Leah

Hi! I'm Leah. I'm a voracious reader, traveler, and writer. 🌻 You can follow my work at my blog (bit.ly/whilereadin) or on Insta at whilereadingandwalking. 📷 Appreciate my work? Buy me a coffee: bit.ly/LeahCoffee

Everyone's worried about honeybees, but the American bumblebee has declined by 89% in the last 20 years. Bombus pensylvanicus was once the most common bumblebee in the southern United States. It's now functionally extinct in eight states (Maine, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, Idaho, North Dakota, Wyoming, and Oregon) and down 99% in New York. The honeybee, the species most "save the bees" campaigns are organized around, is not native to North America. It was brought over by European colonists in the 1600s as livestock for honey production. It is managed, bred, transported across the country in trucks, and is doing fine. Beekeeping is an agricultural industry, not a conservation effort. The American bumblebee is what we actually have. It pollinates wild plants honeybees can't, including ones with deep flowers and ones that require buzz pollination (a technique honeybees don't perform). Tomatoes, blueberries, eggplants, cranberries, and countless wildflowers depend on it. The Center for Biological Diversity petitioned to list the species as endangered in 2021. The federal review is now in its fifth year. The species is still not protected. Three things help. 1. Plant native flowers, the kind bumblebees evolved with (asters, goldenrod, milkweed, native sunflowers, beebalm, mountain mint). 2. Leave standing dead plant stems through winter, that's where queens overwinter. 3. Stop spraying for mosquitoes, those sprays kill every pollinator they touch. The bees we built an industry to "save" are not the bees that need saving. The ones that do are quietly disappearing while we celebrate the ones that aren't.

New F1 meme is born with this marshall jumping through the wall after clearing debris off the track. #F1

I am completely exhausted and infuriated that even in 2026, I am still forced to worry about Covid every single time I walk into a medical setting because the vast majority of healthcare workers don't even bother to wear N95 respirators. It is incredibly disheartening to witness firsthand the people I am supposed to trust with my health acting like an airborne virus doesn't exist, remaining stuck in the droplet dogma of the past. I should not know more about transmission dynamics and how it spreads than these very same people, it is simply not acceptable and should not still be happening in 2026. If the consequences of ignoring basic safety only fell on the people making those choices, it would be one thing. Instead, from what I’ve personally experienced, it is the vulnerable patients who end up paying the price for a total lack of accountability from the very professionals who are supposed to protect us. End of this rant! 😡

Watching all of Sheinbaum’s rapid fire accomplishments in Mexico and Mamdani’s similar run in NYC makes me think that, despite all of his flaws, a Bernie Sanders presidency would have been deeply transformative for America.

@pamemerson13 @Amtrak right?? because i legit i would not pay the same amount for a half bus half train ride

@Amtrak @reading_while What would be helpful is to inform customers BEFORE they purchase said routes.

just heard them announce at Union Station that @Amtrak trains from chicago to BOSTON and NEW YORK have been converted into BUSES????? they did that to us chicago to detroit and it was miserable. at that point imma cancel the whole thing

@Amtrak the numbers were not on the screen. only two amtrak trains listed. when this happened to my train to detroit nothing was listed, not even “canceled”

@reading_while We apologize for the confusion. The screen will show canceled since the train is originating and terminating in Toledo, OH. The bus numbers should be on the screen as 5048 for train 48/448, 5049 or train 49/449, 5040 for train 40, and 5041 for train 41. We hope this helps.

@Amtrak That still sounds like a nightmare! I think the communication also continues to be atrocious - just like with mine, the screen just said “cancelled” for both trains.

@reading_while Hello, Leah. The trains from Chicago, IL, to Boston, MA, or New York, NY, are only buses for the section or travel between Chicago, IL, and Toledo, OH due to trackwork in that section of rails. We hope this helps.

fun fact: if i’m not in an extra legroom seat on southwest, the tray table won’t even go all the way down. it just hits my stomach. it’s endlessly frusrating. #Southwest

@svershbow @mattxiv bread and roses too!

I love that Zohran's fight to make New York City accessible to everyone goes beyond food and shelter. "This is your city, you should get to enjoy all that it has to offer," is a hell of a platform.

