#appropriate insurance policy

[wyrmfedgrave]

NBC News: Democratic governors vow to protect their states from Trump and his policies

Democratic governors are intent on bolstering the fundamental rights & values of their states - just as they did during tRump's 1st presidency.

Governor Newsome (California) is focusing on civil rights, reproductive freedoms, climate action & on immigrant families.

California's Justice Dept. will soon have additional resources to pursue litigation against unlawful acts by the tRump administration.

"We won't sit idle", Newsome stated, "We've faced this problem before & know how to respond."

Governor Pritzker (Illinois) says he'll fight against "anyone trying to take away our freedoms, dignity & opportunities."

"We are", he continued, "a refuge for human rights being denied elsewhere."

This includes political asylum, reproductive health care & safety from persecution of one's sexual orientation."

Pritzker's already codified abortion rights & has made gender-affirming care covered by local health insurers!

He's now looking into protecting outsiders needing reproductive care - by protecting their medical records...

Even environmental regulations are now being codified - just in case.

And, labor protections are being strictly maintained.

A united effort, with other Midwestern states is on the schedule. They've all survived the Rapist Con Man's last time & learned their lessons well.

Governor Hochul (NYS) has just announced the "Empire State Freedom Initiative", that addresses "policy & regulatory" threats from Republikkkans.

Things like federal attacks on legal, reproductive, immigration, civil, environmental & other issues.

Hochul states that she "wants to make NY a safer, stronger & more livable place."

Her administration has already developed legal, regulatory & appropriate responses to counter any federal actions.

Massachusetts Governor Healy will use "every tool in our 'toolbox' to protect residents, democracy & the rule of law."

As a State Attorney, she actually challenged Prez tRump's immigration laws during his 1st presidency.

She's firmly promises that her State Police won't help carry out tRump's mass deportation scheme.

Finally, NJ Governor Murphy vowed to "fight to the death" on issues pertaining to when immigration & reproductive rights are federally challenged...

Good to know that someone remembers that we're supposed to have inalienable rights.

End.

[numinousmysteries]

For the prompts: Mulder peering into the wondrous world of his fishtank.

This prompt is ancient now but the muse strikes when the muse strikes. Origin story of Mulder’s fish tank comes from @sagan-starstuff's brilliant post here. (I also don't actually. think I answered the prompt but this is what happened.)

A true one-bedroom in a good neighborhood—”in walking distance to Old Town,” according to the matronly realtor—2630 Hegal Place wasn’t a posh address but it wasn’t a total shithole either. Despite his burning instinct for self-flagellation, Fox Mulder’s trust fund parachute and Brooks Brothers upbringing would only let him stoop so low. Still, it was dreary enough to feel like a punishment.

He wasn’t naive enough to think that apartment 42 would be the answer to life, the universe, and everything, but it was an appropriate answer to the question of where to put a brooding man, ears still ringing from the shellshock of a failed six-month marriage. A fitting habitat for a 20th-century Heathcliff in virgin wool Zegna suits locked on course to ruin his professional reputation in the name of a long-lost sister and memories he didn’t fully trust. 

It was meant to be a stopgap. He signed a month-to-month lease. Months turned to years.

Late at night, dozing on the couch (beds are for men deserving of rest, who have the luxury of shutting off their brains a third of each day with no need for constant vigilance), the only light came from the fish tank. 

He hated the fucking fish at first, resented their glorious ignorance, their freedom from the burden of comprehension and consequence. The tank and its occupants were a housewarming/divorce gift from the Gunmen; a poorly-considered insurance policy against what they expected was his impending suicide. Fuck them, he thought, let the fish die. Let it all burn to the ground. After two days of mutual starvation, though, he locked eyes with a translucent molly and felt his humanity pulse beneath callused layers of cynicism. He tipped the container of freeze-dried flakes into the tank. He made himself a piece of dry toast. 

Newton’s first law of motion governs that action begets action. He kept rising every morning, searching for the truth, and feeding the fish. 

He was assigned a new partner. She fed the fish when he was detained in military custody, quarantined with a parasite of unknown origin, or chasing radio signals in Caribbean jungles.  

But Scully didn’t belong in his fox den. His newspaper-plastered bile nest. 

Her home was light where his was dark, soft where his was hard, warm where his was cold. She displayed framed family photos out in the open. Apple-cheeked baby nephews. A younger Scully in a cap and gown with her father grinning beside her. He hid an album of patrilineal co-conspirators under the false bottom of a desk drawer. Unsmiling men quietly plotting the demise of all mankind over cans of Rheingold in well-manicured backyards. Demerol-dazed wives trading their children for Givenchy dresses and empty promises of a valiant future. 

All her blonde wood Pottery Barn furniture and Yankee Candle torches couldn’t protect her from his darkness, though. Duane Barry stepped right into her sanctum and tore her away from him.

He took off on an ill-fated West Coast vampire hunt that ended in a bloodless climax and a three-alarm blaze. Somehow, all but one of his fish survived. He flushed down the fallen soldier, contemplating the shortcomings of mortality and the prison of eternity. 

Bleary-eyed and broken, he sat in the darkness, his gaze darting between his loaded gun and the glowing tank. This new knowledge of himself—that he was a man who’d kill in cold blood for vengeance—threatened to obliterate his reluctant detente with the fish. By tomorrow morning, he would no longer be their worthy steward. 

A knock on the door. Melissa Scully entered, her presence a tauntingly inaccurate facsimile of the woman he wanted to see. She was a few inches too tall, her hair several shades too dark, her rosy worldview miles off base. But she wasn’t that different from his partner after all. She called him out on his masochistic bullshit and saw the light within him. 

Newton’s second law of motion states that an object requires a commensurate force to launch it into action. He doesn’t believe that. These wispy Scully women with their birdlike bones and feather-soft breath shouldn’t have the power to lift him out from under two decades of self-hatred—but they do. So he put his faith in this patchouli-scented witchy sister with her silk choker and mall-bought crystals, bid the fish (and his blood-stained, testosterone-fueled revenge fantasy) goodbye, and went to see his dying partner.

