Ian Stone
@ianstone.bsky.social
Leftist, trumpet player, beleaguered fan of the Milwaukee Brewers, living in the blue heart of WI
He/Him
He/Him
Reposted by Ian Stone
This isn't hyperbole. In 2023, I watched Cigna revoke approval for my friend Carole's life-saving lung transplant *minutes* before surgery was set to begin—a decision that very nearly killed her.
Public outrage in response to a viral post about her situation is the only reason she's alive today.
Public outrage in response to a viral post about her situation is the only reason she's alive today.
insurance companies literally kill people
UnitedHealth reduced hospitalizations for nursing home seniors. Now it faces wrongful death claims
The company says it is protecting nursing home residents by curbing unnecessary hospital transfers. Whistleblowers allege cost-cutting tactics have endangered the elderly
www.theguardian.com
December 17, 2025 at 6:52 PM
This isn't hyperbole. In 2023, I watched Cigna revoke approval for my friend Carole's life-saving lung transplant *minutes* before surgery was set to begin—a decision that very nearly killed her.
Public outrage in response to a viral post about her situation is the only reason she's alive today.
Public outrage in response to a viral post about her situation is the only reason she's alive today.
Dr. Strangelove, A Serious Man, Groundhog Day. Past that idk
was recently asked my favorite comedies, which is a good question, and I'm not sure the answer. I think Big Lebowski is probably number 1, but after that, idk? Monty Python and the Holy Grail and Best in Show were the other two that came to mind. So let's hear your faves
December 14, 2025 at 8:13 PM
Dr. Strangelove, A Serious Man, Groundhog Day. Past that idk
Reposted by Ian Stone
This is nothing but a handout. Nobody cares what the curricular implementation looks like, because the sole purpose is lock-in contracts for EdTech companies (all AI companies are EdTech companies now).
It's hard to overstate how impossible this demand is from Purdue's administration to implement these AI requirements by next fall. We are nowhere close to understanding what AI proficiency means or what it looks like in education.
www.forbes.com/sites/michae...
www.forbes.com/sites/michae...
December 14, 2025 at 3:43 PM
This is nothing but a handout. Nobody cares what the curricular implementation looks like, because the sole purpose is lock-in contracts for EdTech companies (all AI companies are EdTech companies now).
Reposted by Ian Stone
A college student complaining about a grade on a paper is not national news. Not even close. The details have minimal import outside the class itself.
Well-funded political activists targeting profs and TAs—in this case because they're trans—with the help of elected state officials? National issue.
Well-funded political activists targeting profs and TAs—in this case because they're trans—with the help of elected state officials? National issue.
December 1, 2025 at 5:31 PM
A college student complaining about a grade on a paper is not national news. Not even close. The details have minimal import outside the class itself.
Well-funded political activists targeting profs and TAs—in this case because they're trans—with the help of elected state officials? National issue.
Well-funded political activists targeting profs and TAs—in this case because they're trans—with the help of elected state officials? National issue.
Reposted by Ian Stone
The Nordic Social Democratic model every white socdem faps to cannot exist long term without the Soviet Union keeping western governments honest about its social safety nets
The Danish Social Democrats are currently on course for their worst election result since at least the Second World War, despite their brand of far-right accommodationism being touted as a blueprint for other centre-left parties.
Oh
November 18, 2025 at 2:58 PM
The Nordic Social Democratic model every white socdem faps to cannot exist long term without the Soviet Union keeping western governments honest about its social safety nets
Reposted by Ian Stone
Bad AI supplanting human expertise is an issue that transcends any one field, but man—not many people on earth whose knowledge and dedication deserves respect like LIBRARIANS.
The long-running ideological war on libraries, education, and government workers is not separate from AI boosterism. It is the same ideological war on human knowledge and expertise. In some cases AI is being used to directly supercharge this effort:
www.404media.co/ai-is-superc...
www.404media.co/ai-is-superc...
AI Is Supercharging the War on Libraries, Education, and Human Knowledge
"Fascism and AI, whether or not they have the same goals, they sure are working to accelerate one another."
www.404media.co
November 6, 2025 at 5:19 PM
Bad AI supplanting human expertise is an issue that transcends any one field, but man—not many people on earth whose knowledge and dedication deserves respect like LIBRARIANS.
