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frannyhelen

@frannyhelen.bsky.social
3.5K followers 4.2K following 796 posts

Midwestern by birth, California girl for 45 years, now in NC. Fan of excellent sports writing.

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Reposted by frannyhelen
Susan Rinkunas @susanrinkunas.com · 3h
Louisiana's lawyer says it right here: The case against the providers would end the "ability of nearly three dozen of the most prominent actors to illegally send ANY abortion drugs" to ban states, and the case against the states would strip providers of protection to prescribe "back-up drugs"
screenshot letter sent to the Fifth Circuit:
Both complaints explain how Louisiana’s success in Louisiana v.
FDA will eliminate the flood of FDA-approved mifepristone into the
State. Louisiana’s success in Louisiana v. Nouhavandi will eliminate the ability of nearly three dozen of the most prominent actors to illegally send any abortion drugs into the State. And Louisiana’s success in Louisiana v. New York will strip all shield-law state residents—regardless of any back-up drugs they may try to use—of the claimed authority to violate Louisiana’s laws with impunity.
Respectfully,
/s/J. Benjamin Aguiñaga
J. Benjamin Aguiñaga
Solicitor General
Counsel for Louisiana

pages 1 and 2 here
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ca5.229553/gov.uscourts.ca5.229553.407.0.pdfscreenshot complaint against providers filed in district court:

