Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Michael P. Breen @mpbreen21.bsky.social · 4h

I think Austin has been halfway decent but other than that, yeah just a cesspool of mediocrity

Michael P. Breen @mpbreen21.bsky.social · 4h

If you ever doubt the existence of affirmative action for conservative white men just remember that Ross Douthat exists…

David Rothkopf @djrothkopf.bsky.social · 7h

On NYT Home Page there's a Douthat column w/the headline "Trump's Foreign Policy is Succeeding. He Should Apply It's Lessons at Home." On what planet? Betraying our allies. Blowing up the global trading system. Embracing autocrats. Pulling back support for Ukraine. Helping to support Gaza slaughter.

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Michael P. Breen @mpbreen21.bsky.social · 4h

Amazingly, despite their face plant in the second half of the season, the Timbers need only a home draw (vs SD) or Dallas failing to win at Vancouver to avoid the play-in game

Which remains anything but a sure thing…

#RCTID

Matthew Doyle @mattdoyle.bsky.social · 5h

Best Decision Day storyline is obviously the race for the West Wild card slots:

8. Dallas, 41 pts (at Vancouver)
9. RSL, 40 pts (at St. Louis)
10. Colorado, 40 pts (vs LAFC)
11. San Jose, 38 pts (vs Austin)

The Quakes somehow, some way, still have a path. Ridiculous.

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Michael P. Breen @mpbreen21.bsky.social · 5h

Depraved

Lynn Becker @cmgiulini.bsky.social · 7h

After spending 43 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit, evidence hidden by the prosecution reversed his conviction. Rather than finally enjoying freedom, ICE abducted him for deportation

Depraved.

www.miamiherald.com/news/local/i...

He was wrongfully imprisoned for 43 years. Moments after being released, ICE took him

Subramanyam “Subu” Vedam now faces deportation.

www.miamiherald.com

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Michael P. Breen @mpbreen21.bsky.social · 8h

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again—Noem, Miller, & the rest of them are completely unprepared for the metric f*cktons of weirdness that PDX can mobilize & deploy at a moment’s notice

The Oregonian @oregonian.com · 8h

Portland's famous Unipiper was spotted at the Portland ICE protest where he played his bagpipes in front of Santa, Mr. Potato Head, Garfield and more -- all while surrounded by bubbles.

More on how the tone of Portland's protests has shifted: www.oregonlive.com/crime/2025/1...

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Michael P. Breen @mpbreen21.bsky.social · 8h

Two things can be true:

1. This is a huge failure by @govpritzker.illinois.gov & raises serious doubts about his ability to defeat Trumpism

2. A quarter century of this kind of false equivalency & absurd bothsiderism is why we’re facing an existential fight against Trumpism to begin with

Will Bunch @willbunch.bsky.social · 10h

I saw myself as maybe all in for J.B. Pritzker

But I am losing faith, rapidly.

Police state fascism in America is bigger than Trump. It's backed by Democrats just like Republicans. And it's not going anywhere

unraveled @unraveledpress.com · 11h

Note: it's not even curfew yet.

State police just started pushing people off the business park corner. Here in the road, a brave group of demonstrators are attempting to hold their line.

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unraveled @unraveledpress.com · 17h

More vehicles with masked Border Patrol agents inside departing. It's a busy, busy morning for the secret police.

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Wajahat Ali @wajali.bsky.social · 10h

Huge mistake by Trump to let the 4'10 freak Stephen Miller take center stage during his Presidency. The more people hear and see from Mini Himmler the more they are repulsed. Plus the ICE raids are horrific and inhumane.

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Michael P. Breen @mpbreen21.bsky.social · 10h

Well done everybody. Well done…

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Popehat Agitates And Irritates @kenwhite.bsky.social · 14h

If someone merely acknowledging the humanity of your enemies enrages you, you’re the baddies.

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Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 12h

Unconstitutionally taking money that the law says must be spent on one purpose & using it for something else—when it's to establish personalist control over the FUCKING MILITARY—is about as dangerous a constitutional crisis/failure as you can imagine

Via: www.nbcnews.com/politics/tru...

The Office of Management and Budget sent a notification to Congress about their intent to use research and development funds to pay members of the military, two sources with direct knowledge tell NBC News.

A spokesperson for the OMB confirmed to NBC News that it plans to use the research and development funds and that there are two years' worth of funds available within the Department of Defense.

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Michael P. Breen @mpbreen21.bsky.social · 13h

So. Much. Meritocracy!

Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 1d

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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Schooley @schooley.bsky.social · 13h

When people wonder how Epstein continued to have powerful friends even after everybody knew, consider that a Nazi salute followed by blithely starving children and cutting off their life sustaining medicines wasn’t a deal breaker for anyone in power positions.

