Author | Lightnews

Reposted by Douglas Herbert

Paul Eric Scannell @pauleric70.bsky.social · 2d

Wow..Dutch intelligence suspends sharing arrangements with the US after concluding that high level intel was routinely being shared by the White House with their friends in the Kremlin.

Dutch intelligence is smart

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Douglas Herbert @dougdecodes.bsky.social · 2d

“I respect the history, culture, and people of the USA. They are not my enemies, nor do I feel them as such…The problem is with Trump, not with the USA.” -Colombian President Gustavo Petro, the latest target of Donald Trump’s vendetta-driven foreign policy.

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Reposted by Douglas Herbert

Timothy Snyder @timothysnyder.bsky.social · 3d

Any American medium that fails to cover the largest protests in American history is failing in the basic mission of informing the public about the facts.
#NoKings

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Reposted by Douglas Herbert

Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 3d

OK guys, post your best signs from today for entry into my Top 15 No Kings Sign Contest.

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Douglas Herbert @dougdecodes.bsky.social · 3d

An editorial cartoon from Pulitzer Prize-winning political satirist, Matt Wuerker. #Trump

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Douglas Herbert @dougdecodes.bsky.social · 5d

Poison #passport: At the rate the #Trump administration is going, I wouldn’t be surprised if a majority of the world’s countries soon required Americans to get visas. www.cnn.com/2025/10/14/t...

US drops out of world’s most powerful passport top 10 list for the first time | CNN

Once a ticket to visa-free travel across the world, the US passport’s potency has dwindled in recent times. And now, for the first time, it’s completely fallen off the leaderboard of nationalities ran...

www.cnn.com

Douglas Herbert @dougdecodes.bsky.social · 5d

As a TV commentator who speaks Russian and has lived in #Russia, I believe I have a degree of credibility in “analyzing” Putin’s motives in his war against #Ukraine. Not so with #Trump. “Analyzing” him is a losing proposition. He’s guided by egocentricity, and flips on a dime. Here’s the #NYTimes:

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Douglas Herbert @dougdecodes.bsky.social · 6d

The #CIA is hiring. I can’t imagine what the person who ends up getting this job will spend their days doing. The current CIA director, in his confirmation hearing, testified that his CIA would be “going places no one else can go, and doing things no one else can do.” Any thoughts, Ethics Attorney?

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Douglas Herbert @dougdecodes.bsky.social · 8d

Sébastien Lecornu, #France’s fifth prime minister in under two years, urges lawmakers in a fragmented and bellicose parliament to follow him on “a common path despite differences” as he seeks to stave off another government collapse and deliver a budget by deadline.

Douglas Herbert @dougdecodes.bsky.social · 10d

Natalia Antelava on Coda Story, writing about the conversations we are not having in a social media world that encourages the simplistic or titillating narrative.

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Douglas Herbert @dougdecodes.bsky.social · 12d

Matt Berg, writing on What A Day, on the possible consequences for the Mideast peace process of #Trump not winning his coveted Nobel Peace Prize. (Written before the Nobel pick was announced.)

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Douglas Herbert @dougdecodes.bsky.social · 12d

« Kirsti Bergstø, the leader of Norway’s Socialist Left party and its foreign policy spokesperson, said Oslo must be ‘prepared for anything.’…’When the president is this volatile and #authoritarian, of course we have to be prepared for anything’. » (The Guardian) www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

Norway braces for Trump’s reaction if he does not win Nobel peace prize

US president may impose tariffs, demand higher Nato contributions or even declare Norway an enemy, analyst says

www.theguardian.com

Douglas Herbert @dougdecodes.bsky.social · 13d

For Trump, the ‘Enemy From Within’ Keeps Getting Bigger www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/u...

For Trump, the ‘Enemy From Within’ Keeps Getting Bigger

www.nytimes.com

Douglas Herbert @dougdecodes.bsky.social · 16d

Political turmoil deepens in #France as the country’s prime minister, Sébastien #Lecornu, resigns less than 24 hours after unveiling his government. He is the third PM to exit in less than a year. Disinformation, anger & grievance are destabilizing society, undermining trust in governance.

