#Forbes - Healthcare

[nando161mando]

Heath care denied? Forbes says take it up with your boss

https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucejapsen/2024/12/08/if-you-want-unitedhealthcare-to-cover-everything-talk-to-trump-or-your-employer/

[monsterfactoryfanfic]

if I've learned anything from grad school it's to check your sources, and this has proven invaluable in the dozens of instances when I've had an MBA-type try to tell me something about finances or leadership. Case in point:

Firefox serves me clickbaity articles through Pocket, which is fine because I like Firefox. But sometimes an article makes me curious. I'm pretty anal about my finances, and I wondered if this article was, as I suspected, total horseshit, or could potentially benefit me and help me get my spending under control. So let's check the article in question.

It mostly seems like common sense. "...track expenses and income for at least a month before setting a budget...How much money do I have or earn? How much do I want to save?" Basic shit like that. But then I get to this section:

This sounds fucking made up to me. And thankfully, they've provided a source to their claim that "research has repeatedly shown" that writing things down changes behavior. First mistake. What research is this?

Forbes, naturally, my #1 source for absolute dogshit fart-sniffing financial schlock. Forbes is the type of website that guy from high school who constantly posts on linkedin trawls daily for little articles like this that make him feel better about refusing to pay for a decent package for his employees' healthcare (I'm from the United States, a barbaric, conflict-ridden country in the throes of civil unrest, so obsessed with violence that its warlords prioritize weapons over universal medical coverage. I digress). Forbes constantly posts shit like this, and I constantly spend my time at leadership seminars debunking poor consultants who get paid to read these claims credulously. Look at this highlighted text. Does it make sense to you that simply writing your financial goals down would result in a 10x increase in your income? Because if it does, let me make you an offer on this sick ass bridge.

Thankfully, Forbes also makes the mistake of citing their sources. Let's check to see where this hyperlink goes:

SidSavara. I've never heard of this site, but the About section tells me that Sid is "a technology leader who empowers teams to grow into their best selves. He is a life-long learner enjoys developing software, leading teams in delivering mission critical projects, playing guitar and watching football and basketball."

That doesn't mean anything. What are his LinkedIn credentials? With the caveat that anyone can lie on Linkedin, Mr. Savara appears to be a Software Engineer. Which is fine! I'm glad software engineers exist! But Sid's got nothing in his professional history which suggests he knows shit about finance. So I'm already pretty skeptical of his website, which is increasingly looking like a personal fart-huffing blog.

The article itself repeats the credulous claim made in the Forbes story earlier, but this time, provides no link for the 3% story. Mr. Savara is smarter than his colleages at Forbes, it's much wiser to just make shit up.

HOWEVER. I am not the first person to have followed this rabbit hole. Because at the very top of this article, there is a disclaimer.

Uh oh!

Sid's been called out before, and in the follow up to this article, he reveals the truth.

You can guess where this is going.

So to go back to the VERY beginning of this post, both Pocket/Good Housekeeping and Forbes failed to do even the most basic of research, taking the wild claim that writing down your budget may increase your income by 10x on good faith and the word of a(n admittedly honest about his shortcomings) software engineer.

Why did I spend 30 minutes to make a tumblr post about this? Mostly to show off how smart I am, but also to remind folks of just how flimsy any claim on the internet can be. Click those links, follow those sources, and when the sources stop linking, ask why.

[i-am-aprl]

Yesterday, Palestinian and solidarity organizers disrupted a Biden campaign event 14 times during his speech on the protection of women's rights. These activists called out hypocrisy because Biden and his administration are actively causing a reproductive care catastrophe in Gaza.

50,000 pregnant women do not have access to healthcare in Gaza, and C-sections are being performed without anesthesia. Women and children in Gaza are being killed by U.S.-made and supplied bombs.

described by @winged-wolf-s-collection-of-arts

[ID: Transcription of what the protesters are saying, while security personnel try to get them out:

Israel kills two mothers every hour in Gaza. Ceasefire now! End the genocide! Ceasefire!

Women in Gaza are being murdered. Killing people in Gaza is a war crime. You are a war criminal.

Stop funding genocide! Ceasefire now!

50,000 pregnant women don't have healthcare. Their blood is on your hands. Ceasefire!

Ceasefire now! Stop funding genocide! Gaza is a reproductive issue.

