u/oakseaer

Right now, the city has about 300 people off the streets and in permanent supportive housing. The federal government has said that “housing first” homelessness solutions are bad, and therefore funding from the department of housing will now only support “transitional housing.”

http://www.hud.gov/news/hud-no-26-038

https://wnyhomeless.org/app/uploads/2026/05/2026-PIT-Summary-Report-Homeless-Alliance-of-WNY.pdf

Those housed people will likely be able to keep their same bed in their same building, but the designation will change from PSH to TH. People in transitional housing are technically considered homeless.

Local news reports on homelessness, but generally don’t bother to explain the mechanical reasons behind changes. This time, it’ll look like a super dramatic increase, and they won’t bother to research federal HUD funding policy changes that caused this accounting difference.

If you’re curious about the actual cause of the homelessness increase we’ve seen over the past five years:

Buffalo has a low median rent, a very high share of cost-burdened (people who spend more than a third of their income on housing) low-income renters, and almost no units affordable at the bottom, so people who temporarily lose housing enter a shelter system they cannot exit. Recently, the duration of shelter stays has grown ~30%. We have basically no affordable housing. Median rents have increased by 46% over the past five years. And not only have we not been building housing of any kind (including market-rate housing), but we’ve been demolishing homes and closing shelters.

https://vouchermatch.com/section-8/buffalo-ny

This exact increase in homelessness was predicted by the US Government Accountability Office in 2020. In their analysis, a specific price increase of $100 in median rent causes an increase in homelessness of 9% roughly two years later. Buffalo saw an increase of $423 by 2024 and is now seeing a homelessness increase of 41% by the middle of 2026.

https://www.gao.gov/blog/how-covid-19-could-aggravate-homelessness-crisis

Also, no, this isn’t a substance use or mental health issue. Neither has increased to the same degree as housing costs, and neither are a major portion of the homeless population. Out of the roughly 2,190 homeless people in the area, only about 125 have a substance use disorder and less than 300 have a mental health problem. It sounds like you’re taking your view of a few people you dislike and using it to generalize about the thousands you don’t see.

This happened a few months ago and I haven’t been back to DnD since. My partner invited me out with some DnD friends who knew of me, but whom I didn’t know well. I’d been in a pretty rough spot and hadn’t been interacting with others, since my dad had suddenly and unexpectedly had a heart attack shortly before. It was a challenging experience, as I held him when he died. I was only in town for the weekend (I travel a lot for work), so I wouldn’t be coming back, but they invited me for a round in the evening. I’d been watching some D20 previously, which had helped me feel better, so this seemed like a cool way to expand my bubble.

I was given a character sheet when I arrived by the DM that had info for me to learn. For the most part, this seemed like a pretty normal character - I was an elf who was hoping to grow and did magic (or something along those lines). But on the second half there was a detailed description of how my character recently lost his dad to a sudden curse and he’s joined the group to try to figure out what happened and avenge his death.

Edit: Yes, the DM knew about my dad; my partner had mentioned my invitation to her and the table because I was still recovering/healing.

I played through the evening and didn’t really share much about my character’s backstory from the sheet with the others there, but it was pretty challenging and I wasn’t expecting to have that experience - additionally, the others at the table seemed confused as to why I was being so cagey with my character’s backstory, although I couldn’t bring myself to share it without breaking down.

Is this a normal approach to DMing? Should I have done more research and gone into this expecting a connection with my personal life? I haven’t joined them again and I haven’t been comfortable with DnD since.

Content Relevance Statement: Bouie's video extends the discussion in Klein’s recent episode about Platner’s campaign. The interview stresses the tension between allowing people grace for complicated pasts and recognizing when accumulating red flags reveal fundamental problems with honesty/character. Bouie approaches that same debate through the concept of political character. His argument is that elected officials inevitably exercise enormous discretion in situations their platforms cannot anticipate, making honesty and trustworthiness governing qualifications.

