Elizabeth Lower-Basch
@elowerbasch.bsky.social
Free agent policy wonk, expert on access to public benefits. GrayCatPolicy.com Happy to provide pro-bono support to grassroots groups. Democracy defender, spouse, friend, mom to adult children. Rivers are my happy place. Fairfax, VA. She/her.
Reposted by Elizabeth Lower-Basch
Policy focus as delegate? Cardenas - fight for workers; Bulova - civics education, tourism-related economic development; Shuster - improve people's lives; Supinger - encourage prosperity; Lim - protect middle class, fight back against Trump... bluevirginia.us/2025/12/vide...
Video: Fairfax County/City Dems Hold Candidates Forum for HD11 Special Election (Firehouse Primary This Tuesday)
See below for a video feed of this afternoon's one-and-only candidate forum for the HD11 Democrats' "firehouse primary" being held on Tuesday. The candidates are Gretchen Bulova, Vanessa Cardenas, So...
bluevirginia.us
December 14, 2025 at 8:30 PM
Policy focus as delegate? Cardenas - fight for workers; Bulova - civics education, tourism-related economic development; Shuster - improve people's lives; Supinger - encourage prosperity; Lim - protect middle class, fight back against Trump... bluevirginia.us/2025/12/vide...
Reposted by Elizabeth Lower-Basch
This is appalling. Again, Trump and ICE have had the option to deport Abrego Garcia to Costa Rica for weeks and weeks. They won't explain why they refuse to do this. But we know why: Because they've decided it isn't dehumanizing or cruel enough.
newrepublic.com/article/2043...
newrepublic.com/article/2043...
December 14, 2025 at 4:20 PM
This is appalling. Again, Trump and ICE have had the option to deport Abrego Garcia to Costa Rica for weeks and weeks. They won't explain why they refuse to do this. But we know why: Because they've decided it isn't dehumanizing or cruel enough.
newrepublic.com/article/2043...
newrepublic.com/article/2043...
Reposted by Elizabeth Lower-Basch
The hero of the Hannukah massacre has been identified as Ahmed Al-Ahmed, a 43-year-old fruit shop owner. He disarmed one of the gunmen. He is Muslim.
May he be an inspiration to the world.
May he be an inspiration to the world.
December 14, 2025 at 2:03 PM
The hero of the Hannukah massacre has been identified as Ahmed Al-Ahmed, a 43-year-old fruit shop owner. He disarmed one of the gunmen. He is Muslim.
May he be an inspiration to the world.
May he be an inspiration to the world.
Reposted by Elizabeth Lower-Basch
Among those murdered in Sydney is Rabbi Eli Schlanger.
Earlier this year, Rabbi Schlanger’s son Nossen became bar mitzvah, reading from a Torah that tied his family back generations, both to devastating loss and to Jewish resilience. www.australianjewishnews.com/an-incredibl...
Earlier this year, Rabbi Schlanger’s son Nossen became bar mitzvah, reading from a Torah that tied his family back generations, both to devastating loss and to Jewish resilience. www.australianjewishnews.com/an-incredibl...
An incredible story spanning generations
From Poland to Sydney, a bar mitzvah amidst rising antisemitism
www.australianjewishnews.com
December 14, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Among those murdered in Sydney is Rabbi Eli Schlanger.
Earlier this year, Rabbi Schlanger’s son Nossen became bar mitzvah, reading from a Torah that tied his family back generations, both to devastating loss and to Jewish resilience. www.australianjewishnews.com/an-incredibl...
Earlier this year, Rabbi Schlanger’s son Nossen became bar mitzvah, reading from a Torah that tied his family back generations, both to devastating loss and to Jewish resilience. www.australianjewishnews.com/an-incredibl...
Reposted by Elizabeth Lower-Basch
BREAKING: Donald Trump claims he has granted a “full pardon” to Tina Peters — the Colorado election denier serving a state sentence.
Presidents cannot pardon state crimes. His statement has no legal force.
Presidents cannot pardon state crimes. His statement has no legal force.
Trump Grants Tina Peters a Legally Meaningless 'Pardon'
Read more here.
www.democracydocket.com
December 12, 2025 at 12:57 AM
BREAKING: Donald Trump claims he has granted a “full pardon” to Tina Peters — the Colorado election denier serving a state sentence.
