Krista Benson
@klinb.bsky.social
queer, feminist, abolitionist, anti-racist& -colonization white person. Sometimes reluctant academic. on Ojibwe,Odawa&Potawatomi land. they/them. views mine
https://www.routledge.com/Reproductive-Justice-Adoption-and-Foster-Care/Bakhru-Benson/
https://www.routledge.com/Reproductive-Justice-Adoption-and-Foster-Care/Bakhru-Benson/
Pinned
Krista Benson
@klinb.bsky.social
· May 5
Am I nonbinary? Or maybe I don’t have a gender, but I’m like a trickster fae? Everybody sees something and it’s mostly foreign and ill-fitting and sometimes it’s useful.
Reposted by Krista Benson
Absolutely dying that like, 10% of their scandals are like “whoa whoa whoa, I thought we all signed a contract that says we’re doing the racism to everyone except me”
December 22, 2025 at 11:05 PM
Absolutely dying that like, 10% of their scandals are like “whoa whoa whoa, I thought we all signed a contract that says we’re doing the racism to everyone except me”
Reposted by Krista Benson
especially in the dark hours we need to remember that we are going to win
Worth noting, I guess, that inside of a year we've gone from administration officials taking selfies of themselves at CECOT and bragging about how it's hell on earth to now getting their horrible little media worms to kill stories about it
December 22, 2025 at 1:39 PM
especially in the dark hours we need to remember that we are going to win
Reposted by Krista Benson
a required skill for being able to use an LLM in any professional capacity is discernment, essentially already being an expert in the field so you know when (and why) its outputs are incorrect.
now, LLMs are being deployed to non-expert groups in a way that ensures they will never *be* experts
now, LLMs are being deployed to non-expert groups in a way that ensures they will never *be* experts
suspect a big reason why many academics and others who work in areas where getting facts RIGHT is key are disinterested in using LLMs for research:
they’ve tried it, they keep noticing major errors in output, and they conclude that having to verify all that doesn’t actually save them time.
they’ve tried it, they keep noticing major errors in output, and they conclude that having to verify all that doesn’t actually save them time.
December 21, 2025 at 5:11 PM
a required skill for being able to use an LLM in any professional capacity is discernment, essentially already being an expert in the field so you know when (and why) its outputs are incorrect.
now, LLMs are being deployed to non-expert groups in a way that ensures they will never *be* experts
now, LLMs are being deployed to non-expert groups in a way that ensures they will never *be* experts
Reposted by Krista Benson
ending solitary confinement is the necessary first step in imagining a justice system that truly serves justice, that serves the people. Solitary Watch helps people whose humanity the current system tries to destroy. at the end of the year, consider helping them in their work.
Friends, exciting news! We’ve just received a second matching funds grant from The Public Concern Foundation. TRIPLE MATCH!
That means a gift of $50 now is actually $150 to Solitary Watch!
solitarywatch.org/donate
That means a gift of $50 now is actually $150 to Solitary Watch!
solitarywatch.org/donate
BREAKING: We Have a Triple Match!! - Solitary Watch
Friends: This is really exciting for us. We’ve just received a second matching funds grant from The Public Concern Foundation. TRIPLE MATCH! That means a gift of $50 now is actually $150 to Solitary W...
solitarywatch.org
December 22, 2025 at 2:44 PM
ending solitary confinement is the necessary first step in imagining a justice system that truly serves justice, that serves the people. Solitary Watch helps people whose humanity the current system tries to destroy. at the end of the year, consider helping them in their work.