Free, free Palestine!

The end of the video shows article headlines with photos of the protesters or of Joe Biden, from various news organizations:

POLITICO: Biden's abortion rights rally repeatedly interrupted by protesters

ALJAZEERA: Biden speech interrupted by pro-Palestinian protesters

CNN politics: Biden's abortion rights rally in Virginia beset by repeated protests over his handling of Gaza

abcNEWS: Biden campaign speech on abortion rights disrupted 14 times by protesters

yahoo!news: Biden abortion rally in Virginia interrupted by multiple protesters: 'Genocide Joe'

NEW YORK POST: Biden claims Gaza heckler is 'MAGA Republican' as he's interrupted at least 10 times at rally

Forbes: Protesters Interrupt Biden's Abortion Rights Speech More Than A Dozen Times

NBC NEWS: Biden interrupted by protesters more than a dozen times at campaign rally

USA TODAY: President Biden's abortion rally disrupted by repeated protests over Gaza

Reuters: Biden's abortion rights rally in Virginia interrupted by Gaza protests

/End ID]

[gaykarstaagforever]

Oh my god not this shit again.

Another weird plant article from the Sugar Industry about how artificial sweetners are the REAL Nazis!

1. All the participants were middle aged women.

2. Their diets AND rates of depression were based on surveys. That they themselves filled out.

Someone from Harvard worked on this? For what, a check wrapped around a Hershey bar?

The focus seems to be on "ultra-processed foods," a phrase a lot of people are constantly arguing about, because everyone has a different list of foods that should be included under that heading.

We know that diets heavy in food-product from Corn Reshaping Factories are a possible factor in why certain populations get a lot of cancer and heart disease. We also know these same populations are poor, have bad access to preventative healthcare, smoke and drink a lot, live in substandard housing...

Noticing a trend here?

But these guys published a study about how soda with aspartame makes you depressed. And for some reason, Forbes is SUPER interested in it.

I'm not arguing that eating tons of Mountain Dew and Doritos won't kill you. Nature made us capable of easily digesting spinach and apples for a reason. But if the greatest insight you have to add is "everyone should fear diet soda," you are up to obvious shenanigans.

Here is the link to this worthless garbage:

[femsolid]

“The ultra-rich like to tell us that getting rich takes skill, grit and hard work. But the truth is most wealth is taken, not made. So many of the so-called ‘self-made’ are actually heirs to vast fortunes, handed down through generations of unearned privilege. Untaxed billions of dollars in inheritance is an affront to fairness, perpetuating a new aristocracy where wealth and power stays locked in the hands of a few. The capture of our global economy by a privileged few has reached heights once considered unimaginable. The failure to stop billionaires is now spawning soon-to-be trillionaires. Not only has the rate of billionaire wealth accumulation accelerated —by three times— but so too has their power. The crown jewel of this oligarchy is a billionaire president, backed and bought by the world’s richest man Elon Musk, running the world’s largest economy. We present this report as a stark wake up-call that ordinary people the world over are being crushed by the enormous wealth of a tiny few.”

- Oxfam International Executive Director Amitabh Behar.

Oxfam predicts there will be at least five trillionaires a decade from now.

Forbes data indicates that the largest annual increase in billionaire wealth occurred in 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sixty percent of billionaire wealth is now derived from inheritance, monopoly power, corruption or crony connections, as Oxfam argues that “extreme billionaire wealth is largely unmerited.” 

Richest 1 percent in the Global North extracted $30 million an hour from the Global South through the financial system in 2023.

Meanwhile, the number of people living in poverty has barely changed since 1990, according to World Bank data.

The wealth of the world’s ten richest men grew on average by almost $100 million a day —even if they lost 99 percent of their wealth overnight, they would remain billionaires.

This ever-growing concentration of wealth is enabled by a monopolistic concentration of power, with billionaires increasingly exerting influence over industries and public opinion.

Research by Forbes found that every billionaire under 30 has inherited their wealth, while UBS estimates that over 1,000 of today’s billionaires will pass on more than $5.2 trillion to their heirs over the next two to three decades.

Many of the super-rich, particularly in Europe, owe part of their wealth to historical colonialism and the exploitation of poorer countries.

Low and middle-income countries spend on average nearly half of their national budgets on debt repayments, often to rich creditors in New York and London. This far outstrips their combined investment in education and healthcare.

