Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Maximillian Potter @maxpotter.bsky.social · 8h

He ain’t pretending.

Maximillian Potter @maxpotter.bsky.social · 9h

When she wants to get back out of the elevator and still isn’t taking shit and calling them out for hiding behind masks — that’s my America, right there.

Sandi Bachom 📹🎥🎬 @sandibachom.bsky.social · 1d

🔥🔥🔥 Today at immigration court 26 Federal Plaza this woman went ballistic to the masked ICE agents who detained her family member. Where are the people standing up to the Gestapo? I never saw this in 4 months I’ve been filming. 👏👏👏👏

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Maximillian Potter @maxpotter.bsky.social · 9h

If you want to stay in power unlawfully, you may feel the need to try to buy the loyalty of the military and take some kind of credit for it even though it was you who put them in this position…

The New York Times @nytimes.com · 14h

President Trump on Wednesday signed a memorandum expanding his administration’s authority to repurpose unspent federal funds to pay members of the military during the government shutdown, escalating his challenge to the authority of Congress on spending matters.

Trump Signs Memo Expanding His Authority to Spend Federal Money

The president gave Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wide authority to repurpose funds to pay members of the military without approval from Congress, which has the sole constitutional authority to decide federal spending.

nyti.ms

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Maximillian Potter @maxpotter.bsky.social · 14h

Let them eat cake.

The Wall Street Journal @wsj.com · 17h

Exclusive: More than three dozen organizations and individuals are expected to attend a dinner with Trump on Wednesday after opening their checkbooks to support a $250 million White House ballroom.

Trump Invites Ballroom Donors to Glitzy White House Dinner

The dinner is set to include representatives from Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, Meta Platforms, Alphabet’s Google, Amazon and Palantir Technologies.

on.wsj.com

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Maximillian Potter @maxpotter.bsky.social · 14h

Remember in 2015 when Trump said about Arizona Sen. John McCain: “He’s not a war hero. He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.”

As a Navy pilot McCain spent 5+ years in the notorious “Hanoi Hilton,” where he was tortured.

Trump dodged the draft 5 times.

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Maximillian Potter @maxpotter.bsky.social · 15h

“Lest any commanders or JAGs be lulled by the recent confusion over lawful and unlawful orders into believing that obeying orders…unlawful will be rewarded, not punished, they should understand that their careers, liberty, and honor are not the only ones at stake. The troops they lead are watching.”

The Crisis in Uniform: The Danger of Presidential Immunity for the U.S. Military

Military personnel are increasingly aware that they may be asked to prioritize loyalty to an individual over their rights and responsibilities

www.justsecurity.org

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Reposted by Maximillian Potter

Freedom of the Press Foundation @freedom.press · 23h

Soliciting information from officials is a journalist's job.

The Pentagon's new press policy would make reporters "stenographers parroting press releases, not watchdogs holding government officials accountable," explains @npr.org's Tom Bowman.

Opinion: Why I'm handing in my Pentagon press pass

Tom Bowman has held his Pentagon press pass for 28 years. He says the Pentagon's new media policy makes it impossible to be a journalist, which means finding out what's really going on behind the scen...

www.npr.org

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Maximillian Potter @maxpotter.bsky.social · 23h

Kneel or starve, while we enrich ourselves.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Bessent: "No kings equals no paychecks"

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Maximillian Potter @maxpotter.bsky.social · 1d

The protests will amount to a “nationwide wave of creative resistance” designed to “celebrate the experiences, cultures and identities that shape the fabric of our nation,” according to the group’s mission statement.

Rachel Maddow @maddow.msnbc.com · 1d

“Dozens of prominent artists and cultural organizations will participate in a series of artistic demonstrations to protest what authoritarian overreach by the Trump administration.

The protests, known as Fall of Freedom, will take place on the weekend of Nov. 21...”

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/14/a...

Artists Plan Nationwide Protests Against ‘Authoritarian Forces’

www.nytimes.com

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Maximillian Potter @maxpotter.bsky.social · 1d

Thoroughly disgusting and yet not surprising.

www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

‘I love Hitler’: Leaked messages expose Young Republicans’ racist chat

Thousands of private messages reveal young GOP leaders joking about gas chambers, slavery and rape.

www.politico.com

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Reposted by Maximillian Potter

Spiro’s Ghost @antitoxicpeople.bsky.social · 1d

Happy 87th birthday to John Dean, who is living history. 52 years ago, he stood up to an out of control POTUS whose behavior seems quaint to what we are dealing with now. He admitted his own mistakes and did the right thing. Ever since he has spoken out loudly about authoritarianism & so much more.

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Maximillian Potter @maxpotter.bsky.social · 2d

How every Philadelphian feels watching The Rocky run.

Maximillian Potter @maxpotter.bsky.social · 2d

Do yourself a solid: See this movie. It’s funny and beautiful and smart and pretty much flawless. And it’s a holiday movie. Just out. Really, it’s all of those things. The Baltimorons youtu.be/F6t-h68UuhI?...

