Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

flashgordon.bsky.social @flashgordon.bsky.social · 3h

i once saw a bit that a comic did about a true crime show with police interrogations, where people break after like five minutes, and he's says, "dude, lie longer," and that everybody who asked for a lawyer beat the charges. similarly, doomerism doesn't recognize that you never know how you'll win.

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flashgordon.bsky.social @flashgordon.bsky.social · 3h

i love college football so much for shit like this...

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flashgordon.bsky.social @flashgordon.bsky.social · 6h

i think most of my friends appreciate it, especially given that when i say, "yes. i'll be there and am stoked," they know i'm not going to flake because i would've expressed to them straight up what my commitment level was, otherwise...

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flashgordon.bsky.social @flashgordon.bsky.social · 6h

there's nothing wrong with saying, "i might be interested, depends on what's going on/how i'm feeling, but if you need to set hard plans (like buying tickets way in advance or having a hard head count ahead of time), assume i'm not going to make it, because i don't want to be a pain in the ass."

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flashgordon.bsky.social @flashgordon.bsky.social · 6h

i feel like my personal life-hack around the discourse about cancelling plans is to just be honest when friends ask me if i want to do something specific at a later date. "doubt it, but i'll let you know if i change my mind." "maybe? i'll have a better answer beforehand." "probably, hopefully."

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David Corn @davidcorn.bsky.social · 8h

A classic case of irresponsible both-sidesism from the NYT. The story is that Trump and MAGA propagandists are lying about Portland to incite a conflict, not that there are different views of the matter.

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GHOULLIKEHELLMACHINE @golikehellmachine.com · 1d

“we are telling you right now that we do not intend to honor anything we agree to” is certainly a negotiating position one can take

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Q: Rescission are something Dems have said is a reason for a lack of trust. What rescissions are you discussing?

JOHNSON: We have more than $37t in debt. We're doing everything we can to get us back to sound fiscal responsibility. What does that include? A rescission package is part of our process

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flashgordon.bsky.social @flashgordon.bsky.social · 1d

i do think that everybody needs to get hip to the idea that most (not all) cops consider themselves in a separate class at this point... and prioritize that class solidarity in their actions...

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flashgordon.bsky.social @flashgordon.bsky.social · 1d

i remember when i was maybe 11-12, this girl i had a crush on said she liked jazz (later realized she meant the local "smooth jazz" station, like kenny g), so i went to the library and checked out the "thelonious monk with john coltrane" album, and sometimes think about that simple twist of fate...

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flashgordon.bsky.social @flashgordon.bsky.social · 1d

the "shouldn't even have to do it" at the very end kills me. they're pissing off people who normally wouldn't pay attention.

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spooky tim dewey @tjdfotographist.bsky.social · 1d

If I were a DC reporter, I’d consider maybe pressing Johnson on how he reconciles these two statements.

@atrupar.com

Mike Johnson: "We're so angry about it. I mean, l'm a very patient guy, but l've had it with these people. The theory we have right now -- they have a hate America rally that's scheduled for October 18 on the National Mall. It's the pro-Hamas wing and antifa people ..."

@atrupar.com

Mike Johnson: "People have got to stop framing simple policy disagreements in terms of existential threats to our democracy. You can't call the other side fascists and enemies of the state and not understand that there are some deranged people in our society who will take that as cues to act."

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flashgordon.bsky.social @flashgordon.bsky.social · 1d

one of the winners of the science prize didn't know about it for days. he was off-the-grid, hiking or whatever. it's not something that people are supposed to wait on with bated breath, even if they were nominated. it's not like, "best director" at the oscars. you can win for shit you did years ago.

Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 1d

Putin says his friend Trump got robbed.

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Karl Bode @karlbode.com · 1d

I had incredibly low expectations for our broken brunchlord press when kakistocratic authoritarianism came knocking, but every single day they demonstrate I still somehow over-estimated them

Joe Berkowitz @joeberkowitz.bsky.social · 1d

Incredible things are happening, as ever, at The Paper of Record.

two articles in a row that feel like very 2025 slaps in the face:

Frank Bruni, Kristen Soltis Anderson and Nate Silver

‘Democrats Fumbled This a Bit’: 3 Writers Assess Where We Are With the Shutdown

Marc Rowan

Academia Is Broken. Trump’s University ‘Compact’ Can Help Fix It.

