Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Bill Green

@mtlb.bsky.social

What if they actually are all deplorable.

January 16, 2026 at 11:33 PM

Reposted by Bill Green

Mark Joseph Stern

@mjsdc.bsky.social

This is the dynamic across most of America: Liberal cities generate revenue, which state governments then transfer to benefit conservative rural areas, whose residents despite city-dwellers and consistently vote to harm them. But politicians endlessly pander to rural voters and demonize cities.

Chris Ingraham @cingraham.bsky.social · 1d

Another critical piece of missing context in this story: tax dollars flow from the MSP metro to rural Minnesota. People in the city subsidize the lifestyles of people living in the country minnesotareformer.com/2023/12/04/t...

January 15, 2026 at 3:48 PM

Reposted by Bill Green

Dr. Roux

@tcrotte.bsky.social

Quit talking about Trump. Address everything, every issue to Miller and Vought. Make Trump irrelevant, his ego will not let him be out of the spotlight and you’ll see Miller and Vought removed and the rest of the administration collapse.

January 14, 2026 at 7:23 PM

Bill Green

@mtlb.bsky.social

A lot can be dissected about the current and past Trump admins, but the amount of wholly unqualified people plucked from assistant level positions based on nothing more than blind loyalty definitely needs to be part of the post-mortem.

www.reuters.com/world/us/no-...

No. 2 US ICE official Madison Sheahan leaving agency to run for Congress

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Deputy Director Madison Sheahan is leaving the agency and running for Congress, she said in social media posts on Thursday.

www.reuters.com

January 15, 2026 at 6:05 PM

Bill Green

@mtlb.bsky.social

“…when you think of it, we shouldn't even have an election.”

If it walks like sedition…

www.reuters.com/world/us/fiv...

Five takeaways from the Reuters interview of President Trump

Reuters sat down with U.S. President Donald Trump for an interview in the Oval Office on Wednesday. Here are some takeaways from the 30-minute exchange:

www.reuters.com

January 15, 2026 at 5:46 PM

Bill Green

@mtlb.bsky.social

2026 can stop being 2025 any time now thank you very much.

January 14, 2026 at 7:21 PM

Bill Green

@mtlb.bsky.social

It’s almost as if – and I may be just guessing here – that playing 2D checkers isn’t really working out for this administration.

www.barrons.com/news/exodus-...

Exodus Of Immigrants A Hit For The US Economy, Study Says

US President Donald Trump's hardline immigration policies have produced a sharp slowdown in net migration that looks set to continue in 2026, a new study says.

www.barrons.com

January 14, 2026 at 4:37 PM

Reposted by Bill Green

Bruce Wilson

@brucewilson.bsky.social

An excellent explanation of why Trump's "Golden Dome" missile defense system idea is idiotic.

dogemperor (PLAY NEO:TWEWY, ZEPTOGRAMS) @dogemperor.bsky.social · 2d

Oh gods, this is so utterly fractally wrong and transparently fractally wrong that it is a veritable tesseract of fractal wrongness. Entire new branches of mathematical topology have had to be invented to describe this level of fractal wrongness

So a thread re missile defense systems below:

1/x

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 2d

Trump: "The US needs Greenland for the purpose of National Security. It is vital for the Golden Dome that we are building. NATO should be leading the way for us to get it. IF WE DON’T, RUSSIA OR CHINA WILL, AND THAT IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN! ... Anything less than that is unacceptable."

January 14, 2026 at 2:34 PM

Bill Green

@mtlb.bsky.social

When you drive around these here parts you see it. WNC even made worse off post-Helene. And yet, Trump signs are everywhere still.

But hey, at least he got rid of pronouns.

Billy Ball @billyball.bsky.social · 3d

According to Forbes, since the start of his presidency, Trump's net worth has more than doubled—from $2.3B in 2024 to $6.7B by the end of 2025.

Meanwhile, many of the folks who voted for him are in a worse financial predicament than ever.

Tap 👇
www.thelivingsouth.com/trump-is-get...

January 14, 2026 at 1:51 AM

Reposted by Bill Green

Vickie Hinkley

@vickiehinkley.bsky.social

See also full write up linked in comments
@newsoneofficial.bsky.social
#KeithPorter #KeithPorterICEmurder #ICE.MURDER.Inc

January 13, 2026 at 9:05 PM

Bill Green

@mtlb.bsky.social

The ICE agents in videos we’ve all seen just don’t act like they’ve had any training and this story definitely reveals reasons why.

Laura Jedeed @laurajedeed.bsky.social · 3d

A few months ago, ICE hired me

I didn't sign and submit any paperwork. I almost certainly failed the drug test. I'm real outspoken about my opposition to the Trump administration, and I am extremely googlable

And yet, there it was, in plain English. "Welcome to ICE!"

My latest for Slate

You’ve Heard About Who ICE Is Recruiting. The Truth Is Far Worse. I’m the Proof.

What happens when you do minimal screening before hiring agents, arming them, and sending them into the streets? We're all finding out.

slate.com

January 13, 2026 at 8:27 PM

Bill Green

@mtlb.bsky.social

Military strikes on another country are Trump’s first resort so that he can open up his next resort.

January 13, 2026 at 7:31 PM

Reposted by Bill Green

Mark Simpson-Vos

@simpsonvos.bsky.social

This should have been career ending, as it would be for most editors. This is almost surely at the top of list of editorial malpractice.

Howard French @hofrench.bsky.social · 3d

I wrote book reviews for a while for the WSJ well over a decade ago, and Bari Weis was my editor. One of her special tricks was to try to insert a sharp rightward slant into my essays *after* it had been copy edited, as a way of slipping her viewpoint in at the last minute.