Despite contributing 90 percent of the labor that drives the global economy, workers in low and middle-income countries receive only 21 percent of global income.

Migrant workers in rich countries earn, on average, about 13 percent less than nationals, with the wage gap rising to 21 percent for women migrants.

Oxfam report published on the 20th of January 2025.

[silvermoon424]

I know that journalists and newspapers need to make money but the paywalling has gotten ABSURD.

Just a few years ago, most paywalled newspapers let you read a certain number of articles for free every month. So like, you would be granted 5 free articles every month and once you ran out then you’d be paywalled. Nowadays I can’t click on a New York Times or Forbes or Washington Post article without IMMEDIATELY being told I need to pay for a subscription.

I knew it’s been bad for a while but I was so angry the other day because I was trying to give a conservative family member links to reputable articles about how many Americans needlessly suffer and die due to the US healthcare insurance system. And I had to keep digging because SO MANY ARTICLES were paywalled right off the bat.

Do you think Fox News ever paywalls people? Or any other far right news outlet? No wonder people are getting radicalized when the truth is actively being kept behind a paywall.

[bloghrexach]

🇺🇸 … Thoughts on Luigi and the USAs’s elite rule and the dekasted reaction to ‘for profit medical insurance companies’! — ANGER justified?

By: Colin Tiyani Anderson, Artist, 3D Sculptor, Crsator from LinkedIn …

“If Luigi Mangione were treated as a normal criminal and Brian Thompson were treated as a normal victim, we could get on with life and the justice system could do its thing.

But the Ruling Classes reaction to Luigi's actions appears to be completely at odds with what one might expect for a victim who wasn't a CEO at an eye-wateringly profitable health insurance firm. Why is that?

The Ruling Classes tell us that violence is never the answer and that Luigi is guilty of “terrorism”. Maybe that's true...

But what about the violence of the Ruling Class?

What about the terrorism committed by the Ruling Class?

The Ruling Class are committing Genocide against a terrified, trapped, indigenous population in Gaza, 50% of whom are children.

Isn’t that Violence? Isn’t that Terrorism?

Yet, instead of turning themselves in at the nearest police station, American Senators, including McConnell, Rubio, Cotton, and Cruz, threatened the International Criminal Court in writing.

CAIR: https://lnkd.in/g4iF2HZ4

The Ruling Class sent their Riot Police to attack peaceful students on college campuses and take away their 1st Amendment Rights?

NYCLU: https://lnkd.in/gyH29Jsd

Isn’t that Violence? Isn’t that Terrorism?

What happened to the famous "freedom and democracy" that American leaders bang on about immediately before invading a Muslim nation?

The Ruling Class uses for-profit capitalist companies to benefit from the suffering and deaths of tens of thousands of ordinary Americans every year. Brian Thompson’s company made $22 billion in profit last year alone by denying healthcare to Americans.

Forbes: https://lnkd.in/gdsYHnu3

Isn’t that Violence? Isn’t that Terrorism?

It certainly isn't ethical. The United States is the wealthiest country on the planet, and yet the only advanced country that doesn't support the health of its own citizens.

To be clear, I don't justify violence, but I do justify anger. Every single American should be incensed at the Genocide being sponsored with their tax dollars. Every single American is right to be angry that the American Government allows companies like United Healthcare to make obscene profits by denying care to their loved ones. Unethical doesn't cover it. It is sickeningly immoral.

Free socialist healthcare for life for American politicians.

Socialist loans and bailouts for the Elon Musks of the Ruling Class.

Be as angry as Bernie Sanders. The Ruling Classes don't want you and I to have "European Socialism" because socialism is about caring and decency and justice and we don't deserve that. In America, those things are reserved for the Billionaire class and no one else.” … 🇺🇸

@hrexach

[postitforward]

Mental Health Spotlight: Jasmine Marie, Founder of black girls breathing®

Jasmine Marie is a speaker, breathwork practitioner, and the founder of black girls breathing®. Her work is innovating the wellness, healthcare, and research industry by making mental health services accessible to Black women while filling in the gaps of data and research available on this underserved and underrepresented demographic. Marie plans to impact one million Black women and girls with her work by 2025. She is a serial founder with a past life in global haircare brand marketing and an alum of NYU Stern. The impact and range of her work to date is expansive—ranging from underserved minority communities to stressed-out college students and executives. She’s brought her expertise to elite colleges such as Harvard Business School, Columbia University, and Cornell University, and her client list includes corporations such as Estée Lauder Companies, Under Armour, Capital One, Ford Motor Company, Facebook, and Twitter. Marie has been featured in Oprah Magazine, Good Morning America, VOGUE, Forbes, Harper’s Baazar, Marie Claire, Glamour, Nylon Mag, Wall Street Journal, and Black Enterprise, to name a few.