Douglas Herbert @dougdecodes.bsky.social · 16d

“They have to move quickly. They, they – when the alternative is that nothing bad can happen, let’s do it now. I was just saying to Bobby [health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr] and the group, let’s do it now. Nothing bad can happen, it can only good happen.” -DJT www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

‘The president is unhinged’: Trump’s online behavior grows increasingly odd

The US president’s recent behavior is strange to many, from reposting a false AI video of himself to confusing comments during press conferences

www.theguardian.com

Douglas Herbert @dougdecodes.bsky.social · 17d

And then this happened in the United States. Another shift in the “Overton Window” of what suddenly passes for acceptable, if not yet mainstream, discourse. #ThePlotAgainstAmerica #F24

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Douglas Herbert @dougdecodes.bsky.social · 20d

Jane #Goodall said #Trump displays “the same sort of behavior as a male chimpanzee will show when he’s competing for dominance with another. They’re upright, they swagger, they project themselves as really more large and aggressive than they may actually be in order to intimidate their rivals”.

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Douglas Herbert @dougdecodes.bsky.social · 21d

As the finger-pointing continued in the run-up to a seemingly inexorable U.S. government #shutdown, “Mr. Trump issued threats from the White House, appearing to relish the prospect of a shutdown that he said he would use to hurt his political opponents.” (Source: NYTimes)

Douglas Herbert @dougdecodes.bsky.social · 22d

Matt Berg, writing in the “What a Day” newsletter, on Donald #Trump’s proposed 20-point plan for “eternal #peace” in the Middle East:

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Douglas Herbert @dougdecodes.bsky.social · 23d

“Barbie” voters apparently account for nearly half of all eligible voters in #Moldova, according to the French-language version of the Moldova Electoral Commission’s website. #F24

Douglas Herbert @dougdecodes.bsky.social · 23d

A move that seems like an invitation for more corporate skullduggery. www.ft.com/content/f9f9...

Wall Street regulator vows light touch and end to quarterly reporting

Paul Atkins says SEC will ‘remove its thumb from the scales’ while criticising European over-regulation

www.ft.com

Douglas Herbert @dougdecodes.bsky.social · 24d

Non-French people through the ages have admired #French culture & style but have disliked, often viscerally, the French people, seeing them as pretentious & rude. This isn’t breaking news. What is newsworthy is that many French are apparently unaware of this hostility. www.lemonde.fr/idees/articl...

Les étrangers adorent la France… mais ont toujours du mal avec les Français

Si la France séduit par sa culture et son art de vivre, les Français eux-mêmes restent souvent mal appréciés et caricaturés en peuple arrogant et impoli. Une ambivalence qui interroge le bien-fondé de...

www.lemonde.fr

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Douglas Herbert @dougdecodes.bsky.social · 24d

Donald #Trump seems to be crossing a Rubicon on multiple fronts, from crackdowns on #dissent, to targeting #immigrants, to political retribution against perceived enemies. And…deploying troops to U.S. cities, spurred on by hyperbolic MAGA-friendly news outlets. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Donald Trump says he is deploying troops to Portland, Oregon

Apparently misled by hyperbolic reporting from conservative outlets on a single small protest, president described peaceful city as ‘war ravaged’

www.theguardian.com

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Douglas Herbert @dougdecodes.bsky.social · 26d

The New York Times, in its lucid news analysis, calls this a “break-glass” moment. #Comey www.nytimes.com/2025/09/25/u...

Trump Gets the Retribution He Sought, and Shatters Norms in the Process

www.nytimes.com

Douglas Herbert @dougdecodes.bsky.social · 26d

“ #Trump’s modus operandi is to use political leverage and overt threats to get people to do what he wants. Add in cruelty, legally questionable behavior, and a disregard for the civil mores that have dictated political deportment for centuries and you have Trump 2.0 in a nutshell.” -Dan Rather