deb ramage

Retired RN, wife/mom/gma, wannabe artist, diehard liberal, #I'mwithHarris2024

[deb ramage @dramage54]

@_Hippie_Mikey Cool

[Owen @Owennfa]

Health insurance killed Alec Raeshawn Smith in 2017.

He was 26. Worked full-time as a restaurant manager in Minnesota. Made $35,000 a year.

He had Type 1 diabetes. He needed insulin to live. Not optional. Biological necessity.

When he turned 26, he aged out of his mother's health insurance. That's the law.

His job didn't offer insurance.

His $35,000 salary was just high enough to disqualify him from Medicaid.

The insurance he could buy on the marketplace: $450 a month premium with a **$7,600 deductible.** He'd be paying for insulin out of pocket anyway.

So he made a rational decision. Pay for insulin directly instead of a useless insurance plan.

Then the pharmacist told him the price.

**$1,300 a month.** For insulin and supplies. On a $35,000 salary.

He couldn't afford it. So he did what one in four diabetics in America do.

He rationed. Stretched the doses. Tried to make it last until payday.

On June 27, 2017 — **three days before payday** — his mother got the call no parent wants.

Alec was found dead alone in his apartment. Diabetic ketoacidosis.

The insulin pen he used to inject himself was empty.

He was 27 days off his mother's insurance.

Insulin costs $30 to manufacture. Its inventor sold the patent for **$1** because he believed it should belong to the world.

In America, it cost Alec his life.

He wasn't lazy. He wasn't reckless. He worked full-time and did the math.

The math just didn't include a way to survive.

[Bernie Sanders @BernieSanders]

Elon Musk Wealth
2012: $2 billion
2026: $719 billion

Jeff Bezos Wealth
2012: $18.4 billion
2026: $255 billion

Mark Zuckerberg Wealth
2012: $17.5 billion
2026: $212 billion

Federal Minimum Wage
2009: $7.25
2026: $7.25

Obscene. We must raise the minimum wage to a living wage.

[Sen. Bernie Sanders @SenSanders]

The Trump administration admitted in court that it canceled billions of dollars in federal funding “based solely” on whether a state voted for Trump.

Using taxpayer dollars to reward political allies and punish opponents is not democracy.

It’s authoritarianism.

[Marco Foster @MarcoFoster_]

Zohran Mamdani: “A lot of what we’ve come to accept as the facts of life across our country is driven by democratic socialist principles. If today you and I were to introduce the idea of a building that lends out books for free, we would be slandered in the same way that so many new ideas are slandered today and yet that’s the library. And the same thing with the fire department and the same thing with public schools”

[Morgan J. Freeman @mjfree]

What he’s done to the Oval Office should be impeachable.

[Rep. Ro Khanna @RepRoKhanna]

Five things House Democrats are going to do once we have the majority:

Medicare for All
A living wage
Stronger union protections 
$10 a day childcare
End aid to Israel

[Woke Former Senator @WokeMitt]

Low T isn’t why we’re losing the Iran War. We’re losing because of Low IQ.

[PBS News @NewsHour]

Jay Clayton largely side-stepped questions from Sen. Jon Ossoff about former Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s presence at the FBI’s raid of a Georgia elections warehouse during his Senate confirmation hearing to replace her in the role.

When the Georgia Democrat asked whether Clayton was aware that Gabbard had been present at the Fulton County raid in January, Clayton said he was informed by Ossoff in a meeting the day before and that “it was the first time that in my recollection I've thought about it recently.”

“Your answers lack credibility. Your testimony lacks credibility,” Ossoff responded. “You’re being evasive and you’re not being candid or forthright, and everybody across the country is going to watch this and know that.”

Ossoff also asked whether Clayton knew that Gabbard had testified that her presence at the raid was requested by President Donald Trump, to which the nominee said he did not know that until now. The senator also asked whether Clayton knew that members of the committee were investigating Gabbard’s involvement.

The line of questioning came after Clayton declined to answer Ossoff’s questions about who won the 2020 election.

The heated exchange ended with Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Tom Cotton, R-Ark., cutting off Ossoff when his time expired.

