Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 1h

Add SPEED RACER to that list.

Truly awful movie, but if you are, ahem, looking at things differently....

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Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 3h

He was definitely hired *because* he's this kind of person, not in spite of it.

Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 3h

"30-year-old conservative lawyer and activist who is Trump’s nominee to lead the Office of Special Counsel, which deals with federal employee whistleblower complaints and discrimination" cancelled his colleague's hotel room so she would be forced to stay with him.
www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

In late July, Paul Ingrassia, the White House liaison for the Department of Homeland Security, arrived at a Ritz-Carlton in Orlando with a lower-ranking female colleague and others from their department. When the group reached the front desk, the woman learned she didn’t have a hotel room.

Ingrassia then informed her that she would be staying with him, according to five administration officials familiar with the episode. Eventually the woman discovered that Ingrassia had arranged ahead of time to have her hotel room canceled so she would have to stay with him, three of those officials said.

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Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 3h

When you see scary things in the news, look for the helpers.

Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 3h

www.wweek.com/culture/2025...

Can you put into words what that purpose is? You and the frog have really become icons of this protest.

There’s been a nice overall whimsy that has shown up. The frog is amazing. We had a bunch of other inflatable people here last night, too. I saw people playing Twister the other day.

What they rely on is fear. So by coming out in an absurdist manner, it speaks to them, to some extent, that we’re actually not that afraid.

It also dismantles their narrative a little bit. When they try to describe this situation as “war-torn,” it becomes much harder to take them seriously when they have to post a video saying [U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security] Kristi Noem is up on the balcony staring over the Antifa Army and it’s, like, eight journalists and five protesters and one of them is in a chicken suit.

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Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 3h

🎶
I have
put on
cummerbund
on my tux
🎸

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Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 3h

Obviously, a true moral leader should only give their opinions about non-divisive issues. As we all know, morals are meant to be flexible, convenient, and easily applied. Morals should be ignored where they might cause difficulty or disagreement.

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Matt Ford @mford.bsky.social · 4h

“Baby in her placenta” is pretty bad for a HHS secretary but it’s arguably worse for a guy with six kids. It’s impossible to not learn this stuff as a dad if you’re even remotely paying attention just once.

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 5h

This is the genius of the Portland protests - they make the claims of lawlessness look not just wrong, but comical

The Daily Show @thedailyshow.com · 8h

The following is REAL footage from Portland, 2025. Viewer discretion is advised.

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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 6h

i feel like everything bari weiss does is treated like she's a network exec in 1973 when she's really just a LARPer at the helm of a particularly irrelevant brand while TV news is dying.

max tani @maxtani.bsky.social · 6h

New: Bari Weiss booked Hillary Clinton, Mike Pompeo, and Antony Blinken for a roundtable on Gaza, her first major move at CBS.

Notably on a CBS call today in which the panel was floated, one producer also repeatedly emphasized the need to hear from Palestinians in Gaza (Weiss did not respond).

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Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 6h

As @propublica.org reported, "at least three of Trump’s Cabinet members call multiple homes their primary residences on mortgages."

No indictments for them, because this is how a fascist regime works. "For my friends, everything; for my enemies, the law."

www.propublica.org/article/trum...

Peter Sterne @petersterne.com · 7h

BREAKING: NY State AG Letitia James indicted by federal grand jury in Virginia www.cityandstateny.com/politics/202...

Letitia James indicted by federal grand jury in Virginia

State Attorney General Letitia James has reportedly been indicted for alleged mortgage fraud.

www.cityandstateny.com

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Andrew Lawrence @ndrew.bsky.social · 10h

these people are actually out of their fucking minds and im so sick of being told we need to pretend otherwise

Justin Baragona @justinbaragona.bsky.social · 11h

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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Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 13h

New from 404 Media: the Discord hack is every users' worst nightmare. Yesterday the hackers started posting Discord users' selfies, identity documents, email addresses, phone numbers, more. I watched in real time. This is risk of tech storing ID for age verification
www.404media.co/the-discord-...

The Discord Hack is Every Users’ Worst Nightmare

A hack impacting Discord’s age verification process shows in stark terms the risk of tech companies collecting users’ ID documents. Now the hackers are posting peoples’ IDs and other sensitive informa...

www.404media.co

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Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 13h

Curious if MAGA knows that "God Bless America" was written by someone not born in America who arrived here without any authorization whatsoever and yet, through the woke policies of the time, was allowed to stay and to become a naturalized citizen. So very "open borders."

Joshua Holland @joshuaholland.bsky.social · 13h

I’m sure that he stays seated for many songs. I bet he knows that sappy song isn’t our anthem.

