Brian Lyman
@brianlyman.bsky.social
Editor, Alabama Reflector. Podcaster, Becoming Lincoln. 2024 Pulitzer finalist. Past: MGM Advertiser; Press-Register; The Anniston Star; Norwich Bulletin; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Politics, history, science, horrific puns.
Pinned
Brian Lyman
@brianlyman.bsky.social
· Nov 12
Alabama Reflector: Covering the pain and promise of our home • Alabama Reflector
Laws are made in the State House. Alabama is made outside it. Alabama Reflector will cover these dynamics that shape our home.
alabamareflector.com
Here’s our mission statement at @alreflector.bsky.social. From my first column on launch day in February 2023.
Reposted by Brian Lyman
Via Jennifer Shutt: A federal judge on Monday closed the lawsuit Planned Parenthood filed last summer after Republicans’ “big, beautiful” law blocked Medicaid patients from visiting its clinics for any health care appointments for one year. https://ow.ly/qyF950Y7RYY
February 3, 2026 at 12:05 AM
Via Jennifer Shutt: A federal judge on Monday closed the lawsuit Planned Parenthood filed last summer after Republicans’ “big, beautiful” law blocked Medicaid patients from visiting its clinics for any health care appointments for one year. https://ow.ly/qyF950Y7RYY
Reposted by Brian Lyman
Via Ariana Figueroa: Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced Monday that body cameras would be given to federal immigration agents across the country, but did not specifically say agents would be required to wear the cameras.
Noem: Body cameras to be deployed to immigration agents, starting in Minneapolis | Alabama Reflector
Noem did not specifically say agents would be required to wear the cameras.President Donald Trump said he was supportive of the move, according to White House pool reports.
alabamareflector.com
February 2, 2026 at 11:08 PM
Via Ariana Figueroa: Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced Monday that body cameras would be given to federal immigration agents across the country, but did not specifically say agents would be required to wear the cameras.
Reposted by Brian Lyman
Via Jennifer Shutt and Ariana Figueroa: The U.S. House is expected to vote as soon as Tuesday on the government funding package that will end the ongoing partial government shutdown once it becomes law.
Trump urges US House to avert ‘another long, pointless and destructive’ shutdown | Alabama Reflector
A partial shutdown of the government began early Saturday morning because the House had not yet acted on a Senate-passed budget measure.
alabamareflector.com
February 2, 2026 at 9:12 PM
Via Jennifer Shutt and Ariana Figueroa: The U.S. House is expected to vote as soon as Tuesday on the government funding package that will end the ongoing partial government shutdown once it becomes law.
Reposted by Brian Lyman
Via Ralph Chapoco: Both Tommy Tuberville, running for governor, and John Wahl, running for lieutenant governor, faced allegations that they did not meet the seven-year residency requirement for their respective offices.
Alabama GOP dismisses residency challenges against Tommy Tuberville, John Wahl | Alabama Reflector
The decision allows both candidates to continue campaigning for office even as some allege they have not met the residency requirement.
alabamareflector.com
February 2, 2026 at 8:19 PM
Via Ralph Chapoco: Both Tommy Tuberville, running for governor, and John Wahl, running for lieutenant governor, faced allegations that they did not meet the seven-year residency requirement for their respective offices.
Reposted by Brian Lyman
U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville faces questions over whether he can meet constitutional requirements to run for Alabama governor. Editor Brian Lyman writes that it's a serious problem that Alabamians can rightly doubt state courts' abilities and willingness to find the answers. https://ow.ly/CMhw50Y6hgG
February 2, 2026 at 3:01 PM
U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville faces questions over whether he can meet constitutional requirements to run for Alabama governor. Editor Brian Lyman writes that it's a serious problem that Alabamians can rightly doubt state courts' abilities and willingness to find the answers. https://ow.ly/CMhw50Y6hgG
Reposted by Brian Lyman
Via @timhenderson.bsky.social & Stateline: States that once led in childhood vaccination are losing ground as exemptions and unfounded skepticism take hold, encouraged by the Trump administration’s stance under U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. https://ow.ly/H8eK50Y7Fjg
February 2, 2026 at 6:05 PM
Via @timhenderson.bsky.social & Stateline: States that once led in childhood vaccination are losing ground as exemptions and unfounded skepticism take hold, encouraged by the Trump administration’s stance under U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. https://ow.ly/H8eK50Y7Fjg
Reposted by Brian Lyman
Journalists @anitawadhwani.bsky.social and John Partipilo spent Saturday with volunteers from the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition as they delivered hot meals and supplies to immigrants in housing without power - many of whom have been afraid to venture out.