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Michael P. Breen @mpbreen21.bsky.social · 13h

The chief news editor of the @nytimes.com

a man in a green shirt sits with his hands on his head in a bowling alley

Alt: The Dude says “yeah, well you know that’s just like your opinion man”

media.tenor.com

Michael P. Breen @mpbreen21.bsky.social · 13h

Does 2 + 2 =4 or does it equal 5? At the @nytimes.com it depends on the narrator

spooky mental haunted house @jesseltaylor.bsky.social · 16h

Imagine if you did this in any other journalistic context

"Did the Tigers or Mariners Win Game 5? In Detroit, Depends on the Narrator."

David Corn @davidcorn.bsky.social · 20h

A classic case of irresponsible both-sidesism from the NYT. The story is that Trump and MAGA propagandists are lying about Portland to incite a conflict, not that there are different views of the matter.

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Michael P. Breen @mpbreen21.bsky.social · 13h

Really just cruel to expect the @nytpitchbot.bsky.social to try to keep up with that

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Michael P. Breen @mpbreen21.bsky.social · 13h

Adolf Hitler: Genocidal maniac or frustrated artist? In Germany, depends on the narrative.

- The @nytimes.com c. 1941

David Corn @davidcorn.bsky.social · 20h

A classic case of irresponsible both-sidesism from the NYT. The story is that Trump and MAGA propagandists are lying about Portland to incite a conflict, not that there are different views of the matter.

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Michael P. Breen @mpbreen21.bsky.social · 13h

Because they are

David Corn @davidcorn.bsky.social · 18h

It looks as if they are trying to kill us

Lena Sun @lenasun.bsky.social · 20h

NEW: @CDCgov hit hard by massive firings that several staff describe to me as a “bloodbath.”
Among those RIFd:
—leadership of the center for immunization and respiratory diseases;
—leadership of global health center
—leadership of the measles outbreak response; 1/4

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Michael P. Breen @mpbreen21.bsky.social · 13h

“At Rome, however, consuls, senators, & knights were rushing into slavery. The more exalted the personage, the grosser his hypocrisy & his haste.”

- Tacitus, Annals, Book I, chap. 6

Zach Everson @zacheverson.com · 1d

“Parliament had turned over its constitutional authority to Hitler and thereby committed suicide, though its body lingered on in an embalmed state.”

Shirer, William L. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (p. 331)

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 1d

“.. Inside the White House, top advisers joke that they are ruling Congress with an “iron fist,” according to people who have heard the comments. Steve Bannon, the influential Trump ally, likened Congress to the Duma, the Russian assembly that is largely ceremonial.”

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

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Michael P. Breen @mpbreen21.bsky.social · 13h

Seriously folks, there’s a lot more where this came from

bsky.app/profile/oreg...

The Oregonian @oregonian.com · 22h

The couple in costumes said they wanted to bring joy to the protests and show that demonstrators are "fun loving people."

Unicorn bride marries Kenny from South Park at Portland ICE protest

The couple in costumes said they wanted to bring joy to the protests and show that demonstrators are "fun loving people."

www.oregonlive.com

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Reposted by Michael P. Breen

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

LOOK AT ALL THE PEOPLE DESPERATELY RUNNING 26 MILES, 385 YARDS TO ESCAPE A WAR ZONE

Senator Ron Wyden @wyden.senate.gov · 6d

It was a beautiful Sunday in Portland. Farmer’s markets, the Portland Marathon, peaceful protests, and some views of Mt. Hood. This city is vibrant, peaceful, and resilient. We do not need a federal occupation, and we sure as hell don’t want one.

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Anil Kalhan @akalhan.bsky.social · 15h

#KavanaughStop

Mother Jones @motherjones.com · 1d

Lawyers have been publicizing a new term to describe ICE's racially targeted detainments: a “Kavanaugh stop.”

Mother Jones reporter Pema Levy explains in this new video:

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Michael P. Breen @mpbreen21.bsky.social · 17h

Antifa is really out of control now

The Oregonian @oregonian.com · 22h

The couple in costumes said they wanted to bring joy to the protests and show that demonstrators are "fun loving people."

Unicorn bride marries Kenny from South Park at Portland ICE protest

The couple in costumes said they wanted to bring joy to the protests and show that demonstrators are "fun loving people."

www.oregonlive.com

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Michael P. Breen @mpbreen21.bsky.social · 17h

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Michael P. Breen @mpbreen21.bsky.social · 17h

The @nytimes.com both-sides topics the way most of us breathe

Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 21h

NYT piece calls these MAGA types "provocateurs." It describes "dueling versions of reality." Both are common MSM tropes.

But these are not provocateurs. They're propagandists. Only one side is employing deliberate deceptions on a vast scale for instrumental ends. 3/

newrepublic.com/article/2016...