Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Michael Israel @subcontrarian.bsky.social · 14h

This is what Antifa looks like.

Hoodlum 🇺🇸 @nothoodlum.bsky.social · 16h

Let’s check in on the warzone in Portland.

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Michael Israel @subcontrarian.bsky.social · 14h

So cool

Amy @lolennui.bsky.social · 16h

So cool that whenever someone asks the president, “did you eat the Lindbergh baby” he’s like, “no but I’d be allowed to, I have the right to, I might do it later”

Reposted by Michael Israel

Nick Fleisher @nickfleisher.bsky.social · 1d

See also: people who say we must "restore trust in higher ed"

Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 1d

I keep waiting for the powers that be in media to grasp the concept of bad faith, realize how often "restore trust in news" and similar statements mean "stop doing journalism, lie more in ways I like," come from people ideologically committed to destroying trust in news, and can never be satisfied.

Karl Bode @karlbode.com · 1d

I too am keen to "restore trust in news" by turning a major broadcast network into a 24/7 slurry of right wing culture war propaganda and engagement trolling

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Reposted by Michael Israel

Amy @lolennui.bsky.social · 1d

George Orwell’s Animal Crossing

Someone in a frog costume facing down a line of police in riot gear

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Michael Israel @subcontrarian.bsky.social · 2d

People still take lots of umbrage. But this gets taken as evidence of anger, or even madness, rather than a prompt to maybe think about the genuine outrageousness of the glaringly outrageous thing at which the umbrage was took.

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Reposted by Michael Israel

Brooke @brooklynmarie.bsky.social · 2d

Actually it did begin with a parade of tanks

Kyle Cheney @kyledcheney.bsky.social · 2d

NEW: The militarization of American cities isn’t happening with a parade of tanks. It’s a slow drip of troop deployments that are probing courts’ willingness to give unlimited deference to the commander in chief — and testing workarounds when they don’t.

www.politico.com/newsletters/...

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Michael Israel @subcontrarian.bsky.social · 5d

the lumpencommentariat!

LOWρUFO 🐁🇵🇦🇬🇱🇨🇦🇲🇽 @lowrhoufo.bsky.social · Apr 26

This corner of the take sphere is called "the lumpencommentariat" now

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Reposted by Michael Israel

Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 5d

When you take a leadership position, that means that when people have complaints, they will lay them at your feet. Calling that “harassment” is an announcement of incompetence and weakness.

You want people to populate your site/protocol where people share opinions, Jay …

Jay 🦋 @jay.bsky.team · 5d

Harassing the mods into banning someone has never worked. And harassing people in general has never changed their mind.

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Reposted by Michael Israel

Dr Robert Bohan @robertbohan.bsky.social · 5d

🧵 Today is International Day of Non-Violence* [1]

Please read the small print*

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Michael Israel @subcontrarian.bsky.social · 6d

Where can I get one?

Anjali Dayal @anjalikdayal.bsky.social · 6d

Can’t decide whether these Statue of Liberty rubber chickens that say “squeeze me to hear me scream” are a little too on-the-nose for these times or if they’re perfect

A yellow cardboard carton on a CVS shelf with brightly colored letters that say “squeeze me to hear me scream” and “statue of liberty chicken.” Inside the carton are hot pink, teal, and royal blue rubber chickens with googly eyes rendered like the Statue of Liberty, with their faces distressed and frozen in a shriek. They have tags around their necks that say “squeeze me to hear me scream”

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Michael Israel @subcontrarian.bsky.social · 6d

Not "never after", but "ever after" is always there.

Michael Israel @subcontrarian.bsky.social · 6d

Still, the fact that there aren't more people who are more aghast at the preposterousness of Trump's jihad against "the enemy within" is itself, if not weird, then downright eerie.

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Michael Israel @subcontrarian.bsky.social · 6d

While I do see the line from elementary school Mandarin classes to future management consultants, I can also imagine other kinds of futures for children exposed to a little (or a lot) of spoken and written Chinese. Learning languages is a good thing, if you have people who know how to teach them.

Reposted by Michael Israel

scott⚡️mccloud @scottmccloud.bsky.social · 6d

Written 55 years ago, Schulz's heartfelt clarity cuts through the noise, even today.

h/t @tisserand.bsky.social

Scan of a typed letter from 1970, from Peanuts creator Charles Schulz, addressed to "Joel Lipton, 622 N. Foothill Road, Beverly Hills, Calif. 90210"

It reads:

"Dear Joel:

I think it is more difficult these days to define what makes a good citizen than it has ever been before. Certainly all any of us can do is follow our own conscience and retain faith in our democracy. Sometimes it is the very people who cry out the loudest in favor of getting back to what they call "American Virtues" who lack this faith in our country.

I believe that our greatest strength lies always in the protection of our smallest minorities.

Sincerely yours,

Charles M. Schulz"

At bottom is an illustration of Charlie Brown and Snoopy, a kite wrapped around the dog house.

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Michael Israel @subcontrarian.bsky.social · 7d

Same message seems to have been given to all of the Departments.

talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/let-i...

Let It Happen

Early this afternoon, multiple federal departments and agencies sent out an email...

talkingpointsmemo.com

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Michael Israel @subcontrarian.bsky.social · 8d

Some similes are understatements.

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Michael Israel @subcontrarian.bsky.social · 9d

Reality is cyclical. You're probably just too woke for your own good.

Michael Israel @subcontrarian.bsky.social · 9d

Like how much worse than Kafka's life is it, after all?

Michael Israel @subcontrarian.bsky.social · 9d

My experience with women is kind of limited, but I think the ones who think french fries are sexy are quite a bit more common than the ones who are turned on by French theory.

Stephen Shapiro @stephenshapiro.bsky.social · 9d

someone one said that if you put "French" before anything it makes it sexy, ie. "French postcards," "French theory."

The exception would be "fries."

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Michael Israel @subcontrarian.bsky.social · 9d

Stay strong! I'm glad you're here.

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Michael Israel @subcontrarian.bsky.social · 9d

The good news is that that's always the problem we have to keep solving as long as we keep living. It's a profoundly creative act, and it's best performed jointly and collaboratively.

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Michael Israel @subcontrarian.bsky.social · 9d

I'm afraid I have to disagree with this. I see no reason at all why you should have to keep track of what your Language Faculty is doing. It knows what it's doing (by stipulation, but still). The only things you can choose to keep track of in the language are uses and performances.

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Michael Israel @subcontrarian.bsky.social · 9d

I don't think having a bit of a thick skin makes anyone a rhinoceros. I mean, depending on the work you do, you may develop a few callouses. It doesn't make you a callous person.

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Michael Israel @subcontrarian.bsky.social · 9d

But also, rehab is (in my experience) a very weird place to get to know people, in that if you're much like me, you're very likely to meet a lot of nice people who have little in common with each other except that they all seem to have nothing in common with you. Good luck.

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Michael Israel @subcontrarian.bsky.social · 9d

Some of my business writing students last semester really did not appreciate my alarm at the growing fascism. Not that one should ever get used to it, but a lot of its power lies its ability to remain invisible even as it slowly turns everyone into a rhinoceros.

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