Susan Bianconi
@sjbianconi.bsky.social
Reader. Watcher of birds and old movies. “If we had a keen vision and feeling of all ordinary human life, it would be like hearing the grass grow and the squirrel’s heart beat; and we should die of that roar which lies on the other side of silence.”
Reposted by Susan Bianconi
Last fall, Blue Cross got hit with a $421 million verdict after jurors found it defrauded doctors. It was one of the biggest verdicts ever outside a class action - and it revealed the inner workings of how insurers block payments. My latest. www.propublica.org/article/blue...
“Slow Pay, Low Pay or No Pay”
Blue Cross authorized mastectomies and breast reconstructions for women with cancer but refused to pay the full doctors’ bills. A jury called it fraud and awarded the practice $421 million.
www.propublica.org
April 12, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Last fall, Blue Cross got hit with a $421 million verdict after jurors found it defrauded doctors. It was one of the biggest verdicts ever outside a class action - and it revealed the inner workings of how insurers block payments. My latest. www.propublica.org/article/blue...
One really good thing! Congratulations, Wisconsin. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/01/u...
Susan Crawford Wins Wisconsin Supreme Court Election, Despite Elon Musk’s Millions (Gift Article)
Susan Crawford defeated Brad Schimel for a State Supreme Court seat in a race that shattered spending records and maintained a liberal majority on the court.
www.nytimes.com
April 2, 2025 at 3:44 AM
One really good thing! Congratulations, Wisconsin. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/01/u...
Amen!
This gorgeous piece on "the working-class university" in our present crisis doesn’t shy from defending the humanities for their own sake—"serious work in English prepares its participants, as I think almost nothing else can, for the perplexities, anguishes, & errant joys of being alive in the world"
Memos of Blood and Fire | Peter Coviello
So if you ask me about the signature strength of the department where I work, I will tell you. It is world-caliber field-defining research, wedded to a fantastically dynamic practice of instruction, a...
www.nplusonemag.com
March 9, 2025 at 12:14 PM
Amen!
Essential reading—including preferential backdoor to Musk for Republicans seeking private restoration of injurious cuts (illegal in the first place). www.meditationsinanemergency.com/if-we-must-b...
Shocking But Not Surprising Strikes Again (and Again)
The Caprices of the Oligarchs
Shocking but not surprising is a phrase I've often reverted to in the past eight years, for things that are both hideous and predictable, maybe transgressive against the...
www.meditationsinanemergency.com
March 7, 2025 at 1:30 AM
Essential reading—including preferential backdoor to Musk for Republicans seeking private restoration of injurious cuts (illegal in the first place). www.meditationsinanemergency.com/if-we-must-b...
Reposted by Susan Bianconi
Great op-ed by the peerless Michael Kinnucan about the party-crossing politics of Medicaid:
www.nytimes.com/2025/02/28/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/02/28/o...
Opinion | Republicans Want to Gut Medicaid. They Might Regret It.
Maybe they should get a second opinion.
www.nytimes.com
February 28, 2025 at 7:34 PM
Great op-ed by the peerless Michael Kinnucan about the party-crossing politics of Medicaid:
www.nytimes.com/2025/02/28/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/02/28/o...
Devoted to every freedom, apparently, except that of diverse opinion. 😡
SCOOP: WaPo Opinion editor David Shipley is out. Jeff Bezos emails staff about a change to Post Opinions: "We are going to be writing every day in support and defense of two pillars: personal liberties and free markets."
February 27, 2025 at 3:20 AM
Devoted to every freedom, apparently, except that of diverse opinion. 😡
Reposted by Susan Bianconi
RED ALERT: Now Is the Moment, Folks talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/red-a...
RED ALERT: Now Is the Moment, Folks
Over recent weeks I’ve told you several times that while Democrats are...
talkingpointsmemo.com
February 25, 2025 at 4:29 AM
RED ALERT: Now Is the Moment, Folks talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/red-a...
Reposted by Susan Bianconi
El Capitan displays a massive American flag upside down—the traditional signal of distress or extreme emergency.
