Jose Mujica, the president of Uruguay from 2010-2015, was known as the “the world’s humblest head of state” as he gave away around 90% of his $12,000 monthly salary to charity. He also led an austere lifestyle; he lived on a farm than in the presidential palace and drove a 1987 VW beetle.
Former Liberian President, Charles D. B. King…
Former Liberian President, Charles D. B. King, earned himself a spot in the Guinness Book of Records for the most fraudulent election reported in history, having won the 1927 election with 2,43,000 votes in a country with 15,000 registered voters.
15 Historic Newspaper Front Pages That Will Help You Relive the past
Whether it’s online, actually holding the paper, or even scanning through microfiche for hours on end, I love seeing what was going on throughout history and how it was reported.
It’s endlessly fascinating! To me, at least.
Here are 15 newspaper covers from historic days throughout American history.
One note: the dates listed are the day the newspaper published, which don’t always match the day the incident took place.
Enjoy.
1. April 17, 1912: The Titanic sinks.
2. October 1, 1955: James Dean killed in a car wreck.
3. September 25, 1957: Troops escort nine African-American students into Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas.
4. September 16, 1963: Four little girls are killed in a church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama.
5. September 6, 1901: President William McKinley is shot by an assassin in Buffalo, New York.
6. September 1, 1939: German troops invade Poland, marking the beginning of World War II.
7. August 6, 1962: Marilyn Monroe found dead in her home in Los Angeles.
8. July 28, 1945: A plane crashes into the Empire State Building in New York City. 14 people eventually died.
9. July 23, 1934: “Public Enemy #1”, gangster John Dillinger is killed by police outside a movie theater in Chicago.
10. November 22, 1963: President John F. Kennedy shot dead in Dallas
11. July 21, 1969: Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin become the first men to walk on the moon.
12. July 12, 1914: Babe Ruth makes his big league baseball debut.
13. July 3, 1937: Pilot Amelia Earhart goes missing at sea.
14. April 19, 1906: San Francisco is rocked by a massive earthquake that kills up to 3,000 people.
15. August 9, 1974: President Richard M. Nixon resigns.
That’s what I call a trip down memory lane.
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10 Facts for You to Chew On
Let’s celebrate some great facts!
You can share them with your friends, families, and enemies, and you can whip them out at your next dinner party so people get really impressed with you.
Trust me, it works.
Now memorize these facts!
1. Those programs don’t work.
Photo Credit: did you know?
2. Bring this to the USA!
Photo Credit: did you know?
3. Wow, that’s quite a story.
Photo Credit: did you know?
4. She did what she wanted.
Photo Credit: did you know?
5. Here’s the real math.
Photo Credit: did you know?
6. Well, that’s disgusting.
Photo Credit: did you know?
7. Have you seen these?
Photo Credit: did you know?
8. That’s just a myth.
Photo Credit: did you know?
9. All kinds of weird hybrids.
Photo Credit: did you know?
10. Runs in the family.
Photo Credit: did you know?
Hip, hip, HOORAY!
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Little Rock Is Paying Homeless People $9.25 an Hour to Pick up Litter
The folks in Little Rock, Arkansas, might be on to something. In April 2019, the city launched its Bridge to Work program, paying homeless people $9.25 an hour to pick up litter off city streets.
Paul Atkins is a Pastor at the Canvas Community Church in Little Rock, and he’s been impressed with how successful the program has been so far. Atkins said 380 people have worked through the program, receiving paychecks and mental health and medical services. Some have even landed job interviews.
Atkins said, “We want to work with them on their next step. There are a lot of barriers that our people experience to go from homelessness and panhandling to full-time work. There’s a lot of steps in between.”
The people in the program work in groups of eight, but they usually leave one space open in case they encounter a panhandler or other homeless person who wants to join up and work with them.
NEW: The Bridge to Work program, which employs Little Rock's homeless to pick up litter around the city, has been extended for an additional year with $160,000 in funding.
It was a unanimous vote at the city board meeting tonight #ARNews pic.twitter.com/kV2mBx5kFL— Shelby Rose (@KATVShelby) September 18, 2019
One of the team leaders in the program, Felecia Cooks, was initially worried it wouldn’t be entirely successful. She said:
“When I first started, from Day One, I couldn’t catch the vision, nor could I travel the journey. But, you know, we’ve taken out over 400-and-something persons. And let me tell you, that has been the most exciting thing that I’ve done in my life. The energy, just the positive (energy), the vision that Canvas Community Church has. You know, it’s just wonderful.
