iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Mandi Spishak-Thomas

Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 23h

abolish the death penalty

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Mandi Spishak-Thomas @aspishakthomas.com · 22/09/2026

This. I’ve been referring to it as an almost adult study abroad that people do here, extract extract extract.

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Alex S. Vitale @alexvitale.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

NYC DSA folks: Please co-sponsor our proposal to "Build Community Safety through Prevention, Not Policing" on the convention web page: convention.socialists.nyc/proposals

convention.socialists.nyc

Member Login | 2026 NYC-DSA Convention

Convention 2026 planning tools.

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Mandi Spishak-Thomas @aspishakthomas.com · 16/09/2026

Amazing, I'm constantly screaming from the rooftops about colonoscopies so I cannot wait to read this work!

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UM Population Studies Center @um-psc.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

@pamherd.bsky.social on @npr.org this weekend on how new Medicaid work requirements will affect people with disabilities ⬇️

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Prisonculture @prisonculture.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

The first time I was pulled out of line at the airport for "special screening" was 1 month after 9.11 when I was flying from Chicago to NY. That experience would become a regular occurrence for the next 15 years.

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Mandi Spishak-Thomas @aspishakthomas.com · 02/09/2026

Like a little bit when baseball ends probably and specifically, when the Mets season ends which gets earlier every year 🤡

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Mandi Spishak-Thomas @aspishakthomas.com · 26/08/2026

Presenting my work on Medicaid estate recovery at the @advancingstates.bsky.social #HCBSconference this morning alongside colleagues at the Aging & Disability Health Policy Lab and @justiceinaging.org, come see us to learn more!

Picture of a metallic placard outside a hotel ballroom displaying a conference session that reads “Medicaid Estate Recovery”

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Mandi Spishak-Thomas @aspishakthomas.com · 14/08/2026

As chair of the @bkcb6.bsky.social Business Affairs and Licenses committee, we have been pushing for year-round outdoor dining for years. When it went away, so did mass support for our favorite bars and restaurants. I’m thrilled and cannot wait to be having a cozy dinner outside in December!

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Lex McMenamin (they/them) @lexmcmenamin.com · 13/08/2026

from the brilliant @derecka.bsky.social "The very movements producing [radical] rhetoric, from abolition to Free Palestine, also produced the possibilities of [DSA's] election [win]s. Downplaying those movements puts organizers who continue this work at risk, especially right now."

theguardian.com

AOC and Mamdani wanted to defund the police. Their backtracking puts organizers at risk | Derecka Purnell

Progressive and democratic socialist politicians are recanting pandemic-era statements on police and prison abolition

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Lex McMenamin (they/them) @lexmcmenamin.com · 09/08/2026

I spoke to the mutual aid groups and mask blocs combatting the spread of COVID and viral illness by freely distributing masks and tests and lending out air purifiers — who nationally have now distributed thousands of masks for wildfire smoke, too, amid an anti-public health admin @us.theguardian.com

theguardian.com

How clean air clubs are protecting Americans from wildfire smoke

Mutual aid groups that started giving out PPEs during COVID are now loaning air purifiers and distributing masks to fume-addled communities

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Katelyn Burns @katelynburns.com · 06/08/2026

Every single Republican and gender critical person, including JK Rowling, supports this happening to you. They brag about building a future in which this type of humilating incident is common.

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Rutgers CSHP @rutgerscshp.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

This week's #WednesdayWisdom comes from CSHP & @rutgersifh.bsky.social Assistant Research Professor @aspishakthomas.com. She recently spoke with Realtor.com about her #research into the practice of #Medicaid estate recovery: go.rutgers.edu/ng9fo9re

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Mandi Spishak-Thomas @aspishakthomas.com · 05/08/2026

Every time I’m on one these days I’m so scared it’ll be my last time, truly the best seats 😭

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Andy Rowell @andy-rowell.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Back on here to thank @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social "It’s as if we launched a war against nature, and that has turned place after place into something that resembles a war zone. The climate movement is a peace movement, a movement to end this war and its casualties." www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

theguardian.com

We launched a war on nature. Now we are in a climate warzone | Rebecca Solnit

Summer is not what it once was. We have been robbed of one of life’s great joys

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Brian Goldstone @brian-goldstone.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

Marvin's family has now created a GofundMe to help with funeral expenses and to support Natasha and the kids in the difficult days ahead. If you're able to contribute or share the fundraiser, I'd be deeply grateful.

gofundme.com

Donate to Support for Marvin Johnson Sr.'s Family and Honor his Legacy, organized by Erica Day Ruffin

It is with broken hearts that we share the unexpected passi… Erica Day Ruffin needs your support for Support for Marvin Johnson Sr.'s Family and Honor his Legacy

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Brian Goldstone @brian-goldstone.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

I'm heartbroken to share that Marvin (known to readers of There Is No Place for Us as Maurice) died earlier today in a workplace accident. He was 43. Natasha (Natalia in the book) asked me to share this news because she is too devastated to do so herself. We are all in shock.