February 23, 2025 at 6:01 PM
El Capitan displays a massive American flag upside down—the traditional signal of distress or extreme emergency.
Reposted by Susan Bianconi
Is Donald Trump going to respond to Musk’s email and report on what he did last week?
To help, I’ve gone ahead and done it for him. A thread:
To help, I’ve gone ahead and done it for him. A thread:
February 23, 2025 at 8:07 PM
Is Donald Trump going to respond to Musk’s email and report on what he did last week?
To help, I’ve gone ahead and done it for him. A thread:
To help, I’ve gone ahead and done it for him. A thread:
This is deeply troubling.
Peter Cole and Adina Hoffman on this weekend’s raid of the Educational Bookshop in East Jerusalem www.haaretz.com/opinion/2025...
The next great threat to Israel's national security: An educational bookshop | Opinion
***
www.haaretz.com
February 11, 2025 at 5:22 PM
This is deeply troubling.
Reposted by Susan Bianconi
Good point from @normeisen.bsky.social: Beating Trump in court has added effects: energizes opposition, alerts media to get aggressive, triggers MAGA. Trump isn't invincible.
On the pod, Norm is terrific on Elon's hints at defying the courts and what comes next:
newrepublic.com/article/1913...
On the pod, Norm is terrific on Elon's hints at defying the courts and what comes next:
newrepublic.com/article/1913...
Musk’s Threats Suddenly Darken as Trump Legal Losses Trigger MAGA Fury
As MAGA begins flirting with defying the courts, prominent Trump opponent Norm Eisen explains why the legal resistance is beginning to have success, why that’s infuriating Musk, and what’s coming next.
newrepublic.com
February 10, 2025 at 12:39 PM
Good point from @normeisen.bsky.social: Beating Trump in court has added effects: energizes opposition, alerts media to get aggressive, triggers MAGA. Trump isn't invincible.
On the pod, Norm is terrific on Elon's hints at defying the courts and what comes next:
newrepublic.com/article/1913...
On the pod, Norm is terrific on Elon's hints at defying the courts and what comes next:
newrepublic.com/article/1913...
Reposted by Susan Bianconi
JD Vance knows perfectly well what the truth is here. But if a lie will be more useful to him, he knows what to do.
February 9, 2025 at 4:34 PM
JD Vance knows perfectly well what the truth is here. But if a lie will be more useful to him, he knows what to do.
Agree. No law school taught the VP to ignore judicial authority.
Yale Law School doesn't seem to be sending its best.
JD Vance - If you believe any of the multiple federal courts that have ruled against you so far are exceeding their statutory or Constitutional authority, your recourse is to appeal. You don’t get to rage-quit the Republic just because you are losing. That’s tyranny.
February 9, 2025 at 10:29 PM
Agree. No law school taught the VP to ignore judicial authority.
Appalling. “We have betrayed the trust of ministries of health . . . in the countries where we were working and of the women . . . I’ve never seen anything like it in my 40 years of doing international research. It’s unethical, it’s dangerous and it’s reckless.” www.nytimes.com/2025/02/06/h...
Dozens of Clinical Trials Have Been Frozen in Response to Trump’s USAID Order (Gift Article)
The stop-work order on U.S.A.I.D.-funded research has left thousands of people with experimental drugs and devices in their bodies, with no access to monitoring or care.
www.nytimes.com
February 7, 2025 at 3:21 AM
Appalling. “We have betrayed the trust of ministries of health . . . in the countries where we were working and of the women . . . I’ve never seen anything like it in my 40 years of doing international research. It’s unethical, it’s dangerous and it’s reckless.” www.nytimes.com/2025/02/06/h...
Digging in. “Mr. Dennehy likened the current situation to his days as a Marine in the early 1990s, when he dug a small foxhole five feet deep and hunkered down for safety.
‘It sucked,” he wrote. “But it worked.’” www.nytimes.com/2025/02/02/u...
‘It sucked,” he wrote. “But it worked.’” www.nytimes.com/2025/02/02/u...
