Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

David J. Loehr @djl.bsky.social · 4h

When you're a celebrity, they just let you do that apparently.

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James Hell Brooks @kleinman.bsky.social · 4h

Increasingly we need candidates who'd be comfortable cutting a wrestling promo

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 5h

Mamdani: "I just want to speak directly to the president. I will not be a mayor like Mayor Adams who will call you to stay out of jail. I won't be a disgraced governor like Andrew Cuomo who will call you to ask how to win this election. I can do those things on my own."

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David J. Loehr @djl.bsky.social · 4h

Congratulations!

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Erin Biba @erinbiba.bsky.social · 4h

Nobody ever wants to talk about or admit this but it happened.

Robyn Pennacchia @robynelyse.bsky.social · 4h

Taking in refugees isn't just a nice thing we do — we have a legal obligation. The 1951 Refugee Convention came about specifically because countries like the US refused entry to Jews who were trying to escape Germany, because the world didn't ever want that to happen again.

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David J. Loehr @djl.bsky.social · 4h

Thread.

Greg Greene (he/him/his) @greene.haus · 5h

Hanging a 'whites only' sign on the Statue of Liberty, for all intents and purposes. SMDH.

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David J. Loehr @djl.bsky.social · 4h

(snoopydancing)

David J. Loehr @djl.bsky.social · 4h

Still from Casablanca, the scene with Captain Renault telling Rick Blaine "I'm shocked shocked to find that gambling is going on in here" seconds before being handed his winnings in Casablanca.

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Daniel Chomsky @danielchomsky.bsky.social · 4h

The media campaign to give Donald Trump the Nobel Peace Prize for his “historic” agreement to suspend the Gaza war for a few hours appears to have been premature.

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David J. Loehr @djl.bsky.social · 4h

Looking forward to reading. Based on the cover, I'm hoping there's a lot of rubber chicken material. (Dare to dream, but maybe a chapter on the comic potential of the rubber chicken that was recurring on "Magnum, p.i." perhaps...)

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elliottkalan.bsky.social @elliottkalan.bsky.social · 5h

A RARE PIECE OF GOOD NEWS: My new book on the art of joke writing, JOKE FARMING from @uchicagopress.bsky.social
is now available for purchase by YOU! Everything (mostly) I learned from two decades of professional humor writing, in one not-very-long book! press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...

Joke Farming

The winner of four Emmys, a Peabody, and two Writers Guild Awards (all of which badly need dusting) explains his process for writing comedy without going insane. Philosophers may debate the meaning ...

press.uchicago.edu

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David J. Loehr @djl.bsky.social · 5h

One has to think the Nobel people have taken note.

Daniel Chomsky @danielchomsky.bsky.social · 5h

The "peace president" says he will enable Israel to continue its campaign of genocide in Gaza.
www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_ent...

Trump: I held Israel back, but it’ll return to Gaza as soon as I give the word

* * *

www.timesofisrael.com

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Senator Martin Heinrich @heinrich.senate.gov · 5h

The cost of holding down ACA premiums for a year is less than this…

More Perfect Union @moreperfectunion.bsky.social · 6h

BREAKING: The Trump administration is doubling its Argentina bailout to $40 billion.

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Mike Masnick @mmasnick.bsky.social · 2d

Was waiting to see how Olivia Reingold (who Oliver's piece destroyed almost as much as Bari Weiss) would respond, and you can see the tweet below which also shows she either did not watch his piece, or just didn't understand it, since he actually addresses this point directly.

Olivia Reingold quote tweeting Variety.

The Variety tweet is about John Oliver's piece on Bari Weiss leading CBS News, saying:

John Oliver slams Bari Weiss' takeover of CBS News:

"I wouldn’t want anyone who led a pure opinion outlet, not even one that I happened to agree with, to suddenly be running CBS News. But it is especially alarming to have someone doing it who has spent years putting out work that, in my opinion, is at best irresponsible and at worst deeply misleading."

Reingold then quotes it saying:

Why does this sound like John Oliver commenting on……John Oliver

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Owen Barcala @obarcala.bsky.social · 5h

The "don't call us Nazis" crowd sure has a lot of swastikas

Santiago Mayer @santiagomayer.com · 5h

Holy shit. This is Angelo Elia, a legislative correspondent for Congressman Dave Taylor.

According to @rooster.info, during a Zoom meeting today, he had an American nazi flag displayed in the background.