Marvin, Natasha, and their newborn child

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Mandi Spishak-Thomas @aspishakthomas.com · 20/07/2026

Ah yes, the free market is going so well for our health "care" industry...patients just need to "discover more affordable care". Economists being economists again at the NYT 🙄

nytimes.com

Opinion | Capping the Price of Health Care Is a Mistake

A government bureaucrat doesn’t know how much your medicine or doctor’s visit should cost.

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Reposted by Mandi Spishak-Thomas

Adrianna McIntyre @adrianna.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

People who do seasonal work — like farmworkers — are at elevated risk of coverage loss from Medicaid work requirements. It's much harder to automate compliance determinations for seasonal work. While there are policy accommodations, documentation burdens will be worse for seasonal workers.

kffhealthnews.org

They Harvest the Nation’s Food, but a New Rule May Strip Them of Health Insurance - KFF Health News

New Medicaid work requirements could make a complex system even harder for farmworkers to navigate.

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Jacobin @jacobinmag.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

Bosses have desired ways to cut labor costs since time immemorial. Artificial-intelligence hype provides a powerful new excuse to replace stable employment with gig work.

jacobin.com

AI Is Contributing to the Gigification of Work

Bosses have desired ways to cut labor costs since time immemorial. Artificial-intelligence hype provides a powerful new excuse to replace stable employment with gig work.

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Rutgers CSHP @rutgerscshp.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

Today we’re sharing an additional #FindingsFriday insight from a research study led by CSHP Assistant Research Professor @aspishakthomas.com. She examined the impact of Medicaid #estaterecovery on homeownership decisions, home equity, and #Medicaid enrollment: go.rutgers.edu/pzhz4f05

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Prisonculture @prisonculture.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

The Left(s) should get onboard with a massive expansion of public libraries across the country over the next 25 years. This is an affirmative project.

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Whitney Curry Wimbish @whitneycwimbish.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

The air conditioning at the Delaney Hall concentration camp failed today, so now people are roasting inside as temperatures rise above 100 degrees. It's so hot they can't breathe.

jerseyvindicator.org

Air conditioning fails at Delaney Hall as heat wave leaves detainees struggling to breathe • The Jersey Vindicator

Advocates say temperatures became unbearable inside one housing unit as the region's heat wave intensified.

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Mandi Spishak-Thomas @aspishakthomas.com · 03/07/2026

Call NJ reps and demand our neighbors be released. Sen Cory Booker: 202-224-3224 NJ office: 973-639-8700 Sen Andy Kim: 202-224-4744 NJ office: 609-259-2450 Rep McIver: 973-645-3213 Rep Menendez: 201-239-8892 Rep Mejia: 973-526-5668 Rep Pou: 973-523-5152 Rep Watson Coleman: 609-883-0026

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Mandi Spishak-Thomas @aspishakthomas.com · 01/07/2026

Make no mistake, people will die as a result of losing health insurance and the blood will be on the hands of both republicans and democrats who chose to stand idly by while millions of people lose coverage.

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Mandi Spishak-Thomas @aspishakthomas.com · 01/07/2026

Of course healthy people are going to be better off than those living with chronic conditions like asthma, diabetes, depression, and kidney disease who will no longer be able to afford necessary medications or treatments.

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Mandi Spishak-Thomas @aspishakthomas.com · 01/07/2026

I cannot stress enough the detrimental and life-altering impacts losing insurance coverage has on individuals and families. Health insurance is the strongest predictor of whether someone receives preventative medical care, including critical services like vaccinations and cancer screenings.

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Mandi Spishak-Thomas @aspishakthomas.com · 01/07/2026

It's July 1st and at least 450,000 New Yorkers are estimated to lose their health care coverage. This is just the start of the mass uninsuring of low- and middle-income people in the U.S. due to federal cuts and exacerbated by states refusal to take action in tangible ways (e.g., tax the rich).

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Katelyn Burns @katelynburns.com · 30/06/2026

The trans sports ban are almost completely an invention of the media, conservative and mainstream. it has been years of lies, of shoddy fact checking on just completely false conservative claims, years of phony concern trolling.

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Bill McKay @mckay4senate.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

I hope you sick fucks are happy, because I just ran into soon-to-be former Congressman Dan Goldman and he is crying like a little girl.

