Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Neil Hillhouse (The Haunting Of)

mtsw @mtsw.bsky.social · 2h

it should be a tell about what's happening in the media now that most mainstream commentators seem openly frustrated that polling does not blame democrats for the shutdown

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Reposted by Neil Hillhouse (The Haunting Of)

Dave Jorgenson @davejorgenson.bsky.social · 4h

The Post laid off seemingly the remaining of their liberal-leaning staff members on Opinion last Thursday, when some of them were observing Yom Kippur.

from @oliverdarcy.bsky.social for Status
status.news/p/washington-post-opinion-cuts-adam-oneal

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Reposted by Neil Hillhouse (The Haunting Of)

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 2h

i desperately want everyone involved in the destruction of USAID to have to, st the very least, answer to the american people for the suffering and misery they have caused apnews.com/article/myan...

Starving children screaming for food as US aid cuts unleash devastation and death across Myanmar

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has repeatedly said “no one has died" because of his government’s decision to gut its foreign aid program.

apnews.com

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Reposted by Neil Hillhouse (The Haunting Of)

Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 3h

As @gregsargent.bsky.social argues, Gov Pritzker, Mayor Johnson, and some Dems are rightly treating Trump’s abuses against American freedom as the biggest issue, taking it on directly, instead of treating it as a “distraction.”

Say no. Call it out. The regime relies on complacency and appeasement.

Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 5h

Pritzker/Newsom see it as a defining fact of the moment that Trump is consolidating authoritarian power daily and using it to subjugate Blue America like an enemy nation within. Other Dems should stop the Beltway-speak about Trump laying "traps" for them and engage.

newrepublic.com/article/2014...

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Reposted by Neil Hillhouse (The Haunting Of)

Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 3h

The elimination of USAID is a moral atrocity and all involved made a choice to enable, and then lie about, ending the lives of some of the most vulnerable people in the world.

MAE SOT, Thailand (AP) - Mohammed Taher clutched the lifeless body of his 2-year-old son and wept. Ever since his family's food rations stopped arriving at their internment camp in Myanmar in April, the father had watched helplessly as his once-vibrant baby boy weakened, suffering from diarrhea and begging for food.
On May 21, exactly two weeks after Taher's little boy died, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio sat before Congress and declared: "No one has died" because of his government's decision to gut its foreign aid program. Rubio also insisted: "No children are dying on my watch."
That, Taher says, "is a lie."

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Reposted by Neil Hillhouse (The Haunting Of)

Kate Starbird @katestarbird.bsky.social · 3h

Henry Farrell on the Trump admin’s proposed “compact” for universities, arguing that the rollout signals weakness, and that academics need to band together to reject this authoritarian attack on university independence and academic freedom.

Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/o...

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Reposted by Neil Hillhouse (The Haunting Of)

Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 5h

JB Pritzker and Gavin Newsom are doing something new and important: They understand Stephen Miller's theory of fascist power politics, and they've developed a theory on how to combat it. More Dems need to reckon with Miller's understanding of the moment.

New from me:
newrepublic.com/article/2014...

Inside Stephen Miller’s Secret Plan to Normalize Trump’s Dictator Rule

He wants to supercharge searing civil tensions to get low-information voters to embrace their inner authoritarian. Exactly two Democrats appear to fully grasp this.

newrepublic.com

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Reposted by Neil Hillhouse (The Haunting Of)

Alan Elrod @aselrod.bsky.social · 3h

“Miller is working overtime to polarize the public debate about Trump's increasingly dictatorial abuses of power…He relentlessly depicts Democrats as allied with a vast, inchoate class of violent criminals and insurrectionists…” sharp read of what Stephen Miller wants from @gregsargent.bsky.social

Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 5h

JB Pritzker and Gavin Newsom are doing something new and important: They understand Stephen Miller's theory of fascist power politics, and they've developed a theory on how to combat it. More Dems need to reckon with Miller's understanding of the moment.

New from me:
newrepublic.com/article/2014...

