Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Michael Gatton

Stephen Wolf @stephenwolf.bsky.social · 2h

North Carolina Republicans' proposed congressional gerrymander would likely elect an 11-3 GOP majority in a 50-50 swing state.

Black Democrat Don Davis' 1st District would shift from Trump+3 to Trump+12 & likely elect a white Republican.

Interactive map here: davesredistricting.org/join/3f06a7f...

Image of a congressional map proposed by North Carolina Republicans for 2026 that was drawn to elect an 11-to-3 Republican majority in this swing state. The districts are colored by the 2024 presidential winner's margin. Donald Trump won the 11 red districts by strong but not overwhelming margins while Kamala Harris won 3 districts by lopsided margins. Trump won 9 of the red districts by at least 14 percentage points, one more seat by 12 points, and the final seat by 9.5 points.

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Reposted by Michael Gatton

Anne Hilborn @annewhilborn.bsky.social · 2h

It is a pretty low bar, but I appreciate that Mamdani explicitly states that the goal of mass deportation and hollowing out immigrant communities is wrong, not just the theatrical cruelty with which it is currently being done.
A lot of dem politicians, even the loud ones, don't meet that bar.

jon ben-menachem @jbenmenachem.com · 2h

like for real for real

Ultimately, a major reason why Trump might intervene in New York would be part of an ICE campaign to round up and deport undocumented immigrants. That’s been an argument, pretense he’s made in several places where the National Guard eventually comes. There are an estimated 400,000 undocumented immigrants in New York. And as you found as you ran this primary that was so successful, and you met with many Trump-supporting New Yorkers who turned around and supported you, is that their viewpoint on these issues is complicated. And many of them have serious objections to undocumented immigrants and many of them have serious objections to the level of undocumented immigration in a place like New York City. But I don’t hear from your campaign that you’re going to be participating in any Trump-led effort to detain, deport undocumented immigrants.

I’m not looking to assist Donald Trump in his attempt to fulfill his campaign promise to create the single largest deportation force in American history.

Even if you know that some of your — maybe perhaps many of your — supporters want illegal immigration to be treated differently than it has.

What I’ve heard from my supporters and what I’ve heard from New Yorkers, frankly, is a desire for dignity. And in looking at what ICE’s presence has been in New York City, what it has meant for our city, seeing at the very least an absence of that, and in fact an attack, not only on the question of dignity, but on the very fabric of the city. There are New Yorkers I know of who took down the numbers on every apartment on their floor. So that ICE wouldn’t know where anyone lived. I spoke to a Dominican barbershop owner in Harlem who told me that all of his barbers have legal status and they are terrified of coming to work. A general sense of the hollowing out of the immigrant hubs of this city. And no, I’m not going to help Donald Trump in doing so. I’m in fact going to fight Donald Trump when he looks to tear families apart. And I’m going to do so because I know what the stakes are when he detains a 6-year-old girl from Queens and deports her. I know that her principal is writing a letter to ICE, saying please don’t do this.

I mean here you’re saying the method can’t be separated from the goal and you’re rejecting the method——

I think also I reject the goal. It’s not just the manner in which this detention is happening. It’s the fact that the goal here is cruelty. The goal is to rip these families apart and the goal is to attack so much of what is the foundation of the city as an immigrant city.

Would you ever meet with President Trump in the hope that you could defang this person, this president, who may have ill will toward you, but frankly doesn’t really know you at all?

Absolutely, I will meet with President Trump. I think it’s incumbent upon any mayor of this city to meet with the president of the country. What I won’t do is work with President Trump at the expense of the city. That’s the critique that I’ve made of Andrew Cuomo and of Eric Adams, is that their conversations with Trump have more to do with themselves than to do it with the people of the city. It’s not that they’re talking to him, it’s that who are they talking to him about?

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Jordan @slclunk.com · 8h

Media is awesome because it can show an organization trying to get rid a guy who is underwater with state Democrats by 50 points, undermines any Democratic policy, and is just completely off-putting to anyone who has to spend five minutes around him; and they phrase it as “seeding discord”

Axios @axios.com · 12h

SCOOP: Top Democrats in Pennsylvania are maneuvering to run against Sen. John Fetterman in a 2028 primary, threatening to tear the party apart in the biggest battleground state in the nation.

Scoop: Dems plot Fetterman ouster

www.axios.com

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James Downie @jamescdownie.bsky.social · 9h

I too don't want anyone taking medical advice from RFK, but guess who voted to confirm him as the person people should take medical advice from.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 9h

Thune: "If I were a woman I'd be talking to my doctor and not taking advice from RFK"

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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez @ocasio-cortez.house.gov · 9h

Republicans are trafficking the lie that this shutdown is because Democrats want to give undocumented immigrants free health care.

That's not true, and it's not the law.

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Bebe Neuwirth (she/her) @bebeneuwirth.bsky.social · 9h

Middle age is pulling a muscle in your back not too badly but just enough to annoy you all day, by placing a tea cup in the sink while worrying.

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Zohran Kwame Mamdani @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social · 9h

An important message to the people of New York City.

More information at zohranfornyc.com/birthday

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Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 1d

That’s $5 billion more than the entire annual USAID budget. All to one country. To rescue one friend of the president’s.

Ilhan Omar @ilhanmn.bsky.social · 1d

Trump found another $20 BILLION to give to Argentina, totaling their bailout to $40 BILLION.

Yet we can’t afford to prevent millions of Americans from losing their healthcare.

Shame.

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Patrick Chovanec @prchovanec.bsky.social · 22h

Whatever you think about CFPB, it was created by Congress (as part of the Dodd-Frank Act) and can only be abolished by Congress, not by the President acting as a dictator.

