Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Craig M. Ranapia @craigmranapia.bsky.social · 3h

Yeah, I'd be inclined to just bark "Not my circus, not my clown show" but that's just one more reason no sane person would ever elect me to political office. :)

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Craig M. Ranapia @craigmranapia.bsky.social · 3h

Thoughts and prayers with all of Taylor Swift's exes who got a diss track as a break-up gift instead of a soaring hymn to their magnificent sex logs.

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Craig M. Ranapia @craigmranapia.bsky.social · 3h

TBH, I agree with Russell on this. If Labour wanted to shit-stir they've been atypically disciplined about it.

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Craig M. Ranapia @craigmranapia.bsky.social · 3h

Sure, but I didn't notice TPM or the Greens being quiet as a nun when Labour was busy forming circular firing squads. Yes, I'm big on learning to play nice with the other children in the MMP sandbox but I'm also a big fan of owning your own bullshit and keeping your own house in order.

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Craig M. Ranapia @craigmranapia.bsky.social · 3h

As far as TPM is concerned, I'm happy to be in "not my circus, not my derranged monkey compulsively tossing off while waving around a straight razor in its other paw" mode, but it isn't Labour's job to be running cover for their internal drama.

Craig M. Ranapia @craigmranapia.bsky.social · 3h

I'm inclined to agree, and as you're perfectly aware I've had lots to say for a very long time on elements within Labour who've sucked arse at playing well with the other children in the political sandbox that is MMP.

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Craig M. Ranapia @craigmranapia.bsky.social · 4h

Is it wrong that the seven utterly bug-fuck crazy seasons of SCANDAL now read as political competence porn for people who find The West Wing insufferably pompous.

Yes. It is, but this is the comfort binge-watching we deserve, not the one we want.

a man is saying it 's gonna be a long day

Alt: a man is saying it 's gonna be a long day

media.tenor.com

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Craig M. Ranapia @craigmranapia.bsky.social · 5h

SCANDAL - the show that's just like The West Wing, but with 10,000% more murder-y horniness.

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Reposted by Craig M. Ranapia

IIML @modernletters.bsky.social · 6h

Thrilled to hear that PhD grad Lynn Jenner has won the 2025 Kathleen Grattan Poetry Award for her manuscript ‘The Gum Trees of Kerikeri’, described as 'a collection set in Te Tai Tokerau Northland that reflects on place, history and belonging through finely observed details.' Congratulations, Lynn!

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Craig M. Ranapia @craigmranapia.bsky.social · 6h

I'll need a fact check on this primo shade, STAT! I've seen no evidence that Simeon Brown has anything keeping his ears apart, but stranger things have happened...

OwairakaAroha @owairakaaroha.bsky.social · 6h

Simeon Brown is like a lightly lobotomised Jacob Rees-Mogg. His continued presence in NZ politics is an absolute mystery.

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Craig M. Ranapia @craigmranapia.bsky.social · 6h

I get more neutered Norman Tebbit energy myself, but you'd have to be really old to notice. :)

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Craig M. Ranapia @craigmranapia.bsky.social · 6h

Having to choose between Bishop and Willis because Luxon is off-putting is like taking a hard pass on tertiary syphilis, and the alternatives being mutant crabs or a mega-dose of antibiotic-resistant Gonorrhoea.

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Craig M. Ranapia @craigmranapia.bsky.social · 7h

LOLing at the usual suspects who think saying "nobody asked for #StarfleetAcademy" is the sickest burn since Romulus got char-grilled by that super-duper-nova.

Because Paramount did "ask" by keeping the show in active development for years and commissioning two seasons, like it or not. #StarTrek

a close up of a man 's face with makeup on his eyes

Alt: a close up of a man 's face with makeup on his eyes

media.tenor.com

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Craig M. Ranapia @craigmranapia.bsky.social · 7h

Opening hailing frequencies for your hottest (but not obnoxious) #StarTrek take. I'll start...

Nicole de Boer has never gotten her due for what a bloody good job she did as Ezri Dax in the final season of DS9. Would have been a hard party to play in the best of circumstances, which she didn't get.

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Craig M. Ranapia @craigmranapia.bsky.social · 7h

But with every re-watch Seven Samurai's 3 1/2 hour run-time feels like its an hour shorter because there's not a frame wasted, not a shot that doesn't have purpose and meaning.

