Rot26 πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡ΈπŸ€πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦

Rot26 πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡ΈπŸ€πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦

@rot26.wtf

Infosec. Professor. Studies Conflict, Cyber, and Influence Operations. Also, Emergency Management, Community Resilience and Weather. Optimist. Christian, but not a jerk about it. Fella from way back. Brain Damage Haver. Tries to be a helper. He/Him

888 followers781 following3.1K posts

I absolutely love this perspective... I've had a heck of a week, and this is the type of positivity that is going to get me through what is shaping up to be a heck of a weekend.

Cathy Gellis@cathygellis.bsky.social

I choose to be more optimistic and think recovery from Trump may create opportunities for better solutions to problems that were already brewing. As long as we need to rebuild, we can rebuild better. (But it requires the right US leaders capable of the vision needed to lead the rebuild, and asap.)

A ton of things have gotten better in my lifetime... It doesn't mean we have to pretend stuff doesn't suck, and it doesn't mean we should ignore the backsliding that we're seeing worldwide, but if you truly think things are worse now than they were in say the 1970s, you're fooling yourself.

Social media loves talking about how everything is getting worse. But what’s something that you’ve seen get _better_ in your lifetime?

Rot26 πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡ΈπŸ€πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ reposted

It strikes me that Yglesias just has no concept of non-electoral politics whatsoever. He has a set of cookie-cutter advice for political candidates in general elections. He applies this advice to literally everyone all the time. This is dumb for obvious reasons that are hard to miss.

Jake Grumbach@jakemgrumbach.bsky.social

A helpfully clear exchange here Hasan: "So your argument is that [Minnesota ICE protesters] should stay at home because immigration is a salient issue for Donald Trump. Opposing ICE is only going to help Trump. Wait until we win the election in 2028." Yglesias: "Yes that is what I would have said"

These idiots are always talking about ScIeNcE fIcTiOn while VERY CLEARLY MISSING THE GODDAMN POINT.

Amy Feldman@amyfeldman7.bsky.social

*NEW* Colossal Biosciences’ Ben Lamm and Anduril’s Palmer Luckey team up on a new startup to genetically engineer war dogs for the military. Warhound comes out of stealth at $1.2B valuation For @forbes.com with @iainmartin.bsky.social and @mhunterhart.bsky.social www.forbes.com/sites/amyfel...

Rot26 πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡ΈπŸ€πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ reposted

The same people who insist on policing public bathrooms in order to protect girls from sexual predators are now calling a child rape victim, whose mother lost custody due to that abuse, a liar. loathsome

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com

Trump: "Ramaswamy put up a very powerful Ad about a mother saying that her daughter, Acton, is a liar, and much worse. The Press is trying to get him to 'take down the Ad.' Frankly, anybody whose mother spoke about daughter that way would normally lead to the daughter being precluded from serving"

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Also, like, the idea that you all created a situation that will maybe get fixed in 18 months and it's sort of up to all of us to just figure it out until then, is in my opinion, the kind of thing you should just shut the fuck up about, while the rest of us worry about how to clean up your mess.

and another thing: i’m not mad. You have 48 hours to cease and desist telling people that I’m mad.

Lauren Ashley Davis@laurenmeidasa.bsky.social

The White House counsel's office warned Politico in a Monday letter that it had 48 hours to retract or correct recent stories about alleged staff drama, or it would suffer unspecified consequences. That deadline expires Thursday. www.axios.com/2026/10/21/w...

Ok, great - NOW CONGRESS NEEDS TO FIND OUT WHY THE FUCK WE STOPPED WARNING UKRAINE OF INCOMING ATTACKS IN THE FIRST FUCKING PLACE.

Euromaidan Press@euromaidanpress.bsky.social

The US has restored intelligence sharing with Ukraine, including warnings of Russian ballistic missile launches, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says. Kyiv went without advance warnings during multiple Russian attacks over the last week, leaving no time to alert civilians before missiles hit cities.

