purchased for only $3 a chick. “My aim is to make my food cost zero,” Chaney explains. “ So my food scraps go into the soldier fly larvae bin, they eat that and produce more larvae. Those larvae get fed to the chickens. The chicken produces eggs, I sell the eggs and eat the eggs; life is good.”

This Tampa man made sure to carefully plan his garden so that managing it and ensuring its success would be less difficult. “It’s very important that you plan your garden. Do your research before you put a dollar down because you want your dollar to go as far as it can,” Chaney advises. He named his garden New World Growers, and it’s an example and inspiration of food independence and community self-determination at a time when food insecurity is on the rise.

Yes, desperate times call for desperate measures – extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. Chaney did the extraordinary…in a time of uncertainty and trouble. It may be a sign of the “new normal” that our planet is facing. We all have to do what we can, within the bounds of legality and decency, to survive and beat this pandemic. Times will eventually get better, but it can only get better if we work to make our lives better.

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Throughout history, only a few men and women have gained respectable greatness. Of course many have different opinions on what makes a person truly great. But for whatever it is worth, a great person really does not achieve greatness for the bragging rights. Take the simple sport of basketball, for example. The official NBA website states, “By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time.” His record speaks for itself, and not just the 6 championships with the Chicago Bulls. Again, there are those who contend that there may be greater players around, specifically pointing to Lebron James. But let’s not limit Michael Jordan’s greatness to just basketball. For those who do not know, Jordan is also a philanthropist.

Before we go deeper into that, let us point out that philanthropy is different from charity. Charity is a natural, emotional impulse to an immediate situation, and is usually short term. On the other hand, philanthropy addresses the root cause of social problems and requires a more strategic long-term approach. It is more than just giving or donating…it is an advocacy.

NBA legend and superstar Michael Jordan is involved in big philanthropic activities in his hometown community of Wilmington, North Carolina. He has donated $10 million to open a new pair of new health clinics to service the uninsured, and poor members of the community. This was announced a few days ago by the nonprofit healthcare group Novant Health Clinics. But Jordan has been working with the nonprofit group for some time now. In 2017, he donated $7 million to open two Novant Health Micheal Jordan Family Clinics in Charlotte, North Carolina.

In a press release, Jordan said, “I am very proud to once again partner with Novant Health to expand the Family Clinic model to bring better access to critical medical services in my hometown.”  He further stated, “ Everyone should have access to quality health care, no matter where they live, or whether or not they have insurance. Wilmington holds a special place in my heart and it’s truly gratifying to be able to give back to the community that supported me throughout my life.”

A lot of North Carolinians remember his donation of $2 million  after Hurricane Florence devastated parts of North Carolina, including his hometown of Wilmington. He also donated $1 million to aid the recovery of the Bahamas after Hurricane Dorian in 2019.

The latest philanthropic move brings the number of clinics Jordan helped establish to four. The first two in Charlotte brought much needed access to primary and preventive care to low-income residents. Jordan was quoted as saying during the opening of the first clinic, “It’s a very emotional thing for me to be able to give back to a community that supported me over the years.”  A year later, when the 2nd clinic opened, he expressed his family’s, “great pride to know that we are making a difference in Charlotte.”  Jordan continued by saying,  “we’ve been dealt with some very difficult cards in 2020…I hope 2021 is going to be much better.”

The Charlotte clinics have treated over 4,500 patients, and also provides for crucial assistance during the ongoing pandemic. The company Novant Health said, “The regional health care system and Jordan previously partnered to open two Michael Jordan Family Clinics in Charlotte, N.C., bringing comprehensive primary care, including behavioral health and social support services, to the area’s most vulnerable communities.”  They continued, “ Jordan’s gift will help Novant Health bring this same integrated care model to more rural and rural-adjacent communities in his hometown, offering much needed services to those who are uninsured or underinsured. The two new clinics are slated to open in early 2022.”