A. Abortion Drug Manufacturers Encourage Abortions in Plaintiff States.
70. This story begins with abortion drugs themselves. The abortion drug mifepristone
causes an embryo or fetus to detach from the uterine lining, killing the embryo or fetus.16 Mifepristone
commonly is dispensed in conjunction with the drug misoprostol, which initiates contractions to expel
the dead embryo or fetus. Misoprostol also can be used standing alone to effectuate an abortion—
and some defendants in this case have threatened to switch to a misoprostol-only regimen if they lose the ability to mail mifepristone.17 Accordingly, the terms “abortion drugs” and “abortion-inducing drugs” in this complaint refer to both drugs individually and together, as well as any other drug intended to cause an abortion.
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.lawd.223571/gov.uscourts.lawd.223571.1.0_2.pdf#page=21
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Susan Rinkunas @susanrinkunas.com · 3h
An underappreciated part of the two abortion pill cases filed last week: they target not just mifepristone, but also *misoprostol.* That's the second drug in a typical regimen, but it's effective on its own. Louisiana says the cases would prevent mailing "back-up drugs" @autonomynews.co
autonomynews.co
Three States Try Express Lane to Supreme Court Over ‘Shield’ Laws: October 5 News Roundup
Complaints filed last week target access to both mifepristone and misoprostol, a back-up abortion pill method.
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Annalee Newitz @annaleen.bsky.social · 7h
Holy slime mold! This is tomorrow, 10/6!! See you soon!
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Cathy Newman ⚜️🐘 @cenewman0.bsky.social · 3h
Great article explaining optogenetics in neuro research for those who, like me, had no clue what optogenetics actually is despite hearing about it all the time www.nytimes.com/2026/10/05/h...
nytimes.com
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Is Awarded for Discoveries in Neuroscience (Gift Article)
Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel were recognized for their work on light-gated ion channels and optogenetics, a technique that uses pulses of light to activate neurons in the brain.
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Mo Ryan @moryan.bsky.social · 3h
and if you are heading over to PBS, try Trespasses, very good 4 part scripted drama set in Belfast during the Troubles, tremendous performance by Lola Petticrew & just generally quite good. Now I gotta watch the cave art doc!!
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Rev. Benjamin Cremer @brcremer.bsky.social · 5h
Notice the absence of the traditional olive branch? The olive branch symbolized America prioritizing peace with war as a last resort. It has been part of the Great Seal of the United States since 1782 and was part of the original seal of the Department of Defense.
Notice the absence of the traditional olive branch? The olive branch symbolized America prioritizing peace with war as a last resort. It has been part of the Great Seal of the United States since 1782 and was part of the original seal of the Department of Defense.
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Adam Rifkin 🐼 @ifindkarma.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
“WSJ editorial page says that Trump and family are totally crooked. Trump’s 2025 disclosures are ‘an unseemly display of using the Presidency for family profit… Trump boys [corrupt] deals [aided by] GOP corruption…’” @robertscotthorton.bsky.social bsky.app/profile/robe... Archive: archive.is/9r6a7
wsj.com
Opinion | The Trump Family and ‘Honest Graft’
They are profiting off the Presidency in ways that demean the office.
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Andrew Deck @andrewdeck.bsky.social · 8h
ChatGPT is adding the signatures of real New Yorker cartoonists to its AI-generated images. So far, I've found the signatures of more than 15 contributors. "It’s slop, and unlike the other slop that I’ve encountered, this is slop that’s pretending to be me." www.niemanlab.org/2026/10/chat...
Left: A cartoon generated by ChatGPT and signed with Emily Flake’s signature that was posted to a Reddit forum in June. Right: A real Emily Flake cartoon published in The New Yorker on August 20, 2026 and licensed via The Cartoon Bank.
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ghost malone ergo propter bones @proptermalone.bsky.social · 3h
minor boost for “Ken Paxton’s team wants him to lose” theory
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Amarie @humanwolf.bsky.social · 14h
www.sfgate.com/hawaii/artic... Sad loss from #ClimateChange The famous/glorious #HoleiSeaArch is gone #ClimateChangeNeedsYouToCare #ResistanceEarth #BlueEarth
sfgate.com
Hawaii's famed Holei Sea Arch is gone forever
The arch is believed to have been 550 years old.
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Martha Smith @mostlymartha.bsky.social · 5h