The Baltimorons - Official Trailer | HD | IFC Films

YouTube video by IFC Films

youtu.be

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Maximillian Potter @maxpotter.bsky.social · 2d

a person is pressing a button on an old fashioned phone

ALT: a person is pressing a button on an old fashioned phone

media.tenor.com

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Maximillian Potter @maxpotter.bsky.social · 2d

Hahahahahaha. Still remember all of my family members landline numbers.

bleary @bleary.off-the-records.com · 2d

If anyone needs me I will be in the museum, lying down next to the bog bodies.

Did people really memorize phone numbers before cell phones, or is that just a movie thing?
2? Questions
I was watching some old shows from the 90s and noticed people would just dial numbers from memory - like they'd call their friends or family without looking anything up.
Made me wonder if that was actually normal back then? Did people genuinely have all their important numbers memorized, or did most folks keep a little address book or written list nearby?

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Maximillian Potter @maxpotter.bsky.social · 2d

The City of Big Shoulders coming together all over in stands against cruelty. www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/c...

Chicago priest urges parishioners to leave mass with caution after ICE agents reported nearby

Chicago's Rogers Park community remained vigilant after reports of federal agents near a Catholic church during Sunday mass.

www.nbcchicago.com

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Reposted by Maximillian Potter

Protect Democracy @protectdemocracy.org · 2d

The indictment of NY Attorney General Letitia James is the latest high profile attack by the Trump administration against critics. Here’s why: https://protectdemocracy.org/work/retaliatory-action-tracker/

RETALIATION ALERT
Letitia James
New York Attorney General
OCTOBER 9, 2025: Indicted for bank fraud and making false statements  to a financial institution
A career prosecutor for the Eastern District of Virginia determined there was not probable cause to file charges against Ms. James. Just days later, Lindsey Halligan, the new EDVA U.S. Attorney presented the case to the grand jury, which is outside of standard practice.

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Reposted by Maximillian Potter

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 2d

Wow, wow, wow. This has always been legally possible but the law has virtually never been enforced — and now this is the SECOND case I've heard of in the last month (first involving a person with a green card) of a noncitizen being charged for failure to carry their papers.

Gregory Pratt @royalpratt.bsky.social · 2d

NEWS: ICE gave a Rogers Park man a $130 ticket for not having his papers on him. They rounded him up last week and eventually let him go, but not without a fine that some critics say is un-American. Trump admin enforcing little-used law
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/13/i...

ICE tickets Chicago man with legal residency $130 for not having his papers on him: ‘It’s not fair…I’m a resident’

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement fined Rueben Antonio Cruz $130 for not having his papers with him.

www.chicagotribune.com

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Maximillian Potter @maxpotter.bsky.social · 2d

An excellent recap of Bari Weiss from @lastweektonight.com. Weiss is many things, like a performative narcissist, but she most definitely did not earn her EIC role by doing journalism. Actually, John Oliver is more qualified, as he makes clear in the reporting of his segments, including this one.

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver @lastweektonight.com · 2d

Here’s last night’s story about Bari Weiss, CBS News, Paramount Skydance, and why the Upper West Side is a lot more than just “Seinfeld territory.” youtu.be/gieTx_P6INQ

Bari Weiss: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

YouTube video by LastWeekTonight

youtu.be

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Maximillian Potter @maxpotter.bsky.social · 2d

The new FP horseshit same as the old FP horseshit.

Bari needs the 101 journalism class on the nonsense and danger of “some.”

southpaw @nycsouthpaw.bsky.social · 2d

Auspicious start for the new CBS News, laundering unattributed cop shit-talking through the incoming editor-in-chief’s blog and failing to correct a misspelling of the story subject’s name in the web headline for three days.

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Reposted by Maximillian Potter

Evan Bernick, a finite mode with a smol hooman and a lorg floof @evanbernick.bsky.social · 3d

please do not get excited about this, signed a law professor who wishes law professors had this much power www.rawstory.com/humphreys-ex...

'Bombshell!' Ex-clerk to Clarence Thomas sends shockwaves with Supreme Court warning

The U.S. Supreme Court seems almost certain to side with President Donald Trump in an upcoming challenge to his authority to fire government officials for any reason, but a leading conservative legal ...

www.rawstory.com

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Reposted by Maximillian Potter

Rebecca Fishbein @bfishbfish.bsky.social · 2d

It’s so funny when they call the No Kings protesters “antifa” when they’re like 70% enraged senior citizens (complimentary)

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 3d

Sean Duffy: "The No Kings protest, Maria, really frustrating. This is part of antifa, paid protesters. It begs the question who's funding it."

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Reposted by Maximillian Potter

Josh Marshall @joshtpm.bsky.social · 2d

One Appeals Court Gave Us a Taste of the Deference Trumpified Courts Want to Give the President talkingpointsmemo.com/news/9th-cir...

One Appeals Court Gave Us a Taste of the Deference Trumpified Courts Want to Give the President

District judges, including those appointed by President Trump, have been remarkably scrupulous...

talkingpointsmemo.com

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Maximillian Potter @maxpotter.bsky.social · 2d

Yeah, that’s the problem: wave after wave of government employees retiring. Not just the headline but the whole—you’d get the impression: *Wow, how weird that thousands of federal employees all of a sudden just decided to retire.*

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Reposted by Maximillian Potter

NY Times Pitchbot @nytpitchbot.bsky.social · 3d

Opinion | It's time for corporate America to end DEI and choose its leaders on the basis of merit alone.

by Barron Trump

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