Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Brian Beutler

Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 7h

Police union leaders defending jan 6 after watching what those cops went through should have been the clarifying moment if nothing else (and there had been plenty before) bsky.app/profile/nota...

Peter @notalawyer.bsky.social · 7h

the actual story here, which the media never talks about, is that police in this country have become a discrete right-wing political operation. the story isn't about cops leaving (they're lying about that), it's about the police trying to exert influence over elections.

Mark Misoshnik 🏴 @misoshnik.bsky.social · 1d

Lmao is this supposed to be a bad thing?

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Brian Beutler @brianbeutler.bsky.social · 11h

Where’s the ombudsman? Oh…oh right.

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Brian Beutler @brianbeutler.bsky.social · 12h

Good catch.

The New Republic @newrepublic.com · 1d

His slip of the tongue reveals who’s really in charge. trib.al/AoXcgAq

“Illinois governor says we’re provoking actions that are unlawful,” Miller said on CNN. “If I put federal law enforcement and National Guard into a nice sleepy Southern town, is anyone gonna riot?”

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Brian Beutler @brianbeutler.bsky.social · 12h

I think Miller is showing the motherfucker AI videos.

Asawin Suebsaeng @swin24.bsky.social · 13h

For my piece today at @zeteo.com i wanted to truly underscore how punishingly stupid american fascism is now. Like, my original proposed headline for this was:

Our Democracy Is Imperiled Because One Old Man Won’t Stop ‘Yelling’ At His TV. zeteo.com/p/trump-addi...

Trump’s Addiction to Watching Fox Is Killing American Democracy

Our country is falling apart because one old man, Trump advisers and former administration officials say, won’t stop ‘yelling’ at his TV.

zeteo.com

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Josh Marshall @joshtpm.bsky.social · 15h

We fired people we had no reason or budgetary need to fire and we actually screwed up and fired the wrong people and then rehired them the next day and all because of Chuck Schumer

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 17h

BRENNAN: CBS confirmed the Trump administration rescinded the layoffs of CDC scientists. Some were involved with the federal measles response. How does a mistake like this happen?

VANCE: The govt shutdown inevitably leads to some chaos. It happened because of Schumer

B: But this was a WH decision

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Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 15h

In a huge coincidence, a Bitcoin billionaire just-so-happened to put up massive leveraged bets against Bitcoin and Ethereum right before Trump posted about new tariffs on China, prompting a market crash.

$200m in profits instantly. $200m we know about, because they likely used many accounts.

Early Bitcoin Whale Shorted $1.1B Right Before Tariffs, Now Up $27M - How Did He Know?

Satoshi-era whale shorted $1.1B in BTC and ETH 30 minutes before Trump tariffs, banking $190M-$200M as liquidations hit $19.33B.

cryptonews.com

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Reposted by Brian Beutler

BK. Titanji @boghuma.bsky.social · 1d

He got the COVID and flu Vaccines like every 79 year old should this is a good thing.
"Cardiovascular age validated by by ECG and found to be 14 years younger than chronological age" is a nonsensical phrase.
I am an internist this is not something we do or write in medical reports.

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derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 1d

seems like a non-insignificant percentage of rage against the machine's fanbase are young republican men driving SUVs bopping their head to anti-oil, pro-immigrant songs thinking the lyrics are about how they wish their suburban parents would get off their back

Tom Morello tweets: "Fascinating that all those “don’t tread on me” posers and their AR-15’s are nowhere to be seen and government tyranny is instead being opposed by a guy in an inflatable frog suit."

Someone named Manny replies: "@grok
why do some people say Tom Morello and band mates are RAGE FOR THE MACHINE and not against ?"

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jkavanagh.bsky.social @jkavanagh.bsky.social · 2d

“Congressional leadership to rally the country in opposition is a predicate for national resistance [plus] all elements of resistance—liberal leaders, deep-pocketed democracy defenders, protest organizers, labor-unions, Dem committee heads—to be more formally linked & committed to mutual defense.”

Brian Beutler @brianbeutler.bsky.social · 2d

A reader recently emailed me a question I've been asked 100 times: How do we—the little guys—turn the tide. It got me thinking about a related but in some sense more challenging question: What would a national resistance that we could place our faith in look like? www.offmessage.net/p/how-to-rev...

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Reposted by Brian Beutler

Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 1d

“The Trump administration said that its immigration crackdown is hurting farmers and risking higher food prices for Americans by cutting off agriculture’s labor supply.”

www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

Trump administration says immigration enforcement threatens higher food prices

U.S. farmers face labor shortages and potential food price hikes due to Trump’s immigration policy, the administration acknowledged in a Federal Registry document.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 2d

Trump said he deserved a cut for brokering the TikTok deal, and at once there was agreement that his son Baron would have a top executive slot... though he hasn't asked for it, and has no apparent qualifications to hold it. This is how Trump 2.0 works. www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2025...

Barron Trump tipped for top TikTok job

US president’s 19-year-old son could be appointed to the app’s board

www.telegraph.co.uk

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Evan Sutton @evansutton.bsky.social · 1d

In which @brianbeutler.bsky.social tells people in positions of real power: "You are actors in history, you’re writing your own epitaphs." We will need to save ourselves, but we also need to remind the people in power that they will be judged by history and hold them accountable to fight for us.