@YokedUpMach This take is so puzzling for me. Jonathan lost because he made enemies with his gameplay, not because they 'always' liked Aubry better. Aubry was one of the most hated in this season, they wanted her gone from week 1, so they wouldn't have voted for her just cause they like her.

What kind of precedent is that? To all future returning players....just dont do anything all season....be a useless goat to get to the end, because your returnee status is just gonna win it for you no matter if you actually try or not. Garbage criteria #Survivor #Survivor50

@Broadcaster005 @survivorcbs Aubry managed to stay despite being the #1 vote practically every week, made a useful partnership with Devens, made moves (Ozzy, Cirie) without making enemies, used her idol wisely, and won the most important challenge of the season. It's not just history that had her win.

I mean, I knew who won the show already because of spoilers (booooo, fix that @survivorcbs) but I honestly think Jonathan should be the winner. Aubry played the middle. I don't think she had agency in her game. If Devens loses that coin toss, I think Aubry goes home next. Not a robbery, but I would have cast my vote for Jonathan to be honest. Prior results / "history" shouldn't be the reason you win a season. #Survivor50

@cardiacatsbrand @BarstoolNate 1. outplayed - won the most important challenges of the game at the end, practiced fire all season knowing it would come. 2. outwitted - the entire Ozzy maneuver. 3. outlasted - Aubry undeniably outlasted. She was #1 vote for half the season & survived.

@BarstoolNate Shouldn’t be a popularity contest or who didn’t make me the angriest contest. It’s about outplaying, outwitting, and outlasting. When you get rewarded for playing tag along, you get less bold players and the few there are go home early.

Aubry won by being there at the end. Which to her credit isn't easy to do, but still, Jonathan worked to be there in the end. I don't even think it was close. Aubry got a lifetime achievement award. Is what it is. Happens on Survivor.

@BarstoolNate Aubry played from the bottom repeatedly, led the maneuver to get out Ozzy & assisted with Cirie, made a useful partnership with Devens, won 1 challenge to J's 2, made moves without making enemies, and made fire.

a lot of #Survivor50 tweets make me wonder if people just (like Joe, oops) don't actually enjoy what makes Survivor Survivor. "oh, the jury was bitter." well, famously, part of this game is trying to make moves without making enemies. the politics is literally the game.

@YokedUpMach She drove the Ozzy and Cirie votes. And not making enemies is literally part of the game of Survivor.

Jonathon played a much better game than Aubry. He drove votes. She didnt. Won challenges. She didnt. Exemplified a great social game. She was basically a goat. She did almost nothing but won just because of legacy status from amount of returns. Garbage criteria #Survivor50

@DruidWar6753 @ghostgojuice Ohhh, I see. You just don't actually understand or like the show of Survivor lol

@ghostgojuice Yeeeahhhhhh… idk about that…. I want war. I want brutality. I want peak masculinity, violence, and cut throat alphas competing for excellence. I want the deadliest and highest achieving gladiators fighting for the million. Not this…👇

So you're telling me that Jonathan who was a total beast, played the better game, and actually won challenges... lost to this girl? Why is Hollywood and Survivor so woke and liberal. Total disappointment. Jonathon was clearly the rightful winner of #Survivor50.

@DruidWar6753 @amyweinberger Aubry ran under the radar successfully /despite/ being people's obvious vote out for the first several episodes, so it was an active strategy. She led the vote-out of Ozzy and Cirie, two of the biggest threats to final votes, won 1 challenge to Jon.'s 2, and made fewer enemies.

@amyweinberger Yeah, pretty much. Jonathan was the better player. Aubry was invisible the entire season and did nothing basically. Also far less interesting or skilled. Constantly underperformed. You can thank CBS for their diversity quota and an overall female/liberal jury. 🤷🏻‍♂️

@Kydwykkyd101 Joe annoys me as a fan because he talks a big game about 'honor and integrity,' & lying is bad, but what that tends to mean is that no one is allowed to lie to /him/, but if he wants to get someone out, he's still allowed to lie to them. that gets under people's skin

What does this man do to be hated so much by Juries? I'm just curious (don't care that he lost just wondering)... #Survivor #Survivor50

The saddest thing about youth unemployment is that many young people did exactly what society told them to do; study, qualify, work hard. Yet opportunities remain out of reach.