Pittsburgh Post Office Social &Amp: Fill & Download for Free

I did not intend this to go so long, but maybe people can understand… a little bit.*You actually learn, firsthand, how easy it is to become homeless.*You learn it can happen to you. And your kids, with you.You learn that addictions, mental ilness, or economic changes are the root causes.You learn the phrase, “pull yourself up by your bootstraps”.You notice where every Burger King, McDonald's and Wendy’s with exterior trash cans are.You notice you become a non-person. A target for derision and abuse.People will take advantage of you. Oh yes.If You have something worth money, you will get pennies on the dollar if you try and sell it.People will steal from you, and kick you in your sleep if you don’t find a good place.You start thinking like a bear, a wolf, a cat. You learn from street dogs, street cats.You try not to draw attention to yourself. Find a place to keep your main stash so you are not walking with it… then people know you are homeless. You travel light, in case you have to run.You need to have an address to get a decent job. It used to be a cell number or pager number was not good enough.. you had to have a land-line.You notice that some post offices in America will not rent you a post office box.You notice that most social security interviewers are actively hostile, to the point of it is like hazing, to discourage you from filing.Other homeless people might help you out. You might help other homeless. You just got to be careful.MANY homeless have bipolar, schizophrenia, or schizoaffective disorder, and do not think clearly or normally.When they talk, they sound like Donald Trump… loose associations, grandiosity, word salad, extreme paranoia, narcissism. Persecution complexes, inferiority/ superiority.Very difficult to talk to… not usually violent, unless tweaking, but different from.. reality.Contacting Social Security, most of these officers are relatively uncaring or hostile inside the U.S. (but friendly, efficient and helpful in the Philippines Office (responsible for overseas expats).180 degrees different experience from the Veteran’s Administration, who are generally to very helpful, depending on which hospital you deal with. Some are better than others. I guess because they know at the VA… you have put in your time…. Although at the VA, they are very suspicious of people with hard core drug problems. (Not one of my issues.)Some VA are better than others. I was lucky. Pittsburgh is very good. Some bad doctors, sure, but 80% were very good, and helpful.You learn that if you are on the street, you will interact with Police more.Some Police get it. As long as you do not create a problem, they will mostly leave you alone… but when people call the police on you, the Police will take action.You cannot walk through a rich, well off neighborhood as a homeless person. You will get arrested. I got “politely” detained/arrested a few times. I completely cooperated and did not resist. I know the lingo and the story… My family men were military and Police.It ends up you get invited to get a ride to the edge of their jurisdiction, and then wished luck, and told to walk in a direction.I was okay with walking. I have walked 15 miles at a stretch with gear, pacing myself, to not tire out, to not get blisters. No big deal. You just get tired, and you need to cover yourself from the sun.I remember thinking… this is just like at the beginning of the Rambo movie. Except the police were always polite. I never had a warrant. I never pulled any sovereign citizen stuff. I just told them I was a vet, waiting on my case to get heard, I showed ID, I was just walking, looking for a job.I never evaded any questions.You learn how much water you really need to drink. How much you need to cover from the sun. How to use and take shelter, but I had the benefit of survival manuals, and courses.You learn the way food tastes… like how salty a half-eaten McDonalds burger is.You learn that if you can get a little money, you can eat bread, pretty cheap.Lots of places throw out food at the end of the night. Sometimes in the day, I would hang out at a place like a ‘steak and shake’, with a notepad, writing longhand. Writing science fiction. Waitresses would hear my story when they were slow night and bored. I was always polite. never rude.I would show my stories.One time, a young waitress and I were talking to each other, as friends, nothing more.I was down to a few dollars. I was really hungry, in winter, 2001. I