Clara Jeffery
LightNews LightNews
banner
clarajeffery.bsky.social
Clara Jeffery
@clarajeffery.bsky.social
190K followers 970 following 8K posts
Editor-in-Chief of Mother Jones/Center for Investigative Reporting/Reveal. Past president of the American Society of Magazine Editors. Mom. Upzoning, street tree, and rescue dog enthusiast. Views, mine.
Posts Replies Media Videos
Pinned
clarajeffery.bsky.social
Clara Jeffery @clarajeffery.bsky.social · Feb 15
We are the ones who are coming to save us.
Reposted by Clara Jeffery
slate.com
The Supreme Court is on the brink of striking down a Nixon-era campaign finance restriction, handing plutocrats even more power to bribe candidates for political favors. slate.trib.al/EtkM56W
The Supreme Court Is Poised to Revive a Key Feature of Nixon-Era Corruption
The justices will hear arguments on Tuesday in NRSC v. FEC, a case cooked up by the GOP itself.
slate.trib.al
December 5, 2025 at 10:40 AM
Reposted by Clara Jeffery
adamparkhomenko.bsky.social
The fact that four hostile drones tried to hit Zelenskyy’s plane & it’s barely a blip in the news cycle should terrify everyone. We’ve been dragged so deep into the chaos era that an attempted strike on a world leader doesn’t even break through. When this becomes normal, the world is in real danger.
December 5, 2025 at 2:04 AM
Reposted by Clara Jeffery
andycraig.bsky.social
Publishing all the other boat murder videos but refusing to release the one of the two survivors being killed is an admission they know exactly how bad it looks. There's no other distinction to draw there, no reason to publish the others while withholding that one.
December 5, 2025 at 2:32 AM
Reposted by Clara Jeffery
robertcruickshank.com
Yes. We are living through a horrible moment in history and none of us are doing nearly enough about it.
noahshachtman.bsky.social Noah Shachtman @noahshachtman.bsky.social · 11h
Folks not very long from now are going to see these posts in their histories of the 2020s and will shout, "what the fuck was wrong these people?"
chrislhayes.bsky.social Chris Hayes @chrislhayes.bsky.social · 12h
They’re killing people as a twitter joke. It’s depraved. Can’t let yourself lose the capacity to be appalled and disgusted and outraged by this.
December 5, 2025 at 3:15 AM
Reposted by Clara Jeffery
waldo.net
This is how I learned that Meta has been continuing its bizarre, $70 billion "metaverse" spending *years* after I assumed they'd given up. It's possible that this is, in dollars spent, the biggest waste of money in history.
Meta Weighs Cuts to Its Metaverse Unit
www.nytimes.com
December 5, 2025 at 3:14 AM
Reposted by Clara Jeffery
nycsouthpaw.bsky.social
41 minutes. www.cnn.com/2025/12/04/p...
For a little under an hour — 41 minutes, according to a separate US official — Bradley and the rest of the US military command center discussed what to do as they watched the men struggle to overturn what was left of their boat, the sources said. Ultimately, Bradley told lawmakers, he ordered a second strike to destroy the remains of the vessel, killing the two survivors, on the grounds that it appeared that part of the vessel remained afloat because it still held cocaine, according to one of the sources. The survivors could hypothetically have floated to safety, been rescued, and carried on with trafficking the drugs, the logic went.