[The Blue Torch @_TheBlueTorch]

Spotted in Philadelphia, powerful 💙

[Lakota Man @LakotaMan1]

Exactly

[Don Winslow @donwinslow]

Murray: Is it true that people making under $184,000 pay a 12.4% Social Security tax rate?

Dahl: Yes Murray:

And the rate for someone making $1,000,000?

Dahl: 2.2%

[The Green Dragon Tavern @greendragonhq]

White supremacist, town drunk, and lifelong abuser of women Pete Hegseth continues his attacks against minority and female service members.

This time, he is implementing a new shaving rule that disproportionately affects Black men, resulting in their removal from the Department of Defense.

Full list of racist and sexist policies:

• Early 2025: Hegseth pushes for the elimination of “woke” diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs across all branches of the military, arguing they undermine readiness and unit cohesion.

• February 2025: Trump fires the Black Joint Chiefs Chair after Hegseth accuses him of promoting diversity initiatives.

• April 2025: Hegseth promises that military promotions under his tenure will be “color-blind and merit-based.”

• September 2025: Hegseth outlines “genderless” fitness, height, and weight requirements for the military, described as adopting the “highest male standards” in training.

• September 2025: The military announces new grooming standards with strict restrictions on braid styles, hair shaping, and nail length/polish that apply to both men and women.

• 2025–2026: Rollback of women-specific accommodations in combat roles and training pipelines, with emphasis on uniform physical standards regardless of gender.

• June 2026: Hegseth blocks the promotion of 3 female and 2 Black naval officers.

• Ongoing 2026: Increased scrutiny and reversals of race- and gender-based recruiting targets, with a stated focus on prioritizing combat effectiveness over demographic quotas.

• 2026: Broader reviews of military academies and leadership training to remove content perceived as promoting “critical race theory” or gender ideology.

• July 2026: The Navy updates shaving requirements in ways that remove sailors with certain skin conditions, disproportionately impacting Black men.

[𝗠𝘂𝗵𝗲𝗲 ♛ @muheediva01]

The wildest part about POVERTY is how much time it steals. Waiting for buses. Calling assistance offices. Comparing grocery prices. Fighting insurance. Sitting at laundromats. Being poor is a second job nobody pays you for.

[Christopher Webb @cwebbonline]

The White House was never supposed to be a palace.

George Washington and architect James Hoban deliberately rejected the lavish style of European monarchies. Instead, they designed a President’s House that reflected the ideals of a republic: dignified, restrained, and accountable to the people.

The White House belongs to the American people. Every president is just a temporary tenant.

[Dittie @DittiePE]

When I was younger, we had a house fire and all of our birth certificates and SS cards were lost as well as my mom’s marriage and divorce papers.

In Pennsylvania it cost $30 to get a new birth certificate. It’s $40 for a copy of your marriage license and another $40 for any divorce paperwork that you may have lost. Add another $165 in for a passport because married women need several forms to prove who they are.

Now add time away from your job so that you can go to the courthouse to get all of this done before the election, because they’re not open weekends and they’re not open after 4pm weekdays.

All of that just to verify that you can vote. The constitution calls that a poll tax. And they’re illegal.

This has nothing to do with preventing fraud and everything to do with preventing YOU from voting.

#SAVEActIsPayToVote

[Popular Liberal 🇺🇸 @PopularLiberal]

WOW! SAY IT LOUDER: Pastor Loran Livingston just said what your MAGA uncle's pastor is too scared to say: "There has never been a Christian nation, and never will be."

A Christian nation doesn't kill 20 million Native Americans, steal their land, and leave their descendants in poverty.

A Christian nation doesn't fight a Civil War—losing 500,000 of its own people—just to keep owning human beings.

That's not Christianity. That's conquest with a Bible in one hand and a LIE in the other.

Stop calling it what it never was. HEAT CHECK!!!

[The Lincoln Project @ProjectLincoln]

Character matters. This is our test.

[Victor Shi @Victorshi2020]

NEW: On America's 250th, Sarah Jessica Parker narrates a reading on resisting authoritarianism and building a better future—featuring Mark Ruffalo, Ted Danson, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Leslie Odom Jr., Margaret Atwood, & more.

"What happens next is not inevitable. It depends on us."

[deb ramage @dramage54]

@CalltoActivism This is absolutely horrifying and terrifying.