Brian Lyman

@brianlyman.bsky.social

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Editor, Alabama Reflector. Podcaster, Becoming Lincoln. 2024 Pulitzer finalist. Past: MGM Advertiser; Press-Register; The Anniston Star; Norwich Bulletin; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Politics, history, science, horrific puns.

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They Might Be Giants, The Long Grift youtu.be/ZsOdCZ8fleU?...

Other than Hurt by Johnny Cash and any version of The Sound of Silence, what are your favorite cover versions of famous songs?

They Might Be Giants (Puppets) - "The Long Grift" CD QUALITY AUDIO ORIGINAL VIDEOyoutu.be I am so tired of seeing this video with the shitty VHS sound, so... I fixed it with my first-gen CD audio. Enjoy. I love this version of this classic from Hedwig like it was my first born! Please, enjoy! From the 2003 CD "Wig In a Box," which was a limited-release charity CD for the Harvey Milk School in NY.

The New York Times employing a headline used by the Murdoch-owned Sun to attack James Callaghan.

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Brian Lyman

Sen. Garlan Gudger, R-Cullman, underwent a “brief surgical procedure” Thursday to address internal bleeding after a jet ski accident. A news release said the two-term senator's "prognosis for recovery was good." alabamareflector.com/briefs/alaba... #alpolitics

Alabama Sen. Garlan Gudger injured in jet ski accident • Alabama Reflectoralabamareflector.com Physicians had indicated that recovery for Sen. Garlan Gudger, R-Cullman, was likely following a holiday accident.

I’ve written at length in recent years about the pre-Montgomery Bus Boycott battles that Black southerners waged against Jim Crow. There’s an attitude that the modern Civil Rights Movement was a sudden explosion, but it was the fruit of years of planning. And superhuman courage.

There's another key attribute of hope that doesn't get mentioned much. Hope fights. Even when victory seems unlikely—especially then—hope fights. We should be hopeful people. Full essay: www.the-reframe.com/a-fools-hope/

A Fool's Hopewww.the-reframe.com How to be hopeful people in this age of deliberate ignorance, empty optimism, lazy cynicism, and manufactured despair. A more useful definition of hope than these false ones we're offered.

So the Lib Dems (might) be back to where they were pre-coalition?

Soon

Happy Independence Day. A column about the Americans who gave us our freedom: those who had the least of it.

Freedom isn't free • Alabama Reflectoralabamareflector.com Throughout American history, the people denied freedom have been the most active in expanding our ideas of what liberty is.

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Brian Lyman

Via @jemmakstephenson.bsky.social : Alabama State Superintendent Eric Mackey said Wednesday that the state Department of Education’s computer systems had been breached last month and that students and employees of the department may have been affected.

Alabama Department of Education targeted in cyberattack • Alabama Reflectoralabamareflector.com State Superintendent Eric Mackey that parents and employees should monitor their credit and assume data was compromised.

The consequences of an election fall heaviest on the marginalized and vulnerable, and as someone who's seen that in Alabama for nearly two decades, I really try to steer away from treating politics as a circus.

Wild to watch horserace journalists suggest the most politically suicidal shit and pretend it's savvy. www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

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Brian Lyman

Via @alander.bsky.social: Alabama state officials argued in a motion Monday that inmates and civil rights groups accusing DOC of employing slave labor did not pursue all available administrative channels and improperly split their claims across multiple lawsuits.

Alabama state officials defend Alabama prison practices amid labor exploitation claims • Alabama Reflectoralabamareflector.com Alabama officials argued that inmates and civil rights groups didn't exhaust administrative remedies before suing over alleged slave labor.

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Via @jemmakstephenson.bsky.social: Attorneys for transgender youth and their families, who are seeking to overturn Alabama's ban, asked for the stay after the U.S. Supreme Court took up a similar case in Tennessee.

Federal judge stays potential trial over Alabama's gender-affirming medical care ban • Alabama Reflectoralabamareflector.com U.S. District Judge Liles C. Burke wrote that the state can continue enforcing the ban while the Supreme Court takes up the issue.

Eager to join my fellow Americans tomorrow as we celebrate the end of the U.K. general election

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Brian Lyman

A Montgomery circuit court judge Tuesday said he would extend a hold on medical cannabis licensing in Alabama, further extending a delay in the program, approved by the Legislature in 2021.

Alabama judge extends hold on medical cannabis licensing • Alabama Reflectoralabamareflector.com A Montgomery circuit judge continued to block licenses but directed parties in the medical cannabis licensing lawsuit to negotiate investigative hearings.

Wrote this column for Independence Day. The National Monument to Freedom is a reminder that America’s steps toward real justice and freedom have always been led by the oppressed and marginalized.

Freedom isn't free • Alabama Reflectoralabamareflector.com Throughout American history, the people denied freedom have been the most active in expanding our ideas of what liberty is.

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Brian Lyman

She won a Pulitzer for exposing how the country's poorest state spent federal welfare money. Now she might go to jail. "The rabbit's got the gun now," said a lawyer for former Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant, who is trying to force reporter Anna Wolfe to reveal her sources.