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Craig M. Ranapia @craigmranapia.bsky.social · 7h

YES! Māori politics is like any other beat - the only way to do it properly is to put your boots on the floor and stay put, build wide relationships, put in the legwork to learn the lie of the land. It takes a lot of time and resource, and I get they're rare in the current media environment but...

a black and white photo of a woman 's face with a necklace .

Alt: a black and white photo of a woman 's face with a necklace .

media.tenor.com

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Craig M. Ranapia @craigmranapia.bsky.social · 8h

Fair point - Practical politics being what it is, you can find yourself getting both credit and blame for things that had nowt to do with you and not a word of thanks for the things you busted your hump not to screw up. You want fair, go to the salon and get a blonde dye job!

An exasperated man sitting in a low backed arm chair, gesticulating. Caption: "The circle jerk of life. Where's the dignity?"

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Craig M. Ranapia @craigmranapia.bsky.social · 8h

But you're absolutely right - the ridiculous disrespect being shown to Zohran Mamdani (and the hundreds of thousands of REGISTERED AND ENGAGED DEMOCRATS who turned out to support him) is unforgivable political malpractice. Sorry Mamdani didn't play your game by your rules, but deal with it!

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Craig M. Ranapia @craigmranapia.bsky.social · 8h

Indeed. It was irrrefutably true that Nancy Pelosi was hard wired into the Democratic Party machine and could shake down the donor class like a Jedi master. But when it came to her much proclaimed political genius? Well, Democrats lost control of the House on her watch - TWICE. So, yeah...

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Craig M. Ranapia @craigmranapia.bsky.social · 8h

I wonder how many forever culture warriors filling their pants over Bad Bunny doing his whole Superbowl half-time show in Spanish consider sixteen hours of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen in the original German an essential pillar of Western Culture?

a man in a suit and tie is standing next to a woman and a man in a tan shirt and tie

Alt: a man in a suit and tie is standing next to a woman and a man in a tan shirt and tie

media.tenor.com

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Craig M. Ranapia @craigmranapia.bsky.social · 8h

We need to talk about the political judgement of Democratic leadership like Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jefferies who haven't had their names on a genuinely competitive ballot in living memory. You can't help but slip out of touch when you're a machine politician who'd never had to work for a living.

Gregg Levine @greggjlevine.bsky.social · 8h

Democratic leadership didn’t recruit Janet Mills because they are worried Graham Platner couldn’t win the general; they recruited Mills because they are worried he could.

More Perfect Union @moreperfectunion.bsky.social · 11h

Janet Mills has jumped into the Maine Senate race against Susan Collins.

Recent polling we did with @ZenithPolls shows that Graham Platner is best positioned to beat Susan Collins, out-performing Mills by 6 points.

substack.perfectunion.us/p/poll-platn...

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Craig M. Ranapia @craigmranapia.bsky.social · 8h

That's the one you wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley after one pint too many on a Saturday night!

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Craig M. Ranapia @craigmranapia.bsky.social · 8h

Maybe someone can explain to Brett Kavanaugh that most of us don't have a literal job for life with a six-figure salary and generous pension plan. Out here in the real world, a lot of us get fired when we miss work - and "I got black-bagged by armed and masked racist fucks" won't cut any slack.

Justin Baragona @justinbaragona.bsky.social · 8h

Debbie Brockman, the WGN producer who was violently detained by Border Patrol agents in Chicago while on her way to work, has hired a law firm and "intends to pursue all legal avenues" over her arrest -- which resulted in no charges.

peopleslawoffice.com/statement-on...

Statement on Behalf of Debbie Brockman, WGN Employee Assaulted by Federal Agents | People's Law Office

Debbie Brockman, the WGN employee who was physically attacked and arrested in Chicago, Illinois by federal agents on October 10, 2025, would like to

peopleslawoffice.com

Craig M. Ranapia @craigmranapia.bsky.social · 8h

Communist China telling the United States "Gurl, command and control economics is so nineteen-thirty-LATE" has certainly been dinner and a show.

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Craig M. Ranapia @craigmranapia.bsky.social · 9h

Can we also take a moment to enjoy the sheer surrealism of Communist China saying "LOL, not how free markets work, fuck boi" to the President of the United States of Capitalism Gone Wild? AND THE COMMIES ARE RIGHT!

jeff com-BOO-ters @helldude.bsky.social · 9h

are these people aware of what they themselves are doing??

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