Zane Highlander
@zlander.bsky.social
Blue pixel on a red screen. Outraged by how the powerful & wealthy are moving us; thankful for you who fight against our new authoritarian test drive. Fascinated by the "hard problem" of consciousness: we still don't know what it is. Dogs and cats.💙🌊🎸🐕🐈⬛🇺🇲🇨🇦
Pinned
Zane Highlander
@zlander.bsky.social
· Apr 4
On behalf of sane, normal, non-agressive Americans, I profusely apologize to the citizens and leaders of Canada, Greenland, Denmark, Panama, Ukraine, Mexico, United Kingdom, the Entirety of Europe, all Penguins and anyone else we have threatened, offended or bullied since Jan. 20. 🇨🇦🇬🇱🇩🇰🇧🇬🇵🇦🇺🇦🇲🇽🇬🇧🇪🇺
$100k HH Income group feeling pretty upbeat compared with *the rest of us*, but they alone cannot sustain and grow the economy.
November 10, 2025 at 5:57 PM
$100k HH Income group feeling pretty upbeat compared with *the rest of us*, but they alone cannot sustain and grow the economy.
Republican hypocrisy, disingenuousness and sheer idiocy are breathtaking. If 40% of ACA enrollees never file a claim, it's because they are fortunate enough to be healthy and not need care that year.
Which can change in the blink of an eye. Just ask anyone who has been in an auto accident.
Which can change in the blink of an eye. Just ask anyone who has been in an auto accident.
Remember that insurance is actually a thing you hope never to use, and then read this critique.
November 10, 2025 at 5:31 PM
Republican hypocrisy, disingenuousness and sheer idiocy are breathtaking. If 40% of ACA enrollees never file a claim, it's because they are fortunate enough to be healthy and not need care that year.
Which can change in the blink of an eye. Just ask anyone who has been in an auto accident.
Which can change in the blink of an eye. Just ask anyone who has been in an auto accident.
Trump and the Repubs WANT family farms to fail in order to allow Big Farming to buy land at pennies on the $ and let Wall Street start financial engineering the crap out of it, you know - just like subprime mtgs in 2008.
The Family Farm | Sunday on 60 Minutes - CBS News share.google/b0u5H2AizGoj...
The Family Farm | Sunday on 60 Minutes - CBS News share.google/b0u5H2AizGoj...
November 10, 2025 at 12:22 AM
Trump and the Repubs WANT family farms to fail in order to allow Big Farming to buy land at pennies on the $ and let Wall Street start financial engineering the crap out of it, you know - just like subprime mtgs in 2008.
The Family Farm | Sunday on 60 Minutes - CBS News share.google/b0u5H2AizGoj...
The Family Farm | Sunday on 60 Minutes - CBS News share.google/b0u5H2AizGoj...
Great idea! Give each person, say, $5k-10k a year to spend on whatever healthcare they need, and let them keep whatever left over as a "MAHA" bonus.
Now, if there was just a way to mitigate the risk that an unforeseen illness or injury required someone to spend more than $5k-10k a year. 🤔 (Sarcasm)
Now, if there was just a way to mitigate the risk that an unforeseen illness or injury required someone to spend more than $5k-10k a year. 🤔 (Sarcasm)
Trump wants to end the ACA. He said Republicans should send ACA payments meant for insurers directly to Americans.
The math isn’t mathing. My premium’s up way more than the tax credit, and everyone’s costs are different. How would they manage that when they can’t manage basic governance?
1/2
The math isn’t mathing. My premium’s up way more than the tax credit, and everyone’s costs are different. How would they manage that when they can’t manage basic governance?
1/2
November 10, 2025 at 12:06 AM
Great idea! Give each person, say, $5k-10k a year to spend on whatever healthcare they need, and let them keep whatever left over as a "MAHA" bonus.
Now, if there was just a way to mitigate the risk that an unforeseen illness or injury required someone to spend more than $5k-10k a year. 🤔 (Sarcasm)
Now, if there was just a way to mitigate the risk that an unforeseen illness or injury required someone to spend more than $5k-10k a year. 🤔 (Sarcasm)
The Trump Mafia Presidency from @adamserwer.bsky.social
The highly adaptable, grifting protection racket of Trump 47.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
The highly adaptable, grifting protection racket of Trump 47.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
The Mafia Presidency
Trump is saying, essentially, If you don’t want to get hurt, you’ll do what I say.
www.theatlantic.com
November 8, 2025 at 6:33 PM
The Trump Mafia Presidency from @adamserwer.bsky.social
The highly adaptable, grifting protection racket of Trump 47.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
The highly adaptable, grifting protection racket of Trump 47.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
Great idea! Give each person in the country $10,000 a year to spend on whatever healthcare they need, and let them keep whatever left over as a "MAHA" bonus.
Now, if there was just a way to mitigate the risk that an unforeseen illness or injury required someone to spend more than $10k a year. 🤔
Now, if there was just a way to mitigate the risk that an unforeseen illness or injury required someone to spend more than $10k a year. 🤔
Trump: "I am recommending to Senate Republicans that the Hundreds of Billions of Dollars currently being sent to money sucking Insurance Companies in order to save the bad Healthcare provided by ObamaCare, BE SENT DIRECTLY TO THE PEOPLE SO THAT THEY CAN PURCHASE THEIR OWN, MUCH BETTER, HEALTHCARE."
