Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Will Smirk for Food (he/him) #FBR @smirk4food.com · 13m

Pete Hegseth tried to force Pentagon reporters to become mouthpieces for Trump’s Department of War. Nearly every major outlet—left, right, and center—told him to shove it. Journalism is not stenography.

Pete Hegseth’s attempt to gag journalism is a resounding failure | Margaret Sullivan

Hegseth wants journalists to only publish ‘explicitly authorized’ information. That is not how the free press works

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Will Smirk for Food (he/him) #FBR @smirk4food.com · 36m

Trump’s shutdown chaos gets crueler: thousands of federal workers were fired, many without any way to find out. Some got layoff notices via email—while email was shut off. The Department of Education was gutted. It’s all by design.

Panic as US federal workers scramble to find out if they’ve been fired: ‘I don’t have email access’

Education department staff say they can’t access work emails amid the shutdown to check for layoff notices

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Will Smirk for Food (he/him) #FBR @smirk4food.com · 48m

Why do the men obsessed with controlling women’s bodies know the least about how they work? RFK Jr joins a long line of GOP ghouls who think vaginas connect to stomachs and “legitimate rape” doesn’t cause pregnancy.

Where do babies come from? Robert F Kennedy Jr doesn’t seem to know | Arwa Mahdawi

Science tells us that foetuses develop in the uterus, rather than the placenta – but the US health secretary has a different take. Why are Republicans so clueless about women’s bodies, asks Arwa…

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Will Smirk for Food (he/him) #FBR @smirk4food.com · 50m

“Instead of coding things to move away from the masses, this fashion is coding things to move INTO the masses.” — Prof. Monica Sklar, on how fascist fashion stopped hiding and started blending.

The not-so secret language of fascist fashion

Today’s rightwingers want their message to go mainstream, so it’s coming to a store near you

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Will Smirk for Food (he/him) #FBR @smirk4food.com · 53m

Idaho dumped $2B into its crumbling schools — but if you’re a kid in a wheelchair, don’t count on making it to class, recess, or even lunch. “Inaccessible” is still the norm, not the exception.

Disabled Idaho Students Lack Access to Playgrounds and Lunchrooms. Historic $2 Billion Funding Will Do Little to Help.

Despite federal law, disabled students can’t access playgrounds, lunchrooms, classes and bathrooms. With added funding, school districts are still unable to make necessary fixes.

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Will Smirk for Food (he/him) #FBR @smirk4food.com · 1h

Trump didn’t kill affirmative action—he’s just pricing people out of higher ed instead. His new law slashes grad school borrowing caps. Say goodbye to diversity in medicine, law, and academia.

How a Trump admin change could limit who gets to become a professor, a doctor or a lawyer

As millions of student loan borrowers settle into the school year, many are stressed about how they’ll pay for their degrees. These students may find that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the big tax…

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Will Smirk for Food (he/him) #FBR @smirk4food.com · 1h

China’s economy is already larger than ours. They generate twice as much electricity. So what’s Trump doing? Slashing science, killing solar, and quoting his energy secretary who thinks sunsets are a technical challenge 🌅🤦

China Has Overtaken America

And Trump’s policies guarantee that we will never catch up

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Will Smirk for Food (he/him) #FBR @smirk4food.com · 1h

Trump grew his support among women from 42% to 45% between 2020 and 2024. Who are they? Mostly white, religious, and conservative women clinging to traditional values and economic fears. Patriarchy, but make it patriotic.

Who are the women who still support Trump?

Twenty five per cent of US voters think that the Republican party has a better plan for women’s rights than the Democrats, according to new polling.While many liberal female voters are critical about…

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Will Smirk for Food (he/him) #FBR @smirk4food.com · 1h

All right. Who blabbed about the H.I.C.?

Will Smirk for Food (he/him) #FBR @smirk4food.com · 1h

Rep. Keith Self calls the No Kings rally a “Hate America Rally” while folks across the country prepare to protest Trump’s wannabe monarchy.

If the GOP’s mad about it, it’s probably worth doing.

Rep. Keith Self Says The Upcoming No Kings Rally Is Really "The Hate America Rally"

Content warning: The following scene may include dehumanizing rhetoric, calls for discrimination or violence, misinformation, or other harmful language. Right Wing Watch condemns bigotry and other…

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Will Smirk for Food (he/him) #FBR @smirk4food.com · 3h

SCOTUS is taking a buzzsaw to Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act — the same one that bans racial discrimination in elections. The right-wing majority might not just weaken it, but kill it outright. That’s not just bad for democracy. It’s a GOP gerrymander gift.

Fair Elections — and Perhaps Control of Congress — at Stake as SCOTUS Hears Challenge to VRA

Read more here.

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Will Smirk for Food (he/him) #FBR @smirk4food.com · 3h

Steve Bannon and Jack Posobiec aren’t hiding it—they want a Christian military in Gaza. And Posobiec? He’s calling for another Crusade. Yes, seriously. These clowns are playing holy war cosplay while egging on WWIII.

