Reductions in Force not required by shutdowns, have never happened in any previous shutdown, and a judge has ruled they are illegal. The shutdown is an excuse, not a reason, for them to do what they wanted to do: destroy government.

The President of the United States read some nonsense on Dunning-Kruger Times (a clue!) and claimed — neither knowing or caring that it’s false — that President Obama gets royalties for signing into law the ACA, which *Republicans* denigrated as Obamacare, and it’s just another Sunday in the U.S.

“Not reasonable” is the understatement of the century, and Jeffries needs to properly convey the gravity of this lawlessness.

This is an absolutely insane administrative process. Within the space of a week, states were told by judges/White House *no SNAP benefits *half benefits *full benefits *pause provision of benefits. Result is chaos, uncertainty, and uneven access to benefits depending on where people live.

Hail, Caesar! What are we even doing here? Trump is corrosive to the dignity of a free people. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/09/u...

Mood. Go bears! 💙💛

Describe your cat’s personality with one photo

I'll be in NYC this coming week and am tempted to stand outside his office with a sign reading, "What the fuck, Chuck?"

Seems like a good time to do a special issue of @jhppl.bsky.social on the Politics of Private Health Insurance. Call for papers will be out soon, so stay tuned. There’s seem to be, uh, a few politically relevant topics to discuss. @mirandayaver.bsky.social @adrianna.bsky.social

Also, let’s be serious: Replacing health insurance with direct money not only fails to adequately protect the many millions of Americans with preexisting conditions, but any assertion that it would come close to being sufficient for costly treatments like cancer care is an utter fiction.

sometimes an Oxford comma can make all the difference

Econ 101 midterm question: Based on what you know about risk pools and adverse selection in healthcare markets, will giving people money instead of giving them money to buy health insurance lead these markets to function more effectively, or will it just lead more people to be uninsured?

With SNAP benefits going out late, nonprofits are begging for pet food donations to prevent desperate owners from surrendering their dogs and cats to animal shelters.

“What’s going to get us out of this shutdown?” — a sitting U.S. Senator in the majority party, which rejected the Democrats’ offer toward reopening the government

Wow, this Facebook memory feels rude. (I have not been back to the Javits Center since that night.)

Tell me you don’t understand the ACA without telling me you don’t understand the ACA

Happy Caturday, one and all

Instead of applying the tax credit to the insurer's bill automatically on behalf of the purchaser I suggest sending them a check so they can...also pay the insurer's bill but with several additional steps. People love it when doctor's offices do that.

New York millionaires: threatening to flee the city since 2009

/2 1. Real human beings will suffer from even a brief stay. 2. The government's position is transparently dishonest and in bad faith. 3. The Supreme Court has lost any benefit of the doubt. They have lost the mandate of the heaven that is the rule of law.

This Supreme Court is morally bankrupt.

BREAKING: the Supreme Court has granted Trump administration’s request.

Corporate media: Democrats need to stop being out of touch with Real America

Maine sought federal help amid its largest HIV outbreak in state history. It’s still waiting www.statnews.com/2025/11/07/a...

China First?

I’m just a lowly public health professor so what do I know, but I would call starvation irreparably harmful.

For I was hungry and you argued all the way up to the Supreme Court that poor people don’t deserve to eat.

Oof

more concerned with white South African farmers than American farmer

HAPPY FOUR SEASONS TOTAL LANDSCAPING DAY TO ALL WHO CELEBRATE

Buried in the Big Beautiful Bill were changes to food assistance that demanded “any future change be cost-neutral. Translation: no more benefit increases, even if food prices skyrocket.” The result was “institutionalized hunger.” @kristencrowell.bsky.social www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

"I stick up for Adolf Hitler. Not a lot of people do because in many cases they're jealous. They wish they did what he did. They would have no problems if they did what he did."

Ahhh my villain origin story

Cornell agreed to pay $30m, hand over admissions data with demographic breakdowns, produce annual "campus climate" surveys to check on antisemitism and changes "since October of 2023," and—here's the dumbest part they agreed to—that the govt can open new investigations whenever it wants. Appeasers.

I have long argued that the single best thing you could do to improve the functioning of the US government is double the salaries of everyone working on Capitol Hill. Serving Congress shouldn’t involve poverty wages in DC. You could attract a much wider set of perspectives netting a better result.

They finally created it: the quintuple-barrel question.

"I am rather much troubled by thoughts of this response scale, yes"

This survey question ("rather much"?) from my neurologist drives me crazy, especially as a survey researcher.

You ever get the feeling that these people haven't read about the French Revolution?

I wish I could work from home today.

It shouldn’t be forgotten that a big piece of Mamdani’s campaign was simply “cities are cool and lots of people enjoy living in them” which in and of itself dismantles alot of rightwing talking points

If sandwich shops don’t start offering a sandwich named “the acquittal” then what are we even doing

I underestimated how profoundly embarrassing the fall of our democracy would be.

Give it up for the Problem Lovers' Caucus, everyone.

My new one @slate.com: "Gavin Newsom Just Proved It: Voters Want Democrats to Fight Fire With Fire" slate.com/news-and-pol...

What are the effects of the shutdown on SNAP users? Propel provides an app to SNAP users to allow them to track their spending and so can offer real-time estimates of needs. About 70% of SNAP households have a $10 or less balance on their SNAP card accounts. www.propel.app/shutdown-fun...

How out of touch must one be to see arguments about affordable housing as dystopian?

If there's one thing we've all learned today, giving people sandwiches is no crime.

I have literally never cared about anything as much as Republicans (including those on the Supreme Court) care about whether someone was actually born with a penis.

"Hey, man, what message should we push today as we deliberately deny millions of Americans their food benefits?"