Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Caleb Barrett

Katie Martin @katie0martin.ft.com · 11h

It honestly blows my mind how this is all in plain sight

on.ft.com/4hxfyrD

FT Investigation: How the Trump companies made $1bn from crypto

[FREE TO READ] The president and his family have built a rapidly growing digital assets empire which has been fuelled by the administration’s industry-friendly policies

on.ft.com

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Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 1d

Episode 2 of my Collateral Damage podcast is out today. Ryan Frederick killed a police officer during a pot raid on his home. He was tried for capital murder, but convicted of manslaughter.

We'd later learn that police informants were breaking into homes to obtain probable cause for raids.

Episode Two: A Death in the Dark

How the pre-planned no-knock raid — a violent, volatile tactic that became a common tool of the drug war — leads to tragic consequences.

theintercept.com

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Jay Willis @jaywillis.net · 1d

Everything about John Roberts's approach to the Voting Rights Act makes sense when you remember that John Roberts has has always been hostile to the Voting Rights Act, never believed it was appropriate, and has spent most of his 45-year legal career working to hollow it out.

One of the Biggest Cases of the Supreme Court’s Term Is John Roberts’ Decadeslong Pet Project

If there’s one thing the Roberts court has been consistent on, it’s this.

slate.com

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Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 18h

Shorter Mike Johnson:

Beating up a woman isn’t “really serious.”

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Q: This has been reported for a while. Cory Mills was accused of beating a girlfriend in his DC apt. Are you concerned about these allegations?

JOHNSON: You have to ask Rep. Mills about that. He's been a faithful colleague. I don't know the details. Let's talk about things that are really serious

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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 23h

ICE agents kidnapped a US citizen in Chicago because she didn’t “look” American to them. She even had her US passport on her. 🤬

ICE Detains Citizen After Saying She Doesn’t “Look Like” Her Last Name

She even had her U.S. passport on her.

newrepublic.com

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Caleb Barrett @calebbarrett.bsky.social · 17h

Good example of Republican gaslighting. One of many, many examples.

Stephen Moran. @moranstephen1000.bsky.social · 1d

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John Pfaff @johnpfaff.bsky.social · 18h

Fordham Law Professor signs memorandum declaring the Buffalo Bills winners of Super Bowl LX, escalating his challenge to the authority of the NFL* on football matters.

The New York Times @nytimes.com · 20h

President Trump on Wednesday signed a memorandum expanding his administration’s authority to repurpose unspent federal funds to pay members of the military during the government shutdown, escalating his challenge to the authority of Congress on spending matters.

Trump Signs Memo Expanding His Authority to Spend Federal Money

The president gave Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wide authority to repurpose funds to pay members of the military without approval from Congress, which has the sole constitutional authority to decide federal spending.

nyti.ms

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Robert Black @hurricanexyz.bsky.social · 20h

We should start establishing the principle that a Jim Crow Congress has no legal, moral, or political legitimacy

Mark Joseph Stern @mjsdc.bsky.social · 1d

The Supreme Court's Republican appointees sound ready to transform the 14th and 15th Amendments into a weapon against the very racial minorities they were meant to protect—handing Republicans 15-19 additional House seats in the process. A disaster for democracy.
slate.com/news-and-pol...

Is it racist to remedy racism? That’s the question at the heart of Callais v. Louisiana, which the Supreme Court heard on Wednesday. The case asks whether the Voting Rights Act gives Black Louisianans too much political power—and if so, whether the landmark law violates the Constitution. Unsurprisingly, the Republican-appointed justices seem eager to rule that it does. Throughout oral arguments, they suggested the VRA protects minority voters too effectively, dragging the government into race-conscious considerations that offend the equal protection rights of the white voters who sued in this case. And they floated various ways to gut what remains of the statute by twisting it beyond recognition or striking it down altogether. The result would be a windfall for Republicans, who stand to gain at least 19 seats in the House of Representatives if the Supreme Court frees them to gerrymander Black communities into oblivion. Such a decision would also devastate minority representation in Congress, eliminating up to 30 percent of the Congressional Black Caucus.

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Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 20h

Feels quaint, almost cliché, to say this about a Trump action, but just for the record:

This is all illegal, the President can't simply disregard the laws passed and agencies created by Congress, and both Vought & Trump would be impeached if the Constitution or the rule of law mattered to the GOP.

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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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 20h

There are so many obvious constitutional violations in this story. It is enraging.
There is no war, there is no foreign invasion, there is nothing that justify it. This is a choice to create a military presence that will brutalize residents of cities that do not support the President.

Lynda Lopez @lyndab08.bsky.social · 20h

"The boy, who is Hispanic and African American, was held in a garage for five hours “without informing his family, stating any charges, or allowing him to call an attorney,” the statement said. He is a U.S. citizen, as is his entire immediate family, the release said."

Feds ram SUV after chase down residential street in Chicago, then tear-gas crowd

The crash happened late Tuesday morning near 105th Street and Avenue N in the East Side neighborhood. Two men being pursued were arrested as were two bystanders. The crash drew dozens of neighbors who...

chicago.suntimes.com

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Kathleen Belew @kathleenbelew.bsky.social · 20h

A 15-year-old kid was tear gassed, slammed to the ground, and detained for five hours in a garage by armed ICE in Chicago blockclubchicago.org/2025/10/15/1...

