Catherine Schmidt
LightNews LightNews
banner
lillyfinch.bsky.social
Catherine Schmidt
@lillyfinch.bsky.social
400 followers 350 following 2.1K posts
Crone raised in Alaska proud liberal because I care about something other than money and myself. Lover of nature and with respect for all life. Married 41 years. Love books, archaeology, history, gardening and walking, liberty for all, resistance.
Posts Replies Media Videos
lillyfinch.bsky.social
#Media # Mergers #trump #JaredKushner #SaudiArabia #WarnerBros #CNN #Netflix #Propoganda #Credibility
#alt

Heather Cox Richardson 12/9/25
MEDIA MERGER AIMS TO CREATE RIGHT WING MEDIA ECOSYSTEM DOMINATED BY TRUMP
Heather Cox Richardson 12/9/25 MEDIA MERGER AIMS TO CREATE RIGHT WING MEDIA ECOSYSTEM DOMINATED BY TRUMP The fight to control the media narrative in a fight over ad media merger. As explained in Talking Point…the media conglomerate Warner Bros. Discovery, which used to be called Time Warner and includes news division CNN, had agreed to be acquired by Netflix. But, as the deal was moving forward, Paramount Skydance launched a hostile takeover to get Warner Bros. Discovery for itself. David Ellison, son of right-wing billionaire Larry Ellison, who co-founded software giant Oracle, bought Paramount over the summer and appears to be creating a right-wing media ecosystem dominated by the Trumps. Part of the financing for his purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery would come from the investment company of Trump son- in-law Jared Kushner, as well as from Saudi and Qatari sovereign wealth funds. Paramount told Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders they should accept its offer because Trump would never allow the Netflix deal to happen, and as Marshall notes, Trump appeared yesterday to agree with that suggestion.The Paramount merger gave Ellison control of CBS, which promptly turned rightward. At stake now is CNN,..., either to neuter it or turn it into another version of Fox News....reported that Ellison told Trump he would make “sweeping changes” to CNN... "Trump has told people close to him that he wants new ownership of CNN as well as changes to CNN programming.”
December 10, 2025 at 2:54 PM
lillyfinch.bsky.social
#trump #Facts #Press #Credibility #ChatGPT #alt

Heather Cox Richardson 12/9/25
CHATGPT SAYS TRUMP PICKS FOR DOJ, FBI AND DISTRICT ATTORNEY DC ARE FACTUAL IMPOSSIBILITIES
Heather Cox Richardson 12/9/25 CHATGPT SAYS TRUMP PICKS FOR DOJ, FBI AND DISTRICT ATTORNEY DC ARE FACTUAL IMPOSSIBILITIES When G. Elliott Morris of Strength in Numbers asked ChatGPT to fact- check an article for him yesterday, the chatbot couldn't get its head around modern America. It told him there were “multiple factual impossibilities” in his article, including his statements that “[t]he current Secretary of Defense is a former talk show host for Fox News,” “[t]he Deputy Director of the FBI used to guest-host Sean Hannity's show,” and “Jeanine Pirro is the U.S. District Attorney for DC." “Since none of these statements are true,” it told Morris, “they undermine credibility unless signposted as hyperbole, fiction, or satire. But of course, Morris's statements were not “factual impossibilities.” In the United States of America under President Donald J. Trump, they are true.
December 10, 2025 at 2:43 PM
lillyfinch.bsky.social
#PearlHarbor #History #DorisMiller #trump #Democray #Equality #Fascism #alt