December 5, 2025 at 1:22 AM
Reposted by Clara Jeffery
schooley.bsky.social
41 minutes is a long time to sit in your air conditioned office watching men struggle to survive as you decide to kill them.
December 5, 2025 at 1:48 AM
Reposted by Clara Jeffery
prismreports.org
BREAKING: Trump administration plans to end prison rape protections for trans & intersex people, memo says. A DOJ memo says certain standards under the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) do not align with Trump’s Jan. 20 anti-trans executive order, @byadamrhodes.bsky.social reports.
Trump administration plans to end prison rape protections for trans and intersex people
A Department of Justice memo says certain standards under the Prison Rape Elimination Act do not align with Trump’s executive order
prismreports.org
December 4, 2025 at 11:30 PM
Reposted by Clara Jeffery
waldo.net
This is no different than refusing to allow Obama to appoint Garland to the Supreme Court because a new president would take office in ten months, and then confirming Barrett eight days before the 2020 election. There are no laws, no rules, no norms, only Calvinball.
joshtpm.bsky.social Josh Marshall @joshtpm.bsky.social · 14h
The word "eve" is doing a lot of work here in the Court's 'decision'
December 5, 2025 at 2:31 AM
Reposted by Clara Jeffery
davidnir.com
It's good—very good, and very important—that district courts keep issuing these 100-page rulings upholding the law. It must be incredibly dispiriting to see them overturned in a two-page, lawless, unsigned order, but please, keep them coming. They expose SCOTUS' corruption like nothing else.
December 5, 2025 at 12:41 AM
Reposted by Clara Jeffery
yasharali.bsky.social
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announces another boat strike in response to a request/wish from Turning Point USA’s Andrew Kolvet.
Pete Hegseth * G @PeteHegseth X.com Your wish is our command, Andrew. Just sunk another narco boat. Andrew Kolvet • @AndrewKolvet • 3h Every new attack aimed at Pete Hegseth makes me want another narco drug boat blown up and sent to the bottom of the ocean. x.com/SenSchumer/sta...
December 5, 2025 at 1:47 AM
Reposted by Clara Jeffery
motherjones.com
Read @ariberman.bsky.social + @pemalevy.bsky.social's definitive look at the chief justice, whose court has spent Donald Trump’s second term not applying the law so much as clearing it out of his way.
This is all John Roberts’ fault
Trump owes his corrupt and abusive reign to one man.
www.motherjones.com
December 4, 2025 at 11:56 PM
Reposted by Clara Jeffery
motherjones.com
The Supreme Court has reinstated the Trump-inspired gerrymandered congressional map in Texas after it was blocked by a lower court, with the Roberts court once again putting its thumb on the scale to weaken protections for minority voters and entrench GOP political power.
The Roberts court just helped Trump rig the midterms
The Supreme Court reinstated the Trump-inspired congressional map in Texas.
www.motherjones.com
December 4, 2025 at 11:53 PM
Reposted by Clara Jeffery
stephenwolf.bsky.social
Democrats can retaliate against these GOP gerrymanders with new maps in Illinois, Maryland, Oregon, & Virginia.

