onfocus

Writer/researcher Erin Kissane is working to build better and safer networks for collective survival, with efforts including the COVID Tracking Project, a powerful 40,000 word analysis of Meta’s role in the Rohingya genocide in Myanmar, and current research into the culture and governance of the next wave of social networks.

When necessary government infrastructure to fight the covid pandemic was missing, internet randos came together on Twitter to build it. Amazing, heartbreaking talk here. Inspiring reminder that confronting the pain of the world is difficult and necessary.

The number of women in Texas who died while pregnant, during labor or soon after childbirth skyrocketed following the state’s 2021 ban on abortion care — far outpacing a slower rise in maternal mortality across the nation, a new investigation of federal public health data finds.

Please vote for people who care about women. This should not be happening. It’s morally wrong.

Tennessee state Sen. Jon Lundberg, who co-sponsored both punitive Tennessee laws, told the Chattanooga Times Free Press this week, “The legislature is constantly looking at, What else can we do?”

Quick suggestion: ban assault rifles.

The father of Apalachee High School mass shooting suspect Colt Gray told investigators this week he had purchased the gun used in the killings as a holiday present for his son in December 2023, according to two law enforcement sources with direct knowledge of the investigation.

Gun culture is a plague in our country. Hold the parents accountable. Hold the gun manufacturers accountable. Hold the gun sellers accountable. Hold the gun culture influencers accountable. Hold politicians who refuse to take action accountable. Ban guns. Enough.

“An AR-15 was used in the shooting of Donald Trump. This was the assault weapon that killed so many others, including children. It’s time to outlaw them,” Mr Biden told the audience at a convention in Las Vegas.

It's common sense. This is a weapon for trained experts, not anyone off the street.

…in the meantime, you have tens of thousands of people who are pregnant or will become pregnant who will either need to drive or fly or get sick in order to receive care and their health will be very much at risk." 

As I always ask, please vote for people who care about other people and want them to be healthy. Please help living people here and now. Abstract ideas will continue to be ok but real living people might not be ok.

In the wake of Louisiana's abortion ban, pregnant women have been given risky, unnecessary surgeries, denied swift treatment for miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies, and forced to wait until their life is at risk before getting an abortion, according to a new report first made available to NPR.

We wouldn’t find this acceptable in another country but it’s happening in Louisiana and other states with abortion bans. Please register to vote and vote for people who don’t find medical malpractice acceptable.

Her case highlights a chilling reality of post-Roe America: Medical exceptions to abortion bans have not stopped doctors from turning away patients with significant pregnancy complications, often with harrowing consequences.

Abortions are health care. If Texas doctors are erring on the side of legal caution at the expense of someone’s life, something is seriously wrong.

Ladapo’s colleagues in science and medicine face the challenge of understanding what drives someone with Ladapo’s credentials — a Harvard education and a stint on the medical faculty at UCLA — to descend so deeply into professional irresponsibility.

The death cult brain worms never rest. We need to continually work to remove dangerous people from positions of power. Please vote accordingly, even in Florida.

Paxton’s office petitioned the high court just before midnight Thursday, after a Travis County district judge granted a temporary restraining order allowing Kate Cox, 31, to terminate her nonviable pregnancy. Paxton also sent a letter to three hospitals, threatening legal action if they allowed the abortion to be performed at their facility.

Absolute ghouls. This is your regular plea from me to please vote for people who care about other people and want to make their lives easier.

UnitedHealthcare, the largest health insurance company in the US, is allegedly using a deeply flawed AI algorithm to override doctors' judgments and wrongfully deny critical health coverage to elderly patients. This has resulted in patients being kicked out of rehabilitation programs and care facilities far too early, forcing them to drain their life savings to obtain needed care that should be covered under their government-funded Medicare Advantage Plan.

A current "benefit" of AI: providing cover for inhumane policies. Policy creators can blame the algorithm.

Ohio voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to enshrine protections for reproductive health services, including abortion, in the state constitution — the latest in a post-Roe streak of ballot box wins for the abortion rights movement.

The finding out phase of letting the states decide. Turns out people want human rights like bodily autonomy.