Lauren L. Wheeler

Could everyone please stop using Substack? It’s not news that it platforms far right, anti-trans, and neo Nazi folks. There are alternatives like @buttondown.com

What We Saw in Minneapolis Our visual journalists documented the days surrounding Alex Pretti’s killing in Minneapolis.

After the shooting, I watched as agents unloaded tear gas onfurious protesters who had assembled at the site of the shooting. Heavily armored law enforcement faced off against a crowd of unarmed protesters carrying signs and screaming for justice and retribution.

www.propublica.org/article/minn...

I fear my tipping point into madness is "Thus is un-American" posts in response to ICE terrorizing immigrants. I beg you to open Wikipedia (I would say a book but let's start small) and read up on The Trail of Tears, Fugitive Slave Catchers, Japanese internment, Indian Boarding schools & Jim Crow

another robot highlight for 2025: man wearing humanoid mocap suit kicks himself in the balls

It's really too bad Ken Starr is dead because this would have killed him.

Do not for one second believe that Californians are united behind Newsom as a presidential candidate regardless of our support for prop 50

One tore his achilles and was in to see a podiatrist in 3 days, in surgery in 7. Another was scheduled for an MRI when she complained of neck pain in a week.

So why does @kaiser-permanente.bsky.social not provide appropriate care for all their patients, making some of us wait weeks or months? 12/12

My uncle, in his 70s, fell and tore his rotator cuff in August. It was months before he was sent to an orthopedist to evaluate the injury; he, too, was told to just deal with the pain without anyone really examining the injury. My younger, whiter friends, though, have not had this issue.... 11/x

It's now been a week and a half since my injury. My left knee is still swollen and tender, and the foot on that leg is also swollen and tingling. I can't walk, using crutches is painful because of the rib, which will take 6 weeks to heal. And I have no idea what's actually wrong with my knee. 10/x

So I finally was given an appointment to see an orthopedist... on 11/20.

My injury was 10/23.

Nearly a month to even be examined and diagnosed, much less treated. 9/x

I called the next day, 10/25, to try to schedule an appointment and get an MRI. Nope, needed to follow up with my regular doctor. Monday, 10/27, I had a phone appointment with her. She also refused to order an MRI but did refer me to Sports Medicine. She also prescribed stronger pain meds. 8/x

And I would need to follow up myself with my PCP and get a referral the next week--I guess that's also something they don't do in the ER. They gave me a leg brace and crutches that were excruciating to use because of the broken rib and told me to take OTC NSAIDs.

Basically, walk. it. off. 7/x

Indeed, my 12th rib (lower back rib on the right) was cracked. Nothing broken in my leg--but I "might have arthritis and should follow up later." I said, "Yeah, I'm not here for arthritis. I feel like something is torn. X-rays don't detect that. I need an MRI." They don't do those in the ER. 6/x

So, at 4pm on a Friday, my husband roll me into the ER in a wheelchair. I told the triage nurse what I'd told the 4 different people I'd spoken to on the phone: I was concerned my rib was broken and that I'd felt/heard something pop in my left knee the night before. They sent me for x-rays. 5/x

I began calling Kaiser the next day to find out if I could see someone in urgent care or should go to the ER. Hours later, after talking to a scheduler and then an advice nurse and then getting a callback an hour after they'd said they'd call, I was told I should go to the ER. 4/x

When the adrenaline began to wear off, I realized I couldn't keep hopping on my right foot—my ribs on that side hurt, and I felt a weird clicking when I moved my torso. I was so out of it and in souch pain, my husband had to nearly carry me to the car and then into the house and upstairs to bed. 3/x

At my test for my blue belt in kajukenbo on 10/23, I got very injured sparring. I got kicked in the side and felt/heard something pop in my left knee during the takedown that followed. I couldn’t bear any weight on my left leg without my thigh going one way and my lower leg going the other. 2/x

I've tried to give Kaiser Permanente the benefit of the doubt. It's what I imagined healthcare for all would look like. Not perfect but decent care. But I'm done. I went to the ER with severe injuries, including likely torn ligaments in my knee, and they won't even examine it for nearly a month. 1/x

centrists will tell you to your face that we all need to abandon identity issues, and focus on kitchen table issues instead and yet when a leftist candidate runs a generational campaign based on kitchen table issues, it's the centrists weaponizing identity politics to smear the leftist.

Sex.

I surely hope not

This is my favorite thread

Des Moines Public Schools Superintendent Ian Roberts detained by ICE agents The superintendent of the largest school district in Iowa has been detained by federal immigration officials. Superintendent Ian Roberts of Des Moines Public Schools was detained Friday morning, accor...

What the fuck?

Woooow

It is our duty to fight for our freedom.
It is our duty to win.
We must love each other and protect each other.
We have nothing to lose but our chains.

A threat to authoritarianism anywhere is a threat to authoritarianism everywhere

‘State terror’: Qatari PM says Israel’s Netanyahu must face ‘justice’ Israeli forces killed more than 70 people in Gaza on Wednesday and launched deadly attacks on Yemen.

Israeli forces killed more than 70 people in Gaza on Wednesday and launched deadly attacks on Yemen.