Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted

Adam Kinzinger @adamkinzinger.substack.com · 3h

The founders assumed a guy like Trump would come along. They never assumed a congress would so willingly give up their power

This arch thing is bat shit loonery

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Mark Joseph Stern @mjsdc.bsky.social · 9h

The flip side of Callais: Blue states may soon be compelled to "unpack" their majority-minority districts drawn to comply with the Voting Rights Act.

That could net 12+ House seats for Dems if they're ruthless enough.

But at the very real cost of congressional diversity. slate.com/news-and-pol...

Republicans’ near-permanent House majority, however, is not inevitable—even if SCOTUS does deliver a death blow to minority voting rights. That’s because the court’s decision would also allow blue states to draw more efficient Democratic gerrymanders, redrawing current majority-minority districts to maximize the party’s electoral advantage. Freed from the VRA’s constraints, states like New York, New Jersey, and Illinois could move more Democratic voters out of deep-blue districts into red and purple districts, eliminating more than a dozen Republican seats in the House.

Such a strategy would require painful trade-offs: Congress could become even less diverse, since racial minorities in blue states would have fewer opportunities to elect the representatives of their choice. And the number of truly competitive House elections would shrink even more, further eroding democratic accountability. The net effect, though, would be a substantial boost for the Democratic Party that could offset many of the gains that Republicans are poised to reap. The result may not be a Republican-dominated House so much as a Congress with far fewer members of color—an outcome that the justices bent on destroying the Voting Rights Act blithely dismissed on Wednesday.

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Barb McQuade @barbmcquade.bsky.social · 3h

Today at Detroit Metro Airport.

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Alice ❌👑 @a-l-yang.bsky.social · 4h

I’m stoked for us to make this No Kings twice as big as the last one. Find an event and go! We have to take back our freedoms. No one else is going to do it for us.
#NoKings
#Oct18
open.substack.com/pub/demcastu...

From a Viral Protest to a Nationwide Movement: No Kings Returns THIS SATURDAY

Millions took to the streets in June to declare that America has no kings. Join us again on October 18th to shout even louder!

open.substack.com

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Gil Durán @gilduran.com · 4h

Globes, an Israeli business publication, says Gaza could become a "tax haven" with lax regulations for tech companies—and has drawn support from Peter Thiel.

Headline from Globes, Israeli business publication: Jared Kushner and Peter Thiel are also in: Gaza could become a tax haven that will bring about the normalization agreement with Saudi Arabia
The huge economic project of rebuilding Gaza after the war is already attracting interest from countries, billionaires and former leaders • From Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who aspires to establish AI centers in the Strip, to foreign investors looking for enabling regulation • Experts predict: The development initiatives could serve as leverage to promote normalization with Saudi Arabia, also through Kushner's involvement, but the road there is still fraught with political and security obstacles."

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Gil Durán @gilduran.com · 4h

In June, I wrote about how Trump's Gaza fantasy resembles a Network State scheme

www.techpolicy.press/trumps-gaza-...

Trump’s Gaza Fantasy and the Network State: The Tech-Fueled Future of Privatized Sovereignty | TechPolicy.Press

We’re watching the rise of a new anti-democratic extremism—networked, crypto-financed, and cloaked in the language of freedom, writes Gil Duran.

www.techpolicy.press

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Zohran Kwame Mamdani @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social · 3h

It's bing bong season.

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Wajahat Ali @wajali.bsky.social · 3h

"A federal appeals court has extended an order blocking President Donald Trump from deploying National Guard troops in Chicago, saying the administration is unable to show that there is an organized rebellion nor that officials are otherwise unable to uphold law and order in the city."

‘Political opposition is not rebellion’: Appeals court rejects Trump’s rationale for Chicago troop deployment

The court also rebuffed the administration’s argument that judges have no power to review the president’s decisions to federalize the National Guard.

www.politico.com

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Molly Jong-Fast @mollyjongfast.bsky.social · 4h

substack.com/@mollyjongfa...

Molly Jong-Fast (@mollyjongfast)

Some Things That Are Freaking Me Out Right Now.

substack.com

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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 4h

Pritzker: "It's clear that Donald Trump has diminished capacity, which I think is sad -- that the people around him are not getting him help, and instead they're just taking advantage of him. And that's what Stephen Miller is."

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Wajahat Ali @wajali.bsky.social · 4h

When will Chicago police say, "Enough?"

www.cnn.com/2025/10/16/p...