[mitigatedchaos]

Regarding Chevron

From what I understand, the new 'Chevron Deference' ruling does not state that congress cannot delegate authority to the executive agencies, it just requires that congress actually delegate that authority.

I don't think it means that congress itself needs to set the ppm lead levels, just that the laws authorizing the agency's actions say they can regulate lead or even just heavy metals, etc.

a - The Moderates

For both parties, we can think of a district's representative as being roughly in the middle of the range of opinion of the party's primary voters in that district, with some natural variation based on individual circumstances and with different districts having different opinions.

That produces a party's extreme representatives, and a party's moderate representatives.

Nerf the filibuster by requiring representatives to actually keep talking the entire time (apparently it used to be this way and isn't anymore?), and peel off some moderates, and you can update federal regulation.

b - Friend-Enemy Politics

The problem I see is from friend-enemy politics.

Under friend-enemy politics, every institution that's roughly aligned with the other guys is "enemy infrastructure" to be captured, looted, or destroyed. Democracy is no longer a decision among family or friends about how to best proceed, but a long-rolling, low-intensity conflict.

In order to peel off moderate Republicans, there have to be moderate Republicans. There can't be moderate Republicans if the Democratic platform is that Republican voters or Republican voting demographics are not "fellow Americans," but the center of an identitarian threat narrative. If any power that's given up will be weaponized, then the appropriate stance is to not give up any power.

c - To Govern

Public investment (provided it is actually investment), social insurance (provided it is actually insurance), and regulation (to reduce externalities, improve information for market actors, or make it easier to make contracts, including by reducing search and legal enforcement costs), are all natural parts of governing. There are reasons for Republican officials to agree to a well-regulated market, with sound infrastructure investments, and for voters to treat them according to whether they can deliver.

That requires separating investment from consumption, insurance from extortion, and good regulation (that's aligned with the interests of the broader country) from bad regulation (for regulation, quality is more important than quantity). (That doesn't mean that you can't do consumption spending - consumption spending is just the sort of thing parties will disagree on after accounting for investment.)

That, in turn, requires a focus on reality and a shift away from managing reputation and 'public relations' as the dominant mode.

d - Compromise

Making the agency behavior more closely bound to the law may actually make it easier for legislators to compromise. Collapsedsquid has made it clear in past posts that he doesn't think this sort of thing is important (in the general sense), but I disagree - legislators and political operatives can actually notice what's going on around them, see expansive interpretations of law being used to justify agency behavior beyond what the law-as-written would be expected to authorize, and then adjust their behavior.

The less binding a deal is on future behavior, the more players have to focus on maintaining or improving their relative power position (more zero-sum) instead of making positive-sum deals.

With that said, I find it difficult to estimate what the effects will be - will the party-aligned constellations actually reduce their level of polarization to respond to an environment where getting policy requires negotiation rather than coordinating to influence executive agencies, or will they follow local and internal incentives as we saw with 2014-2022?

As one Twitter user said, "We've been electing legislators to represent us on cable TV."

I think @centrally-unplanned assumes that knowledge-generation and alignment within the political structure for both the left and right in America is utterly cooked for structural reasons (such as the Internet and economic changes), so they won't come together on truth-oriented policy (especially as that might be rather painful - to pick an uncontroversial example, giving the YIMBYs a win might reduce the de facto retirement savings of many Americans, even as it improves things for the younger generations).

[queerism1969]

Medical stuff I wish cisgender people knew

Medical transition does not make someone a man or a woman. A trans woman is a woman, and a trans man is a man, regardless of what medical treatment they have or have not had. Medical treatment just makes life a hell of a lot easier for a lot of people

It is not true that 40% of trans people commit suicide. The infamous 40% statistic refers specifically to rates of suicide attempts which occur before transition. Most of these attempts fail and the person survives.

Transition vastly reduces risk of suicide attempts from 40% down to around the national average, while dramatically improving mental health, social functionality, and quality of life for those who need it.

Being trans is not classified as a mental illness by either the American Psychological Association or the World Health Organization. Gender dysphoria (in the DSM) or incongruence (in the ICD) is recognized by both as a medical condition, and transition is the only treatment recognized as effective and appropriate medical response to this condition

When able to transition young, with access to appropriate medical care, and spared abuse and discrimination, trans people are as psychologically healthy as the general public

Transition-related medical treatment is not new or experimental; it has existed for over a century

Transition-related medical care is recognized as necessary, frequently life saving medical treatment by every major US and world medical authority

Transition is the only treatment for dysphoria that has proven to be effective. Attempts to "cure" trans people, alleviating dysphoria by changing the patient victims' gender identity to match their appearance at birth (aka "conversion therapy" or "gender identity change efforts"), are such utterly worthless and actively destructive train wrecks that this "therapy" is condemned as pseudo-scientific abuse by all major medical authorities

Transition is a very individual process; not everyone needs or wants the same things

"Regret" rates among trans surgical patients are vanishingly rare, consistently found to be about 1% and falling. This 1% includes people who are very happy they transitioned, and often are still glad they got reconstructive surgery, but regret only that medical error or shitty luck led to sub-optimal surgical results. That's a risk in any medical treatment, and a success rate of about 99% is astonishingly good. And only about 6% of trans people have had reconstructive surgery, so rates of surgical regret among trans people as a whole are about 0.06%.

Transition "regret" is vanishingly rare. Of everyone who starts even the preliminary steps of transition, like trying a new name or pronouns socially, only about 0.4% eventually realize it is not right for them (see p108-111). Most realize this soon after starting transition, when physical changes are minimal or nonexistent. Many do not regret exploring transition as an option, even if ultimately it wasn't what they needed.

Hormone therapy is pretty cheap, is generally the first line of treatment most trans people get, and dramatically impacts one's appearance

Most trans people socially transition long before they get reconstructive genital surgery, if they ever get it at all. Not everyone needs or wants surgery, and even those who do need it are often unable to afford it. Genital surgery for trans women costs tens of thousands of dollars out of pocket. Surgery for trans men can cost between tens of thousands to over $100k, depending on the procedure one is getting.

