Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Henry Porter @henryporter.bsky.social · 13d

We need to replace physics with evolution as the paradigmatic science up and down our pedagogy. “Is MAGA ‘fascism?’” is precisely the same sort of question as “are dogs the same species as wolves?” It’s nothing at all like categorical lines in classical mechanics.

Dan Nexon @dhnexon.bsky.social · 13d

🧵 Fascism is an ideology. The government is fascist. But it's an unconsolidated competitive authoritarian regime, not a totalitarian one.

@justinscasey.bsky.social and I discuss this, and the heterogeneity of interwar fascism, here 👇

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Henry Porter @henryporter.bsky.social · 13d

Why is educational attainment so predictive of partisan alignment? We’ve been moving that direction for a while. What happens at college has something to do with resentments of non-college voters. Thread on The Hard Hat Riots…

Foghorn Leghorn 🇺🇸♨️ @foghorn453.bsky.social · 17d

Between 1962-1972, Harvard and MIT graduated 21,593 students. 14 (1 in 1542) died in Vietnam.

In the same decade in South Boston, 1 in 80 draft-age boys died in Vietnam.

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Henry Porter @henryporter.bsky.social · 13d

I missed that. Thank you!

Henry Porter @henryporter.bsky.social · 13d

Yup

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Henry Porter @henryporter.bsky.social · Aug 6

We need serious local news outlets, doing original reporting, subsidized by and aligned with the Democratic Party. Hyperlocal with lots of youth sports and WeRateDogs-type content.

Rob Flaherty @robflaherty.bsky.social · Apr 28

Wrote about Democrats, the media environment, culture, and authenticity for the @nytimes.com

Our problem is bigger than an election: it's that we lack the tools to communicate the vast majority of the electorate who get their information through culture.

www.nytimes.com/2025/04/28/o...

Opinion | If You’re a Voter Reading This, This Essay Is Not About You

Opt-out voters don’t buy what we’re selling — and even if they did, we’d have a hard time reaching them.

www.nytimes.com

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Henry Porter @henryporter.bsky.social · Aug 4

Whatever happens, never ask the question “What if the issue driving education polarization is education, specifically the way we organize education after high school?”

Henry Porter @henryporter.bsky.social · Aug 4

Is that the real scandal?

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Reposted by Henry Porter

Dana Houle @danahoule.bsky.social · Aug 4

C’mon, man,
A. Parties aren’t “brands”
B. It’s not “destroying” anything

Scammy emails are a problem, but Mothership has been blocked from most Dem clients, & what they’re doing appears to not be easy to shut down. I want Dems to bleed them dry, but it’s not the party, it’s feeding off the party…

Adam Bonica @adambonica.bsky.social · Aug 3

The annoying spam texts destroying the Democratic brand:

$678M raised through those spam tactics

$282M to one consulting firm: Mothership Strategies.

$11M to actual campaigns (1.6%)

The party isn’t just treating donors like marks—it’s being fleeced itself yet continues to back Mothership.

The Mothership Vortex: An Investigation Into the Firm at the Heart of the Democratic Spam Machine

How a single consulting firm extracted $282 million from a network of spam PACs while delivering just $11 million to actual campaigns.

open.substack.com

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Reposted by Henry Porter

What Democrats are doing @whatdemsaredoing.bsky.social · Aug 4

You all see how these news companies and TV channels are bowing to Trump? What can be done? Well, here’s a message more Democrats need to get into their heads.

Spread the word 👇

Henry Porter @henryporter.bsky.social · Aug 1

We need serious local news outlets, doing original reporting, subsidized by and aligned with the Democratic Party. Hyperlocal with lots of youth sports and WeRateDogs-type content.

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Henry Porter @henryporter.bsky.social · Aug 4

The story is certainly more complex. Having newspapers aligned with the parties that served their readers mattered tremendously in the lead up, see Hearst’s platform in running for governor. But universal public education seems to be a baseline ingredient for big positive sum politics.

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Henry Porter @henryporter.bsky.social · Aug 4

The Cult of SCOTUS is created by law professors and journalists who gain status along with the Court. After WW2 the media became non-partisan and needed non-partisan protagonists. At the same time law schools and law faculty exploded.

Jeff (Gutenberg Parenthesis) Jarvis @jeffjarvis.bsky.social · Aug 4

FFS. #BrokenTimes questions historians filing amicus briefs to the courts. What's the trouble? "What they are hearing is a generally liberal message."
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/04/u...

As the Supreme Court Focuses on the Past, Historians Turn to Advocacy
Spikes in the number and influence of briefs filed by historians have prompted questions about the role scholars should play in litigation.