ICE arrests police officer in Chicago suburb and accuses him of being in US illegally | CNN Politics

The Department of Homeland Security says the officer, Radule Bojovic, overstayed a tourist visa that expired in 2015.

www.cnn.com

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DemCast USA @demcast.com · 6h

On 10/17, join Heather Cox Richardson, Senator Ruben Gallego, Ezra Levin, Bill McKibben, Cristina Jimenez for The Time is Now: Meeting the Moment. The event will examine the immediate responses we must engage in.
Register ⬇️

https://www.mobilize.us/volunteerblue/event/850412/

The Time is Now! Meeting The Moment - Featuring Heather Cox Richardson and Sen. Gallego · Volunteer Blue/Together We Elect

The pace of the damage being inflicted on our country is increasing with every passing week. Whether it's immigration, the environment, our inalienable rights, or economic justice, we have no time to wait for tomorrow. The urgency of saving our democra...

www.mobilize.us

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Wajahat Ali @wajali.bsky.social · 4h

newrepublic.com/post/201721/...

Would CBS News Have Run This Story a Week Ago?

Bari Weiss’s fingerprints can already be seen.

newrepublic.com

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concerned2.bsky.social @concerned2.bsky.social · 4h

BOYCOTT CBS...now

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Pam Herd @pamherd.bsky.social · 4h

Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Detroit Metro Airport

ATTENTION:
The views expressed in this TSA controlled video do not represent the views of the Wayne County
Airport Authority.
The Wayne County Airport Authority does not engage in partisan politics.
Thank You

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concerned2.bsky.social @concerned2.bsky.social · 4h

NO, this is not how anyone should ever talk

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Patrick Chovanec @prchovanec.bsky.social · 4h

No, this is how Nazis talk in their own spaces. I don’t know abut this dude, but I never talked about gassing people and raping women when I was hanging out with my pals.

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Rolling Stone @rollingstone.com · 4h

“I’m battling with the school because they don’t believe anything is wrong with Dakota. They don’t believe he has long Covid. They don’t believe long Covid exists.”

Long Covid Is Real -- And It's Changing an Entire Generation

bit.ly

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Sen. Adam Schiff @schiff.senate.gov · 4h

Using taxpayer dollars for propaganda has been illegal for nearly 75 years.

That hasn't stopped Donald Trump.

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ProPublica @propublica.org · 4h

The Trump administration’s slashing of budgets and staff have Great Lakes scientists concerned that they have lost the ability to protect the public from toxic algal blooms, which can kill animals and sicken people.

(Published May)

Millions of People Depend on the Great Lakes’ Water Supply. Trump Decimated the Lab Protecting It.

The Trump administration’s slashing of budgets and staff have Great Lakes scientists concerned that they have lost the ability to protect the public from toxic algal blooms, which can kill animals and...

www.propublica.org

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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 4h

Pritzker: "Stephen Miller is clearly ordering people to break the law. So he should know that yeah, it may be three years from now that he is held accountable, but I think it's important for them to know that whatever they do now, it's not like we're going to forget."

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Marc Elias @marcelias.bsky.social · 4h

When Donald Trump shoots the person on 5th ave, we shouldn't be asking if that person was jay walking. And I don't care if a career prosecutor thinks it's right or wrong. Who do you think are in all these courtrooms advocating for terrible things? Career DOJ lawyers who have made lot of compromises.

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Angry @angrystaffer.bsky.social · 9h

If the Commander of Southern Command is stepping down less than a year into his tenure, I’m guessing we’re about to find out the intelligence picture on these “narco-terrorist” vessels that we’re blowing out of the water isn’t as solid as it’s being portrayed.

Blue Freedom Quest 💙🌊💙🌊 @bluefreedomquest.bsky.social · 9h

Head of the U.S. Military’s Southern Command Is Stepping Down, Officials Say www.nytimes.com/2025/10/16/u...

Head of the U.S. Military’s Southern Command Is Stepping Down, Officials Say

www.nytimes.com

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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 4h

I’m watching Gaslight (for maybe the 20th time) - when even an abusive, sociopathic gaslighter was at least debonair and cultured.

Ingrid Bergman’s performance is stunning btw. And Angela Lansbury (17 years old) as the insolent housemaid….. just superb.

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Marc Elias @marcelias.bsky.social · 4h

I will put it plainly. If you want to access pro-democracy news, information and analysis while also supporting independent media that will never bow down, compromise or obey, sign up as a Democracy Docket subscriber or paying member today. hubs.ly/Q03M8rql0

Thanks.

Marc

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