Recent comments

smokeythemechanic t1_jegc9dd wrote

I guess I don't see the added benefits just added cost to pay for those that don't pay for themselves anyway. And the reason I replied as to a measure of happiness with money, is I am just able to afford to be happy here now after lots of hard ass work, where the people I know from Europe have considerably less spare money, and considerably less assets for doing basically the same shit we do here for fun. The other thing is getting shaken down for every individual thing they can possibly hit you for, even just the euro MOT inspection for your average car would completely break most Americans as every inch of the car has to be 100% perfect.

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Sand_Trout t1_jegc8ba wrote

Usually some aide to the cobgressman will answer and take your call. They will then make a note of the issue you called about and whether you are calling in support of opposition to some specific thing.

These notes will be summed up and briefed to the congressman as a group:

  • 36 people called in support of the bill banning booty shorts

  • 55 people called in opposition of the bill banning booty shorts

  • 23 people called expressing their love and/or hatred of you, the president, and Smokey the Bear.

*Note: Above examples are deliberately absurd and not intended to imply anyone's opinion on booty shorts or Smokey the Bear

How much the affects the decisions of the congressman are difficult to determine with certainty, but telephone and writing campaigns from constituents have been cited as the reason for a given congressman's vote, and many congresmen will refrain from sponsoring or voting for bills if the believe it will result in hostile backlash, so there does appear to be some effect if there are enough people calling and writing about the same issue in one direction. This also likely varies wildly by the specific congressman

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Sweet_Signature165 t1_jegc892 wrote

I just looked at 1BRs for rent in Pawtucket and they’re around $1,000-1,5000/mo so if it’s just you and no big bills, you absolutely can. That’s about $18k a year in rent. If you don’t have a huge grocery bill (we do have aldi here which is great!) the only other big bill you may have would be heating/cooling costs depending on the method where you rent. Many NE homes still have oil tanks. Totally doable and RI (New England in general) is an amazing place to live.

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