Rachel Black
@rachelblack.bsky.social
Pretty sure that people should just get the things they need. Big fan of anyone trying to figure out how to do that. All thoughts definitely my own.
Interesting: DoorDash is supporting the GOP bill in Congress to limit D.C.'s ability to increase or decrease taxes and fees, largely in response to the D.C. Council's recent vote in impose a new 20-cent delivery fee to help fund food-access programs. www.notus.org/metro/uberea...
That Food Delivery Is Soon Going To Cost You a Little More in D.C.
DoorDash unsuccessfully fought a 20-cent fee approved by the D.C. Council that will also affect UberEats deliveries.
notus.org
You really don't want to miss this one, folks. We have an all-star line-up including @kedseconomist.com , @lipstickecon.bsky.social ,Bradley Hardy, and @betseystevenson.bsky.social @rooseveltinstitute.org events.zoom.us/ev/Alhyls42b...
What Social Security’s Shortfall Is Really Telling Us About the Economy
events.zoom.us
New from @pamherd.bsky.social and I: Trump has added work requirements to Medicaid, expanded them in SNAP. Now he is going after public housing. You can do something about it: take 5 mins to write a public comment opposing this change. Instructions enclosed.🧵 donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-trump-...
The Trump plan to add work requirements to public housing
Here is something you can do about it
donmoynihan.substack.com
Food policing poor families isn't a win for nutrition--it's a loss for dignity and joy. As Brea Perry and I find in our research (see reply), low-income parents buy food treats for their kids because they want their kids to feel happy and normal--and they can't afford to do so in bigger ways.
Wisconsin Examiner@wisconsinexaminer.com · 7mo agoEvers signs bill to ban soda and candy SNAP purchases, provide money to keep error rate low via @bspears.bsky.social wisconsinexaminer.com/briefs/evers...
Trump administration just signed an Executive Order to combat fraud in safety net services while this sort of thing is an everyday occurrence
Luke Russert@lukerussert.bsky.social · 7mo agoOrganizers of what became January 6th…awarded millions in no bid contracts by the Administration: www.nytimes.com/2026/03/18/u...
Let me just say that having been there, the idea of being a Black woman in labor in America and having to go before a judge is terrorism.
ProPublica@propublica.org · 7mo agoNEW: They Didn’t Want to Have C-Sections. A Judge Would Decide How They Gave Birth. Two Florida women had to attend virtual court hearings while in labor to argue for their right to choose their own medical care. By @amyyurkanin.bsky.social
Actually it's a direct result of Medicaid cuts in the OBBBA. And it's going to get a lot worse.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 8mo agoQ: Rural hospitals in Wisconsin are struggling. Closures are creating healthcare deserts. What can be done federally to keep hospitals open? JD VANCE: Unfortunately, this, like so much of what's going on in the country right now, is a problem we inherited from the previous administration
Corporations are extracting billions from America’s safety net and their payday is about to be supercharged by new rules. I lay out how programs like Medicaid have become vulnerable to corporate capture and what we need to build to stop it. @lpeblog.bsky.social lpeproject.org/blog/the-mea...
The Means-Testing Industrial Complex
As Republicans tightened work requirements and eligibility rules for Medicaid and SNAP last year, Equifax’s CEO openly celebrated the profits to be made from administering this deprivation.
lpeproject.org
IT WAS ALWAYS GOING TO END ON A CARSON BECK INTERCEPTION
Worth remembering, as Trump tries to brutalize blue states over alleged TANF fraud: Mississippi's former welfare director ran TANF as a private slush fund, routing tens of millions to churches, wrestlers, and celebrity pet projects (including Brett Favre's)—while rejecting over 90% of poor families.
Ashton Pittman@ashtonpittman.bsky.social · 9mo agoNEW: Text messages reveal the strange relationship that John Davis, the former Mississippi official who directed millions in welfare dollars to sports celebrities, shared with WWE wrestlers Ted DiBiase Jr. and Brett DiBiase. "It is me who tried to buy your love," he wrote in one text read in court.
The public: "We are desperate for help with the cost of living. Please do something." Trump administration: "Penis."
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 10mo ago"Men are men. Men can never become women. Women are women. Women can never become men."
This is quite interesting as it ends the CTC and EITC and creates a big child allowance (5600/y), a 2k baby bonus and a 3k/y UBI for adults 19-67. The Policy Engine (CC: @maxghenis.bsky.social )folks did an analysis of the net impacts... www.peoplespolicyproject.org/2025/11/20/r...