Heather Cox Richardson 12/5/25
PEARL HARBOR DAY AND A NEW ATTACK ON DEMOCRACY
December 7, 1941, Messman Doris Miller served aboard the USS West Virginia, in Pearl Harbor, HI, when the first of 9 Japanese torpedoes hit the ship...Miller had not been trained to use the weapons, as a Black man in the Navy, he was assigned to serve white officers...Miller began to fire one of the guns. He fired until he ran out of ammunition....as the impulse of WWII pushed Americans toward a more just & inclusive society after it, those determined not to share power warned that including people of color & women as equals would threaten their own liberty...Now, once again, democracy is under attack by those who believe some people are better than others. Trump & his cronies have abandoned the principles of democracy and openly embraced the hierarchical society the U.S. fought againstin WW II...They traded the rule of law for the rule of Trump, weaponizing the DOJ, ...They have openly rejected the world based on shared values of equality & democracy…Will we permit the destruction of democracy on our watch? When America came under attack, people like Doris Miller refused to let that happen. For all that American democracy still discriminated against him, it gave him room to stand up for the concept of human equality- & he laid down his life for it...We hear a lot these days about how American democracy is doomed & the radical right will win. Maybe. But the beauty of our system is that it gives us people like Doris Miller. Even better, it makes us people like Doris Miller.
December 7, 2025 at 5:16 PM
lillyfinch.bsky.social
#trump #NSS #ForeignPolicies #Fascism #EU #NATO #UN #alt

Heather Cox Richardson 12/5/25
TRUMP ABDICATES U.S. INFLUENCE TRANSATLANTIC RELATIONSHIP OVER
Heather Cox Richardson 12/5/25 TRUMP ABDICATES U.S. INFLUENCE TRANSATLANTIC RELATIONSHIP OVER Walking away from the U.S.-led international systems that reinforce the principles of national self-determination and have kept the world relatively safe since World War Il, the Trump administration is embracing the old idea of spheres of influence in which less powerful countries are controlled by great powers, a system in place before World War Il and favored now by Russia's president Vladimir Putin, among others. National security specialist Anne Applebaum wrote: “The new National Security Strategy is a propaganda document, designed to be widely read. It is also a performative suicide. Hard to think of another great power ever abdicating its influence so quickly and so publicly.” European Council on Foreign Relations senior fellow Ulrike Franke commented: “The transatlantic relationship as we know it is over. Yes, we kinda knew this. But this is now official US White House policy. Not a speech, not a statement. The West as it used to be no longer exists.” Today, Gram Slattery and Humeyra Pamuk of Reuters reported that Pentagon officials this week told European diplomats in Washington, D.C., that the U.S. wants Europe to take over most of NATO's defense capabilities by 2027.
December 6, 2025 at 3:28 PM
lillyfinch.bsky.social
#trump #NSS #ForeignPolicies #Fascism #alt

Heather Cox Richardson 12/5/25
TRUMP’S U.S. TO TAKE OVER WESTERN HEMISPHERE FOR U.S. BUISNESSES, “COMMERCIAL DIPLOMACY”
Heather Cox Richardson 12/5/25 TRUMP'S U.S. TO TAKE OVER WESTERN HEMISPHERE FOR U.S. BUISNESSES, "COMMERCIAL DIPLOMACY" In place of the post—World War Il rules-based international order, the Trump administration's NSS commits the U.S. to a world divided into spheres of interest by dominant countries. It calls for the U.S. to dominate the Western Hemisphere through what it calls “commercial diplomacy,”...The document calls for “closer collaboration between the U.S. Government and the American private sector. All our embassies must be aware of major business opportunities in their country...Every U.S. Government official that interacts with these countries should understand that part of their job is to help American companies compete and succeed.” It went on to make clear that this policy is a plan to help U.S. businesses take over Latin America and, perhaps, Canada. “The U.S. Government will identify strategic acquisition and investment opportunities for American companies in the region and present these opportunities for assessment by every U.S. Government financing program,”
December 6, 2025 at 3:18 PM
lillyfinch.bsky.social
#trump #NSS #ForeignPolicies #NATO #UN #Freetrade #Fascism #alt

