Henry Bachofer
@weusour.bsky.social
grumpy old semi-retired health policy analyst and deep state bureaucrat who learned more about Medicare and private health insurance than is good for him, reader of less-than-popular books, and huge admirer of the work of Iain Banks and Octavia Butler
The public art in the Cohen building is an irreplaceable public treasure. It has been years since I've seen these murals but I hope to see them again before I die. Even more I hope my grandchildren and all of our grandchildren will have the opportunity to see them in situ. Save the Cohen building!
The New Deal Masterpieces Threatened by Trump’s D.C. Downsizing
Your great-grandparents paid Ben Shahn and Philip Guston to create gorgeous public murals. Next year they could be rubble.
newrepublic.com
September 30, 2025 at 1:50 PM
The public art in the Cohen building is an irreplaceable public treasure. It has been years since I've seen these murals but I hope to see them again before I die. Even more I hope my grandchildren and all of our grandchildren will have the opportunity to see them in situ. Save the Cohen building!
There is a "NO KINGS" event in Chicago on Saturday October 18. Sign up now to join me!
NO KINGS in Chicago · No Kings
**In America, we don’t put up with would-be kings.**
Our peaceful movement is only getting bigger and stronger. “NO KINGS” is more than just a slogan—it’s the foundation our nation was built upon. Bo...
www.mobilize.us
September 15, 2025 at 6:31 PM
There is a "NO KINGS" event in Chicago on Saturday October 18. Sign up now to join me!
Little by little, then suddenly all at once.
Erich Fromm wrote Escape from Freedom in 1941.
It was one of the first 'adult' books I bought and read when I was a high school student in the Sixties.
Erich Fromm wrote Escape from Freedom in 1941.
It was one of the first 'adult' books I bought and read when I was a high school student in the Sixties.
Academic Freedom Rights: Use Them or Lose Them
An outrage at Texas A&M
open.substack.com
September 10, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Little by little, then suddenly all at once.
Erich Fromm wrote Escape from Freedom in 1941.
It was one of the first 'adult' books I bought and read when I was a high school student in the Sixties.
Erich Fromm wrote Escape from Freedom in 1941.
It was one of the first 'adult' books I bought and read when I was a high school student in the Sixties.
Intimations of Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro.
Hot mic catches Putin and Xi discussing organ transplants and immortality
Live footage of private conversation between Russian president and Chinese leader aired at Beijing military parade
www.theguardian.com
September 3, 2025 at 8:10 PM
Intimations of Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro.
Fabulous new book about Octavia Butler from Oxford Uni Press by Yang Chi-Ming: Octavia E. Butler · H is for Horse.
Octavia E. Butler: H Is for Horse
H Is for Horse
bookshop.org
July 8, 2025 at 1:13 AM
Fabulous new book about Octavia Butler from Oxford Uni Press by Yang Chi-Ming: Octavia E. Butler · H is for Horse.
I really need my elected representatives to explain this email that I along with many tens of millions of Social Security Beneficiaries received. I'm not a lawyer but it has to violate the Hatch Act. The information it contains is misleading and in some instances outright false.
July 8, 2025 at 1:04 AM
I really need my elected representatives to explain this email that I along with many tens of millions of Social Security Beneficiaries received. I'm not a lawyer but it has to violate the Hatch Act. The information it contains is misleading and in some instances outright false.
An somewhat nauseating case study of the essential clueless, tone deafness of the out-of-touch democratic party elite.
The Clintons and Kamala Harris Descend on a Hamptons Wedding of Liberal Royalty
www.nytimes.com
June 15, 2025 at 2:19 PM
An somewhat nauseating case study of the essential clueless, tone deafness of the out-of-touch democratic party elite.
Join us at noon today. Preserve Constitutional government. We are not yet capable only of despotic government.
No Kings Rally and March · Indivisible Chicago
In America, we don’t put up with would-be kings. Join Indivisible Chicago and our partner organizations (listed below) for a rally and march in downtown Chicago as we come together to say NO KINGS!
...
www.mobilize.us
June 14, 2025 at 1:35 PM
Join us at noon today. Preserve Constitutional government. We are not yet capable only of despotic government.