Inside Stephen Miller’s Secret Plan to Normalize Trump’s Dictator Rule

He wants to supercharge searing civil tensions to get low-information voters to embrace their inner authoritarian. Exactly two Democrats appear to fully grasp this.

newrepublic.com

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Reposted by Neil Hillhouse (The Haunting Of)

Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 3h

thanks @aselrod.bsky.social

Alan Elrod @aselrod.bsky.social · 3h

“Miller is working overtime to polarize the public debate about Trump's increasingly dictatorial abuses of power…He relentlessly depicts Democrats as allied with a vast, inchoate class of violent criminals and insurrectionists…” sharp read of what Stephen Miller wants from @gregsargent.bsky.social

Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 5h

JB Pritzker and Gavin Newsom are doing something new and important: They understand Stephen Miller's theory of fascist power politics, and they've developed a theory on how to combat it. More Dems need to reckon with Miller's understanding of the moment.

New from me:
newrepublic.com/article/2014...

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Reposted by Neil Hillhouse (The Haunting Of)

Governor JB Pritzker @govpritzker.illinois.gov · 3h

I will not back down.

Trump is now calling for the arrest of elected representatives checking his power.

What else is left on the path to full-blown authoritarianism?

Donald Trump Truth Social Post: Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect Ice Officers! Governor Pritzker also.

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Reposted by Neil Hillhouse (The Haunting Of)

Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 3h

Way to call Trump’s bluff, Gov. Pritzker.

The president threatening to have Chicago’s mayor and Illinois’ governor arrested is serious and bad, not least since it’s because they’re following the law instead of helping Trump break it.

But his capacity is limited. He’s hoping the bluster is enough.

Governor JB Pritzker @govpritzker.illinois.gov · 3h

I will not back down.

Trump is now calling for the arrest of elected representatives checking his power.

What else is left on the path to full-blown authoritarianism?

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Reposted by Neil Hillhouse (The Haunting Of)

Niko Stratis @nikostratis.com · 5h

the first time the Hamburgler was introduced, McDonalds called him "The Lone Jogger" which makes him sound like the guy who served time for trying to assassinate Mayor McCheese

a man with a white shirt that says lone jogger, over stripped clothes, wearing a cape and a. hat with an eye mask. an early version of the McDonalds hamburgler.

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Reposted by Neil Hillhouse (The Haunting Of)

Rafe Meager (they/them) @economeager.bsky.social · 7h

it really is astounding that the 80s, 90s and early 2000s were spent on this unrelenting campaign to stop teenagers drinking, having sex and doing drugs but when it finally starts working then millenials and gen X start freaking out about it in a way that is clearly just pure projection. incredible.

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Reposted by Neil Hillhouse (The Haunting Of)

Pookleblinky @pookleblinky.bsky.social · 15h

Real life is kind of a reverse Metroidvania if you think about it, you start out being able to climb and wiggle into places and fall from great heights without a scratch, and then one day you're ability gated by such as waking up wrong

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Neil Hillhouse (The Haunting Of) @nstenhouse.bsky.social · 20h

In Dunedin NZ there was a lot of Kristov, legally not vodka but a "vodka-flavored" general alcoholic beverage. Also fruit flavors like raspberry that taste "like the sewage runoff from a Real Fruit Ice Cream shop, but it’s a great deal." www.critic.co.nz/features/art...

The Cheapest Alcohol In Dunedin: A Critic Investigation

When you’re a student expected to live on $176 a week from Studylink, every dollar counts. It’s a constant struggle to balance those optional extras, like rent and food, with the essentials, like coff...

www.critic.co.nz

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Reposted by Neil Hillhouse (The Haunting Of)

Lisa Fazio @lkfazio.bsky.social · 1d

New from me and @brendannyhan.bsky.social

Why Trump's "Compact for Academic Excellence" is a devil's bargain and should be rejected in all forms

www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...

Trump sent a 'compact' to our universities. They should reject this devil's bargain.

Any institution that yields to these broad and intrusive demands would forever be subservient to the whims of the government.

www.msnbc.com

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Reposted by Neil Hillhouse (The Haunting Of)

AltWatcher @altwatcher.bsky.social · 20h

The video, which AltNPS will not be providing, is apparently worth watching. Thank goodness we have real activists like the Alt National Park Service to keep the public informed.

Alt National Park Service: Stephen Miller just said the quiet part out loud claiming that Trump has plenary authority when it comes to deploying troops. (Plenary means full authority.) After making the statement, he froze completely, like a deer in headlights. The video is worth watching.