She exposed how the nation's poorest state spent federal welfare money. Now she might go to jail.www.nbcnews.com "The rabbit's got the gun now," said a lawyer for former Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant, who is trying to force reporter Anna Wolfe to reveal her sources.

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Reply to

b-boy bouiebaisse

the world in which the president is throwing his opponents in jail is not a world where you can just ask a judge to let you out

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“The world Defendants attempt to portray—one of rampant on-demand sterilization, nefarious organizations pushing unsafe treatment to serve political ends, and where transgender youth are not actually transgender—does not exist,” the DOJ wrote in opposition to a Alabama attorney general's motion.

DOJ, families of transgender youth oppose summary judgment in lawsuit over care ban • Alabama Reflectoralabamareflector.com The Department of Justice and plaintiffs alleged that the Attorney General's office did not use undisputed facts.

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The rule would require employers to monitor workers’ heat exposure, provide cool-down areas and take mandatory cool-down breaks.

Biden administration announces new rule to protect workers from heat-related illnesses • Alabama Reflectoralabamareflector.com The rule would require employers to monitor workers’ heat exposure, provide cool-down areas and take mandatory cool-down breaks.

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The Autauga-Prattville Library Board of Trustees, facing controversy and litigation over its policies on book removal, passed a resolution last week declaring the board would have the final say on what books could be displayed.

Autauga-Prattville Library Board approves book removal policy as controversy continues • Alabama Reflectoralabamareflector.com Library Board members passed a resolution allowing patrons to appeal decisions about books. Critics still cite free speech violations.

Authoritarianism that had official judicial approval (e.g. Giles v. Harris).

Many Black Americans are one generation away from formal authoritarianism. That's not how we often talk about policies like Jim Crow but that's what it was.

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“This nation was founded on the principle that there are no kings in America,” Biden said. “Each of us is equal before the law. No one — no one — is above the law, not even the president of the United States.”

‘No kings in America’: Biden slams U.S. Supreme Court ruling granting Trump immunity • Alabama Reflectoralabamareflector.com Biden said the 6-3 decision contradicted the spirit of the country’s founding that no one is above the law.

For anyone interested, I just finished Season 3 of Becoming Lincoln, which looks at how a group of flawed, bickering people came together to fight a slaveholder oligarchy and a court system determined to give the oligarchs a veto over democracy.

‎Becoming Lincoln: A Sublimity of Impudence on Apple Podcastspodcasts.apple.com ‎Show Becoming Lincoln, Ep A Sublimity of Impudence - May 15, 2024

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Via @alander.bsky.social: About 370,000 Alabamians were removed from Medicaid in the 10 months after federal restrictions on disenrollment expired earlier this year, according to an estimate from KFF, a health policy research and news organization.

370,000 Alabamians removed from Medicaid after COVID restrictions lifted • Alabama Reflectoralabamareflector.com About 370,000 Alabamians were removed from Medicaid after federal restrictions expired, far exceeding KFF's 2019 estimate of 170,000 for a year.

The Scott family’s case for freedom was open and shut based on both legal precedent and congressional action, and the only way to deny that was sheer corruption by the state courts even before the case got to Taney.

john roberts currently neck and neck with roger taney for worst chief justice in american history

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Via @jemmakstephenson.bsky.social: Whether or not Alabama lawmakers follow Louisiana and mandate Ten Commandments displays in public schools, old rulings on the displays are on "shaky ground," according to experts.

Old cases regulating Ten Commandments displays may be on 'shaky ground' • Alabama Reflectoralabamareflector.com The Alabama Constitution allows the display of the Ten Commandments in public spaces, including schools, but does not mandate it.

In journalism history: — Walter Lippmann gave us the idea of objectivity; — He refused to define it, or much else (A.J. Liebling called him “the greatest on-the-one-hand this writer in the world today”) — People who thought they were dialoguing with Lippmann were reply guys talking to themselves.

The U.S. government authorized 75,000 "Four Minute Men" to deliver speeches at theaters while movie reels were being changed (which took four minutes) in support of U.S. joining World War I. Fascinating comms/propaganda history @annaleen.bsky.social 🧪 www.scientificamerican.com/article/this...

This 1920s Debate Explains Why So Many Americans Hate the News Mediawww.scientificamerican.com Brawls over the honesty of online and cable news today owe their origins to World War I and a debate that divides us still

My column this week. Some Independence Day-thoughts on who we need to thank for our freedom, after a visit to EJI’s monument to the victims of slavery.

Freedom isn't free • Alabama Reflectoralabamareflector.com Throughout American history, the people denied freedom have been the most active in expanding our ideas of what liberty is.

Nice to see Patchogue, my hometown, featured here.

The Angst and the Joy of Celebrating Pride Month in a Small Townwww.nytimes.com In New York’s suburban and rural communities, where L.G.B.T.Q. people can feel more isolated, Pride events often hold special meaning.

My hottest take on Thursday night’s debate is that social media amplifies whatever emotion you’re feeling in the moment and should not be treated as a place to get detached analysis of breaking news.