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Debbie Downer

@debbiedown.bsky.social
529 followers 1.4K following 201 posts

Recovering academic, late discovered AuDHD cat person, just trying to survive in this dystopia

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Debbie Downer @debbiedown.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
When a vulnerable person in a care setting lashes out because they feel cornered and afraid, it’s how they have learned to protect themself over a lifetime of trauma. The U.S. health and care systems treat this as a “behavior” that must be extinguished rather than an indicator of internal distress.
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Melody Schreiber @melodyschreiber.com · 08/09/2026
A bizarre moment in reporting on this story: One of the authors of this study disputed my summary of it: “...gender ideology is associated with LWA [left-wing authoritarianism] and willingness to justify political violence.” I was quoting from the study itself. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
theguardian.com
‘Nakedly political’: US attempts to link trans support to authoritarianism in new health department report
HHS releases report linking ‘gender ideology’ to political violence – a study scientists say was poorly conducted
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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
pay living wages for all workers. tax the shit out of billionaires. happy labor day.
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Debbie Downer @debbiedown.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
2026 is being parked next to this car, while a white woman in an American flag t-shirt yells “DERANGEMENT SYNDROME” loudly beside it. I told her they had it right as I loaded my car, so she started yelling at me. Wish I’d told her how much more my groceries cost because of her orange overlord…
A beat up, small, black car with two handmade posters taped to the side that say “HEY TRUMP” and “GET LOST”
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Leah McElrath @leahmcelrath.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
“The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born: now is the time of monsters.”
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Debbie Downer @debbiedown.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Bearing witness to a multifaceted societal and environmental collapse, the erosion of social norms, and the dissolution of the social compact at the same time as I’m losing nearly all of the people and places I care about is so unbelievably overwhelming. Feels like being in free fall all the time…
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Karen Attiah @karenattiah.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Getting my job back at the Washington Post would not have been possible if it wasn’t for me belonging to a union. @postguild.bsky.social and @wbng.org are the unions I belong to. I was able to challenge my wrongful termination because of the collective bargaining agreement / union contract!
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Sarah J. Jackson @sjjphd.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
I always liked that she chose to be her unapologetic self in the face of a classist, sexist culture that pathologizes and humiliates women who look like her
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Wagatwe Wanjuki @wagatwe.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
"Jason was not just hounded out of Cambridge or academia; he was hounded out of the workforce, hounded out of existence."
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Debbie Downer @debbiedown.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Anyone else notice that the shelves at the grocery store seem really sparse these days? I’ve noticed it now at two different stores over the past few weeks…
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 13/08/2026
Use our Nursing Home Inspect tool to search over 90,000 nursing home inspection reports and look for trends or patterns, evaluate nursing homes near you and compare nursing homes by state.
projects.propublica.org
Nursing Home Inspect
Search inspection reports and find problems at over 14,000 nursing homes across the country.
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Eric Michael Garcia @ericmgarcia.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
What happened and "changed our children?" The reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act in 1990s that and included autism as a covered disabilities. Schools had to report how many autistic students they served. Who was a cosponsor of that bill? RFK Jr.'s uncle Ted Kennedy.
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Debbie Downer @debbiedown.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Maybe the concurrent effort in the press to invalidate late diagnosis of autism, calling it “trendy” and harmful, is an effort to disappear elder autistics because we are inconvenient for their argument.
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Debbie Downer @debbiedown.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
This is an excellent article on the rise of autism and ADHD diagnoses. It beautifully and neatly weaves all the threads of argument together, explaining how changes in labor standards and technology have shifted how humans are judged and measured. So worth a read!
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Greg Pak @gregpak.net · 07/08/2026
Hey, I made a video for @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social! Please, @mayor.nyc.gov, don't let the billionaires get their hands on our kids! Give us a full 2 year "A.i." moratorium for the schools - for students and teachers, 2K-12! (PLEASE share - and tell the mayor what YOU think at HeyMamdani.fyi !)
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Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
It's demoralizing living in a nonstop Abuse-a-thon: we've had to learn the sordid details of so many men's abhorrent behavior; I mean this summer has been Graham Platner, Andrew Tate, Jared Leto, Max Miller, plus the horrific L.A. rape-murder of the child by the rapper, to name a few lowlights.
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Senator Ron Wyden @wyden.senate.gov · 04/08/2026
Bombshell new report out from my investigators this morning spanning our four year investigation into Jeffrey Epstein’s financial records. This report shows exactly how Wall Street protected Epstein and enabled his sex trafficking for decades. Mega thread following with some key points:
bloomberg.com
Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan, BofA Enabled Epstein, Wyden Report Says
Democrat Ron Wyden cited nonpublic documents held by the US Treasury in a report that says banks delayed reporting suspicious financial transactions and calls for tougher anti-money-laundering rules, ...
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Princess Vimentin PhD | Cancer Biologist @princess-vimentin.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
The COVID brain fog explained. The COVID-19 virus binds to the ACE2 receptor to enter cells. Dopamine producing neurons are rich in the ACE2 receptor. The virus causes disruption in the dopamine network in the brain. 🧪 tech-paper.com/scientists-f...
tech-paper.com
