Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Alex Blackwood @alexblackwood.bsky.social · 1h

Tell him it's a globe with a man bun — the moon.

Reposted by Alex Blackwood

Graham Platner for Senate @grahamformaine.bsky.social · 6h

We have armed secret police kidnapping people off the street based on the color of their skin.

When we win: we will haul them before a Senate committee. The masks will come off. There will be consequences.

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Alex Blackwood @alexblackwood.bsky.social · 21h

But they're standing on the bloodbath at the Department of Education, where they axed pretty much everyone administering federal funding to educate disabled kids.

Alex Blackwood @alexblackwood.bsky.social · 1d

Another Friday night massacre, at the Department of Education. Nearly everyone who administers funding for students with disabilities cut.

www.usatoday.com/story/news/e...

USA TODAY
EDUCATION

Education Department wipes out special ed office in shutdown layoffs, union says

The agency cut nearly everyone who works to administer federal funding for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, one staffer said.

Zachary Schermele

USA TODAY

Oct. 11, 2025, 3:24 p.m. ET

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Reposted by Alex Blackwood

Maryn McKenna @marynmck.bsky.social · 22h

Some of last night’s CDC bloodbath being reversed? What an absolute cluster. But great breaking reporting by @jeremyfaust.bsky.social

open.substack.com/pub/insideme...

“Some of the reversals came after the Trump administration realized that they had accidentally terminated critically important staffers working on current measles and Ebola outbreaks.
A former CDC official was told that HHS communications officials were not happy with the media coverage of the RIFs, and may have felt that the move reflected badly on the administration, as outrage and accusations that the administration was using the government shutdown as a pretense to accomplish other political goals seemed to be sticking.”

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Alex Blackwood @alexblackwood.bsky.social · 1d

IDEA is the law that entitles students with disabilities to a free and appropriate public school education.

Alex Blackwood @alexblackwood.bsky.social · 1d

Another Friday night massacre, at the Department of Education. Nearly everyone who administers funding for students with disabilities cut.

www.usatoday.com/story/news/e...

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Reposted by Alex Blackwood

Leah 🐸 McElrath @leahmcelrath.bsky.social · 1d

⚠️ USAToday reporter confirms the office in charge of special education funding has been “decimated”:

Zach Schermele
Follow
@ZachSchermele
NEW: The Education Dept. layoffs continued overnight, w/ the main office in charge of special ed funding being
"decimated," as one person described.
"They cut just about everyone that works with IDEA funding," said another.
"I'm not sure how these programs exist moving forward."
10:21 AM • 10/11/25 • 2.1K Views

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Reposted by Alex Blackwood

Apoorva Mandavilli @apoorvanyt.bsky.social · 1d

The mass layoffs of federal workers on Friday night swept up the top two leaders of the federal measles response team, those working on Ebola and dozens of other infectious disease experts
(Gift article)

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/h...

C.D.C. Layoffs Included 2 Top Measles Experts Amid Rising Cases

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Alex Blackwood

Mike Masnick @mmasnick.bsky.social · 1d

Someone share this video with Brett Kavanaugh.

The Government sometimes makes brief investigative stops to check the immigration status of those who gather in locations where people are hired for day jobs; who work or appear to work in jobs such as construction, landscaping, agriculture, or car washes that often do not require paperwork and are therefore attractive to illegal immigrants; and who do not speak much if any English. If the officers learn that the individual they stopped is a U. S. citizen or otherwise lawfully in the United States, they promptly let the individual go. If the individual is illegally in the United States, the officers may arrest the individual and initiate the process for removal.

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Reposted by Alex Blackwood

Angie Rasmussen @angierasmussen.bsky.social · 1d

I don’t know who needs to hear this but the CDC is being eviscerated right now. America is not going to have any kind of outbreak response capacity after tonight. Americans’ health data is no longer secure. Say goodbye to federal public health in any capacity. It’s a disaster. We won’t recover.

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Reposted by Alex Blackwood

Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD @elizabethjacobs.bsky.social · 1d

The editors of the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) were apparently fired today.

The precursor to MMWR began in 1878 to address emerging public health threats rapidly.

