Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Alexander Howard @digiphile.bsky.social · 2h

Be kind, when you can.

Offer grace, if you’re able.

Render assistance, when needed.

Call for help, if asked.

Pick up the phone, when requested.

Drop by, if possible.

Show up, when your people need you.

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Reposted by Alexander Howard

Lauren Harper @laurenleharper.bsky.social · 11h

Good thing @freedom.press filed a FOIA request for all of Bondi’s Truth Social DMs to see what else he’s demanding she do on his janky platform.

(Social media posts from gov officials are federal records, including deleted messages and DMs)

Marc Elias @marcelias.bsky.social · 14h

This has real -- I intended to dm "Pam" -- energy.

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Alexander Howard @digiphile.bsky.social · 13h

I❤️NY

Photo of BY bagels with schmears of cream cheese & a mug with the World Trade Center towers on a sunny morning with conifer trees

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Alexander Howard @digiphile.bsky.social · 1d

I know you’re still pro-democracy & civil liberties for all, & still believe that’s what matters.

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Sheryl Gay Stolberg @sherylnyt.bsky.social · 1d

FULL STORY HERE: Emails began flooding CDC inboxes late Friday night announcing dozens of layoffs. HR people brought back from furlough to oversee the RIFs. Disease detectives, entire Washington office, global health, injury prevention, MMWR staff among those hit.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/u...

Trump Administration Lays Off Dozens of C.D.C. Officials

www.nytimes.com

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Angie Rasmussen @angierasmussen.bsky.social · 1d

For more information about the Friday night massacre at CDC, I wrote up an analysis of who got terminated and what that means for public health.

Grateful to @saveamericamvmt.bsky.social for supporting and amplifying. We are in really terrible trouble.

rasmussenretorts.substack.com/p/the-death-...

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jael holzman @jael.bsky.social · 3d

SCOOP: The Bureau of Land Management says the largest solar project in Nevada — the Esmeralda 7 mega-farm — has been canceled

The news was quietly dropped via a sudden website update with no public word from any of the companies involved or a statement from the agency

@heatmap.news

Esmeralda 7 Solar Project Has Been Canceled, BLM Says

It would have delivered a gargantuan 6.2 gigawatts of power.

heatmap.news

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Jameel Jaffer @jameeljaffer.bsky.social · 2d

MIT's response to the Trump admin's proposed "compact" is excellent and should be a model for other universities. orgchart.mit.edu/letters/rega...

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Alexander Howard @digiphile.bsky.social · 2d

🇺🇸 “If YOU hear anybody talk against a schoolmate or anyone else because of their religion, race, or national origin — don’t wait: tell them THAT KIND OF TALK IS UN-AMERICAN”— Superman
www.denofgeek.com/culture/supe...

Restored DC Comics poster showing Superman encouraging students not to stand up against bigotry & prejudice

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Alexander Howard @digiphile.bsky.social · 2d

I take the dogs walking in the woods because I wish to live deliberately, to reduce my gaze to only the essential facts of life & death, & determine if I could not learn what nature still has to teach me, & not, whenever I die, discover that I had not fully lived.

(Credit to HD Thoreau.)

#unwiring

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Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 2d

The correct response to Republicans widely depicting the coming protests as terrorism is to go out and protest. Each person should get 10 more people to do so. If Republicans are going to hint at violent state responses to legitimate protest, the only answer is bigger numbers.

Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 2d

By contrast, JB Pritzker told me that people should flood the No Kings protests precisely in order to let the American people know that something is deeply amiss.

More Dems should be doing this, to send the message widely that we are in real trouble right now.

newrepublic.com/article/2016...

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Angus Johnston @angus.bsky.social · 2d

There was never going to be a moment when everyone—everyone in government, everyone in media, everyone in the population—was roused to action at the same time. We're turning a battleship. And Pritzker understands that.

Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 2d

By contrast, JB Pritzker told me that people should flood the No Kings protests precisely in order to let the American people know that something is deeply amiss.

More Dems should be doing this, to send the message widely that we are in real trouble right now.

newrepublic.com/article/2016...

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Renee DiResta @noupside.bsky.social · 2d

Who was president in 2020?

Senate Rs spent hours Wed insisting a Biden Censorship Regime was in power.

It’s ridiculous on its face—but dangerous in its purpose.

If you can convince people of that lie, you can justify what Trump is doing now. It’s “just payback”.

open.substack.com/pub/agentsof...

Who was president in 2020?

On pressure, coercion, and confrontations with reality

open.substack.com

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Alexander Howard @digiphile.bsky.social · 2d

My neighborhood is full of free expression these days.

