2022 Annual Homeless Report
The annual report to Congress on the state of homelessness in the United States up through the end of last year. The following are the key findings in the report from the opener, they provide more context and details on each point inside.
- On a single night in 2022, roughly 582,500 people were experiencing homelessness in the United States.
- There continues to be an overrepresentation of people who identify as Black, African American, or African, as well as indigenous people (including Native Americans and Pacific Islanders) among the population experiencing homelessness compared to the U.S. population.
- Homelessness slightly increased nationwide.
- The number of veterans experiencing homelessness declined by 11 percent (4,123 fewer people) between 2020 and 2022.
- Six of every 10 people experiencing unsheltered homelessness did so in an urban area (60%), with more than half of all unsheltered people counted in the Continuums of Care (CoCs) that encompass the nation's 50 largest cities (54%).
- More than two thirds of all people experiencing homelessness (72%) did so in households without children present.
- About three in every ten people experiencing homelessness (28%) did so as part of a family with children.
- On a single night in 2022, more than 30,000 people under the age of 25 experienced homelessness on their own as "unaccompanied youth."
- Nearly one-third (30%) of all individuals experiencing homelessness in 2022 had chronic patterns of homelessness.
- The national inventory of beds for people currently or formerly experiencing homelessness increased by 11 percent between 2020 and 2022.
This is also a table of information from their opening section:
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"Kim Teehee would be the first Cherokee delegate in Congress"
Cherokee people and their tribal government, Teehee believes, should have always had a seat at the table where these decisions were made: The very treaty that saw her ancestors forced off their lands almost 200 years ago also promised Cherokee people a non-voting delegate seat in the US House. Now, the Cherokee Nation and Teehee — who was appointed to the job by the tribe's leaders — are mounting an aggressive campaign to see that promise fulfilled.
The Cherokee Nation's efforts to sit Teehee in the House have bipartisan support, but it's not immediately clear when or how congressional leaders will take up the issue in earnest. If she gets this seat, with spots on key panels and the power to speak on the House floor, Teehee hopes to help shape the next chapter of federal policy to benefit tribal governments and the people they serve. That includes addressing the epidemic of violence against Native women, saving the Cherokee language from extinction, and protecting funding for health care and housing.
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Hard-Fought Success on Rail Sick Days
Okay, not sleeping yet. My friend Bill posted this. Biden didn't back the rail worker striker, but since this team has helped keep the pressure and it seems the rail workers are getting what they want.
(Emphasis mine.)
After months of negotiations, the IBEW’s Railroad members at four of the largest U.S. freight carriers finally have what they’ve long sought but that many working people take for granted: paid sick days.
This is a big deal, said Railroad Department Director Al Russo, because the paid-sick-days issue, which nearly caused a nationwide shutdown of freight rail just before Christmas, had consistently been rejected by the carriers. It was not part of last December’s congressionally implemented update of the national collective bargaining agreement between the freight lines and the IBEW and 11 other railroad-related unions.
“We’re thankful that the Biden administration played the long game on sick days and stuck with us for months after Congress imposed our updated national agreement,” Russo said. “Without making a big show of it, Joe Biden and members of his administration in the Transportation and Labor departments have been working continuously to get guaranteed paid sick days for all railroad workers.
“We know that many of our members weren’t happy with our original agreement,” Russo said, “but through it all, we had faith that our friends in the White House and Congress would keep up the pressure on our railroad employers to get us the sick day benefits we deserve. Until we negotiated these new individual agreements with these carriers, an IBEW member who called out sick was not compensated.”
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Jan. 6 rioter gets 12.5 years for using taser on police officer
Two important things came to mind as I read this:
First, these articles are important, but only if they are being seen by the right people. Showing the ongoing prosecution and jailings of the rioters is great, except the bubbles which now exist mean a lot of people who support it aren't going to see these sentencings.
Second, the convicted rioter is 40 years old. At most 16 months older than me. An elder-millenial like me. Not my parents' generation. Not Gen X. People who grew up in the same world I did.
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"Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Legal Team Plagued by Infighting, Backstabbing"
Right up until the day Donald Trump's federal indictment was unsealed, the legal team tasked with defending him was engaged in petty internal feuds — including fights over TV appearances, accusations of disloyalty, and even a so-called "coup," three people familiar with the situation, as well as others on or close to Trump's legal defense, tell Rolling Stone.
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"'Genocidal': Transgender people begin to flee states with anti-LGBTQ laws"
As a transgender kid in a conservative region, Susan said Elsa could feel the growing tensions concerning people like her – she told her parents to "just let them hurt me," instead of moving out of state.
"It just kind of reveals how much damage all this causes to trans people, to their families, to people that support them, to people that haven't even figured out who they are yet," said Brian.
Elsa's family has since moved to Washington and said LGBTQ acceptance in the community has been like day-and-night between the two states, Susan said.
Manny Santiago, the executive director of the Washington State LGBTQ Commission, said it's a bittersweet feeling to know that the state has become a safe space for families with LGBTQ members, while others implement restrictions.