The 2 Charlotte clinics have administered about 1,000 vaccines for the disease so far. Plans to increase the services are in place for the coming weeks. Novant president and CEO Carl Armato, said, “This pandemic has exacerbated health equity gaps across our state, making our efforts to close them even more emergent. We look forward to standing these clinics up as quickly as possible to ensure all members of the community have access to necessary medical care.”

This announcement came just a day after the historic Daytona 500, where the NBA legend and owner of the Charlotte Hornets made history as the first black principal owner in NASCAR in a half-century…and with driver Bubba Wallace, the only black full time driver in the circuit. Jordan is an avid enthusiast of NASCAR, and is worth about $1.6 billion according to Forbes.

This great man has done a lot as a philanthropist, including announcing that he and his brand will donate $100 million over the next 10 years to organizations dedicated to “ensuring racial equality, social justice, and greater access to education.” This came after the wake of protests following the killing of George Floyd.

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Errant and criminal police abuse and brutality seems to have risen in the past few years. The stigma of George Floyd’s senseless killing is still felt by many, particularly his family and those who knew him. The police officers involved have since been apprehended and charged, yet the main antagonist has recently been freed. Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was released on a million dollar bond a few months ago. Chauvin, 44, was facing second-degree murder, third degree murder, and manslaughter charges after the viral video of him kneeling on Floyd’s neck for over 8 minutes, while Floyd was begging for mercy and cries of “momma” as his life was slipping away.

The ex-cop was incarcerated at Minnesota Correctional Facility – Oak Park Heights maximum security prison, for his role in the senseless killing of Floyd. He and the other three ex-cops – Thomas Lane, J.Alexander Kueng, and Tou Thao, appeared in person in the last hearing. The previous hearings they appeared in court remotely.

However, Chauvin was soon transferred to Hennepin County Jail to post bail. Bail was originally set as unconditional at $1.25 million, or $1 million with conditions – which Chauvin posted the non-cash bond for the conditional bail. All four officers connected with the death of George Floyd have since been released from custody.

The dramatic and disturbing video of the killing sparked a major period of nationwide unrest and protests against police brutality and racism, as well as a strong backlash from the Trump administration and far-right supporters of the police. Footage of the incident was captured by bystanders, of which some could be heard pleading with the cops to release the knee to the neck as Floyd was obviously having a hard time breathing. “Tell my kids I love them – I’m dead,” he gasped at one point.

All four cops were dismissed the day after Floyd perished, but it took weeks of major protests that rocked Minneapolis and sent shockwaves globally to finally charge them. This opened up a Pandora’s box about race relations and the role of police repression in society, particularly in America.

Chauvin was known to have had about seven prior incidents of applying neck or head and upper body restraints on civilians, including four cases which prosecutors argued he went too far.

Chauvin’s attorney claimed Floyd’s death was a result of his coronavirus infection as well as high levels of methamphetamine and fentanyl in his system. If convicted of unintentional second-degree murder, Chauvin was facing more than 12 years in prison. But Lawyers for Floyd’s family insisted that charges be upgraded to first-degree murder, and for the other three involved to face murder charges. Ben Crump, the Atlanta based lawyer for Floyd’s family, has argued that Chauvin knew what he was doing as Floyd pleaded for his life.

“For Chauvin to leave his knee on George’s neck despite warnings and evidence that his life was in danger – and to continue that course for many minutes – demands a first-degree murder charge,” Crump argued. “For George Floyd, the ambulance was his hearse.”

Apparently, on a side note, Chauvin, as well as his wife who left him after he was charged, also faces several counts of tax evasion after being caught lying about his income. And he still will continue to walk free until at least next March, according to court documents.

Another killer is on the loose. Time and time again, injustices and crimes committed seem to fall on deaf ears. What man’s courts may not be able to resolve, natural law will prevail. Karma has a way of dealing with the guilty.

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During the week of Thanksgiving, food banks all over the United States saw overwhelming lines at their doors with families struggling to get some food and help during this special holiday.