Rep. Tlaib’s Economic Dignity for All Agenda Would Bring Economic Security for Millions
The agenda would lower poverty by 42% and child poverty by two-thirds.
peoplespolicyproject.org
@rachelblack.bsky.social and I wrote about public banking infrastructure and the cash safety net a while back. www.businessinsider.com/stimulus-che...
Millions of Americans have struggled to get access to their stimulus checks. The government needs a better system so getting cash to people isn't so painfully slow.
We need to fortify our structure of stimulating the economy, and cash has proven to be a key tool to building a safety net for Americans.
businessinsider.com
Appreciate your boosting/sharing of this episode in particular. Action items at the end include a petition for Leqaa
5-4 Podcast@fivefourpod.bsky.social · 11mo agoThis week’s episode is an interview with two lawyers who represent Leqaa Kordia, a young Palestinian woman who is in ICE detention for protesting genocide. open.spotify.com/episode/7gid...?
NEW: Last week, I did a ride along with a Secret Service operation, going door-to-door to look for skimmers used to steal SNAP benefits. It's one of the oddest fronts against transnational crime — and one that would be greatly reduced if governments would update EBT cards.
Inside the Secret Service hunt for skimmers as outdated SNAP cards let thieves steal millions
The government still uses 1970s-era technology to deliver SNAP, leaving beneficiaries vulnerable to transnational crime rings that have taken hundreds of millions of dollars in benefits in recent year...
nextgov.com
The Trump Administration is creating a backdoor national registry using Social Security data that’s not always sufficient to identify citizens correctly. Congress never authorized this. It could disenfranchise legitimate voters. www.propublica.org/article/dhs-...
DHS Agreement Reveals Risks of Using Social Security Data for Voter Citizenship Checks
A recently released agreement gives the Department of Homeland Security access to hundreds of millions of Americans’ Social Security data. It contains alarmingly few provisions to ensure accuracy and ...
propublica.org
Looking for plans this weekend? Our picks: Watch Palestinian films, pick from one of 800+ board games at @labyrinthdc.bsky.social, celebrate Spooky Season with a dog costume contest benefiting @cdckrescue.bsky.social, and more:
14 things to do around D.C. this weekend
The shutdown continues — but our local arts and culture scene is going strong.
51st.news
New from me: Russ Vought is using federal employees as hostages in federal shutdown negotiations, threatening mass firings if Dems do not accept Trump's terms. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court just allowed Vought to impose a de facto impoundment of foreign aid. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/shutdown-h...
Shutdown hostage taking
Russ Vought's threatens more mass firings; SCOTUS blesses his de facto impoundment
donmoynihan.substack.com
GOP lawmakers cite Georgia’s experiment as a model for the federal Medicaid work requirements set to take effect in 2027. A new report by a government spending watchdog found that the nation’s only Medicaid work requirement program spent twice as much on administrative costs as on health care.
Georgia’s Medicaid Work Requirement Program Spent Twice as Much on Administrative Costs as on Health Care, GAO Says
Republican lawmakers cite Georgia’s Pathways to Coverage as a national model for federal Medicaid work requirements that are set to take effect in 2027. A new report shows the program has spent at lea...
propublica.org
Always interesting who people are willing to sacrifice
Kelsey Atherton@atherton.bsky.social · last yr.Ezra Klein 🤝 Neera Tanden Despite the overwhelming popularity of abortion rights in all states, we should surrender instead
You know things are rough when the AAUP's advice on how to use social media is just "set all your accounts to private."
Kevin Reuning@reuning.bsky.social · last yr.The @aaup.org just shared guidance for academic workers on how to protect themselves online www.aaup.org/news/advisor...
A Black college student who was found hanging from a tree on his school’s campus in Mississippi was not the victim of foul play law enforcement officials said, countering online speculation that he was the victim of a lynching. capitalbnews.org/trey-reed-de...
Black Student Found Hanging at Delta State. Police Say No Foul Play.
The university’s chief of police and director of public safety said that investigators found no evidence he had been attacked before his death.
capitalbnews.org
I am advocating for you to be killed but I am using my inside voice you must debate me this is called democracy
"I just want to say, go birds, fuck ICE and free Palestine," "Hacks" star Hannah Einbinder at the #Emmys
In this week’s newsletter I have thoughts on Ezra’s Klein value judgements about the “right way” to do politics.
How to Canonize a White Supremacist
On the brutal murder of Charlie Kirk, the certain blowback, and this country’s raging gun problem.
thenation.com
We built a calculator that doesn't work, but don't worry, it's also a plagiarism machine that will tell you to kill yourself. It runs on the world's oceans and costs 10 trillion dollars.
