Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Ellen Braaten

@ellenbraaten.bsky.social

9.5K followers 2K following 4K posts

Child Psychologist; Associate Professor, Harvard Medical School; Author; New Book -Bright Kids Who Couldn’t Care Less: How to Rekindle Your Child’s Motivation @guilford www.ellenbraatenphd.com

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Ellen Braaten @ellenbraaten.bsky.social · 2d

You should not control a nuclear arsenal if you cannot tell the difference between fiction and reality. The story needs to be told through the lens of mental illness

Simon Rosenberg @simonwdc.bsky.social · 2d

Trump has gone totally mad. It's 25th Amendment time all day, every day. He's living in a totally invented, fictional world. And he's old and in ill-health.

It's outrageous, reckless, choose your word that Republicans haven't done more to deal with this.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 2d

Trump: "The restaurants were all closing, now you can't get into a restaurant. They're opening up new restaurants. It took 12 days for us. We sent in not politically correct military. We sent them in based on merit."

33 260 1.1K

Ellen Braaten @ellenbraaten.bsky.social · 1m

I have been very homesick for Europe. I lived there during the first Trump presidency and it did make things seem much better.

Ellen Braaten @ellenbraaten.bsky.social · 8m

I am so tired of the people who didn’t vote for her for this single reason that she had absolutely no control over.

Reposted by Ellen Braaten

George Conway 👊🇺🇸🔥 @gtconway.bsky.social · 5h

www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

160 1.2K 4.3K

Ellen Braaten @ellenbraaten.bsky.social · 38m

Maybe his visit on Friday included a discussion of a Healthcare Proxy

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 2h

Trump: "I don't think there's anything that's gonna get me in heaven. I think I'm not maybe heaven bound. I may be in heaven right now as we fly on Air Force One. I'm not sure I'm gonna be able to make heaven."

Reposted by Ellen Braaten

scarylawyerguy.bsky.social @scarylawyerguy.bsky.social · 3h

If Joe Biden was unable to close an umbrella there would have been +/- 1,000 think pieces in the newspapers of America questioning whether he was capable of discharging the duties of the office of President of the United States.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 3h

Trump gets some help closing his umbrella while boarding Air Force One

70 310 1.4K

Ellen Braaten @ellenbraaten.bsky.social · 44m

It’s because he didn’t fly to Boston for his haircut.

Ellen Braaten @ellenbraaten.bsky.social · 45m

This has Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey vibes

1 1 11

Ellen Braaten @ellenbraaten.bsky.social · 2h

Probably better than mine - hang in the bathroom while I take a shower.

Reposted by Ellen Braaten

Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 11h

Pope Leo quotes Hannah Arendt:

“The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction and the distinction between true and false no longer exist."

www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news...

Pope Leo calls for news agencies to stand as bulwark against "post-truths," lies and manipulation

Pope Leo XIV has encouraged international news agencies to stand firm as a bulwark against the "ancient art of lying" and manipulation.

www.cbsnews.com

150 2.6K 8.1K

Reposted by Ellen Braaten

Adam Grant @adamgrant.bsky.social · 3h

Cursing is rarely a symbol of low class. It's often a mark of high authenticity.

Evidence: Swearing predicts higher rates of honesty and integrity. It signals a willingness to prize candor over courtesy.

A little profanity can show that you're being real and you do give a damn.

12 53 190

Reposted by Ellen Braaten

God @thegodpodcast.com · 23h

When we say “No Kings” this should include the nasty billionaires who use their money to control all media and the government.

110 970 4.8K

Ellen Braaten @ellenbraaten.bsky.social · 7h

He was *jealous* and petty and wrong.

1 10

Ellen Braaten @ellenbraaten.bsky.social · 7h

Your ex boyfriend was awful. That is how to understand this.

2 19

Reposted by Ellen Braaten

Ally Whelan @amwhelan.bsky.social · 9h

I spoke w/ Politico about how Dobbs further disrupted and destabilized clinical research with people who are pregnant or capable of becoming pregnant. The lack of data makes it easier to spread misinformation and instill unwarranted fears....

Alice Miranda Ollstein @alicemiranda.bsky.social · 10h

A decades-old problem (underrepresentation of all women, but especially pregnant women, in medical research) is getting worse.

Post-Dobbs, “fear of liability is a regularly cited obstacle” to enrolling pregnant women in medical studies, according to a 2024 @nationalacademies.org report.

RFK Jr.’s got advice for pregnant women. There’s limited data to support it.

