Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by chip goines

awkword @awkword.bsky.social · 6d

NEW STUDY

Since I was born, 500 Black neighborhoods have vanished

And 500,000 Black people have been lost

All due to urban revitalization projects

Like the one for LA’s new coliseum — for the Clippers and ‘26 Olympics — that’s destroying Inglewood

@adamlmahoney.bsky.social @capitalb.bsky.social

From Watts to D.C.: How 500 Black Neighborhoods Vanished in 45 Years

America’s gentrified neighborhoods have lost 500,000 Black people, while gaining residents of every other race, a study finds.

capitalbnews.org

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Reposted by chip goines

Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 2d

I appreciate @punchbowlnews.bsky.social noting something that's objectively true and necessary context, but routinely elided over:

The House GOP is not away because of the shutdown, but to avoid taking a vote on releasing info about a notorious pedophile because that info implicates Trump.

Murshed Zaheed @murshedz.bsky.social · 2d

👀 “The Ghost House”: Eye opening report from @punchbowlnews.bsky.social this am on how Mike Johnson has turned the House into a joke under Republican rule. He has turned House Republican leaders into Trump White House’s poodles (if you catch my drift) covering up for #EpsteinFiles.

$“The Ghost House. Speaker Mike Johnson and top House GOP leaders have kept members home since Sept. 19. While the complaints are growing louder inside House GOP ranks over the issue, Johnson insists Republicans have done their job and there’s no reason for them to be here. House GOP lawmakers passed a “clean” CR that would keep federal agencies open until Nov. 21. Senate Democrats have repeatedly blocked that measure, which led to this shutdown. Democrats are demanding a vote on their own proposal to permanently extend expiring Obamacare premium credits, a rollback in massive Medicaid cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and the end of unilateral spending rescissions. Yet the House’s absence makes it easier for the shutdown to continue. Part of what ends shutdowns is anxiety building among the rank-and-file. Members are home, so there’s limited pressure on House GOP leaders to do anything. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and dozens of Democrats have been in D.C. throughout the shutdown. More importantly, Johnson has emerged as the “face” of the shutdown for House Republicans. He’s doing daily press conferences and more media interviews, putting himself in the center of the fracas. A C-SPAN caller begging Johnson to bring the House back last week went viral. So did Johnson’s hallway confrontation with Arizona Democratic Sens. Ruben Gallego and Mark Kelly over Johnson’s refusal to swear in Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva, a move that has infuriated Democrats.”$

OBBB and done. The reality is that since the OBBB passed on July 3, the House has been checked out. A virtual non-entity for more than three months. And this is the off-year, when Congress is supposed to be busy.
Since July 3, the House has only been in session for 20 days (out of more than 100 calendar days.) Even accounting for the normal August break — which began early because of the Epstein mess – the House has been AWOL.
There have been just over 90 floor votes during this period. A lot of these were amendment votes or votes on non-controversial suspension bills. Several were partisan FY2026 spending bills that have no chance of passage. All in all, very little of substance has been taken up. But as Johnson will remind you, the House did pass a CR.
The only period comparable to this in recent decades was in 2020, during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi used proxy voting to buttress the Democratic leadership’s power. Republicans yelled loudly about that at the time, even filing an unsuccessful lawsuit to stop it. But a similar thing is happening in reverse now.
If you see it, don’t say it. House Republicans have done virtually no oversight on the Trump administration, rolling over on a number of issues that their predecessors would have screamed loudly about. It’s true that House Democrats did little or nothing to rein in President Joe Biden when they controlled the House. But Trump has gone far beyond Biden in using executive authority. “Inside the White House, top advisers joke that they are ruling Congress with an ‘iron fist,’” the Wall Street Journal reported.
For an institution that has complained for years about the need to claw back power from the executive branch, it’s a sad state of affairs. And it shows no sign of ending soon.

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Todd Wolfson @proftwolf.bsky.social · 5d

I am proud to say that MIT has rejected Trump's poison compact. MIT President Sally Kornbluth: "Therefore, with respect, we cannot support the proposed approach to addressing the issues facing higher education."
@aaup.org @aft.org @higheredlabor.bsky.social @uaw.org
links.mit.edu/nl3/N5Jy2cKq...

Regarding the Compact

links.mit.edu

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chip goines @chip.bsky.social · 5d

COZY SZN continues! Roasted tomato soup w/ homemade foccacia.

