Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Nathaniel Nelson @njnelson.bsky.social · 19h

Pretty conveniently forgetting to mention that the FBI counterintelligence investigation was to uncover efforts by Russia to interfere in the 2016 election. And that the eventual Mueller report "identified numerous links between the Russian government and the Trump campaign".

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 20h

Sen. Hagerty: "This goes all the way back to Obama. I moved into Trump Tower the day after the election in 2016. The FBI came up and surveilled us then ... the real threat to democracy are Chuck Schumer and the Democrats."

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Reposted by Nathaniel Nelson

Bryan Schott @schotthappens.com · 2d

Listening to Utah GOP lawmakers scold us while claiming they avoided partisan data to draw new congressional maps is rich.

Somehow, we are to believe they were unaware of an effort FROM THEIR OWN PARTY to support the map that gave them the biggest electoral edge.

Guess which map they passed. 🤔

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Nathaniel Nelson @njnelson.bsky.social · 4d

So disappointing to see this from @churchofjesuschrist.social

Do better.

www.abc4.com/news/religio...

www.abc4.com

Reposted by Nathaniel Nelson

Aprilcots @aprilcots.bsky.social · 4d

This is so incredibly ugly. Every time I hear the words “religious freedom,” it’s code for let churches do whatever they want to inflict harm and stigma onto marginalized communities without fear of repercussions. So very very ugly. Shame on yourselves.

www.abc4.com

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Nathaniel Nelson @njnelson.bsky.social · 4d

I do this silly thing when I'm driving in the rain, where I judge other cars on the road based on how fast their wipers are going.

Blazing fast? Must be an incompetent driver.

Super slow wipers = expert in their element.

Nevermind that being able to see while driving is pretty important.

Nathaniel Nelson @njnelson.bsky.social · 5d

bsky.app/profile/petr...

Ah yes, "war-ravaged" Portland.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 5d

Leavitt: "President Trump will end the radical left's reign of terror in Portland once and for all. The president has directed Secretary Hegseth to provide all necessary troops to protect war-ravaged Portland."

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Nathaniel Nelson @njnelson.bsky.social · 6d

If we were to move toward a system with more than just two parties, we could maybe start to overcome these divisions. As entrenched as we are, this is going to be hard to do, maybe impossible, but we can start by advocating for voting systems like RCV everywhere.

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Nathaniel Nelson @njnelson.bsky.social · 6d

WE HAVE THE BIGGEST STICK! YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE HOW BIG OUR STICK IS! I CANNOT YELL LOUDLY ENOUGH ABOUT THE SIZE OF THE STICK WE HAVE!

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."

Reposted by Nathaniel Nelson

Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 8d

I know we're desensitized, but it's important to note, again, that today's events would have led to the immediate impeachment & removal of any president from at least Truman to at least Obama. We're hundreds of miles on the interstate past Richard Nixon's high school prank-level crimes compared to 👇

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 8d

Trump wraps up a speech to military leaders that represented a major escalation of his effort to weaponize the armed forces into a tool he can use to violently quash domestic dissent. Hard to imagine how anyone with a shred of dignity can keep serving after this, which of course is the point.

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Nathaniel Nelson @njnelson.bsky.social · 13d

Just listening to @the8bitbigband.bsky.social 's “Orchestrator Emulator” album. Nothing but bangers on this one. Especially love the Persona 5 tunes. The Mario pieces, Kass's Theme, and Wii Sports are also just amazing!

Nathaniel Nelson @njnelson.bsky.social · 13d

Happy Birthday!

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Nathaniel Nelson @njnelson.bsky.social · 21d

You heard him, Utah, he's telling us that Mike Lee doesn't deserve to work for us.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 22d

Mike Johnson on free speech: "If I'm an employer or I'm a government agency and I have somebody in my employ who is online celebrating the heinous murder of an innocent person, a young husband and father, I can make the decision that they don't deserve to work for me ... I think that's appropriate."

Reposted by Nathaniel Nelson

Bryan Schott @schotthappens.com · 23d

How does Utah Gov. Cox know Charlie Kirk's alleged killer was "deeply indoctrinated with leftist ideology"?

When pressed for evidence, his answer was four words: "Just not a fan."

Analysis👇

www.utahpoliticalwatch.news/citation-nee...

Charlie Kirk Shooting: Gov Cox Claims Leftist Ties | Analysis

Get up to speed before you head out the door

www.utahpoliticalwatch.news

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Nathaniel Nelson @njnelson.bsky.social · 27d

theonion.com/visit-from-j...

