Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Kurt Taylor Gaubatz @kurttg.bsky.social · 13h

So now the failure by politicians to take action when law enforcement is under attack is a jailable offence. Let's talk again about that 187 minutes on January 6...

Picture of January 6 riot at the Capitol building.

Kurt Taylor Gaubatz @kurttg.bsky.social · 1d

Now that she’s seen it in person, I’m sure she’ll be reporting back to Trump that it’s not so war ravaged as Fox News has led him to believe.

Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 1d

Kristi Noem confronts enemy combatants in the Portland war zone today.

Kurt Taylor Gaubatz @kurttg.bsky.social · 1d

This sounds like a quick way to shut down all air traffic in the US.

Kurt Taylor Gaubatz @kurttg.bsky.social · 2d

You can always count on Texas to stand strong against Federal overreach. . . Unless there is a chance for a photo-op with people in military uniforms beating on heathens and hippies.

Catherine Zoltan @catherinezoltan.bsky.social · 2d

Republicans should note. Governor Greg Abbott of Texas and Senator Mike Lee of Utah have endorsed Federal Occupation of States. These are both elected officials speaking on behalf of Texas and Utah. Valuable information! Please share! #Utah #Texas #FederalOccupation

Opinion | Someone Tipped Me Off About a Crypto Story. What I Found Was Crazy.

Kurt Taylor Gaubatz @kurttg.bsky.social · 3d

Non-state money is a big new thing, of course. Then there is the bit about how UN officials get appointed. And, as in the headline, "Crazy" may be a critical part of the vocabulary for this new paradigm.

Kurt Taylor Gaubatz @kurttg.bsky.social · 3d

Little in this fascinating but scary story fits with our canonical theories of international relations. We may need a new approach that starts with Billionaires as the central agents. Alas, this may be the key to understanding Trumpian foreign policy as well.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/05/o...

Supreme Court Lets Trump Revoke Deportation Protections for Venezuelans

Kurt Taylor Gaubatz @kurttg.bsky.social · 3d

Department formerly known as "Defense": Venezuela is a failed-state run by narco-terrorists.

Department that formerly cared about "Justice": Everything is fine, so send the Venezuelan refugees home.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/03/u...

Partisan Shutdown Messages Could Hurt Civil Service, Experts Warn

Kurt Taylor Gaubatz @kurttg.bsky.social · 4d

And simultaneously insulates the media from having to state facts as facts.

Kurt Taylor Gaubatz @kurttg.bsky.social · 4d

"Experts Warn" no longer seems to carry any real weight.

Partisan Shutdown Messages Could Hurt Civil Service, Experts Warn www.nytimes.com/2025/10/04/u...

Reposted by Kurt Taylor Gaubatz

🖇️Country Roads, Take Me Away 🖇️ @mrspnkrsnow.bsky.social · 4d

I asked ChatGPT: What would Fox News anchors have said in 2024 if Joe Biden had announced he was ordering the US Treasury to override "The Coinage Act of 1792" to mint a coin with his face on it?

And, well, nailed it... 🎯
@hcrichardson.bsky.social

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Kurt Taylor Gaubatz @kurttg.bsky.social · 5d

What do you suppose it costs to train up an FBI agent? And now the taxpayers will likely bear the costs of a lawsuit as well.

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Kurt Taylor Gaubatz @kurttg.bsky.social · 5d

Ironically, non-combat deployments can be a useful training exercise for management and logistics work. But that doesn’t seem to be of much interest to Hegseth.

Kurt Taylor Gaubatz @kurttg.bsky.social · 5d

Hegseth's "Warrior Spirit" & Trump's "The Enemy Within" are clashing visions. In the 90's troops returning from peacekeeping ops required considerable retraining. "Crime fighting," let alone mulch-spreading, would be even more deleterious for combat preparedness.

www.nytimes.com/1996/12/13/w...

US and Russian soldiers share rations during Bosnia peacekeeping operations.

U.N. approves militarized force to take on Haiti’s gangs

Kurt Taylor Gaubatz @kurttg.bsky.social · 7d

ER patient here! The Trump/Vance/Miller agenda has clearly been about going after ALL immigrants. On my recent ER/hospital visit (bike accident) a huge part of my compassionate & competent care was provided by immigrants(especially from Africa).

