shawnboykins.bsky.social
@shawnboykins.bsky.social
Reposted
I have spent my career studying what makes people live healthier and longer. My mom and dad are proof that the key is staying socially connected. on.wsj.com/3LrvzU6
My Parents’ Secret for Living Well Into Their 90s: Embracing Strangers
I have spent my career studying what makes people live healthier and longer. My mom and dad are proof that the key is staying socially connected.
on.wsj.com
January 1, 2026 at 2:03 AM
Reposted
Oversimplifying things a bit, but this feels downstream of DOGE.

Remember DOGE? That was going to get rid of all the fraud and waste in the government, enough to balance the budget and get you a refund check. Didn't work, but maybe if we remove all the foreign-born health workers...
The largest generation in U.S. history is in their 70s now. And Stephen Miller’s podcaster wife thinks it’s suspicious that there’s a huge surge in home health aides.
December 29, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Reposted
It’s the “season of love and giving”…but this year, doesn’t it seem more like a “season of fear and taking”? Like many of you, I’ve been saddened by the human impact of draconian government budget cuts and how angry many housed Americans are at unhoused Americans.

🧵 1 of 9
December 21, 2025 at 2:51 AM
Reposted
This Yglesias piece in the NYT is horrifically bad. Almost every "fact" it cites is provably false. At best it is cocktail party banter from a pundit who knows nothing of energy. At worst, it was cut/paste from oil industry talking points. So, a rebuttal: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/18/o...
Opinion | Obama Supported It. The Left in Canada and Norway Does. Why Don’t Democrats?
www.nytimes.com
December 20, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Reposted
December 19, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Reposted
First it was "we have to blow up dozens of people on boats because of fetnanyl." But obviously it wasn't fentanyl being trafficked so then: narco terrorists are shipping cocaine! But then Wiles tells a reporter it's all about regime change and today it's bc US oil companies got kicked out in 2007?
December 18, 2025 at 1:42 AM
Reposted
good morning holy shit

www.nytimes.com/2025/12/16/u...
December 16, 2025 at 1:21 PM
Reposted
Rob Reiner: I'm going to make a coming of age drama, a fantasy adventure story, a romantic comedy, a psychological horror and then a courtroom drama.

Us: Across your entire career?

Reiner: In a 6 year period.

Us: That sounds-

Reiner: -Each one will be arguably the best movie in that genre.
December 15, 2025 at 8:04 AM
Reposted
I said roughly ten percent of the things I could have said about Rob Reiner.
Remembering Rob Reiner, who made movies for people who love them
The movies Reiner directed, from A Few Good Men to The Princess Bride, weren't just good — they were people's favorites, the types of films people come back to again and again.
www.npr.org
December 15, 2025 at 10:25 PM
Reposted
Tractor maker Deere has warned that US President Donald Trump’s tariffs are backfiring on American farmers, prompting cash-strapped producers to delay replacing aging equipment. Deere has had to cut production and workers and says it is likely to cut more jobs in 2026. www.ft.com/content/523a...
Donald Trump’s tariffs intensify strain on US farmers, Deere warns
Farming equipment giant is scaling back production at flagship tractor plant in Iowa
www.ft.com
December 11, 2025 at 1:26 AM
Reposted
5/ In other words, I see very little reason to think that the Court would *allow* Congress to solve significant national problems—at least, when those solutions took a form the majority of justices disliked. And conversely …
December 10, 2025 at 9:49 AM
Reposted
The plan, as I see it, is a cadre of highly skilled professional workers who can be called up and then let go according to the short term needs of land & capital speculation. For example, most professors being on 3 year contracts so their classes can be retooled for student-consumer interests.
December 9, 2025 at 3:44 PM
Reposted
Trump said last year that he would focus on deporting immigrants who were violent criminals. But a study of arrests in major operations in DC, LA, Illinois and Massachusetts shows that the vast majority of those swept up by ICE have no criminal record.
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
ICE Arrest Data Shows Many Immigrants With No Criminal Record
In high-profile operations, more than half of those arrested had no criminal record, an analysis shows.
www.nytimes.com
December 6, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Reposted
What does it say about this country that that the kind of open, rank bigotry Trump administration officials regularly express towards black immigrants apparently has no social cost because of the number of Americans who quietly agree or don't care.
December 3, 2025 at 11:35 AM
Reposted
We spent a year investigating billionaires for @washingtonpost.com.