Heather Cox Richardson 12/5/25
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION BACKS AWAY FROM INTERNATIONAL RULES BASED POLICIES
Heather Cox Richardson 12/5/25 TRUMP ADMINISTRATION BACKS AWAY FROM INTERNATIONAL RULES BASED POLICIES The Trump administration's NSS announces a dramatic reworking of the foreign policy the U.S. has embraced since World War Il. After a brief introduction touting what it claims are the administration's great successes, the document begins by announcing the U.S. will back away from the global engagements that underpin the rules-based international order that the World War II Allies put in place after that war to prevent another world war. The authors of the document claim that the system of institutions like the United Nations, alliances like the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and free trade between nations that established a series of rules for foreign engagement and a web of shared interests around the globe has been bad for the U.S. because it undermined “the character of our nation.” Their vision of “our country’s inherent greatness and decency,” requires “the restoration and reinvigoration of American spiritual and cultural health,” “an America that cherishes its past glories and its heroes, and that looks forward to a new golden age,” and “growing numbers of strong, traditional families that raise healthy children.”
December 6, 2025 at 3:08 PM
lillyfinch.bsky.social
#Cat #Cats #CatsOfMastodon #CatsOfPixelfed #catstodon #CatsOMastodon #catsoffediverse #alt #Humor
“I HAD BEEN TOLD THE TRAINING PROCEDURE FOR A CAT WASN’T DIFFICULT IT’S NOT. MINE HAD ME TRAINED IN TWO DAYS PHOTO OF A LIGHT TABBY KITTEN
December 4, 2025 at 4:21 PM
lillyfinch.bsky.social
#Satire #Humor #trump #TheHague #alt

Borowitz Report 12/3/25 SATIRE
Trump Boasts That International Criminal Court in The Hague Has Invited Him to Receive Award
Borowitz Report 12/3/25 SATIRE Trump Boasts That International Criminal Court in The Hague Has Invited Him to Receive Award WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Calling it “maybe the greatest honor in the world, quite frankly,” Donald J. Trump said on Wednesday that the International Criminal Court in The Hague has invited him to receive an award. "They said it was in response to things I've done as president,” Trump told reporters. “It will probably be some kind of medal or maybe a gleaming gold trophy.” Trump revealed that he will not be The Hague's sole honoree, noting, “They also invited Pete. They said he deserves special recognition.” Calling The Hague invitation “much better than a stupid Nobel,” Trump quipped, “They never invited Obama!”
December 4, 2025 at 3:56 PM
lillyfinch.bsky.social
# Hegseth #Trump #Blame #AdmiralMitchBradley #DoubleTap #WarCrimes #alt

Heather Cox Richardson 12/1/25
TRUMP, LEAVITT AND HEGESETH PUSH ADMIRAL BRADLEY UNDER THE BUS FOR THE WAR CRIME FALL
Heather Cox Richardson 12/1/25 TRUMP, LEAVITT AND HEGESETH PUSH ADMIRAL BRADLEY UNDER THENBUS FOR WAR CRIME FALL Leavitt was careful to distance both the president and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth from the order. When asked by a reporter, “Does the administration deny that that second strike happened, or did it happen and the administration denies that Secretary Hegseth gave the order?” she said: “The latter is true.” She attributed the orders of September 2 to Admiral Bradley, appearing to be setting him up for underbussing. This evening, Hegseth pushed Bradley under, posting: “Admiral Mitch Bradley is an American hero, da true professional, and has my 100% support. | stand by him and the combat decisions he has made—on the September 2 mission and all others since.” Commentator Brandon Friedman promptly posted: “Hegseth is very transparently blaming a Navy admiral for his own decision. Let this be a lesson for every other military officer: The Trump administration will issue unlawful orders, then blame you for following them.”
December 2, 2025 at 3:11 PM
lillyfinch.bsky.social
# Hegseth #DoubleTap #WarCrimes #Cruelty #alt

