The Corner

Mitigating the madness(?) She/Her/Hers pronouns

[spaceclown-fromouterspace]

This frame actually actually makes me want to rip my heart out holy shit.

Was it casual when i literally carried your soul in my body and once you got it back you walk straight towards my best friend and you barely even look at me?

[no-celebration]

Lapland

[hekate1308]

Every time I rewatch TOS I am reminded that Kirk and Spock do, in fact, be looking at each other like that

[depsidase]

[ganondorf]

i think this captures the defining pathology of the collective social media psyche right now. we are in the thrall of people who are wantonly cruel but who also demand to be coddled at all times in every way

[tedcruzisthezodiackiller]

[parsabad]

Wild horses/ Yazd desert/ Iran

Photo: D.Fazaeli

[jilli1205]

Trump administration to end Medicare Part D subsidy program in 2027

The prescription drug benefit is used by millions of seniors.

The Trump administration is ending a key health insurance subsidy program that aimed to keep premiums for seniors’ prescription drug plans in check, claiming that it benefits corporate insurance companies, according to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz.

Medicare Part D – the government health insurance program’s prescription drug benefit – is used by tens of millions of older or disabled beneficiaries.

The program’s subsidies are set to expire at the end of the year, the administration announced Tuesday.

That move will likely result in higher prescription costs and increase premiums for about half of recipients, according to an administration official.

Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP Photo - PHOTO: Mehmet Oz

Eligible seniors can get GLP-1s for $50 a month for weight loss alone

The changes are anticipated to happen in 2027 and enrollees will find out the new monthly cost later this fall, administration officials said.

Currently the government pays billions of dollars to insurance companies as a subsidy to keep prescription drug insurance at an average of $36 per person per month, according to KFF, a health policy nonprofit.

Ending the subsidies may increase premiums for some by as much as $20 a month, according to KFF.

The move comes as Affordable Care Act subsidies have expired and health care costs remain a top issue for voters ahead of the midterm elections. The ACA subsidies helped lower the out-of-pocket costs for monthly premiums for people who purchased health care through the health insurance marketplace.

[ralfmaximus]

The changes are anticipated to happen in 2027

Ah, so after the midterms. Smart.

Unless, of course, this news is circulated widely before the midterms.

[nerdygaymormon]

A reminder that sell-buy dates or best-used-by dates are not the same as expiration dates.

I love that a food bank is providing this info as they are experts in stretching food budgets and knowledgable in shelf-stable food items

[etakeh]

So I followed the link to the website and found the longer list.

The website puts a link to the USDA site which links to foodsafety dot gov who really wants you to use the app, but you can bypass it.

Also a link to the Canadian government's advisory on best-before dates.

Both sites have links to pages that get more into food storage.

[sashaforthewin]

As it is food drive season I'd like to remind people that while food might be edible past these dates, food banks and food pantries will not use food past those dates, so please don't waste their time by donating things they will not use

[tightjeansjavi]

also, google is free, but pick up a textbook every once in awhile. Find articles written by POC and keep up to date with how you can be a better ally. I took a black feminist theory class in college…taught by two white women.

You heard me right. Two. White. Women.

Which is fucking insane in itself, but on the first day of class one of the professors was reading an article, written by a black woman…and decided that it was completely acceptable and appropriate to drop the n-word (hard r) and every single person in class was fucking MORTIFIED. Even in the context of education, there was no reason for a white professor to so casually and subtly use that word. (They were called out for it immediately after and profusely apologized)

My point is that covert racism is still racism, and unfortunately it is alive and well.

I also have all of the articles and works saved from this class if anyone would like to do some heavy and necessary reading! I have hard copies, but I’m sure I can find the links for the articles as well.

Just after doing a little research on google, I found these articles to be incredibly helpful on breaking down covert racism, racism, white privilege, etc.

covert racism

systematic racism

racism and health

becoming trustworthy white allies

what is white privilege

books on systematic racism, racial justice, and anti-racism

race equity tools

Bottom line, white people have no excuse to not stand up for BIPOC. There is no excuse for racism. There is no tolerance, and we have to do better. I firmly believe that the first step in becoming a better ally is to educate yourself.

[acwhiteart]

Decided to try my hand at a bodice ripper cover and opted to make one for one of my favorite romances, Swordheart by T. Kingfisher!

Learned a lot during the process and I’m pretty pleased with the result!

[awhekate]

(puts all the Saint of Steel's paladins in my pocket and rattles them around)

just finished all four currently existing Saint of Steel books and I keep thinking about all these guys

[ladytuarach]

[ralfmaximus]

Let’s say your mail-in ballot just never shows up this fall. The county swears they sent it. But the real story is it’s sitting in a postal facility because you aren’t on the “official” list the White House gave the Post Office. That’s exactly what Trump’s ridiculous executive order does. States give USPS a roster of the mail voters they’ve approved, and the Post Office simply won’t deliver to the rest of you.