went to steak n shake to warm up… I ordered a chili… asked for extra crackers, and a glass of water.I told her up front… sorry I have no tip. Just paying for the chili.She politely, carefully asked me if I was almost out of money. I said yes… i just need to eat some protein…which was true. Right there, she got tears, and she bought me a triple hamburger.I was almost crying, she was so nice. I told her I would pay her back. She said she wished her boyfriend was as polite, or motivated. She wanted to be an artist. He did not encourage her.Later that month, I did get some money from odd jobs, shoveling snow.I paid her back. Later she got moved to a different store, but I remember her, 18 years later.In Pittsburgh and Dayton, homeless people would go to libraries to use computers or log on with a friend. Used computers from goodwill are very cheap. You can be homeless, yet have a friend that keeps a computer for you.. you just can’t stay there.These days, Some still have access to a phone or tablet. There are homeless foreigners in Thailand who are overstays, who have a cell phone and use free wireless at coffee shops.I live in a rental now, but in America, I used to stay in abandoned houses, or out in the woods. There are a lot of places in Pittsburgh, the terrain is hilly, with cliffs, roads don’t go there… you just keep a stealthy low profile and avoid being seen.Public parks, sometimes. State parks, the huge ones, you are just camping out. But the enforcement is dedicated.One time, I had a quiet little fire, and I dropped a magnesium fire starter block into it. Wow! It was like a d day searchlight in France, lighting up the trees! Visible for a few miles. I tried burying it with dirt… but Troopers showed up, that was that.My father ran a drop-in center in San Francisco and was part of the Mobile Assistance Patrol, Tenderloin District.One time I rode with him, we rescued young male and female prostitutes from pimps. Very sad lives. Young gay boy, cut up with an Exacto knife. Females that did not want to go with us… because we were… 3 men in a van… even though the van was marked. This one girl told us “last few times a cop helped her, she was forced to do a blow-job in the car, or be arrested, for prostitution. She told us other girls had “semi-regular blow-job protection, by the police.”OFFICIAL OPPRESSION, right there.We got a few rounds shot at us, one time, from a pissed off pimp.I knew never to stay at a shelter. All my stuff would get stolen. I knew it. And the institutionalization of those places. Time to get up.. can’t hang out… be back by curfew.To hell with a curfew. I was a military veteran, 34 years old. I could get security jobs, mostly at night, but the shelters wouldn’t have it. I lived in the woods, away from everyone, military discipline.It was like the John Lithgow movie, Distant Thunder (1988)The film tells the story of troubled Vietnam war veteran Mark Lambert (John Lithgow), who, upon returning home from the war, alienates his wife and child by deserting them and moving away into the remote wilderness of Washington state.I knew I could commit a crime, and just live in a prison.. I did not want a record.VA helped me… even though it took 6 months to get everything figured out. My family helped me somewhat, also. Gave me food, sometimes.Arby’s was real good for letting me use a bathroom, right before closing time at night.That was 20 years ago.Never again.I will never eat greasy, cold fries out of a bag of McDonald’s Trash, ever again.I will never live in shame in the woods by the river, catching catfish for dinner, hoping the police don’t show up, unless the world goes to hell.I like having a house, and running water, and clean clothes, and a relationship, and clean blankets, that are quilted cloth, not newspapers and a dirty, greasy coat.I like having gas heat, not a smoky campfire, with damp, rotted wood.I like having an electric fan in the summer.I like living soft, because when I was in the Navy, I slept 4 hours, every three days on the edge of a helicopter flight deck, with helicopters landing, using a flak jacket as my pillow. Manning a .50 cal, or M-60 machine gun.Never again.I am now 53. Living a quiet life. If the world goes to hell, it will be Trump’s fault. He is working avidly on it. There will be a lot more homeless over the next 3 years as America enters the ’20s recession.I never did drugs, I quit drinking in 1992. Years before I was homeless.I hope it all works out. I hope I have 20 some years left to this life.

