Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Stan Oklobdzija @stano.bsky.social · 8h

Living in LA for so long ruined television for me. Apartment in that neighborhood? Rent's at least $3,000. Bar in that neighborhood? That beer's at least $10. Not buying that this main character is artistic and struggling.

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Stan Oklobdzija @stano.bsky.social · 10h

No shame, it's obviously working really well for Mamdani.

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Stan Oklobdzija @stano.bsky.social · 10h

Is it just me or is this aping a Mamdani video really hard?

Charlotte Clymer @charlotteclymer.bsky.social · 11h

"So, Democrats have three words for this: no fucking way. It's literally life or death. We will not let Republicans blow up our health care system."

This is, hands down, the best comms work Chuck Schumer has done in YEARS. Surprisingly good.

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Stan Oklobdzija @stano.bsky.social · 13h

This is not a political movement--it is an insurgency. And this insurgency is powered by fundamentally bad people, the type of people for whom prisons are built.

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Stan Oklobdzija @stano.bsky.social · 13h

I don't doubt that Trumpism will soon crumble and things will return to a seeming normal. But what worries me is whether we will again make the mistake of offering impunity to these degenerates because if so, we're just waiting around for fascism that sticks.

Jack Jenkins @jackjenkins.me · 14h

Gonna be thinking about this lede for a minute.

(RNS) — Last month, the Rev. David Black stood in front of a Chicago-area U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility and spread his arms wide. Adorned in all black and wearing a clerical collar, the pastor looked up at a group of masked, heavily armed ICE agents on the roof and began to pray.

“I invited them to repentance,” Black, a minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA), said in an interview. “I basically offered an altar call. I invited them to come and receive that salvation, and be part of the kingdom that is coming.”

But when Black began to lower his arms a few seconds later, the agents responded to his spiritual plea by firing pepper balls, or chemical agents that cause eye irritation and respiratory distress, video footage shows. One struck Black in the head, exploding into a puff of white pepper smoke and forcing him to his knees. Fellow demonstrators rushed to his aid, and as the pastor rubbed his face in pain, the agents continued to fire.

“We could hear them laughing,” Black said.

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Stan Oklobdzija @stano.bsky.social · 14h

J.B. Pritzker is just going to mind-meld with all these guys. He's the Professor X of beefy dudes.

Wesley Morgan @wesleymorgan.bsky.social · 16h

Don’t think these Texas National Guard guys are going to be chasing any immigrants around Chicago on foot

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Reposted by Stan Oklobdzija

Chris Bail @chrisbail.bsky.social · 15h

New jobs for computational social scientists at UNC and USC: unc.peopleadmin.com/postings/307... amd uscjobs.sc.edu/postings/194...

Assistant Professor

This Assistant Professor position will teach graduate and undergraduate courses, conduct research in the field of Sociology, participate in departmental service, and mentor graduate students.

unc.peopleadmin.com

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Stan Oklobdzija @stano.bsky.social · 16h

I feel like these days, an effective member of Congress will spend about 30% of their day doing bits.

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Stan Oklobdzija @stano.bsky.social · 16h

It would be a really funny bit for Rep. Grijalva carry her family Bible or whatever and follow Mike Johnson around wherever he goes so he can swear her in real quick.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 19h

RAJU: You swore in 2 GOP members during pro forma session. Why not swear in Grijalva? Does it have to do w/her signature on Epstein petition?

JOHNSON: It has nothing to do with that. We'll swear her in when everybody is back

R: Why not now?

J: Uh - we'll schedule it, I guess, as soon as she wants

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Stan Oklobdzija @stano.bsky.social · 16h

As a broader point, we really need to end this idea among many Democratic policymakers that mass transit is simply a government charity to help those too poor to own a car. The fundamental problem of our urban areas is geometry.

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Stan Oklobdzija @stano.bsky.social · 16h

Pretty incredible that California policymakers would rather build essential infrastructure using expensive and polluting technology when there's a cheaper, cleaner and far more widely adopted technology whose only downside are overhead wires that upset the only weirdest and dumbest people on Earth.

Californians for Electric Rail @calelectricrail.org · 16h

Hydrogen rail is not the answer for the Sprinter. With the need for equipment, the Sprinter should be modernized and electrified instead of rolling out unproven, polluting hydrogen trains. thecoastnews.com/hydrogen-rai...