Pay attention. They're trying to steal the midterms.

[dittography-direwolf]

Totally normal for a legitimate for-profit company to refuse to reclaim or stop running their products even after they're no longer being paid to do so. I'm sure it's very normal to just keep running your service for free when your contract's been terminated. Spending money to continue running cameras that supposedly no one is looking at is definitely not an indicator they are just run by the federal government to spy on everyone and only a wacko conspiracy theorist would think so.

[viejospellejos]

Típico de belgas malinois

[ceruinus]

Good video showcasing exactly why these dogs are not suited to 99 percent of households.

They've gotten very popular recently and I suspect theyre also being dumped in shelters at a high rate

[ultramarineblues]

I can confirm they are.

Which is one of the reasons I reblogged this, I vaguely hope it might make someone somewhere reconsider their choices

[imaginarylands4000]

[mayakern]

2026 is the roughest year my small clothing store has had… maybe ever.

i don’t want to go into the nitty gritty of it all or try to dissect all the many things that have gone wrong because i’ve already done that and no amount of missteps that i’ve personally made rival the Big Reason We All Know: i’m an indie artist and designer that is dedicated to creating size inclusive, ethically made clothing in a world that seems determined to make that impossible for someone who is not already independently wealthy.

i haven’t talked about this publicly until now, but this year devin and i had to take substantial pay cuts just to keep the business running. we even skipped a few paychecks and seriously cut into our savings to make sure the business survived, and it’s still a struggle.

money is tight for everyone (me included) and the online attention economy is the worst it’s ever been—and for a small business that relies almost entirely on internet word-of-mouth to makes sales and pay the bills, that is a disastrous combination.

i’ve honestly reached a point where i feel bad even trying to post about my store because of how bad things are. it feels wrong to try to sell non-essential items in a world that is so hard. even if i love and believe in them. even if i know they are a net positive in the world.

everyone deserves clothing that makes them look and feel good, and that was made to last by people who were properly compensated to make it, regardless of their size. that is my core ethos running this store, and that’s what keeps me going. because i love and believe in what i do, even when it’s a struggle.

it feels silly, sometimes, to have so many big feelings about clothing—but i guess it’s normal to care about something that has made up the majority of your life for an entire decade.

i don’t really know where i’m going with this. a more astute sales person would probably include some photos of their wares at the end with a call to action and a link to their store, but right now even thinking about doing that here makes me feel gross.

i guess during a time when i feel so pressured to Get Over My Feelings and be a salesperson i want at least one moment that is just for my feelings.

[indirectcomedian]

xena gave us trans drag lesbianism as a treat

[autisticexpression2]

There are layers to this. Earlier in the episode, Xena discovers her secret while they're sharing a locker room. A woman she has got naked with turned out to be trans. It's the exact scenario terfs are always fear-mongering about, but Xena just shrugs it off.

Also, the kiss was a big deal not just because it was gay but because the trans actress was HIV positive. They wanted to show the world that you can't contract HIV just from kissing someone. Bear in mind, the AIDS crisis was still fresh on people's minds in the 90s.

Happy Pride.

[toppingilyarozanov]

The AIDS crisis was not "fresh on people's minds" in the 90s; the AIDS crisis was still happening. Princess Diana made news by shaking hands with AIDS patients in 1991; Magic Johnson retired from the NBA after he tested positive in late 1991.

He was required to do this because other players were afraid that they could contract it from him on the court. It wasn't outside the realm of possibility, but nowhere near probable. It was fear-mongering. A ton of people opposed him playing in the 1992 all-star game because of it, though he played anyway.

Don't let recency bias fool you--these things were happening at a scale that most AIDS service orgs, even giant ones like AID Atlanta, couldn't hope to keep up with until there was a way to prevent transmission (which didn't happen until like 2013 and wasn't accessible until later that decade).

The American public became less terrified of the disease in the 90s and this episode of Xena was part of that process of de-stigmatization. But at that point people's medicated HIV was still very often turning into AIDS and killing them. It very much was still burning a deep hole in communities everywhere.

[baronfulmen]

I remember someone pushing back against the fear mongering around Magic Johnson saying "apparently they're worried about a random gay orgy breaking out in the middle of a game" which really stuck with me.

[ralfmaximus]

Yeah. They were 'worried' he was going to injure himself and spray infected AIDS blood all over the other players and possibly the spectators. People were hysterical about blood & saliva from HIV carriers.

In fact, queer people were banned from donating blood up until 2015.

It wasn't until 2023 that the US switched to "individual risk assessment" and made it legal for queer folk to donate blood. And even then, on a case-by-case basis. Also, gay & bisexual men must be monogamous for three months.