November 8, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Great idea! Give each person in the country $10,000 a year to spend on whatever healthcare they need, and let them keep whatever left over as a "MAHA" bonus.
Now, if there was just a way to mitigate the risk that an unforeseen illness or injury required someone to spend more than $10k a year. 🤔
Now, if there was just a way to mitigate the risk that an unforeseen illness or injury required someone to spend more than $10k a year. 🤔
Waiting for the NYT: "Did Men Ruin the World?" follow up story.
November 8, 2025 at 1:34 PM
Waiting for the NYT: "Did Men Ruin the World?" follow up story.
Oklahoma's favorite former plumber once again assembles words and removes all doubt that he is a dipsh*t (and an exemplary product of that 48th-in-the-nation education).
On second thought, these words appear to be proper English with noun-verb agreement and punctuation, he clearly didn't write it.
On second thought, these words appear to be proper English with noun-verb agreement and punctuation, he clearly didn't write it.
November 8, 2025 at 1:09 PM
Oklahoma's favorite former plumber once again assembles words and removes all doubt that he is a dipsh*t (and an exemplary product of that 48th-in-the-nation education).
On second thought, these words appear to be proper English with noun-verb agreement and punctuation, he clearly didn't write it.
On second thought, these words appear to be proper English with noun-verb agreement and punctuation, he clearly didn't write it.
It's full-moon, Friday-night, bat-sh*t crazy out there tonight. Be careful.
November 8, 2025 at 1:06 AM
It's full-moon, Friday-night, bat-sh*t crazy out there tonight. Be careful.
#RecessionWatch
We are at an economic inflection point:
1) The top 10% income HHs are sustaining consumer spending
2) U of M Consumer Sentiment falls to lowest level ever
3) U of M Future Unemployment expectations rise to highest level ever
4) Large Co. Oct layoffs (153k) largest in 20+ years
We are at an economic inflection point:
1) The top 10% income HHs are sustaining consumer spending
2) U of M Consumer Sentiment falls to lowest level ever
3) U of M Future Unemployment expectations rise to highest level ever
4) Large Co. Oct layoffs (153k) largest in 20+ years
November 7, 2025 at 7:08 PM
#RecessionWatch
We are at an economic inflection point:
1) The top 10% income HHs are sustaining consumer spending
2) U of M Consumer Sentiment falls to lowest level ever
3) U of M Future Unemployment expectations rise to highest level ever
4) Large Co. Oct layoffs (153k) largest in 20+ years
We are at an economic inflection point:
1) The top 10% income HHs are sustaining consumer spending
2) U of M Consumer Sentiment falls to lowest level ever
3) U of M Future Unemployment expectations rise to highest level ever
4) Large Co. Oct layoffs (153k) largest in 20+ years
"A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.”
― Mark Twain
That was before the internet and social media. Now a lie can travel around the world several hundred times before anyone can post to refute it.
― Mark Twain
That was before the internet and social media. Now a lie can travel around the world several hundred times before anyone can post to refute it.
Bessent shamelessly lies: "Inflation came down in April for the first time in four years under President Trump...Walmart came out yesterday and said the Thanksgiving meal is 25% less." (Inflation fell steadily in the last two years of the Biden administration and Walmart is making the meals smaller)
November 7, 2025 at 6:02 PM
"A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.”
― Mark Twain
That was before the internet and social media. Now a lie can travel around the world several hundred times before anyone can post to refute it.
― Mark Twain
That was before the internet and social media. Now a lie can travel around the world several hundred times before anyone can post to refute it.
No other country has Fox News.
👇
👇
“One of the most interesting puzzles in modern #politicalscience has been to explain why #US #society rapidly polarised into a hotbed of tribal animosity over the past four decades, while no other western country has undergone a comparable fracturing.”
www.ft.com/content/5060...
www.ft.com/content/5060...
Why American-style polarisation is spreading across the west
New research shows how incentives in the modern media ecosystem help explain rising division and negativity
www.ft.com
November 7, 2025 at 5:52 PM
No other country has Fox News.
👇
👇
"It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future" - Yogi Berra
This made my day: Utopia, Extinction or Business as Usual.
👇👇👇
This made my day: Utopia, Extinction or Business as Usual.
👇👇👇
AI could end scarcity, end humanity - or boost trend growth by 0.2 percentage points
November 7, 2025 at 5:30 PM
"It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future" - Yogi Berra
This made my day: Utopia, Extinction or Business as Usual.
👇👇👇
This made my day: Utopia, Extinction or Business as Usual.
👇👇👇
Imagine being a DOJ attorney and arguing the Government's position that funds for hungry children and seniors should be withheld. This should be a stain on their resumes which follows them their entire careers and haunts them in their dreams.
BOSTON (AP) - Trump administration seeks an emergency pause to a court order demanding full November SNAP payments.