The Rhode Island Community Food Bank reported that there was an estimation of about 1 in 4 households in their state alone that was experiencing food insecurity. Food banks in that area saw a 26% increase in demand in 2020.

The executive director of the food bank told The Providence Journal “I don’t think were going to get through this unless Congress approves another COVID-19 relief bill.”

According to The Hill, the North Texas Food Bank told the Dallas Morning News that they gave away a rough estimate of 8,500 meals, which is 1,000 more of a regular year. There were also reports saying that people were waiting in line for over five hours in some food banks.

CEO of the food bank, Trisha Cunningham said “we know that people need food or they wouldn’t be in line. We want to make sure anyone that needs food has access to it.”

Record-setting numbers of people needing food and assistance were also reported in places like California, New Jersey and other areas in between. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic that has crippled almost every country in the world, there are millions that have lost their jobs and only a few places to turn to for help.

Up to this date, unemployment continues rising throughout the country. In the last month alone, the US Department of Labor reported 751,000 new claims for the week ending in 10/24. Insured unemployment was at 7,756,000. It is important to take note that the official unemployment numbers only represent a fraction of the market. There are many others who worked in the informal economy or likewise do not have access to unemployment benefits that aren’t included in these numbers.

EVP and COO of Feeding America, Katie Fitzgerald said that there has been a huge surge in demand since the pandemic and lockdown rules started. She said that “this year is especially hard, because of course we are seeing consistent surge in demand at Feeding America food banks all across the nation.”

In some areas, food banks have been extremely overwhelmed with the number of people and are running low on donations with the demand they are faced with.

If you are interested in helping or contributing to your local food bank, Feeding America has a nationwide list that is searchable by zip code. You can donate cash, holiday food items, or your time.

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The controversial “zero tolerance” policy of Donald Trump at the southern border revealed certain problems for lawyers trying to reunite held children with their parents. While attorneys reported to a federal judge that the parents of 545 children could not be located, it turned out to be over a hundred higher, at 666.

In an email, the lead lawyer handling the effort to locate relatives of the children, Steven Herzog, said that about 666 children, about 20% were under 5 years old when separated from their parents, remain separated. The new number was found out to be that the government failed to provide contact numbers for 129 of the children. Herzog wrote in the email, “We would appreciate the government providing any available updated contact information, or other information that may be helpful in establishing contact for all 666 of these parents,” addressed to the attorneys of the US Justice Department.

The “zero tolerance”  policy was imposed at the southern border with Mexico between April and June 2018. However, a pilot program before in the El Paso sector also separated families. Most of the children were taken from their parents during the pilot program, but the rest came from the “zero tolerance” policy.

Deputy director of the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project. Lee Gelernt, said the new number “includes individuals in addition to 545 for whom we got no information from government that would allow meaningful searches but are hopeful the government will now provide  with that information.”  

A House Judiciary Committee report revealed last month that the administration knew fully well that it wouldn’t be able to reunite migrant families under the separation policies, but decided to implement it anyway. The policy seized about 3,000 children from their parents, including many with physical and mental disabilities, and the parents are believed to have been deported from the US.

It was also revealed that in 2018, Trump administration senior adviser Stephen Miller, who has extremist views on immigration matters, proposed extending the family separation policies so that 25,000 additional children would be seized from their parents, including those legally presented at ports of entry seeking asylum.

You can just imagine the psychological and emotional trauma for the children, and their parents. US officials frequently told them that they would “never see each other again.” Physicians for Human Rights considered this as a form of torture and “state-sanctioned child abuse.” Some of the children were handed over to US families, securing the notion that these kids would never see their real parents again. Some would call that similar to kidnapping.

After massive public outrage, the administration rolled back the policy. Stories of a breast-feeding infant torn away from its mother, and a father committing suicide after being separated from his wife and kids added fuel to the fire. Whether they were true or not, still, the trauma is clearly evident.

