Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Andrew Selbst

NY Times Pitchbot @nytpitchbot.bsky.social · 14h

Young Republicans say they love Hitler. But what does that tell us about their politics?

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Karl Bode @karlbode.com · 10h

super smart to share your sexual fantasies with technofascists in a country too corrupt to pass a baseline internet privacy law

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Andrew Selbst @aselbst.bsky.social · 10h

Most people would advise not bragging about your murders on the Internet. But I’m sure your lawyers are great too.

Tess Bridgeman @tessbridgeman.bsky.social · 14h

The President is announcing more extrajudicial killings today.

A reminder that the administration has provided no limiting principles and these killings are completely untethered from the law (there was no "armed attack," there's no "armed conflict," and these aren't "unlawful combatants").

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Andrew Selbst @aselbst.bsky.social · 12h

“Abolish ICE” was never the same as “defund the police.” It’s a specific actionable plan.

John Pfaff @johnpfaff.bsky.social · 12h

But the way many ppl talk about Trump and Fed LEAs make them seem far bigger, and thus both far more powerful and far more intractable, than they actually are.

They’re small. They can be completely replaced. We don’t have to keep these ppl.

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John Pfaff @johnpfaff.bsky.social · 12h

But the way many ppl talk about Trump and Fed LEAs make them seem far bigger, and thus both far more powerful and far more intractable, than they actually are.

They’re small. They can be completely replaced. We don’t have to keep these ppl.

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Andrew Selbst @aselbst.bsky.social · 12h

This should be an electoral slam dunk. Dems will never do it.

John Pfaff @johnpfaff.bsky.social · 12h

Gotta think this helps justify a future Dem administration’s decision to essentially terminate ICE and redesign from the bottom up.

The enforcement arm of ICE (ERO) has generally had ~3,500 ppl.

A President could easily fire the entirety of ERO and temp nationalize some Nat Guard to fill in.

Hunter Walker @hunterw.bsky.social · 17h

NEW: I took a long look at the Proud Boys and found some of their most extreme chapters are sharing ICE recruiting materials on encrypted apps and even suggesting members have joined up. talkingpointsmemo.com/news/in-the-...

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Chris Hayes @chrislhayes.bsky.social · 13h

Unless and until some kind of compelling legal and moral argument is presented as to why this is a legitimate use of deadly force, this is just…mass murder.

Amarnath Amarasingam @amaramarasingam.bsky.social · 13h

The military has now killed 27 people as if they were enemy soldiers in a war zone and not criminal suspects. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/14/u...

U.S. Military Kills Another 6 People in 5th Caribbean Strike, Trump Says

www.nytimes.com

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Chris Hayes @chrislhayes.bsky.social · 13h

This is not morally or legally different than lining up two dozen men and shooting them in the face.

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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 14h

Unprecedentedly illegal & unconstitutional crimes - things that make Nixon's presidency-ending crimes look like harmless high school pranks - now happening daily:

Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 14h

Trump is no longer even pretending to have any kind of argument that his murdering of people in the Caribbean Sea has any kind of statutory validity. Just straight up declaring that he has quasi-unlimited power to execute people based on (nominal) suspicion.

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Carl Beijer @carlbeijer.bsky.social · 17h

Elon Musk has personally reinstated this account. No one should feel any obligation to respect Twitter ToS. It's meaningless

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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 16h

"The richest man in the world and the owner of the most influential social media site in US politics is a nazi who openly supports and amplifies other nazis" would, on its face, seem to be rather newsworthy!

Will Stancil @whstancil.bsky.social · 16h

Hey news people: I know you like to pretend this doesn't exist, but you need to pay attention to the Nazi drama on Twitter. Basically, it seems as if Elon just restored two major neo-Nazi accounts that were banned by his product head, and might be about to fire the product head for banning them

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paris martineau @paris.nyc · 16h

i was surprised to learn that bc most protein powders are considered dietary supplements, they basically fall into a regulatory grey area

there's no federal limit on the amount of lead they can contain and neither manufacturers nor the FDA have to prove these products are safe before they're sold

Protein powders and shakes, like all dietary supplements, fall into something of a regulatory gray area.

There is no federal limit specifying the amount of lead allowed in protein powders. And while the FDA requires that manufacturers keep their products free of harmful contaminants, it largely leaves it up to companies to decide what counts as harmful and test their own products for compliance.

Before 1994, manufacturers had to prove herbal products were safe before selling them. That changed after Congress passed the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act. The law sharply limited the FDA’s authority, leaving supplements far less regulated than drugs.

Today, supplements are “presumed safe unless found otherwise,” says Cohen at Harvard Medical School, and most products face scrutiny only after reaching the market—meaning unsafe or contaminated supplements can reach consumers before problems are caught.