What is black girls breathing®? And why was it created? black girls breathing® is a safe space for Black women to manage their mental and emotional health and heal trauma in their bodies with breathwork and community.

I created black girls breathing® after finishing my breathwork training and seeing so few facilitators that looked like me yet knowing how much chronic stress and trauma (generational, societal, etc.) and decided to create it. I used my background in business to help me develop a model where we could provide this work accessibly.

Do you have any secret hobbies, skills, or interests?

I don’t think I have any secret hobbies but for a while, I would always feel embarrassed whenever anyone asked that question, as a lot of my hobbies can maybe seem boring to others lol. But I love to read. Reading is one of my favorite hobbies. I love having quiet time…any activity that allows me to feel refreshed, sit with my own thoughts and enjoy my solitude. I think because I deal with so many people’s energy that in my spare time, I just like to spend time with self. I love to cook though…it’s a very meditative activity for me that allows me to unwind from my day.

How did you get started in this work? And why is it important to you?

As mentioned above, after my breathwork training, I realized there were so few Black breathworkers. But before that, I found breathwork while being stressed out after graduating from business school at NYU and working in beauty in NYC. My nervous system was so fried I began having physical symptoms…rashes and an inability to sleep. The doctor would see me and always say, “This is stress. How can you reduce your stress?” Fast forward to me finding my first breathwork class and falling in love with the way it allowed me to just feel more space in my mind and body.

WOW — ONE MILLION Black women and girls breathing by 2025 what an ambitious goal! What impact do you see this having?

It is an ambitious goal, but in 2020, we fundraised $55k to make our work accessible for one year. After the year was done, it was so clear that we couldn’t stop there. So many Black women needed this work, and we would hear that over and over again. So I decided if I was going to do this work, I was only interested in creating real impact and a goal that would signify that. Imagining 1 Million Black women using breathwork as a tool to regulate their nervous systems, heal from compounded trauma and reduce the effect that chronic stress has in our community (health challenges linked to chronic stress: heart disease, high blood pressure, breast cancer, ovarian cancer, fertility issues, and the list goes on) will not only affect them but our community as a whole. Ending the passing down of generational trauma and normalizing healing.

What would you suggest to people who feel like they cannot find the time to breathe or practice mindfulness?

I would first affirm that it’s okay they feel that way. Western society has done a great job of making us feel that anything outside of productivity is not only a waste of time but the least important thing we should make space for. Making time for yourself for any mindful activity can be eased into and it can start with being more aware of the present moment and practicing that action on a daily. Maybe you create a routine where every morning for 3 minutes right when you get up, you take a moment to be still, notice your breathing pattern and focus on each and every inhale and exhale.

Why is Black representation important in this industry?

The wellness industry isn’t unlike other industries where Black representation is lacking. I think it’s important to see other Black women caring for themselves because, historically, we’ve been taught to do the opposite for oh so long.

Where do you find joy?

I find joy with my family and my loved ones, in intimate moments with friends, in good food and conversation, and in being able to create something and see it grow, shift, and evolve.

Want to learn more about black girls @blackgirlsbreathing?

Check out their website!

Breathe with us on March 27th @12pm EDT during their Mindful Monday Breathwork for Anxiety session on Tumblr Live

Ask black girls breathing all the questions on your mind for IssueTime on Navigating Anxiety in an increasingly digital, lonely world

Take the pledge with black girls breathing®

[hollow-keys]

On Wednesday, the day of the shooting, United Healthcare’s stock opened at $610.79. Exactly one week later, it’s $537.82 – a nearly 13 percent decline. Cigna and CVS Health Corp, some of the nation’s largest private health insurers, experienced a 12 percent and 11 percent decline, respectively. Centene was hit with a 5 percent drop, while Humana had a 3 percent decline.

