Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Ben the Hammerhead @benhammerhead.bsky.social · 2m

They’re masked

How are you going to differentiate between one bloated tactical testosterone unit from the other, if one happens to ~not~ be wearing a body cam?

Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 30m

“Federal immigration officers in the Chicago area will be required to wear body cameras, a judge said Thursday after seeing tear gas and other aggressive steps used against protesters.”

Federal immigration officers in Chicago area will be required to wear body cameras, judge says

A judge says federal immigration officers in the Chicago area will be required to wear body cameras after the use of tear gas and other aggressive steps against protesters.

apnews.com

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Ben the Hammerhead @benhammerhead.bsky.social · 4m

🎯

Jenny Cohn @jennycohn.bsky.social · 30m

“Trump has influenced the culture of the church far more than the church has influenced Trump. When a pastor declares at a ReAwaken America rally that he has ‘come ready to declare war on Satan & every race-baiting Democrat that tries to destroy our way of life…,’ he is imitating Trump, not Christ.”

Opinion | Something Is Stirring in Christian America, and It’s Making Me Nervous

www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Ben the Hammerhead

Karl Bode @karlbode.com · 28m

I'll never forget that newscycle when the old OpenAI board made it clear Altman was a predatory little opportunistic shit with bottomless financial conflicts of interests, and the tech press rallied around him to frame all of the people with complaints as weird fringe zealots

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Ben the Hammerhead @benhammerhead.bsky.social · 10m

My sign is going to say

I ❤️ 🇺🇸
I ❤️ free speech
No Kings

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 29m

Barrasso on No Kings: "They have this big 'I Hate America' rally this Saturday in Washington where you have all these far-left activists groups coming to protest the president and the administration."

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Ben the Hammerhead @benhammerhead.bsky.social · 13m

Homan can start shutting up first

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 26m

Homan: "If the hateful rhetoric continues, there will be bloodshed. People are going to die ... there is going to be more bloodshed unless this hateful rhetoric stops."

Reposted by Ben the Hammerhead

Karl Bode @karlbode.com · 17m

you're gonna see, well, decidedly mixed results

once corporate power and authoritarians have finished defanging the federal regulatory state they're going to shift the entirety of their funds and energy toward demolishing state rights so they can sell the country for scrap off the back loading dock

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Adam Weinstein @adamweinstein.bsky.social · 2h

Glenn Beck has been targeting these same groups for so long that a viewer of his attempted to murder people at the Tides Foundation in SF *a decade and a half ago* (and settled for a shoutout with cops on 580) www.democracynow.org/2010/10/12/p...

"Progressive Hunter": Gunman Cites Listening to Glenn Beck and Others as Inspiration for Armed Plot Against ACLU & Tides

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Ben the Hammerhead @benhammerhead.bsky.social · 1h

there's no hubris like American hubris

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Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 2h

"Kentuckians organizing “No Kings” rallies say the derogatory labels Republicans in D.C. are attaching to the protesters ahead of Saturday’s gatherings are a sign the anti-Trump movement is gaining momentum.

They also call the claims absurd and untrue."

kentuckylantern.com/2025/10/16/d...

Doctor. Teacher. Mamaw. Meet some 'No Kings' protesters organizing in 'deep-red' Kentucky. • Kentucky Lantern

Kentuckians organizing “No Kings” rallies say the derogatory labels Republicans in D.C. are attaching to the protesters ahead of Saturday’s gatherings are a sign the anti-Trump movement is gaining mom...

kentuckylantern.com

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Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 1h

This is why it’s impossible to negotiate with Republican leadership in Congress. Once you reach an agreement with them and things pass, the Trump admin just flushes that agreement down the toilet and Republicans who made the deal remain silent. bsky.app/profile/atru...

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 2h

THUNE: Fund the government the old fashioned way -- I don't think you need rescissions

VITALI: Have you said to the WH, maybe don't do another rescissions package? Feels like it's poisoned the well

THUNE: It's in everybody's best interest, including the WH, to do a normal appropriations process

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Kat Tenbarge @kattenbarge.bsky.social · 2h

Considering how many horror stories I’ve read about relatives posting real pictures of babies and kids on public social media platforms against the parents’ wishes, I can only fathom how widely accessible AI tools will escalate these violations

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 2h

www.wsj.com/tech/persona...

Say what, now?

A family member sent me an image of a baby dressed in an elf outfit. My baby. It was adorable—and unnerving.
My cousin took a photo from our group chat and uploaded it to Meta AI. While his heart was in the right place, my mind was spinning. What could Meta do with my son’s face? The privacy policy of Meta Platforms says the company can use these images to “improve AIs and related technology.”
In the age of AI, I can’t control where my—or my son’s—face ends up. Our likenesses are no longer our own.