Visit From JD Vance Last Thing Utah Needs Right Now

SALT LAKE CITY—Alarmed by numerous reports that the vice president was currently en route to the state, sources confirmed Thursday that a visit from JD Vance was the last thing Utah needed right now. ...

theonion.com

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Nathaniel Nelson @njnelson.bsky.social · 28d

😆 Not the same, dude! Spiritual successor, sure, but not a true sequel.

Nathaniel Nelson @njnelson.bsky.social · 28d

OK Nintendo, the remake temporarily scratched an itch, but it's time to give the people what they really want -- a sequel to Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars! 😀

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Reposted by Nathaniel Nelson

The Onion @theonion.com · Sep 8

Congress Plays Keep-Away With Child’s School Lunch

WASHINGTON—After entering a school cafeteria in D.C. and wrenching a brown paper bag from the hands of a small child, U.S. senators and representatives taunted a 7-year-old student and played keep-awa...

theonion.com

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Nathaniel Nelson @njnelson.bsky.social · Sep 5

This remake is amazing! It took me right back into the mindset of 10-year-old me playing this awesome game for the first time. One of my favorites of all time. It really got me excited to dive back into the Myst universe again with the other games.

Reposted by Nathaniel Nelson

David @dkuofu.bsky.social · Sep 4

Xkcd classic: "Statistics Tip: Always try to get data that's good enough that you don't need to do statistics on it."

Shows a graph with the difference in number of cases between the placebo group and COVID vaccine group.

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Reposted by Nathaniel Nelson

Stephen Semler @stephensemler.bsky.social · Sep 3

The reason so many people think they’re worse off compared to before the pandemic is because they are.

There’s more subjective economic anxiety because there’s more objective economic insecurity
www.stephensemler.com/p/americans-...

Economic anxiety remains far above pre-pandemic levels. This graph shows the percent of Americans very or moderately worried about not being able to make minimum credit card payments, pay rent or mortgage, or maintain their standard of living from 2019 to 2025. All three show a dip in 2021 before climbing beyond 2019’s levels. Data: Gallup.

Economic insecurity worsened from 2019 to 2024. This graph compares 2019 and 2024 across four barometers of financial difficulty. The numbers refer to the percent of the U.S. population experiencing each difficulty. Low/very low financial well-being: 17% in 2019, 22% in 2024. Overdraft or NSF fees: 25%, 29%. Fluctuations in income: 24%, 31%. Difficulty paying bills: 40%, 43%. Data: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

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Reposted by Nathaniel Nelson

Casey Dreier @caseydreier.bsky.social · Sep 3

If our elected leaders truly believe we're in a new space race with China, then we cannot afford to abandon space science.

Read the NEW OP-ED by me and Maxwell Zhu today in Payload Space: payloadspace.com/op-ed-space-...

Op-ed: Space Science Is Part of the Space Race with China

Beijing is pressing ahead with an ambitious space science effort designed to close the gap with—or even exceed—US capabilities in the coming decades. If our elected leaders believe that America’s cont...

payloadspace.com

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Nathaniel Nelson @njnelson.bsky.social · Sep 3

The Legislature already has maps that were drawn up by the independent commission. They can easily just pick one of those, but you know and I know that they're going to try to draw up new not-as-gerrymandered-but-still-suspect maps they hope will pass.

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Nathaniel Nelson @njnelson.bsky.social · Aug 26

Absolutely correct. The Legislature appears to have nothing but contempt for most (i.e. low and middle class) Utahns. And there's a 100% chance that even with this court ruling they're still going to make some attempt to skirt around making fair maps.

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Nathaniel Nelson @njnelson.bsky.social · Aug 26

Just for some context, Utah passed Prop 4 in 2018 which created an independent redistricting commission to draw fair maps. The legislature ignored that in 2021 & drew their own gerrymandered maps. They were sued, it went through the court process, and finally now 7 years later we get some good news.

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Nathaniel Nelson @njnelson.bsky.social · Jul 31

I am 100% for democrats doing this. Make it super obvious why. If the end result is that the GOP is sick of losing seats and bi-partisan legislation is introduced to eliminate gerrymandering altogether, even better.

Brian Tyler Cohen @briantylercohen.bsky.social · Jul 30

@marcelias.bsky.social: We "need to tell Republicans that if they take 5 seats, we're going to put 30 seats on the table... When people say to me 'don't bring a knife to a gunfight,' I don't even want to bring a gun to a gunfight. I want to bring missiles to the gunfight."