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Henry Porter @henryporter.bsky.social · Aug 4

The New Deal coalition was possible with an all white electorate and universal public education sufficient to be a prosperous good citizen. Universities are a successful treatment for racism and training after high school is now needed by all but they failed to keep up with these needs.

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Henry Porter @henryporter.bsky.social · Aug 2

The op-ed page wasn’t invented until the 1970s. People like Will Rogers, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Mike Royko had columns in the news section.

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Henry Porter @henryporter.bsky.social · Aug 2

This kind of thing will never hit home with voters as long as humanities professors throw a public shit fit when the Secretary of Education says parents expect college to prepare their children for a career.

Anna Kornbluh @annakornbluh.bsky.social · Aug 1

“American Academy of Arts&Sciences reports 96.3% of humanities grads age 23-32 fully employed. Earnings in humanitiess comparable to social/life sciences, job satisfaction levels too. A serious mismatch bw actual employment for hum grads +general perception."
www.mellon.org/voices/human...

Mellon Foundation

The Mellon Foundation makes grants to actively unlock the power in the arts and humanities that helps connect us all.

www.mellon.org

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Henry Porter @henryporter.bsky.social · Aug 1

We need serious local news outlets, doing original reporting, subsidized by and aligned with the Democratic Party. Hyperlocal with lots of youth sports and WeRateDogs-type content.

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Henry Porter @henryporter.bsky.social · Aug 1

Clearly.

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Henry Porter @henryporter.bsky.social · Jul 31

The White House is way too small and it's impossible for Dems to do anything about it without getting trashed in the media so this is good.

Henry Porter @henryporter.bsky.social · Jul 31

Lol. I was just googling pics of her after seeing a Seth Meyers bit.

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Henry Porter @henryporter.bsky.social · Jul 31

Law schools have a hack gap problem.

Steve Vladeck @stevevladeck.bsky.social · Jul 31

#SCOTUS's academic defenders are increasingly arguing that the justices' behavior in Trump-related emergency applications is a response to district court "overreach."

But those claims depend upon cherry-picking from or misrepresenting the examples—and ignoring the Court's own shirking of its rules:

Bonus 170: Whose Judicial Overreach?

Debunking the unpersuasive (and also rather unprovable) claim that the Supreme Court's behavior on Trump-related emergency applications is largely a response to lower courts abusing their own powers.

www.stevevladeck.com

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Henry Porter @henryporter.bsky.social · Jul 30

Indeed
bsky.app/profile/henr...

Henry Porter @henryporter.bsky.social · Dec 21

We need serious local news outlets, doing original reporting, subsidized by and aligned with the Democratic Party.

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Reposted by Henry Porter

Jonathan Bernstein @jonathanbernstein.bsky.social · Jul 30

I know people think that Dems are doing nothing but once again it just isn't true. Part II.

(Good that @gregsargent.bsky.social is on this; you would think from some accounts around here that Dems are trying hard to downplay the scandal).

Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · Jul 30

Senate Dems are invoking a 1928 law to demand that DOJ release the Epstein files. I talked to procedural experts and they laid out a scenario in which this could actually work. Not at all assured, but definitely worth trying.

My new piece lays it all out:
newrepublic.com/article/1986...

Trump’s Epstein Fiasco Worsens as Dems Suddenly Find Big New Weapon

Senate Democrats are using a 1928 law to pressure Trump to release the Epstein files. The White House will ignore them. Here’s what could happen next.

newrepublic.com

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Henry Porter @henryporter.bsky.social · Jul 22

There’s a fair amount of Howard Zinn thinking between Hunter and the interviewer that’s not great.

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Henry Porter @henryporter.bsky.social · Jul 22

Minute 43: Advertising for “Ground News” which “balances” NBC with The Federalist so you get the “unbiased truth.” That asymmetrical media regime is killing us. Dems got to get in the game.

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Henry Porter @henryporter.bsky.social · Jul 22

Minute 31: If you haven’t been the subject of the news it’s hard to describe how disorienting it can be to read something and be like, “Is the reporter a psychopath? Have they not met any human beings?” Only to hear normal people *praise* those journalists.

youtube.com/watch?v=XBbk...

Hunter Biden Interview

YouTube video by Channel 5 with Andrew Callaghan

youtube.com

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Henry Porter @henryporter.bsky.social · Jul 20

One of the things killing our democracy is that the professionalization of journalism has turned Enlightenment fantasies about how democracy works into the background assumptions informing the discourse.

Meredith Shiner @meredithshiner.com · Jul 17

The answer was the president of the United States saying CPB money doesn’t fund Sesame Street. It funds making tv accessible for people in rural American asking a billionaire to his face why his grandkids deserved to access Sesame Street but the grandkids of rural American didn’t.

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