Scientists finally have a biological explanation for why long COVID patients lose motivation and can't think clearly. They scanned their brains and found the dopamine system was physically damaged - T...
Millions of people with long COVID report the same cluster of symptoms: a crushing lack of motivation, an inability to think clearly, memory that slips, movements that feel slower than they should. Fo...
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Debbie Downer @debbiedown.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
Today I read something my paternal aunt wrote some years before she died about her family. In it, she wrote that she had discovered that she had an aunt (my great aunt) who died by suicide after word of her attraction to women got out. Nobody ever spoke of it.That’s a lot to process right there…
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Jess Calarco @jessicacalarco.com · 31/07/2026
And the reason people socially construct brute facts is that those constructions allow us to coordinate action. If we don't have units of measure, we can't easily give each other directions. If we don't have labels for symptom clusters like ADHD, we can't easily develop treatments or policies.
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Stimpunks Foundation @stimpunks.org · 28/07/2026
Inclusion is architecture, not goodwill. Lower the sensory load. Make routines legible. Drop the performance pressure. Then more people take part — not because they changed, but because the space did. stimpunks.org/design/creat...
stimpunks.org
Create a Neurodiversity Inclusive Environment
Collected herein are ways of creating neurodiversity inclusive environments in education, healthcare, and everywhere based on research and lived experience.
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Isaiah D. Colbert @shineyezehuhh.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Leading with empathy is a lost art.
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Tiricohairline @trejames.blacksky.app · 27/07/2026
This old...
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Debbie Downer @debbiedown.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
In this time when hate, fear, and judgement bloom all around me, it is hard to keep turning toward love and compassion. But it also feels like the only way to stay free - to continue to choose my own mindset even when those who wish to destroy everyone and everything that I love have so much power.
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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
As good as many of you said. I really appreciate the unambiguous point that this primarily a racist moral panic before unpacking the nuanced second-order explanations. dannykatch.substack.com/p/we-used-to...
dannykatch.substack.com
We used to be able to buy things in this country
Locking up toothpaste was a warning sign that our executive class was crazy
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Charlotte Clymer @charlotteclymer.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
This story is crazy. It would appear Trump admin officials rigged their nationally televised high school civics contest to keep a young man from a Sikh family out of the finalists. www.notus.org/national/ame...
notus.org
Suspicion and Doubt at the National Civics Contest
America’s finest young scholars competed to mark their country's birthday. It led to a disputed finish in the age of mistrust.
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Rewire News Group @rewirenewsgroup.com · 22/07/2026
July is Disability Pride Month. We're resurfacing this 2019 story because parenting is already hard—and for parents with disabilities, the challenges can feel insurmountable because they're raising kids in a society not built for them. rewirenews.link/4gL6n8v
rewirenews.link
What It’s Like to Be a Disabled Parent in an Inaccessible World – Rewire News Group
Parenting is hard work. But for parents with disabilities, the challenges can feel insurmountable—because they are raising children in a society not built for t
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WIRED @wired.com · 17/07/2026
Yesterday, WIRED learned that Madison Square Garden was suing us for our accurate reporting. We stand by our work. That’s why we’re removing the paywall from two of the MSG stories they don’t want you to read, making them free for everyone.
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Debbie Downer @debbiedown.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Song for today youtu.be/NDVOzW4dXL0?...
youtu.be
Please Forgive Us
YouTube video by 10000 Maniacs - Topic
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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
All of the branding finally got me to talk about menopause. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/13/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | Welcome to the Golden Age of the Crone (Gift Article)
A new generation is not willing to settle for being invisible.
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Gwen Snyder is undead @gwensnyder.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
I don't think these times have been a solvent for decency at all. This has been a precipitation process. It has made decent people coalesce & show themselves. We're also seeing how many people had just been superficially feigning decency, because that used to be a social/professional expectation.
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ALOK @alokvmenon.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
we need education of the heart, not just the mind
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Maria Popova @mariapopova.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
"We can change, evolve, and transform our own conditioning. We can choose to move like water rather than be molded like clay." The bird in the heart – Terry Tempest Williams on the paradox of transformation and how to live with uncertainty
themarginalian.org
The Bird in the Heart: Terry Tempest Williams on the Paradox of Transformation and How to Live with Uncertainty
“We can change, evolve, and transform our own conditioning. We can choose to move like water rather than be molded like clay.”
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ALOK @alokvmenon.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
my grief matchmade me to my joy
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Sandy Ernest Allen @sandyernestallen.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
What I observe over and over is many people don’t actually care about violence — sexual violence, domestic violence, so forth. It’s something we see reflected constantly, in how our media treats victims, in our media assumes the best of and protect powerful men, despite evidence to the contrary.
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Laura Jedeed @laurajedeed.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
Hi hello I was going to do a full thread on the Great American State Fair later but it seems I'm starting early: why in the fuck are PragerU, Patriot Academy, and other far right groups the ENTIRETY of the Department of Education booth
Two banners

First banner reads:

Welcome to the Great Experiment

250 years of American invention - a story still in the making

Two hundred and fifty years ago, America made a bet: that ordinary people with extraordinary ideas could build a nation unlike any before. That bet is still paying off.