Heather Cox Richardson 11/1/25
HEGSETH JOKES ABOUT WAR CRIME USING FRANKLIN THE TURTLE
Heather Cox Richardson 11/1/25 HEGSETH JOKES ABOUT WAR CRIME USING FRANKLIN THE TURTLE This so-called double tap has been widely condemned as unlawful and a war crime, although Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth yesterday appeared to make fun of those concerns. He posted an Al-faked cover of a children’s book featuring Franklin the Turtle with the title “Franklin Targets Narco Terrorists.” It showed the fake Franklinin a military vest and helmet at the open door of a helicopter, firing what appears to be a rocket launcher at a burning small boat with a person and bundles in it while two other boats with armed men and bundles converge nearby. Above the image, the post read: “For your Christmas wish list..."
December 2, 2025 at 3:03 PM
lillyfinch.bsky.social
#Cat #Cats #CatsOfMastodon #CatsOfPixelfed #catstodon #CatsOMastodon #catsoffediverse #alt #Humor

UNDER THE HEATING VENT
Rowan, siamese tabby mix, in a gold and olive brocade wing back chair. On his back, leaning against the arm, back feet flat against the back, from paws folded side by side, head hanging off the chair, eyes closed. Under the heating vent.
December 1, 2025 at 7:09 PM
lillyfinch.bsky.social
#Satire #Humor #trump #Brain #MRI #alt

Borowitz Report 12/1/25 SATIRE
Trump Claims MRI on His Brain Found Nothing
Borowitz Report 12/1/25 SATIRE Trump Claims MRI on His Brain Found Nothing WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Boasting about his cognitive health, on Monday Donald J. Trump asserted than an MRI performed on his brain found nothing. “I had a perfect MRI,” he told reporters. “The greatest doctors in the country looked at my brain and came up empty.” Trump said there was no point in releasing his MRI because “there's nothing to see,” adding, "It's like the East Wing."
December 1, 2025 at 3:45 PM
lillyfinch.bsky.social
#Kleptocracy #trump #Greed #alt

Heather Cox Richardson 11/30/25
THE EPSTEIN CLASS
Heather Cox Richardson 11/30/25 THE EPSTEIN CLASS The realization that Trump is bolstering and protecting an entitled elite rather than defending everyday Americans victimized by them has dovetailed with this administration's undermining of the economy, firing of civil servants, attacks on public health, and destruction of the nation’s social safety net to create angry references to “the Epstein class.” Representative Ro Khanna (D-CA) explained to NPR's Scott Detrow earlier this month: “[T]he Epstein class is a group of people with extreme wealth who have donated to politicians and been part of a system where they think the rules don’t apply to them, and they have created a system that has shafted a lot of forgotten Americans. That's why Donald Trump ran and was central to his campaign. And many people, like Marjorie Taylor Greene and others, believe he's become part of the swamp that he said he would drain. He's forgotten the forgotten Americans he said he would stand up for.”
December 1, 2025 at 3:36 PM
lillyfinch.bsky.social
#Kleptocracy #trump #Greed #DavidGentile #pardons #alt

Heather Cox Richardson 11/30/25
MORE PARDONS FOR WEALTHY CRIMINALS
Heather Cox Richardson 11/30/25 MORE PARDONS FOR WEALTHY CRIMINALS As wealth and power flow through the executive branch, Trump is overriding the rule of law that is designed to protect the rest of us from self-dealing by unscrupulous individuals. On Wednesday he commuted the sentence of private equity executive David Gentile, convicted in August 2024 of defrauding 10,000 investors in a $1.6 billion scheme that included securities and wire fraud. According to Kenneth P. Vogel of the New York Times, prosecutors said the victims were small business owners, teachers, nurses, farmers, and veterans: "hardworking, everyday people.” “lI lost my whole life savings,” one victim wrote about his losses. “lI am living from check to check.” A judge sentenced Gentile to seven years in prison. He reported to authorities on November 14, was incarcerated, and was released less than two weeks later after Trump commuted his sentence.
December 1, 2025 at 3:30 PM
lillyfinch.bsky.social
#MAGA #trump #Republicans #alt

