hooked on persephonics
banner
amphote.bsky.social
hooked on persephonics
@amphote.bsky.social
Recovering litigator, baby bureaucrat.
Reposted by hooked on persephonics
Rick Scott was CEO of a large, for-profit healthcare company called HCA. While Rick Scott was CEO, HCA stole so much money from Medicare they were fined $1.7 Billion.
Rick Scott told me his plan would be to take all of the remaining ACA subsidies and redistribute them to HSA accounts and people can then buy whatever insurance a state certifies. Basically a repeal/replace.
He denied when I asked wouldn’t that create two-tiered system where sick pay much more…
November 11, 2025 at 4:17 AM
Reposted by hooked on persephonics
7) If it were me, I wouldn't agree to fund the FSGG approps bill that funds the WH/OMB without policy riders that take away the administration's funding to pursue things like impoundment, etc. Why should Russ Vought have any staff? Saying "no" here is a policy win. If they do it.
November 10, 2025 at 1:55 PM
Reposted by hooked on persephonics
yep
November 11, 2025 at 1:25 AM
Reposted by hooked on persephonics
It would be much easier to codify Bivens and allow everyone -- not just Republican senators -- to sue federal officials for alleged rights violations
November 10, 2025 at 10:54 PM
Reposted by hooked on persephonics
Senators look at Trump's shameless corruption and say "give us some of that"
November 10, 2025 at 10:28 PM
Reposted by hooked on persephonics
Also the RIF language actually has teeth, not just "no russ you can't do the horseshit you were trying as a shutdown tactic" but "anyone who takes any action in support of planning any RIF between now and 30 Jan has exposure for a federal felony with a 5 year statute of limitations"
November 10, 2025 at 7:13 PM
Reposted by hooked on persephonics
probably little upside for democrats.

2. This is probably the first short term CR of many. This admin is entirely lawless and with an SJC generally unwilling to force it to follow the law regarding impounding funds then the only answer is for legislative to drip feed the admin and keep them coming
November 10, 2025 at 3:19 PM
Reposted by hooked on persephonics
back bowl in hand begging for more. It allows the legislative branch to constantly hold the threat of a shutdown over these kinds of shenanigans and that isnt nothing.

3. GOP is robbed of credit for any ACA fix going forward. If you throw a tantrum for hours and break shit in protest of
November 10, 2025 at 3:19 PM
Reposted by hooked on persephonics
The Vision, from The Quest and Achievement of the Holy Grail, by Edwin Austin Abbey, 1901, 📸 by Noah Graham
November 10, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Reposted by hooked on persephonics
being a whistleblower: difficult; risky; may ruin your life; should be reserved for only exceptional circumstances

innocently producing a document which must be produced in court should someone notice the thing: if legal thinks this document is a problem for the company, the thing is illegal
i have never more clearly seen someone describe a job that they are probably the ideal person for
November 10, 2025 at 6:04 AM
Seriously though, I'm remodeling part of my basement and need lumber, insulation, drywall and perhaps a new power tool. Is Lowe's the obvious alternative or can y'all recommend something I've overlooked (in the Mid-Atlantic/DMV or ships cheaply thither)?
“.. As the raids have continued, consumers have started to question whether the company’s silence makes it an accomplice to the sweeps rather than merely the backdrop. .. A backlash is coming for the company.”

@bloomberg.com $HD
www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
November 10, 2025 at 2:34 PM
Reposted by hooked on persephonics
I think this is basically right
November 10, 2025 at 12:59 PM
Reposted by hooked on persephonics
look nobody's going to like the fact that the decision is ultimately between "How long can federal workers miss paychecks" (something at least one federal union buckled on) and "let's see how it plays out with ACA subsidies already going up"

"Tradeoffs Not Real" caucus needs to go to church instead
November 10, 2025 at 6:16 AM
Reposted by hooked on persephonics
i commend this essay to all of your attention
November 10, 2025 at 12:57 PM
Reposted by hooked on persephonics
November 10, 2025 at 10:40 AM
Reposted by hooked on persephonics
My humble foreigner's opinion is that this is the narrative that Dem voters should pursue, instead of "our team are feckless morons". Hang the whole thing on Trump, then hang Trump on the GOP in the midterms next year.
November 10, 2025 at 4:47 AM
Reposted by hooked on persephonics
Kyle Kingsbury is not a journalist. He is not an op-ed writer.

He is a computer safety researcher.

And he has written one of the most compelling, comprehensive accounts of the ongoing hell in Chicago that you could possibly imagine.

In under 1600 words.

aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...
November 9, 2025 at 8:49 PM
Reposted by hooked on persephonics
i think an especially depressing part of this whole saga is that "we need to win primaries so establishment dems are replaced by true progressives" is a thing we've done before but one of the progressives we worked hard to install over the establishment pick was fetterman
November 10, 2025 at 6:58 AM
Reposted by hooked on persephonics
"I asked my boss what the legal rationale was for this action and their response was to X" is usually wise. It's not the best record, but it's better than nothing.
November 10, 2025 at 12:05 PM
Reposted by hooked on persephonics
“Treasury has clearly been enacting unlegislated tax cuts”.
How the Trump Administration Is Giving Even More Tax Breaks to the Wealthy
www.nytimes.com
November 8, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Reposted by hooked on persephonics
Do you know what's NOT going to make an awful job market better? A fuckton of freelancers suddenly looking for employment with affordable health insurance benefits.
The ACA made my whole self-employed life possible. For almost ten years, I was able to build a career that actually worked for me AND keep receiving necessary care to address the consequences of childhood medical neglect. And I still deserved better. We all do.
November 10, 2025 at 4:57 AM
Reposted by hooked on persephonics
As recently as the late 1980s, tuition at @uwmadison.bsky.social was <$1000/semester. In current dollars, that's about $2500/semester. There is one central reason for that: the . This was a choice. Other choices remain readily available.
November 9, 2025 at 9:26 PM
Reposted by hooked on persephonics
Almost completely, every single problem with higher education that folks think is mainly about something else is <primarily> about the massive decline in state public funding since the 1980s. Yes, including everyone's obsession with getting their kid into the "right" college:
"I'm obsessed with my kid getting into the right college"

Fund. The. Damn. Public. Universities. Like. We. Used. To.
November 9, 2025 at 9:42 PM
Reposted by hooked on persephonics
"I'm obsessed with my kid getting into the right college"

Fund. The. Damn. Public. Universities. Like. We. Used. To.
October 21, 2024 at 3:52 PM
Reposted by hooked on persephonics
whatever your job is, you should find out which laws in your area have treble damages for knowing violations, which laws have criminal penalties, and which laws relate to genuinely sordid violations of ethics. these are the ones you should email your boss about before legal.
November 10, 2025 at 6:06 AM