Day: 03/22/2016

Good news, for once

I was finally approved for a new apartment!

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Now I’m cleaning and packing. (But mostly cleaning, and who likes to clean?)

I’ve been (seriously) craving Dairy Queen dilly bars, but also patting myself on the back because I’ve (recently) refrained from indulging in these delightful treats. Unfortunately, I’m out of butter (and toothpaste and… something else…), so I have to go out and about tomorrow. (I mean, today.) Please keep your fingers crossed that I’ll be able to resist swinging by Dairy Queen.

I want to thank everyone for their support, through my eviction, and really, all the time. (I will post a financial accounting of the GoFundMe account after I move.)

I think I’m gonna make it. 🙂

(Photo taken 3/9/2016.)

Good luck, England

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-03-21/u-k-tory-turmoil-worsens-as-ex-minister-questions-deficit-focus

Duncan Smith said Sunday he was no longer able to support the cuts to disability benefits while taxes for higher earners and companies are being lowered. He denied his decision to quit late Friday as work and pensions secretary had anything to do with his support for leaving the EU in the June 23 referendum, a position in opposition to the prime minister and chancellor…

While Osborne’s Budget initially drew a positive reaction from Tory lawmakers, criticism soon began to surface about the impact of disability-benefit changes, intended to save about 4.4 billion pounds ($6.3 billion) over five years. The government signaled on Friday, before Duncan Smith quit, that it was looking again at the details…

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/85a8b894-eecc-11e5-9f20-c3a047354386.html#axzz43cEHLGXT

The former Conservative leader quit dramatically on Friday, claiming he had been forced by George Osborne, the chancellor of the exchequer, to implement ÂŁ4bn of cuts to disability benefits against his will...

https://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/news/3024-suicides-at-10-year-high-and-linked-to-benefits

Figures released today by the Office for National Statistics show that suicide rates, which had fallen consistently since 1981, have been climbing since 2007 and are now at their highest in over a decade…

The link between benefits issues and increased suicide risk is being highlighted by charities such as Mind. Speaking to the Guardian, Tom Pollard, policy and campaigns manager at Mind, said:

“Pressurising people by threatening to stop their benefits causes a great deal of financial problems and emotional distress, with some people attempting to take their own lives as a result.” …

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/more-80-suicide-cases-directly-5634404

(5/4/2015) More than 80 suicide cases directly linked to Coalition cuts claim disability campaigners

They’re coming for your fentanyl

https://www.salon.com/2016/03/20/

this_drug_may_be_surpassing_heroin_as_a_killer_and_the_drug_war_is_to_blame/

Now, amid an unprecedented opioid crisis…

This, from an alleged liberal perspective (Salon)? Or just from a lazy media that needs clickbait to survive?

“Significant increases in fentanyl seizures and fentanyl deaths first became evident in 2013, and continued to increase throughout 2014,” emails Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researcher Jon Zibbell…

Be careful out there…

https://painkills2.wordpress.com/2015/08/02/thinking-of-you-amelia-and-hardy-leighton/

A coroner has confirmed that a couple in the province of British Columbia died July 20th after ingesting toxic levels of fentanyl…  This comes at a time when researchers have found recreational drug users are switching to alternative opioids after the much-abused prescription drug, oxycodone was changed to make it more difficult to tamper with.