25 US states currently have laws prohibiting health insurance companies from having "trans exclusion" policies, where they categorically refuse to cover medically necessary transition-related treatment. This means that a small but growing number of people are able to get treatment, including surgery, covered by insurance

When a child or adolescent transitions that does not mean they are being rushed into irreversible surgery

Transition for predolescent children is 100% social; changing hair, clothes, name, pronouns, and/or the gender they are recognized as by their family and community. No medical treatment is necessary or provided before the start of puberty

The first line of medical care for trans adolescence is puberty-delaying treatment. It is gentle, fully reversible, and has been used for decades to delay puberty in kids who would otherwise have started it too young. It does nothing but buy time, and has no long term effects

Transition-related hormone supplements do not cause serious long term health problems

Reconstructive genital surgery for both trans women and trans men can provide excellent results

[charmsandtealeaves]

Kia Ora! I’m Ray. Kiwi 🥝, fanfic writer and mum. This is just a little pinned post to get to know me.

First I feel like it’s appropriate to provide some character references from my beloved mutuals:

@abihastastybeans : Sleep deprived chaos

@annabtg : Uses commas as a spicy stylistic choice

@athenasparrow : A pioneer amongst a disappointingly dysfunctional family

It’s also worth noting I’m the admin behind @jilymicrofics , @jilymicro-oops and our discord server. I also have a sideblog @charmslibrary for all things purely fic related.

I predominantly read/write jily but have been known to dabble in other things. You can find me on AO3.

Some of my more popular fics:

Call Me By Name

Complete (29.6k), Rated E, Jily AU

After a not-so-great breakup with a not-so-great boyfriend, Lily comes to the conclusion that if you want something done right you have to do it yourself. Whether mechanically, hydraulically, or auditorily? She WILL find the key to that currently unreachable pleasure.

Ties That Bind

Complete (21k), Rated T, Hogwarts! Jily, Soulmates

Lily Evans grew up with old wives tales about soul mates, but she'd never put much stock in the idea. Not until after she learned about the world of magic and the fact that soul bonds were a thing that actually existed. Which makes these strange new feelings and experiences that much more difficult to manage.

Spitting Image

WIP (updates Fridays), Rated M, Jily AU

James Potter always knew he wanted to build a family, he just hadn’t found the right person to build it with - yet. Freezing his sperm at Gringotts Sperm Bank was a no-brainer really. He’d have children when he found the right person, and now he had an insurance policy. Then Lily Evans walked into his place of work with her son - the spitting image of him.

Wake Me Up ( When September Ends)

WIP (updates ?), Rated M, Hogwarts! Jily (7th year+)

Growing up is hard. Learning to love, and be loved is even harder. A chance encounter at a party over the summer break turns Lily Evans' life upside down just in time for her final year at Hogwarts.

Tags worth blocking if you don’t wanna see my nonsense:

#ray watches NRL - used when live blogging NRL #ray plays stardew - pretty self explanatory, Stardew Valley game play screenshots

Any questions feel free to send an ask or DM, I don’t bite! ❤️

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Amanda Marcotte at Salon:

Republicans know that their war on legal, accessible birth control is unpopular. But that's not stopping them because, as they learned from convicted felon Donald Trump, the way to hide what you're up to is simple: Lie. Lie a lot. Lie every time you open your mouth. Lie with a straight face, and have faith that the weak "fact checks" offered by the mainstream media don't matter. The Republican comfort levels with lying are sky-high in the era of Trump. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., does it with a smirk, satisfied that no one can stop him. It is somehow still staggering how much they lie about birth control and their nefarious intentions toward it. The good news is that Democrats are taking action to cut through the GOP's thick forest of falsehoods.

On Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., held a vote on the Right to Contraception Act, which guarantees the right of an individual "to obtain contraceptives and to voluntarily engage in contraception." The legislation also protects the right of licensed health care providers "to provide contraceptives, contraception, and information, referrals, and services related to contraception." Despite loudly insisting they have no desire to take away birth control, all but two Republicans voted against the bill. This follows a 2022 vote on the bill in the House, in which all but 8 Republicans voted against the right to use contraception.

Republicans' excuses this week ranged from obvious lies to obfuscation tactics which ultimately amount to lies. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Tex., called the vote "phony" because "contraception, to my knowledge, is not illegal." But of course, no one is saying it's illegal — yet. The point of Wednesday's vote was preventive, to ensure the right to birth control in the face of overt calls, including from Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, to "revisit" the legality of contraception now that the right to abortion is no longer federally protected.  Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., whose State of the Union response introduced the nation to what a strange and dishonest character she is, went in for an appropriately weird lie. She falsely claimed the bill would "offer contraception like condoms to little kids." It does no such thing, though I have a lot more questions for Britt about how she thinks puberty works, and if it's induced by the sight of condoms instead of the natural process of growing up. 

Dishonest actors like Cornyn are being empowered by Trump, whose lies are even more hamfisted. Trump was recently asked by a reporter if he plans to restrict birth control and he simply said, "Some states are going to have different policy than others." Journalists know this is his way of avoiding a straight answer while letting the religious right know he supports any law they pass. Trump's campaign staff, clearly panicked that he'd let his anti-contraception stance slip, immediately took to Truth Social to claim he had "NEVER" and would "NEVER" support restrictions on birth control. This, however, is a blatant lie. During his time in the White House, Trump passed policies to cut off contraception coverage on health insurance, appointed health advisors who would like to see most methods banned completely, and ended federal funding for birth control at about 1,000 family planning clinics. 

Republicans use two big, interlocking lies to conceal an anti-contraception agenda from the public. First, they deny they intend to take birth control away, by limiting their definition of "birth control" to condoms and the rhythm method. To justify that shell game, they lie about how the most popular and effective forms of birth control work, claiming they are "abortion." They ping-pong between these two lies, so that the fact-checkers can never keep up. 

[...] So many lies in such a short sentence! Plan B is not an abortion. As the Washington Post noted, "Emergency contraceptive pills such as Plan B and Ella work by inhibiting or delaying ovulation, thereby preventing sperm from fertilizing the egg." The second lie is her implication that if folks "consider" something to be true, that makes it the equivalent of a fact. But many people also "consider" the Earth to be flat or believe Ernst is a hobgoblin in a lady suit. Doesn't make it true! Then there's the dishonesty of focusing only on Plan B, which is a drug stigmatized because it's taken after intercourse. What Ernst fails to mention, however, is that emergency contraception and the birth control pill are the same drug, just different doses. They work identically, by suppressing ovulation. The Christian right opposition to Plan B is a stalking horse for banning all hormonal contraception. Ernst's failure to admit that is a lie by omission. 