Top F.B.I. Agent in New York Vows to ‘Dig In’ After Removals at Agency (Gift Article)
James E. Dennehy, the highly respected leader of the largest and most important field office in the bureau, said in an email to staff that the F.B.I. was in a “battle of our own.”
www.nytimes.com
February 3, 2025 at 12:54 AM
Digging in. “Mr. Dennehy likened the current situation to his days as a Marine in the early 1990s, when he dug a small foxhole five feet deep and hunkered down for safety.
‘It sucked,” he wrote. “But it worked.’” www.nytimes.com/2025/02/02/u...
‘It sucked,” he wrote. “But it worked.’” www.nytimes.com/2025/02/02/u...
Resist. (Kudos to the CA Department of Education.)
February 1, 2025 at 3:24 AM
Resist. (Kudos to the CA Department of Education.)
Reposted by Susan Bianconi
The Internet Archive has to date downloaded 500 terabytes of US government websites, which it crawls at the end of every presidential term. The whole archive is fully searchable. This effort's housed by a donation-funded nonprofit, not a branch of the US government. blog.archive.org/2024/05/08/e...
End of Term Web Archive – Preserving the Transition of a Nation | Internet Archive Blogs
blog.archive.org
February 1, 2025 at 12:58 AM
The Internet Archive has to date downloaded 500 terabytes of US government websites, which it crawls at the end of every presidential term. The whole archive is fully searchable. This effort's housed by a donation-funded nonprofit, not a branch of the US government. blog.archive.org/2024/05/08/e...
Reposted by Susan Bianconi
“A group of researchers and students at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health is gathered today for a data preservation marathon, scraping and downloading data related to health equity from U.S. government agency websites before they disappear.”
Researchers rush to preserve federal health databases before they disappear from government websites
Journalists have long relied on federal health data for their reporting. We include several tips that they can use to help researchers preserve the data.
journalistsresource.org
February 1, 2025 at 3:04 AM
“A group of researchers and students at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health is gathered today for a data preservation marathon, scraping and downloading data related to health equity from U.S. government agency websites before they disappear.”
Absolutely disgraceful. As with the unlawful firing of the inspectors general, the purge of the DoJ and the FBI has led at least one historian to comment it’s like what Stalin did to the Red Army. www.nytimes.com/live/2025/01...
Trump Tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China Will Take Effect Saturday: Live Updates (Gift Article)
www.nytimes.com
February 1, 2025 at 3:05 AM
Absolutely disgraceful. As with the unlawful firing of the inspectors general, the purge of the DoJ and the FBI has led at least one historian to comment it’s like what Stalin did to the Red Army. www.nytimes.com/live/2025/01...
This was essential reading yesterday (as so often, thanks to Rebecca Solnit) and remains so today. Keep up the noise. substack.com/@roberthubbe...
Trump goes full dictator
January 28, 2025
substack.com
January 29, 2025 at 1:31 PM
This was essential reading yesterday (as so often, thanks to Rebecca Solnit) and remains so today. Keep up the noise. substack.com/@roberthubbe...
Reposted by Susan Bianconi
Does the federal employee buyout include Trump?
January 29, 2025 at 1:42 AM
Does the federal employee buyout include Trump?
The Inspectors General refuse to leave. 👍 static.politico.com/b3/3e/5baf92...
static.politico.com
January 26, 2025 at 3:15 AM
The Inspectors General refuse to leave. 👍 static.politico.com/b3/3e/5baf92...
Reposted by Susan Bianconi
As expected, the Trump team is already deleting climate info from government websites. In anticipation, our team at Urban Ocean Lab created a permanent archive of 100+ key resources and published a permanent archive: www.urbanoceanlab.org/resource-hub 👩🏽💻
January 24, 2025 at 9:12 PM
As expected, the Trump team is already deleting climate info from government websites. In anticipation, our team at Urban Ocean Lab created a permanent archive of 100+ key resources and published a permanent archive: www.urbanoceanlab.org/resource-hub 👩🏽💻