I have a feeling many of our Halloween 🎃 pumpkins are going to be …lit this year.

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Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 2d

No Kings 2 is Saturday, Oct. 18.

Nobody is getting paid to be there. But you can demonstrate to the world that you oppose the rise of fascism in the U.S.

Find your local protest here: www.nokings.org#map

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 2d

Sen. Roger Marshall: "October 18 is when the protest gets here. This will be a Soros paid-for protest for his professional protesters. The agitators show up. We'll have to get the National Guard out. Hopefully it will be peaceful. I doubt it."

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Alexander Howard @digiphile.bsky.social · 2d

CRS: “If an individual in the US espouses extremist beliefs, such as anarchy or the superiority of the white race, that behavior is generally protected speech under the 1st Amendment.” www.congress.gov/crs-product/...
USAG & WH are pushing this illiberal line.

It’s a predicate for state violence.

Alexander Howard @digiphile.bsky.social · 3d

The Minority Leader has found his voice, now that Trump’s authoritarianism has been amply reflected in deeds for 262 days after inauguration.
This conflict between Trump & the rule of law in an independent judiciary was inevitable. Best to go to the mats now, before democratic integrity wanes more.

Chuck Schumer @schumer.senate.gov · 3d

This is what tyranny looks like. President Trump is using the Justice Department as his personal attack dog, targeting Attorney General Tish James for the ‘crime’ of prosecuting him for fraud—and winning.

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Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 4d

Today my @nytimes.com colleagues and I are launching a new series called Lost Science. We interview US scientists who can no longer discover something new about our world, thanks to this year‘s cuts. Here is my first interview with a scientist who studied bees and fires. Gift link: nyti.ms/3IWXbiE

nyti.ms

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Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 3d

Lots of folks talking about this. This was one of the most heavily discussed parts of the TRO request, and I covered some of that on Monday.

tl;dr: Read Law Dork; be informed.

www.lawdork.com/p/illinois-l...

It is further ORDERED that all Federal Agents, excepting those who do not wear a
uniform or other distinguishing clothing or equipment in the regular performance of their official
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Case: 1:25-cv-12173 Document #: 42 Filed: 10/09/25 Page 5 of 6 PagelD #:839
duties or are engaged in undercover operations in the regular performance of their official duties, must have visible identification (for which a unique recognizable alphanumeric identifier sequence
will suffice) affixed to their uniforms or helmets and prominently displayed, including when
wearing riot gear.

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Alexander Howard @digiphile.bsky.social · 3d

This member of the Society of Friends in the USA views unconstitutional orders & repression of dissent here similarly.

Quakers in Britain @quaker.org.uk · 3d

Quakers in Britain have warned that new government plans to tighten protest laws even further are "not only unnecessary but dangerous".

Quakers warn new protest powers “dangerous and unnecessary”

Quakers in Britain have warned that new government plans to tighten protest laws even further are “not only unnecessary but dangerous”.

www.quaker.org.uk

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Quakers in Britain @quaker.org.uk · 3d

Quakers in Britain have warned that new government plans to tighten protest laws even further are "not only unnecessary but dangerous".

Quakers warn new protest powers “dangerous and unnecessary”

Quakers in Britain have warned that new government plans to tighten protest laws even further are “not only unnecessary but dangerous”.

www.quaker.org.uk

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Alexander Howard @digiphile.bsky.social · 3d

Lots of folks dislike Obamacare, but appreciate the ACA & subsidies. It’s the reason we see signs about keeping the Government’s hands off of Medicare.
MTG is hardcore on many issues of core importance to democracy, but she may also be in tune with her constituents in ways many of her peers are not.

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Alexander Howard @digiphile.bsky.social · 3d

Don’t sleep on how her donor base means she’s not beholden to the party for funding

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Alexander Howard @digiphile.bsky.social · 3d

It’s satire, but the delta between President Donald J. Trump & AG Bondi’s rhetoric about transparency & the reality of this White House & the Justice Department may never have been greater in US history. e-pluribusunum.org/2025/04/30/w...

youtube.com/shorts/fusEY...

Pam Bondi is so transparent, you can see right through her #dailyshow #pambondi

YouTube video by The Daily Show

youtube.com

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Alexander Howard @digiphile.bsky.social · 3d

3 of the most powerful words in journalism: “Help us investigate”

“Transparency of sources & ownership, accountability, quality & objectivity are the keys to restoring the role of citizens as protagonists in the system, convincing them to demand information worthy of the name.”-Pope Leo XIV

Help Us Investigate Book Bans and Educational Censorship Around America

404 Media has gotten a grant to unearth public records about systematic censorship of books, schools, and libraries in the U.S.

www.404media.co

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