Reposted by Krista Benson
Big news out of Montana: Dr. Thomas Weiner has lost his license and will never practice medicine there again as the medical board finally responds to reports that he hurt and mistreated people. They noted Scott Warwick, who got 10 years of chemo etc, died from it, but never had cancer. Context 👇
Let me tell you a story – one of the more haunting I’ve seen in 20 years of journalism. It’s about greed, death and denial. It took two years to unravel one doctor’s myth, a hospital’s complicity in creating it, and a documented trail of suspicious deaths…🧵
December 20, 2025 at 2:34 PM
Big news out of Montana: Dr. Thomas Weiner has lost his license and will never practice medicine there again as the medical board finally responds to reports that he hurt and mistreated people. They noted Scott Warwick, who got 10 years of chemo etc, died from it, but never had cancer. Context 👇
Holy SHIT
Read @davidmcswane.bsky.social's original 2024 investigation into Dr. Weiner here:
December 20, 2025 at 4:09 PM
Holy SHIT
Reposted by Krista Benson
If any journalist wants to talk to a trans man with a PhD in Human Genomics who was trained in labs that studied the evolution of sex, I'm right here
Or just keep platforming Republicans who have a 5th grade understanding of biology so they get more trans people killed, sure 🤷🏻♂️
Or just keep platforming Republicans who have a 5th grade understanding of biology so they get more trans people killed, sure 🤷🏻♂️
December 18, 2025 at 5:27 PM
If any journalist wants to talk to a trans man with a PhD in Human Genomics who was trained in labs that studied the evolution of sex, I'm right here
Or just keep platforming Republicans who have a 5th grade understanding of biology so they get more trans people killed, sure 🤷🏻♂️
Or just keep platforming Republicans who have a 5th grade understanding of biology so they get more trans people killed, sure 🤷🏻♂️
Reposted by Krista Benson
Glad Rolling Stone published this, especially given the loud silence from the rest of the media on this grim watershed moment in US political history.
Melissa Hortman Died in a Shocking Act of Political Violence. This Is the Story of Her Life
The Minnesota Speaker’s closest friends and family open up for the first time.
Read @stephenrodrick.bsky.social's exclusive: www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...
The Minnesota Speaker’s closest friends and family open up for the first time.
Read @stephenrodrick.bsky.social's exclusive: www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...
December 18, 2025 at 5:24 PM
Glad Rolling Stone published this, especially given the loud silence from the rest of the media on this grim watershed moment in US political history.
Reposted by Krista Benson
I'll bet someone has already made something like this but heading into the new year, it would be great to have something like a guide to affordable art where people looking for illustrators, designers, artists could search for people to hire. I know that I am always looking to work with artists.
December 14, 2025 at 6:37 PM
I'll bet someone has already made something like this but heading into the new year, it would be great to have something like a guide to affordable art where people looking for illustrators, designers, artists could search for people to hire. I know that I am always looking to work with artists.
Reposted by Krista Benson
They want banks to be able to go back to openly discriminating against women and POC. They want women to need to have a man to cosign a credit card or a bank loan like before this rule was passed.
US consumer watchdog to narrow civil rights era lending law, sources say
The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau plans to propose in the coming days narrowing a key part of civil-rights era fair-lending regulations as Republican President Donald Trump's administratio...
www.reuters.com
December 14, 2025 at 1:11 PM
They want banks to be able to go back to openly discriminating against women and POC. They want women to need to have a man to cosign a credit card or a bank loan like before this rule was passed.
Reposted by Krista Benson
Woooooow, this is bad. Be gentle with your libraries, friends. They're going to be struggling with service for a bit.
www.404media.co/libraries-sc...
www.404media.co/libraries-sc...
Libraries Scramble for Books After Giant Distributor Shuts Down
Why it might have been and may continue to be harder to get new releases from your local library.
www.404media.co
October 31, 2025 at 9:56 AM
Woooooow, this is bad. Be gentle with your libraries, friends. They're going to be struggling with service for a bit.
www.404media.co/libraries-sc...
www.404media.co/libraries-sc...
Reposted by Krista Benson
You can, in fact, just do stuff. No permission needed. Have an idea? Execute it.
October 11, 2025 at 9:27 PM
You can, in fact, just do stuff. No permission needed. Have an idea? Execute it.
Reposted by Krista Benson
Sixty years ago, James Baldwin debated the racist William F. Buckley and laid out the reality of our country in clear terms that white Americans only recently discovered to be true.
This week at an event for THE PEOPLE’S PROJECT, a reader asked in a gracious and cheeky way what I would hope white readers in particular would get out of the book. Or more directly, what I would TELL white readers. And this was basically my answer:
African-Americans are experts on America.
African-Americans are experts on America.
America should listen to Black people
October 5, 2025 at 4:09 PM
Sixty years ago, James Baldwin debated the racist William F. Buckley and laid out the reality of our country in clear terms that white Americans only recently discovered to be true.
Reposted by Krista Benson
"They're politicians, what are they supposed to do? Literally fight in the streets?"
Unashamed to say this made me cry.
Unashamed to say this made me cry.