Freezing cold and afraid to leave: Nashville immigrants hunker down in frigid homes • Tennessee Lookout
The Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition has delivered 5,000 hot meals to immigrants following a winter storm.
tennesseelookout.com
February 2, 2026 at 5:55 PM
Journalists @anitawadhwani.bsky.social and John Partipilo spent Saturday with volunteers from the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition as they delivered hot meals and supplies to immigrants in housing without power - many of whom have been afraid to venture out.
My column this week. U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville faces questions about whether he meets Alabama's constitutional requirements to run for governor. And it's a major problem that he feels comfortable evading the issue, and that state institutions are likely to let him keep doing so.
What Tommy Tuberville’s residency issues say about Alabama | Alabama Reflector
Alabamians can't trust our state institutions to determine whether the leading candidate for governor is following the law. That's a problem.
alabamareflector.com
February 2, 2026 at 3:10 PM
My column this week. U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville faces questions about whether he meets Alabama's constitutional requirements to run for governor. And it's a major problem that he feels comfortable evading the issue, and that state institutions are likely to let him keep doing so.
This is Bernarr MacFadden erasure
How Weight Lifting Took Over America
www.nytimes.com
February 2, 2026 at 1:26 PM
This is Bernarr MacFadden erasure
Reposted by Brian Lyman
Via Ralph Chapoco: A new report found that domestic and international migration into Alabama helped the state grow despite continuing net natural population loss, and that the Trump administration's anti-immigration policies may be slowing that growth down. https://ow.ly/sMre50Y6EIr
February 2, 2026 at 1:05 PM
Via Ralph Chapoco: A new report found that domestic and international migration into Alabama helped the state grow despite continuing net natural population loss, and that the Trump administration's anti-immigration policies may be slowing that growth down. https://ow.ly/sMre50Y6EIr
Reposted by Brian Lyman
Via Andrea Tinker: The Alabama House of Representatives passed a bill Thursday that would change the amount of years teachers can be contracted under a law extending additional pay to math and science teachers. https://ow.ly/8UMw50Y6ENU
February 2, 2026 at 12:05 PM
Via Andrea Tinker: The Alabama House of Representatives passed a bill Thursday that would change the amount of years teachers can be contracted under a law extending additional pay to math and science teachers. https://ow.ly/8UMw50Y6ENU
If you can speed-dial a senator, a governor or a president and instantly get a hearing, you don’t need a march.
February 1, 2026 at 6:19 PM
If you can speed-dial a senator, a governor or a president and instantly get a hearing, you don’t need a march.
Another great line in that Sumner speech: “If a man has done evil in his life, he must not be complimented in marble.”
“Let me tell that Senator that the name of Taney is to be hooted down the page of history. Judgement is beginning now; and an emancipated country will fasten upon him the stigma which he deserves.” - Charles Sumner, 1865
Judgment was slower than Sumner hoped...
www.senate.gov/art-artifact...
Judgment was slower than Sumner hoped...
www.senate.gov/art-artifact...
February 1, 2026 at 2:51 PM
Another great line in that Sumner speech: “If a man has done evil in his life, he must not be complimented in marble.”
Reposted by Brian Lyman
Commentary: Don’t turn our backs on our Haitian neighbors who’ve built a life in Ohio: Ending TPS will tear families apart, deepen labor shortages, and send people back to chaos and danger. ohiocapitaljournal.com/2026/01/29/d...
Don't turn our backs on our Haitian neighbors who've built a life in Ohio • Ohio Capital Journal
Don't turn our backs on our Haitian neighbors who've built a life in Ohio. Haitians are here legally under temporary protected status. Ending that will tear families apart, deepen labor shortages,…
ohiocapitaljournal.com
February 1, 2026 at 1:01 PM
Commentary: Don’t turn our backs on our Haitian neighbors who’ve built a life in Ohio: Ending TPS will tear families apart, deepen labor shortages, and send people back to chaos and danger. ohiocapitaljournal.com/2026/01/29/d...
