Maureen Taikowski

[Wall Street Apes @WallStreetApes]

American is a healthy 28 year old, he decided to skip paying for health insurance this year because the cheapest plan was $900 per month with a high deductible

He had to spend 2 nights in the ER without insurance, he breaks down the bill

“This is my receipt from spending 2 days in the hospital:

- It totaled about $24,000
- My CT scan alone was $8,300
- Laboratory, 6,000
- IV therapy, $1,020, $4,000 in total

And while $24,000 seems like a lot of money, let me show you something. This is what I'm actually paying, $2,478

because when you don't have insurance, these hospitals give you a discount. They discounted $22,000 off of this bill”

“But if I had insurance, I wouldn't have gotten that discount. So it would've been a $24,000 bill billed to my insurance, and then my insurance would've said, ‘Hey, you have a $5,000 deductible. You need to pay $5,000 for this last emergency room visit.’

Then you tack on the $900 a month that I'd be paying for that insurance. I'd be paying $20K this year for healthcare.

So the craziest part about this is even if I have another hospital visit, by the end of this year, I'm still gonna be paying less than I would if I had insurance. At minimum, my cost for healthcare this year would've been $20,000 with insurance. Right now I'm at $2,400.”

US Health Insurance is a scam

[aly ✶ @jinthirty]

Jimmy Butler recruiting Coco Gauff to support the Warriors after she said she loves Steph Curry 😂

“By the way, your team hurt me, by the way. The Heat hurt me. Yeah, the Heat hurt me. I just wanna say. Switch alliances. And remember, Steph is on my team now so like, everybody love Steph.”

(via @BNPPARIBASOPEN)

[Marco Foster @MarcoFoster_]

Lawrence O’Donnell quotes the scathing takedown of Trump in the NY Daily News: “It is time to acknowledge what has become tragically obvious: the Trump administration is operating as a massive criminal enterprise. It lies, steals, extorts, and murders — all while cloaked in the awesome authority of the state. It is on a crime spree that puts Al Capone to shame.”

[Served with Andy Roddick @Served_Podcast]

Can’t keep this guy off the grass #SuperBowlLX

[Jamie Bonkiewicz @JamieBonkiewicz]

They love saying “America is a Christian nation” until it comes time to:

welcoming immigrants
helping the poor
feeding the hungry
housing the unhoused
providing healthcare
showing mercy
practicing humility
telling the truth
being faithful to their spouses
caring for the sick
protecting children
loving their neighbors
showing basic empathy

[Marco Foster @MarcoFoster_]

Jesse Ventura: “They tell us they’re making us safer? In January of 2026, there were three murders in the city of Minneapolis. Two of them were done by ICE. So ICE is the leading murderer in the month of January, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minnesota” (Video: @PaulRieckhoff)

[Brian Tyler Cohen @briantylercohen]

“The reason Trump didn’t apologize is because he is a small, petty, fragile man who cannot take responsibility for his own actions. And the second reason, frankly, is because he is a racist... He took out a full page ad in the NYT calling for the execution of 5 Black kids for murdering someone who they did not murder. He started his political career by denying the citizenship of the first Black president. And right now, a secret police force is rounding up brown and Black people for the crime of being brown and Black.”

H/t @Elex_Michaelson

[💙🌊 Zero Dark Twenty-Nine 🌊🌊🖋️🧫 @herotimeszero]

No, they're not Navy Seals. They're not Delta Force. They're not going to fight terrorists, or foreign armies, or organized crime, or violent criminals. They have all that firepower to beat up grannies from Honduras, go up against 5-year-olds, and shoot Americans in the back.

[Brian Allen @allenanalysis]

ICE fired “less-than-lethal” rounds at an Alex Pretti memorial and severely injured an American Indian woman’s hand.

Let that sink in.

They used impact munitions on people mourning the man they killed.

This is state violence.

[Rick Reilly @ReillyRick]

@realjoshuareid Is that near where it says only congress can issue tariffs or declare war? Or is it closer to where it says the military cannot be used against our own citizens?

[Camus @newstart_2024]

Roger Federer broke the internet with one statistic that will change how you see every setback in your life.
1,526 singles matches.
Won almost 80% of them.
20 Grand Slams. 103 titles.

Now answer honestly:
What percentage of total points do you think he won across his entire career?
70%? 65%? 60%?

Try … 54%.
He lost literally almost EVERY SECOND POINT he ever played for 24 years.

And still became one of the greatest of all time.

Watch him explain it himself (2:07 of pure life-changing wisdom):
“In tennis, perfection is impossible… When you lose every second point on average, you teach yourself to say:
‘Okay, I double-faulted — it’s only one point.’
‘Okay I got passed at the net — it’s only one point.’
Even a screaming overhead smash that ends up on SportsCenter Top 10… still just one point.

So when you’re playing your point, it has to be the most important thing in the world.
The moment it’s over — it’s behind you.

That mindset frees you to attack the next point, and the next, and the next with absolute intensity and clarity.”

Then he looked at the crowd and said the line that hit a billion people in the soul:
“The real sign of a champion is not that they win every point.
It’s that they lose again and again and again… and have learned how to deal with it.
Negative energy is wasted energy.
Cry it out if you have to. Then force a smile.
Move on. Be relentless. Adapt. Grow.
Work harder — and work smarter.”

Save this post.

The next time you lose a deal, bomb a presentation, get ghosted, miss a deadline, or just have “one of those days” — come back here and read it again.

You’re not falling behind.
You’re just in the 46%.
And the 46% is exactly where every single legend has spent most of their career.

Keep playing the next point.
(full 2:07 clip — sound on)

[Robert Reich @RBReich]

Over half of the corporations bankrolling Trump’s vanity ballroom are facing (or recently faced) federal investigations into wrongdoing — including violating workers’ rights or misleading consumers.

They also have a combined $279 BILLION in federal contracts.

Follow the money.

[Brad @BraddrofliT]

If someone works full-time and receives SNAP, that means your taxpayer dollars are subsidizing the company's profits bc it refuses to pay them a livable wage.
This can only be said so many ways; it isn’t difficult to grasp.

[Nancy Sinatra @NancySinatra]

DO SOMETHING.

[WarriorsMuse @WarriorsMuse]

In 2009, before Stephen Curry was drafted, the Warriors were ranked 77th out of 92 NBA, NFL, and MLB teams in terms of franchise valuation.

Fast forward to today, and the Warriors are #2 out of the 92 and #1 in the NBA.

[ESPN PR @ESPNPR]

ESPN delivered the No. 1 tennis telecast of the year & most-viewed #USOpen in 3 years

🎾 Men's 2025 Champ: 3.3M viewers (match only)
🎾 Most-viewed edition in 3 years

More: https://t.co/eeRRBMoK4C

[Bastien Fachan @BastienFachan]

Imagine telling Richard Williams in the late 1990s that three decades later, there would still be 'Welcome to the Williams show' signs in tennis stadiums for one of his daughters. What a story.

[#AusOpen @AustralianOpen]

In the first round, @Taylor_Fritz97 was down two sets against Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard and trailing 5-1 in the fourth-set tiebreak 🌱

Now? He’s a #Wimbledon semifinalist for the first time! A battle with Alcaraz awaits for a place in the final 🔥 https://t.co/eT56SP100Y

[United Farm Workers @UFWupdates]

Farm workers are harvesting strawberries on CAs Central Coast. They share harvesting this fruit is hard on their backs as they have to be bent over moving fast all day long. #WeFeedYou