@apnews.com #SNAP
@apnews.com #SNAP
November 7, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Imagine being a DOJ attorney and arguing the Government's position that funds for hungry children and seniors should be withheld. This should be a stain on their resumes which follows them their entire careers and haunts them in their dreams.
Imagine being a DOJ attorney and arguing the Government's position that funds for hungry children and seniors should be withheld. This should be a stain on their resumes which follows them their entire careers and haunt them in their dreams.
BREAKING: The Trump administration seeks an emergency pause to a court order demanding full November SNAP payments.
Trump administration seeks to halt SNAP food aid payments after a court order
The Trump administration has asked a federal appeals court to block a judge’s order to distribute November’s full SNAP benefits during a U.S. government shutdown. U.S.
bit.ly
November 7, 2025 at 5:16 PM
Imagine being a DOJ attorney and arguing the Government's position that funds for hungry children and seniors should be withheld. This should be a stain on their resumes which follows them their entire careers and haunt them in their dreams.
From @rubenbolling.bsky.social , heartfelt letters home from the war-ravaged fronts.
November 7, 2025 at 5:02 PM
From @rubenbolling.bsky.social , heartfelt letters home from the war-ravaged fronts.
Did NYT really change this headline from its original version?
November 6, 2025 at 5:02 PM
Did NYT really change this headline from its original version?
So now Mike Johnson, who usually doesn't know anything about anything, is now a Nobel laureate economist?
Q: Food prices are still going up. Grocery prices are still going up. How do you respond?
MIKE JOHNSON: All of the economist have shown that food prices always go up. There's an inflationary level that's built in to grocery prices.
MIKE JOHNSON: All of the economist have shown that food prices always go up. There's an inflationary level that's built in to grocery prices.
November 6, 2025 at 4:33 PM
So now Mike Johnson, who usually doesn't know anything about anything, is now a Nobel laureate economist?
So, what does Mike Johnson not know anything about this morning?
November 6, 2025 at 2:13 PM
So, what does Mike Johnson not know anything about this morning?
And promptly walks back the suggestion the US Goverment could provide loan guarantees, but no doubt "the message got through."
www.morningstar.com/news/marketw...
www.morningstar.com/news/marketw...
November 6, 2025 at 1:56 PM
And promptly walks back the suggestion the US Goverment could provide loan guarantees, but no doubt "the message got through."
www.morningstar.com/news/marketw...
www.morningstar.com/news/marketw...
So here's how this scam will go down:
Probably just a Trillion$ government loan guarantee, nothing to see here.
Then, Open AI gets to bring its own $1 Trillion IPO to market to fleece retail investors and reward insiders and private equity with no messy balance sheet liability issues.
Probably just a Trillion$ government loan guarantee, nothing to see here.
Then, Open AI gets to bring its own $1 Trillion IPO to market to fleece retail investors and reward insiders and private equity with no messy balance sheet liability issues.
OpenAI is asking for the federal government to help power a massive expansion of its data center network share.google/Bzll7FP4k7ci...
November 6, 2025 at 3:50 AM
So here's how this scam will go down:
Probably just a Trillion$ government loan guarantee, nothing to see here.
Then, Open AI gets to bring its own $1 Trillion IPO to market to fleece retail investors and reward insiders and private equity with no messy balance sheet liability issues.
Probably just a Trillion$ government loan guarantee, nothing to see here.
Then, Open AI gets to bring its own $1 Trillion IPO to market to fleece retail investors and reward insiders and private equity with no messy balance sheet liability issues.
OpenAI is asking for the federal government to help power a massive expansion of its data center network share.google/Bzll7FP4k7ci...
November 6, 2025 at 2:16 AM
OpenAI is asking for the federal government to help power a massive expansion of its data center network share.google/Bzll7FP4k7ci...
Theory: High-income consumers are downscaling to MCD based on concerns AI might take away their high-income jobs and make them "no-income" consumers. (Which, I guess, is a genuine oxymoron.)
Theory: High-income consumers can more likely afford Ozempic (or have insurance that covers it)
Not sure what’s more worrisome: that McDonalds low-income consumer traffic is down double digits — or that high-income consumer traffic is UP double digits.
$MCD
$MCD
November 5, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Theory: High-income consumers are downscaling to MCD based on concerns AI might take away their high-income jobs and make them "no-income" consumers. (Which, I guess, is a genuine oxymoron.)
Given that lower-income consumers, by definition, outnumber higher-income consumers probably 5 to 1, maybe 8 to 1, this doesn't bode well for MCD 2025 sales and earnings.
Also, how does MCD know who is a low/high income consumer? Based on restaurant location?
Also, how does MCD know who is a low/high income consumer? Based on restaurant location?
Not sure what’s more worrisome: that McDonalds low-income consumer traffic is down double digits — or that high-income consumer traffic is UP double digits.
$MCD
$MCD
November 5, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Given that lower-income consumers, by definition, outnumber higher-income consumers probably 5 to 1, maybe 8 to 1, this doesn't bode well for MCD 2025 sales and earnings.
Also, how does MCD know who is a low/high income consumer? Based on restaurant location?
Also, how does MCD know who is a low/high income consumer? Based on restaurant location?