The Little Rock City Board is extending a program that pays minimum wage to homeless people who pick up litter https://t.co/gUciIQk8iE
— Region 8 News (@Region8News) September 18, 2019
The program was only supposed to last six months, but Little Rock’s mayor, Frank Scott Jr., said he will draft a resolution to extend the program through the end of September 2020 because it has been such a success.
Great idea! I’d like to see this in other cities across the country!
The post Little Rock Is Paying Homeless People $9.25 an Hour to Pick up Litter appeared first on UberFacts.
Americans Share the Most Absurd Medical Bill They Ever Received
Healthcare is on many people’s mind these days, and the 2020 election is full of ideas on how to take our broken system and hopefully improve it.
Senator Bernie Sanders is and has been passionate about the topic for much of his career, and is championing a controversial Medicare for All plan that would see the end of private insurance offerings for good.
Regardless of what you think about Medicare for All, I’m sure we can all agree that healthcare costs are too damn high, and something has to be done.
Recently on Twitter, he asked his followers to share the most absurd medical bill they ever got in the mail, and you guys.
What’s the most absurd medical bill you have ever received?
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) September 15, 2019
20. Always decline the ambulance ride.
It was hot. I hadn't eaten. I fainted.
Ambulance shows up, they pull me in there with a/c blasting and stick an IV in my arm and pump me full of fluid.
In 15 minutes I was 90% good.
I'm still taken to the hospital.
3 hours of tests later I'm declared okay.
Bill: $12,000.
— Vince Nicholas (@vincenicholas) September 17, 2019
19. Nobody should be worrying about the bill.
$35k+ for an ectopic pregnancy. No ins. Have surgery or die when it ruptures. Made my X take me home a day early because I knew every extra minute there would bury me in debt. I should’ve been healing and grieving but was worried abt the bill. Beyond time for #MedicareForAll
— Nunya Biznass
(@NunyaBiznass462) September 16, 2019
18. Yeah, that’s not a choice.
…Insurance company told us we chose to have the C-Section. That it was elective. As if we just wanted to
No we had the C-section bc the Dr told us our son could die if we do natural birth. What choice is that!?!
Why I was soooo glad when Obama took insurance cos to task
— Texan (@Texan_21C) September 15, 2019
17. This one might win for most ridiculous.
I lost consciousness and my in-laws called 911. The 2 area EMTs arrived with 2 separate ambulances and fought over my unresponsive body. Eventually they decided which would claim my body and both sent me bills!
— Darcys34 (@Claudia0167) September 16, 2019
16. I’m not sure that’s really science.
$800 for a psych evaluation which consisted of them asking me "are you gonna kill yourself" and thats it.
— Jenna (@spookyslore) September 16, 2019
15. Heartbreaking AND absurd.
$10K to pay for our daughter's neonatal care one year after the fact. She died thirty minutes after birth and our insurance wouldn't pay because we failed to add her to our policy.
— didderbops (@didderbops) September 15, 2019
14. A whole new level of insult to injury.
Where to even start…
I got billed $3k a YEAR after my son was born because the insurance company deemed the emergency c-section "unnecessary".$9k ($3k which I had to pay upfront) for a miscarriage.
$500 for the ultrasound that confirmed my baby had passed in womb.
— Conz Preti (@conz) September 16, 2019
13. We need equal opportunity healing.
$35,000 for addiction treatment. Out of pocket. It's the best money I ever spent, but quality addiction treatment should not be limited by class. Addiction is treatable. Everyone deserves the opportunity.
— One step ahead of the Qs
(@artisteboy) September 15, 2019
12. I’ll bring my own Band-Aid.
$1,400 for a fucking bandaid was billed as part of the final bill total was over 40k
— Admiral Byrd was right! (@S00TY83) September 16, 2019
11. Only the rich get to live.
$120,000 per treatment chemotherapy bills
— Patsy Stone (@MsPatsyStone) September 16, 2019
10. I mean what else can you do?
In 1991, at age 21, I broke my neck in a diving accident.
$1.2 million for eight months in hospital.
After months of fighting with Blue Cross and Loyola University Medical Center in Chicago, I owed $250,000 after insurance.Filed medical bankruptcy at 23 years old.
— Troy Rudd
9. It would be funny if it wasn’t so infuriating.
$11k bill for an allergy attack that I already treated with epinephrine before getting to the hospital. Stayed overnight. Charged $1k per hour for observation. And they gave me eggs for breakfast. Which I'm allergic to.
