Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

D. A. Rupprecht

@darupprecht.bsky.social

890 followers 320 following 5.8K posts

Freelance writer, author of two books and maker of memes. Supporter of Ukraine and democracy generally. US citizen who's currently self-exiled but in a stunningly beautiful place. #NAFOAlly

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

D. A. Rupprecht @darupprecht.bsky.social · 1d

And I proudly made over 5700 of those... #Bluesky

Bluesky @bsky.app · 2d

we hit 2 billion posts today! 🥳

Reposted by D. A. Rupprecht

Anton Gerashchenko @antongerashchenko.bsky.social · 1d

Ukrainian Defenders from the 63rd Mechanized Brigade captured a 22-year-old Indian who fought on the Russian side.

Majothi shared that he came to Russia to study at a university, and at some point was sentenced to seven years in a Russian prison on drug-related charges.

13 90 320

Reposted by D. A. Rupprecht

Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 19h

Only a strong and powerful leader like Trump can bring this war ravaged city back from the brink of destruction and anarchy.

170 930 3.6K

Reposted by D. A. Rupprecht

Harry Litman @harrylitman.bsky.social · 15h

Two details to focus on at Comey’s arraignment:1) who is at the table for the government, since the entire EDVA loathes the case; 2) does judge Nachmanoff set immed schedule for motions (or even ask the parties what motions they are planning) or instead set another hearing date at which to do that?

7 43 250

Reposted by D. A. Rupprecht

Joni Askola @joniaskola.bsky.social · 15h

Putin often claims that sanctions hurt the West more than they hurt Russia, but he also keeps asking us to remove them. If that were really true, he’d be asking for more sanctions, not fewer

7 23 150

Reposted by D. A. Rupprecht

GG @bigdaddyromance.bsky.social · 1d

9 7 44

Reposted by D. A. Rupprecht

Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 19h

Mike Johnson only wants Lee Greenwood to perform the halftime show at the Super Bowl because Lawrence Welk is dead and therefore unavailable.

690 1.2K 7.5K

Reposted by D. A. Rupprecht

Newfie912 @newfie912.bsky.social · 1d

Lies, lies, and damned lies

2 48 93

Reposted by D. A. Rupprecht

Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 19h

I’m shocked.

780 4.3K 11K

D. A. Rupprecht @darupprecht.bsky.social · 14h

Well, I'll repost it every time I see it...

Morgan J Freeman @mjfree.bsky.social · 16h

TRUMP & EPSTEIN ARE SEX TRAFFICKERS!!! I’m gonna post this every day so nobody forgets exactly who Pedophile Trump is and why the Epstein files have suddenly disappeared.

Reposted by D. A. Rupprecht

Joni Askola @joniaskola.bsky.social · 15h

Will he achieve that by pardoning all his friends?

5 7 87

Reposted by D. A. Rupprecht

Rebba.bsky.social @rebba.bsky.social · 16h

Let's focus on Steven Millers slip up on CNN.
Who the hell does he think he is?

Plenary?Plenary authority?

No Steven Miller, Wrong again!!

No! You do not plenary authority to harm the American Public. It is cruel and illegal. You do not have the executive power to overthrow our own government

180 1.1K 3.6K

Reposted by D. A. Rupprecht

NOELREPORTS @noelreports.com · 1d

Russian media confirm a railway line between Stroganovo and Mshinskaya was blown up in the morning, causing a locomotive and several cars of a military cargo train to derail. Traffic on the section has been halted, with passenger and freight trains rerouted and delayed for several hours.

14 92 620

Reposted by D. A. Rupprecht

U.S. Naval Institute @usni.org · 1d

#TuesdayThoughts

2 5 40

Reposted by D. A. Rupprecht

Beefeater Fella @beefeaterfella.bsky.social · 1d

In 2025, the Pension Fund will face a shortfall of 780 billion rubles. Its own revenues will cover only 70% of the required payments, and the transfer from the federal budget will be cut by a third — down to 3.64 trillion rubles.

1/3

2 19 72

Reposted by D. A. Rupprecht

The Editorial Board @editorialboard.bsky.social · 15h

There's a new book coming out called Crime and No Punishment by Penn's Marie Gottschalk. I got a promotional email with talking points. They are an accurate description.

New Talking Points

The United States is an exceptionally militarized, lethal, and violent country.
Rising corporate impunity, the financialization of the economy, militarized policing, the burgeoning carceral state, the opioid crisis, the Great Recession, and blowback from the forever wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere have fostered violence in America.
This includes not just interpersonal violence but also state, economic, structural, and political violence.
The growing concentration of military, economic, and political power has contributed to declines in life expectancy and quality of life as more people in the United States are at risk of losing their homes, health care, livelihoods, and savings.
This concentration of power has also siphoned off vital resources, preventing the country from mitigating the root causes of violent interpersonal crime.
Over the last five decades, the United States retreated from policing, prosecuting, and punishing elite-level corporate misconduct.
Meanwhile it doubled down on militarizing its police forces and punishing street crimes, drug crimes, and immigration offenses as the country became a world leader in incarcerating its people.
Donald Trump's electoral success is incomprehensible without a deeper understanding of how these developments have fostered violence in America and delegitimized and destabilized the political and economic systems.
The US failure to protect its people from all these harms has increased the brittleness of democracy in America, raising the prospect of a bleak, undemocratic future as violence begets more violence, and the country morphs into a dysfunctional state.

1 4 10

D. A. Rupprecht @darupprecht.bsky.social · 14h

The Battle of Chicago is about to commence...

Reposted by D. A. Rupprecht

Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 20h

My quote of the day

If you want to preserve democracy as we know it, you have to have a free and many times adversarial press. And without it, I am afraid that we would lose so much of our individual liberties over time. That's how dictators get started.

John McCain