Karina Villa protecting her constituents by literally running ICE off the streets in West Chicago and yelling to residents to stay inside their homes.
September 16, 2025 at 8:11 PM
"They're politicians, what are they supposed to do? Literally fight in the streets?"
Unashamed to say this made me cry.
Unashamed to say this made me cry.
Reposted by Krista Benson
Writing teacher advice for Democratic strategists: Your audience is NEVER everyone, and acting as though it is will lead to generalities that appeal on average but not in specific. You find your audience through specificities. Relying heavily on polls and consultants leads to tepid messaging.
August 30, 2025 at 6:31 PM
Writing teacher advice for Democratic strategists: Your audience is NEVER everyone, and acting as though it is will lead to generalities that appeal on average but not in specific. You find your audience through specificities. Relying heavily on polls and consultants leads to tepid messaging.
Exploring and planning to potentially buy protein with a platonic friends maybe the most freeing thing I’ve ever explored?
August 11, 2025 at 1:34 AM
Exploring and planning to potentially buy protein with a platonic friends maybe the most freeing thing I’ve ever explored?
It’s rude to just post an unauthorized biography in about me like this. And in first person voice!
ME: Ugh. I need to clean up this corner and put way some shit. It will take FOREVER!
*finally puts on big girl panties and does it*
*in 10 minutes*
*finally puts on big girl panties and does it*
*in 10 minutes*
August 10, 2025 at 8:56 PM
It’s rude to just post an unauthorized biography in about me like this. And in first person voice!
Reposted by Krista Benson
Every single story you are hearing from the Everglades Concentration Camp has been and is already taking place in hundreds of prisons and jails in the U.S. That's what PIC abolitionists have been trying to get the public to understand for decades.
July 14, 2025 at 1:54 PM
Every single story you are hearing from the Everglades Concentration Camp has been and is already taking place in hundreds of prisons and jails in the U.S. That's what PIC abolitionists have been trying to get the public to understand for decades.
For the first time in 20+ years, I am single on a major American holiday. And it’s really illuminating to realize that no, I didn’t pretend to think that the Fourth of July was a terrible holiday that I don’t want to celebrate just for the other people I was around. I think this holiday sucks.
July 5, 2025 at 1:35 AM
For the first time in 20+ years, I am single on a major American holiday. And it’s really illuminating to realize that no, I didn’t pretend to think that the Fourth of July was a terrible holiday that I don’t want to celebrate just for the other people I was around. I think this holiday sucks.
NOBODY in my neighborhood seems to be actively celebrating the 4th. Saw some family barbecuing walking my dog, but no patriotic stuff around. Normally, I start hearing fireworks a week before before and after. I’ve heard almost nothing.
Is “who wants to celebrate the US” more widely held opinion?
Is “who wants to celebrate the US” more widely held opinion?
July 4, 2025 at 11:17 PM
NOBODY in my neighborhood seems to be actively celebrating the 4th. Saw some family barbecuing walking my dog, but no patriotic stuff around. Normally, I start hearing fireworks a week before before and after. I’ve heard almost nothing.
Is “who wants to celebrate the US” more widely held opinion?
Is “who wants to celebrate the US” more widely held opinion?
I haven’t been single in this Millenium. This will be interesting.
May 20, 2025 at 10:30 PM
I haven’t been single in this Millenium. This will be interesting.
Reposted by Krista Benson
Guys I can explain why for at least 1750 of those years.
Cardinal Robert Prevost, an American missionary who spent his career ministering in Peru and leads the Vatican’s powerful office of bishops, was elected the first US-born pope in the 2,000-year history of the Catholic Church.
He took the name Leo XIV. trib.al/hGS8mo9
He took the name Leo XIV. trib.al/hGS8mo9
May 8, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Guys I can explain why for at least 1750 of those years.
Reposted by Krista Benson
The other thing that I’ve been saying for years to scientists: all the DEI stuff y’all do? It has roots in Black studies and gender studies. The NSF ADVANCE program that has touched the life of every woman in American science? Gender studies roots. But folks had fuck all to say defending it. 🧪
May 9, 2025 at 12:36 PM
The other thing that I’ve been saying for years to scientists: all the DEI stuff y’all do? It has roots in Black studies and gender studies. The NSF ADVANCE program that has touched the life of every woman in American science? Gender studies roots. But folks had fuck all to say defending it. 🧪