— Benjamin Shapero (@realBenShapero) September 15, 2019
8. Answer: hardly anyone.
$480,000 for my Dad's spinal fusion surgery. That's more than we paid for our house. It was "in-network" too.
We refused to pay & told the hospital they had to work it out with Horizon, but they kept sending us the bill for months. Eventually they stopped. Who has $480,000?
— Samuel Douglas (@CANCEL_SAM) September 15, 2019
7. That’s a pretty penny for stuff you could have gotten at Walgreens.
$12,000 for less than 1 hour in the ER. Lower back strain. The doc touched my back for all of 3 seconds, wrote me a prescription for lidocaine patches and steroids and said, "have nice day"
— JE Cooper (@je_cooper) September 15, 2019
6. You need a surgeon for that?
$1,000 to have a surgeon walk in the room (late) for 1 whole entire minute and say “yeah your nose is broken” and leave
— andrea mendes (@AndreaMendes) September 15, 2019
5. That’s a pretty high price for wielding a pair of tweezers for under 5 minutes.
Attempted to charge me $600 to remove stitches. I did it myself in 4 minutes. That’s $9000/hr.
— Kelp_Paddy (@calico_rising) September 16, 2019
4. Kidney stones are the worst and if $16k would help, I would have paid it.
$16,000 for all the work done related to a kidney stone
It involved me sitting in a room, drugged up, and the doctors not knowing what was causing the pain
After they figured it out they sent me home with painkillers, said they can't do anything for it, and sent me a 16K bill https://t.co/usqUJfqeYO
— Tim Pool (@Timcast) September 15, 2019
3. I think they’re billing the wrong person.
$8000 ER visit after my abuser set my house on fire.
— Lily Bell (@RealMuse87) September 16, 2019
2. Everyone should have a problem with this.
My daughter, Shalynne's, $350k medical bill to die a needless death. Treating her and saving her life would have only cost $1,500. All because she couldn't provide proof of insurance.
— Amy Vilela (@amy4thepeople) September 15, 2019
1. What on earth does most of that even mean?
The bill for the loss of our pregnancy at 17 1/2 weeks.
Ins. paid all but 2000, the ambulance was an addl $1600.
So, on top of the emotional toll it cost me $3600.
I still owe them most of that money. Every bill and call is a reminder of losing my baby girl#MedicareForAll pic.twitter.com/HkVjyG5Ur0
— ~ Valerie ~
(@MysV4Bernie) September 15, 2019
I’m not here to discuss politics, but I think we can all agree that most of these are pretty darn silly.
If you were running for president, how would you solve the problem of rising healthcare costs, access to care, care for veterans, and all the rest?
There’s no easy answer, of course, but give it a go!
The post Americans Share the Most Absurd Medical Bill They Ever Received appeared first on UberFacts.
A New Planned Parenthood App Will Let Users Order Birth Control in Every State in the U.S.
This is important news, so pay attention.
Planned Parenthood (and women’s reproductive rights in general) has been the subject of a lot of scrutiny and argument over the past several years from some politicians and people, but I, for one, think that this is a great development. Why you wouldn’t want affordable birth control to be available to all women in every corner of the United States is beyond me, but that’s just where we are right now.
Luckily, a lot of people and women are still fighting the good fight. It was recently announced that the Planned Parenthood Direct app is now available in 27 states across the U.S., and it will be available in all 50 states in 2020.
In 2019, pretty much everything is on-demand. Why not #birthcontrol, too? Check out Planned Parenthood Direct, the…
Posted by Planned Parenthood Mohawk Hudson Action on Monday, May 13, 2019
The app allows users to order birth control, make appointments at Planned Parenthood clinics, and get prescriptions for antibiotics to treat urinary tract infections.
Alexis McGill Johnson, the acting President and CEO of the organization, said, “As politicians across the country try to restrict or block access to critical reproductive and sexual health care, the Planned Parenthood Direct app is just one part of the work we do to ensure that more people can get the care they need, no matter where they are.”
Planned Parenthood pulled out of the U.S. government’s Title X funding program in August because the Trump administration passed new rules wherein the organization would no longer be allowed to refer patients to abortion services. Planned Parenthood would have received $60 million in federal funding if they had stayed in the Title X program, but its leaders decided to withdraw.
