Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Hooper @hooperhooper.bsky.social · 4m

Jealous of your Sawzall

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Elizabeth Warren @warren.senate.gov · 7m

Price increases for "things" under Donald Trump:

Coffee is up 26%
Baby strollers are up 25%
Beef is up 14%
School supplies are up 7%
Electricity is up 5%

Car prices are at a RECORD high.

And thanks to Republicans in Congress, health insurance premiums are about to DOUBLE.

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steven monacelli @stevanzetti.bsky.social · 8h

In 2024, I wrote a story for Texas Monthly about Michelle Haas, whose complaints resulted in the removal of books about slavery from historic Texas slave plantations. Haas sued us, alleging defamation, and was represented by the preferred lawyer of billionaire J.P. Bryan. Today, we won on appeal.

The header of the appeals court decision:

NUMBER 13-25-00005-CV

COURT OF APPEALS

THIRTEENTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS

The conclusion of the appeals court decision, which states: The trial court's judgment is reversed. We remand the cause to the trial court with

instructions to (1) grant appellants' TCPA motion to dismiss, (2) award court costs and reasonable attorney's fees to appellants in accordance with the statute, (3) consider whether to assess sanctions against Haas in accordance with the statute. See TEX. Civ. PRAC. & REM. CODE ANN. § 27.009(a).

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The New York Times @nytimes.com · 2h

A Manhattan federal judge on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to restore nearly $34 million in antiterrorism and security funding for the New York City subway and regional railroads that he said had been withheld illegally.

Judge Orders FEMA to Release $34 Million for New York Subway Security

The administration has refused to release the money because New York is a so-called sanctuary city. It was “a blatant violation of the law,” the judge wrote.

nyti.ms

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Meg Reid 🦦 @megireid.bsky.social · 2h

It's wild to me that Tim Scott is advocating for reopening the government based on half a million South Carolinians losing their SNAP benefits-- a program the GOP has been trying to destroy since they got back into power (see the below article from July).

share.google/Pa48VKicmBfi...

South Carolina SNAP recipients and food banks brace for food insecurity amid federal cuts

While SNAP recipients calculate food assistance cuts under the One Big Beautiful Bill, food banks calculate the double whammy of more people turning to them as just federal dollars to fund food banks ...

share.google

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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 3h

🚨WOW. A unanimous per curiam (meaning no named author) panel of the 7th Circuit, made up of a Bush appointee, an Obama appointee, and a Trump appointee, decline to step in and block a lower court order barring the deployment of the National Guard in Chicago!

Jon Seidel @jonseidel.bsky.social · 3h

#BREAKING The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refuses to undo an order blocking deployment of National Guard troops within Illinois.

"We conclude that the district court's factual findings … were not clearly erroneous, and that the facts do not justify the President's actions in Illinois."

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Colin Campbell @raleighreporter.bsky.social · 3h

Newly proposed #ncga Congressional redistricting map just dropped. Looks like it swaps a few counties in the east to make NC-1 into a district where Trump got 55% last year, while moving Rep. Don Davis' home county into GOP Rep. Greg Murphy's district #ncpol

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Jon Seidel @jonseidel.bsky.social · 3h

#BREAKING The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refuses to undo an order blocking deployment of National Guard troops within Illinois.

"We conclude that the district court's factual findings … were not clearly erroneous, and that the facts do not justify the President's actions in Illinois."

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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 3h

Chris Murphy: "This is a country that's falling apart because Trump is in the middle of an authoritarian takeover. We're not on the verge of an authoritarian takeover. We're in the middle of it ... I have no moral obligation to vote for a budget that literally funds the destruction of our democracy"

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Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 21h

Here's the transcript of Trump's disclosures of CIA allegedly covert actions in Venezuela. These actions are no longer covert as a result of Trump's disclosure. At this point the entire program of activities in Venezuela needs to be reported in full to Congress to comply with the War Powers Act.

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Dr. William Horne @wihorne.bsky.social · 9h

So very tired of this nonsense.

Variant of the “is this a pigeon “ meme. “Americans” sees “fascism” and asks “is this communism?”
Meme background: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/is-this-a-pigeon

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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 4h

Jeffries: "All of these crisis events stem from Republican policies that are colliding at the same time, which is why Republicans are hiding, refusing to come back to Capitol Hill."

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Perry Bacon @perrybaconjr.bsky.social · 5h

Between this and major media orgs rejecting the new rules for covering the Pentagon, we are finally seeing resistance and more importantly COLLECTIVE RESISTANCE from elite organizations. Should have happened January-June, but better later than never.

Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 5h

Penn joins MIT and Brown in saying “no” to Trump extortion move.

Penn rejects White House proposal for special funding treatment

With the decision, Penn becomes the third university to decline the offer.

www.thedp.com

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McKenzie Funk @mckenziefunk.com · 5h

The reality of Kavanaugh stops: American citizens dragged, tackled, beaten, tased, and shot by immigration agents. Citizens held in the rain while in their underwear. A pregnant citizen's door blown off while Kristi Noem watched. Important story by @nicolefoy.bsky.social of @propublica.org

Screenshot of the article by Nicole Foy of ProPublica:
"When the Supreme Court recently allowed immigration agents in the Los Angeles area to take race into consideration during sweeps, Justice Brett Kavanaugh said that citizens shouldn’t be concerned.