-The Independent

“The anti-insurer sentiment expressed by the public after this event suggests that UnitedHealth and perhaps the industry may need to adjust how they handle coverage decisions,” Utterback added. “Otherwise, they may face the wrath of the public, which will hopefully come in a more civilized form—such as increased regulation—than what happened this week.”

-Forbes

[qqueenofhades]

I'm waiting for the day people realize many "socialist" endeavors would not, in fact, tank the economy or drive up the deficit. Take housing. Even if the government did something asinine like buy a 100k house for every homeless person--instead of, like, invest in affordable housing or something reasonable--that'd only be around $55 billion dollars spent! Just slash the US military budget from the 800 billion it currently is down to 750 billion and boom! Money! Take it down to 700 billion (1)

2) and you'd pay for free college as well. (For a source on the college claim, see: this forbes article whining about how it'd cost a ~horrifying~ 47 billion for Biden to enact free college for people making less than 125k forbes(.)com/sites/robertberger/2020/09/04/the-surprising-cost-of-bidens-free-college-tuition-plan/?sh=688bf7396f7f ) Tax the wealthy and we'd raise the money for healthcare. We HAVE the money to improve things. We simply choose not to.

Well... yeah. Of course there's money. Of course there is. It's just that the current economic/late-stage capitalist system has decided that it's better off being locked away by a tiny handful of unimaginably greedy billionaires in order to make them even richer, rather than being equitably redistributed to solve social problems. They have also very successfully convinced the public, for upward of 40 years, that it's actually better to let the billionaires keep those fortunes, all taxation and government is evil, it's immoral to want or expect financial help or justice from said government, if you can't work hard enough to make your own money than you have a personally deficient character, structural and systemic racism/discrimination isn't real and doesn't affect wealth distribution, and etc., etc., etc.

Late-stage capitalism depends on enforced scarcity: if you don't have enough, you'll keep working in whatever shitty job you can get. The Republicans have often cited the tired old Reaganite myth about how welfare recipients are just "lazy" and can't be bothered to Pull Themselves Out of Poverty, and besides, the corporate world doesn't want to be deprived of its control over the working population. So of course they resist any efforts to tax or regulate billionaires or corporations, and they engage in (again, sadly very successful) lobbying campaigns to tie this economic libertarianism to social conservatism/conservative populism/outright racial/white supremacist rhetoric. So plenty of working-class white people consistently vote against their own economic interests, because they like racism more than anything else. See the recent attempt to claim that the Ohio train derailment happened because poor, rural white people were "left out/overlooked by the evil Democratic government for being white!!!" Or the narrative, helpfully pushed by the NYT (as usual), that these towns are "forgotten," "left behind," or otherwise "ignored" by an uncaring federal (read: Democratic) government.

Except... the Democrats under Biden have enacted more legislation, tax credits, infrastructure projects, job opportunities, and so forth, in the last two years alone, intended to help the residents of places just like East Palestine, Ohio, than the Republicans have ever done in all their presidential administrations. It's the Republicans who have starved those places of proper funding, safety regulations, material resources, government oversight, and so on, while telling them that Democrats hate them because they're white. The voters of those places have often enthusiastically voted for that message, and then the national GOP apparatus blames.... the Democrats. Because of course they do, even though the Democrats, by any metric, are the party who actually materially tries to help the working class. Racism, Reaganism, and white grievance is a helluva drug.

[magdolenelives]