Women of reproductive age have long been missing from clinical trials. It’s getting worse where abortion is banned.

www.politico.com

1 27 39

Reposted by Ellen Braaten

The Weekend on MSNBC @theweekendmsnbc.bsky.social · 11h

“Sleepy Joe wasn’t so sleepy. He was able to do things before he became president.” @gtconway.bsky.social on Trump’s overnight post that it was “Biden’s FBI” that was among the Jan. 6 crowd, even though Trump was still president.

7 19 51

Reposted by Ellen Braaten

Joyce White Vance @joycewhitevance.bsky.social · 12h

That’s a nice trick, since Biden wasn’t the president on Jan 6.

310 1.3K 5.2K

Reposted by Ellen Braaten

Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 19h

Thankfully, some of yesterday's CDC firings have been rescinded.

But this should be a major scandal, not business as usual in this shitshow of an administration. It's either spectacular incompetence or an effort to make even politically untouchable positions feel precarious to those in them.

Helen Branswell 🇨🇦 @helenbranswell.bsky.social · 21h

100s of #CDC employees were notified Friday they were being fired — RIF'd. The firings cross multiple parts of the agency, endangering its core mission of keeping Americans safe.
Saturday, some were informed they were RIF'd in error.
Hard to imagine how this happens www.statnews.com/2025/10/11/c...

CDC battered by government shutdown firings, while some are rescinded

The White House’s mass firing of CDC staff on Friday has decimated offices related to injury prevention, respiratory disease surveillance, and chronic disease, according to four people familiar with t...

www.statnews.com

15 210 770

Ellen Braaten @ellenbraaten.bsky.social · 21h

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

ANCHOR EVENT: NYC SAYS NO KINGS! · No Kings

**In America, we don’t put up with would-be kings.** 📍 Where: Father Duffy Square, 47th st. and Broadway 📅 When: 11:00 AM ET, October 18, 2025 NOTE: this will be a march, not a rally! Enter from the...

www.mobilize.us

1 6 31

Reposted by Ellen Braaten

Wilma Marlene Fine ✈️ @wmf5.bsky.social · 1d

It's unfortunate that children have to suffer the discomfort and danger that measles causes. This because a former 14 year heroin addict has deemed preventative measles vaccine dangerous. 🥺

7 41 180

Reposted by Ellen Braaten

Kelly @broadwaybabyto.bsky.social · 1d

A 15 year old boy with autism went missing earlier this week

He was selling fruit with his family in Springbranch when he disappeared

They filed a missing person’s report & begged the public to help find him

Turns out he was in a Houston ICE detention facility

They kidnapped a disabled child!

230 3K 5.2K

Reposted by Ellen Braaten

Paul Nadeau @pauljnadeau.bsky.social · Apr 4

If you know any international students in the United States, a colleague of mine made a flier to help students with finding an immigration lawyer. Please share and circulate among your networks:

I'm an international student! How do I find an immigration lawyer?

Where to look:
-Free: Check immigrationlawhelp.org and search by state.
-Paid: ALIA (the American Immigration Lawyers Association) and NIPNLG (the National Immigration Project) maintain directories of immigration attorneys.

What to prepare:
Bring any immigration documents you have (visas, letters from USCIS, etc.) to your first meeting with an attorney.

Avoid scams:
-Ask for proof that the provider is a licensed attorney or otherwise recognized or accredited by the Department of Justice
-Get a contract for legal services
-Never pay to access USCIS forms - they're free

Scan the code or visit https://linktr.ee/lawyerinfo for more resources + info

*this flyer is not legal advice*

1 100 120

Ellen Braaten @ellenbraaten.bsky.social · 1d

Quite the sunset last night on the way out of NYC on the Acela

1 48

Ellen Braaten @ellenbraaten.bsky.social · 1d

There is a treasure trove of defense mechanisms right here.

1 12

Ellen Braaten @ellenbraaten.bsky.social · 1d

A treasure trove of defense mechanisms.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 2d

Trump: "The person who actually got the Nobel Prize called today, called me, and said 'I'm accepting this in honor of you, because you really deserved it.' A really nice thing to do. I didn't say 'Then give it to me, though.'"

2 2 13

Reposted by Ellen Braaten

George Conway 👊🇺🇸🔥 @gtconway.bsky.social · 1d

"The original #NoKings protest was 250 years ago. We've had democracy since then. Now we have a would-be king who wants to take it away—King Donald the First. Fuck that. Stand up and be counted in the nationwide No Kings protest on October 18."
👉👉 nokings.org

69 1K 3K