Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

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Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 25m

“.. one of the U.S. officials, all of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters, said that Admiral Holsey had raised concerns about the mission and the attacks on the alleged drug boats.”

@nytimes.com
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/16/u...

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Garrett M. Graff @vermontgmg.bsky.social · 6h

This is a huge scandal, one of the worst in modern law enforcement and something that is astoundingly unconstitutional and illegal.

Eric Umansky @ericumansky.bsky.social · 6h

BREAKING from PP

We found immigration agents have held more than 170 *citizens*

The govt doesn't track citizens held. So we did. We tallied:

Nearly 20 kids, two w/ cancer

More than 20 citizens held for day or more, incommunicado

www.propublica.org/article/immi...

by @nicolefoy.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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Kori Schake @kschake.bsky.social · 2h

“This president acts as though one election makes 236 years of constitutional order irrelevant. Instead of trying to work within the Constitution, or to amend it, President Trump is testing how far he can ignore it.”

Opinion | I resigned from the military because of Trump

I could not swear to follow a commander in chief who seems so willing to disregard the Constitution.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Jon @jonp214.bsky.social · 4h

That’s what the mob is for.

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Jon @jonp214.bsky.social · 4h

Stream total war games and see the subs roll in.

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Maia @maiamindel.bsky.social · 6h

Again, Mark Zuckerberg's kids go to a screen-free school with 14 students total and multiple specialized tutors

BeijingPalmer @beijingpalmer.bsky.social · 7h

let me note that one of the actual tests here is going to be 'what do people pushing these ideas want for their own children' and I will bet you a lot of money that the answer is 'the elite university model of Harvard et al' not 'learning through AI slop'

Vlad 🐸 Țepeș @porcupunk.bsky.social · 21h

Wow. Just wow.

"Students pay premium prices for information that AI now delivers instantly and for free. A business student can ask ChatGPT to explain supply chain optimization or generate market analysis in seconds. The traditional lecture-and-test model faces its Blockbuster moment."

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Ruth Ben-Ghiat @ruthbenghiat.bsky.social · 1d

Important: this is exactly how propagandists operate.

Bill McCarthy @billmccarthy.bsky.social · 2d

NEW:

A dramatic voiceover video the White House and Donald Trump shared last week claiming to show "chaos" in Chicago is littered with outdated footage from Florida, Texas, South Carolina, Nebraska, California and Arizona, an AFP investigation found.

factcheck.afp.com/doc.afp.com....

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Lakshya Jain @lakshya.splitticket.org · 7h

I don’t think Fair Fight Action fearmongering about Dems losing 19 seats post-VRA is especially responsible because it’s (a) incorrect and (b) gives people an inclination to simply give in and wail about things without realizing that it‘s way more breakable than that.

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Conor Sen @conorsen.bsky.social · 6h

In any Dem trifecta state where Republicans hold House seats there’s no excuse to have any districts bluer than D+15.

Joel Wertheimer @wertwhile.bsky.social · 6h

I think this probably underrates the places Dems could retaliate. Maine is an obvious place Dems could make two favorable seats rather than one. New York is already looking at getting rid of independent commission.

Lakshya Jain @lakshya.splitticket.org · 7h

We did the math and the net effect of the Supreme Court nerfing the Voting Rights Act, after all the other gerrymandering, is likely that the maps take a consistent, pro-Republican bias roughly matching 2018’s — breakable, but it would be tough. www.theargumentmag.com/p/is-the-sup...

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Hogula 🧛🏻‍♂️🐷🎃 @jessemackinnon.com · 5h

Every malign, sadistic anti-life instinct made manifest in a single man

Ezra David Romero @climatedaddykqed.bsky.social · 6h

CA Sea Otters Could Face New Threats if Trump Weakens Law for Endangered Animals

“It’s mind-boggling when you think about how many species … could actually be affected by a change like this. It’s huge.”

@kqednews.kqed.org @kqedscience.bsky.social

www.kqed.org/science/1998...

California Sea Otters Could Face New Threats if Trump Weakens Law for Endangered Animals | KQED

Advocates say Southern sea otters are thriving in California’s Elkhorn Slough, but could face new risks if a proposed law change weakens the Endangered Species Act.

www.kqed.org

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Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 9h

If you were “prematurely anti fascist” about this you were a hysterical lib, if you were wrong about it you’re a respectable intellectual with lots of billionaire connections bsky.app/profile/gtco...

George Conway 🇺🇸🚫👑🐸 @gtconway.bsky.social · 14h

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/u...

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Chris Mirasola @chrismirasola.bsky.social · 22h

I can’t overstate how entirely untethered to the constitution and past practice this unilateral move to repurpose funds to pay for military pay is. The commander-in-chief clause has precisely 0 bearing on the ability to expend funds. Here’s a list of authorities that do:

National Security Presidential Memorandum/NSPM-8

MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF WAR THE DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET SUBJECT: Use of

www.whitehouse.gov

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John Ganz @lioneltrolling.bsky.social · 9h

In which I call for a Brown Scare and a left-wing McCarthyism.— www.unpopularfront.news/p/the-coming...

