Gentrifiers focus on aesthetics, not people. Because people, to them, are aesthetics.

Proponents of gentrification will vouch for its benevolence by noting it “cleaned up the neighbourhood”. This is often code for a literal white-washing. The problems that existed in the neighbourhood – poverty, lack of opportunity, struggling populations denied city services – did not go away. They were simply priced out to a new location.

That new location is often an impoverished suburb, which lacks the glamour to make it the object of future renewal efforts. There is no history to attract preservationists because there is nothing in poor suburbs viewed as worth preserving, including the futures of the people forced to live in them. This is blight without beauty, ruin without romance: payday loan stores, dollar stores, unassuming homes and unpaid bills. In the suburbs, poverty looks banal and is overlooked.

In cities, gentrifiers have the political clout – and accompanying racial privilege – to reallocate resources and repair infrastructure. The neighbourhood is “cleaned up” through the removal of its residents. Gentrifiers can then bask in “urban life” – the storied history, the selective nostalgia, the carefully sprinkled grit – while avoiding responsibility to those they displaced.

Sarah Kendzior – The peril of hipster economics (x)

why-animals-do-the-thing:

rainnecassidy:

kedreeva:

kropotkindersurprise:

2015 – Here are some gifs of Donald Trump being attacked by a bald eagle named Uncle Sam, literally the least patriotic thing that can happen to an American.

I’m reblogging this again because I finally realized why this is so funny to me, as a bird person.

In the first gif, what you’re seeing is a man who has zero idea how to handle a bird. That’s a heavy bird, and he’s got his arm stretched out as far as it will go in an attempt to keep the bird away from his face. What that does is create unstable footing for Uncle Sam. The handler is there trying to hold up Trump’s arm, but the bird has already realized it needs to leave or it will fall. In the first gif the bird is not attacking Trump- it is trying to get away from him so it doesn’t get hurt.

In the second gif, what we see is a bird that remembers what just happened and is blaming Trump for it. Uncle Sam sees Trump reach for its tether, and makes a lunge at Trump’s hand to keep him away. The bird /does not/ want to hang out with Trump because it has learned that Trump has no idea what he is doing.

Uncle Sam is rejecting Trump based on Trump’s proven inability to properly handle Uncle Sam. And that is both hilarious and beautiful.

Good bird.

Always reblog Uncle Sam telling Trump to fuck off

This is a better explanation of these gifs than I could have given!

Trump reveals how he would force Mexico to pay for border wall

new-age-conservative:

conservativecathy444:

berqamot:

individual-nrx:

moralanarchism:

In a two-page memo to The Washington Post, Trump outlined for the first time how he would seek to force Mexico to pay for his 1,000-mile border fence, which Trump has made a cornerstone of his presidential campaign and which has been repeatedly scoffed at by cureent and former Mexican leaders…

In the memo, Trump said he would threaten to change a rule under the USA Patriot Act antiterrorism law to cut off a portion of the funds sent to Mexico through money transfers, commonly known as remittances. The threat would be withdrawn if Mexico made “a one-time payment of $5-10 billion” to pay for the border wall, he wrote.

But Libertarians for Trump? 

Because libertarians should support an expansion of the Patriots Act?

Right? 

Completely fucking laughable how any libertarian could actually support Trump.

Trump is just as authoritative as any other politician running for president. 

Trump is definitely just as authoritarian as any other politician, but I fail to see how one government threatening another government would mean much to a libertarian.

Then you don’t quite get it well. Remittances (remesas in Spanish) is money that immigrants send to their impoverished families in Mexico and all other Central American countries. For many families it is their only source of income, for others a great help to their meager wages.

Trump is threatening the Mexican government by threatening innocent Mexicans that have done nothing but receive money earned by their relatives. It’s a threat against individuals. Of course it would concern libertarians. Any libertarian that only cares about their own government treating them well is a poor libertarian then. Ignoring the injustices one’s government commits against other peoples because it’s treating your government decently is a lot like conservatism to me.

@moralanarchism any libertarian that takes themselves seriously would only support Trump ironically. Since everyone claims that he would be disastrous for government then perhaps he is the best man for the presidency. Ironically, his health and tax proposals are the best from all other candidates; not that that excuses an endorsement but it’s just there as a fact.

If any libertarian thinks he will make America great again then they’re probably not a libertarian at all. But if any libertarian thinks he will finally drag the US to the ground then that’s a good excuse to “support” Trump.

So basically he is taking control of the mail, the banks and wiring of money capabilities but not to just Latin America – everywhere or they could send one place and then have it resent where they wanted it.  Gee that is a lot of control for what really is not a terrorist act – and by the way how often has government given up power once achieved? 

This is insane and anyone who still supports this man is a traitor to our country and what it stands for. 

I want to repeat that

This is insane and anyone who still supports this man is a traitor to our country and what it stands for. 

Trump reveals how he would force Mexico to pay for border wall

Your dog sounds amazing, you need to tell us about that door licking story Dumb dogs are the best!

revyspite:

normalgiraffes:

supergiraffes-archive:

We trained the dog so that when he wants out, he goes to the front door and waits.

Somehow in his little golden retriever brain, he interpreted this to mean “go to the front door, and lick it.”

If he’s at the door, but isn’t licking it, he doesn’t need out, he’s just chilling.

So, this was our routine – when he wants out, he goes to the front door, and licks it. And then we moved house, and he got very, very confused.

He knew he had to go to the front door when he wants out, but this was a new house with obviously a door that was completely new to him.

Despite our condo having only one door that leads outside, and him going out this very same door literally at least five times a day, every day, for about a year…he still has no idea where the front door is in this house. Absolutely no idea at all.

Now whenever he needs out, he will go to any random door and start licking it. And I mean any door – the bathroom door, my bedroom door, my closet, the goddamn door of a kitchen cabinet, even.

I don’t know if he’s really smart or really dumb. Because clearly, he understands conceptually what a door is. I don’t know if he thinks my closet or the kitchen cabinets lead to outside, or if he’s just hoping to find doggy Narnia, or if he’s just hopelessly given up on ever being able to find the door by himself and is just doing the best he can, but every goddamn time he wants out, he’s right there licking the glass door to the shower or something.

He doesn’t alert us he needs out any other way. So if you haven’t seen him in a while, you have to search room by room until you find him with his tongue pressed up against the linen closet because he thinks outside might be that way.

He’s the biggest, dumbest dog I have ever met in my life and I could not love him any more. He’s perfect.

Here he is, patiently licking the door of my wardrobe. 

I love this