15-Year-Old U.S. Citizen Taken By Feds For 5 Hours After East Side Protest, Attorney Says

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said the teen hit an agent in the face with an egg. They said claims that agents disappeared the teen are “categorically false.”

blockclubchicago.org

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Sanho Tree @sanho.bsky.social · 1d

“The boat was suspected of carrying Colombians affiliated w/Colombian terrorist organizations, the sources said, but the Pentagon was unable to determine the individual identities of each person on the boats before they struck them.”
They don’t even know their names, but insist they are terrorists!

Natasha Bertrand @natashabertrand.bsky.social · 1d

Breaking: At least one US military strike in the Caribbean targeted Colombians on a boat leaving from Colombia, sources tell us.

The deliberate targeting of Colombians suggests the US military’s campaign is wider than previously believed www.cnn.com/2025/10/15/p...

At least one US military strike on alleged drug trafficking boat in Caribbean targeted Colombians | CNN Politics

At least one US military strike in the Caribbean over the last two months targeted Colombian nationals on a boat that had left from Colombia, according to two people briefed by the Pentagon about the ...

www.cnn.com

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Lynda Lopez @lyndab08.bsky.social · 20h

"The boy, who is Hispanic and African American, was held in a garage for five hours “without informing his family, stating any charges, or allowing him to call an attorney,” the statement said. He is a U.S. citizen, as is his entire immediate family, the release said."

Feds ram SUV after chase down residential street in Chicago, then tear-gas crowd

The crash happened late Tuesday morning near 105th Street and Avenue N in the East Side neighborhood. Two men being pursued were arrested as were two bystanders. The crash drew dozens of neighbors who...

chicago.suntimes.com

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John Pfaff @johnpfaff.bsky.social · 21h

White House budget director Vought SAYS HE WANTS TO shut down the CFPB within months, EVEN THO HE HAS NO AUTHORITY TO SHUT DOWN A CONGRESSIONALLY-CREATED AGENCY, saying, LIKELY WITH ZERO EVIDENCE, it’s no longer protecting customers.

How are we STILL doing such terrible headlines 10 months in.

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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Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 22h

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 · 22h

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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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 1d

white reactionaries disenfranchising black voters to secure political power? that’s a jim crow. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/u...

The Supreme Court Case That Could Hand the House to Republicans

www.nytimes.com

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Ari Berman @ariberman.bsky.social · 1d

John Roberts has been trying to kill Voting Rights Act since he was young lawyer in Reagan DOJ. Today SCOTUS will hear case that could dismantle what's left of VRA, turbocharge racial gerrymandering & rig House for GOP. Huge stakes for American democracy www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

The nation's landmark voting rights law just turned 60. It may not survive Trump.

“The long-term game is to repeal the Voting Rights Act.”

www.motherjones.com

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John Pfaff @johnpfaff.bsky.social · 1d

To be clear:

LA County has declared a state of emergency BECAUSE OF the federal government.

The Feds, LA County is (correctly) saying, have CAUSED the emergency.

This is a striking political moment of internal collapse. Local govts feeling compelled to protect their ppl from … their own govt.

Los Angeles County declares state of emergency over immigration raids

Los Angeles County officials voted on Tuesday to declare a state of emergency over ongoing federal immigration raids.

abcnews.go.com

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Michael McDonald @electproject.bsky.social · 2d

It is to the shame of all the male reporters in the room that they do not immediately leave

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 2d

Trump ignores a question from a woman reporter but says, "I just like to watch her talk. Good job. Thank you darling."

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Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 1d

Good. Even if this doesn’t work, it’s time to go on offense.

www.newsweek.com/jb-pritzker-...

JB Pritzker looking at prosecuting ICE agents in Chicago

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker has suggested that state prosecutors might examine the conduct of ICE agents.

www.newsweek.com

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Caleb Barrett @calebbarrett.bsky.social · 1d

Isn’t that who DHS was trying to attract?

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Angie Rasmussen @angierasmussen.bsky.social · 1d

I don't think people realize what an immediate impact this is going to have on outbreak response and containment.

Ferric Fang, MD @fangferric.bsky.social · 1d

According to a state epidemiologist, "CDC personnel who normally share information with state officials during outbreaks have been eliminated."

Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 2d

“One veteran researcher who still has his job (and, like other public-health workers I spoke with for this story, requested anonymity for fear of losing it) told me he believes that Kennedy’s ultimate goal is to “silence the scientific voice of career CDC scientists.””

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Caleb Barrett @calebbarrett.bsky.social · 2d

Folks in this administration/regime are so comfortable lying.

It’s disturbing.

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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 2d

Billionaire tax cuts are a policy choice.

Cutting healthcare for millions is a policy choice.

Cutting food assistance for children is a policy choice.

Taking from the poor and giving to the rich is a policy choice.

Make no mistake: Trump and the GOP just chose to do this.

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Caleb Barrett @calebbarrett.bsky.social · 2d

YESSS Dodgers!!

That was too stressful at the end, but we pulled it out!