They could flip 7 GOP seats to make up for this & new GOP maps in Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, & possibly soon Indiana.

Imposing costs is the only way to deter the GOP from doing this
Map of a hypothetical Democratic gerrymander of Illinois' congressional map designed to turn the current 14-3 majority into a 15-2 majority in 2026. The districts are colored by the 2024 presidential winner's margin, with Harris in blue and Trump in red. The blue districts sprawl like pasta noodles across the northern half of the state to redistribute heavily blue parts of the Chicago area and use them to outvote heavily red rural areas. An accompanying chart shows that 15 districts would be securely blue while just two would be overwhelmingly red. The 1st, 2nd, and 7th districts would be predominantly Black, the 4th district would be majority Latino, and the 3rd district would be plurality white and 37% Latino. These racial demographics are similar in the existing versions of each of those districts. Image of a hypothetical Maryland congressional map that is gerrymandered to elect an eight-to-zero Democratic majority in 2026 and flip the Republican-held 1st District. All districts are colored varying shades of blue depending on Kamala Harris' victory margin for president in 2024, and an accompanying chart displays those results and the racial demographics. Three of the most heavily Democratic seats have majority-Black populations, an increase from two districts on the current map. Image of a hypothetical Oregon congressional map gerrymandered to elect six Democrats and eliminate the one remaining Republican seat in 2026, with every district shaded solidly blue. An embedded chart shows that Kamala Harris would have won every district by at least 10 percentage points. Harris won by at least 12 points in every Democratic-held district and by 10 points in the Republican-held 2nd District, which includes most of eastern and central Oregon along with part of eastern Portland. Image of a hypothetical Virginia congressional map that is gerrymandered to elect a ten-to-one Democratic majority and flip four Republican seats in 2026. Nine of the districts are securely Democratic and shaded solid blue, one of the districts is overwhelmingly Republican and shaded dark red, and one district is narrowly Democratic-leaning and shaded light blue. An embedded chart shows the results of the 2024 presidential election in each district, with Kamala Harris winning nine districts by double-digit margins and the swing district by 3 percentage points. Republicans votes are wasted by being packed into a single district in western Virginia that Donald Trump won in a 55-point landslide. Black voters would retain their current ability to elect their chosen candidates in the safely Democratic 3rd and 4th districts in the Hampton Roads, Richmond, and Southside regions.
December 5, 2025 at 12:12 AM
Reposted by Clara Jeffery
maddowblog.bsky.social
"...if placing “live bombs” is qualitatively different from other Jan. 6 crimes, why did the Trump administration dismiss charges against Daniel Ball — who set off an explosive device in a Capitol tunnel during a fierce battle between pro-Trump rioters and law enforcement officers?"
stevebenen.com Steve Benen @stevebenen.com · 16h
Following an arrest in the pipe-bombs case, the White House rejected questions about the parallels between this case and Trump’s Jan. 6 pardons.

But the closer one looks, the more legitimate this line of inquiry appears. www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...
Following arrest in pipe-bombs case, White House rejects questions about Jan. 6 pardons
With a suspect in custody, Team Trump was reluctant to talk about the president’s pardons for others convicted for violent Jan. 6 crimes.
www.ms.now
December 5, 2025 at 12:06 AM
clarajeffery.bsky.social
So if it takes one day for each time zone crossed to recover from jet lag a) I’m so fucked b) how did the Star Trek transporter universe never confront this?
December 5, 2025 at 12:03 AM
Reposted by Clara Jeffery
ariberman.bsky.social
SCOTUS conservative justices upholding Texas gerrymander is yet another example of how Roberts court has greenlit the many undemocratic schemes of Trump and his party