The Right To Contraception Act vote in the Senate laid bare the GOP’s hypocrisy on contraception: They seek to wage war on contraception and birth control by deceiving the people, including falsely equating most common forms of birth control and contraception to “abortifacients.”

[chronicallycouchbound]

About:

⌂ adult / over 25 ⌂ on/off homeless ⌂ disabled ⌂ mad ⌂ neurodivergent ⌂ queer ⌂ trans ⌂ DID system ⌂ currently precariously housed ⌂ multi-marginalized ⌂ writer ⌂ artist ⌂ zero income ⌂ mixed race ⌂ community organizer ⌂ abolitionist ⌂ pagan ⌂

Essays:

May Your Hands Always Be Loud

Sword Canes Aren’t Badass. I am.

What’s So Wrong With Having Heroes?

Unlucky: Protective Factors and Homelessness

Homeless Delicacies and Finding Unhoused Joy

Internalized Ableism As Means For Unhoused Survival

Let People On Food Stamps Eat Hot Meals

Intelligence Doesn't Equal Morality

Homelessness as Trauma: Transitioning Into Housing

Winter Solstice / Homeless Persons Memorial Day

Guides:

Unhoused Solidarity in Action (how to help out unhoused people outside of just care packs)

Coming into Disability (best for newly disabled people)

Interacting with People with Psychosis

How to Support People

Underrepresentation in Homeless Statistics

Houseism

Tags:

Original Posts - #chronically couchbound

Unhoused Joy (Story Series) - #unhoused joy

Informational - #info

Guides - #guides

Reblogs - #rb

Mutual Aid Requests - #Mutual Aid Asks

Asks - #asks

Accessibility

I’m Hard of Hearing and require captions in order to interact with any video/audio. Any videos or audio I post will always have captions.

Sometimes, I don’t have the ability to add alt text, image descriptions, and/or plain text versions of posts, feel free to go back and add them if you’re able to and see them needed. I have Low Vision, transient blindness and visual disturbances due to some of my conditions and often require IDs myself. I try to avoid reblogging images without IDs. I try to go back and add IDs when I’m able.

My blogs are photosensitive safe. I will never post flashing lights, jump scares, or April Fool's jokes/pranks on any of my blogs.

Occasionally I post sensory-enriched/dopamine-friendly versions of posts that I have previously posted.

Boundaries

I live in the United States so my posts at times are more specific to USA policies. However, in other countries many of the same restrictions, barriers, and systemic issues exist and I hope some of my posts can be a starting point to your own research about your local government policies and issues.

Inbox is open for mutuals, asks are open for anyone else.

I don’t have a specific DNI list for this blog. I just ask that people be respectful and engage in appropriate conversation about the topics I bring up. Threats and just generally being hateful (+ unwilling to hear other perspectives) will earn you a block. It’s okay if you’re not the most “politically correct” or are uneducated— caring intentions matters more to me.

Other Blogs:

Hellenic polytheistic worship/main: @fireandfennel

System blog: @oleandersystem

Additionally, here’s my website

And here’s my cripplepunk playlist to listen to while you scroll!

And if you’re interested in supporting me and my writing, here’s my wishlist. I am unable to work and have been fighting for SSI with a lawyer since 2017. I have zero income and live entirely off of government aid. Many items I need aren’t covered by insurance or charity programs. This is the only way I am able to receive outside assistance from others without my government assistance vouchers being taken away.

[beardedmrbean]

Some Gen Zers have grown critical of capitalism in recent years.

Rather than dismiss the whole system, many are embracing an idea one researcher calls "safety capitalism."

Gen Zers are less likely to take certain risks, which could be one reason they want more of a social safety net. 

When someone loses their job or can't work for health reasons, how much government support should they receive? If you ask many Gen Zers that question, they'll say the current social safety net is insufficient.

Christina Elson, executive director of the Center for the Study of Capitalism at Wake Forest University, told Business Insider that many young people have embraced an idea she calls "safety capitalism."

The theory behind safety capitalism is that a successful capitalist system can and should provide sufficient protection — or safety — for those who need support following circumstances like a job loss or illness. One of the key questions facing any economic system is, "What should failure look like," Elson asked.

While many Americans receive support from a variety of social programs such as unemployment, food stamps, or disability, some of these have been scaled back since the height of the pandemic. As things stand, many Gen Zers think the US's social safety net is inadequate.

Sixty-five percent of Gen Zers think the government should provide a job to anyone who wants one, according to a Wake Forest survey of 2,000 Gen Zers and millennials conducted with YouGov in 2022. Forty-five percent said they had a positive impression of universal basic income policies. In a 2023 survey conducted by the same group, 65% percent of Gen Zers said unemployment payments should match one's salary.

Most Gen Zers still support capitalist ideas like private home ownership and entrepreneurship, Elson said. But many are frustrated with how the high costs of things like healthcare, housing, and education have taken a financial toll on Americans — and think these systems could benefit from more government intervention.

"You hear about 'billionaires should be outlawed' — that really isn't the issue," Elson previously told BI regarding Gen Zer's concerns. "The issue is the bottom. What is the appropriate bottom living standard for an American citizen, and what role should the government have in ensuring that people don't fall below that?"

Some are even turning away from capitalism altogether. In a Business Insider survey conducted last July of over 1,800 Americans, 28% of Gen Z respondents said they somewhat or strongly preferred the economic system of socialism over capitalism, the most of any generation. Twenty-nine percent of Gen Zers preferred capitalism — the rest didn't have a preference or weren't sure.

Why Gen Z wants an expanded safety net

Compared to past generations, young people today are less likely to drive, drink, have sex, and more likely to live at home, per some surveys. Elson said these examples point to a level of risk aversion that may be unique to Gen Zers.

"Gen Z are 'younger for longer,' — they go out into the world slower," she said, adding, "What is it that this generation needs in order to feel that they're able to go out there and take risks?"