Heather Cox Richardson 11/29/25
MAGA SPLINTERING
Heather Cox Richardson 11/29/25 MAGA SPLINTERING The splintering of the MAGA coalition showed when Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) announced on November 21 she would not run for reelection in a public letter that attacked Trump and “Establishment Republicans.” She called out Trump's threats to primary her, and said, “I refuse to be a ‘battered wife’ hoping it all goes away and gets better.” Three days later, Jake Sherman of Punchbowl News said her letter “rang true to” many House Republicans. One senior House Republican wrote to Sherman: “This entire White House team has treated ALL members like garbage. ALL. And Mike Johnson has let it happen because he wanted it to happen. That is the sentiment of nearly all—appropriators, authorizers, hawks, doves, rank and file. The arrogance of this White House team is off putting to members who are run roughshod and threatened. They don't even allow little wins like announcing small grants or even responding from agencies. Not even the high profile, the regular rank and file random members are more upset than ever. Members know they are going into the minority after the midterms. “More explosive early resignations are coming. It's a tinder box. Morale has never been lower. Mike Johnson will be stripped of his gavel and they will lose the majority before this term is out."Today, Representative Troy Nehls (R-TX), a staunch Trump ally, announced he would not seek reelection in 2026, saying he intends to "focus on my family."
November 30, 2025 at 2:47 PM
lillyfinch.bsky.social
#SCOTUS #ChiefRoberts #Fascism #Trump #authoritarianism #alt
Photo of Chief Justice Chief Justice John Roberts Walks Into Nuremberg, the Film... “We are able to do away with domestic tyranny ... only when we make all men answerable to law.” —Chief Nuremberg prosecutor Robert H. Jackson This past weekend Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and his wife attended a screening of the new film “Nuremberg,” about the trials of Nazi leaders and soldiers for war crimes. It must have been awkward — for some in that audience — when the actor Michael Shannon recited part of American prosecutor (and Supreme Court Justice) Robert H. Jackson's opening _statement about the rule of law at the trial of Hermann Goring. Legal AF
November 29, 2025 at 3:47 PM
lillyfinch.bsky.social
#Cat #Cats #CatsOfMastodon #CatsOfPixelfed #catstodon #CatsOMastodon #catsoffediverse #alt #caturday #Humor

I’M DONE! HAPPY CATURDAY
Unmade bed. The lower half of Tiger Lilly, dark tabby and white, on her back, back legs pointing up. Upper half behind the blankets. I’M DONE! HAPPY CATURDAY
November 29, 2025 at 3:27 PM
lillyfinch.bsky.social
#Humor #Satire #Thanksgiving #MAGA #alt

Kidding aside well wishes for all

Borowitz Report 11/27/25 SATIRE
How to Gaslight Your MAGA Relatives on Thanksgiving
Borowitz Report 11/27/25 SATIRE How to Gaslight Your MAGA Relatives on Thanksgiving Stuck with MAGA relatives around the table today? Gaslight them by pretending you're a convert to their movement! Just slip these surefire talking points into the conversation: 1. I'm more grateful for this Thanksgiving meal than last year’s because it cost so much more. 2. | agree with RFK Jr.—polio’s not so bad. 3. Pete Hegseth has made me feel so much better about my drinking. 4. I'm grateful to live in a country where if you've committed violent crimes and gone to prison you can still get a job working for ICE. 5. After we're done eating, let's tear down this house and build a ballroom. 6. Thank God Trump is deporting all those undocumented workers! If | want fruit and vegetables I'll just pick them myself. 7. Say what you will about Trump, he's a loyal friend—look at how many times Epstein mentioned him in his emails.
November 27, 2025 at 4:04 PM
lillyfinch.bsky.social
#Cat #Cats #CatsOfMastodon #CatsOfPixelfed #catstodon #CatsOMastodon #catsoffediverse #alt #caturday #Humor #Thaksgiving #Turkey
Photo of three Tom turkeys from behind, walking down a dirt road, side by side, tail feathers spread.
November 27, 2025 at 3:08 PM
lillyfinch.bsky.social
#Cat #Cats #CatsOfMastodon #CatsOfPixelfed #catstodon #CatsOMastodon #catsoffediverse #alt #caturday #Humor #Thaksgiving #Turkey
Photo of a cat reaching up to the kitchen counter, on claw hooked into a roasted turkey get ready to fall. IT WAS GONNA JUMP! I’M HOLDING IT BACK!
November 27, 2025 at 3:04 PM
lillyfinch.bsky.social
#Cat #Cats #CatsOfMastodon #CatsOfPixelfed #catstodon #CatsOMastodon #catsoffediverse #alt #caturday #Humor #Thaksgiving #Turkey
Photo of the back of a large red cat cleaning his particulars, both white legs up in the air he looks like a turkey with the drumsticks in the air. HAPPY THANKSGIVING
November 27, 2025 at 2:54 PM
lillyfinch.bsky.social
#Cat #Cats #CatsOfMastodon #CatsOfPixelfed #catstodon #CatsOMastodon #catsoffediverse #alt #caturday #Humor #Thaksgiving