President-elect Joe Biden vowed to create a task force to help reunite all the separated children with their parents. He termed the family separation policy “criminal.” He should also make sure that those responsible get prosecuted for the atrocious implementation of such policy. We just have to wait and see what happens next.

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A 9-year old girl was heartbroken after she lost her beloved baseball card collection in a fire that ravaged her house and many other homes in her neighborhood. Reese Osterberg had been collecting her cards since she was just 6-years old, and over three years she was able to amass at least 100 cards in total. It was a number that she was incredibly proud of too.

According to her mom, whenever Reese was watching a game on television, especially if it was a game where her favorite baseball team, the SF Giants, were playing, she would pull out her cards and put the corresponding players in position alongside the game. And even when there’s no game showing, Reese spends her time sharing her baseball love with her good friends and fellow baseball lovers Grayson and Emmett, or with her sister Rylee.

Her mom Amy even shared, “She loves learning about the players. She loves talking about the players.” Even Reese herself said, “I like baseball cards because they are pictures of people doing happy stuff. Doing what they love. And what I love.”

So when the California’s forest fires reached her hometown of County Creek in Fresno, and moreover the Osterberg home in Pine Ridge, the family was forced to evacuate their home, leaving most of their possessions behind. Reese only managed to bring her baseball mitt with her, probably not believing that they would lose their house. But when that went up in flames, so did her precious card collection, and along with it, a piece of little Reese’s heart.

After hearing about the devastation to their home, Reese asked her mother, “Mom, did Dad get my baseball cards?” When Amy told her “no,” she was devastated. Her uncle, knowing how much those cards meant to Reese, headed straight to the hobby store to pick her up a new pack of cards and a binder to put them in, a little something to help soothe the pain of losing her prized collection for the time being.

Reese even shared with media, “I was sad because I’m a huge fan. My favorite was Buster Posey. I like him because he’s the catcher.”

Unfortunately for the young athlete, she was helpless to the loss of her collection. She even decided to write Posey a letter, telling him what had happened to her cards in the Creek fire, as well as sharing with him that she’s his biggest fan.

Her mom didn’t know how to get the letter to either Posey or the Giants, so she decided to send it to a friend in law enforcement, and this is when the story went viral. The CAL FIRE / Fresno County Fire Facebook page put out a post sharing that Reese and her two friends Grayson and Emmett had lost all of her baseball cards in the fires when her dad forgot to save them, calling it the “Step Up To The Plate” Baseball Card Drive.

In fact, the post even wrote, “We can’t wait to see who will ‘step up to the plate’ and donate baseball cards to these fantastic children.” And after word reached the radio stations, soon enough, donations began pouring in, but one was going to be way more generous than the others.

When Kevin Ashford from San Jose heard about what had happened, and the drive to collect baseball cards for the kids, he knew exactly how he could help. Incredibly, Ashford had over 25,000 cards that he had stored and organized in his home garage. And it wasn’t just any baseball card collection, it was one that he had been collecting since the 90s. He also claimed that his collection is probably worth somewhere between $35,000 to $50,000.

Ashford told the media, “I got to thinking about what I have out here in the garage. I thought, you know what, rather than sell these on eBay, I’m just going to donate them. I’m gonna donate with all and put a smile on a little girl’s face.”

When the Osterberg family found out about the donation, they couldn’t’ believe it! They also didn’t know how to give their thanks either. When Amy told Reese about Mr. Ashford’s stunning donation, she said “Mom, my mind just exploded.” To which Ashford eventually explained, “My intention is just to make a little girl happy,” which he obviously did. And to make matters even sweeter, Reese even got to speak to her baseball hero Posey via Zoom.

By the time Mr. Ashton and Reese finally spoke on the phone, Reese told him something that made him feel like his decision to give her all his cards was the right one. He shared, “When she told me that she used to sit with her binder of baseball cards in front of the TV watching baseball, I knew I had made the right decision. Because that’s exactly what I used to do as a kid.”