Ten or 15 years ago, this question would have been ridiculous. Of course the publisher can control what appears in the newspaper’s pages! Any writer who doesn’t agree can just go to another paper!Unfortunately, as the media have become more and more amalgamated and polarized, there are fewer and fewer “other papers” (particularly in print form) for writers to go to. Many rural and even metropolitan areas that once enjoyed three or four or more local papers now make do with one or maybe two, whose publishers might or might not share the same political views.So what is a publisher’s civil responsibility in today’s political world?Columnists, letters-to-the editor writers and political cartoonists merit three different approaches.Newspaper columnists and television and internet commentators relish their identity on the political spectrum; in the case of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, mentioned in the link, this is reflected in the almost perfect balance between the unabashed liberal Tony Norman and the equally unfazed conservative Ruth Ann Dailey. Almost all media, even the often-criticized Fox News, offer at least one prominent dissenting voice.Letters-to-the editor from multiple points of view reflect an editor’s commitment to representing wide aspects of the local community and are vital to its viability.The editorial cartoonist, however, has traditionally been given free rein to speak freely and criticize everyone, particularly those in power. S/he is historically akin to the king’s Fool or jester, traditionally encouraged to point out the ruler’s mistakes, make fun of everyone regardless of standing, say what no one else dares to, and break bad news – while being granted remarkable immunity from punishment for the sake of insight and entertainment.The American media in particular have a history of dead-on political cartooning, from Thomas Nast’s castigation of the corruption of the Democrat Boss Tweed’s Tammany Hall in the mid-1800s to the present day. The best political cartoonists convey complex issues visually and spark a reaction.Past U.S. presidents bore satiric barbs with exasperated fortitude along the lines of “I hate what you’re doing to me, but I defend your right to do it.” In 1968 President Lyndon B. Johnson wrote the following letter to the ruthless Smothers Brothers:It is part of the price of leadership of this great and free nation to be the target of clever satirists. You have given the gift of laughter to our people. May we never grow so somber or self-important that we fail to appreciate the humor in our lives.[1][1][1][1]More recent presidents – both George Bushes, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama – have all been the targets of at times brutal criticism from both cartoonists and talk-show hosts but have conceded that the critics are just “doing their jobs.”The current administration, however, often displays borderline autocratic tendencies, particularly when it comes to the media. The press conference-averse President Trump has threatened to revoke broadcast licenses for networks who make unflattering reports and make it easier for public figures to sue for libel — and often refers to the press as “you people,” the “opposition party,” and even the “enemy of the American people.” His insistence on unflattering reports being “fake news” has drawn comparison to the Communist, Jewish and foreign Lügenpress (“lying press”) condemned in Nazi propaganda to silence dissent by sowing doubt. [2][2][2][2]In a February 12, 2017 interview on “Face the Nation,” then-senior White House policy adviser Stephen Miller blatantly stated, “[O]ur opponents, the media and the whole world will soon see as we begin to take further actions, that the powers of the president to protect our country are very substantial and will not be questioned.” [3][3][3][3]In March 2018 dozens of local news anchors employed by the U.S.’s largest television broadcaster, Sinclair Broadcast Group, recited the same script about “fake news” dictated by Sinclair. Deadspin famously strung a bunch of the anchors’ reports together: Sinclair's Soldiers in Trump's War on MediaIn a June 15, 2018 “Fox and Friends” segment, Trump said, “(Korean dictator Kim Jung Un) speaks and his people sit up at attention. I want my people to do the same.” [4][4][4][4]Political cartoonists are going to pick on politicians of all stripes, especially when they lapse into or create scandal. That’s the cartoonists’ job.And if the best political cartoonists pick on absolutely everybody who deserves it, the recently besieged (later fired) Rob Rogers from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette is one of the best.In 1992 the right-leaning