We are not “great” without it. We are vulnerable to threats from sporadic foodborne illness to bioterrorism.

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Alex Blackwood @alexblackwood.bsky.social · 1d

The Alf quote perfectly sums him up.

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Reposted by Alex Blackwood

Elizabeth Warren @warren.senate.gov · 1d

After Trump got his Covid shot, he chose to fire the scientists protecting the rest of us from diseases.

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Reposted by Alex Blackwood

Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 1d

New — Video shared with me shows ICE officers in DC detaining a man on Friday.

Bystander filming asks man for his name. ICE agent lies and says he’s not allowed to speak to him “by law” and another says “We’ve arrested American citizens for being too close…If he gets any closer, put him in cuffs.”

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Alex Blackwood @alexblackwood.bsky.social · 1d

Two minutes of moral clarity:

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

UNTIL IT’S DONE, Ep. 4: Sylvia Rivera

In the 1970s, queer New Yorkers had been pushed to the margins of NYC. Our trans neighbors faced immense cruelty. But in Sylvia Rivera, they found a champion.

As we combat Trump’s politics of darkness, her legacy can light the path forward.

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Alex Blackwood @alexblackwood.bsky.social · 1d

In contrast to Democrats who cravenly surrender on trans rights:

Katelyn Boo-urns @katelynburns.com · 1d

I wrote a little about some of the little details you might have missed in this video and why it hit me so hard as a trans person this morning:

www.burnsnotice.com/you-have-to-...

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Reposted by Alex Blackwood

Maryn McKenna @marynmck.bsky.social · 1d

More on the CDC tonight: @jeremyfaust.bsky.social , who is impeccably sourced there (physician, Harvard faculty) has details on the divisions hit by the apparently illegal RIFS. insidemedicine.substack.com/p/breaking-n...

BREAKING NEWS: CDC employees terminated in apparent Friday night massacre.

The Trump administration is using the shutdown to further weaken the our national public health infrastructure.

insidemedicine.substack.com

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Reposted by Alex Blackwood

Tim Onion @bencollins.bsky.social · 1d

This man is being Gorilla Channel'd with a rotating selection of AI slop riot porn by several known white supremacists who are secretly running the government.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 2d

Trump: "Portland, I mean -- every time I look at that place it's burning down. There are fires all over the place. When a store -- there are very few of them left -- but when a store owner rebuilds a store they build it out of plywood. They don't put up storefronts anymore. They just put wood up."

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Alex Blackwood @alexblackwood.bsky.social · 1d

Friday night massacre at CDC

Sheryl Gay Stolberg @sherylnyt.bsky.social · 1d

BREAKING: Friday night massacre underway at CDC. Doznes of "disease detectives," high-level scientists, entire Washington staff and editors of the MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) have all been RIFed and received the following notice:

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Alex Blackwood @alexblackwood.bsky.social · 2d

New abbreviation just dropped:

AI;DR

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Reposted by Alex Blackwood

Mike Nellis @mikenellis.bsky.social · 2d

Good fucking morning to everyone—except the people who think circumcision causes autism. This is what happens when the comment section starts writing health policy. Maybe, just maybe, we should listen to doctors and researchers instead of weirdo politicians.

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Alex Blackwood @alexblackwood.bsky.social · 2d

OSLO, Norway (AP) - Opposition activist María Corina Machado of Venezuela won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday.

The former opposition presidential candidate in Venezuela was lauded for being a "key, unifying figure in a political opposition that was once deeply divided an opposition that found common ground in the demand for free elections and representative government," said Jørgen Watne Frydnes, chair of the Norwegian Nobel committee.

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Alex Blackwood @alexblackwood.bsky.social · 2d

2025 Nobel Peace Prize goes to María Corina Machado, Venezuelan opposition leader battling for democracy.

María Corina Machado of Venezuela wins the Nobel Peace Prize

Opposition activist María Corina Machado of Venezuela has won the Nobel Peace Prize. The Norwegian Nobel committee praised her as a unifying figure in Venezuela's political opposition.

apnews.com

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Alex Blackwood @alexblackwood.bsky.social · 2d

Smart!