u/SpooktasticFam — reddlx

Aldi No Longer Taking American Express?

I was shopping at Aldi today, and went to pay with my Amex (per usual), and I learned they just (as in this morning) stopped taking American Express payments. The cashier was able to save my transaction while I ran out to the car to get my debit card, but if you're someone like me that uses their Amex for everything, be aware.

I'm located in Michigan, so your mileage may vary.

ETA: it appears it's only some locations that have stopped taking it. Be sure to have a backup card if you go to Aldi tho!

reddit.com

u/SpooktasticFam — 2 days ago

▲ 458 r/TwoXPreppers

You Should Know About Gleaning Crops

Copy/Pasted from the FAQ on the linked site:

"Gleaning is an old practice that has evolved over the centuries. Many religious texts mention gleaning, which originated as the practice of farmers allowing members of their communities experiencing economic hardship to gather food in the fields after harvest. Today, most gleaning organizations work with farmers who want to donate food during organized gleaning events where community volunteers, school groups, or businesses gather crops left after harvest and usually distribute the food through local food banks, food pantries, churches, or other charitable food assistance distribution sites. Food banks are often eager to work with gleaning organizations as well, as a way to provide fresh produce to their customers where they might otherwise only be able to provide nonperishable food items. A strict definition of gleaning includes only the harvesting of crops from fields and orchards, but today many organizations recover food across the food system, from production (traditional gleaning), processing (some gleaning groups make jams, jellies, and salsas), distribution (a few organizations make distribution their primary work), and retail (for example, at grocery stores, farmers markets, and restaurants), to individual households (for example, through community fridges). When this website refers to gleaning, it is usually meant to include both gleaning and food recovery since many groups do both!"

https://nationalgleaningproject.org/gleaning-map/

As a personal note, I used to do this when I was younger, and am looking to start doing it again.

We would go to a farm that had already been harvested by "professionals" but still had a lot of produce still left in a field. We would have to pick a bushel or so for the food bank first, and then we could keep whatever else we could find.

We would end up with boxes of produce for free, and it really wasn't difficult, or labor intensive.

I wouldn't recommend doing it if you don't do home canning, but it is the absolute BEST way to get free produce.

Blueberries, green beans, farmed salmon (they'd harvest the eggs, and then toss the carcasses for people to take), corn, sweet potatoes.

Anyways, I thought I'd lend a resource here! Hope it helps someone!

u/SpooktasticFam — 4 days ago

▲ 28 r/conspiracy

You may have seen the headlines about the federal government allowing capital punishment to be carried out by firing squad, gas, and electrocution now.

Ominous, at best, in this political climate.

I like to read the actual proposals.

It is so much worse than just that headline.

https://www.justice.gov/ag/media/1437806/dl?inline

Highlights:

-Completely getting rid of clemency appeals. Just not a thing anymore.

-Judge can issue a death penalty ruling, even if the jury isn't unanimous on guilty/not guilty

-Expediting the "lengthy appeals process." This was left very vague what the process would actually look like going forward.

-The Federal government can extradite people from states without the death penalty, to states with the death penalty

-Taking death penalty decisions as a whole away from the discretion of the state, and putting it solely at the federal level

-Getting rid of the prisoner's right to choose their method of execution

-Getting rid of a trial to determine if the prisoner is eligible for the death penalty (death penalty cases currently have 2 trials. Are they guilty? And do we think they actually deserve the death penalty?)

-Expanding the type of crimes eligible for the death penalty:

"The Department should consider offering legislation to correct gaps and deficiencies in the authorization of capital punishment for the most heinous crimes, including, inter alia, murders of law enforcement officers; murders by aliens illegally in the United States; and murders constituting or committed in the commission of hate crimes, stalking, material support for terrorism, or domestic violence."

So basically, we're removing all the state guardrails for the death penalty, removing most of the oversight from the process, getting rid of clemency, getting rid of unanimous jury of your peers convicting you for a death sentence, putting the decision to execute citizens completely at the discretion of the Federal Government, and expanding what you can get executed for.

And we're bringing back good ol' fashioned shooting people, and gassing them.

Technology has come so far, I'm sure they have some creative ideas for administering capital punishment sentences for electrocution.

I haven't seen this discussion anywhere, and I don't feel good about it.

reddit.com

u/SpooktasticFam — 20 days ago