From @MaskTogetherAmerica (bolding mine): "IN-N-OUT’s customer service line confirmed that masks are banned for workers in AZ, CO, TX, NV & UT, unless they have a doctor’s note. Meanwhile, if you work for @innout in CA or OR, it’s up to you but you must wear only company-provided N95s if you choose to #MaskUp! (Different masks may be allowed with a valid medical note.) “N95 masks provide the highest level of protection for C0VID-19 and other viruses and are recommended by OSHA for other respiratory protection.” – the policy stated. @Forbes contributor Dr. Judy Stone shared valuable details in her story: In-N-Out Burger’s New Masking Policy Threatens Their Employees’ Health. Puzzling, isn’t it? 🧐 See CA & OR Mask Policy: https://bit.ly/3Q2LfNJ Call 1-800-786-1000 to let IN-N-OUT know how you feel about their 😷policy. Key points from Dr. Stone’s article: https://bit.ly/3XUR5CB 👉60% of people in the U.S. have underlying conditions that put them at increased risk for severe C19. 👉Forcing employees to disclose reasons for mask exemption likely violates medical privacy. 👉It’s unfair to ask employees to get a doctor’s note which would require seeing a doctor. 👉Requiring proof of a disability might be considered a violation of the ADA. 👉“Fast food workers don’t owe anyone their smiles.” —@jessica.wildfire.writer wrote in her commentary. Fast food workers certainly don’t owe anyone their lives, considering the risk of getting #LongCovid. 👉The CA OSHA regulations state, “No employer shall prevent any employees from wearing a face covering, including a respirator, unless it would create a safety hazard.” 👉The CDC states, “People may choose to mask at any time. Layered prevention strategies — like staying up to date on vaccines and wearing masks — can help prevent severe illness and reduce the potential for strain on the healthcare system. Wear a mask with the best fit, protection, and comfort for you.” 👉HHS tweeted, “The more often you get C19, the higher your risk of complications.” 👉Masking protects you from respiratory viruses as well as pollutants & pollen." PLEASE CALL THE CUSTOMER HOTLINE (1-800-786-1000) AND MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD THAT YOU DO NOT SUPPORT THIS POLICY AND WILL NOT PATRONIZE IN-N-OUT BURGER AS LONG AS THEY DO THIS. You don't need to be rude and keep in mind the customer service rep isn't the one responsible for putting this policy in place. ANTI-MASKERS, VIRUS-DENIERS, AND OTHER PLAGUE-RATS DO NOT INTERACT WITH THIS POST.

[boreal-sea]

for the israeli healthcare thing: i think the point is that it's weird for us taxes to go to a foreign countries' healthcare + that it's evidence of how involved the us govt is w israels govt?

US taxes go to providing aid all around the world. I do not consider that "weird".

We fund "choir directors in Turkmenistan, filmmakers in Peru, aid for poultry farmers Tanzania, and sex education workshops for prostitutes in Ethiopia" and "$10.1 million for remedial reading programs in Zambia and Moldovia", according to this Forbes article.

If you'd like to deep dive into it, you can go to ForeignAssistance.Gov.

Currently, Ukraine is topping the list as the country we've given the most foreign aid money to in recent years, in support of their fight against Russia.

Israel also receives a lot of aid. They're our ally, and for a lot of political, military, and economic reasons (which I don't necessarily agree with, but which nonetheless exist), the USA is invested in Israel and the region at large. Like, from a purely strategic standpoint, if you know literally anything about global politics, you'll get why the US gives so much aid to Israel. You don't have to agree with it, but it's not "weird" - it's perfectly logical from a foreign affairs point of view.

[odinspattern]

So apparently the «Nordic Diet» is being promoted now as a new, healthy diet that is supposedly soooo healthy, like lowering Diabetes and heart disease.

I was curious, so I went to check it out, and was lead to a Forbes article which y’all can read here; https://www.forbes.com/health/nutrition/diet/nordic-diet-review/

… the fuck. While some of the things written here is technically true, like limiting processed meats is encouraged, and sweets are discoraged, also we do eat a lot of seafood…

Plant. Based????

The fuck it isn’t! In what world is nordic food plant based? A lot of Norway in particular have very poor soil, meaning that there aren’t a lot of vegetables that grow here, and people had to rely on milk products, potatoes, cheese and meat to get through the winter months.

Legumes? Other than our pea soups, legumes are hardly part of our traditional diets!

Not to mention how in Norway we are big fans of food in tubes, which is a convenient way to take food with you on hikes without making your bread soggy and gross. Things like Caviar, mackerel in tomato sauce, bacon cheese and shrimp cheese to name a few…

Also it is funny how the article talks about low fat dairy, as there is currently a push to use full fat dairy now, because of anxieties around ultra-processed food.

What really gets me though is how it refuses to acknowledge that our healthcare and wealth is one of the deciding factors of the good health in the Nordics. And pretty significant reason why we live so long.