Reposted by Brian Lyman
Via Nada Hassanein and Stateline: Doulas trained to support pregnant and postpartum moms with substance use disorder are in increasing demand amid the nation’s concurrent crises of maternal mortality and addiction. https://ow.ly/jAIM50Y64IL
February 1, 2026 at 1:05 PM
Via Nada Hassanein and Stateline: Doulas trained to support pregnant and postpartum moms with substance use disorder are in increasing demand amid the nation’s concurrent crises of maternal mortality and addiction. https://ow.ly/jAIM50Y64IL
Reposted by Brian Lyman
Just experienced the most intense tear gassing of my life by federal officers outside the ICE facility in Portland where marchers gathered. There was no fast exit as they indiscriminately threw loads of gas and flash bangs. Children were in the crowd screaming. @oregoncapitalchronicle.com
February 1, 2026 at 12:50 AM
Just experienced the most intense tear gassing of my life by federal officers outside the ICE facility in Portland where marchers gathered. There was no fast exit as they indiscriminately threw loads of gas and flash bangs. Children were in the crowd screaming. @oregoncapitalchronicle.com
And these income caps are scheduled to come off on Jan. 1. Without legislative action, that means Alabama taxpayers will subsidize even wealthier families as this effective voucher program likely blows a hole in the state education budget, as it has in other states.
February 1, 2026 at 12:04 AM
And these income caps are scheduled to come off on Jan. 1. Without legislative action, that means Alabama taxpayers will subsidize even wealthier families as this effective voucher program likely blows a hole in the state education budget, as it has in other states.
Reposted by Brian Lyman
Federal judge has ordered the release of Liam Ramos (the bunny hat boy) and his father. A brief and rather remarkable order. Clearly written to be shared widely, so please do. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
January 31, 2026 at 8:42 PM
Federal judge has ordered the release of Liam Ramos (the bunny hat boy) and his father. A brief and rather remarkable order. Clearly written to be shared widely, so please do. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
There’s great footage of Jimmy Breslin — who was instantly dismissive of the Goetz-self-defense story — telling a hostile Donahue audience that they were dumb to believe Goetz was some kind of hero.
Stomachache-inducing how the tabloids constructed a heroic act of self-defense out of whole cloth. The actual story was a mentally unwell, radicalized gutter racist.
January 31, 2026 at 9:18 PM
There’s great footage of Jimmy Breslin — who was instantly dismissive of the Goetz-self-defense story — telling a hostile Donahue audience that they were dumb to believe Goetz was some kind of hero.
Not since Krishnamurti have I run into a philosopher so angry at the stupid questions from his hypothetical audience.
January 31, 2026 at 7:28 PM
Not since Krishnamurti have I run into a philosopher so angry at the stupid questions from his hypothetical audience.
I'd be interested in separating all those "five classes you took in college" answers by the time people went to college. Based on my kids' college experience, I think I had a lot more leeway to study a broad range of subjects than they do now.
January 31, 2026 at 5:47 PM
I'd be interested in separating all those "five classes you took in college" answers by the time people went to college. Based on my kids' college experience, I think I had a lot more leeway to study a broad range of subjects than they do now.
Never want to hear criticisms of “performative” behavior from those who unironically applauded people in tricorne hats defending health care bankruptcies.
I really wish we could take some of the negative valence off of “performative” because performance is tremendously important right now especially
"In response to criticisms she's heard about the hat being 'performative,' Mashaal, the shop owner, said the thousands of dollars that have gone toward supporting their community speaks for itself."
January 31, 2026 at 4:11 PM
Never want to hear criticisms of “performative” behavior from those who unironically applauded people in tricorne hats defending health care bankruptcies.
My column from Monday. Alabama politicians give voters little but paranoia and niche right-wing issues, which may be why just 37% of voters turned up for the last midterm in 2022. Those politicians who truly want to make a government for Alabama have to restore Alabamians’ faith in the process.
A better Alabama government requires a bigger Alabama electorate | Alabama Reflector
What Alabama voters want is not necessarily what Alabamians want. Because in state elections, most Alabamians don't vote.
alabamareflector.com
January 31, 2026 at 3:25 PM
My column from Monday. Alabama politicians give voters little but paranoia and niche right-wing issues, which may be why just 37% of voters turned up for the last midterm in 2022. Those politicians who truly want to make a government for Alabama have to restore Alabamians’ faith in the process.
Reposted by Brian Lyman
Via Elisha Brown: Even though many legislative sessions only just convened across the country this month, efforts to restrict access to abortion pills are in full swing, particularly in states that already ban abortion. https://ow.ly/OGFH50Y64kO
January 31, 2026 at 1:05 PM
Via Elisha Brown: Even though many legislative sessions only just convened across the country this month, efforts to restrict access to abortion pills are in full swing, particularly in states that already ban abortion. https://ow.ly/OGFH50Y64kO
Reposted by Brian Lyman
Journalist Georgia Fort has been released from custody (video @fox9mn.bsky.social)
January 30, 2026 at 9:30 PM
Journalist Georgia Fort has been released from custody (video @fox9mn.bsky.social)