Reuters @reuters.com · 1d

White House budget director Vought plans to shut down CFPB within months, says it's no longer protecting consumers reut.rs/4qjMIyT

White House budget director Vought plans to shut down CFPB within months, says it's no longer protecting consumers

White House budget director Russell Vought said he wants to close the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and expects to do so within the next two to three months.

reut.rs

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southpaw @nycsouthpaw.bsky.social · 1d

Politico received an initial tip that a Taylor staffer had a swastika neatly pinned to his cubicle during a zoom call. When confronted, the congressman’s press office pretty implausibly sought to present the situation as a police matter, and Politico went along with that in its headline and lede.

Zach D Roberts @zdroberts.bsky.social · 1d

Capitol Police called to investigate swastika in GOP congressional office

An American flag altered to include an image of a swastika was found in Rep. Dave Taylor’s office.
www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

Capitol Police called to investigate swastika in GOP congressional office

An American flag altered to include an image of a swastika was found in Rep. Dave Taylor’s office.

www.politico.com

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Mother Jones @motherjones.com · 21h

No one in the GOP Hitler chat was a "kid," JD Vance. We checked.

By scanning public records and media reports, Mother Jones determined the ages of eight of the 11 participants in the abhorrent leaked texts from young Republicans that Politico covered on Tuesday: They appear to range from 24 to 35.

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Eliot Higgins @eliothiggins.bsky.social · 16h

JD Vance brushes off racist texts by adults in Republican group chat as ‘what kids do’ www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

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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Hunter @hunterub.bsky.social · 1d

There's literally no reason for Congress to exist if any random freak in the presidential orbit can nullify laws and seize federal funds. All of this is plainly illegal, but Mike Johnson leads the most corrupt Congress in US history (and by a wide margin.)

Reuters @reuters.com · 1d

White House budget director Vought plans to shut down CFPB within months, says it's no longer protecting consumers reut.rs/4qjMIyT

White House budget director Vought plans to shut down CFPB within months, says it's no longer protecting consumers

White House budget director Russell Vought said he wants to close the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and expects to do so within the next two to three months.

reut.rs

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News Eye @newseye.bsky.social · 1d

NEW: A huge ice sculpture of the word “DEMOCRACY” is currently melting away in front of the US Capitol.

Organized by artists and activists, it was commissioned by the Up In Arms campaign, an effort led by Ben Cohen, the cofounder of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream.

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Michael Gatton @mgatton.bsky.social · 13h

🤞

The Liberty Pear @thelibertypear.com · 19h

It’s over, Jeffries.

www.axios.com/2025/10/16/h...

Scoop: Dozens of Democratic House candidates won't commit to backing Hakeem Jeffries

"If there's a contingency of 10 to 12 of them and they're sticking together, I think it's going to really shake things up."

www.axios.com

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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 15h

I confess I don't totally understand, why this rather than so many other things, but hey, it's good to see a little press solidarity!

US news outlets reject Pentagon press access policy

At least 20 news organizations declined to sign a new Pentagon access policy for journalists, warning of the potential for less comprehensive coverage of the world’s most powerful military ahead of a Tuesday deadline to accept new restrictions.

www.reuters.com

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Acyn @acyn.bsky.social · 21h

AOC: The problem is that the Trump administration, they think that destroying our health care, making sure that housing is too expensive to live in, that jacking up the cost of our groceries—they think all of this is about hurting Democrats. What they are doing is hurting Americans

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Phillips OBrien @phillipspobrien.bsky.social · 13h

Indeed, repeating any White House claim that it is about to really help Ukraine or punish Russia is foolish. Cant people see that for months the White House has been trying to manipulate public opinion on this issue?

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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 22h

LOL! 🎯

Zohran Kwame Mamdani @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social · 1d

tfw your 1,000-word tweets aren't working

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 1d

last i checked these young republicans were like 25 years old. but this is a classic case of infantilization to diminish the significance of the offense. www.yahoo.com/news/article...

Vance downplays group chat messages: ‘Kids do stupid things, especially young boys.’

The vice president called the texts "edgy, offensive jokes."

www.yahoo.com

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Rachel Maddow @maddow.msnbc.com · 1d

"In unison."

Amen.

www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

Reporters leave Pentagon en masse after refusing to sign on to new rules

After turning in their press credentials, journalists covering the Defense Department walked out rather than comply with its restrictive new policies.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Oliver Willis @owillis.bsky.social · 1d

so instead progressives ignore racism and misogyny while the establishment campaigns with the cheneys and ignores aoc. thats how we get trump term 2 in many ways.

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Oliver Willis @owillis.bsky.social · 1d

heres one reason why democrats dont want to invest in media, but the host here is absolutely right cc @senategabe.bsky.social www.mediaite.com/media/news/s...

‘Such Bullsh*t!’ Furious Podcaster Scorches Stunned Cory Booker for Appeasing Trump

Booker found himself stunned into silence as he faced an unusually blunt accusation that some of his past votes were a “capitulation” to Trump.

www.mediaite.com

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Oliver Willis @owillis.bsky.social · 1d

here's cory booker @booker.senate.gov absolutely crapping the bed when given mild and correct criticism over his votes for trump nominees while claiming to be a leader of the opposition against fascism. kudos to the @ivehaditpodcast.bsky.social podcast

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Oliver Willis @owillis.bsky.social · 1d

this is what happens when your whole bubble is created by fox news. americans dont like monarchy. we've built our cultural identity around opposition to monarchy for nearly 250 years. donald trump is not going to get americans to suddenly be pro-monarchy.

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