Dr. Flowers @AlliFlowers@talkedabout.social

You may remember reading about the plastic surgeon, Dr. Elisabeth Potter, who was doing a breast reconstruction when she was called out of surgery by United Healthcare to explain why the patient needed an overnight hospital stay.

Well, Dr. Potter has a lot more to say about how the insurance side of medical care works, from a doctor’s perspective. And it’s horrible. For starters:

“It's things like getting a preauthorization for a surgery. I employ two people full-time just to get authorizations for me to do necessary medical procedures for women affected by breast cancer. … They tell me what type of implants I can place, and it varies from insurance to insurance.”

And wait until you read about the peer-to-peer calls, where the supposed peer has no relevant expertise:

I say, "Well, I'd like to talk to you about diep flap surgery." And I hear a pause, and then I say, "Do you know what a diep flap is?" And they say no.

https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/she-exposed-the-insurance-industrys-worst-behavior.-now-theyre-coming-after-her

h/t @rooneymcnibnug

#UnitedHealthcare #healthcare

If you voted Trump because you liked the pre-Covid economy, what you actually liked was President Obama’s economy. All Trump did was take credit for President Obama’s hard work. Typical.

If you had simply voted for Kamala Harris, you wouldn’t be paying high tariffs or watching job losses now.

Romeo, a five-year-old American citizen child, “was receiving ‘life-saving’ treatment at a New Orleans children’s hospital for his ‘rare and aggressive form’ of cancer” when he was illegally deported with his mom, a lawsuit says: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article311666872.html#storylink=cpy

@RealJournalism
Did I miss it? When was nobody Laura Loomer elected to do all Donald Trump's thinking for him? #LauraLoomer #loomer #trumpdecisionmaking

Trump’s first summit with Putin was a national embarrassment. His second was even worse.

With high stakes, the Republican didn’t just fail by objective metrics, he also failed by his own metrics. https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-summit-putin-alaska-ukraine-russia-rcna225539

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-08-11/lausd-bass-pledge-back-to-school-protections-immigrant-families

Trump-Putin summit papers were left on a hotel printer. The EIGHT PAGES had US State Department markings and contained sensitive info detailing the event, including names and phone numbers of #US and #Russian #government employees. #Trump also planned to give #Putin a ceremonial gift.

This embarrassing cock-up is the latest, just after #ICE recently included a random person in an unencrypted group chat and the Yemen #signalgate incident in March.

https://www.npr.org/2025/08/16/nx-s1-5504196/trump-putin-summit-documents-left-behind

#uspol #news #npr #wtf

@AlliFlowers Or to the US Corps of Engineers who raised the Little Miami River for the #Vance family vacation.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/15/jd-vance-lake-water-levels-ohio

Aida Chavez entitles her commentary on yesterday's Putin plays Trump show:

"Putin Got a Red Carpet, Trump Got Nothing."

She writes,

"President Donald Trump entered Friday’s Alaska summit with Russian leader Vladimir Putin having once promised to end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours of taking office."

#Putin #Trump #PutinsPoodle
/1

https://zeteo.com/p/putin-got-a-red-carpet-trump-got

“Trump Bows to Putin’s Approach on Ukraine: No Cease-Fire, Deadlines or Sanctions
The net effect of the Alaska summit was to give President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia a free pass to continue his war against his neighbor indefinitely without further penalty, pending talks on a broader peace deal.”

Good for the NY Times.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/16/us/politics/trump-putin-approach-ukraine.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

(it's more than a rumor)

I'm furious. I've been working hard on a friend's campaign for City Council, and this is the kind of shit I get.

#lgbtq

Everyone in US regardless of immigration status has the right to remain #silent when questioned or arrested by #lawenforcement. DC police cannot order U to show #identification, per #ACLU of DC w exception of #drivers #license during a #traffic stop. Federal immigration officers, however, can ask 2 see #immigration documents. #Police can ask you #questions in public place. National Immigrant Justice Center recommends avoiding arguing w authorities or running away. Say I do not want to talk w u.