Elson said many Gen Zers seek a "redesign of social safety" to enhance what some feel is an outdated system. For example, unemployment insurance and Social Security were introduced nearly 90 years ago during the Great Depression.

The financial challenges currently facing the Social Security system — due in part to the US's aging population — are arguably further evidence of a system that's in need of reform.

"All of this network has been designed for another time and place," Elson said.

Exactly what, if any, changes the US should make to its social safety net is up for debate. Some young people may look to Europe, where countries generally have a larger social safety net than the US.

In Germany, eligible unemployed individuals receive between 60% and 67% of their previous salary for up to a year. Policies like universal health insurance and guaranteed sick leave are also more common in Europe. Before temporary changes were enacted during the pandemic, most US states offered six months of unemployment benefits, with Americans collecting an average of $372 a week, per PBS.

Regardless, Elson said it's important that the US's entrepreneurial culture — which can reward risk-taking and drive economic progress — remains intact.

Most businesses fail, but as prominent investor Charlie Munger once said — and Elson referenced in a recent post — a level of failure may be necessary to have a thriving economy.

"Capitalism without failure is like religion without hell," Munger said.

[macleod]

Governor Katie Hobbs issued the two executive orders on Tuesday (27 June), with one banning state agencies from promoting or funding conversion therapy, and the other allowing state employee health insurance plans to cover gender-affirming surgery, which was previously banned in a 2017 policy.

Governor Hobbs has previously been praised for her work protecting the LGBTQ+ community in Arizona, signing an executive order extending employment protections to LGBTQ+ state employees on her first day in office in January 2023. She has since vetoed a bill that would have banned trans students from using the bathrooms appropriate for their gender at school.

“SB 1040 is yet another discriminatory act against LGBTQ+ youth passed by the majority at the state legislature,” Hobbs said. “I will veto every bill that aims to attack and harm children.”

[ivyblooms]

"No matter how nicely it's phrased, body part focused language always exists to destroy the concept of female people as a real and unique group."

Actually, it exists so that a subsection of the group you'd consider "female people" can still get healthcare. If the government starts recognizing a trans man as a man because he's transitioned and applied for that recognition, suddenly insurance and similar things think he no longer needs reproductive healthcare. Whether you personally think of him as a real man or not is irrelevant. Trans men are the ones asking for inclusive language (in the right circumstances, the teargas example is nonsense by people who don't get why we ask for inclusive language) because without it, we get denied the same reproductive healthcare that we still need. Just because my brain doesn't match my body doesn't mean I don't need things like papsmears covered by insurance.

You are right that transmen often don't recieve appropriate healthcare and that is a real and important issue. However this is an issue that is best solved by transmen not lying about their biological sex on medical documents, and by insurance and medical institutions having policies in place specifically to ensure trans people still receive the unique, personalized care they need. I changed social documents I.e my passport, my work profile, club memberships etc but I never changed my medical documents so I didn't struggle with recieving papsmears when I was a transman.

The logical step to 'medical services are not proving people with needed healthcare' is to push for those services to do better, not to push to remove language from oppressed groups. The problem is real but the solution you propose actually makes things much harder for everyone in many contexts including and outside of medical ones. Come up with a better one.

Also ask why this is being pushed for women, but not for men. Because your reasoning should logically apply to both sexes and yet there are very few campaigns to start calling men testicle bearers, prostate bodies etc

[officialleehadan]

Under the Edge

Confidence Scheme

+++

Despite their mutual interest, Will meant it when he told Leonardo that any further romantic discussions would be entirely under the thief’s control. He and Vanessa felt very strongly about power imbalances, and also about conflict of interest as it happened. They weren’t going to push Leonardo into something he wasn’t comfortable with.

The flirting, however, was very promising for when their thief did find his feet again.

Until then, Will had a job, several jobs, to handle with regards to Leonardo and the first was in getting Leonardo access to the paintings he claimed were forgeries of his. It took two more long discussions with Leonardo’s lawyer to arrange the appropriate deals involved, although Will wasn’t involved in those discussions. Not because Alexis was worried about his professionalism, but simply because it wasn’t his job to deal with the lawyers.

It did finally lead to an agreement though, and he brought Leonardo into the DoJ’s art crimes section to have a talk about his paintings.

By the time they got there, half a dozen paintings, helpfully pointed out by Leonardo, who kept a good eye on his own work, were waiting.

“the paint I use shows under UV,” Leonardo told Will as they walked into the room. He was visibly uncomfortable with being in the government building, particularly with his arm still in a sling from being shot just a few days earlier. He was healing nicely, but it wasn’t instant. The doctors figured he could be out of the sling by the end of the week, assuming he didn’t have any mobility issues, but that was still a while away. “I figured if I ever needed to call out one of my own forgeries, it would be useful. Turns out, fortune favors the prepared.”

He was Spanish today, with the lilt of Barcelona on his tongue. Interestingly, with an artful tousle of his hair and a slight change of clothing, he even looked Spanish, or at least, Spanish enough that, with the accent, it was hard to take him as anything else. It shed some light on how nobody seemed to be able to identify him, back before he revealed himself on his own terms. Will knew he was a chameleon, but he hadn’t truly seen it in action today.

“We have the list of paintings, and where your ‘signature’ is on each of them,” Will said conversationally. “The art experts are impressed, by the way, and Alexis is frustrated. I think she was hoping for something she could use to catch you on other forgeries.”

“There’s a reason I did it how I did it,” Leonardo said with a very satisfied smile. He had earned it. None of his ‘signatures’ were in the same place, the same kind of paint, or the same shape. If Leonardo hadn’t been able to identify exactly where the marks were, and which shape, in which paint, they were, there would be no way to determine if he was telling the truth. “I’m not an amateur. I don’t enjoy prison.”

“You’ve been?”

“Never under a name you’ll be able to trace, Cowboy. I’m a professional.”

Meaning that the records were either sealed, or vanished completely. If Will had to guess, he would bet on a little of both. Leonardo had the resources, after his many thefts, to make sure his records were lost, never to return. Money could make a lot of things happen, and he had lots of money to throw around. Despite the DoJ’s best efforts, the only bank account they were able to find connected to him contained less than ten thousand dollars. Will knew he had more, hidden away, but given Leonardo’s attention to detail, he doubted it would ever come to light.