Reposted by Ian Stone
Keynesianism is like Ozempic in that it's something that works but makes people mad because they want moral hazard to be involved
There’s a certain kind of person who thinks Keynesian stimulus is “putting off” a necessary correction and I’m always amazed how many of them there are.
What if MAGA did the Great Leap Forward?
April 4, 2025 at 3:36 AM
Keynesianism is like Ozempic in that it's something that works but makes people mad because they want moral hazard to be involved
Reposted by Ian Stone
We are fighting for true freedom. The freedom to live a life of dignity and joy.
A life of 80 hour work weeks, of constantly struggling to get by, being trapped in a shitty job by your health insurance — this is not freedom, and we are not free. But we could be. If we fight.
A life of 80 hour work weeks, of constantly struggling to get by, being trapped in a shitty job by your health insurance — this is not freedom, and we are not free. But we could be. If we fight.
October 15, 2025 at 9:14 PM
We are fighting for true freedom. The freedom to live a life of dignity and joy.
A life of 80 hour work weeks, of constantly struggling to get by, being trapped in a shitty job by your health insurance — this is not freedom, and we are not free. But we could be. If we fight.
A life of 80 hour work weeks, of constantly struggling to get by, being trapped in a shitty job by your health insurance — this is not freedom, and we are not free. But we could be. If we fight.
Reposted by Ian Stone
Using ChatGPT
What's something that isn't considered embarrassing but you think it should be?
August 23, 2025 at 7:01 AM
Using ChatGPT
Reposted by Ian Stone
When prices were going up under Biden there was a constant deluge of news stories about it because the media did not like Biden and wanted him to lose. Under Trump there is not a constant deluge of news stories about coffee prices because they like Trump and want him to win
everything is on fire these days, sure, but how is it that 50% of all news stories are not about how I just spent $20 on a bag of store brand coffee at fucking costco
October 10, 2025 at 12:51 AM
When prices were going up under Biden there was a constant deluge of news stories about it because the media did not like Biden and wanted him to lose. Under Trump there is not a constant deluge of news stories about coffee prices because they like Trump and want him to win
Reposted by Ian Stone
feels like we're living through some kind of cultural gas leak
Microsoft launches ‘vibe working’ in Excel and Word
Microsoft launches ‘vibe working’ in Excel and Word
Vibe working is all about Office’s new Agent Mode.
buff.ly
October 1, 2025 at 4:52 PM
feels like we're living through some kind of cultural gas leak
Reposted by Ian Stone
It would appear that uncritically funding the people that hate us so much that they mint coins commemorating body counts instead of listening to the people who said that the institutional rot within the police is so deeply engrained that they represent a danger to us all has mysteriously backfired.
NOTUS:
Dem House Rep Steven Horsford:
“They called the local sheriff; they showed up and were going to arrest me. These are the same people that I’m supposed to call to coordinate security or to do support when I have a town hall.”
www.notus.org/democrats/me...
Dem House Rep Steven Horsford:
“They called the local sheriff; they showed up and were going to arrest me. These are the same people that I’m supposed to call to coordinate security or to do support when I have a town hall.”
www.notus.org/democrats/me...
Democrats' New Fear: They Can’t Rely on Local Law Enforcement for Protection
“They called the local sheriff; they showed up and were going to arrest me,” said Rep. Steven Horsford.
www.notus.org
September 20, 2025 at 7:56 PM
It would appear that uncritically funding the people that hate us so much that they mint coins commemorating body counts instead of listening to the people who said that the institutional rot within the police is so deeply engrained that they represent a danger to us all has mysteriously backfired.
Reposted by Ian Stone
a diverse kaleidoscope of personalities is dominating our culture now. from grandiose narcissists to hysterical narcissists. a rich tapestry of the cream of the american crop
September 19, 2025 at 11:51 PM
a diverse kaleidoscope of personalities is dominating our culture now. from grandiose narcissists to hysterical narcissists. a rich tapestry of the cream of the american crop
Reposted by Ian Stone
The shape of politics in the US right now is increasingly that the media, political and economic elites are allied with the Trump regime against the actual people of the country who hate it
trump approval hits a new low in today's yougov/economist poll. now worse than he was in yougov's data at this point in 2017 www.economist.com/interactive/...