A memory of Shenandoah National Park from 20 years ago ...
June 10, 2025 at 4:42 PM
A memory of Shenandoah National Park from 20 years ago ...
Walking to the farmer's market it suddenly felt like a fall day ... as if we'd skipped summer. An effect of the clouds, the angle of the light and the sound of geese honking.
May 17, 2025 at 2:44 PM
Walking to the farmer's market it suddenly felt like a fall day ... as if we'd skipped summer. An effect of the clouds, the angle of the light and the sound of geese honking.
Fantastic commentary on the nature of leadership (and whatever the opposite is) from an Albertan that should be required reading for every voter and everyone holding or running for office in the United States. And on what it means to live in a democracy.
Jen Gerson: A few thoughts on leadership
Trigger Warning: This one's gonna be preachy.
www.readtheline.ca
May 15, 2025 at 12:05 PM
Fantastic commentary on the nature of leadership (and whatever the opposite is) from an Albertan that should be required reading for every voter and everyone holding or running for office in the United States. And on what it means to live in a democracy.
High-rise sunset in the fog.
May 14, 2025 at 12:02 AM
High-rise sunset in the fog.
Time, once again, to distinguish between marriage as a legal institution in civil society and marriage as a sacrament in the church. This reminder applies to both religious conservatives who get the vapors at the idea of same-sex marriage and to LGBTQ+ activists who want to be married in church.
Unearthed comments from new pope alarm LGBTQ+ Catholics
Previous negative remarks by Pope Leo XIV about ‘homosexual lifestyle’ at odds with papacy of Pope Francis
www.theguardian.com
May 9, 2025 at 12:23 PM
Time, once again, to distinguish between marriage as a legal institution in civil society and marriage as a sacrament in the church. This reminder applies to both religious conservatives who get the vapors at the idea of same-sex marriage and to LGBTQ+ activists who want to be married in church.
"chapels alter" ... good news for the nation's students when they get dinged for spelling and punctuation errors!
When will the cardinals vote next?
www.nytimes.com
May 7, 2025 at 9:04 PM
"chapels alter" ... good news for the nation's students when they get dinged for spelling and punctuation errors!
H.L. Mencken said every human problem has a solution that is neat, plausible, and wrong. As a society, we've chosen to address the last age of life as described by Jacques in As You Like It by ignoring it. We don't have to—but there's no simple solution. Great long-form reporting by Laura Fraser.
In the US, not even $11,000 a month can buy you dignity at the end of your life
After watching my father’s struggle in a system that values profit over compassion, I wonder: how much longer will we accept a future where most of us lose our sense of human worth in old age?
www.theguardian.com
May 1, 2025 at 4:32 PM
H.L. Mencken said every human problem has a solution that is neat, plausible, and wrong. As a society, we've chosen to address the last age of life as described by Jacques in As You Like It by ignoring it. We don't have to—but there's no simple solution. Great long-form reporting by Laura Fraser.
Certainly buying used is a good idea, but another option is to buy only what you need, only what you will actually use, and only what you'll keep 'til its fully depreciated. Ask my husband about my raggedly clothes.
I saved $36,000 by not buying anything new – here are seven reasons you should do the same
Life was genuinely better once I got off the consumerist hamster wheel, and it could be for you too
www.theguardian.com
April 29, 2025 at 12:00 PM
Certainly buying used is a good idea, but another option is to buy only what you need, only what you will actually use, and only what you'll keep 'til its fully depreciated. Ask my husband about my raggedly clothes.
Take more than a few minutes to read this and reflect on it with empathy. And reflect on the Buddha's last words to Ananda (in the Carus translation): work out your own salvation, with diligence.
My parents holding hands after their assisted deaths: Martin Roemers’ most personal photograph
‘Their lives were getting harder, even with help. They did not want to go to a nursing home and neither wanted to live without the other. So they left this life together’
www.theguardian.com
April 16, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Take more than a few minutes to read this and reflect on it with empathy. And reflect on the Buddha's last words to Ananda (in the Carus translation): work out your own salvation, with diligence.