Presidents cannot pardon state crimes. His statement has no legal force.
Presidents cannot pardon state crimes. His statement has no legal force.
Reposted by Elizabeth Lower-Basch
Trump brings legal immigration to a screeching halt www.axios.com/2025/12/10/t...
Trump brings legal immigration to a screeching halt
"[Y]ou're effectively shutting down the legal immigration process," one expert warned.
www.axios.com
December 11, 2025 at 2:18 AM
Trump brings legal immigration to a screeching halt www.axios.com/2025/12/10/t...
Reposted by Elizabeth Lower-Basch
If only Biden had spent more time complaining about the real problem -- immigrants, who bring obvious and easily demonstrable benefits to US society -- instead of minor issues like everyone dying of an infectious disease or losing their jobs and homes.
December 7, 2025 at 9:06 PM
If only Biden had spent more time complaining about the real problem -- immigrants, who bring obvious and easily demonstrable benefits to US society -- instead of minor issues like everyone dying of an infectious disease or losing their jobs and homes.
Reposted by Elizabeth Lower-Basch
To CMS's credit, the guidance does helpfully illustrate the *absolutely bonkers* timeline states are staring down while they wait for additional guidance
December 8, 2025 at 10:10 PM
To CMS's credit, the guidance does helpfully illustrate the *absolutely bonkers* timeline states are staring down while they wait for additional guidance
Reposted by Elizabeth Lower-Basch
![Comic. Doing a task using a company or organization’s website: [flowchart] Go to website, try to log in → Did it work? → Yes → Try to do your task. → Did it work? Yes → Nice! Done! If logging in did not work → Spend hours troubleshooting account / login. If that works, go to Try to do your task. If no → Give up and call customer service. If spending hours troubleshooting doesn’t work, also give up and call customer service. After calling customer service: Hold message: “Did you know you could do all this more quickly and easily on our website? Just go to w-w-w dot…” → Throw phone and laptop into the sea.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cz73r7iyiqn26upot4jtjdhk/bafkreiewqnkcrrc4tgla7j5skyz2djf3mrrvre3577c4xcgzurvq33bw4y@jpeg)
December 4, 2025 at 10:33 PM
Reposted by Elizabeth Lower-Basch
anyway this isn’t a legally difficult question it is a politically difficult question for the conservative majority and the only thing we’re waiting to see is if they will ignore political pressure and follow the clear text of the constitution or bend to the president’s demands.
December 5, 2025 at 7:05 PM
anyway this isn’t a legally difficult question it is a politically difficult question for the conservative majority and the only thing we’re waiting to see is if they will ignore political pressure and follow the clear text of the constitution or bend to the president’s demands.
Reposted by Elizabeth Lower-Basch
"a single person of this demographic may have committed a crime, therefore we must punish the entire demographic" is a policy response you may recognize from fascist governments dedicated to ethnic cleansing elsewhere.
November 27, 2025 at 5:52 AM
"a single person of this demographic may have committed a crime, therefore we must punish the entire demographic" is a policy response you may recognize from fascist governments dedicated to ethnic cleansing elsewhere.
Reposted by Elizabeth Lower-Basch
I don’t think people outside of healthcare realize how much AAP is standing out as a moral backbone of medicine right now, especially in pediatrics. There is so much fear at institutions. Seeing an org directly and repeatedly targeted refuse to budge an inch is extraordinary.
AAP: ‘Stop wasting government resources to amplify false claims’ about vaccines, autism
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has updated its website to include false claims linking vaccines and autism, prompting a swift rebuke from the AAP and other medical experts.
publications.aap.org
November 27, 2025 at 6:17 AM
I don’t think people outside of healthcare realize how much AAP is standing out as a moral backbone of medicine right now, especially in pediatrics. There is so much fear at institutions. Seeing an org directly and repeatedly targeted refuse to budge an inch is extraordinary.