The Coming Purge

We're going to need a left-wing Joe McCarthy

www.unpopularfront.news

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The Fig Economy @figgityfigs.bsky.social · 9h

It seems like a bunch of people can only conceptualize of the Civil Rights Struggle as something which, having worked, was fated to have done so; there’s no attempt to think about what it was like as an ongoing concern. No Kings, not being already in the past, can only have failed.

the abbot of unreason (an archaeologist) @merovingians.bsky.social · 21h

you know this attitude is a truly a perfect illustration of how the modern left can't duplicate the Civil Rights Struggle, only cargo cult it

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Sean Casten @seancasten.bsky.social · 23h

Mike Johnson called us back from July 4 recess on 7/3 so he could gut Americans’ healthcare in the Big Ugly bill. Since then, he has only had the House in session for 19 of the subsequent 104 days. That’s how we ended up here.

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Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 11h

Roberts has always felt that the suggestion that white people might discriminate on the basis of race is a profound moral injustice, much greater than black people being denied the right to vote bsky.app/profile/jayw...

Jay Willis @jaywillis.net · 1d

Everything about John Roberts's approach to the Voting Rights Act makes sense when you remember that John Roberts has has always been hostile to the Voting Rights Act, never believed it was appropriate, and has spent most of his 45-year legal career working to hollow it out.

One of the Biggest Cases of the Supreme Court’s Term Is John Roberts’ Decadeslong Pet Project

If there’s one thing the Roberts court has been consistent on, it’s this.

slate.com

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Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 11h

"Trump will fail if people and institutions coordinate against him, which is why his administration is targeting businesses, nonprofits and civil society, proposing corrupting bargains to those who acquiesce and punishing holdouts to terrify the rest into submission."
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/o...

Opinion | Where Trump Is Vulnerable and How to Act on It

www.nytimes.com

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Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 19h

Seems bad. www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

Exclusive | Trump Team Plans IRS Overhaul to Enable Pursuit of Left-Leaning Groups

The effort would install a Trump ally at the IRS’s criminal unit who has drawn up a list of investigative targets.

www.wsj.com

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Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 20h

CDC division within the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) that directs the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) — a bellwether of the country’s health — lost all its planners in last weekend’s firings. www.statnews.com/2025/10/14/c...

CDC team running top survey on health and nutrition is laid off

NHANES has collected data on eating patterns, diabetes, and other common diseases for decades. The CDC team that runs it has been fired.

www.statnews.com

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Joe Walsh @walshfreedom.bsky.social · 21h

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Jon @jonp214.bsky.social · 20h

It’s yet more proof that Online-revolutionaries do not believe in mass population movements and only believe in the legitimacy of Vanguardism of which of course *they’ll* be in the leadership structure of.

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Beau Baumann 🍏 @beaubaumann.bsky.social · 21h

I really think we need to reconceptualize this shutdown as the last stand for the rule of law and Art I. Bring it to default if that’s what it takes. If Congress can’t assert the power of the purse, we are in “move to Portugal” territory of screwed.

Beau Baumann 🍏 @beaubaumann.bsky.social · 22h

This cannot just be about healthcare. The existing constitutional system hangs in the balance. The rule of law is now baked into this shutdown in a huge way.

The New York Times @nytimes.com · 23h

President Trump on Wednesday signed a memorandum expanding his administration’s authority to repurpose unspent federal funds to pay members of the military during the government shutdown, escalating his challenge to the authority of Congress on spending matters.

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Beau Baumann 🍏 @beaubaumann.bsky.social · 22h

This cannot just be about healthcare. The existing constitutional system hangs in the balance. The rule of law is now baked into this shutdown in a huge way.

The New York Times @nytimes.com · 23h

President Trump on Wednesday signed a memorandum expanding his administration’s authority to repurpose unspent federal funds to pay members of the military during the government shutdown, escalating his challenge to the authority of Congress on spending matters.

Trump Signs Memo Expanding His Authority to Spend Federal Money

The president gave Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wide authority to repurpose funds to pay members of the military without approval from Congress, which has the sole constitutional authority to decide federal spending.

nyti.ms

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the abbot of unreason (an archaeologist) @merovingians.bsky.social · 21h

the idea something like No Kings could evolve into something more than occasional marches is beyond their understanding, revolutions must burst forth fully formed, all contradictions resolved

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GHOULLIKEHELLMACHINE @golikehellmachine.com · 21h

i hope platner wins, but asserting that a complete unknown who has been campaigning for like 90 seconds is sure to win an election against one of the most formidable senators in congress is just an embarrassing childish fantasy and should be treated as such. it also does platner no favors.

CJ 🏳️‍🌈🤘 @nemoblue.bsky.social · 1d

my man, nobody is "sure to win" against Susan Collins, she is literally one of the most talented & successful Republican politicians of the last 60+ years. anyone who says ANY Democrat is a sure thing in Maine clearly has no clue what the fuck they're talking about other than their own vibes.

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