Literature reviews on how social media use affects adolescent mental health have accumulated at an unprecedented rate of late. Yet, a higher-level integration of the evidence is still lacking. We fill this gap with an up-to-date umbrella review, a review of reviews published between 2019 and mid-2021. Our search yielded 25 reviews: seven meta-analyses, nine systematic, and nine narrative reviews. Results showed that most reviews interpreted the associations between social media use and mental health as ‘weak’ or ‘inconsistent,’ whereas a few qualified the same associations as ‘substantial’ and ‘deleterious.’ We summarize the gaps identified in the reviews, provide an explanation for their diverging interpretations, and suggest several avenues for future research.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352250X21001500?via%3Dihub

Adolescents are spending an increasing amount of their time online and connected to each other via digital technologies. Mobile device ownership and social media usage have reached unprecedented levels, and concerns have been raised that this constant connectivity is harming adolescents’ mental health. This review synthesized data from three sources: (a) narrative reviews and meta-analyses conducted between 2014 and 2019, (b) large-scale preregistered cohort studies and (c) intensive longitudinal and ecological momentary assessment studies, to summarize what is known about linkages between digital technology usage and adolescent mental health, with a specific focus on depression and anxiety. The review highlights that most research to date has been correlational, focused on adults versus adolescents, and has generated a mix of often conflicting small positive, negative and null associations. The most recent and rigorous large-scale preregistered studies report small associations between the amount of daily digital technology usage and adolescents’ well-being that do not offer a way of distinguishing cause from effect and, as estimated, are unlikely to be of clinical or practical significance. Implications for improving future research and for supporting adolescents’ mental health in the digital age are discussed.

https://acamh.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jcpp.13190

Results
When examining the reviews, it becomes evident that the research field is dominated by cross-sectional work that is generally of a low quality standard. While research has highlighted the importance of differentiating between different types of digital technology use many studies do not consider such necessary nuances. These limitations aside, the association between digital technology use, or social media use in particular, and psychological well-being is—on average—negative but very small. Furthermore, the direction of the link between digital technology use and well-being is still unclear: effects have been found to exist in both directions and there has been little work done to rule out potential confounders.

Conclusions
Reviewing the last decade of reviews in the area, it is evident that the research field needs to refocus on improving transparency, interpreting effect sizes and changing measurement. It also needs to show a greater appreciation for the individual differences that will inherently shape each adolescent’s reaction to digital technologies.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00127-019-01825-4

At least 10 gun industry businesses, including Glock, Smith & Wesson, Remington and Mossberg, secretly handed over names, addresses and other data to lobbyists, who used the details to rally firearm owners to elect pro-gun politicians.

I live in LA so SF has been a city I have visited regularly over the years. This year I went and drove literally everywhere (what can I say I’m an Angeleno now lol).

I was surprised to see more similarities than differences compared to home where I occasionally use transit.

Most of the trips in SF I took transit was 2x-3x slower often requiring a transfer. Driving was always faster even when accounting for parking unless heavy rail was involved. I often found free parking especially in the avenues. Off peak hours parking in SF is not too expensive (depends how you value your time). Peak parking is insane. Some meters were like $8/hr.

But I’ve come to believe that SF transit network mostly succeeds because the urban form is great for walking and parking is scarce. Parking my car was a sunk cost because I drove from LA (best choice for a group of 3). But I imagine the math pencils out differently if you have to pay a few hundred each month to store your car.

I haven’t spent enough time in depth but are other American cities like this as well?

Just wanted to give a shoutout to the r/BayAreaClipperCard subreddit, run by Clipper.

They individually respond to questions and do a fantastic job with customer service.

• Limiting new energy construction lowers supply and raises prices.
• Exporting more natural gas increases demand and raises prices, since local hospitals can't compete on price with other countries.
• Defunding energy-efficiency programs for low-income people and seniors makes it harder to afford these new higher energy costs.

https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/2133

https://rules.house.gov/bill/118/hr-7176

https://www.lcv.org/roll-call-vote/defunding-key-doe-programs-for-a-clean-energy-future/

For household wealth, measured as the value of the assets of all household members minus debt, the median total for all family farm households was $1.4 million, compared with the median of $200,662 for all U.S. households. The proportion of family farm households with income below the U.S. median of $80,610 was 42 percent, and the share with lower wealth was 5 percent. Median off-farm income in 2024 was $86,900, while the median total household income was $102,748. In contrast to residence and intermediate farms, commercial farm households derive most of their income from farming activities. In 2024, the median income from farming was $174,933 for households operating commercial family farms, and their median total household income was $261,149.