Pittsburgh Press and the left-leaning Post Gazette merged after a newspaper strike; the Post Gazette absorbed most of the columnists and reporters from its sister paper. For decades the PG provided Pittsburgh with a fairly good balance of liberal and conservative content.In 1999 Rogers was nominated for a Pulitzer based for the most part on his lambasting of (Democratic) President Bill Clinton and the Monica Lewinsky scandal.Rogers took on incompetence and foolishness, from George W. Bush’s perceived cluelessness to Obama’s wishy-washiness. Whoever was in power was fair game.Image source: Rob RogersLocally Rogers criticized all (primarily Democratic) Pittsburgh mayors with aplomb, from the humorous Sophie Masloff to the inexperienced young mayor Luke Ravenstahl (always portrayed with a juice box) to the ambitious but often powerless Bill Peduto.Image source: Rob RogersBut in 2018 the PG veered sharply right with the editorial department’s consolidation with that of the Toledo Blade under the PG’s new publisher, John Block, and editorial-page editor and fellow fervent Trump-supporter Keith Burris.Image source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette publisher hangs on Donald Trump’s jet in a ‘more than memorable’ experience (Pittsburgh City Paper, September 22, 2016)Both Block and Burris soon garnered worldwide condemnation for the unsigned incendiary MLK Day editorial Reason as racism: An immigration debate gets derailed. (Many of the Rogers cartoons recently killed dealt with policies that were perceived as racist or xenophobic.)For decades Rogers had enjoyed unimpeded publication in the PG, with only a couple of cartoons killed over the course of an entire year. But in the two months since March, nine cartoon ideas and 10 finished cartoons were killed, primarily for their criticism of President Trump and his policies.The following cartoon seems to have been the final straw:Image source: Rob RogersThe media were quick to respond. From Rogers’s interview with the New York Times:When I had lunch with my new boss a few months ago, he informed me that the paper’s publisher believed the editorial cartoonist was akin to an editorial writer, and that his views should reflect the philosophy of the newspaper. That was a new one to me. I was trained in a tradition in which editorial cartoonists are the live wires of a publication – as one former colleague put it, the ‘constant irritant’. Our job is to provoke readers in a way words alone can’t.Cartoonists are not illustrators for a publisher's politics. [5][5][5][5]Many of Rogers’s former targets quickly became his staunchest defenders.From longtime Rogers nemesis, the PG columnist Dennis Roddy:Rob's politics and mine are not the same. In fact, when I worked in the (former Pennsylvania Governor Tom) Corbett administration, he did his darnedest to make me unemployed. God knows I've wanted to choke Rob on more than one occasion. He's opinionated, unrestrained, and a wisenheimer of the top chop. In short, he's doing his job. He is the indispensable irritant that keeps us scratching and thinking.Newspapers are more than private property. They are community institutions -- civic trusts protected by Constitution and, as such, part of a social contract. Their obligation is not only to be independent voices, but to elevate the culture by enabling and nurturing independence of thought.[6][6][6][6]From Pittsburgh mayor Bill Peduto, in the Washington Post:I’ve known Rob a long time. That has never stopped him from publishing cartoons that are critical of me, of my policy positions, or of my actions (or inactions) in office. He’s even made fun of my weight. But he is one of the best in the world at his time-honored craft, and I know people of all political persuasions stand with me in support of him, even if the Pittsburgh Post Gazette regrettably does not.[7][7][7][7]Image source: Rob RogersAnd in The Guardian:“This is precisely the time,” the mayor added, “when the constitutionally protected free press – including critics like Rob Rogers – should be celebrated and supported, and not fired for doing their jobs. This decision, just one day after the president of the United States said the news media is ‘our country’s biggest enemy’, sets a low standard in the 232-year history of the newspaper.”(Rogers); “You want to have as many voices as you can and they are starting to have only one voice of the paper, and I think that goes against what a free press is all about – especially when silencing that voice is because of the president.”