We're committed to helping all patients get the care they deserve. Through the Planned Parenthood Direct app, you can…
Posted by Planned Parenthood of Southern New England on Saturday, September 7, 2019
The Planned Parenthood Direct app doesn’t take insurance, but birth control can cost as little as $20 for a three-month supply, and users can get birth control just by answering standard questions.
You can check to see if the app is available in your state HERE. This is definitely a small step in the right direction, despite all the negative news surrounding reproductive rights in America right now.
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10 of the Most Bizarre Declassified Government Documents
Some people are really into conspiracy theories – or more prone to believing that the government is hiding certain truths from us, maybe – and still others have just watched too many episodes of The X-Files to trust that we’re being told every last detail.
But if these 10, slightly terrifying declassified documents are any indication, people are definitely right to ask questions, because the truth is often buried behind miles of red tape.
10. Okay so this needs to be a movie, if it isn’t.
In East Germany a committed freedom fighter and her husband had dealt with having her home raided while she was away, being arrested on the way to protests and all sorts of state sponsored harassment. After the wall fell she was able to read the documents the Stasi had kept on her and found out her own husband was an undercover agent and had written many reports on her activities with a bloodless banality.
9. Everything about the Challenger explosion is horrible.
When the space shuttle Challenger was destroyed, it was reported that all 7 astronauts were killed instantly. It was revealed decades later that some, if not all of the astronauts survived the initial explosion, as the cockpit cabin had enough protection to not be breached. For 2 minutes and 45 seconds, they were awake and aware, as they plummeted toward the Atlantic Ocean.
Understandably, NASA knew that the news of their terrifying death would have crippled the space program even more than it already was.
8. Evil people sometimes have security clearance.
Canadian here… The Somalia Affair Not sure if it was ever classified but definitely a horrific scandal. A now disbanded division of the Canadian military torturing a kid to death in the 90s, and taking hero pics with him while doing it… I think it’s important to remember when your country does something shitty – it’s not always the “bad guys” who can be fucking evil.
7. This seems awfully small and petty when, you know, actual life should scare people enough.
The plan after 9/11 to make figurines that look like Osama Bin Laden and give them to kids in South Asia. After it’s left in the sun for a certain amount of time, it’s face would peel off to reveal a “demon-like visage with red skin, green eyes, and black markings,” basically a demon. The objective was to scare kids and their parents so Bin Laden and Al Qaeda would lose support.
6. This idea was actually floated, so what’s not possible?
Operation Northwoods; A plan for a false flag operation that came from the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Department of Defense in 1962 and given to JFK who turned it down. The plan called for the CIA to commit terrorist actions against US Civilians across the United States and frame Cuba, allowing us the right to invade and depose Castro and the communist government there. It was declassified and can be found online at the JFK Library. Terrifying that no one knows or seems to care that this was suggested by our government to the President.
5. We have to prepare for all contingencies.
The Nixon Administration had a speech prepared for if the moon landing had failed, and it’s chilling.
4. The Manhattan Project was terrifying from the ground up.
My hometown was littered woth radioactive waste by the federal government as part of the Manhattan project. https://www.nytimes.com/1981/02/01/nyregion/big-atom-waste-site-reported-found-near-buffalo.html
then we wonder why cancer and thyroid conditions thereare the norm.
3. It really seems likely that we’re going to wipe ourselves out on accident.
There are over 50 mishaps with nuclear weapons by the US Airforce in the 1950s alone.
2. So as you can see, we’ve never been a society that puts children first.
They tested Iodine on “retarded children” as well. In that time, oftentimes orphans and children who were behind in school ended up at these institutions.
The US government also inserted radioactive material into a man after a motorcycle crash and didn’t tell him.
1. Drug testing on clueless citizens. That’s not scary.
Operation Midnight Climax
The government hired sex workers to dose “johns” with LSD for research purposes so to speak
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Midnight_Climax
Some of these going to haunt my thoughts for weeks, and you know…the truth is out there, y’all.
Are you into conspiracy theories? Do these documents tickle your sixth sense? Let us know!
The post 10 of the Most Bizarre Declassified Government Documents appeared first on UberFacts.
Zoos Are No Longer Able to Acquire African Elephants from the Wild
You might have already assumed that trade in wild African elephants – and endangered species in general – was illegal, even if it was a zoo that was looking to take one in.
We would have been wrong.
Though hopefully that won’t be the case for much longer.
At the 18th meeting of CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, members from over 180 countries reassessed regulations on international elephant trade. A vast majority of the the representatives voted to end the capture and sale of wild African elephants for display in zoos worldwide.
