Laura Weiss
@lauralew105.bsky.social
Writer covering social issues especially health justice, disability, immigration & labor mostly for Prism Reports and New Republic. Editor at IndyKids. Forever NACLA. I also have a TV newsletter and beloved cat. She/her. Website: Lauraweiss.me
Pinned
Laura Weiss
@lauralew105.bsky.social
· Jun 29
RFK Jr.'s rhetoric about mental health medication will hurt those who need it most, experts say
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has used racist dog whistles to target the "overprescribing" of antidepressants. The real problem is a lack of access to comprehensive mental healthcare, especially...
prismreports.org
"HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has used racist dog whistles to target the 'overprescribing' of antidepressants. The real problem is a lack of access to comprehensive mental healthcare, especially for Black Americans." My latest for @prismreports.org:
prismreports.org/2026/06/29/r...
prismreports.org/2026/06/29/r...
You need a laugh. Check out "Adults": smallscreenbigideas.substack.com/p/you-need-a...
You Need a Laugh. “Adults” Is Here For You.
This hilarious, slightly deranged FX comedy on Hulu shows us that maybe millennials and Gen Z aren’t so different after all.
smallscreenbigideas.substack.com
September 19, 2026 at 2:24 PM
You need a laugh. Check out "Adults": smallscreenbigideas.substack.com/p/you-need-a...
Reposted by Laura Weiss
It just never ends.
September 19, 2026 at 12:15 AM
It just never ends.
Reposted by Laura Weiss
WOULD YOUR HUMAN'S AGENT LET YOU DO THIS?!?!?
September 14, 2026 at 4:25 PM
WOULD YOUR HUMAN'S AGENT LET YOU DO THIS?!?!?
Reposted by Laura Weiss
And now a 40-year-old woman has died.
September 13, 2026 at 12:34 PM
And now a 40-year-old woman has died.
Reposted by Laura Weiss
JUST IN: A federal judge concludes that DHS leaders arbitrarily decided to cut FEMA staff by 50% even though it damaged the agency's ability to fulfill its mission — and leaders hid their comms about it on auto-delete Signal chains. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
September 12, 2026 at 1:57 AM
JUST IN: A federal judge concludes that DHS leaders arbitrarily decided to cut FEMA staff by 50% even though it damaged the agency's ability to fulfill its mission — and leaders hid their comms about it on auto-delete Signal chains. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Reposted by Laura Weiss
According to CDC data there are 3,000 deaths each year due to foodborne illnesses. 1.2 million is a complete fantasy. And guess who is in charge of food safety?
RFK Jr defends measles: "In 10 years, there have been 3 measles deaths in America. There are now about 1.2 million deaths every year from food-induced illness. The media and certain demagogic politicians are constantly trying to scare us about infectious disease."
August 29, 2026 at 7:49 PM
According to CDC data there are 3,000 deaths each year due to foodborne illnesses. 1.2 million is a complete fantasy. And guess who is in charge of food safety?
Reposted by Laura Weiss
Join the dots.
USDA cyclospora research projects shelved amid funding cuts and relocations
The shuttering of three projects is expected to hinder vital research at a time when consumers are increasingly worried about the safety of the food supply.
www.politico.com
August 30, 2026 at 4:33 PM
Join the dots.
I can't believe Dolly Parton is dead and Mitch McConnell is still alive. I guess they had room in heaven, but not in hell. RIP.
August 25, 2026 at 6:21 PM
I can't believe Dolly Parton is dead and Mitch McConnell is still alive. I guess they had room in heaven, but not in hell. RIP.
Reposted by Laura Weiss
Here’s how it works:
If you’re signed up for our newsletter already, you’ll get a referral link in today’s newsletter (8/25).
If you’re not already signed up for our newsletter, you can do that right here: pages.viral-loops.com/share-the-si...
If you’re signed up for our newsletter already, you’ll get a referral link in today’s newsletter (8/25).
If you’re not already signed up for our newsletter, you can do that right here: pages.viral-loops.com/share-the-si...
August 25, 2026 at 6:05 PM
Here’s how it works:
If you’re signed up for our newsletter already, you’ll get a referral link in today’s newsletter (8/25).
If you’re not already signed up for our newsletter, you can do that right here: pages.viral-loops.com/share-the-si...
If you’re signed up for our newsletter already, you’ll get a referral link in today’s newsletter (8/25).
If you’re not already signed up for our newsletter, you can do that right here: pages.viral-loops.com/share-the-si...