The Cade Museum for Creativity and Invention presents this exhibit in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Commerce - home of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the institution that turned creative freedom into economic fuel.

At the Cade, we believe so deeply in thinking and acting like an inventor that we gave it a name: Inventivity.® This exhibit is brimming with it.

The race is well underway, but it's never too late to jump in. So gear up, strap in, and take a lap

GEORGE WASHINGTON April 30, 1789 - March 4, 1797

Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefito, and humbly to implore his protection and favor

SERVICE

"Let me serve voluntarily; then I will, with the greatest pleasure in life, devote my services to the expedition without any other reward, than the satisfaction of serving my country"

RELIGION

"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports."

CHARACTER

"To the distinguished Character of Patriot, it should be our highest Glory to add the more distinguished Character of Christian."the journey continues from here" with QR codes to Wallbuilders, the American Journey Experience, Patriot Academy, PragerU, and AmericanMinute.comStickers with a QR code to sign up to be a constitution coach with Patriot Academy
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Imara Jones @imarajones.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
On the last day of Pride Month, the Supreme Court has voted to allow states to bar transgender athletes from playing girls’ sports. Their stated goal is to deny constitutional protections for trans people, and this is just another box to check on their list.
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rufus⁷ @rufuss.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
In case you, too, needed this today:
Op is novelconcepts: Hey, man, c'mere. Listen. Get in real close, this is important.
You're gonna make stuff again. You're gonna make stuff you're proud of. You're gonna make stuff you're excited to share. You're going to feel that overwhelming drive to create, not just the frantic / want to want to you're stuck in now. You're going to have awesome ideas, and you're going to make them into reality. You're going to create again.
You're still an artist. You're still a writer. You're still home to the same passion you had before. You'll find it again. It's not gone. It's just resting. Let it rest. You're going to make stuff again. I promise.
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Debbie Downer @debbiedown.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Being diagnosed with Autism and ADHD helped me understand why I struggle in complex bureaucracies and with filling out forms. I can’t tell you how much money I left on the table at my last job because I couldn’t navigate the reimbursement process and so I just opted to go without or eat the costs.
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Jeff Sharlet @jeffsharlet.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
At the end of the term I asked my college creative wriing students to submit anonymous thoughts on AI. No real surprises: Mood ranges from resignation to despair, capitulation from embittered erosion of standards to total, feelings of betrayal from deep to furious. 1/
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ALOK @alokvmenon.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
there are as many ways to be beautiful as there are people on this earth
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Debbie Downer @debbiedown.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
I love it when someone creates so many obstacles in an attempt to “help” and “motivate” me that it actually prevents me from doing a thing that is hugely important to me. I said person could understand that this tactic is the opposite of motivating…it makes me feel like giving up entirely.
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Crystal Fincher @finchfrii.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
This is fun: spellbeeswax.com
A screenshot from the Beeswax showing I got 5/5 correct in 59 seconds:

 A speller's daily spelling bee
 JUNE 9, 2026

 TIME 0:59
 HINTS 0
 SCORE 1,541

 Your turn at the lectern.
 spellbeeswax.com
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Debbie Downer @debbiedown.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
Song for today: Reflections by Diana Ross and the Supremes youtu.be/FFXEWSr8-3A?...
youtu.be
Diana Ross and The Supremes - Reflections
YouTube video by The Supremes Archive
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Debbie Downer @debbiedown.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
Living as we do, on the precipice of many impending disasters, I feel an ache of nostalgia for each moment as it passes. I want to hold everything close to my bones, knowing on some level that the world around me is as beautiful and vibrant as it will ever be, at least for the foreseeable future.
static.klipy.com
Claire & Nate Fisher: You Can't Take a Picture
Alt: This is a GIF of two characters, Claire & Nate Fisher, from the TV show Six Feet Under. Claire has a camera in her hand and her brother Nate is whispering in her ear: “You Can't Take a Picture of this. It’s already gone.
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ALOK @alokvmenon.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
becoming intimate with a ministry of loss has made me learn a ministry of love. via @raceforward
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Debbie Downer @debbiedown.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
If are in the U.S. and want to hear the sound of societal collapse, have a listen to your local EMS, fire, and/or police scanner. What I hear on mine is tremendous despair - so many mental health crises; suicide attempts and completions; domestic violence; horrible car accidents; fights; homicides…
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Debbie Downer @debbiedown.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
I will NEVER understand people who do have the means to alleviate another human’s suffering but purposely choose not to. It’s especially awful when folks are blamed for their own suffering or told that it’s “for their own good.”
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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 23/05/2026
Poverty is a policy choice. Concentrated wealth is a policy choice. Inequality is a policy choice. None of it is natural or inevitable. Remember: We have the power to build a system that serves the many, not the powerful few.
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