@566unicorns.bsky.social
210 followers 190 following 1.8K posts
Politics watcher and opinion writer from California
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566unicorns.bsky.social
This is crucial information to protect yourself from surveillance if you're planning to attend a #NoKings protest next Saturday. Leave your cell phone at home, or put it in airplane mode before you go so it doesn't connect to cell services. Use a burner phone. Research. www.eff.org/deeplinks/20...
566unicorns.bsky.social
This is a really interesting and well reported story. It clearly breaks down how #BlueCross works across state lines. We might see more of this case in the future.
propublica.org
Blue Cross had refused to pay thousands of claims for the center’s patients, but on several occasions executives at the insurance company had signed special one-time deals with the center to pay for their wives’ cancer treatment.

(Published April)
“Slow Pay, Low Pay or No Pay”: Trial Reveals How Insurers Try to Wield Power Over Doctors
Blue Cross authorized mastectomies and breast reconstructions for women with cancer but refused to pay the full doctors’ bills. A jury called it fraud and awarded the practice $421 million.
www.propublica.org
566unicorns.bsky.social
For my friends who track the #NRX movement of Theil, Andreesen, Musk, Yarvin et al, this book this sounds interesting. What helped drive the Gilded Age philanthropy was the rising power of labor unions. But Reagan broke them in the 80s, & culture war propaganda has conscripted workers' loyalties.
thebulwark.com
The Gilded Age may have revealed the excesses of an unchecked oligarchy, but at least it left behind centers of learning, culture, and philanthropy. Today’s roster of plutocrats seems uninterested in that. www.thebulwark.com/p/why-our-te...
Why Our Tech Overlords Took a Hard Right Turn
A new book tells the story of how Elon Musk and other Silicon Valley entrepreneurs became angry admirers of authoritarianism.
www.thebulwark.com
566unicorns.bsky.social
This is a really interesting dive into where farmers stand right now in Trump's America.
sarahtaber.bsky.social
Farm bankruptcies are back in the news, so it's time to pull this chart out again.

Hey look they kept rising during Trump's first term. Then they went way down under Biden.

Now they're up again? So weird. Thanks Farm Bureau for the graphic
Screenshot from Farm Bureau article on farm bankruptcies. It shows farm bankruptcies climbing steadily 2014-2020, falling by half in 2021, & continuing to fall through 2023.
Reposted
patti3333.bsky.social
NIGHTS OF BLUE SKIES

DAY 9 OCTOBER 2025

THESE HORRENDOUS TIMES

🚨PROP 50 IS SO IMPORTANT 🚨

BALLOTS HAVE BEEN MAILED

Dear Californians please help tell your friends and neighbors to VOTE YES ON PROP 50

Many of us are phonebanking to California Voters & we need your help !
Tell them YES
566unicorns.bsky.social
Point taken and agree. Still, the people aren't powerless. A million ppl canceling Disney+ subscriptions after Jimmy Kimmel got their attention. These are training exercises. The American public has been asleep for a long time. Let's see if the giant awakens.
566unicorns.bsky.social
Why can't these rich mofos just send their own kids to private school and leave the rest of us alone? This is a well-reported piece.
Reposted
leahgreenberg.bsky.social
Must-read report from @blackvotersmatterfund.org and @fairfightaction.bsky.social lays out the absolutely enormous stakes of the redistricting case that could destroy the remaining provisions of the Voting Rights Act bit.ly/VRA-under-at...
566unicorns.bsky.social
Love the stapler! But can we also mention the 🐘 in the room?
566unicorns.bsky.social
And if millions of us don't spend $100, that hurts. We are the economic engine. If we stop consuming, they stop profiting off of us. Collective action is the power of a government that's of the people, by the people, and for the people.
566unicorns.bsky.social
Thrift stores. Thred-up. Garage sale.
566unicorns.bsky.social
And here we reach the limitations of the law. We all know he quacks and walks like an insurrectionist and that the stated goals of proj 2025 are to dismantle the administrative state etc, it's summary "Insurrection." But if no body "certifies" it "legally," the law is eaten by its own limits.
566unicorns.bsky.social
?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!!!!!! These ppl are stark raving nuts!
Reposted
danielleloveswords.bsky.social
Paxton VERY PUBLICLY announced his fascist “undercover operation.”

That means we know to be on the lookout for undercover provocateurs at No Kings rallies and anywhere pro-democracy folks gather, in person and online.

Don’t let anyone, even for a “good cause,” talk you into anything illegal.
Attorney General Ken Paxton Launches Undercover Operations to Infiltrate and Uproot
Leftist Terror Cells in Texas After Increased Political Violence
AUSTIN - In response to the political assassination of national hero Charlie Kirk and the disturbing rise of leftist violence across the country, Attorney General Ken Paxton has launched undercover investigations into various groups affiliated with left-wing political violence known to be operating in Texas.
"Leftist political terrorism is a clear and present danger. Corrupted ideologies like transgenderism and Antifa are a cancer on our culture and have unleashed their deranged and drugged-up foot soldiers on the American people," said Attorney General Paxton. "The martyrdom of Charlie Kirk marks a turning point in America.
There can be no compromise with those who want us dead. To that end, I have directed my office to continue its efforts to identify, investigate, and infiltrate these leftist terror cells. To those demented souls who seek to kill, steal, and destroy our country, know this: you cannot hide, you cannot escape, and justice is coming."
The radical Left has incubated an environment where political violence is not only justified but celebrated and praised. In July, nearly two dozen armed leftists connected to various Texas-based Antifa-like groups ambushed an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (*ICE") facility in Alvarado, Texas. On September 10, 2025, a leftist assassin connected to the radical transgender movement murdered Charlie Kirk because of Kirk's bold support for truth, love of country, and unshakable faith. Two weeks later, another deranged leftist opened fire at an ICE facility in Dallas.
President Donald Trump has officially designated Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization and instructed his administration to "utilize all applicable authorities to investigate, disrupt, and dismantle any and all illegal operations — especially those involving terrorist actions — conducted by Antifa." Buil…
566unicorns.bsky.social
This is McConnel 2016 all over again. He can't run away forever.
566unicorns.bsky.social
An oath is a solemn promise made, often invoking god as witness. Trump has no honor and didn't put his hand on the Bible when sworn in. That's not required by law, but it's a demonstration of good faith. It was his way of saying F the constitution, i do what I want.
Donald Trump on inauguration day taking the oath of office with his right hand in the air and his left hand down at his side next to Melania trump holding two bibles
566unicorns.bsky.social
Yeah, he's admitting that he's not doing his job in order to create a distraction from the epstein files. It's so mitch McConnel 2016.
566unicorns.bsky.social
Justice Breyer 2021 book 'The authority of the court and the peril of politics:' "Having no influence over the sword or the purse, the Court earns its authority by making decisions that increase the public’s trust." Our trust is their legitimacy, & they're losing it. www.amazon.com/Authority-Co...
The Authority of the Court and the Peril of Politics
The Authority of the Court and the Peril of Politics [Breyer, Stephen] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The Authority of the Court and the Peril of Politics
www.amazon.com
566unicorns.bsky.social
I'd say it's the other way round: it's SCOTUS handing the dirty diaper to the district courts telling them to handle it, and try to interpret what their shadow docket emanances mean.