Considering that 25,000 is a crazy amount of cards to keep, Reese and her mom Amy decided to give away some of them to Reese’s friends and teammates. They also decided to use some of them to send with notes of encouragement to kids in the Children’s Hospital of Central California. Reese explained, “When someone does something nice for you, it’s important to do nice things for other people, too.”

Also, Reese and Mr. Ashford have already made plans to attend a Giants game together after the pandemic when things are safer in order to watch Reese’s favorite player, Posey.

Amy also shares that the family is hoping to share more of their happiness with the other families in the community that have lost their jobs and worse, their homes, in the Creek Fire. They intend to have a socially distanced pizza and baseball card party at the Sierra Junior and Senior High School where Reese’s dad, Sean, happens to be the principal.

Amy shared, “It would be fun for them to do after everything that’s happened. I know for Reese, she’s super excited about sharing all of them.”

Meanwhile, the Osterbergs are currently living in the grandparents’ home in Clovis, attempting to build their lives again after losing almost all of their belongings. But what this extensive baseball card collection has brought their family is more than a compilation of cards, it’s a sense of normalcy for a family that has been so devastated from the fires.

According to Amy, seeing Reese checking out her cards means so much more though. In fact she shares, “that’s just her way to say, ‘Doesn’t matter what’s happening – this is normal for me to sit and study my cards.” And it’s really a way to help her know that her family is going to be alright.

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Failure to pay rent, damage to property and violation of a responsibility imposed by law are the usual valid reasons for evicting a tenant. However, one young woman has been evicted from her apartment in Orem, Utah because of her depression and suicidal thoughts.

The young woman, who is a college freshman shared her emotional struggles with her three roommates hoping to open a dialogue and seek counsel regarding her mental health issues.

Soon after, she was surprised to find the note below posted on her door:

 “We have been made aware that you have vocalized suicidal tendencies which has caused undo (sic) stress and alarm to your roommates and violated your lease,” the letter signed by a manager at Ventana Student Housing said.

Without her knowledge, her roommates reported what she was going through to the apartment’s management and used it against her after an argument.

“They used my mental challenges to their benefit … I was asking for help and that is the opposite of what I got,” she said. “I was completely shocked. I was crying and shaking and immediately trying to pack,” she told KSTU. “It’s so morally wrong for them to be doing this to someone who’s been having such a hard time.”

Having lived in the apartment for over a year, this really came a shock to her as she was given only 5 days to vacate the premises. Part of the letter stressed out that a lease can be terminated if a tenant breaches “the quiet enjoyment of the premises” or causes “any nuisance, health or safety hazard.” based on the signed lease agreement. Management was also careful not to use the word “eviction”.

Current laws prohibits discrimination in housing on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, or disability which also applies to perceptions of such characteristics.

 Nate Crippes, a staff attorney at the Disability Law Center said “Frankly, that appears to be blatant discrimination under the Fair Housing Act,”

 “There’s a lot of stigma around mental illness….At this point, I think we would hope to see people respond better to someone in this situation.”  He added,  “This appears to be somebody who has vocalized a symptom of a disability, like mental illness… This just seems particularly heinous for a person to take this action against someone.”

As this situation was clearly a violation of this young woman’s rights, she may soon be compensated  for the ordeal.  Fortunately, she had family to stay with in Utah County while looking for other living arrangements. Dealing with depression and mental illness is hard enough and being kicked out of your home while going thru makes it even more difficult for those with mental health challenges.

“The thing that upsets me most about this is that they decided evicting someone who was already having a hard time would make it easier on them,” she said. “The reason they were kicking me out was because of my depression and my suicidal thoughts, which just only made them worse — and it would make it worse for anyone having to find somewhere else to live.”

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America is the land of the free and home of the brave. And many believe this to be true. In fact, freedom of speech and of expression is honored more than many other nations around the globe. Yet, there will always be those who criticize, at times, for the sake of criticism. It is a free country after all.