[flyingcookierambles]

accidentally engaged with aphobic redditor lol im saving my comment here in case it gets removed by mods lolololololololol

Here are some links you can read with data to back up the claims about feeling excluded, harassment and corrective rape, and even conversion therapy: 2020, the Trevor Project - Asexual and Ace Spectrum Youth Also from this, "A larger proportion of asexual youth were transgender or nonbinary compared to the overall sample of LGBTQ youth." So asexuals are also probably experiencing transphobic discrimination as well. Il Grande Colibri - Aphobia: PRejudices and Discrimination again st asexuality Asexuality Handbook - Anti-asexual bias Stonewall - New research: shining a light on 'dehumanising' discrimination faced by ace people This one focuses more on aphobia in the UK. Forbes - Only 1 in 10 asexual people feel comfortable to be out at work Asexual Survivors - On Sexual Abuse, Repulsion, and Aversion in the Asexual Community This entire website is stories and resources by and for people on the asexual spectrum who have faced sexual harassment and/or corrective rape. Sadly, it seems to have not been updated in some time. [Maryland Coalition Against Sexual Assult (MCASA) - Sexual Violence against the Asexual Community, 2022)[https://mcasa.org/newsletters/article/sexual-violence-against-the-asexual-community] John Hopkins University Press Jan/Feb 2023 - Coercive Rape Tactics Perpetrated against Asexual College Students WomensLaw - What forms of abuse are unique to asexual victims? Buzzfeed News (this is from 2018 before Buzzfeed News got weird…) - When you're an asexual assault survivor, it's even harder to be heard Sociologist and Gender/Sexuality Researcher Canton Winer on Substack Much of his recent research is being done on the Asexual and Aromantic communities and he has interesting articles and twitter threads where ace/aro people share their stories of experiencing discrimination. He has a short article about asexuals facing conversion therapy. Slate Op-Ed - It's time to start treating asexual and aromantic people like the adults we are The Maroon Op-Ed (part of Loyola University) - Column: "A" stands for asexuals and not allies Everyday Feminism - Why we need mental healthcare without asexual erasure - and how to get there NLM - Asexual and Non-Asexual Respondents from a US population based study of Sexual Minorities Asexuals.net - Aphobia: understanding the discrimination, and prejudice against aspec individuals Advocate - #21AceStories: including the A in LGBTQIA Carolina Sexual Wellness Center Op-Ed - I am an ally, and it's not about me The Panoptic Op-Ed - A is not for Ally: Spare a thought for invisible identities this pride month The Cataount Op-Ed - A is not for Ally Human Rights Campaign - Understanding the Asexual Community I did also see a comment in this reddit thread asking if the A stands for Ally, that in 70's the A used to stand for ally. However, in the 90's and early 2000's, as more and more asexual and aromantic awareness increased, there was a push for the A to stand for asexual/aromantic and also sometimes agender (although agender also falls under the transgender umbrella). So, it used to be ally, but that is an outdated definition. And again, while cis-het people are appreciated for being allies, they do not and will likely never face the same discrimination and prejudice that people with LGBT+ identities do. They shouldn't be included for doing the bare minimum of human decency. It's like a weird participation trophy that also dilutes the meaning of being LGBT+. People who are questioning or still in the closet are welcome to use the Q as "questioning/queer" or be allies, but it still does not mean that the A is for allies.

[riflebrass]

I've harped about this recently but I wanted to approach this from a different angle. Here's a collection of the top 25 wealthiest Americans. This info is from Forbes but the info is a little outdated. Forbes' website has a more accurate account for the top 100 wealthiest Americans but I'm not interested in scrolling through all that and taking screencaps just to prove a point.

So there's the list. When you combine their entire net worth you are looking at a little under $2 trillion and once you are out of the top 9 there's a sharp drop in how much money they have.

Here we have last year's budget for the fedal government. They received almost $5 TRILLION in tax revenue, more than DOUBLE what the top 25 men are worth combined. Elon alone has enough money to last him a couple thousand lifetimes. If someone wanted to bust out a calculator and spend the better part of an hour cruncing the numbers on Forbes website I'm sure you will find that $4.8 trillion in revenue is more than the combined wealth of the top 100.

All that tax revenue wasn't even enough to run this country for one whole year. We ran at a $1.3 trillion defecit. The combined wealth of the top 12 wealthiest Americans would have only made the budget break even on top of the taxes already collected. That's without universal healthcare, free college, free childcare, or an extra bag of fudge rounds for the folks on welfare lol.