“If the officers learn that the individual they stopped is a U.S. citizen or otherwise lawfully in the United States,” Kavanaugh wrote, “they promptly let the individual go.”

But that is far from the reality many citizens have experienced. Americans have been dragged, tackled, beaten, tased and shot by immigration agents. They’ve had their necks kneeled on. They’ve been held outside in the rain while in their underwear. At least three citizens were pregnant when agents detained them. One of those women had already had the door of her home blown off while Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem watched.

About two dozen Americans have said they were held for more than a day without being able to phone lawyers or loved ones."

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Eric Klinenberg @ericklinenberg.bsky.social · 7h

For those of you keeping score, 18-22 year-old students calling for an end to slaughter in Gaza are so racist they need to be expelled or deported, but 24-35 year-olds celebrating Hitler, rape, and, um, racism are just kids being kids so chill.

Also, racism is over so no need for Voting Right Act.

JD Vance brushes off racist texts by adults in Republican group chat as ‘what kids do’

Vice-president downplays messages such as ‘I love Hitler’ in chat by 24 to 35-year-olds to ‘stupid jokes’

www.theguardian.com

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Democracy North Carolina @democracync.bsky.social · 7h

#NCGOP leadership has confirmed they plan to rig the 2026 midterm elections by further gerrymandering Congressional District 1, the state's historic Black Belt district. This would give Republicans control of nearly 80% of North Carolina's Congressional delegation in a purple state. #NCpol

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Heather Cherone @heathercherone.bsky.social · 6h

BREAKING: Mayor Brandon Johnson called Thursday for more than $617 million in new taxes on the wealthiest Chicagoans and largest firms in order to blunt cuts imposed by the Trump administration while avoiding drastic cuts in city services and thousands of layoffs. @wttw.bsky.social

Mayor Brandon Johnson Calls for $617M in New Taxes to Close Budget Gap, Avoid Layoffs

“The line to draw here is that we either are going to protect working people in Chicago from Trump’s cuts, or we are going to open up the floodgates and allow these individuals to be hurt and harmed f...

news.wttw.com

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Columbia Journalism Review @columjournreview.bsky.social · 7h

Pulitzer-winning natsec reporter James Risen calls the Pentagon press corps' eviction "an opportunity to be more adversarial. You've got to write tough stories to convince people to take you seriously." Read Ivan L. Nagy. www.cjr.org/news/the-pen...

The Pentagon press corps is gone.

As reporters for major news outlets turn in their government-issued press badges rather than accept new restrictions, some argue that the best military journalism is yet to come.

www.cjr.org

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Charles Ornstein @charlesornstein.bsky.social · 6h

Extraordinary NEW story: We Found That More Than 170 U.S. Citizens Have Been Held by Immigration Agents. They’ve Been Kicked, Dragged and Detained for Days. @nicolefoy.bsky.social w/ photos by @sbmaneyphoto.bsky.social

More Than 170 U.S. Citizens Have Been Held by Immigration Agents. They’ve Been Kicked, Dragged and Detained for Days.

The government does not track how often immigration agents grab citizens. So ProPublica did. Our tally — almost certainly incomplete — includes people who were held for days without a lawyer. And near...

www.propublica.org

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97.9 The Hill WCHL & Chapelboro.com @wchlchapelboro.bsky.social · 6h

Decade-long political quarrels over legislative and executive powers in N.C. advanced Wednesday as a state appeals court permitted the Republican-controlled General Assembly to chip away at the Democratic governor’s appointment authority.

Via @apnews.com.

North Carolina Court: GOP Can Narrow Governor’s Appointment Powers on Some Boards - Chapelboro.com

An appeals court permitted the Republican-controlled legislature to further chip away at the Democratic governor's appointment authority.

chapelboro.com

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David Bier @davidjbier.bsky.social · 7h

A US citizen in Chicago was kidnapped by Border Patrol and dumped on the streets half a mile away. EVEN THOUGH HE WAS FILMING IT. They do not care about getting caught. They have no fear of accountability.

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David Simon @audacityofdespair.bsky.social · 7h

"House slave."
Think about this for a brief moment. Think of just how fecal and vicious a man has to use such a term in this context. This is leadership by the absolute worst of us, the most vile trash that we could scrape from the gutter and elevate to govern a nation.

Jon Cooper @joncooper-us.bsky.social · 21h

😡😡😡😡

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Will Warren @statsbywill.bsky.social · 8h

This story is horrific. Kudos to the kids for fighting back. Read today's issue of the Indiana Daily Student online, complete with redacted advertising space and a killer opening statement. issuu.com/idsnews/docs...

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Democracy Now! @democracynow.org · 7h

Why Is Trump Bailing Out Argentina’s President Milei While Firing Thousands of Workers in U.S.?

Why Is Trump Bailing Out Argentina’s President Javier Milei?

We speak to Argentine journalist Pablo Calvi about the U.S. government’s multibillion-dollar bailout for Argentina, which could grow from $20 billion to $40 billion as Argentina is rocked by an ongoin...

www.democracynow.org

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Mark Jacob @markjacob.bsky.social · 8h

A terrific AFP fact check uses reverse image searches to expose how a White House video took scenes from Florida, Texas, South Carolina and Nebraska and lied that they showed "Chicago is in chaos."
factcheck.afp.com/doc.afp.com....

Post from WH about Chicago "in chaos," showing scene from another state.

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