@tonysarris
Humanist, mensch, husband-to-my-husband, father & friend. Love nature, architecture, travel, world history, books, food, wine & craft beer. So fortunate to live in beautiful Blue Ridge Mtns in cool, quirky Asheville, NC (AVL). Follow mostly ppl in AVL/NC.
Generally a good rule to follow, unless the shoes are jackboots. Point being: there are limits to this and those limits are sadly being tested a lot more frequently these days. It's hard to empathize with extremists.
And fortunately, no vampires!
RAD is building back better! Also can't wait for the new version of the French Broad River parks. 3 concepts were just unveiled to gather community input. One may be chosen as the primary, but the final design will likely combine the best elements of all 3.
Also Weaverville & Brevard. Both slower paced but close to Asheville (former 15 min, latter maybe 40-45).
Republicans love to lock ppl up. They think it is a deterrent. But if you have mental health and/or addiction issues, you aren't making rational decisions about the risk of jail time. The irony is jailing ppl costs a lot more than treatment. And prisons are a profitable, growth industry these days.
tRump is probably in talks right now with CBS/Paramount + about "Apprentice: Iran Edition" to choose the Supreme Leader's replacement. $100M ten episode deal.
Maybe instead of flying the Constitution all around the country for the 250th anniversary of US independence tRump should just keep it in Washington, D.C. and try reading it for once. That would be a better anniversary present for America.
Hurricane Helene didn't actually "destroy" significant portions of Asheville, although it did significant damage to parts of Asheville & broader WNC. Despite delays in FEMA funding, Asheville is building back quite well thru private insurance & the hard work & funds of individual property/biz owners
There's more ink in Asheville than at the BIC factory!
Environmental deregulation is being driven by the Christian nationalist extremists behind Project 2025. They believe their god gave humans the right to do whatever they want with the Earth's resources & that god will take care of everything (as he does with everything else). No stewardship required!
They're all spending billions on AI (not to mention causing our utility rates to soar) & yet their solutions are at best maybe 60-75% accurate. 80-85% is considered necessary for just everyday, casual use where accuracy isn't that important. Google AI results are often internally contradictory.
They went back to what they knew
So far removed
From all that we went through
And they tread a troubled track
The odds are stacked
They'll go back to black
With apologies to the late, great Amy Winehouse
In other words, the US doesn't have a Trump Derangement Syndrome so much as a Military-Industrial Complex.
Great Leader is achieving peace through war. He's lowering prices by enacting tariffs. He's making Americans healthier by getting rid of vaccinations, cutting healthcare benefits, ending research into treatments & cures for cancer, & unburdening businesses from EPA regulations. Long like The King!
Asheville Downtown Improvement District (ADID) Ambassador hotline is 877-828-2343, available 7 days a week from 8:00 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.. You can call the number for assistance to report cases like this, for safety, cleanliness or navigating downtown Asheville, or email service@ashevilledowntown.org
Not many people know about it (which is a problem IMO), but there is a Downtown Ambassador program to help with issues like the one you experienced. The staff are trained to deal with cases like this & connect with the appropriate resources. Asheville PD is only called if the situation is dangerous.
The number of unhoused ppl in the Asheville area remains fairly constant although personally I've noticed fewer incidents than in recent years. Sorry you saw more than your share. Thanks for visiting & glad your visit was good overall.
Guess we can only overthrow regimes that cause trouble & suppress their citizens if they don't currently have nukes. So in theory, no matter what they do, Russia, China, North Korea, UK, France, India, Pakistan & Israel are all safe. Everybody else: you could be next!
Good news is that it isn't "choose one" all in. It'll be more pick a primary concept, but elements from any of the 3 may ultimately be included (as long as they aren't in direct conflict). Good to see multiple skate paths instead of just the velodrome & a river beach finally! Lots of creative ideas.
Lots of ppl attended today to review the concepts (all well fleshed out): 1) focus on flood mitigation using natural means & build back some sports/rec 2) same as 1 except more artificial mitigations (hidden where possible) & full sports/rec presence 3) gardens, meadows & usable space that can flood
Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition.
You mean in Nov? In NC, there's no crossing over for primaries. Only IND voters can choose a DEM or GOP ballot.
I hope you're right for Nov, but MAGA is basically a cult & they often vote against their own best interests. Best hope is GOPs stay home, INDs go DEM & DEMs show up at record levels.
The tRump regime's #GoldenAge for America is a Dark Age for everyone living here.
It's amazing how rationale politicians can be when they aren't worried anymore about being primaried by extremists from their own party.
Asheville’s River Arts District ranked No. 1 on USA Today’s best arts districts list #avl
wlos.com/news/local/a...?
@kimroney.bsky.social has Costco ever considered the Tanger Outlet Mall site? If not, why not? They could buy out Asheville Kia (easy to move them someplace else) & take that whole lower SE corner of the outlet mall. Good access to I26 & several other local streets. Or the whole ctr where AtHome is.
It's an interesting question. I think similar to the reinvention of malls, we're seeing breweries move more into the entertainment side of things, supplementing declining beer product sales with events & experiences. Highland Brewing is an example: events, music, playground, sports facilities & food
Can people be considered corporations then and get big tax breaks while giving themselves huge executive compensation packages and bonuses for cutting household expenses and laying off family members?
This is straight up authoritarian style. Since no else is saying the economy is great, the world loves & respects us, & we're living in America's Golden Age, Great Leader has to spend 2 hours saying that himself & then waiting for the echo back from his cult followers. Classic dictator stuff.
I've never really understood why extremist religions (whether Muslim, Christian, Jewish or something else) are so fixated on restricting or removing the things from people's life that give the most joy. Where did this concept arise that God wants us to do nothing but pray to him & be miserable?