Reposted by Elizabeth Lower-Basch
![Comic. Panels up to the 10-year point are grayed out. New panels since the Ten Years comic, which chronicles the first ten years of PERSON 1's journey with cancer: (1) [two people in bed] PERSON 1 (woman): One more chapter? PERSON 2 (man): Don’t we both have to get up early? PERSON 1: Nnnnnggggh PERSON 2: Sure, good point. (2) [many people wearing masks, walking while looking at graphs on their phones] (3) [birds landing on people] PERSON 2 in beanie and scarf: Hah! They like *my* seeds best. PERSON 1 in scarf holding phone with a bird sitting on it: Wait, how do I take a picture of this one? (4) [two people rowing boats with tree landscape] (5) [Person 1 carries overflowing stack of things to Person 2 in bed] PERSON 1: I brought you honey lemon tea, more pillows, a cinnamon roll, Tylenol, another blanket, a– PERSON 2: It was just Appendicitis, I’m really– PERSON 1: *It is my turn to take care of you and I am going to do it right!* (6) [Two people in car] (7) [still in car) PERSON 1: Oh my god. PERSON 2: Oh my god. (8) [car driving] PERSON 1: Pull over! PERSON 2: I am! (9) [both people get out of car] (10) [Large colored panel of aurora borealis over water with both people looking on] (11) [Person 1 sits against tree while Person 2 lies on the ground] PERSON 1: Fifteen years. No sign of the cancer. (12) I *am* having some weird symptoms. Joint pain. Fatigue. I think I’m losing my close-up vision. PERSON 2: Yeah. Me too. (13) PERSON 2: I think we’re getting old. (14) PERSON 1: I guess that’s okay. PERSON 2: It’s all I wanted.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cz73r7iyiqn26upot4jtjdhk/bafkreihwhjblp5lyiwp63ouar7ocfea7evmckytoeo7rkfuoo4gw5rnrra@jpeg)
November 26, 2025 at 10:32 PM
Reposted by Elizabeth Lower-Basch
Anyone who thinks nursing is not a professional degree doesn't know anything about health care.
Also, from a practical standpoint, this is going to do wonders for the perennial nursing shortage that we have had for over 100 years.
Also, from a practical standpoint, this is going to do wonders for the perennial nursing shortage that we have had for over 100 years.
Nursing is not a 'professional degree' amidst student loan changes
www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...
www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...
Nursing is not a 'professional degree' amidst student loan changes
Nursing isn't considering a professional degree for the purposes of student loans. Will this impact the industry?
www.usatoday.com
November 26, 2025 at 11:06 PM
Anyone who thinks nursing is not a professional degree doesn't know anything about health care.
Also, from a practical standpoint, this is going to do wonders for the perennial nursing shortage that we have had for over 100 years.
Also, from a practical standpoint, this is going to do wonders for the perennial nursing shortage that we have had for over 100 years.
Reposted by Elizabeth Lower-Basch
If you're interested, this tribute to Alice Wong was written by one of the people who knew her best
www.thenation.com/article/soci...
www.thenation.com/article/soci...
A Tribute to an Oracle, Alice Wong
Alice had the ability to look to the future and a world where laws and attitudes did not keep disabled people poor, pitied, and isolated.
www.thenation.com
November 26, 2025 at 11:18 PM
If you're interested, this tribute to Alice Wong was written by one of the people who knew her best
www.thenation.com/article/soci...
www.thenation.com/article/soci...
Reposted by Elizabeth Lower-Basch
Mark Kelly: "I said something that was pretty simple and non-controversial, and that was that members of the military should follow the law. In response to that, Trump said I should be executed, I should be hanged ... it says a lot more about him than it says about me. I'm not going to be silenced."
November 25, 2025 at 2:34 AM
Mark Kelly: "I said something that was pretty simple and non-controversial, and that was that members of the military should follow the law. In response to that, Trump said I should be executed, I should be hanged ... it says a lot more about him than it says about me. I'm not going to be silenced."
Reposted by Elizabeth Lower-Basch
Difficult to overstate how profound a failure DOGE was. Spending in FY2025 was not only than in FY2024 – but higher than it was projected to be when Trump first took office.*
The little bit of spending DOGE cut has already killed hundreds of thousands and will eventually lead to millions of deaths.
The little bit of spending DOGE cut has already killed hundreds of thousands and will eventually lead to millions of deaths.
Bye bye, “DOGE”.
It no longer exists as a “centralized entity”, according to the Office of Personnel Management.
@reuters.com
www.reuters.com/world/us/dog...
It no longer exists as a “centralized entity”, according to the Office of Personnel Management.
@reuters.com
www.reuters.com/world/us/dog...
November 23, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Difficult to overstate how profound a failure DOGE was. Spending in FY2025 was not only than in FY2024 – but higher than it was projected to be when Trump first took office.*
The little bit of spending DOGE cut has already killed hundreds of thousands and will eventually lead to millions of deaths.