January 13, 2026 at 4:57 PM

Reposted by Bill Green

🗽LOLGOP🗽

@thefarce.org

What country is going to threaten to bomb us if Trump doesn't stop invading Minnesota.

January 13, 2026 at 4:59 PM

Reposted by Bill Green

Sherrilyn Ifill

@sifill.bsky.social

Please, PLEASE. Read this thread.

ashley fairbanks @ziibiing.com · 4d

just a reminder that we aren’t even seeing the worst of what is happening in Minneapolis from someone detailed at the Whipple Federal Building yesterday

Eyewitness account:
Good morning,
My name is Brandon Siguenza, and l am a US citizen from Minneapolis. Yesterday, while doing legal observation, ICE stopped their cars to harass my friend and me. They sprayed pepper spray into the vent of our vehicle. We held our hands in the air and told them we were not obstructing, that the car was in park and they were free to drive forward and away. There was no active immigration raid. They returned to their cars, and drove forward a bit, then decided to stop again. They surrounded us, smashed the windows of our car, opened the doors (they were unlocked), ripped my friend and I out of the car and arrested us on charges of obstruction.
I was put in an unmarked SUV, separated from my friend.
As I was put in the back seat an ICE agent tore the whistle off my neck and said "I'll be taking this, I might need it later." My phone was knocked out of my hand while being arrested. As we drove away I asked the driver and the passenger if they wouldn't mind buckling my seatbelt, as they were driving erratically. I was ignored. I asked them if I could have the handcuffs loosened, as I was losing circulation, and was told no. At one point the passenger realized his own driver's license was in the backseat next to mine, and tried to surreptitiously grab it without me seeing it.
We were taken to the Whipple federal building, where I saw dozens of brown people being processed in an unheated garage. I was frisked, told of my charges, and saw buses and vans being prepped. I later learned that these were being filled with detainees and driven to the airport for deportation. As we were led in, I noticed that the building was very busy. I got the impression that one of the 2 agents bringing me around was being trained. At multiple points throughout my stay, government agents were unable to open doors, not sure where they were meant to be going, and overall confused and overwhelmed. They couldn't figure out how to use the building phones, or complai…

January 13, 2026 at 2:52 PM

Bill Green

@mtlb.bsky.social

Remembering the president watching the monitor as tourists “visited” the Capitol, and guessing he’s watching the protests with that same look.

January 13, 2026 at 2:52 PM

Reposted by Bill Green

Ryan Broderick

@ryanhatesthis.bsky.social

ICE agents are, simply put, fucking clowns. Some observations from four days on the ground in Minneapolis.
www.garbageday.email/p/we-re-all-...

ICE agents are, simply put, fucking clowns. According to The Atlantic, they receive 47 days of training — in honor of Trump, the 47th president, naturally. Many of them, also, can barely read or write, apparently. The ones I spent the weekend following around didn’t even have proper uniforms, with some wearing sneakers. In Minnesota. In January. These dipshits are also wearing camo in the snow. They clearly do not have any training when it comes to their own weapons either. Multiple times over the last few days, I watched officers fire pepper spray balls at the feet of protestors barely a few inches away from them. These weapons are basically paintball guns full of concentrated pepper spray. So when they hit a target, they explode into the air. Which meant ICE agents regularly ended up poisoning themselves with their own weapons. I also watched two agents ask each other if a canister they were about to fire at the crowd was tear gas or a stun grenade. (It ended up being a stun grenade that then ignited the tear gas they had already shot at us, which started a fire in the street that a protestor had to help them put out.)

January 12, 2026 at 7:53 PM

Bill Green

@mtlb.bsky.social

Congratulations POTUS.

The Associated Press @apnews.com · 4d

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is visiting China this week to mend relations with the world's second-largest economy.

Carney visits China this week in a bid to rebuild ties and reduce Canadian dependence on US

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is visiting China this week to mend relations with the world's second-largest economy.

bit.ly

January 13, 2026 at 2:33 AM

Bill Green

@mtlb.bsky.social

SCOTUS has given Trump a deferment from serving the American people.

January 12, 2026 at 7:19 PM

Bill Green

@mtlb.bsky.social

Of all the irony (or hypocrisy) that stands out with MAGA and this administration is the way both view their so-called patriotic role as Mel Gibson fighting tyranny and the British, when in fact, it’s the opposite.

Cue Stephen Miller looking at a map asking “Tell me about… Greenland.”

January 12, 2026 at 5:58 PM

Bill Green

@mtlb.bsky.social

Land of the free.*

January 12, 2026 at 5:19 PM

Bill Green

@mtlb.bsky.social

I suspect this is what drives Trump the most: The fear of being erased from memory.

Chris Sommerfeldt @c-sommerfeldt.bsky.social · 4d

Before leaving office, Eric Adams proposed new rules for how press passes are issued in NYC.

Mamdani says he's rescinding those proposed rules, calling them "an attack on the press."

January 12, 2026 at 5:02 PM

Reposted by Bill Green

A Voice Crying in the Wilderness

@cryingwilderness.bsky.social

ICE training used to be approximately 5 months long and included Spanish, constitutional law, de-escalation, firearms, arrest procedures, and comprehensive federal law enforcement coursework. In 2025 it was cut to just 47 days. Spanish was removed, and vetting was lowered.

A Voice Crying in the Wilderness @cryingwilderness.bsky.social · 4d

people.com/ice-academy-...