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Reposted by chip goines

Phil Mandelbaum @philmandelbaum.bsky.social · 6d

Voting isn’t the solution unto itself, but it’s critically important at the local level.

There will be 52,000 elections held next month alone, and many will be determined purely by turnout.

You know what to do.

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chip goines @chip.bsky.social · 7d

this is the way.

Matthew Scarborough 𓀀 @mattitiahu.bsky.social · 7d

The administration is aware of black bloc tactics, was vaguely aware of clown bloc tactics, but was completely unprepared for the advent of Animal Crossing bloc tactics.

Courtney Vaughn @courtneyvaughn.bsky.social · 7d

Streets are still closed off in front of the Portland ICE facility at 8:30pm. Protesters have gathered on a side street. Dance party in progress.

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chip goines @chip.bsky.social · 7d

but they almost ate their way out of the costume, smh

chip goines @chip.bsky.social · 7d

Task Force Brisket of the Texas National Guard has been deployed to Illinois. Bad news for Chicago's hot dog stands & Mr.Beef!!!

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Jameel Jaffer @jameeljaffer.bsky.social · 9d

It's a pretty big deal that the NYC Bar Association--one of the most prominent and respected bar associations in the country--is accusing the President of ordering the "unlawful summary execution," i.e. murder--of civilians in violation of US and international law. www.nycbar.org/press-releas...

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chip goines @chip.bsky.social · 10d

If you're as disgusted by ICE & US Border Patrol's brutality as I am, please remember that is why Sen. Elizabeth Warren & Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley pushed to abolish Qualified Immunity for police officers 5 years ago. It's time.

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chip goines @chip.bsky.social · 11d

i KNOW you would!!!!

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chip goines @chip.bsky.social · 11d

Walk 5 miles they said
you'll get your steps in, they said
you'll feel better, they said

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chip goines @chip.bsky.social · 11d

make apartheid great again

NYT Breaking News
The Trump administration is said to have plans to slash refugee admissions to a record low, with many slots reserved for white South Africans.

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chip goines @chip.bsky.social · 12d

Trump posted this unhinged video last night to Truth Social celebrating his OMB Director, Russell Vought, gleefully executing his Project 2025 plan to dismantle the federal gov't as the Grim Reaper. This serves no one except Grover Norquist, but then again, this is what 77M Americans voted for. SMH.

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chip goines @chip.bsky.social · 12d

art of the con

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chip goines @chip.bsky.social · 13d

Happy cosy szn! instant pot pot roast w/ red wine

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Reposted by chip goines

awkword @awkword.bsky.social · 14d

If you’re at all interested in defending democracy or defeating Trump, this is a literal MUST WATCH

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Nathan Kalmoe (he/him) @nathankalmoe.bsky.social · 13d

The ludicrous rhetoric of cops being "handcuffed" is identical to the rhetoric of 18th & 19th century American enslavers, who ludicrously claimed that any attempt to limit their enslaving (or anything else) was slavery for THEM.

The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 14d

Stephen Miller tells law enforcement in MEMPHIS: “You are unleashed”

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chip goines @chip.bsky.social · 15d

a close up of a man pointing at something .

ALT: a close up of a man pointing at something .

media.tenor.com

chip goines @chip.bsky.social · 15d

😂

chip goines @chip.bsky.social · 15d

Pete Hegseth really said this to his generals & admirals today

"Your people are fat and uneducated.
You will never make it internationally
with all this McDonalds."
- Jurgen Klinsmann

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chip goines @chip.bsky.social · 15d

Dude went too hard on Mandalorian Mondays at the cantina, smh.

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chip goines @chip.bsky.social · 16d

Even Emperor Palpatine didn't make Darth Vader & all the generals & admirals in the Empire meet at the Death Star on a random Tuesday at 0900 for a pep rally.

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chip goines @chip.bsky.social · 18d

Support media who support *you*.

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Reposted by chip goines

Nick Kristof @nickkristof.bsky.social · 18d

President Trump's aid cuts are disproportionately hitting women and girls: forcing them to drop out of school or leading them to die in childbirth or perish from cervical cancer, or to marry as young teens. That's what I found in the field: www.nytimes.com/2025/09/27/o...

Opinion | The Tax on Being a Girl

www.nytimes.com

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