After all, he had his own assets hidden away from his own life of crime. His insurance against a truly bad day, and his life insurance policy for Vanessa, in case something happened to him.

“This is Leonardo,” Will introduced Leonardo to the art experts who were, by and large, more interested in art than crime, and could admire a well-done piece of work. “Leo, Meet Tucker, our restoration expert, Arianna, our historical expert, and Padma, our forgeries expert.”

“Nice to meet professionals in the craft,” Leo said with that charming grin that probably opened more doors than his lockpicks. He admired the paintings on display, which were mostly his own, and then paused on a painting he hadn’t named. Likely a project of Padma’s. he didn’t say anything though, but that glance told Will there was more to the painting. “So, we’re talking forgeries. Specifically, mine.”

“You’ve got an impressive body of work,” Padma said, always able to admit when she came across an expert. “It took some serious work to pick these out from originals. Your canvas work is particularly good.”

“Restorers notice canvas,” Leonardo said with a respectful nod to Tucker, who smiled, but with a less-friendly edge. He did not like forgers, and was not pleased to have Leonardo in the lab at all. “Honestly, they’re more likely to catch a forgery than anyone else.”

“Is that why you ‘restore’ all your works?” Arianna asked curiously and waved Leonardo over to the nearest of the paintings, which looked religious, given the Virgin Mary baring her burning heart. It was a gorgeous example of the time period, and the restoration looked, to Will’s inexpert eyes, museum-quality. “So that you have a few years between selling a painting and it being examined for restoration again?”

“It does give a nice head start, but it’s mostly to hide any errors I make,” Leonardo said and flipped the painting over gently before he reached for, and received, a small metal shim. With expert hands, he pulled two nails on the edge of the canvas and folded it up enough to reveal a scant patch of paint on the back. It looked like nothing to the casual eye, but Leonardo knew exactly what he was doing. “And it hides other things as well. Want me to show you the others or did you find them already?”

“Sure,” Padma said with a wolfish grin of one who loved this sort of work. “Show us how to spot a Venganza Special, and while you’re at it, we need to talk about where you learned to paint, and how long it will take to talk you into working with us on more than just your forgeries.”

“Longer than you have,” Leonardo said, and winked at Will, who just settled in to let the professionals do their work. “But I am my own favorite topic. Why don’t I prove I gave you the right paintings, and we can talk art.”

+++

Confidence Scheme: (FULL COLLECTION)

Deliberately Careless (Subscriber Only!)

Pure Guess

Phone Trace (Subscriber Only!)

De Vinci Terrace (Subscriber Only!)

Criminal Portraiture (Subscriber Only!)

Evidence Report

Bring a Crowbar

Proposal Lasagna

Hang from a Ledge

Taken Home

Oath Named

Cops and Robbers

Smudge 

Under the Edge

Travel Light (New!)

+++

MASTERLIST

[darkmaga-returns]

Extracts of the the Judge’s reasoning and analysis:

On November 4, 2020, Plaintiff Brianne Dressen received AstraZeneca’s experimental COVID vaccine as part of a clinical trial in Salt Lake County. 4 Velocity Clinical Research, Inc. (Velocity) administered the trial on AstraZeneca’s behalf. 5 Before receiving the inoculation, Dressen signed an informed consent form (ICF) that outlined her rights and responsibilities as a trial participant and disclosed possible side effects of the vaccine.6 Under the terms of the ICF, the parties agreed AstraZeneca would “reimburse[] for time and travel in the amounts of $125.00 per each completed study visit and $30.00 for each completed phone call.”7 The parties also agreed that a “study doctor” would “provide medical treatment or refer [Dressen] for treatment” if Dressen became ill or injured while participating in the study.8 Additionally, AstraZeneca disclosed that it had an insurance policy to “cover the costs of research injuries as long as [Dressen] followed [the] study doctor��s instructions.”9 AstraZeneca confirmed it would “pay the costs of medical treatment for research injuries, provided that the costs are reasonable, and [Dressen] did not cause the injury [her]self.”10 At the same time, the parties agreed federal law may limit Dressen’s right to sue for injuries caused by the vaccine: Due to the coronavirus public health crisis, the federal government has issued an order that may limit your right to sue if you are injured or harmed while participating in this COVID-19-related clinical study. If the order applies, it limits your right to sue the researchers, healthcare providers, any Sponsor or manufacturer or distributor involved with the Study. You may be prevented from making claims for injuries that have a causal relationship with the use of the investigational product in this Study, including, but not limited to, claims for death; physical, mental, or emotional injury, illness, disability, or condition; fear of physical, mental, or emotional injury, illness, disability, or condition, including any need for medical monitoring; and loss of or damage to property, including business interruption loss. However, the federal government has a program that may provide compensation to you or your family if you experience serious physical injuries or death. If funds are appropriated by Congress, compensation for injuries may be available to you under this Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program.11 Within an hour of receiving the vaccine, Dressen’s right arm began tingling.12 The sensation, a condition called paresthesia, soon spread to her right shoulder and left arm.13 Later the same day, Dressen began experiencing a host of other symptoms, including blurred vison, tinnitus, nausea, and sound sensitivity.14 Dressen first visited an emergency room three days after receiving the vaccine.15 The doctor who treated her diagnosed her with a “vaccine reaction.”16 She returned to the emergency room four days later, and the next day she visited a nurse practitioner at Utah Valley Neurological who diagnosed her with an “immunization reaction.”17 Thirteen days after receiving the vaccine, Dressen visited an otolaryngologist to seek care for “acute sensitivities to light and sound.”18 The doctor noted Dressen was suffering from “a likely side effect due to an increased immune response to the vaccine.”19

[queerism1969]

Social/legal stuff I wish more cis people knew:

It is entirely legal to update the gender on legal ID

Gender on US passports can be changed by just submitting an application asking for it - no medical documentation required.

Gender with the Social Security office can be changed by showing an updated passport, birth certificate, a court order, or a signed letter from a medical provider certifying that you have had "appropriate clinical treatment for gender transition". The letter does not have to specify what treatment you have had, and surgery is not required.

