Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by casbo

Jonathan Ladd @jonmladd.bsky.social · 1h

Only in the Federalist Society academic bubble could you say that the government going in and splitting up geographically contiguous communities of Black voters in order to prevent them from ever being a majority in any House district is "government not taking race into account."

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DAME Magazine @damemagazine.bsky.social · 1h

And let's not forget that she wasn't actually referring to all of them, but rather a certain portion. The second half of her quote that rarely gets acknowledged:

"But the other basket, the other basket, and I know because I see friends from all over America here. I see friends from Florida and Georgia and South Carolina and Texas, as well as you know New York and California. But that other basket of people who are people who feel that government has let them down, nobody cares about them, nobody worries about what happens to their lives and their futures, and they are just desperate for change. It doesn't really even matter where it comes from. They don't buy everything he says but he seems to hold out some hope that their lives will be different. They won't wake up and see their jobs disappear, lose a kid to heroine, feel like they're in a dead-end. Those are people we have to understand and empathize with as well."

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casbo @casbo.bsky.social · 1h

I don't think he had to do much. They find him interesting and entertaining and good for their business. Ignoring the opposition lets them feel better about doing those things. Normalizing him is utmost importance to them and that requires ignoring that a majority hate this.

Will Stancil @whstancil.bsky.social · 1h

One thing that Trump has done successfully, which has been a source of continual frustration for me since literally Jan. 21, 2017, is somehow get our elites, our media, and our institutions to ignore this astonishing reservoir of sustained resistance and opposition to him.

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Thor Benson @thorbenson.bsky.social · 1h

Somehow it's only "demonizing half of the country" when Democrats mildly criticize Trump supporters. This just doesn't count

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1h

Leavitt: "The Democrat Party's main constituency is made up of Hamas terrorists, illegal aliens, and violent criminals."

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TrumpsTaxes @trumpstaxes.com · 16h

This gets to an overlooked aspect of the government shutdown/ACA subsidy fight.

It would benefit Ds politically if they let the ACA credits expire so that Rs could take the full blame for rising premiums.

But that is not what Ds are doing.

Instead, Ds are fighting because they ACTUALLY CARE.

The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 16h

Q: “Most hospitals + people who will lose insurance are in rural areas. If Trump & Republicans are so intent on sticking it to their own voters, why not let them?”

@aoc.bsky.social : “That’s the difference between us & Trump. I don’t care if you voted for me, I want you to have health care.”

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Eric Klinenberg @ericklinenberg.bsky.social · 3h

For those of you keeping score, 18-22 year-old students calling for an end to slaughter in Gaza are so racist they need to be expelled or deported, but 24-35 year-olds celebrating Hitler, rape, and, um, racism are just kids being kids so chill.

Also, racism is over so no need for Voting Right Act.

JD Vance brushes off racist texts by adults in Republican group chat as ‘what kids do’

Vice-president downplays messages such as ‘I love Hitler’ in chat by 24 to 35-year-olds to ‘stupid jokes’

www.theguardian.com

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Eric Umansky @ericumansky.bsky.social · 2h

BREAKING from PP

We found immigration agents have held more than 170 *citizens*

The govt doesn't track citizens held. So we did. We tallied:

Nearly 20 kids, two w/ cancer

More than 20 citizens held for day or more, incommunicado

www.propublica.org/article/immi...

by @nicolefoy.bsky.social

More Than 170 U.S. Citizens Have Been Held by Immigration Agents. They’ve Been Kicked, Dragged and Detained for Days.

The government does not track how often immigration agents grab citizens. So ProPublica did. Our tally — almost certainly incomplete — includes people who were held for days without a lawyer. And near...

www.propublica.org

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Mark Jacob @markjacob.bsky.social · 4h

A terrific AFP fact check uses reverse image searches to expose how a White House video took scenes from Florida, Texas, South Carolina and Nebraska and lied that they showed "Chicago is in chaos."
factcheck.afp.com/doc.afp.com....

Post from WH about Chicago "in chaos," showing scene from another state.

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Dr. Lucky Tran @luckytran.com · 14h

15 US states and territories have formed a new Public Health Alliance, which will counter the absence of federal leadership by tracking outbreaks, issuing guidance, buying vaccines and more.

Members of the new alliance include CA, CO, CT, DE, GU, HI, IL, MD, MA, NJ, NY, NC, OR, RI, WA.

Map: Governors Public Health Alliance
* Guam is also a member of the alliance
Updated October 15, 2025
Map: @luckytran • Created with Datawrapper

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Bobby Kogan @bbkogan.bsky.social · 23h

Trump and Vought are now breaking both sides of spending law. They’re illegally not spending where the law requires them to spend, and they’re illegally spending where they don’t have the money to spend.

What we have is an appropriations king.

Spending “deals” are meaningless under that setup.

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LorennaCleary.bsky.social @lorennacleary.bsky.social · 17h

She gets all the flowers. I mean ALL of them. If we see her, we immediately have to give her flowers.

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San Francisco Chronicle @sfchronicle.com · 14h

Newsom’s office told the Los Angeles Times that it has received reports that the White House is directing a plan to use Navy ships off the California coast to fire missiles into Camp Pendleton.