Trump Influencers Want Another Crusade In The Middle East

Jack Posobiec and Steve Bannon want a Christian army stationed in Gaza

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Will Smirk for Food (he/him) #FBR @smirk4food.com · 3h

Letitia James just stared down a Trump indictment and lit up a NYC rally like it was the BET Awards 🔥 She’s not breaking, and she’s naming names.

Letitia James Brings The Fire To Her First Appearance Since Indictment

Raise that fist, girl!

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Will Smirk for Food (he/him) #FBR @smirk4food.com · 3h

The GOP is foaming at the mouth over the “No Kings” protests — calling them violent, un-American, and full of “paid antifa.”
What are they so scared of? 🤔

GOP lying its ass off about 'No Kings' protests

After spending the past few weeks blaming Democrats' rhetoric for the murder of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, GOP leaders are now spouting their own dangerous rhetoric against thousands of people…

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Will Smirk for Food (he/him) #FBR @smirk4food.com · 3h

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Reposted by Will Smirk for Food (he/him) #FBR

Bob Cesca @bobcesca.bsky.social · 4h

Uh huh. Ironic given the thousands of furloughed or fired government workers, collapsing private sector jobs numbers, and rising inflation under King Biff.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 4h

Bessent: "This crazy No Kings rally this weekend, which is gonna be the farthest left, the hardest core, the most unhinged in the Democratic Party, which is a big title. No Kings equals no paychecks."

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Reposted by Will Smirk for Food (he/him) #FBR

Bob Cesca @bobcesca.bsky.social · 5h

😂

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Will Smirk for Food (he/him) #FBR @smirk4food.com · 3h

Trump won West Virginia with 69%, then turned his back on miners choking on silica dust. A black lung rule that could save lives? Stalled. Again. Because profit.

Coal Miners Protest Against Making Black Lung Great Again

The Trump administration keeps postponing a rule that would save thousands of lives.

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Will Smirk for Food (he/him) #FBR @smirk4food.com · 4h

Forget yelling at clouds in a plaza. Eric Hensal maps a protest plan that might actually make Trump’s enablers sweat—starting with a PAC donor and 1,000 McDonald’s 🍟

You Deserve a Real Trump Protest Today

“No Kings” gave progressives a way to stand together—but not a plan to win. If fascism is real, protests must evolve from comfort to confrontation.

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Will Smirk for Food (he/him) #FBR @smirk4food.com · 4h

Trump’s "do everything at once" chaos strategy is imploding. Executive orders, mass firings, reversals, and rehires are piling up faster than his team can spin them. The flood's turning into a backfire.

Why Trump’s 'chaotic' strategy to 'flood the zone' will 'blow up' in his face: expert

President Donald Trump's "flood the zone" strategy — a push to do everything at once to overwhelm — "involves a lot of mopping up," writes Bloomberg's Wes Kosova. Noting that Trump signed 205…

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Will Smirk for Food (he/him) #FBR @smirk4food.com · 4h

OpenAI claimed GPT-5 would be safer. But tests show it's worse than the previous version at handling prompts about suicide, self-harm, and eating disorders. A tragic lawsuit, damning data, and regulators scrambling to catch up.

ChatGPT ‘upgrade’ giving more harmful answers than previously, tests find

Campaigners ‘deeply concerned’ about response to prompts about suicide, self-harm and eating disorders

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Will Smirk for Food (he/him) #FBR @smirk4food.com · 4h

Even the right-wing Supreme Court wants nothing to do with Alex Jones. He’s stuck with a $1.4B judgment, losing allies, and melting down over Trump’s Epstein file dodge. Karma's collecting interest.

Alex Jones keeps losing

Conspiracy theorist and Trump superfan Alex Jones suffered another setback on Tuesday after the conservative-majority Supreme Court denied his appeal of ...

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Will Smirk for Food (he/him) #FBR @smirk4food.com · 5h

Imagine Nixon putting his personal attorney in charge of prosecuting his enemies

—now make it dumber.

Comey’s team is challenging Trump’s appointment of Lindsey Halligan, a reality TV pick with no business in a courtroom.

Comey Lawyers Move To Disqualify Trump's Insurance Lawyer/Prosecutor

James Comey moves to boot Trump's prosecutor, Lindsey Halligan, out of her job.

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Will Smirk for Food (he/him) #FBR @smirk4food.com · 5h

Trump is shaking down Intel for equity, slapping fees on Nvidia, and burning 42,000 manufacturing jobs. Strategic policy? Nah — it’s just a shakedown wrapped in a MAGA flag 🐍

How Trump’s 'state-directed cronyism' is selling out the US economy

Washington Monthly writer James Hassett said President Donald Trump has upset free-market conservative dogma — and with small return.Critics are furious at Trump inserting the U.S. government into…

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