Kathleen McLaughlin

Allegations in Epstein files may amount to 'crimes against humanity,' UN experts say Millions of files related to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein suggest the existence of a "global criminal enterprise" that carried out acts meeting the legal threshold of crimes against humanity,...

"So grave is the scale, nature, systematic character, and transnational reach of these atrocities against women and girls, that a number of them may reasonably meet the legal threshold of crimes against humanity," UN experts said. www.reuters.com/world/allega...

Thanks!!

'There's just so much we haven't done yet' Surviving America: A conversation about building community resilience and optimism with organizer, writer and potluck evangelist Garrett Bucks

When I decided to do a series of interviews with smart folks about surviving this current moment in America,
@garrettbucks.bsky.social was one of the first people I wanted to hear from.

We all need some optimism to get us through and he has it, authentically. kemc.substack.com/p/theres-jus...

Jesse Jackson, civil rights icon, dies aged 84 A fixture in Democratic politics who ran for 1988 presidential nomination, Jackson was once close to Martin Luther King Jr The Rev Jesse Jackson, the civil rights campaigner who was prominent for more than 50 years and who ran strongly for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1988, has died. He was 84. “Our father was a servant leader — not only to our family, but to the oppressed, the voiceless, and the overlooked around the world,” the Jackson family said in a statement. “We shared him with the world, and in return, the world became part of our extended family. His unwavering belief in justice, equality, and love uplifted millions, and we ask you to honor his memory by continuing the fight for the values he lived by.” Continue reading...

Jesse Jackson, civil rights icon, dies aged 84

I can smell it from here and just that is giving me a hangover.

Ten Years In A gentle reminder that it took a long time to get to this place

If you read her work once, I don’t know why you wouldn’t want to read @kemc.bsky.social as much as possible.

I’ve been in this business a long time. You know the real deal when you see it.

kemc.substack.com/p/ten-years-...

Related to this, Blood Money: The Story of Life, Death, and Profit Inside America's Blood Industry by @kemc.bsky.social is a book that I think about all the time. If you haven't read it: www.simonandschuster.com/books/Blood-...

interesting surge in interest in recent months, perhaps people have caught on?

“Collection of Handwritten Letters from Children in Detention Center” sounds like an exhibit in the Holocaust Museum.

I've been saying this for literal years, but American journalists desperately need training in how to report safely under authoritarianism because buddy it is here.

are people still doing that? 🫠

It's becoming chillingly clear: an administration that gleefully dismantled USAID and consigned countless people to slow death by starvation and preventable disease will not hesitate to inflict hunger on tens of millions of Americans by cutting off SNAP funds.

oh wow, even that headline.

Oh I would love to!

We live in a time of even greater wealth inequality than preceding the French Revolution

Hi cousin Marge! ✊🏼

Weird autocorrect from my phone!

the payments are not straightforward, they are based on how often you donate and incentivized to get people to donate at the highest frequency allowed anywhere in the world. The hourly pay does not reflect actual time and prep required - it's much more complicated and opaque than it might seem.

Kathleen McLaughlin’s book about the plasma industry is an extremely eye-opening look at poverty in the US, and how people who sell plasma to help make ends meet are exploited without being given proper protection and support.

This is a labor issue conveniently shrowded in stigma.

I think there's a pretty obvious argument that regulatory oversight remains weak because the industry primarily targets people who aren't wealthy or connected.

I strongly recommend this book, I learned so much from it - I hadn't even known the economics of blood was a thing! IMHO it's also a really good example of a former foreign correspondent using that experience/lens to reveal/learn something new about their home country in a very thoughtful way

Thanks, Katharin!

It's crazy how big it is, and how hidden it is despite being so big!

I tryyyyyyy, Frankie!

Super interesting development. Unfortunately it's nearly impossible to mimic the components of human immunoglobulin (IVIG), which is the primary medical product made with the plasma Americans donate/sell.

I love the needle wizards. So hard to find, and so amazing when you do.

I don't know what you're talking about, but it's not legal to sell plasma in Haiti. There are only six countries in the world where it's allowed, and the US is the largest source of human plasma in the world.

*precarity, that is

wild story, but I'm having a plasma infusion right this very minute, so thanks for being donor ;-) It does saves lives; it also makes huge profits.

We have a large population of people who live with economic precocity - moreso than other wealthy nations. It's a fact. There are reasons the practice of paying people for plasma remains legal here and not in most of the rest of the world.