[8][8][8][8]From Rogers's own statement to the PG, as reported in the local blog The Incline's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette cartoonist Rob Rogers says he was fired after 'killed' Trump cartoons:I am incredibly proud of the 34 years I have spent drawing editorial cartoons in Pittsburgh — 25 of them at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. I felt I was a valued and respected member of a quality newspaper staff. This situation changed dramatically and abruptly in recent months. The Post-Gazette’s leadership has veered away from core journalistic values that embrace diverse opinions and public discourse on important issues. I am especially troubled that management’s decision to fire me discounts the thousands of readers who turn to the Post-Gazette for editorials, columns, and cartoons that, while not always reflecting their own positions, challenge preconceived notions and invite thought, conversation, and keep the civic conversation going. I fear that today’s unjustified firing of a dissenting voice on the editorial pages will only serve to diminish an opinion section that was once one of America’s best. I love what I do and will continue to find ways do it and get it out there. The world needs satire now more than ever.Burris, in his own defense in the PG pages (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette fires editorial cartoonist Rob Rogers) said he did not “suppress” the cartoons but that Rogers was unwilling to “collaborate” with him on ideas. Block told Politico that Rogers hadn’t “been funny in a long time” and became “too angry for his own good.” He also that it was important for editorial cartoonists to “augment” rather than refute the positions of the newspaper. [9][9][9][9]But Rogers would have been remiss in ignoring such legitimate but “cartoon-killing” issues as racial sensitivity and the NFL, perceived presidential fawning over Kim Jung Un, presidential pardons, and the government-mandated separation of children from their parents.As the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists saw it this way:It’s as simple as this: Rogers was fired for refusing to do cartoons extolling Trump. Let that sink in. [10][10][10][10]Whenever a person in power says or does something appalling, tone-deaf or merely foolish, it is the political cartoonist’s job to call it out. Good “hits” should be celebrated, not condemned.Due to its status as the fourth estate, one that holds the executive, legislative and judicial powers accountable, the “press” is in a different category than either government or private business. At least until very recently, it could be expected that the media could be unbiased and give both or all sides.And while a publisher can refuse to publish an editorial cartoon contrary to his or her beliefs, s/he should serve the public entire.Today, with exceptionally large reach and increasing consolidation, the media faces the real danger of becoming a propaganda machine. Dissenting political cartoonists are vital to dismantling that machine at every opportunity.Let the Fool speak.Footnotes[1] FACT CHECK: Did President Lyndon B. Johnson Applaud the Smothers Brothers for Mocking Him?[1] FACT CHECK: Did President Lyndon B. Johnson Applaud the Smothers Brothers for Mocking Him?[1] FACT CHECK: Did President Lyndon B. Johnson Applaud the Smothers Brothers for Mocking Him?[1] FACT CHECK: Did President Lyndon B. Johnson Applaud the Smothers Brothers for Mocking Him?[2] https://www.usnews.com/news/at-the-edge/articles/2017-10-26/trump-propaganda-and-the-destruction-of-the-free-press[2] https://www.usnews.com/news/at-the-edge/articles/2017-10-26/trump-propaganda-and-the-destruction-of-the-free-press[2] https://www.usnews.com/news/at-the-edge/articles/2017-10-26/trump-propaganda-and-the-destruction-of-the-free-press[2] https://www.usnews.com/news/at-the-edge/articles/2017-10-26/trump-propaganda-and-the-destruction-of-the-free-press[3] Trump Powers Will Not Be Questioned[3] Trump Powers Will Not Be Questioned[3] Trump Powers Will Not Be Questioned[3] Trump Powers Will Not Be Questioned[4] President Trump Said He Wants People to 'Sit Up at Attention' for Him Like They Do for Kim Jong Un[4] President Trump Said He Wants People to 'Sit Up at Attention' for Him Like They Do for Kim Jong Un[4] President Trump Said He Wants People to 'Sit Up at Attention' for Him Like They Do for Kim Jong Un[4] President Trump Said He Wants People to 'Sit Up at Attention' for Him Like They Do for Kim Jong Un[5] Opinion | I Was Fired for Making Fun of Trump[5] Opinion | I Was Fired for Making Fun of Trump[5] Opinion | I Was Fired for Making Fun of Trump[5] Opinion | I Was Fired for Making Fun of Trump[6] Why is the Post-Gazette taking an eraser to an important messenger? | Opinion[6] Why is the Post-Gazette taking an eraser to an important messenger? | Opinion[6] Why is the Post-Gazette