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Chad Loder @chadloder.dev · 21/06/2026

The contamination and pollution from the fire in Boyle Heights is much, much worse than Los Angeles political leaders are admitting to. This is a huge scandal. So many people are getting genuinely sick.

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Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 20/06/2026

“Nearly half of U.S. counties lack a practicing obstetrician or gynecologist. Rural hospitals have steadily closed labor and delivery units, citing financial losses, staffing shortages, and the high cost of malpractice insurance.”

statnews.com

Maternity deserts aren’t accidents. They’re the result of a design flaw

Shrinking fertility should mean less strain on doctors. But nearly half of U.S. counties lack a practicing obstetrician or gynecologist.

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Mandi Spishak-Thomas @aspishakthomas.com · 16/06/2026

Policymakers should opt for strategies outside of Medicaid that can more precisely target high-net-worth individuals through mechanisms like tax increases on high income earners and large inheritances instead of policies like estate recovery that disproportionately impact low-income families.

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Mandi Spishak-Thomas @aspishakthomas.com · 16/06/2026

However, the value of homes owned by Black families is substantially less than white ones ($27,000 vs $73,000), explaining in part why more money was recovered from white homeowners. Considering differences in lifetime wealth accumulation, the impacts may be felt more deeply by Black families.

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Mandi Spishak-Thomas @aspishakthomas.com · 16/06/2026

We found approximately $83 billion was recovered from beneficiaries between 2017 and 2021, or 0.6% of the total cost of North Carolina's annual Medicaid program. We found that Black homeowners were more likely to have lower value estates recovered, and more money was recovered from white estates.

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

Take for example, the claim that work requirements will reduce poverty. The HHS report ignores the facts that *up to 7 million people are expected to lose Medicaid over the next couple of years & *Medicaid is very effective at reducing poverty But somehow, magically, this will reduce poverty? C'mon

graph showing estimated medicaid loss as a result of work requirements

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

New at Can We Still Govern: The Trump admin released a report saying that Medicaid work requirements will increase work and reduce poverty. There is a technical term for this: malarkey. Actual experts @chloeneast.bsky.social & @adrianna.bsky.social break it down. open.substack.com/pub/donmoyni...

open.substack.com

The Trump Administration’s Dubious Case for Work Requirements

Cherry-picked studies and unrealistic assumptions define a new government report

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Bryce Covert @brycecovert.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

People who experience menopause at work often find out that there is no law guaranteeing their right to accommodations so they can keep working. Now that's starting to change. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

motherjones.com

Working while menopausal

Employees in hormone flux want accommodations—and some states are granting them.

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Rutgers CSHP @rutgerscshp.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

Today’s #FindingsFriday insight comes from a #NEW journal article authored by CSHP Assistant Research Professor @aspishakthomas.com. She explores the impacts of Medicaid #EstateRecovery on home ownership, home equity, and #Medicaid enrollment: go.rutgers.edu/pzhz4f05

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The City Reporter @thecityreporter.nyc · 03/06/2026

A state review found the Health Department launched new initiatives and improved data collection. But Black women still face disproportionately high pregnancy-related death rates. www.thecityreporter.nyc/2026/06/03/m...

thecityreporter.nyc

‘Not Doing Enough’: NY Maternal Mortality Reforms Haven’t Closed Racial Gap

A state review found the Health Department launched new initiatives and improved data collection. But Black women still face disproportionately high pregnancy-related death rates.

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Rutgers CSHP @rutgerscshp.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

Today’s #FindingsFriday insight comes from a #NEW article co-authored by CSHP faculty @aspishakthomas.com and @ericaeliason.bsky.social. It explores utilization of postpartum #contraception and opportunities to remove barriers to accessing contraceptives after #childbirth: go.rutgers.edu/zwr9k0nt

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Anjali Dayal @anjalikdayal.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

"Kara Morillo, an organizer with the Eyes on ICE coalition, also told Gothamist she’d been told officers at Delaney Hall entered units containing men on an ongoing hunger strike, closed the vents, and began to assault and pepper spray detainees." gothamist.com/news/family-...

gothamist.com

Family, activists allege Newark immigration center guards beat and used gas on detainees

Gothamist saw multiple people taken out on stretchers and transported away in Ambulances.

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Ruth Delgado @heylookitsruth.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

URGENT CALL TO ACTION: ICE agents at Delaney Hall have escalated drastically. There are reports of them beating detainees inside the facility RIGHT NOW. If you can't physically be at Delaney Hall, you need to CALL GOV. SHERRILL AND YOUR REPS!!! Phone number and call script below ⬇️

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