We found: the wealthiest 100 Americans gave $1.1 billion to influence the 2024 elections — 140x more than they did in 2000. And almost all of that giving boosted Republicans.

washingtonpost.com/politics/int...
November 21, 2025 at 2:56 PM
Reposted
As with every #GildedAge, the ultra-wealthy retreat further into their corners.

@wsj.com
www.wsj.com/lifestyle/tr...
November 16, 2025 at 1:53 PM
Reposted
WSJ does the math: the United States President Donald Trump is mentioned in 1670 email threads with the pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
The Epstein Email Cache: 2,300 Messages, Many of Which Mention Trump
An analysis of documents released this week by Congress shows President Trump was mentioned in more than half of the messages.
www.wsj.com
November 15, 2025 at 2:07 AM
Reposted
Straightforward confirmation from Angus King that the gang of eight made the deal out of earnest concern for the filibuster. www.pressherald.com/2025/11/13/w...
November 13, 2025 at 8:33 PM
Reposted
Jeffrey Epstein, two days after Michael Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018: “you see, i know how dirty donald is. my guess is that non lawyers ny biz people have no idea. what it means to have your fixer flip”
November 12, 2025 at 5:07 PM
Reposted
This seems like the most straightforward and also basically accurate message.
instead of saying this was good strategy, maybe senate dems should say: "the republicans were going to kill people by starving them to death, and because we aren't monsters, we decided to let this fight go. We'll keep fighting. Stop electing monsters."
November 11, 2025 at 2:50 PM
Reposted
Sorry, progressives & health care policy wonks. But we're going to have to re-remind everyone why Health Savings Accts are a tax shelter for the wealthy, not health insurance. Note distribution of premium tax credits vs. HSA contributions.
www.cbpp.org/blog/five-re...
Five Reasons Lawmakers Should Reject Expansions of Health Savings Accounts
Expanding health savings accounts (HSAs) is a key element of Republicans’ health care policy agenda. Ostensibly, HSAs allow people enrolled in certain health insurance policies to set aside money...
www.cbpp.org
November 10, 2025 at 4:40 PM
Reposted
Exactly.

Someone just asked me "but is political gain (vs Trump) worth seismic political risk?"

Allowing Trump to function as a lawless dictator without any pushback from Congress IS the seismic political risk here.
Democrats have to stop bailing out Republicans from facing the consequences of their own policies. And yeah, that means they have to stop sparing voters from experiencing what GOP government truly means.

Every time Dems step in, it only emboldens the GOP & they make it even worse the next time.
So Democrats get:

1. A CR that will prevent the GOP from facing the wrath of Americans for a shutdown over the holidays

2. A coupon for one (1) meaningless ACA vote that will fail

3. An end to the illegal RIF/SNAP moves that are already before the courts

Those all seem like wins for the GOP.
November 10, 2025 at 12:31 AM
Reposted
The Senate exists for the same reason that the ACA doesn't have a public option: it was negotiated to placate the necessary votes. Slave states were nervous about being beholden to public will so we massively over-elevated state representation. www.law.cornell.edu/constitution...
The Great Compromise of the Constitutional Convention
www.law.cornell.edu
November 9, 2025 at 10:00 PM
Reposted
The IRS is reportedly not offering its Direct File program next year. Here’s a look back at how TurboTax owner Intuit spent two decades fighting to prevent Americans from filing their taxes online for free:

(Published 2019)
Inside TurboTax’s 20-Year Fight to Stop Americans From Filing Their Taxes for Free
Using lobbying, the revolving door and “dark pattern” customer tricks, Intuit fended off the government’s attempts to make tax filing free and easy, and created its multi-billion-dollar franchise.
www.propublica.org
November 5, 2025 at 12:03 AM
Reposted
the thing about this is that a) small states do not have any interests that are inherent to their size (no less than james madison understood this) b) the senate is organized along party lines which makes the small/big distinction almost irrelevant and c) the filibuster has never been used this way
Underrated aspect of killing the filibuster is making pundit hacks at Cook Political p-p-p-piss their pants
November 8, 2025 at 10:13 PM