They’ve now ruled for Trump and his allies in 90 percent of shadow docket opinions www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
The Roberts court just helped Trump rig the midterms
The Supreme Court reinstated the Trump-inspired congressional map in Texas.
www.motherjones.com
December 4, 2025 at 11:52 PM
clarajeffery.bsky.social
Yep. But haven’t been for a good long while. Blame Roberts www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
December 4, 2025 at 11:58 PM
clarajeffery.bsky.social
This is the one takeaway from the Roberts court above all else www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
December 4, 2025 at 11:54 PM
Reposted by Clara Jeffery
timobrien.bsky.social
Just the latest incident: Jamie Raskin had his security increased after pardoned Jan. 6 defendant Taylor Taranto, who was previously convicted for an incident involving threats against Raskin and Barack Obama, allegedly showed up near the Maryland congressman's house.
www.axios.com/2025/12/04/j...
Scoop: Security upped for Rep. Jamie Raskin after alleged incident involving Jan. 6 defendent
A man who previously threatened Raskin and Obama was allegedly recording video near the congressman's home.
www.axios.com
December 4, 2025 at 11:52 PM
Reposted by Clara Jeffery
reichlinmelnick.bsky.social
As Justice Kagan begins her dissent by pointing out, what is even the point of trial, of fact-finding, of clear error, of standards of review, when the Supreme Court simply ignores every single part of that and decides everything purely on the papers without any real consideration of the facts?
USTICE KAGAN, with whom J USTICE SOTOMAYOR and J USTICE J ACKSON join, dissenting from the grant of the ap- plication for stay. Over the course of three months, a three-judge District Court in Texas undertook to resolve the factual dispute at issue in this application: In enacting an electoral map slanted toward Republicans, did Texas predominantly use race to draw its new district lines? Or said otherwise, did Texas accomplish its partisan objectives by means of a ra- cial gerrymander? The District Court conducted a nine-day hearing, involving the testimony of nearly two dozen wit- nesses and the introduction of thousands of exhibits. It sifted through the resulting factual record, spanning some 3,000 pages. It assessed the credibility of each of the wit- nesses it had seen and heard in the courtroom. And after considering all the evidence, it held that the answer was clear. Texas largely divided its citizens along racial lines to create its new pro-Republican House map, in violation of the Constitution’s Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. The court issued a 160-page opinion recounting in detail its factual findings. Yet this Court reverses that judgment based on its pe- rusal, over a holiday weekend, of a cold paper record. We are a higher court than the District Court, but we are not a better one when it comes to making such a fact-based deci- sion. That is why we are supposed to use a clear-error standard of review—why we are supposed to uphold the District Court’s decision that race-based line-drawing oc- curred (even if we would have ruled differently) so long as it is plausible. Without so much as a word about that stand- ard, this Court today announces that Texas may run next year’s elections with a map the District Court found to have violated all our oft-repeated strictures about the use of race in districting. Today’s order disrespects the work of a Dis- trict Court that did everything one could ask to carry out its charge—that put aside every consideration except get- ting the issue before it right. And today’s order disserves the millions of Texans whom the District Court found were assigned to their new districts based on their race. Because this Court’s precedents and our Constitution demand bet- ter, I respectfully dissent.
December 4, 2025 at 11:08 PM
Reposted by Clara Jeffery
kashana.blacksky.app
In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the constitution is actually just one big paper bag test
stephenwolf.bsky.social Stephen Wolf @stephenwolf.bsky.social · 15h
The Supreme Court just handed Texas Republicans at least 2 more House seats & possibly up to 5 despite the state GOP explicitly justifying their remap based on an unconstitutional use of race in redistricting.

Unsurprising from this court, and it's a bad sign for the upcoming Voting Rights Act case
stevenmazie.bsky.social Steven Mazie @stevenmazie.bsky.social · 15h
BREAKING: Supreme Court sides with Texas Republicans in fight over congressional map. The new gerrymandered map will be used in the 2026 midterms. The vote is 6–3, with the Republican appointees siding with Texas.
December 4, 2025 at 11:32 PM
Reposted by Clara Jeffery
juliannemcshane.bsky.social
New @ms.now: Why is Trump suddenly obsessed with Somalia?

It all started with a story by conservative activist Christopher Rufo that went viral in right-wing media—despite the fact that one of its key claims remains unsubstantiated.

Here's what to know:
How one article sparked Trump’s ire at Somali immigrants
A story linking Somali immigrants to terrorism and social services fraud went viral in conservative media. Now a community is bracing for raids.
www.ms.now
December 3, 2025 at 4:41 PM
clarajeffery.bsky.social
Does nobody know what fog of war really means? It's not a lack of literal visibility, or smoke from munitions, it's confusion, chaos, discord.

Also, this is a must watch: tv.apple.com/us/movie/the...
The Fog of War - Apple TV
Academy Award®-winner for Best Documentary Feature,
tv.apple.com
December 4, 2025 at 10:06 PM
Reposted by Clara Jeffery
mikedrucker.bsky.social
I wrote a bit for McSweeney's about Isaac Chotiner interviewing Santa Claus. Just a little something for the holiday season. Enjoy!
The New Yorker’s Isaac Chotiner Interviews Santa Claus
For several centuries, Santa Claus has been one of the most prolific mythical gift-givers in the world. Formerly known as Saint Nicholas of Myra, a...
www.mcsweeneys.net
December 4, 2025 at 7:02 PM