taking an eraser to an important messenger? | Opinion[6] Why is the Post-Gazette taking an eraser to an important messenger? | Opinion[7] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2018/06/14/pittsburgh-post-gazette-fires-anti-trump-cartoonist-and-mayor-says-it-sends-wrong-message-about-press-freedoms/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.1f72ce8dc9fa[7] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2018/06/14/pittsburgh-post-gazette-fires-anti-trump-cartoonist-and-mayor-says-it-sends-wrong-message-about-press-freedoms/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.1f72ce8dc9fa[7] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2018/06/14/pittsburgh-post-gazette-fires-anti-trump-cartoonist-and-mayor-says-it-sends-wrong-message-about-press-freedoms/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.1f72ce8dc9fa[7] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2018/06/14/pittsburgh-post-gazette-fires-anti-trump-cartoonist-and-mayor-says-it-sends-wrong-message-about-press-freedoms/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.1f72ce8dc9fa[8] Pittsburgh cartoonist says he was fired after 25 years for making fun of Trump[8] Pittsburgh cartoonist says he was fired after 25 years for making fun of Trump[8] Pittsburgh cartoonist says he was fired after 25 years for making fun of Trump[8] Pittsburgh cartoonist says he was fired after 25 years for making fun of Trump[9] ‘He’s just become too angry’: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette publisher defends firing cartoonist [9] ‘He’s just become too angry’: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette publisher defends firing cartoonist [9] ‘He’s just become too angry’: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette publisher defends firing cartoonist [9] ‘He’s just become too angry’: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette publisher defends firing cartoonist [10] Rob Rogers fired: A statement from the Association of American Cartoonists [10] Rob Rogers fired: A statement from the Association of American Cartoonists [10] Rob Rogers fired: A statement from the Association of American Cartoonists [10] Rob Rogers fired: A statement from the Association of American Cartoonists

For the past 4 years, I was a student at Columbia University.I was by no means a social butterfly. But as the resident nongenius with an appreciation for late night conversations, I made a number of close friends. Recent events have made me worried about many of them.A few days ago, a friend of mine posted a video taken on campus. It showed a white student following a group of black students while loudly proclaiming his appreciation for white men.“A group of primarily black Columbia underclassmen were harassed outside Butler Library around 4 a.m. Sunday morning by a white student shouting, “White people are the best thing that happened to the world” and “We built modern civilization,” according to students present at the scene.”Two weeks ago a Jewish Professor had her office broken into and found swastikas spray-painted in her office. This was one in a series of anti-semitic hate crimes committed throughout NYC, all of which occurred a few days after the Parkland shootings.“Two swastikas and an anti-Semitic slur were spray-painted Wednesday on the walls of a Jewish professor’s office at Columbia University, the latest in a surge of anti-Semitic incidents in New York this year.”Columbia is a very liberal school. Whenever I would think about problems there, my mind always went to the excesses of liberals. The past year has changed that. I don’t believe that the bigots materialized out of nowhere, but societal condemnation was usually enough to suppress their worst impulses. Now, the leader of the Free World regularly encourages these impulses, and a third of the country has chosen to take a blind eye towards that.“Before committing the Tree of Life massacre, the shooter, who blamed Jews for the caravan of “invaders” and who raged about it on social media, made it clear that he was furious at hias, founded as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, a Jewish group that helps resettle refugees in the United States. ””My Black and Jewish friends are scared.So am I.SourcesStudents of color harassed outside Butler by Columbia sophomore spewing racist, white supremacist rhetoricJewish Professor Finds Swastikas Spray-Painted in Office at ColumbiaTrump’s Caravan Hysteria Led to ThisThere Is No Easy Way for Trump to Stop the Latest CaravanWhy Hasn’t Trump’s Refugee Policy Repelled His Christian Supporters?A set of readings on antisemitism put together by a dear friend.Readings about Anti-Semitism and the Pittsburgh Shooting