Rules for changing drivers licenses and birth certificates vary by state; some are easy, some hard, some impossible. It is very common for trans people having mixed ID - some identifying them as male, some as female, all equally legal.

There is no federal prohibition against anti-trans discrimination. Employment, housing, business, medical, etc. Discrimination is legal and common.

In 25 US states it is entirely legal and the norm for health insurance companies to have "trans exclusion" policies, categorically refusing to cover medically necessary transition-related care even when similar or identical treatment is routinely covered for cis patients

Police targeting of trans women, particularly trans women of color, are very common. Just being a visibly trans woman in public can be treated as reasonable grounds to arrest them on suspicion of prostitution.

Futile, medically condemned, abusive and destructive "ex-trans therapy", is legal in most of the US and not uncommon

Most medical providers get no training whatsoever in how trans people's bodies work, and refusing treatment to trans patients is legal in most of the US. Medical incompetence is the norm, even when seeking routine care, and medical harassment, abuse, discrimination, and refusal of care are common. The average doctor knows as much about trans people as the average plumber, and when trans patients aren't turned away entirely trans broken arm syndrome is damn near universal.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Alicia Sadowski and Isabella Corrao at MMFA:

In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, right-wing media falsely claimed that Vice President Kamala Harris and the Biden administration are ignoring millions of Americans impacted by intense flooding. Media personalities and MAGA influencers have falsely and dishonestly claimed that victims are only entitled to $750 in aid, when in reality that is just the start of federal benefits.

FEMA can provide assistance for victims of Hurricane Helene, but chronic underfunding and climate change, not undocumented migrants, threaten future aid availability

In addition to FEMA providing residents of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia with “a one-time $750 payment to help with essential items like food, water, baby formula and other emergency supplies,” victims can also qualify for “disaster-related financial assistance to repair storm-related damage to homes and replace personal property.” After visiting the wreckage in Georgia, Harris reiterated that “FEMA is also providing tens of thousands more dollars for folks to help them be able to deal with home repair, to be able to cover a deductible when and if they have insurance, and also hotel costs.” [The White House, 10/2/24, 10/2/24]

After President Joe Biden signed a stopgap spending bill in September, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said FEMA can properly respond to Helene recovery efforts. FEMA spokesperson Daniel Llargués said that FEMA is in a “good position” to respond to Hurricane Helene relief efforts after the agency received $20.3 billion under the spending bill. Biden has suggested bringing lawmakers back to Washington to provide additional funding for disaster relief, but Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has claimed “there’s no necessity for Congress to come back”. [The New York Times, 9/26/24, 10/2/24; Roll Call, 10/3/24; FEMA, 10/3/24]

Future concerns for FEMA’s funding are attributable to chronic underfunding by Congress and increased costs associated with extreme weather disturbance as a result of climate change, not aid given to undocumented immigrants. Mayorkas warned that FEMA “does not have the funds to make it through the [hurricane] season.” A DHS spokesperson clarified, however, that aid provided to undocumented immigrants through the Shelter and Services Program is “a completely separate, appropriated grant program that was authorized and funded by Congress and is not associated in any way with FEMA's disaster-related authorities or funding streams." [The Associated Press, 10/3/24; Axios, 7/14/23; Bipartisan Policy Center, 7/23/24; Newsweek, 10/3/24]

Right-wing media have pushed the cartoonishly false claim that Hurricane Helene survivors are only entitled to $750 in aid, when in fact that the $750 is the beginning.

The right-wing noise machine also dishonestly blamed undocumented immigrants by baselessly accusing them of plundering FEMA funding.

[odinsblog]

THE LOCHNER ERA is a period in American legal history from 1897 to 1937 in which the Supreme Court of the United States is said to have made it a common practice "to strike down economic regulations adopted by a State based on the Court's own notions of the most appropriate means for the State to implement its considered policies” The court did this by using its interpretation of substantive due process to strike down laws held to be infringing on economic liberty or private contract rights.

The era takes its name from a 1905 case, Lochner v. New York. The beginning of the era is usually marked earlier, with the Court's decision in Allgeyer v. Louisiana (1897), and its end marked forty years later in the case of West Coast Hotel Co. v. Parrish (1937), which overturned an earlier Lochner-era decision.

The Supreme Court during the Lochner era has been described as "playing a judicially activist but politically conservative role." The Court sometimes invalidated state and federal legislation that inhibited business or otherwise limited the free market, including minimum wage laws, federal (but not state) child labor laws, regulations of banking, insurance and transportation industries. The Lochner era ended when the Court's tendency to invalidate labor and market regulations came into direct conflict with Congress's regulatory efforts in the New Deal.

Since the 1930s, Lochner has been widely discredited as a product of a "bygone era" in legal history. Robert Bork called Lochner "the symbol, indeed the quintessence, of judicial usurpation of power".

In his confirmation hearings to become Chief Justice, John Roberts said: "You go to a case like the Lochner case, you can read that opinion today and it's quite clear that they're not interpreting the law, they're making the law."

He added that the Lochner court substituted its own judgment for the legislature's findings. (source)

The Roberts Court is illegitimate and deeply corrupt.

[hellsbeenbettersincehesplit]

Chapter 6 of Shifting Vertebrae is up! We finally have an Angel Dust chapter! Cross-posted under the cut, as always plz read on Ao3 if you have an acct and on here if you don't :)

Also, happy easter to all who celebrate! And happy trans day of visibility <3

First | Prev | Next

Shifting Vertebrae

Chapter 6: A Short Conversation at the Bar

Angel Dust hated that Velvette was at the hotel.

He hated knowing that someone so close to his boss was there. He hated knowing that, even if she wasn’t spying, the Vees as a whole were getting more information on him with every interaction. He hated that Val’s treatment had only marginally improved. He hated that she could make some policy changes and look like a hero while letting her business partners continue to abuse their workers.

He couldn’t even hate her that much. She was always infuriatingly nice. Sometimes, Velvette would even get him out of work. She was a half decent conversationalist and one of the most normal sinners at the hotel, personality-wise.

