When Israel allows chips and instant noodles but bans eggs, dairy products, and poultry, it’s not a coincidence… This is a disguised policy of starvation, and the world seems not to understand it yet… or is deliberately ignoring it… The siege continues, but in a different way.
lots/most insurances won’t cover imaging for certain things until the patient completes like six weeks of physical therapy for the issue, bc PT is cheaper to finance for the insurance company. this happened to my mom when she hurt her shoulder fencing and it happened to me when I recently paid out of pocket for my upright MRI because – IT’S INCREDIBLY CARTOONISHLY EVIL to act like physical therapy is something that can be done safely when YOU DONT KNOW WHATS GOING ON INSIDE SOMEONE’S BODY. with my mom’s shoulder, she didn’t know what was hurt – bone, muscle, connective tissue – and safe PT requires knowing this, bc what might be safe for someone with a muscle tear might make a connective tissue issue worse, or the other way around. so she actually ended up hurting her shoulder worse. I was incredibly fortunate in that 1. I had knowledge of this issue already, and 2. was able to pay for the imaging out of pocket. 99% of people in my situation probably wouldnt even know that PT could worsen an issue, and if they did know that they probably wouldn’t be able to pay out of pocket for the imaging.
anyway come to find out, my neurologist said he doesn’t recommend physical therapy until my CSF leaks are patched bc he said any PT of my neck could easily make the tears in the tissue around my spine worse. and the technology to properly repair these tears is not available to everyone, so it’s totally plausible that someone that happened to would just… never be able to get their leaks repaired.
I am always always always thinking about the Alternate Universe Pips, to the degree that I have to make myself stop thinking about it sometimes bc I get too upset. and this is not an exception. I’m so furious about how for profit health insurance is hurting and killing people all of the time. it’s literally just a social murder machine. it’s a fucking meat grinder. we need to be killing more
anyway if this can help anyone else: if your insurance requires you to get PT *before* it will pay for imaging and you assume that must mean that physical therapy is safe and couldn’t make whatever is wrong worse: this is not the case. I strongly advise you to try to figure out a way to get the imaging beforehand, or to Just Fucking Lie about doing the physical therapy exercises, if that is at all possible. these policies are very common and they’re VERY DANGEROUS AND BAD
It’s Silly Sunday. I’m finding the craziest listings today. This is the weirdest church conversion I’ve ever seen. It was once the Shadle Park Evangelical Church and someone turned the 1944 structure into a home in Spokane, WA. 3bds, 4ba, 4,635sqft, Reduced $20k to $445k (Zillow’s est: $439,900).
watching people on this post give the absolute worst advice about photos at protests is why I play avoid-the-camera so diligently and I am prepared to smash cameras at all times
part of my role is going to people and gently saying “hey please stop taking photos of people without their consent. that can be dangerous for the people in the photos and you were asked not to at the start of the rally/march” and I have had people threaten to punch me over it so……..
just stop taking photos. I don’t care if they’re “just for you” or if you “plan to redact them” you have no idea what situation someone is in and your photos will never be secure. if you want to take a photo just ask people in it first.
and of course they’re always like “well what about those people taking photos” and I explain that “those people are known to our community and know who does and doesn’t want a photo. people have already consented or not consented at past events to that person’s photos and they know this” or “thanks for pointing that out I will talk to them too because they also should not be taking photos.” this also, of course, does not solve the conflict and they continue taking photos anyways.
I have my own tactics for stopping photos when someone refuses that don’t involve smashing cameras but they tend to escalate things anyways.
just stop. I’m so tired. just stop.
ALSO, JUST FOR THE RECORD!!!! If you are refusing to stop taking photos of people you look like a cop.
I’m scared. I’m scared because I’m paying attention. My Instagram passed 40k. My TikTok is growing quickly. After the FBI letter, the attention increased instead of fading. That tells me I’m being watched more closely, not protected.
Other trans activists have had passports revoked. I’m checking mine. I don’t say that lightly.
Because of this, I’m changing where I publish my most politically serious work. I will post that writing on Tumblr and Substack. These platforms move slower and are less tightly monitored. This decision is practical. It is about reducing exposure, not about disappearing.
I stand by my writing and my analysis. I continue to reject moralism, assimilation, and the expectation that trans women should soften their politics to be tolerated. At the same time, I won’t pretend that visibility has no consequences. Attention brings scrutiny. Scrutiny brings pressure.
If you have felt more cautious lately, that response makes sense. It reflects awareness, not weakness.
I am still writing. I am choosing platforms more carefully.
Real talk, I’m a broke girlie. I had several thousand dollars stolen from me by my family, and six months later I’m still trying to get out of debt. I desperately need to get my service dogs to the vet since they’re due for their yearly shots. Anything helps 🙏