The issue will go for a vote in front of the full conference, but with 46 of the 83 countries in favor, it looks to have a good chance of passing.
Iris Ho, a senior policy advisor at Humane Society International (HSI), told Bloomberg that everyone in the business of supporting endangered species sees this as a win.
“It’s a huge step forward. It’s really historic that the majority of the parties present recognized that African elephants should not be captured in the wild, sent to zoos and be kept in captivity for the rest of their lives.”
The ban would largely affect countries in southern Africa, where elephant populations are healthier and herds are regularly thinned for the purpose of selling them to zoos. Zimbabwe alone sold over 100 wild-caught baby elephants to China in the past 7 years, and the issue of separating calves from their mothers and the rest of the herd certainly has animal welfare experts concerned.
“Calves suffer psychological and physical harm when taken from their mothers,” explains elephant biologist Audrey Delsink of HSI Africa. “Zoos and other captive facilities force these calves to live in an unnatural, unhealthy environment that doesn’t meet their complex needs.”
Elephant trade has long been a hot topic, with African nations often territorial about managing their own wildlife without outside interference. Black market demands for ivory has drastically increased elephant poaching in the last few decades, though, so organizations like CITES feel as if they have a duty to protect the endangered species as if it belongs to the world, and not only to its endemic areas in Africa.
Over a million species are listed as at risk thanks to all manner of human activity, so committees like CITES are set to have busy years as they work to revamp how different species are protected around the globe.
#krugernationalpark . . . . . . #elephant #elephants #krugerpark #kruger #exploresouthafrica #exploreafrica #wild4photosafaris #womenphotographers #canon #canoneos5dmarkiii #canoneos5d #safari #big5 #animalsofkruger #elephantsofkruger #africanelephant #africanelephants #getoutside“Nature’s dangerous decline is unprecedented,” says CITES Secretary General Ivonne Higuero. “Business as usual is no longer an option.”
I feel like that statement applies to environmental challenges all over the globe, and I hope there are people in every nook and cranny waiting to step up to do their part to save us all.
The post Zoos Are No Longer Able to Acquire African Elephants from the Wild appeared first on UberFacts.
Zoos Are No Longer Able to Acquire African Elephants from the Wild
You might have already assumed that trade in wild African elephants – and endangered species in general – was illegal, even if it was a zoo that was looking to take one in.
We would have been wrong.
Though hopefully that won’t be the case for much longer.
At the 18th meeting of CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, members from over 180 countries reassessed regulations on international elephant trade. A vast majority of the the representatives voted to end the capture and sale of wild African elephants for display in zoos worldwide.
The issue will go for a vote in front of the full conference, but with 46 of the 83 countries in favor, it looks to have a good chance of passing.
Iris Ho, a senior policy advisor at Humane Society International (HSI), told Bloomberg that everyone in the business of supporting endangered species sees this as a win.
“It’s a huge step forward. It’s really historic that the majority of the parties present recognized that African elephants should not be captured in the wild, sent to zoos and be kept in captivity for the rest of their lives.”
The ban would largely affect countries in southern Africa, where elephant populations are healthier and herds are regularly thinned for the purpose of selling them to zoos. Zimbabwe alone sold over 100 wild-caught baby elephants to China in the past 7 years, and the issue of separating calves from their mothers and the rest of the herd certainly has animal welfare experts concerned.
“Calves suffer psychological and physical harm when taken from their mothers,” explains elephant biologist Audrey Delsink of HSI Africa. “Zoos and other captive facilities force these calves to live in an unnatural, unhealthy environment that doesn’t meet their complex needs.”
Elephant trade has long been a hot topic, with African nations often territorial about managing their own wildlife without outside interference. Black market demands for ivory has drastically increased elephant poaching in the last few decades, though, so organizations like CITES feel as if they have a duty to protect the endangered species as if it belongs to the world, and not only to its endemic areas in Africa.
Over a million species are listed as at risk thanks to all manner of human activity, so committees like CITES are set to have busy years as they work to revamp how different species are protected around the globe.
“Nature’s dangerous decline is unprecedented,” says CITES Secretary General Ivonne Higuero. “Business as usual is no longer an option.”
I feel like that statement applies to environmental challenges all over the globe, and I hope there are people in every nook and cranny waiting to step up to do their part to save us all.
The post Zoos Are No Longer Able to Acquire African Elephants from the Wild appeared first on UberFacts.