The little bit of spending DOGE cut has already killed hundreds of thousands and will eventually lead to millions of deaths.
Reposted by Elizabeth Lower-Basch
Good. Dems not backing down in the slightest in the face of Trump's call for their execution. Keep this up, Dems. Treat Trump like *he's* the violent criminal and the real threat to our Constitution order. Because he is.
November 20, 2025 at 6:13 PM
Good. Dems not backing down in the slightest in the face of Trump's call for their execution. Keep this up, Dems. Treat Trump like *he's* the violent criminal and the real threat to our Constitution order. Because he is.
Reposted by Elizabeth Lower-Basch
Many families will withdraw from the programs for which they’re eligible for—programs that help feed, house and keep them healthy. This means more kids in America will be at risk of hunger, of losing stable housing, of getting sick.
The Department of Homeland Security released a proposal today to rescind current public charge regulations, threatening the nation’s health & economic security & the lives of U.S. citizens & lawfully present immigrants. Read our statement: pifcoalition.org/resources/pr... #ProtectFamilies
November 18, 2025 at 4:45 PM
Many families will withdraw from the programs for which they’re eligible for—programs that help feed, house and keep them healthy. This means more kids in America will be at risk of hunger, of losing stable housing, of getting sick.
Reposted by Elizabeth Lower-Basch
By moving to rescind the Biden Admin’s #PublicCharge rule, which largely restored long-standing policy after courts blocked a harmful rule put forward in the first Trump rule, the Administration is reigniting fear and confusion among people who are immigrants and their families.
November 18, 2025 at 2:02 AM
By moving to rescind the Biden Admin’s #PublicCharge rule, which largely restored long-standing policy after courts blocked a harmful rule put forward in the first Trump rule, the Administration is reigniting fear and confusion among people who are immigrants and their families.
Reposted by Elizabeth Lower-Basch
ICE vs the clergy
November 15, 2025 at 1:32 AM
ICE vs the clergy
Reposted by Elizabeth Lower-Basch
Former UVA president Jim Ryan, who resigned over the summer due to pressure from the Trump Administration, just shared this 12-page letter with the Faculty Senate, detailing his experience with the Board of Visitors and DOJ.
It's a surreal--and troubling--read.
drive.google.com/file/d/1Is6x...
It's a surreal--and troubling--read.
drive.google.com/file/d/1Is6x...
November 14, 2025 at 2:15 PM
Former UVA president Jim Ryan, who resigned over the summer due to pressure from the Trump Administration, just shared this 12-page letter with the Faculty Senate, detailing his experience with the Board of Visitors and DOJ.
It's a surreal--and troubling--read.
drive.google.com/file/d/1Is6x...
It's a surreal--and troubling--read.
drive.google.com/file/d/1Is6x...
Reposted by Elizabeth Lower-Basch
Grijalva: That is why I will sign the discharge petition right now to release the Epstein files. Justice cannot wait another day.
November 12, 2025 at 9:26 PM
Grijalva: That is why I will sign the discharge petition right now to release the Epstein files. Justice cannot wait another day.
Reposted by Elizabeth Lower-Basch
I will make sure every single person remembers that the same Republicans who did everything in their power to make tax breaks for billionaires PERMANENT refused to even negotiate ONE YEAR of health care tax credits for working families, at a tiny fraction of that cost.
November 12, 2025 at 3:03 PM
I will make sure every single person remembers that the same Republicans who did everything in their power to make tax breaks for billionaires PERMANENT refused to even negotiate ONE YEAR of health care tax credits for working families, at a tiny fraction of that cost.
Reposted by Elizabeth Lower-Basch
Read about WHY Ketanji Brown Jackson stayed the SNAP order. Her move is probably the best solution for getting SNAP benefits approved quickly. open.substack.com/pub/stevevla...
190. SNAP WTF?
A very quick explainer on what (and why) Justice Jackson issued an "administrative stay" in the SNAP case late on Friday night, and on what's likely to happen next
open.substack.com
November 8, 2025 at 4:04 AM
Read about WHY Ketanji Brown Jackson stayed the SNAP order. Her move is probably the best solution for getting SNAP benefits approved quickly. open.substack.com/pub/stevevla...