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Ben the Hammerhead @benhammerhead.bsky.social · 1h

The republicans are ACROSS the board trying to make anyone who protests a demonic national security threat

it's a bit more than the "usual" gripes and it only leads to a notion of "one party rule"

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1h

Shaheen: "That's the kind of rhetoric that was used against people who were marching for civil rights, students' rights, women's rights, people who were marching against the war in Vietnam ... it's one of the things that makes this country great and different from Putin's Russia -- peaceful protest"

Ben the Hammerhead @benhammerhead.bsky.social · 1h

the mutherfuckers will still take every opportunity to call nokings protesters "terrorists"

there's no cracks on that front

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Reposted by Ben the Hammerhead

Coach Finstock @coachfinstock.bsky.social · 1h

I'm not saying this guy is definitely gonna testify that voting machines have serious security issues and raise concerns in states where blue candidates win so they can throw out the votes in the midterms and in 2028, but there's a possibility

WIRED @wired.com · 2h

Former GOP operative Scott Leiendecker just bought Dominion Voting Systems, giving him ownership of voting systems used in 27 states. Election experts have concerns.

One Republican Now Controls a Huge Chunk of US Election Infrastructure

Former GOP operative Scott Leiendecker just bought Dominion Voting Systems, giving him ownership of voting systems used in 27 states. Election experts have concerns.

wrd.cm

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Patrick Chovanec @prchovanec.bsky.social · 15h

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 · 22h

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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Ben the Hammerhead @benhammerhead.bsky.social · 3h

“ B R O A D I M M U N I T Y “

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 13h

Again, it is a full-blown federal felony crime for anyone in the White House or Executive Office of the President to order tax investigations into anyone.

And it's not just a crime to DO it, it's even a federal crime for an employee not to REPORT such an order to the Treasury Inspector General.

26 U.S. Code § 7217 - Prohibition on executive branch influence over taxpayer audits and other investigations
U.S. Code
Notes
prev | next
(a)Prohibition
It shall be unlawful for any applicable person to request, directly or indirectly, any officer or employee of the Internal Revenue Service to conduct or terminate an audit or other investigation of any particular taxpayer with respect to the tax liability of such taxpayer.

(b)Reporting requirement
Any officer or employee of the Internal Revenue Service receiving any request prohibited by subsection (a) shall report the receipt of such request to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.

(c)Exceptions
Subsection (a) shall not apply to any written request made—
(1)to an applicable person by or on behalf of the taxpayer and forwarded by such applicable person to the Internal Revenue Service;
(2)by an applicable person for disclosure of return or return information under section 6103 if such request is made in accordance with the requirements of such section; or
(3)by the Secretary of the Treasury as a consequence of the implementation of a change in tax policy.
(d)Penalty
Any person who willfully violates subsection (a) or fails to report under subsection (b) shall be punished upon conviction by a fine in any amount not exceeding $5,000, or imprisonment of not more than 5 years, or both, together with the costs of prosecution.

(e)Applicable person
For purposes of this section, the term “applicable person” means—
(1)the President, the Vice President, any employee of the executive office of the President, and any employee of the executive office of the Vice President; and
(2)any individual (other than the Attorney General of the United States) serving in a position specified in section 5312 of title 5, United States Code.

Reposted by Ben the Hammerhead

Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 3h

I love this.

Molly Jong-Fast @mollyjongfast.bsky.social · 14h

Solidarity is the only way

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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 3h

Say it!

Acyn @acyn.bsky.social · 14h

AOC: And they are able to radicalize a generation of young boys in particular, away from healthy masculinity and into an insecure masculinity that requires the domination of others who are poorer, browner, darker, or a different gender than them.

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Ben the Hammerhead @benhammerhead.bsky.social · 3h

Intimidation

My partner is scared to join me this Saturday bc we are in deep red bubba swamp drunk rich red sw Florida. The likelihood for bad is greater here bc they’re all foaming at the mouth about libs

Ben the Hammerhead @benhammerhead.bsky.social · 3h

I will just say perhaps Mr Brooks spare a moment w his brethren to discuss the active ongoing messaging campaign across the entire Republican spectrum to demonize any participation in NoKings as terrorists & America-haters

Maybe if their language was a bit less marketed towards incitement of rage?

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Molly McKew @mollymckew.bsky.social · 15h

There’s a lot of material in here worth thinking about, in terms of shifting power and control productively

www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

America Needs a Mass Movement—Now

Without one, America may sink into autocracy for decades.

www.theatlantic.com

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Ben the Hammerhead @benhammerhead.bsky.social · 4h

The “gilded” age; “it’ll be just like tv”

~we should just be happy to find work in service to our lords~

High society party on a floor pressing the masses supporting it, “from the depths”

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Ben the Hammerhead @benhammerhead.bsky.social · 4h

The banality of evil

is within each editor & producer

who chooses to “just do what the big man wants”

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Ben the Hammerhead @benhammerhead.bsky.social · 4h

The banality of evil

is within each editor & producer

who chooses to “just do what the big man wants”

1 1 1

Ben the Hammerhead @benhammerhead.bsky.social · 4h

brunch lords

brunch lords own media outlets, & they stand around w mimosa’s chuckling among each other how the can get their papers/zines/tv stations/soc med/podcasts/radio

to do whatever they’re told to do

hold the brunch lords accountable

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