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Reposted by Neil Hillhouse (The Haunting Of)

Perry Bacon @perrybaconjr.bsky.social · 20h

Weiss very intentionally does not describe herself as a conservative or Republican and wraps her politics in terms like "free press." That makes more useful at advancing Trumpism than explicitly right-wing figures. newrepublic.com/article/2014...

MAGA Lite: What “Bari Weiss Conservatism” Is, and Why It’s Dangerous

The new CBS executive isn’t exactly MAGA. But her polite Trumpism will still help destroy America as we know it.

newrepublic.com

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Reposted by Neil Hillhouse (The Haunting Of)

Elizabeth Lopatto @lopatto.bsky.social · 1d

I know a glass cliff when I see one

This is the glass cliff to end all glass cliffs. You're Marissa Mayer at Yahoo without the Googler street cred. You're Nancy Dubuc at Vice without the string of hit TV shows. You're Linda Yaccarino at Twitter without the advertiser relationships. You have been hired as a sop to a Trump administration that is actively hostile to the actual free press, and you will be made to oversee wave after wave of layoffs until you quit or get fired and the entire news division is shut down in a final spasm of cost-cutting after the next inescapable media merger.

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Reposted by Neil Hillhouse (The Haunting Of)

Kai Ryssdal @kairyssdal.bsky.social · 1d

Whoaaaaa

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Johnson: "It's true that in previous shutdowns, many or most furloughed employees have been paid for the time they were furloughed, but there is new legal analysis - I don't know the details, I just saw a headline - but there are some legal analysts saying that might not be appropriate or necessary"

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Reposted by Neil Hillhouse (The Haunting Of)

Victor Ray @victorerikray.bsky.social · 1d

Caldwell thinks the Civil Rights Act was a mistake and calls for segregationist policy at the nation’s most revered newspaper.

The idea that open racism is disqualifying in polite society should be put to rest.

Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 1d

Despite appearances, this is not a @nytpitchbot.bsky.social joke, it's an actual @nytimes.com column by some Claremont hack who praises Hegseth for his "nuanced vision of the military’s purpose and its relationship to civilian society."

Opinion
Guest Essay

That Hegseth Speech Was Actually Pretty Good
Oct. 7, 2025, 5:01 a.m. ET

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Neil Hillhouse (The Haunting Of) @nstenhouse.bsky.social · 1d

Tweet by Megan Abram: “Good thing to call a female nazi = Joseph Girlboss”

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Reposted by Neil Hillhouse (The Haunting Of)

Barred and Boujee aka Madiba Dennie @audrelawdamercy.bsky.social · 1d

Supreme Court oral argument in the 'conversion therapy' case starts in about an hour

I'll be listening in and writing my analysis this afternoon

Barred and Boujee aka Madiba Dennie @audrelawdamercy.bsky.social · 8d

I regret to inform you that the new Supreme Court term is opening with a bang next week

Tuesday's oral argument in Chiles v. Salazar will feature right-wing activists claiming the First Amendment gives state-licensed therapists a right to traumatize queer kids

ballsandstrikes.org/scotus/conve...

Right-Wing Activists Are Pushing For a Constitutional Right to Harm LGBTQ Kids

The Alliance Defending Freedom wants the Republican justices to hold that the First Amendment protects homophobes’ legal right to ignore state laws that protect kids.

ballsandstrikes.org

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Reposted by Neil Hillhouse (The Haunting Of)

Bethany Brookshire @beebrookshire.bsky.social · 1d

"You have been hired as a sop to a Trump administration that is actively hostile to the actual free press, and you will be made to oversee wave after wave of layoffs until you quit"

@lopatto.bsky.social If this doesn't keep Bari Weiss up at night, nothing will. www.theverge.com/business/793...

Memo to Bari Weiss Re: CBS News: You’re doomed

Bari Weiss has sold her company, The Free Press, to manage the decline of broadcast news at CBS. How many ways can it go wrong?

www.theverge.com

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Reposted by Neil Hillhouse (The Haunting Of)

🏳️‍⚧️ Josephine Riesman @josie.zone · 1d

Ah, God. It's October 7.

Two horrible fucking years.

I don't know what to say that @sirosenbaum.bsky.social and I didn't already say just ten days after it all began:

archive.is/0UsqT

Slate headline: JUDAISM CAN'T JUSTIFY WHAT ISRAEL IS DOING

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