HAPPY THANKSGIVING
Photo of a long dining table covered in a dark green tablecloth. Beautiful fall colored flowers as a centerpiece with two brass candlesticks either siide. Tiger Lilly dark tabby and white sitting like a meatloaf on the nearest corner. HAPPY THANKSGIVING
November 27, 2025 at 2:44 PM
lillyfinch.bsky.social
#DEI #Power #Boycott #Shopping #BlackFriday #alt

Heather Cox Richardson 11/25/25
BOYCOTT ANTI-DEI STORES ON BLACK FRIDAY
Heather Cox Richardson 11/25/25 BOYCOTT ANTI-DEI STORES ON BLACK FRIDAY "Dear retailers who've decided you don't like diversity, equity, and inclusion, or you really love ICE and you have no problem with them busting into your establishments to drag people away: Here's the thing. We ain't buying it. | mean, for real, for real, we ain't buyin’ it." "We're gonna spend our money with businesses who actually respect our dollars, respect our communities, and respect our diversity, equity, and inclusion. We are going to buy from people who respect immigrants, who respect immigrants’ rights, and respect freedom and liberty. We are going to buy from establishments that respect our right to vote and our right to live in a free society. And if you ain't that, we ain't buying it.” "Let's show them our power,” she told listeners. “Let's show them what we can do together.” Joy Reid, journalist
November 26, 2025 at 3:07 PM
lillyfinch.bsky.social
#Women #Power #Boycott #BlackFriday #History #alt

Heather Cox Richardson 11/25/25
WE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE THE POWER OF WOMEN AND BOYCOTTING
Heather Cox Richardson 11/25/25 WE'VE BEEN HERE BEFORE THE POWE OF WOMEN BOYCOTTING Every day, | am struck by all the ways in which we are reliving the 1890s. In that era too, consumers organized, using their buying power to affect politics. ...."To live means to buy, to buy means to have power, to have power means to have responsibility.”After the Civil War, an economic boom in the North combined with the loss of young men in the war to make education more accessible to young white women. By 1870, girls made up the majority of high school graduates. ...Social problems and the means of addressing...mid-1880s, those women began ... using their talents... to repair the nation’s social fabric that had been torn by urbanization and industrialization... the idea of a nation divided by haves and have-nots. ... dedicated themselves to filing down the sharp edges of industrialization, with its tenement housing, low wages, long hours, child labor, and disease, along with polluted air and water and unregulated food....In the midterm election of 1890, politicians recognized the power of women to swing the vote for or against a political party. When Republicans got shellacked, their leaders blamed women, who were increasingly the family shoppers, for urging their husbands to vote against the party...a recognition of women's role as shoppers...Leveraging the power of consumption could force employers to pay higher wages, establish better conditions, and protect workers. In 1891,...In 1899, Lowell and Jane Addams founded the National Consumers League, with Florence Kelley at its head. The organization worked to combat child labor and poor working conditions.
November 26, 2025 at 2:55 PM
lillyfinch.bsky.social
#Cartoon #Political #MAGA #alt
THE TIME HAS COME
Meme of fake Time Magazine cover. Headline The time has come. Trump supporter facing a fork in the road. One road labeled “Admit you were conned” Other branch of the road “Support a pedophile.”
November 24, 2025 at 3:33 PM