Someone once called the cops because my abusive ex was beating me THAT badly. The responding officers recommended I detransition to see if that would make my ex stop. Then they left.

Slightly more than the sticker price of my daughter's birth. United Healthcare paid for some amount of that, I had to pay $6400 out of pocket cuz of the deductible. My wife was billed a similar amount for the same birth. I guess it makes sense, but they never tell you your baby is its own patient.

MSNBC is reporting that the backpack that the Midtown shooter ditched in Central Park was full of Monopoly money

Waiting eagerly for them to discover our military budget

We must stop treating doctors like Gods. They’re people - just like the rest of us - and there will be bad eggs (and some VERY bad eggs) The hierarchal nature of medicine encourages silence. Staff are afraid to speak up. Patients are the ones who suffer. Fantastic reporting by ProPublica

The thing about right wingers is most of them don't actually like the capitalist system they're supporting that's why right wing leaders so often lean on cultural issues and racism and misogyny

Three guesses why this multiple stabbing in NYC isn’t receiving even half the coverage devoted to the shooting of the millionaire insurance CEO. The first two guesses don’t count. www.abcnews.go.com/US/migrant-t...

it’s so funny that their followers are refusing to get on board

This year was packed with fantastic horror novels, novellas and collections. Here are 10 books that stood out.

“It’s easy to buy into the idea that A.I. will take away jobs.” Indeed, because that is literally the entire value proposition!

"For him, this isn’t really even about health. It’s a battle of good versus evil. He sees himself as a knight errant, but unfortunately, his “cures” involve reversing some of the greatest scientific breakthroughs in history..."

“When history is written as it ought to be written, it is the moderation and long patience of the masses at which men will wonder, not their ferocity.” —C.L.R. James

When she’s right she’s right

I wish those who scream about declining birth rates would understand this. The U.S. has some of the highest maternal and infant mortality in the developed world. Abortion bans and other reproductive health barriers don’t improve these issues - they drive them. Women will choose NOT to risk it.

this guy wore a mask and didn't keep his cell phone on him when he fled and as a result a police department that is itself one of the largest armed forces and intelligence agencies on planet earth is completely flummoxed

this paragraph caught my eye. apparently if you've publicly complained about your insurance they might have you on a person of interest list

"Let me propose a norm that should *absolutely* be broken: Sonia Sotomayor should retire today and her replacement should be confirmed by the Senate immediately." Today's Triad from @jvl.bsky.social: www.thebulwark.com/p/democrats-...

Tim Miller tears into the nomination of Kash Patel: “The most dangerous nominee we’ve seen yet to our democracy…Kash Patel was a key player inside the Trump WH pushing for and orchestrating the coup attempt in 2020…”

I still love this @nxthompson.bsky.social story about how US News college rankings were built around a predetermined target. washingtonmonthly.com/2000/09/01/p... It's a metaphor for so much else.

J Aubrey did a really excellent deep dive on Ballerina Farm and her trad wife lifestyle on YouTube. Worth a watch www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHqd...

Fantastic list of community organizing that is not just about "resisting" but about building community.

"If a large swathe of the population feels they are being denied avenues for meaning-making in their lives, it becomes everyone’s problem, because they will find a way to make their lives meaningful, and in the absence of water they will drink sand."

If you haven’t read it yet, Infinite Detail is a story that speaks directly to the era we’re living through - right up to alternative social networks and the emptiness of late-stage capitalism. I can’t recommend it more highly. https://bookshop.org/p/books/infinite-detail-tim-maughan/10353791

There's one gender and mom says it's my turn with it

Several people incarcerated in Virginia’s Red Onion prison have intentionally burned themselves in protest against inhumane conditions including racial and physical abuse, medical neglect, excessive solitary, food covered in maggots, and dog attacks.

i think it's important to understand that there isn't, like, a special secret smarter media for rich people so if any of them lie or say something incredibly stupid, and the rest believe it, that's it, that's all that it takes

The Louisiana Abortion Fund—the only one of its kind in the state—gives direct funding to people across the state who need to access abortion care. Right now, this Black-led org is trying to raise just $1,500 and any help is appreciated www.gofundme.com/f/stand-with...

Kash Patel: We will prosecute journalists www.cnn.com/2023/12/06/p...

Totally normal, entirely ethical behavior from a Secretary of HHS nominee.

18. In the 1980s, policymakers dismissed small, independent retailers as unimportant. The lesson of food deserts is that these small businesses are, in fact, pivotal — a keystone species. When they thrive, it changes the whole ecosystem for the better. Please read and share the piece!

“It’s the rhetoric of AI today that is about gaslighting humans into surrendering their own power and their own confidence in their agency and freedom. That’s the existential threat, because that’s what will enable humans to feel like we can just take our hands off the wheel and let AI drive.”

"We like heroes and stars and their opposites, though I’m not sure who I mean by we, except maybe the people in charge of too many of our stories, who are themselves often elites who believe devoutly in elites, which is what heroes and stars are often presumed to be."

Modern existence is "engulfed in sludge, the institutions that exist to cut through it bouncing between the ignorance of their masters and a misplaced duty in objectivity, our mechanisms for exploring and enjoying the world interfered with by powerful forces that are too-often left unchecked."

Going through the followers of a right-wing troll and found this. They give a link to a website that's devoid of content. Fun fact: sometimes bad actors launch cutie/benign accounts to gain lots of followers and then pivot to posting propaganda, disinformation, or other malinformation.

"…plexi refracts different politics and subjectivities; it marks patrons as suspect. Here, plexi isn’t backed by the power of the state, yet those who install it still do so primarily as a defense against real or perceived threat."

Up with @chasestrangio.bsky.social on what is at stake in the trans healthcare ban challenge at the Supreme Court. slate.com/podcasts/ami...

"Liberals, rich and otherwise, live in a bubble where they never see this stuff. I would beg them to see it. Watch some Fox. Listen to some Christian radio. Experience the news that millions of Americans are getting on a daily basis. You’ll pretty quickly come to understand what I’m saying here."

"Health equity capture…hijacks health equity concepts, aesthetics, and language…for the purpose of posing the problem—in our case, the institutions and processes (like the weight loss industry) that create, prop up, or exist due to inequality—as the solution."

Sorry I’m just going to call posts on here tweets

More free e-books to help with resisting fascism/authoritarianism. Feel free to share and spread the knowledge. #booksky #resistance #antifa #ebooks #bookworm #knowledgeispower #defenddemocracy #akpress www.akpress.org/featured-pro...?

An agroecological collective in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley has built a ‘seed library’ of more than 1,000 seeds. Carefully cultivated, they could be the key to saving the country from starvation ⤵️

We expected to have to dedicate considerable resources to identifying the Israeli soldiers in photos and videos featured in our investigation into war crimes in Gaza. Instead we found soldiers often posted material in their own names on publicly accessible platforms.

Chicago building epigraphs

Chicagoans love a dive bar these days — but that wasn't always the case. Block Club explored the city's tumultuous relationship with dives, once called, "the vilest holes in the city."

Here’s how to support the efforts of more than 80 food pantries, housing organizations, wellness resources and advocacy groups citywide: https://buff.ly/3CHhTQa

Exotic powder pulls carbon dioxide from air at a record rate [via Scientific American and Ocean Reporting Network] 🧪⚗️🌳 "200 grams [of COF-999] can draw down as much CO2 in a year as a large tree" www.scientificamerican.com/article/exot... #environment #carbon #capture #amine #powder #chemistry