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"Federal Judge Makes History in Holding That Border Searches of Cell Phones Require a Warrant"
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A list to help Republicans understand what they're doing wrong
Originally posted in this Twitter thread, but here is a 27 point list which points out what the Republicans insist on doing and, in doing so, alienate them from young voters.
Republicans are so flabbergasted over their inability to connect with young voters it's almost comical. You wanna know why they hate you and upwards of 90% of them will never vote for you @GOP? I'll break it down for you (Thread)
Your Reagan-era "trickle-down economics" strategy of tax breaks for billionaires that you continue to employ to this day has widened the gap between rich and poor so much that most of them will never be able to own a home, much less earn a living wage.
You refuse to increase the federal minimum wage, which is still $7.25 an hour (since 2009). Even if it had just kept up with inflation, it would be $27 now. You're forcing people of all ages but especially young people to work multiple jobs just to afford basic necessities.
You fundamentally oppose and want to kill democracy; have done everything in your power to restrict access to the ballot box, particularly in areas with demographics that tend to vote Democratic (like young people and POC). You staged a fucking coup the last time you lost.
You have abused your disproportionate senate control over the last three decades to pack the courts with religious extremists and idealogues, including SCOTUS—which has rolled back rights for women in ways that do nothing but kill more women and children and expand poverty.
You refuse to enact common sense gun control laws to curb mass shootings like universal background checks and banning assault weapons; subjecting their entire generation to school shootings and drills that are traumatizing in and of themselves. You are owned by the @NRA.
You are unequivocally against combatting climate change to the extent that it's as if you've made it your personal mission to ensure they inherit a planet that is beyond the point of no return in terms of remaining habitable for the human race beyond the next few generations.
You oppose all programs that provide assistance to those who need it most. Your governors refused to expand Medicaid even during A PANDEMIC. You are against free school lunches, despite it being the only meal that millions of children can count on to actually receive each day
You are banning books, defunding libraries, barring subject matter, and whitewashing history even more in a fascistic attempt to keep them ignorant of the systemic racism that this nation was literally founded upon and continues to this day in every action your party takes.
You oppose universal healthcare and are still trying to repeal the ACA and rip healthcare from tens of millions of Americans and replace it with nothing. You are against lowering the cost of insulin and prescription drugs that millions need simply to LIVE/FUNCTION in society.
You embrace white nationalists, Neo-Nazis, and other groups that are defined by their intractable racism, xenophobia, bigotry, and intolerance. You conspired with these groups on January 6th to try to overthrow the U.S. government via domestic terrorism that KILLED PEOPLE.
You oppose every bill aimed at making life better for our nation's youth; from education to extracurricular and financial/nutritional assistance programs. You say you want to "protect the children" while you elect/nominate pedophiles and attack trans youth and drag queens.
You pretend to be offended by "anti-semitism" while literally supporting, electing, and speaking at events organized by Nazis. You pretend to hate "cancel culture" despite the fact that you invented it and it's basically all you do.
Every word you utter is a lie. You are the party of treason, hypocrisy, crime, and authoritarianism. You want to entrench rule by your aging minority because you know that you have nothing to offer young voters and they will never support you for all these reasons and more.
You're so hostile to even the notion of helping us overcome the mountain of debt that millions of us are forced to take on just to pay for our post K-12 education that you are suing to try to prevent a small fraction of us from getting even $10,000 in loan forgiveness.
You opened the floodgates of money into politics via Citizens United; allowing our entire system of government to become a cesspool of corruption, crime, and greed. You are supposed to represent the American people whose taxes pay your salary but instead cater to rich donors
You respond to elected representatives standing in solidarity with their constituents to protest the ONGOING SLAUGHTER of children in schools via shootings by EXPELLING THEM FROM OFFICE & respond to your lack of popularity among young people by trying to raise the voting age
You impeach Democratic presidents over lying about a BJ but refuse to impeach (then vote twice to acquit) a guy whose entire "administration" was an international crime syndicate being run out of the WH who incited an insurrection to have you killed
You steal Supreme Court seats from democrats to prevent the only black POTUS we've ever had from appointing one and invent fake precedents that you later ignore all to take fundamental rights from Americans; and even your "legitimate" appointments consist of people like THIS (sub-thread refuting CJ Roberts criticisms of people attacking SCOTUS' legitimacy)
You support mass incarceration even for innocuous offenses or execution by cop for POC while doing nothing but protect rich white criminals who engage in such things as tax fraud, money laundering, sex trafficking, rape/sexual assault, falsifying business records, etc.
You are the reason we can't pass:
- Universal background checks
- An assault weapons ban
- The 'For the People/Freedom to vote' Act or John Lewis Voting Rights Act
- The ERA & Equality Act
- The Climate Action Now Act
- The (Stopping) Violence Against Women Act
- SCOTUS expansion
You do not seek office to govern, represent, or serve the American people. You seek power solely for its own sake so you can impose your narrow-minded puritanical will on others at the expense of their most fundamental rights and freedoms like voting and bodily autonomy.
Ok, last one. You are trying to eliminate social security and Medicare that tens of millions of our parents rely on and paid into their entire lives. And you did everything to maximize preventable deaths from COVID leaving millions of us in mourning.