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flashgordon.bsky.social @flashgordon.bsky.social · 1d

for real. could've been like, "i'm obviously new here, so i don't know who all does what yet, but here's my e-mail if you have ideas/concerns, and i'm going to try to get around and meet you all as soon as i can."
instead, "i expect you all to give me a crash course on how this place even works."

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ryan cooper @ryanlcooper.com · 1d

this is correct. and while you would get a nontrivial one off sum from a billionaire tax (not enough for a welfare state, but a lot), the ongoing point of that tax would be prevent billionaires from existing

Liberal Currents @liberalcurrents.com · 1d

“The problem with billionaires isn’t that they’re hoarding money that would otherwise pay for a Scandinavian social utopia. It’s that their money has become a source of wildly distorted political power that allows a few men with extremist views to wreak havoc on the rest of us.”

Billionaires Are Hoarding Power, Not Money

Billionaire money has become a source of wildly distorted political power that allows a few men with extremist views to wreak havoc on the rest of us.

www.liberalcurrents.com

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Philip Bump @pbump.com · 1d

The right’s Nobel obsession is useful because it is inexplicable as anything other than trying to make Trump personally happy. 95% of all Trumpworld obsessions have the same root (2020 election, James/Comey) but rarely is it so hard to retcon a justification for it.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

BARTIROMO: On your point about the Nobel Peace Prize, do you think maybe the reason Trump won't get it is because you had to get the application in before Jan. 31, and that was only 11 days into his term?

SCALISE: Look, they can play technicalities. They gave it to Obama for just getting elected.

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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 1d

The widespread media decision to frame international affairs as "will Donnie get the prize he wants?" is pathetic.

He's not the protagonist of human events. And to the extent he's a significant character in world affairs, whether or not he gets a prize is one of the least important things about it.

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flashgordon.bsky.social @flashgordon.bsky.social · 1d

one of my fondest memories is of my gf at the time and i hanging out, one of us doing schoolwork while the other played like "GTA" or "kingdom hearts," and then trading off...

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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 1d

All I want in life is to persuade everyone, when encountering politics & culture, to ask, "why are we talking about this?" I mean that very literally: anything you encounter on your screens reflects a choice. Someone covered that, talked about that, rather than the many other things out there. Why?

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flashgordon.bsky.social @flashgordon.bsky.social · 1d

i love that the headline refers to it as a "snub," as if it's like "shawshank redemption" not winning best picture.

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flashgordon.bsky.social @flashgordon.bsky.social · 1d

that's honestly the funniest ITYSL sketch.

flashgordon.bsky.social @flashgordon.bsky.social · 1d

i thought about that, too: i bet those pepper-spray paintballs ICE shoots at people just bounce right off that shit...

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mtsw @mtsw.bsky.social · 1d

the administration is laser-focused on making sure Americans don't get clean energy, so Saudi Arabia (Trump's paymaster) has someone to sell their oil to in 10 years when the rest of the world has moved on to solar+batteries

Costa Samaras @costasamaras.com · 1d

Picture how big the Hoover Dam is. An absolute unit. The Hoover Dam has a power capacity of 2 gigawatts (GW).

The solar farm that the Admin just cancelled could have produces 6.2 GW of power. That's more than 3 Hoover Dams.

jael holzman @jael.bsky.social · 1d

SCOOP: The Bureau of Land Management says the largest solar project in Nevada — the Esmeralda 7 mega-farm — has been canceled

The news was quietly dropped via a sudden website update with no public word from any of the companies involved or a statement from the agency

@heatmap.news

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Costa Samaras @costasamaras.com · 1d

Picture how big the Hoover Dam is. An absolute unit. The Hoover Dam has a power capacity of 2 gigawatts (GW).

The solar farm that the Admin just cancelled could have produces 6.2 GW of power. That's more than 3 Hoover Dams.

jael holzman @jael.bsky.social · 1d

SCOOP: The Bureau of Land Management says the largest solar project in Nevada — the Esmeralda 7 mega-farm — has been canceled

The news was quietly dropped via a sudden website update with no public word from any of the companies involved or a statement from the agency

@heatmap.news

Esmeralda 7 Solar Project Has Been Canceled, BLM Says

It would have delivered a gargantuan 6.2 gigawatts of power.

heatmap.news

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flashgordon.bsky.social @flashgordon.bsky.social · 1d

the thing about cillizza is that he should probably have enough in the bank at this point to not have to keep doing this, but apparently he thinks there's anyone wants to hear what a silver-spoon guy who went to a boarding school, then georgetown, then sucked so bad that *CNN* fired him, has to say.

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