In a small Iowa town, Marshalltown, a Mexican restaurant has been the focus of attention after posting a yard sign expressing their political belief, drawing both positive and negative reactions. It is the negative reactions to the anti-racist message which are surprising.

La Carreta is a Mexican restaurant owned by Alfonso Medina that has been serving popular Mexican dishes such as burritos, enchiladas, and chile verde, for the past 20 years. The town of Marshalltown lies some 50 miles northeast of Des Moines.

Due to the current polarized political and racial climate all over the US, Medina decided to take a stand with a simple statement addressing questions of social equality and basic respect. It was a simple issue for Medina. If other businesses such as Hobby Lobby and Chick-fil-A can openly support Christian causes and donate to anti-LGBTQ organizations, then small business owners like him also have the right to share their views.

The original sign he put up was “WE BELIEVE: Black Lives Matter – no human is illegal – love is love – Women’s rights are human rights – science is real – water is life – injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Nothing really wrong with the sign, unless you were a racist, anti-LGBTQ, and so on. Needless to say, lots of locals in the town reacted to the sign, both positive and negative. Some even sent hate mail and threats of boycotting the eatery.

“I didn’t think there was anything bad,” he told CNN. He mentioned that his wife even called him “brave” for erecting the sign in front of their restaurant. Medina also sees the issue of racism on a personal aspect. While he was born in Iowa, his parents migrated from Mexico before finding success with their small family business in the small town of Marshalltown. Medina proudly says he was “ Made in Mexico, delivered in the US.”

Yet, his media feed was quickly full of heated criticism over the sign. One hate mail even accused the restaurant of being Marxist – having “ gone completely POLITICALLY CORRECT” It continued to say that the sign “Insults and disrespects Christianity and America.”  Medina shared the letter on Facebook and explained his position.

“If a white-owned company has the right to be vocal about their beliefs, big or small, so does a minority-owned tax-generating business,” Medina posted on Facebook. “ Minority owned businesses should not shy away from being vocal or thinking they have to keep to themselves their thoughts.”

Rather than take the sign down, he decided to erect a bigger sign in his yard which simply read, “NO LOVE, NO TACOS”. His vocal stances have also garnered praise and some support from the community, allowing the restaurant to remain open and thrive despite the pandemic, and continue to provide for its employees.

“I’m sorry if the yard sign haso offended anyone, but I don’t believe anything out there is offensive,” Medina added. “If anything, everything on there is true. And I stand behind it.” Here he refers to the original sign in front of his restaurant. He continued by saying that the messages gave him more strength in being vocal about his stance. He wrote in Spanish, translated to “If they bark, it signifies we are advancing.” In a separate post on Instagram, he wrote, “We’re sorry your burrito had to get political, but it was the only way y’all would listen.” He ended the post with a phrase that has since then launched a movement – “No Love, No Tacos.” It became the new slogan of the restaurant.

“I am someone who takes something negative and tries to turn it into something 10 times more positive,” Medina explains. “If they don’t want us, they should align their ideals and their comments with the food they eat.”

Medina has eventually copyrighted the slogan, and has a website selling products like T-shirts and hoodies with the slogan. All the proceeds will fund scholarships to the local community college. He has sold over 450 shirts and raised about $4,000 to distribute. And he also put up a much bigger billboard reading “No Love, No Tacos.”

Well, business is booming at La Carreta, with customers its tacos (with love), nachos, and the popular California Burrito, celebrated to be one of the best burritos in the country by Food Network.

Medina also is hoping his platform will encourage people to vote. He is also advocating to turn Election Day into a national holiday. “Election Day should be one of the most important days for our country – one day, every four years for our democracy,”  Medina expressed in an interview. “and we believe businesses should close on Election Day  in order to let their employees go out and vote.”

It would not surprise us if he did run for mayor eventually. Well it seemed he turned a negative into something 10 times more positive, as he stated. For those who accused him of wrongdoings, you had better go over the Constitution again. Remember, America is still the land of the free, and the home of the brave.

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