So, no. He didn’t hate Velvette the person, but he did hate that Velvette the overlord was living in the same building as him after all he’d done to escape living with the Vees. He could tolerate her when necessary. He wasn’t being unreasonable in his dislike and mild avoidance of her. And in his opinion, he was more than justified in being annoyed when she sat next to him at the hotel bar.

“So,” she’d began, her voice infuriatingly disinterested despite her being the one to start the conversation. It felt a bit like Angel Dust was one of her videos that was interesting enough for her to give him a chance, but not interesting enough to dedicate herself to the conversation. “Angel Dust, right?”

“Yep,” he gritted out. She asked that as if her whole fucking empire wasn’t partially built off of him, as if she didn’t keep getting the stupid content he was forced to make on SinTok trending to push Val’s latest porno. As if she wasn’t aware that she was encouraging that dumb fucking moth to keep making him do more dangerous shit- who was even watching horse stuff? And why the fuck was he involved?

She could give her workers health insurance and lunch breaks, but she couldn’t find the compassion or the courage to speak up about what her business partners were doing?  

“Hey,” she began, absentmindedly drumming her dark ruby-colored nails on the table. “How’s it going?”

“Terribly.” He’d normally say fine and keep the oversharing for Husk, but he was more than a little annoyed right now. “Val nearly broke my fucking arm yesterday. So same as always.”

Velvette’s gaze held an appropriate amount of mild sympathy.

“I’m sure you knew that, though.” Angel took another drink, the burn of vodka in his through a distraction from this conversation.

She fucking glitched at that. One second, she’d been sitting there, right hand holding a gin and tonic, left holding her phone, legs crossed. The next moment, the right hand held the phone, the drink had been set down, her left hand was in her pocket, and her legs had shifted towards the bar. What was strangest was that her expression had changed, yet still read as relatively indifferent to the conversation itself. He’d seen something similar to this before, almost like she’d teleported, but up close and with her staying in the same spot, it was a bit creepy.

“We tend to keep our areas of work separate,” Velvette had replied, as if the words he’d said were no different from a statistics report from Vox. It was like any corporate email- words chosen carefully enough to mean nothing at all.

“Why?” he asked, sounding more tired than anything else.

She blinked. “Why keep our work separate?”

“Why work with them at all?” He waved his hand at her, gesturing as he spoke. “You’re an overlord yourself. Why have this ‘good ceo’ schtick and then let them… let them do what they do? And keep working with them? Why do any of it?”

Another glitch. “We’re overlords together. I need them, and they need me. That’s the point of a trio.”

“Oh, please, can you cut the bullshit?” he asked. “All these other overlords made it on their own. I mean, Val and Vox… they did fine before you, and they’d do fine without you too. You’re just the icing on the cake for those two. You own your own souls, you could just leave.”

“And then  what?” She asked, an amused half-grin on her face, like Angel’s proposal was something humorous. “I leave and end up replaced? Who does that help?”

“If you were as replaceable as you seem to think you are, they would’ve found someone who isn’t.”

Velvette laughed a bitter laugh, like she was the one who’d been around here for decades and Angel was the one who died in 2014. “I thought that too, once. But it’s not true. It’s all fucking random.” It almost seemed like she was talking to herself- her gaze seemed to go beyond Angel. “Sure, I came here with more power than the average sinner. Sure, I can make a half decent SinTok video. But I’ve seen more talented or powerful or intelligent people than me sell me their souls for reasons I’ll never understand.” She shook her head. “If I left, I’d just be the weakest, least experienced overlord in all of Hell, and the sinner with the biggest target on her.” Something about it read as practiced, as if she’d thought these questions through countless times before.

“And? What’s the point of all this power if you’ve abandoned all your morals to keep it?”

She glitched yet again. Wow, he was striking quite a few nerves. “What about you? If things are that bad, why haven’t you broken your contract?”

“It’s against my contract to view it without his permission. He’s never given a sinner permission before.”

She looked… confused, mostly. He hadn’t expected that. “That’s legal?”

Angel laughed darkly. “I don’t know. It’s against my contract to read the laws on it. Can’t even ask someone to read it for me. Can’t break the contract if I don’t know how, right?”

After her next glitch, her phone was out- interesting. He glanced over- she’d texted some long-ass paragraph to someone in her phone named ‘partner in crime.’

“What the fuck?” He jumped back, his drink spilling over the side from the quick movement. “You’re texting Val about me? I knew I shouldn’t have trusted you for a fucking second.”

“That’s not Val,” was all she said.

“Sure it’s not,” he said with a disbelieving laugh. “Partner in crime? Seriously? Who is it then, Vox?”

“Ew, no. Look, they have different names.” She pressed a couple of buttons and pulled up her contacts. “This is Val. This is Vox.” He had to admit, both of those contacts had pictures attached. Neither of those contacts were ‘partner in crime! 🍒.’ She really hadn’t been texting the other Vees- maybe it was her girlfriend? He hadn’t known the overlord was dating someone, but since they were all about appearances, maybe they were keeping it on the down low. After all, he couldn’t think of another reason someone would have a tits emoji in Velvette’s phone.

Wait. Could he get annoyed by VoxTech corporate pride if they were all queer? Technically, they’re still greedy corporate CEOs trying to squeeze every cent out of sinners. Technically, it’s also supporting queer business. He tried to avoid buying unnecessary VoxTech products overall, so he decided it didn’t matter.

“Fine.”

Of course Angel wasn’t thrilled that Velvette was staying at the same hotel that he was. Actually, he was quite mad about it, and he really did wish she wasn’t there. He still was very much uncomfortable that she just let Val get away with everything, and he found her reasons for sticking with him rather flimsy. And could you blame him? Even if she hadn’t known it all, she knew enough. Her discomfort at the topic wasn’t the surprise of someone who hadn’t been expecting to hear something like this. He struggled to dislike her as a person, but she was an influencer first and foremost. He understood that this meant that every aspect of her personality was supposed to be likeable. That was reason enough to be wary.

He’d love to be wrong about her, but he’d love a lot of things. He’d love for his contract to break. He’d love it if Cherri spent more time with him without things getting destroyed. He’d love to never see Valentino again. None of those things would happen. He wasn’t going to count on this any more than the rest of them.