Nothing better on a Friday afternoon than realizing I got kicked off my health insurance 🫠
August 21, 2026 at 6:33 PM
Nothing better on a Friday afternoon than realizing I got kicked off my health insurance 🫠
“The phrase does two things at once. It converts an important period of political education into a product cycle with a version number, and it adopts the framing of the people who spent six years attacking that education.” historycanthide.substack.com/p/there-is-n... @khalilgreen.bsky.social
There is No “Woke 1”
AOC called the progressive politics of 2020 “crazy” during an interview this month. Northern Republicans abandoned Reconstruction the same way, and historians called that era a mistake for decades.
historycanthide.substack.com
August 20, 2026 at 8:00 PM
“The phrase does two things at once. It converts an important period of political education into a product cycle with a version number, and it adopts the framing of the people who spent six years attacking that education.” historycanthide.substack.com/p/there-is-n... @khalilgreen.bsky.social
This transcription service is pretty accurate but I had to laugh at "Mayor Mom Donny."
August 20, 2026 at 5:52 PM
This transcription service is pretty accurate but I had to laugh at "Mayor Mom Donny."
Reposted by Laura Weiss
"The Overton window has skewed to the right. If you dare suggest that privatization isn't the best thing, healthcare for instance, you get labelled a communist, which is in my opinion idiotic."
@countbinface.bsky.social speaks more sense about American politics than 99% of US politicians.
@countbinface.bsky.social speaks more sense about American politics than 99% of US politicians.
August 18, 2026 at 9:26 PM
"The Overton window has skewed to the right. If you dare suggest that privatization isn't the best thing, healthcare for instance, you get labelled a communist, which is in my opinion idiotic."
@countbinface.bsky.social speaks more sense about American politics than 99% of US politicians.
@countbinface.bsky.social speaks more sense about American politics than 99% of US politicians.
This piece is very much worth reading!!
objectivejournalism.org/2026/08/desp...
@objectivejournos.bsky.social
objectivejournalism.org/2026/08/desp...
@objectivejournos.bsky.social
Despite COVID-19. disability is still inconsistently prioritized in news
Six years after 2020, disabled reporters say there wasn’t a full-scale reckoning with disability in newsroom coverage and culture.
objectivejournalism.org
August 18, 2026 at 6:52 PM
This piece is very much worth reading!!
objectivejournalism.org/2026/08/desp...
@objectivejournos.bsky.social
objectivejournalism.org/2026/08/desp...
@objectivejournos.bsky.social
Reposted by Laura Weiss
mood
Like we still can't explain what "Woke 1.0" was? Like if the burning of Minneapolis Police 3rd Precinct *and* Sheryl Sandberg's "Lean In" are both examples of 'Woke 1.0' then the definition is so broad we can't even begin to have a conversation about it.
August 13, 2026 at 3:54 PM
mood
Reposted by Laura Weiss
McConnell, out sick for two months, voted against medical leave 23 times since 1985
popular.info/p/mcconnell-...
Such hypocrites. Like the 🤡 voting by mail and doesn't want anyone else to do the same thing.
popular.info/p/mcconnell-...
Such hypocrites. Like the 🤡 voting by mail and doesn't want anyone else to do the same thing.
McConnell, out sick for two months, voted against medical leave 23 times since 1985
Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) was hospitalized on June 14 after suffering a fall that left him unconscious.
popular.info
August 13, 2026 at 5:15 PM
McConnell, out sick for two months, voted against medical leave 23 times since 1985
popular.info/p/mcconnell-...
Such hypocrites. Like the 🤡 voting by mail and doesn't want anyone else to do the same thing.
popular.info/p/mcconnell-...
Such hypocrites. Like the 🤡 voting by mail and doesn't want anyone else to do the same thing.
Reposted by Laura Weiss
Yikes, what? Like, what about it was crazy, and why?
Now top leaders like AOC and Mamdani disavow defunding the police. Why??
Bizarre comment at best, indicative of a massive abandonment of the ideals of the socialist left at worst.
Next will they say supporting trans people is “too woke”?
Now top leaders like AOC and Mamdani disavow defunding the police. Why??
Bizarre comment at best, indicative of a massive abandonment of the ideals of the socialist left at worst.
Next will they say supporting trans people is “too woke”?
August 13, 2026 at 1:45 PM
Yikes, what? Like, what about it was crazy, and why?
Now top leaders like AOC and Mamdani disavow defunding the police. Why??
Bizarre comment at best, indicative of a massive abandonment of the ideals of the socialist left at worst.
Next will they say supporting trans people is “too woke”?
Now top leaders like AOC and Mamdani disavow defunding the police. Why??
Bizarre comment at best, indicative of a massive abandonment of the ideals of the socialist left at worst.
Next will they say supporting trans people is “too woke”?
Reposted by Laura Weiss
Implementing a universal, single-payer healthcare system would save the U.S. more than $1 trillion and some 114,000 lives every year, according to a recent Yale University preprint study
Scientists calculated how much money and lives 'Medicare for All' might save—it's a lot
The study has been touted by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders as proof of the benefits of a universal, single-payer healthcare system, but the research hasn't been peer-reviewed
www.scientificamerican.com
August 12, 2026 at 4:39 PM
Implementing a universal, single-payer healthcare system would save the U.S. more than $1 trillion and some 114,000 lives every year, according to a recent Yale University preprint study
Reposted by Laura Weiss
“They should never have gone back, but the laws of this country made them go."