Scott L Greer @scottlgreer.bsky.social · 1d

"what costs people like us sleep at night isn’t that we aren’t doing enough. It’s that we’ve lost confidence in the people who are in positions to do more. [Don't] let people in power—people who sought power, and people who have power by dint of wealth—off the hook too easily."

How To Reverse The Tide

It's the gap between what's needed and what we have that keeps us up at night.

www.offmessage.net

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Reposted by Brian Beutler

Brian Beutler @brianbeutler.bsky.social · 2d

Something I hope the Dems who’d satisfy themselves with a health-care subsidy concession alone will consider. www.offmessage.net/p/how-to-rev...

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Will Stancil @whstancil.bsky.social · 1d

Why isn’t every Democrat holding a press conference with this video, talking about the criminal army of thugs invading Chicago and the rest of the country, and the need to bring these criminals to justice? React as you would if this really was MS13 or something

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*it* is happening here @realworldrj.bsky.social · 1d

Brian Beutler: "...my sense is that what costs people like us sleep at night isn’t that we aren’t doing enough. It’s that we’ve lost confidence in the people who are in positions to do more"

Spot on

How To Reverse The Tide

It's the gap between what's needed and what we have that keeps us up at night.

www.offmessage.net

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derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 3d

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Julian Sanchez @normative.bsky.social · 2d

Non-Trump Republican judges seem to be doing a better job recognizing the stakes of the present moment than the modal elected Dem.

Chris Hayes @chrislhayes.bsky.social · 2d

As a group, District Judges (from across the ideological spectrum!) performing as well as just about anyone right now in defending democratic liberty.

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Brian Beutler @brianbeutler.bsky.social · 1d

If two parties insist on “dueling versions” of reality, but one party includes journalists, local cops, local residents, and the other includes plagiarists, propagandists, and Orwellian GOP liars, it’s worth saying there is one reality, and one lurid fantasy. newrepublic.com/article/2016...

MAGA Implodes over Kristi Noem’s “Stare Down” with Man in Chicken Suit

A good New York Times piece on Portland nevertheless demonstrates how the conventions of objective reporting fail to accurately capture the bad faith driving pro-Trump propaganda.

newrepublic.com

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Cafecito @speedyrick.bsky.social · 2d

"Whatever we’ve said, or whatever you’ve heard or think you’ve heard about democracy, this is not hyperbole, and it isn’t about an election. It’s about what we do right now to stop our descent into the horrors we were raised to fight." Beutler. An urgent crisis! open.substack.com/pub/brianbeu...

How To Reverse The Tide

It's the gap between what's needed and what we have that keeps us up at night.

open.substack.com

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Brian Beutler @brianbeutler.bsky.social · 2d

All nonsense, of course, but if the point were to “give[] the minority a say” then the logic would require them to negotiate with Dems, not shut down the government and force them to swallow GOP priorities whole.

ringwiss @ringwiss.bsky.social · 2d

“And that’s why we nuked it twice in the past month.”

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digby @digby56.bsky.social · 2d

I agree with this, but I also think there's a subtext to the health subsidies tactic that could be very salient to the public in the same way as "you come through me" is if they could articulate it. I call it the RFK effect. "Health care" is now more than just an insurance/kitchen table issue. 1/2

Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 2d

"Who will be viewed retrospectively to have understood the challenge correctly? The one who said, 'If you come for my people, you come through me'? Or the one who pivoted to health-care subsidies?"

This @brianbeutler.bsky.social thought experiment is illuminating:
www.offmessage.net/p/how-to-rev...

How To Reverse The Tide

It's the gap between what's needed and what we have that keeps us up at night.

www.offmessage.net

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Reposted by Brian Beutler

Brian Beutler @brianbeutler.bsky.social · 2d

A reader recently emailed me a question I've been asked 100 times: How do we—the little guys—turn the tide. It got me thinking about a related but in some sense more challenging question: What would a national resistance that we could place our faith in look like? www.offmessage.net/p/how-to-rev...

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Reposted by Brian Beutler

Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 2d

"Who will be viewed retrospectively to have understood the challenge correctly? The one who said, 'If you come for my people, you come through me'? Or the one who pivoted to health-care subsidies?"

This @brianbeutler.bsky.social thought experiment is illuminating:
www.offmessage.net/p/how-to-rev...

How To Reverse The Tide

It's the gap between what's needed and what we have that keeps us up at night.

www.offmessage.net

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Reposted by Brian Beutler

Alexandra Acker-Lyons @alackerlyons.bsky.social · 2d

This is excellent. Articulates what so many of us are thinking.

Brian Beutler @brianbeutler.bsky.social · 2d

A reader recently emailed me a question I've been asked 100 times: How do we—the little guys—turn the tide. It got me thinking about a related but in some sense more challenging question: What would a national resistance that we could place our faith in look like? www.offmessage.net/p/how-to-rev...

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Brian Beutler @brianbeutler.bsky.social · 2d

Then, finally, it's getting all of them to coordinate in exertions of power. Make these things happen and the antifascist majority would have more peace of mind, more faith in the opposition, and be more will to keep fighting. www.offmessage.net/p/how-to-rev...

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