USDA Economic Research Service: Forty-two percent of family farms had income below the U.S. median, and 5 percent had wealth below the U.S. median

USDA Economic Research Service: Farm Household Income Estimates

The median value of farm operator household income is $80,060, almost a fifth greater than that of all U.S. households ($67,521). Median total household income increased with farm size according to classifications by the USDA, Economic Research Service. Two types of small family farms had median household income below both the median for U.S. households and U.S. households with self-employment income: low-sales farms, those with gross cash farm income (GCFI) less than $150,000 and a principal operator who farms as a primary occupation, and retirement farms, GCFI less than $350,000 and a principal operator reporting having retired from farming. Low-sales and retirement farms account for about 45 percent of the 2 million farms in the United States. On the other hand, large family farms, GCFI of $1 million but less than $5 million, had a median income of almost $375,000, far exceeding the median for both all U.S. households and U.S. households with self-employment income.

Source: USDA Economic Research Service: Farm operator households had higher median income compared with all U.S. households

This is my third (and final) post reviewing the recent bills Langworthy has sponsored.

Shortly after the Tops shooting, Langworthy introduced HR 645, with Rep Massie.

It declares that any state law imposing a “barrier to entry” on carrying firearms in public has “no force or effect,” nullifying New York’s requirement to hold a permit in order to carry a gun.

Applicants go through a background investigation, a mental health records check under the SAFE Act, a review of state criminal records, and an in-person interview. The bill would also end New York’s training requirement. The state currently requires 16 hours of classroom instruction and 2 hours of live-fire practice before issuing a carry permit. These requirements could no longer be enforced.

The bill allows gun bans only in places that physically screen for firearms, like courthouses with metal detectors. New York’s other gun-free zones would be void, including schools, the subway, busses, bars, hospitals, playgrounds, and houses of worship.

People barred from possessing guns under state or federal law, such as convicted felons and domestic abusers, would remain barred. But no permit means no point at which anyone verifies that status in any state databases in the decades after a purchase, and gun owners moving from out of state are never checked.

https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/645

Last paragraph edited for accuracy.

Last year, the House Judiciary Committee voted 13–10 to advance H.R. 589, which would repeal the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. Enacted in 1994 with bipartisan support after a wave of violent attacks, including the murder of abortion provider Dr. David Gunn, the law makes it a federal crime to use force, threats, or physical obstruction to block access to reproductive health facilities, places of worship, or crisis pregnancy centers.

Data collected by the National Abortion Federation show the law’s impact on provider and patient safety. Since the passage of the FACE Act, anti-abortion violence decreased by nearly 30%. However, NAF has reported significant increases in clinic disruptions following Dobbs, including a 229% spike in stalking incidents, a 231% rise in clinic invasions, and a doubling of assault reports from 2021 to 2022. The FACE Act remains one of the few federal tools aimed specifically at addressing those threats.

https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/589

The Save Our Bacon Act would bar states or subdivisions from establishing conditions for the sale or consumption of any livestock that isn’t physically raised in that state. This would effectively nullify the housing standards established by California’s Prop 12 and similarly, Massachusetts’ Question 3, for producers outside of the state.

The California law effectively bans gestational crates for pregnant sows. The crates are metal stalls that are about 7 feet by 2 feet and are barely bigger than an adult pig. Prop 12 requires pork products to come from a pig born to a sow raised with at least 24-square-foot space. This allows for enough room to turn around in the enclosure. It also set standards for veal calves and egg-laying hens.

Kara Shannon, director of farm animal welfare policy for the ASPCA, tells Sentient that consumers support humane systems for animals. Both Prop 12 and Question 3 were voter-approved ballot measures.

“We know the animals really suffer in those conditions, and we have made so much progress moving them out of those cages and crates into cage- and crate-free environments, so if we pass, Save Our Bacon Act, it really is effectively putting many of them back in cages,” Shannon says.

A 2022 poll of likely voters by Data for Progress found that 83% of Democrats, 77% of Republicans and 80% of Independents say that preventing animal cruelty is a matter of personal moral concern. A representative for ASPCA pointed Sentient to the poll.

Some diseases with active animal hosts probably can’t be eradicated by the Hive, like Ebola, but there are many that currently have effective treatments, like Tuberculosis (which is still the mostly deadly disease, killing more people last year than any other).

The effective treatment/cure for that disease, like many others (opiate addiction, for example), just isn’t available in the place it’s spreading. If the Hive allocated tests and drugs to every region currently impacted, feasibly the disease could be eradicated by the end of the season.