After a couple was found dead in Guatemala, with their baby crying beside them, @hurwitz.bsky.social spoke to the friends picking up the pieces for three newly orphaned girls.
After a couple was found dead in Guatemala, with their baby crying beside them, @hurwitz.bsky.social spoke to the friends picking up the pieces for three newly orphaned girls.
She followed ICE’s advice to self-deport. Five weeks later, she was dead.
A St. Louis mother took her three daughters to reunite with her deported husband in Guatemala. Neighbors found the couple bound and shot in a sugarcane field.
www.motherjones.com
August 6, 2026 at 1:47 PM
“They should never have gone back, but the laws of this country made them go."
After a couple was found dead in Guatemala, with their baby crying beside them, @hurwitz.bsky.social spoke to the friends picking up the pieces for three newly orphaned girls.
After a couple was found dead in Guatemala, with their baby crying beside them, @hurwitz.bsky.social spoke to the friends picking up the pieces for three newly orphaned girls.
Reposted by Laura Weiss
‘“I thought about Alex Pretti because he was a nurse. He was helping someone up off the ground that had been shoved,” Bowe said.’
Norma Bowe, a nurse in New Jersey, runs a mobile health clinic that stops outside Delaney Hall detention center, where she provides blood pressure checks, stroke assessments and other care.
Yesterday, she told me about the day she says she was assaulted by an ICE agent. My latest via @19thnews.org
Yesterday, she told me about the day she says she was assaulted by an ICE agent. My latest via @19thnews.org
This nurse brings health care to people outside a detention center. She says ICE agents assaulted her.
This week, the ACLU announced it has filed 54 claims on behalf of Norma Bowe and others who allege violence and additional harms from federal immigration officials.
19thnews.org
July 31, 2026 at 2:32 PM
‘“I thought about Alex Pretti because he was a nurse. He was helping someone up off the ground that had been shoved,” Bowe said.’
Reposted by Laura Weiss
it’s depressing how many dems turn to gutter racism when their backs are against the wall
She knows she’s losing so she said let’s just go mask off.
July 31, 2026 at 3:31 AM
it’s depressing how many dems turn to gutter racism when their backs are against the wall
Yep, if we’d known a week earlier to mask maybe I wouldn’t have had long COVID for 6+ years
Let’s be clear here, when scientists say mistakes were made at the start of the pandemic, we DO NOT mean that we did too much. We mean not socially distancing quickly enough, not making tests widely available, and not acknowledging COVID is airborne and distributing N95 masks to everyone.
July 30, 2026 at 8:54 PM
Yep, if we’d known a week earlier to mask maybe I wouldn’t have had long COVID for 6+ years
Reposted by Laura Weiss
"A concentration camp, in its most basic definition, is a place where a targeted civilian population, not necessarily accused of a crime, is detained and at least some of their basic rights are suspended," writes @jwashing.bsky.social.
"That’s precisely what’s happening in the United States today."
"That’s precisely what’s happening in the United States today."
Don’t call them ICE detention centers. Call them camps | John Washington
I’ve spent a decade reporting on immigration enforcement. The word ‘camp’ best captures the political function of these facilities
www.theguardian.com
July 30, 2026 at 3:52 PM
"A concentration camp, in its most basic definition, is a place where a targeted civilian population, not necessarily accused of a crime, is detained and at least some of their basic rights are suspended," writes @jwashing.bsky.social.
"That’s precisely what’s happening in the United States today."
"That’s precisely what’s happening in the United States today."
So anyway THIS IS ABOUT MY HIGH SCHOOL NEWSPAPER
www.wired.com/story/epstei...
Honestly doesn't surprise me, we were the real deal! My first article for The Bark was about parents drug testing their kids that I reported on at 15. This is next level.
www.wired.com/story/epstei...
Honestly doesn't surprise me, we were the real deal! My first article for The Bark was about parents drug testing their kids that I reported on at 15. This is next level.
A Teen Reporter Searched for His Community in the Epstein Files. Adults Freaked Out
An Instagram post turned one California student newspaper into a free-speech flash point. The students say they were just doing their homework.
www.wired.com
July 22, 2026 at 6:10 PM
So anyway THIS IS ABOUT MY HIGH SCHOOL NEWSPAPER
www.wired.com/story/epstei...
Honestly doesn't surprise me, we were the real deal! My first article for The Bark was about parents drug testing their kids that I reported on at 15. This is next level.
www.wired.com/story/epstei...
Honestly doesn't surprise me, we were the real deal! My first article for The Bark was about parents drug testing their kids that I reported on at 15. This is next level.