Newsom rips into Trump celebration plan to fire missiles over California’s I-5 freeway

Newsom’s office told the Los Angeles Times that it has received reports that the White House is directing a plan to use Navy ships off the California coast to fire missiles into Camp Pendleton.

bit.ly

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The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 16h

Q: “Most hospitals + people who will lose insurance are in rural areas. If Trump & Republicans are so intent on sticking it to their own voters, why not let them?”

@aoc.bsky.social : “That’s the difference between us & Trump. I don’t care if you voted for me, I want you to have health care.”

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casbo @casbo.bsky.social · 19h

Makes you wonder why they did this instead of voting to keep paying them like Dems tried to do and has been done in the past. Is he going to put "From Donald J Trump" on the memos? Whatever the reason doing this in this way is, it can't be good.

Chris Mirasola @chrismirasola.bsky.social · 19h

I can’t overstate how entirely untethered to the constitution and past practice this unilateral move to repurpose funds to pay for military pay is. The commander-in-chief clause has precisely 0 bearing on the ability to expend funds. Here’s a list of authorities that do:

National Security Presidential Memorandum/NSPM-8

MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF WAR THE DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET SUBJECT: Use of

www.whitehouse.gov

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Andy Craig @andycraig.bsky.social · 19h

"a memorandum expanding his administration’s authority"

The phrasing you're looking for is that he's suspending parts of the Constitution by decree.

The New York Times @nytimes.com · 19h

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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Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 21h

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 · 21h

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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casbo @casbo.bsky.social · 20h

Not only that. If instead of going to cocktail parties on Saturday he spent any amount of time on social media, he will see a ton of posts about protests in very red and rural areas. He's not seeing it because he wants to shit on blue America because that is what scores points in his circles.

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 20h

“the protests don’t count if they happen in blue cities.” so, what, they aren’t americans? their voices don’t matter?

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Brandon Friedman @brandonfriedman.bsky.social · 20h

If Democrats need to win the popular vote by six points to take the House, then that is neither a free nor fair election. It would, therefore, be unclear to me how anyone could justify elections as the primary method of political change in America moving forward.

Emily Badger @emmbadger.bsky.social · 1d

If Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act falls, Democrats might need to win the national popular vote by 5 to 6 points to take control of the House, via Nate Cohn
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/u...

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Rachel Maddow @maddow.msnbc.com · 20h

20 billion dollars from the US Treasury **was not enough**. So now it's 40 billion dollars! And why stop there?

All while the US government is shut down.

"America First," amirite?

www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

Bessent says bailout for Argentina will double to boost U.S. influence in region

The Trump administration is working to arrange private sector financing for Argentina that would double the total U.S. financial lifeline for the embattled Latin nation.

www.washingtonpost.com

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casbo @casbo.bsky.social · 20h

What is happening with New York and other states besides California that said they would fight fire with fire if the GOP did this midterm redistricting?

Emily Badger @emmbadger.bsky.social · 1d

If Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act falls, Democrats might need to win the national popular vote by 5 to 6 points to take control of the House, via Nate Cohn
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/u...

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casbo @casbo.bsky.social · 20h

If a Dem did this, it WOULD be the biggest scandal. It would be on tv every night. They would run hour docs about how the president should resign or be impeached.

Andrew Lawrence @ndrew.bsky.social · 21h

the president using the office to punish americans that didnt vote for him should really be one of the biggest scandals in americas history

Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 1d

Trump is upfront in saying he will use the shutdown to punish Democrats, and here are the receipts. About $27.2 billion cut from Dem districts compared to about $0.7 billion in GOP districts.
We all complain about the media, but need this type of in-depth journalism.
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

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Andrew Lawrence @ndrew.bsky.social · 21h

the president using the office to punish americans that didnt vote for him should really be one of the biggest scandals in americas history

Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 1d

Trump is upfront in saying he will use the shutdown to punish Democrats, and here are the receipts. About $27.2 billion cut from Dem districts compared to about $0.7 billion in GOP districts.
We all complain about the media, but need this type of in-depth journalism.
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Trump Halts Billions in Grants for Democratic Districts During Shutdown (Gift Article)

The Trump administration has frozen or canceled nearly $28 billion primarily located in Democratic-led districts, according to an analysis by The New York Times.

www.nytimes.com

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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Jeffries: "It's perplexing to us that Rs refuse to spend a dime to protect the healthcare of the American people, but somehow the Trump admin found $40b to bail out a right-wing wannabe dictator in Argentina in ways that are also going to continue to hurt our soybean farmers in Iowa & the Midwest"

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casbo @casbo.bsky.social · 20h

Today's athletes are absolute fucking cowards. They all pretend to look up to Bill Russell then not say a goddamn word as the Supreme Court is about to wipe out majority minority districts all across the south. Not a single damn word about white supremacy sweeping across this country.

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A.J. Bauer @ajbauer.bsky.social · 21h

News outlets mistakenly think that accommodating white supremacy will help them rebuild the public's shaken trust in journalism.

They are mistaken because they are fixated on right-wing criticisms and cannot see how moves like this will only further diminish most people's trust in news.

Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 22h

NBC News has reportedly eliminated its NBC BLK, NBC Asian America, NBC Latino and NBC OUT teams

NBC News’ 150 Layoffs Gut Black, Latino, Asian American and LGBTQ+ Diversity Teams

The cuts affected teams across the NBC News operation and came as the network no longer needed to support two different news operations. MSNBC has begun growing its own newsroom, hiring swaths of tale...

www.thewrap.com

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