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Tucker Carlson out at Fox
Good riddance. And hopefully he's done (though I know he isn't.)
Let's also remember Jon Stewart's epic appearance on Crossfire:
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Joy-Ann Reid explains how fucking stupid a red state divorce in the US would be
So a full return to the status quo, pre-13th Amendment. Yeah, that's a no. You're not locking our folks in the rubber room with you, lady.
But that doesn't mean America isn't divided — because it is, deeply so — and has been for most of this nation's history. Red America and blue America are in many ways already two countries.
As political strategist Michael Podhorzer explains: The United States is "more like a federated republic of two nations: Blue Nation and Red Nation. ... It is a geographic and historical reality."
That divide, he writes, is very similar, both geographically and culturally, to the divides between the Union and the Confederacy.
But here's where things get interesting: Being a pro-Confederate red state isn't just bad for the soul — but for the economy. Based off Podhorzer's analysis, the blue nation contributes more of the total U.S. gross national product: 46% vs. 40%.
And if there was a national divorce, what would red America do for industry, given that many of its economies are dependent on blue state manufacturers who utilize red state nonunion labor to manufacture their goods more cheaply?
If red America was merely a competitor to other low-wage manufacturing countries, they'd have to continually reduce wages in order to compete.
And based on the way individual red state economies like Mississippi, Kentucky and West Virginia operate now, they would be a nation of largely impoverished workers ruled by a small oligarchy of the very rich, with no health care, scant voting rights, and no autonomy for women.
They'd likely be largely dependent on oil and natural gas revenues, which are in diminishing supply. And that would mean they'd also be an ecological disaster, which would mean they'd probably need lots of national aid ... from blue America.
As evidence? Currently, most red states pay less into the federal tax coffers than they take out. So would the new red republic expect the blue states to pay alimony and child support in this "national divorce"?
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"Companies Can’t Ask You to Shut up to Receive Severance, NLRB Rules"
The National Labor Relations Board ruled Tuesday that employers can no longer demand laid-off employees avoid publicly disparaging the company as part of their severance agreements, nor can they stop affected employees from disclosing the terms of their exit packages. Doing so, the federal agency determined, would be a violation of the laid-off employees' rights under the National Labor Relations Act.
The decision reverses two previous decisions, both in 2020, regarding the gambling company International Game Technology and Baylor University Medical Center, which held that such severance agreements were lawful. The board now says that determination was wrong and failed to recognize "that unlawful provisions in a severance agreement proffered to employees have a reasonable tendency to interfere with, restrain, or coerce the exercise of employee rights."
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Sen. Feinstein officially confirms this term is her last
It was coming, but glad to have this officially announced so the Dems can get their ducks in order and figure out who to put forward for her seat now rather than continue the backroom conversations to avoid unseamliness.
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Biden's exchange with Repubs during SOTU about Medicare & Social Security
It's an interesting gambit and bit of political theater how Biden pulled Republicans into supporting openly the ongoing support for Medicare and Social Security. I doubt it will have any major impact unfortunately.
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Heartbreaking and eye opening look into the soulless world of American healthcare insurance
It's a very long read, but fantastic reporting.
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George Santos is a despicable liar and fraud
Replace Santos' name in the segment below with Trump's and no one would know. Down to the "I'll do better, not that I was doing bad of course" bullshit rhetoric. What an embarrassment.
Rep. George Santos (R-NY) in an interview on Tuesday said that he has learned his "lesson" after revelations that he fabricated numerous parts of his resume and biography.
"I've learned my lesson and I can guarantee you that from now on anything, everything is always going to be aboveboard," Santos said in an interview with Caitlin Sinclair on One America News.
"It's largely always been aboveboard," he continued. "I'm just gonna go the extra step now to double check cross reference everything."
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Germany's final decision to send tanks to Ukraine opens the door
This morning, after Germany's announcement yesterday, President Biden announced the US would also be sending tanks to Ukraine.
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Jon Stewart discusses our Classified System
The media is chasing the classified documents fiasco like it's spy vs. spy, Trump vs. Biden. But on this week's episode, we're breaking down the absurdity of a national security system that makes it so darn easy to hoard classified documents. We're joined by Matthew Connelly, professor of history at Columbia and author of "The Declassification Engine: What History Reveals about America's Top Secrets," who gives us the inside scoop on how unwieldy our system for keeping state secrets has become, who it's really designed to protect, and how we might revamp it so that it actually, you know, can keep a secret.
The Declassification Engine by
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Four Oath Keepers convicted of seditious conspiracy
Laying more groundwork to begin working up the chain further. Hopefully it keeps going up.
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Small modular nuclear reactor design approved
I will be curious to see how often this is adopted. This isn't a design for people in their backyards, but it is a smaller design for actual power plant designs, etc.
I did find the tidbit that this is the seventh approved nuclear reactor design in the US. That number is simultaneously too large and too small in my mind.
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Marjorie Taylor Greene gets seat on Homeland Security Committee
Fuck you Kevin McCarthy and your shitty deals.
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