Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Brian Hawkins @brianhawkins.bsky.social · 16h

The average enlisted kid today has no perspective on how much the public can turn on them.

Brian Hawkins @brianhawkins.bsky.social · 16h

If you’re my age-ish you grew up with “be all you can be” and a full court press to rehabilitate the image of the military, and you probably eventually found out why.

If you’re a bit younger you don’t remember a time before “support the troops”

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Brian Hawkins @brianhawkins.bsky.social · 16h

Ask some Vietnam vets what coming home was like for them after the public found out about My Lai.

You think it’s going to be better for you if you do it in Chicago and it’s live-streamed?

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Brian Hawkins @brianhawkins.bsky.social · 16h

If the US military opens fire on civilians in the US are we still going to let them board airplanes first or can we at least let that one go

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Brian Hawkins @brianhawkins.bsky.social · 21h

For my first Canadian Thanksgiving in Canada I will be contributing my bourbon* sweet potatoes

*I had to do some research** to find a sufficiently bourbon-like Canadian made substitute***

**hard, but important research

***Forty Creek Copper Bold

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Brian Hawkins @brianhawkins.bsky.social · 22h

If we ever get out of this mess the next president could do a hell of a lot worse than nominating Sally Kornbluth to run/repair Education or HHS (if she’ll do it)

MIT rejects Trump administration deal for priority federal funding

MIT is one of the nine schools that were asked to agree to adopt conservative priorities and policies in exchange for funding perks.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Brian Hawkins @brianhawkins.bsky.social · 22h

I have a lot of respect for their president, and she is meeting the moment in a way that unfortunately very few of her peers seem able or willing to match

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Brian Hawkins @brianhawkins.bsky.social · 22h

I’m no apologist for Maduro (frankly I don’t know enough about Venezuela to have an informed opinion) but I guess today a lot of people are going to find out that the opposition to him is…pretty right wing

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Reposted by Brian Hawkins

Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 1d

Maga patriotism is just narcissism, America to them is what they see in the mirror not what it actually is—they’re incapable of loving that country bsky.app/profile/atru...

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Mike Johnson: "We're so angry about it. I mean, I'm a very patient guy, but I'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 ... "

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Brian Hawkins @brianhawkins.bsky.social · 22h

Ha! Maybe

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Brian Hawkins @brianhawkins.bsky.social · 23h

I by “youth” here I mean (checks notes) a dude who is 40

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Brian Hawkins @brianhawkins.bsky.social · 23h

I wish Democrats in senior positions fought Republicans half as hard as they fight the youth and left wings of their own party

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Brian Hawkins @brianhawkins.bsky.social · 1d

My cooking hack for (almost) anything savory if it’s not *quite* there is fish sauce; basically the same idea.

Those pulses need umami!

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Brian Hawkins @brianhawkins.bsky.social · 1d

Nice to see a Republican with a line and a spine. I hope some of his colleagues join him (and that he stands firm.)

Alex Wayne @aawayne.bsky.social · 1d

“Oklahomans would lose their mind if Pritzker in Illinois sent troops down to Oklahoma during the Biden administration.”

The Republican chair of the National Governors Association breaks with Trump.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/09/u...

Oklahoma’s Republican Governor Criticizes National Guard Deployment in Chicago

www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Brian Hawkins

Jean-François Cudennec @jfcudennec.bsky.social · 1d

Just sayin

Chart comparing the number of camera, the number of giant squid footages and the number of bigfoot footages.

Number of giant squids rises as the number of camera increase, but not the number of bigfoot.

11 69 340

Reposted by Brian Hawkins

David Roberts @volts.wtf · 2d

It really can't be said enough: the goal of the "anti-woke" movement was always to destroy social norms against bigotry. And it worked. And there's a whole lot of purportedly "left" thinkers & commentators who helped it -- indeed, it couldn't have been done without them.

They should feel bad.

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Brian Hawkins @brianhawkins.bsky.social · 1d

Let the Right One In

It’s rare for me to let much more than a year go by without watching this. I think it’s one of the best movies of this century so far (any genre).

Let the Right One In (2008) ⭐ 7.8 | Drama, Fantasy, Horror

1h 54m | R

www.imdb.com

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Brian Hawkins @brianhawkins.bsky.social · 1d

Should we…circumcise them…later?

Justin Baragona @justinbaragona.bsky.social · 1d

Besides linking Tylenol in pregnant women to autism, RFK Jr. now says circumcision is part of the reason why kids are autistic.

"Children who are circumcised early have double the rate of autism, and it's highly likely because they're given Tylenol. None of this is positive..."

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Brian Hawkins @brianhawkins.bsky.social · 1d

I’m almost done with @adambecker.bsky.social’s book (it’s good; you should read it) and one of my takeaways is that you definitely don’t have to pass economics or thermodynamics to be a software engineer

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 2d

ANDREESSEN: Even if AI ends up destroying all the jobs, “the result would be hyper-deflation of prices, which is the thing that people miss. .. Things that today cost a lot of money will all of a sudden be cheap or free.”

@fortune.com
fortune.com/2025/10/08/b...

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Brian Hawkins @brianhawkins.bsky.social · 1d

Ah yes, “make everything free” the universal aspiration of venture capitalists

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Brian Hawkins @brianhawkins.bsky.social · 2d

You don’t know her. She’s from Canada

Schrödinger's Sneetch Belly @rtodkelly.bsky.social · 2d

"the girlfriend of one of the founders of antifa"

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Brian Hawkins @brianhawkins.bsky.social · 2d

Strong recommendation to check this out. Thoroughly researched and clearly presented.

Among other things I admire Radley's talent for presenting that which is truly enraging in as fair and straightforward a manner as he does.

Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 3d

The first episode of Collateral Damage, my reported podcast with The Intercept, went up today.

Hope you’ll check it out and, if you enjoy it, give it a favorable rating or review.

Eternal thanks to my producers @lauraflynn.bsky.social and Andrew Stelzer for making it happen.

Ep. 1 Dirty Business: The Atlanta Narcotics Unit’s Deadly Raid on 92-year-old Kathryn Johnston.

Podcast Episode · Collateral Damage from The Intercept · 10/08/2025 · 55m

podcasts.apple.com

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Brian Hawkins @brianhawkins.bsky.social · 2d

Listened to it on my morning dog walk. Strong start!

I am pissed off about Kathryn Johnston all over again.

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Brian Hawkins @brianhawkins.bsky.social · 2d

YUP

Elizabeth Spiers @espiers.bsky.social · 2d

One of my least favorite characteristics of Evangelicals is the tendency of some of them to use requests for prayer to spread gossip or make someone else’s problem about them.

Downtown Brandi Frown 😾 @itsthebrandi.bsky.social · 3d

Her sister definitely texts like a parent who says CALL ME NOW about something not urgent.

www.wsmv.com/2025/10/08/i...

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Brian Hawkins @brianhawkins.bsky.social · 2d

Cool

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