Ryan Marino, MD @ryanmarino.bsky.social · 7d

ER doc here! This is a lie. Wait times are up because the American healthcare system is an unsustainable business model and a for-profit national healthcare system just doesn’t work. These problems will continue to get worse until we change that system. It literally has nothing to do with immigrants

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 7d

Vance: "If you're an American citizen & you've been to the hospital in the last few years, you've probably noticed wait times are especially large & very often somebody who's there in the ER is an illegal alien. Why do those people get healthcare benefits at hospitals paid for by American citizens?"

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Reposted by Kurt Taylor Gaubatz

Timothy Snyder @timothysnyder.bsky.social · 7d

It’s not just that this is puerile and lawless. It’s that it is completely out of touch with the issues relevant to contemporary warfare. Russia fights like this. It makes Russians criminals. But it doesn’t make them winners.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 8d

Hegseth: "We unleash overwhelming and punishing violence on the enemy. We also don't fight with stupid rules of engagement. We untie the hands of our warfighters to intimidate, demoralize, hunt, and kill the enemies of our country. No more politically correct and overbearing rules of engagement."

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Kurt Taylor Gaubatz @kurttg.bsky.social · 7d

The Russian Ambassador to the UN isn't wrong about this:

"Stability would not come to Haiti, he warned, unless efforts were made to stem the flow of illegal firearms to the country — much of them from the United States — and strengthen its institutions."

www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...

The Security Council vote was an acknowledgment that the police mission it once backed had failed to wrest back control of the beleaguered Caribbean nation.

www.washingtonpost.com

Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek and President Donald Trump trade testy texts over troop deployment

Reposted by Kurt Taylor Gaubatz

🦋 Carmen G., PhD (🪖"Prima" to One)🌻 @tcrg2012.bsky.social · 8d

The U.S. team competed with student scholars from 85 nations.

The U.S. was the only country to earn five gold medals at the competition.

🥇✊🏾🥇✊🏾🥇✊🏾🥇✊🏾🥇

#ONEV1
#Pinks 🌸
#Voices4Victory

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Kurt Taylor Gaubatz @kurttg.bsky.social · 8d

The attack on our CDC Patriots last month didn't elicit the same emotional response. Indeed, it didn't elicit any response at all from the President or Secretary of Health and Human Services

McKenzie Funk @mckenziefunk.com · 8d

Trump texts OR governor Kotek on Sunday: "They attacked our ICE Patriots last night... I won’t let that happen in America!"

Staffer texts Kotek after talking to police: "There was one misdemeanor arrest. Also a report of a laser pointer at a helicopter and that’s it.”

www.opb.org/article/2025...

Gov. Tina Kotek and an assistant to President Donald Trump exchanged tense texts throughout the weekend as it became clear the President planned to deploy 200 members of the Oregon National Guard to p...

www.opb.org

Kurt Taylor Gaubatz @kurttg.bsky.social · 8d

Of course, in 1913 these were still effective tools for killing your own citizens and putting down domestic unrest.

Kurt Taylor Gaubatz @kurttg.bsky.social · 8d

It's 1913 and they are bragging about the dashing cavalrymen on the fastest horses and with the sharpest sabers.

Timothy Snyder @timothysnyder.bsky.social · 8d

Judging by their speeches, neither Trump nor Hegseth has paid the slightest attention to how actual wars are being fought in the actual world. The “war fighting” and “lethality” they plan is inside their own country and comes from conflicts inside their own minds.

Trump Plans to Attend Gathering of U.S. Military Officers

Kurt Taylor Gaubatz @kurttg.bsky.social · 8d

Re-upping

Kurt Taylor Gaubatz @kurttg.bsky.social · 10d

If there were any adults left in the room, I would think their top concern would be keeping him away from saying anything under oath. Number two would be not having him stand up and do the "weave" in front of a gathering of military officers that just cost the taxpayers millions of dollars...

Kurt Taylor Gaubatz @kurttg.bsky.social · 8d

Russia's hybrid attacks on NATO would seem the obvious test case for this fearsome new strategic doctrine.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 8d

Hegseth: "Should our enemies choose foolishly to challenge us, they will be crushed by the violence, precision, and ferocity of the War Department. To our enemies, FAFO."