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Adam Bonin @adambonin.bsky.social · 1d

This line from Mamdani's father just really struck me. Great profile:

“I was an Indian in Uganda. I was a Muslim in India. And I was all of these things in New York City,” Mahmood Mamdani explained to his son. And “to be a minority is also to see the truth of the place amidst the promise of it.”

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 1d

we’ll see how his mayoral tenure shakes out but i am convinced that Mamdani has the juice. not just the charisma to win an election but the temperament to govern and the measured pragmatism of someone who genuinely believes what they’re saying and wants to accomplish real things.

Inside the Improbable, Audacious and (So Far) Unstoppable Rise of Zohran Mamdani

www.nytimes.com

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Sarah Posner @sarahposner.bsky.social · 5h

uh, if it's no longer protecting consumers, it's because Russell Vought decimated it

Reuters @reuters.com · 6h

White House budget director Vought plans to shut down CFPB within months, says it's no longer protecting consumers reut.rs/4qjMIyT

White House budget director Vought plans to shut down CFPB within months, says it's no longer protecting consumers

White House budget director Russell Vought said he wants to close the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and expects to do so within the next two to three months.

reut.rs

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Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 8h

We got $20 billion for Argentina though.

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David J. Loehr @djl.bsky.social · 8h

It is still astonishing to me that an apparently nonexistent fetish for couchfucking is still Vance's most relatable human trait.

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Ned Resnikoff @resnikoff.bsky.social · 9h

It's somehow both wildly underreported and just out in the open that the vice president is either a neo-Nazi or, at a bare minimum, a neo-Nazi fellow traveler.

Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 10h

Fascinating. Politico notes that when notified of the texts, many state-level Republicans fired or condemned these cretins. Now Vance emerges to excuse the racism, and calls the reaction to it "pearl clutching."

He seems determined to purge the party of its last enclaves of decency.

‘College Group Chat’: JD Vance Dismisses ‘Pearl Clutching’ Over Young Republicans Leak to Attack Jay Jones

Liberals hit back at Vance's blunt dismissal of racist, antisemitic and misogynistic messages leaked from a Young Republicans group chat.

www.mediaite.com

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Wil Wheaton @wilwheaton.net · 8h

Since the launch of the 2nd #NoKings mobilization, the Trump regime has escalated their authoritarian agenda.

We won’t back down.

On Oct. 18, we’re telling this wannabe dictator: America belongs to us.

No Thrones. No Crowns. No Kings. app.sosha.ai/s/GLV3dTgM

Find An Event Near You!

app.sosha.ai

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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 8h

We Should Have Finished Reconstruction: A Brief History Of American Politics, 1865-2025

Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 8h

This entire argument by Louisiana and the conservatives questions are premised on an erasure of Congress’ enforcement power under the 14th & 15th Amendments.

Literally swinging for the fences to wipe out the premise for the legitimacy of Congress’ power to enact civil rights statutes.

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Nicholas Meyer @nicholasmeyer.bsky.social · 8h

I'm attending No Kings's event, “NO KINGS Santa Monica” - sign up now to join me! www.mobilize.us/nokings/even...

NO KINGS Santa Monica · No Kings

**In America, we don’t put up with would-be kings.** Our peaceful movement is only getting bigger and stronger. “NO KINGS” is more than just a slogan—it’s the foundation our nation was built upon. Bo...

www.mobilize.us

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David J. Loehr @djl.bsky.social · 8h

They can't even say the name--they don't dare, because it would remind people what "no kings" means. That's how scared they are.

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Sam Wang @samwang.bsky.social · 8h

A popular platform for 2026 would be

Dismantle SCOTUS.
Abolish ICE.
Rebuild the Constitution.

ElieNYC @elienyc.bsky.social · 9h

The fight here with Gorsuch and Kav vs Nelson is whether the "use" of race automatically means "discrimination" on the basis of race.

That's interesting to me, because it's basically the white folks telling on themselves. They cannot see a "use" of race that isn't synonymous with discrimination.

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Stephen Blackmoore @stephenblackmoore.com · 8h

Where is all this "Oh, Republicans weren't always racist!" shit coming from? Yes, they were.

I grew up in the 80s in LA. I'm white, Hawaiian and Chinese. I don't look Asian at all. Barely Hawaiian if I get a tan.

When you can pass for white, you hear a LOT. Trust me, they were always like this.

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