I became a subscriber and member of this community you've created a few months ago, and I can't begin to tell you how much it had meant to me. Your fierce love of friends, your passion for justice, and your unconditional support for us in the LGBTQ+ community makes this a space for mutual support and encouragement.
I don't know how you do it, but you inevitably write what I need to read. I will have to work hard to be in the "happiness, freedom, stories, and laughter" mode for the next four years. I'm concerned about my job, healthcare, and all the other stuff that the orange menace can wreak havoc on. I got health news yesterday that, while not definitive, is troubling. Two things occurred to me. First, I need to write my damn substack, and second, I need to get back to New Orleans for some gumbo.
It might not have gotten onto your radar, but I just finally finished reading that Propublica piece on the Helena Montana oncologist who was (a) killing patients, some of whom didn't even have cancer, while (b) billing the crap out of Medicare and private insurance.
On the one hand, this is an amazing feat of journalism. On the other, events over the course of a decade mostly stayed under the radar. It doesn't take much to stay out of sight of a newspaper owned by Lee Enterprises, as most local papers in Montana are, but having a doc who's the national leader in Medicare billed visits per year ought to have been noticed by someone.
I was a reporter in Montana several years ago. Lee Enterprises was gutting our newspapers back then and they have continued in the years since. I don't have any inside knowledge of how this issue was or wasn't covered, but it's a sign of the impact that shrinking newsrooms can have on a community. Fewer reporters means less accountability.
To be fair to the reporters at the IR, a lot of people who knew or suspected that things were not right were undoubtedly reluctant to come forward. Journalists don't have crystal balls, and they're not mindreaders: someone has to flag a story in some way to get press attention.
Lawsuits are one way this happens, but even then reporters need someone to tell them about it. It's not even all that rare for the lawyers in various cases to joke about how the wild story behind this or that case would be a great movie -- and even about which actors should play which of us -- but none of us are stepping out to tell reporters about the case, because it's unlikely to be in our clients' interest to have a different version than the one we're telling out in print, and where it might be in some client's interest, you can never be sure. In this story, there's an order of some kind sealing the discovery, but the reporter nonetheless got it. We don't know how: it it was from one of the lawyers, they could get in very serious trouble.
Great compilation! I only *hope* the next four years will be the apex of the dingularity, that there isn’t more beyond 2028 like there was after 2020.
Dear Lyz,
I became a subscriber and member of this community you've created a few months ago, and I can't begin to tell you how much it had meant to me. Your fierce love of friends, your passion for justice, and your unconditional support for us in the LGBTQ+ community makes this a space for mutual support and encouragement.
And I love your podcast!
Rebecca, thank you so so much!!!
I don't know how you do it, but you inevitably write what I need to read. I will have to work hard to be in the "happiness, freedom, stories, and laughter" mode for the next four years. I'm concerned about my job, healthcare, and all the other stuff that the orange menace can wreak havoc on. I got health news yesterday that, while not definitive, is troubling. Two things occurred to me. First, I need to write my damn substack, and second, I need to get back to New Orleans for some gumbo.
Happiness, freedom, stories, and laughter — an optimistic wrap-up of 2024. My cynical ass needed this re-framing today.
These were just the stories you all liked and it helped me reframe too. Thanks for subscribing!
Apex of the dingularity. What a wonderful phrase to describe the president elect and his posse. Just a wonderful phrase in and of itself.
It might not have gotten onto your radar, but I just finally finished reading that Propublica piece on the Helena Montana oncologist who was (a) killing patients, some of whom didn't even have cancer, while (b) billing the crap out of Medicare and private insurance.
https://www.propublica.org/article/thomas-weiner-montana-st-peters-hospital-oncology
On the one hand, this is an amazing feat of journalism. On the other, events over the course of a decade mostly stayed under the radar. It doesn't take much to stay out of sight of a newspaper owned by Lee Enterprises, as most local papers in Montana are, but having a doc who's the national leader in Medicare billed visits per year ought to have been noticed by someone.
I was a reporter in Montana several years ago. Lee Enterprises was gutting our newspapers back then and they have continued in the years since. I don't have any inside knowledge of how this issue was or wasn't covered, but it's a sign of the impact that shrinking newsrooms can have on a community. Fewer reporters means less accountability.
To be fair to the reporters at the IR, a lot of people who knew or suspected that things were not right were undoubtedly reluctant to come forward. Journalists don't have crystal balls, and they're not mindreaders: someone has to flag a story in some way to get press attention.
Lawsuits are one way this happens, but even then reporters need someone to tell them about it. It's not even all that rare for the lawyers in various cases to joke about how the wild story behind this or that case would be a great movie -- and even about which actors should play which of us -- but none of us are stepping out to tell reporters about the case, because it's unlikely to be in our clients' interest to have a different version than the one we're telling out in print, and where it might be in some client's interest, you can never be sure. In this story, there's an order of some kind sealing the discovery, but the reporter nonetheless got it. We don't know how: it it was from one of the lawyers, they could get in very serious trouble.
I read this twice, because I couldn't believe what that doctor was doing. I agree - an amazing feat of journalism.
Thanks for the links to works that readers before me liked. I'm partway through. Really excellent. After reading "Panicking about the girlies": Here's a link to an article on how social media is disproportionately hurting girls: https://www.afterbabel.com/p/social-media-conversations-with-daughters. And from the same SubStack (After Babel): https://www.afterbabel.com/p/mental-health-liberal-girls