My mother contracted TB in the 1940s and spent several years in and out of sanitaria eventually recovering. By cutting public health spending MAGA will take us back to the "greatness" that we managed to overcome. Stop the Con.
Tuberculosis could end if there’s more US public health funding, experts say
Resurgence could be on horizon as outbreaks pick up speed in US and abroad amid public health program cuts
www.theguardian.com
April 12, 2025 at 8:01 PM
My mother contracted TB in the 1940s and spent several years in and out of sanitaria eventually recovering. By cutting public health spending MAGA will take us back to the "greatness" that we managed to overcome. Stop the Con.
In just 7 minutes, Michael Lewis explained the vital work that the much-maligned federal employees actually do to benefit the American people. It's time for Democrats holding elective office to stop cowering and for MSM to start doing real journalism.
These People Did Meaningful Work That Made Our Lives Better - Michael Lewis On Fired Federal Workers
YouTube video by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
youtu.be
April 10, 2025 at 1:08 PM
In just 7 minutes, Michael Lewis explained the vital work that the much-maligned federal employees actually do to benefit the American people. It's time for Democrats holding elective office to stop cowering and for MSM to start doing real journalism.
Fascinating story about the fortunes of Argentina and, specifically, the MAGA-adjacent populist-nationalism of Javier Milei, by Forrest Hylton in the LRB blog. A morality tale and warning for U.S. MAGA?
Forrest Hylton | ‘The streets are ours, Milei’
Javier Milei’s popularity and legitimacy have been significantly eroded since he came to power in 2023, as pessimism...
www.lrb.co.uk
April 5, 2025 at 5:22 PM
Fascinating story about the fortunes of Argentina and, specifically, the MAGA-adjacent populist-nationalism of Javier Milei, by Forrest Hylton in the LRB blog. A morality tale and warning for U.S. MAGA?
James Surowiecki has a good piece up at the Atlantic on Trump and tariffs — and how Wall Street got blindsided. What clicked into place for me was the very peculiar way Trump understands "trade".
Wall Street Blew It
Investors discounted everything Trump has ever said about trade and tariffs. We’re all going to pay for that mistake.
www.theatlantic.com
April 5, 2025 at 3:30 PM
James Surowiecki has a good piece up at the Atlantic on Trump and tariffs — and how Wall Street got blindsided. What clicked into place for me was the very peculiar way Trump understands "trade".
Tariffs. Imperialistic land grabs. Labor exploitation. No social insurance. Environmental destruction. Yep. MAGA is busy Building a Bridge Back to the 19th Century. I've wondered whether it was to 1860 but for some it is even earlier.
RFK Jr.’s 18th-Century Idea About Mental Health
The health secretary’s clearest plans for psychiatric treatment are a retreat to the past.
www.theatlantic.com
April 4, 2025 at 6:22 PM
Tariffs. Imperialistic land grabs. Labor exploitation. No social insurance. Environmental destruction. Yep. MAGA is busy Building a Bridge Back to the 19th Century. I've wondered whether it was to 1860 but for some it is even earlier.
Democrats: we need more of this!
‘Defend yourself’: the Memphis gun club educating Black women and children on firearm safety
A Tennessee chapter of the National African American Gun Association (Naaga) is teaching their community self-defense as more Black adults in US become firearm owners
www.theguardian.com
March 26, 2025 at 3:21 PM
Democrats: we need more of this!
Making Jim Crow Great Again.
The Trump-Musk Regime Wants to Make Segregation Great Again
In a boon for racist businesses, the administration has ended a ban on segregated facilities for federal contractors.
www.thenation.com
March 19, 2025 at 9:20 PM
Making Jim Crow Great Again.
Reposted by Henry Bachofer
Social Security CHAMPION Rep. Mark Pocan: “In no way, shape, or form should we privatize any aspect of Social Security.” 🔥
@pocan.house.gov
@pocan.house.gov
March 9, 2025 at 5:48 PM
Social Security CHAMPION Rep. Mark Pocan: “In no way, shape, or form should we privatize any aspect of Social Security.” 🔥
@pocan.house.gov
@pocan.house.gov