Commentary: Hydrogen rail not the answer | The Coast News Group

The Coast News recently reported that NCTD plans to pilot hydrogen trains for the Sprinter. However, hydrogen is not as great as it seems.

thecoastnews.com

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Stan Oklobdzija @stano.bsky.social · 16h

Oh yeah, there's several people. @leedrutman.bsky.social comes immediately to mind.

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Stan Oklobdzija @stano.bsky.social · 16h

Ummm....a convention on the constitution?

But seriously, any serious reforms would require amending the constitution which is near impossible given the rules governing that sort of thing.

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Stan Oklobdzija @stano.bsky.social · 16h

If your party controls Congress and the Supreme Court, your President gets to a be a dictator and there's nothing that can be done about that.

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Stan Oklobdzija @stano.bsky.social · 16h

The fundamental defect of our constitution is that it has no mechanism at all for dealing with partisanship but every single one of its mechanisms for checking authoritarianism must be enforced on a partisan basis.

George Pearkes @peark.es · 18h

Well that's not how appropriations work at all

*WHITE HOUSE TO TRANSFER TARIFF REVENUE TO FUND WIC: LEAVITT

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Reposted by Stan Oklobdzija

Tiago Ventura @tiagoventura.bsky.social · 19h

How common are “survey professionals” - people who take dozens of online surveys for pay - across online panels, and do they harm data quality?

Our paper, FirstView at @politicalanalysis.bsky.social, tackles this question using browsing data from three U.S. samples (Facebook, YouGov, and Lucid):

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Stan Oklobdzija @stano.bsky.social · 18h

Imagine someone started a group that combed through political donations and posted target lists of professors who donated to Republicans. Then, people used that target list to harass and threaten those professors. That group would probably not be welcome on campuses any longer and for good reason.

Rutgers professor moving to Europe after threats over antifa accusations

Mark Bray says threats intensified after a Turning Point USA petition accused him of promoting political violence

www.theguardian.com

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Stan Oklobdzija @stano.bsky.social · 19h

"You children call it 'Indie Sleaze' but we had many names for it when I was a boy...."

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Stan Oklobdzija @stano.bsky.social · 20h

One of the undergrads working in the front office asked me what music was cool when I was college and this is how I felt.

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Stan Oklobdzija @stano.bsky.social · 20h

Imaging a Bonus Army of federal workers and National Guard troops put on 29-day rotations to stiff them for full benefits camped out on the Capitol Mall.

CNN @cnn.com · 20h

President Trump doesn't commit to back pay for furloughed federal workers when the government shutdown ends. Follow live updates: https://cnn.it/46DIVEI

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Stan Oklobdzija @stano.bsky.social · 1d

For precisely this reason, there needs to be extremely clear proclamations of exactly what will happen to people who interfere with free and fair elections from Democratic members of Congress and Governors. Their decision calculus is also driven by what they think the price of failure will be.

G Elliott Morris @gelliottmorris.com · 1d

at this point you have to acknowledge that there is no way that these guys don't try to mess with the 2026 midterms. there is absolutely no respect for the legitimacy of the opposition

Blue Georgia @bluegeorgia.bsky.social · 1d

Stephen Miller: "Eventually elections don’t carry the day because violence beats votes… When we see a muscular response from the federal government, it’s because we’re not going to let violence beat votes."

Is he implying federal intervention determines political legitimacy, not ballots or courts?

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Stan Oklobdzija @stano.bsky.social · 1d

😁

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Stan Oklobdzija @stano.bsky.social · 1d

Sooner rather than later, Blue States will need to field law enforcement agents and military personnel that we're confident will be loyal to the voters of that state and not the Republican Party.

Heather Cherone @heathercherone.bsky.social · 1d

Pritzker is also furious: “Should National Governors Association leadership choose to remain silent, Illinois will have no choice but to withdraw from the organization.”

Gov. JB Pritzker’s letter to the National Governors Association

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Stan Oklobdzija @stano.bsky.social · 1d

If only we had the ability to harness "pick me" energy, we could power Las Vegas for a year with this essay alone.

Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 1d

Danielle Allen fails the Lando test / lives out the Arrested Development meme: "A deal on the core principles in a compact could then become a framework for negotiating on legislation." Come ON. With this administration and this Congress?
therenovator.substack.com/p/why-im-exc...

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Stan Oklobdzija @stano.bsky.social · 1d

"Gavin Newsom, heart of a dragon //
Sign SB 79 with your mighty pen //
Lead your Californians to victory //
By building multifamily housing //
In close proximity to high-frequency mass transit in eight urban counties"

a man in a military uniform is standing in front of a tank

ALT: a man in a military uniform is standing in front of a tank

media.tenor.com

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