Never ceases to amaze me how utterly incompetent these people are... Ukraine has had access to Starshield since 2024... the fact that Rubio doesn't know that *at this moment* is shocking, even for him.

Hoodlum πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡Έ@nothoodlum.bsky.social

A stuttering Marco Rubio: β€œNobody ordered that Starlink speed to be slowed down. It sorta happened.”

Having seen this video, I would describe it as Michigan Democratic Senate nominee patiently explains an important element of the constitution to a guy who likely claims to carry a little copy of the constitution in his pocket at all times.

CNN@cnn.com

Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed disavowed the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist political movement, during a heated exchange at a town hall. https://cnn.it/4s7r1TL

So, I've been arguing with economists today... Specifically, about whether $30k in medical debt can be life-changing for someone in their early 20s. Apparently, because the average person earns a couple million dollars over their lifetime, $30k isn't that big a deal. 1/n

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I think there's a broader problem here. You can get so caught up in a theory, a model, or a study that you stop thinking critically about whether it actually applies to the problem you're trying to understand. You can also very easily lose site of the real people this impacts. 10/n

So, I've been arguing with economists today... Specifically, about whether $30k in medical debt can be life-changing for someone in their early 20s. Apparently, because the average person earns a couple million dollars over their lifetime, $30k isn't that big a deal. 1/n

View full thread

But there's still a pretty important gap. How much of the long-term damage comes from the medical debt itself, versus the illness? And how does that change for someone who's 22, has little savings, and suddenly owes $30k? The research doesn't give us a clean answer to those questions. 8/n

As someone who has had a meaningful amount of their life impacted by exactly these issues, I think it's really important that we work to close those gaps. I also think its really important that we approach these problems with a degree empathy and humility. Today that was seriously lacking. 9/n

So, I've been arguing with economists today... Specifically, about whether $30k in medical debt can be life-changing for someone in their early 20s. Apparently, because the average person earns a couple million dollars over their lifetime, $30k isn't that big a deal. 1/n

View full thread

I'm not disputing the studies. I'm disputing what people are trying to infer from them. Winning the lottery isn't the same thing as going into medical debt, and having flood insurance pay off your mortgage isn't either. You can't just ignore those differences because the numbers look similar. 6/n

And there's actual existing research on this. Studies of hospitalization show increased medical debt, bankruptcies, reduced earnings, and problems accessing credit. As someone pointed out, the largest financial consequences may come from lost earnings rather than the medical bills themselves. 7/n

So, I've been arguing with economists today... Specifically, about whether $30k in medical debt can be life-changing for someone in their early 20s. Apparently, because the average person earns a couple million dollars over their lifetime, $30k isn't that big a deal. 1/n

View full thread

Compare that to someone who's 45, makes $200k a year, and has $100k sitting in savings. It's the same $30k medical bill. For one person, it's an inconvenience. For the other, it could change the next decade of their life. I feel like that should be pretty obvious to people. 4/n

But then we got into the research. Apparently, studies showing that lottery winnings have relatively modest long-term effects, and that people's credit scores recover after a Hurricane, are evidence that $30k in medical debt probably isn't life-changing. I'm not entirely sure how we got there. 5/n

So, I've been arguing with economists today... Specifically, about whether $30k in medical debt can be life-changing for someone in their early 20s. Apparently, because the average person earns a couple million dollars over their lifetime, $30k isn't that big a deal. 1/n

I understand the argument. If you spread $30k over 40 years of earnings, it doesn't seem like a large amount of money. But that's a pretty strange way to look at the finances of someone who's 22, making $40k a year, and suddenly owes $30k in medical bills. 2/n

That person doesn't have access to the next 40 years of earnings. They have rent, groceries, car payments, and whatever else they need to survive. Maybe they put expenses on credit cards, delay finishing school, or spend years paying interest instead of saving. Those things have consequences. 3/n