I still see a lot of WHY DON'T THE SO-CALLED GOOD CHRISTIANS STOP THE CHRISTIAN NATIONALISTS going around. Beloveds, we are trying, but the Christian Nationalists don't listen to us. They're sending us death threats, and we can barely afford insurance on the building.
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Andrea Grimes @andreagrimes.com · 5h
just did a quick google "San Diego is the heart of U.S. naval and Marine Corps power, home to more than 115000 active duty service members and a $52.6 billion military economy."
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Shooti @bambooshooti.bsky.social · 5h
Brian Poindexter is a union ironworker whose platform emphasizes working-class economic justice. His focus is lowering the cost of living, expanding workers' rights, making healthcare independent of employment and banning corporate PACs. Elect Brian Poindexter Ohio's 7th Congressional District
Graphic supporting Brian Poindexter for Ohio's 7th Congressional District.
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Southey Blanton @southey4senate.bsky.social · 5h
I’m running for state senate here in NC. People keep showing me polls and I refuse to acknowledge them. I’d rather knock doors and show up everywhere and then just see what happens on November 3rd.
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Tal Lavin @swordsjew.bsky.social · 6h
tell me the vibe you are seeking and i will recommend you a gay romance novel (pls note if trashy is ok)
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Gabe Ortíz @tusk81.bsky.social · 5h
Once again, this shit would be career-ending for any other politician but the Very Special Boy gets to say whatever he likes because he gets to play by Very Special Rules. Why is that?
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Hayden Black @haydenb.bsky.social · 7h
Thom Tillis knew EXACTLY what he was doing. If he's not fascist, he's fascist-adjacent - and this redemption tour bullshit needs to stop.
apnews.com
Republican Sen. Tillis calls his vote for Hegseth the 'biggest regret of my career' in a new book
Republican Sen. Thom Tillis says in a new book that his deciding vote to confirm Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in January 2025 is the “biggest regret of my career.”
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Mal @mal-rambles.bsky.social · 5h
Especially after seeing what's happening in Brazil. So many people just don't even vote that it doesn't take many people directly voting for fascism to bring it back around.
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Prisonculture @prisonculture.bsky.social · 5h
Is it safe for me to say on here that I do not believe the polls about the Midterms? I don't trust white voters to be honest about their voting intentions with pollsters.
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Rep. Norma Torres @torres.house.gov · 7h
Taxpayers are being forced to spend $950 million to buy three aging detention facilities and then keep paying GEO Group to run them through 2034. We’re paying hundreds of millions for the facilities and billions more to operate them, while ICE moves to limit oversight of unsafe conditions.
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The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 10h
Why is 🇺🇸 media not reporting on this 128 day Albanian protest of Kushner and Ivanka’s insane corruption?
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Joel S. @joelhs.bsky.social · 7h
Seems like if you're going to make a national story out of Hasan Piker, who campaigned a few times with the Democratic Senate candidate in Michigan, saying Israel causes antisemitism, you should also make a national story out of the favorite intellectual of the US Vice President supporting Hitler.
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Jonathan Bernstein @jonathanbernstein.bsky.social · 6h
Why am I seeing an OH-Sen ad here in San Antonio during this ballgame? (trans-bashing anti-Brown; they really have nothing else, do they?). I'm on team Campaign Spending is Good, but maybe we've finally overdone it.
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Ars Technica @arstechnica.com · 10h
arstechnica.com
Command-line tool quickly removes Apple Intelligence from macOS 27
The tool can free up over 12GB of storage.
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spooky noodle arms sizemo 👻🧙🦇 @sizemo.bsky.social · 6h
ALSO after dems made Walz stop calling republicans "weird" in 2024, that is literally the word the Paxton folks/pacs are using to describe talarico now.
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spooky noodle arms sizemo 👻🧙🦇 @sizemo.bsky.social · 6h
Dying for a Blexas
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Amanda Katz @katzish.bsky.social · 8h
I do really wish every library had this
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Scott Richards @discuit.bsky.social · 9h
Whoa wait are you questioning the staggering genius of folks who stole the entire world’s collective intellectual property and managed to turn that into a $42 BILLION dollar loss?
An IPO summary of Anthropocene that reads:

“Anthropic IPO could value the company at more than $2
trillion
• Anthropic lost $42 billion in 2025
• Al lab spent $7.33 billion on compute and infrastructure last year
• Operating loss widened to $8.06 billion in 2025 from $2.98 billion in 2024
• Execs, industry analysts have expressed concerns over harms of Al tech
Sept 28 (Reuters) - Anthropic is making a massive bet that Al will transform the global economy more profoundly than industrialization, electricity and the internet, according to its IPO prospectus seen by Reuters.
But the cost to get there will be staggering. Anthropic reported a net loss of $42 billion in 2025, and plans to spend $518 billion on cloud, computing and infrastructure obligations in coming year, according to the prospectus.”
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John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 9h
"But if it was limited only to public domain it couldn't function like it does!" I mean: a) That's why I noted "licensed and compensated works" b) It doesn't excuse IP theft or materially argue for the value of a tech apparently only possible through IP theft c) It's not too late to compensate!
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John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 13h
This is your occasional reminder that generative "AI" in particular could have been developed on public domain materials and/or licensed and compensated works but the major players intentionally, methodically and systemically chose to steal labor from working creative folks instead
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Prison Policy Initiative @prisonpolicy.org · 10h
Midterms are around the corner, and the way local law enforcement collaborates with ICE is on the ballot. New guide by @boltsmag.org outlines the races across the U.S. that could reshape Trump's deportation agenda👇
boltsmag.org
The 25 Sheriff and Prosecutor Races Set to Shape Criminal Justice and ICE Collaboration
Voters face stark choices for offices with vast powers on policing and punishment. Bolts walks you through key contests to watch across a dozen states.
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Boston Tom Levenson @tomlevenson.bsky.social · 8h
I'll just note that "permanent" in DC has a different meaning than it does elsewhere. We're going to raze your works to the ground, you child-murderer.
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Assigned Media @assignedmedia.org · 9h
BREAKING: We're hearing from a member of the WSU faculty that a notice went out a few minutes ago saying the TORCH conference we covered in this story "will not proceed this weekend as planned." Reasons for this are unclear, as is whether the event has been cancelled or merely postponed.
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Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 10h
Just a reminder: Tillis persuaded the woman Hegseth allegedly raped to come forward with her story, and told her that if she did, it would sink the nomination. She did. At great risk to herself. Tillis then cast the deciding vote for Hegseth. Because he’s a goddamned coward.
ms.now
Outgoing Sen. Tillis regrets pivotal vote for Hegseth: ‘He’s an actor. He’s not a manager’
Outgoing Sen. Thom Tillis spoke to MS NOW about regretting his vote to confirm Pete Hegseth and his strained relationship with Trump.
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Nathan Newman @nathansnewman.bsky.social · 8h
Just the most repellant historic vandalism possible The Kennedy Center shutdown is just an extension of Trump's disregard for anything other than his own narcistic building projects. www.gadgetreview.com/trumps-borde...
gadgetreview.com
Trump's Border Wall Construction Destroys 6,500-Year-Old Arizona Geoglyph – Older Than Stonehenge
Arizona's 6,500-year-old Las Playas Intaglio, the oldest dated geoglyph in the Americas, was irreparably damaged by border wall construction in April 2026.
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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 10h
In Austin, a 9-year-old watched ICE detain and drive away with his mother, leaving community members to scramble to find him care. Senate Republicans just blocked a bill that would bar ICE from making arrests at school bus stops. Their cruelty is endless.
commondreams.org
'It Has to Stop': Community Members Condemn ICE Arrests at Bus Stops After GOP Blocks Bill to Protect Kids | Common Dreams
Republicans in the US Senate blocked a bill to protect school bus stops from ICE arrests, leading to outrage in Pennsylv
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Boricua405 on X @estadistarebelde1.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
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Unite Against Book Bans @uabookbans.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Banned Books Week starts today! This year’s theme is: #LetBooksBe What do you think books should be? Share your answer in the comments: ✨ Let Books Be Free 🎉 Let Books Be Fun 🌎 Let Books Be Diverse 💡 Let Books Be Thought-Provoking ❤️ Let Books Be Themselves
Drawn image of a woman reading, surrounded by books, birds, flowers, clouds, vines, stars. Text reades: Protect the Freedom to Read - Let Books Be - Banned Books Week, Oct. 4-10, 2026. American Library Association. ala.org/bbooks
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Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
The world does not consent (but Sam Altman does not believe consent is required). But the world would consent to many bad things happening to Sam Altman and OpenAI.
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Elsa @erli.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
I can't stop thinking how wrong the tech bros have understood creativity and creators. Or even just having hobbies. - Version with ALT text! Thank you @virginiaopossum.bsky.social for the help!
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Colin Carlson @colincarlson.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
apropos of nothing: www.medrxiv.org/content/10.6...
medrxiv.org
Frequent introductions and climate suitability drive increasing dengue risk in Florida
In recent years, detection of local dengue cases in Florida have increased in both frequency and geographical extent. From 2022 to 2024, consecutive outbreaks in Miami-Dade County were mainly caused b...
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billkittle.bsky.social @billkittle.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
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Cat Manning @catacalypto.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
this is my favorite genre of social media post and I am soliciting links or screenshots to your favorites
Jesse Raub @jesseraub.online
King Darius looking down at Daniel in the pit:
Norm Charlatan @normcharlatan....
Man, what are the Lions doing?
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CatWoman @catwomanresists.bsky.social · 23h
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Angelica Shalagina Official🇺🇦 @angel-shalagina.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
😂 Democracy, russian style. Communists in Moscow held an officially approved rally. Then they started chanting “Down with the Tsar!” And suddenly the “approved rally” wasn’t so approved anymore - police beat them and dispersed the crowd.
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Tahar 🇺🇦 🇵🇸 🇺🇳 🇪🇺 @rochaa.bsky.social · 23h
Except for corruption, racism and authoritarianism, what’s so special these Bolsonaros?
apple.news
Brazil election goes to run-off as right-wing Flávio Bolsonaro wins first round — BBC News
With neither candidate getting more than 50% of the vote, the election will go to a run-off on 25 October.
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Alan Stedman @alanjstedman.bsky.social · 23h
Definitely Some komorebe for you 🤗
Dawn sun shining through trees

The Japanese word for this is Komorebe
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 05/10/2026
“The day after I lost $1,800 on basketball in one night … an email popped into my inbox. ‘Welcome to the DraftKings VIP Showcase,’ the subject line read. I couldn’t believe it. My night of loss chasing was being rewarded.”
propublica.org
I Deliberately Bet Like a Problem Gambler. DraftKings Made Me a VIP.
Amid growing public health concerns, operators like DraftKings have touted “responsible gaming” tools and prompts. But as I went off the deep end, I found they were no match for the incentives and…
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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
A 10K contribution and a $900 million return. The scale of the graft in Homeland Security is a) off the charts and b) possible because no-one believes they will face any accountability
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Christopher Hale @christopherjhale.bsky.social · 23h
Pope Leo XIV once asked his mother, a Black Creole librarian from Chicago, whether she wanted to be equal to men. “No, because we’re already better,” Mildred Prevost answered. Her family came north from New Orleans’ Seventh Ward around 1911.
thelettersfromleo.com
The Black Creole Mother Who Made the Pope
Mildred Prevost died in 1990. In October, as Pope Leo XIV, her son told a Vatican synod what she had said in 1972 when he asked if women wanted equality with men, she responded “we’re already better.”
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