Bad Bunny Remains Seated During 'God Bless America' at Yankees Game

Bad Bunny raised eyebrows at the New York Yankees game Tuesday night ... choosing not to stand during the singing of "God Bless America."

www.tmz.com

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Rex Huppke @rexhuppke.bsky.social · 13h

This is the clearest sign yet that Democrats are winning this argument. Nobody is going to buy this desperate B.S. I’m honestly surprised, but the Democrats have managed to back Johnson into a corner.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 14h

Mike Johnson: "It's about keeping Congress operating so we can get to healthcare. We always were going to. They're lying to you. Okay? The healthcare issues were always gonna be something discussed, deliberated, contemplated, and debated in October and November."

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Mark Joseph Stern @mjsdc.bsky.social · 13h

Could the Supreme Court still apply different rules to a Democratic president? Of course. You don't need to remind me of that. But a lightning-fast blitz that repurposes Trump's new powers for good stands the best chance of standing up in court. Democrats need to start thinking about this right now.

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Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 14h

Awesome, looking forward to getting the model with the drawing Trump made for Epstein's birthday card.

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Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · 5d

New WaPo poll —
61% of American Jews say Israel has committed war crimes against Palestinians.
39% say Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

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Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 16h

But that is precisely the situation right now according to SCOTUS itself. They are constantly deciding major issues via the shadow docket, without any reasoning or final order, to ensure those rulings are *not* legally binding and can be reversed whenever they feel like it. That is illegitimate.

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Anna O. Law @unlawfulentries.bsky.social · 18h

I teach in my undergrad class on the history of the US jury system that the institution's roots are in colonial juries serving as a counterweight to abuses of imperial power. The American jury has problems for sure but still can serve that roll. Don't blow off jury service.

Josh Marshall @joshtpm.bsky.social · 1d

Jury Refuses To Indict Chicago ICE Protesters In Latest Revolt Against Trump Overreach talkingpointsmemo.com/where-things...

Jury Refuses To Indict Chicago ICE Protesters In Latest Revolt Against Trump Overreach

A grand jury Tuesday night declined to indict two protesters in the...

talkingpointsmemo.com

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 17h

Or swear in a new member of Congress who was elected two weeks ago

Patrick Chovanec @prchovanec.bsky.social · 1d

The Speaker of the House has firm views that Bad Bunny is a terrible pick for singing at the Super Bowl, but hasn't had time to watch the President's speech to our military leadership or form an opinion whether furloughed federal workers should be paid or Illinois' governor should be thrown in jail.

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Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 16h

Lisa Cook is still the standout for me. Firing her requires rewriting the relationship between Congress, the President, and the Courts, but it won't have a meaningful impact on policy, she's not particularly hawkish on FOMC. All that effort *solely* because she's a Black woman.

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 17h

yeah, trump has made very clear that he doesn’t think black people deserve to be in jobs of influence! www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/u...

Trump Fires Black Officials From an Overwhelmingly White Administration

www.nytimes.com

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Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 16h

And this highly-productive white guy*, who is so competent he can run both the Social Security Administration and the Internal Revenue Service. Meritocracy!

* I assume he's a white man although by appearance he is a melting Elf on the Shelf.

Bessent Taps Social Security Chief to Serve as C.E.O. of I.R.S.

www.nytimes.com

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Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 1d

Weird and amusing that the same people touting unwatchable Bari Weiss as the Authentic Voice Of The People are also claiming that Bad Bunny, the famous musician / actor / WWE wrestler, at the Super Bowl is imposing an unpopular ideology on the majority.

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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 1d

Bray is a historian at Rutgers who received death threats after landing on Turning Points USA's Professor Watchlist. As a result, he announced he was moving to Europe. And then this happened.

This kind of harassment and abuse of scholars is Charlie Kirk's legacy and it's only getting worse.

Mark Bray @mark-bray.bsky.social · 1d

“Someone” cancelled my family’s flight out of the country at the last second.

We got our boarding passes. We checked our bags. Went through security. Then at our gate our reservation ‘disappeared.’

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Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 1d

Putting aside the many reasons they should include it, this is also negotiation 101: don't negotiate against yourself, such as by locking your demand in low when your counterparty refuses to negotiate.

Dems shouldn't take stuff off the table until Trump & GOP are truly negotiating.

Eric Michael Garcia @ericmgarcia.bsky.social · 1d

Durbin on whether Democrats can use reining in ICE in Chicago as a precondition to rein in the government says “can’t do that. It’s gotta be health care all the way.”

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Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 1d

It would, and even baby steps would help. What benefit is there to me or my community if someone's trip to the ER turns into a fruitless debt collection effort, rather than payment to the hospital thereby keeping it open and properly staffed for when I need it?

Kelsey Atherton @atherton.bsky.social · 1d

Free healthcare to all residents of the US regardless of immigration status would rule, actually. Universal benefits for universal problems (having a body that can get sick or hurt)

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