September 16, 2025 at 5:19 PM
The shape of politics in the US right now is increasingly that the media, political and economic elites are allied with the Trump regime against the actual people of the country who hate it
Reposted by Ian Stone
imo "violence aimed at elites from non-elites" is the category of violence most disfavored in elite discourse. and violence that flows from elites to non-elites is not conceived of as violence at all. and these ideas frame the entire elite conception of who charlie kirk was and what his murder means
I think there are a lot of answers that have already been floated around here, and I've even offered some myself, but I did want to sharpen the question a bit.
September 14, 2025 at 3:14 PM
imo "violence aimed at elites from non-elites" is the category of violence most disfavored in elite discourse. and violence that flows from elites to non-elites is not conceived of as violence at all. and these ideas frame the entire elite conception of who charlie kirk was and what his murder means
Reposted by Ian Stone
The simple way to reconcile these two things is to recognize that the first is a bad opinion & the second is an outright lie
We are told that Charlie Kirk was "doing politics the right way" by going to universities to speak his mind.
We are told that universities do not allow people with Charlie Kirk's views to speak their minds.
It is odd to be told both those things.
We are told that universities do not allow people with Charlie Kirk's views to speak their minds.
It is odd to be told both those things.
September 13, 2025 at 3:21 PM
The simple way to reconcile these two things is to recognize that the first is a bad opinion & the second is an outright lie
Reposted by Ian Stone
When university administrators announce that they are excited about something, you know it's going to be super bad
September 1, 2025 at 4:08 PM
When university administrators announce that they are excited about something, you know it's going to be super bad
Reposted by Ian Stone
If you are okay with this, if you think this is justified, if you think people living on the street have brought this upon themselves, if you think this is good leadership, you may be able to fool yourself that you care about others but you don’t fool me
Newsom launches statewide task force to clear homeless encampments
Newsom launches statewide task force to clear homeless encampments
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday announced the creation of a statewide task force aimed at dismantling homeless encampments on state property and expanding access to shelter and services. The State Acti…
ktla.com
August 29, 2025 at 8:07 PM
If you are okay with this, if you think this is justified, if you think people living on the street have brought this upon themselves, if you think this is good leadership, you may be able to fool yourself that you care about others but you don’t fool me
Reposted by Ian Stone
Reposted by Ian Stone
Justice Sotomayor suggests—implausibly—that justices somehow have a vested property interest in their office. Yet another reason why relying on judges to be reformers is an absolute disaster.
August 9, 2025 at 4:39 PM
Justice Sotomayor suggests—implausibly—that justices somehow have a vested property interest in their office. Yet another reason why relying on judges to be reformers is an absolute disaster.
Reposted by Ian Stone
the history of the united states is of consistently *almost* meeting moments of crisis with transformative change, before rapidly backpedaling at the last second. reconstruction was sabotaged, the new deal didn't go far enough, and racial integration was never finished. ours is a history of failure.
Efforts to paint the moments we're in as “anti-American” while romanticizing US history and its foundations do not dig us out of fascism; they dig us deeper in. Tell the truth about how this country came to be and what it is now, or expect more problems.
August 3, 2025 at 10:17 PM
the history of the united states is of consistently *almost* meeting moments of crisis with transformative change, before rapidly backpedaling at the last second. reconstruction was sabotaged, the new deal didn't go far enough, and racial integration was never finished. ours is a history of failure.
Reposted by Ian Stone
Stand by this: www.politico.com/newsletters/...
February 19, 2025 at 4:42 PM
Stand by this: www.politico.com/newsletters/...
Reposted by Ian Stone
if we are going to do this i'd like it to at least be acknowledged that this is another one way street in american politics where atheists are expected to treat christians and their beliefs with kid gloves and the opposite is never, ever reciprocated
July 28, 2025 at 8:15 PM
if we are going to do this i'd like it to at least be acknowledged that this is another one way street in american politics where atheists are expected to treat christians and their beliefs with kid gloves and the opposite is never, ever reciprocated