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patrick m. @sfpodge.bsky.social · 1d

This piece from @chrisgeidner.bsky.social is straight 🔥

And if you want to gain a better perspective of the Judicial Branch of the U.S. government, Geidner’s Law Dork blog is always worth your time.

Dennis K Jr @dkjrhi.bsky.social · 1d

“This is, simply put, bullshit.” - @chrisgeidner.bsky.social

www.lawdork.com/p/barrett-tu...

Barrett turns to Fox News, rather than the docket, to explain her silence in key rulings

Justice Barrett wrote nothing in the racial profiling shadow docket ruling, but had something to say on Fox News Sunday. And, for paid subscribers: Closing my tabs.

www.lawdork.com

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Andrew Selbst @aselbst.bsky.social · 2d

Good. When a guest is lying you cut their air. It’s a disgrace to the Vice President’s office that Vance deserves this treatment, but everyone in this administration is exactly such a disgrace to their offices.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 2d

STEPHANOPOULOS: I didn't insinuate anything. I asked you whether Tom Homan accepted $50k as was heard on an audio tape recorded by the FBI in September 2024. You did not answer the question. Thank you for your time.

VANCE: No, George, I sai--

STEPHANOPOULOS: We'll be right back

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Andrew Selbst @aselbst.bsky.social · 2d

But at least it’s something I guess

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Andrew Selbst @aselbst.bsky.social · 2d

That oughta do it surely.

Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1.bsky.social · 2d

Sens. Schumer, Merkley, Murray, and Peters are calling for the resignation of OMB Director Russell Vought.

"By impounding billions of dollars … and aggressively pursuing the illegal use of pocket rescissions, Vought has done everything in his power to gut the federal government piece by piece."

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Andrew Selbst @aselbst.bsky.social · 4d

Good.

M.I.T. Rejects a White House Offer for Special Funding Treatment

www.nytimes.com

Andrew Selbst @aselbst.bsky.social · 5d

Absolutely this. Obama prosecutes Bush officials for their crimes and we never even get Trump. The whole GOP sense that laws don’t apply to them goes away both for electeds and voters, who respect strength and expect accountability.

Oliver Willis @owillis.bsky.social · 5d

actually we would be better off as a country if the obama administration had prosecuted the bush administration. ditto biden to trump. we're in a mess in large part because democrats were too chickenshit to do the right thing.

Ryan J. Reilly “paints a vivid and urgent portrait of… disarray” @ryanjreilly.com · 5d

“What we don’t want to become the norm is where people think, ‘OK, there’s a new administration, now everyone in the old administration gets prosecuted. That’s an incredibly dangerous cycle where nobody wins.”

www.nbcnews.com/politics/jus...

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George Conway 🇺🇸🚫👑🐸 @gtconway.bsky.social · 5d

Apart from helping Comey's selective prosecution defense, this also means the president of the United States uses direct messages on Truth Social to communicate with cabinet officials.

I didn't know that, but we can be sure intelligence agencies all over the planet already did.

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Chris 🎃 DevPods.gg gamedev community @chrisdeleon.bsky.social · 6d

Portland protestor frog costume: What are you trying to tell me? That I can dodge pepper balls?

Morpheus from Matrix movie: No, Frog. I'm trying to tell you that when you're ready, you won't have to.

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Andrew Selbst @aselbst.bsky.social · 6d

Sit in your assigned seat, young man, or so help me…

Kashmir Hill @kashhill.bsky.social · 6d

This is absolutely wild. I’m on a cross country flight. We are being diverted midway through to Denver. The reason? Some dude is sitting in the exit row who didn’t pay the $155 fee and he refuses to move back to his seat.

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Andrew Selbst @aselbst.bsky.social · 7d

That she was successful in her grift isn’t really a great response to people complaining she’s a grifter.

Julia Carrie Wong @joolia.bsky.social · 8d

all of the praise is like, entrepreneurial

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Reposted by Andrew Selbst

Julia Carrie Wong @joolia.bsky.social · 8d

its funny how not a single actual journalist has been like, “actually she’s good at journalism”

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Andrew Selbst @aselbst.bsky.social · 11d

Wooow…14 is a lot.

Joel Reinstein @joelreinstein.bsky.social · 11d

Israel murders doctors so much it's become routine

Nathan Kalman-Lamb @nkalamb.bsky.social · 11d

MSF staff are universally understood to be engaged in an essentially sacred form of work. For a state to nonetheless continuously murder them is a testament to a truly unthinkable degree of depravity.

msf.org/msf-denounce...

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ryan cooper @ryanlcooper.com · 11d

"The question is not one of policy or strategy. The question is one of character." www.liberalcurrents.com/democrats-mu...

Democrats Must Embrace War Mindset

We have exited a long period of peace and entered into a struggle not unlike war, in which all the old certainties have gone malleable and the future of the republic is at stake.

www.liberalcurrents.com

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