Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by eileen

Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal @jayapal.house.gov · 2h

This is such a powerful piece from @reptroycarter.bsky.social and @repfields.bsky.social on the importance of the Voting Rights Act.

As the Supreme Court hears arguments on this legislation, it is so vital that we all remember WHY it was enacted.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/o...

Opinion | The Shadow of Jim Crow Looms Over the Supreme Court

www.nytimes.com

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Adam Keiper @adamkeiper.com · 3h

"It was unclear why Adm. Holsey is leaving now, less than a year into his tenure....But one of the U.S. officials...said that Admiral Holsey had raised concerns about the mission and the attacks on the alleged drug boats."
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/16/u...

Head of the U.S. Military’s Southern Command Is Stepping Down, Officials Say

www.nytimes.com

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Justin Baragona @justinbaragona.bsky.social · 5h

lol, now they're saying the Nazi flag is an "optical illusion"

Swastika” Flag In Office of Rep. Dave Taylor (R-OH) May Be An “optical illusion” and “easy to miss”

The weird story about an aide to Rep. Dave Taylor (R-OH) having a flag in his Capitol Hill office with a swastika on it, has just gotten weirder.

Multiple sources tell Fox – including those investigating the issue – the flag in question is an American flag – but with a swastika embedded into the ink or weaving. And here’s the strange part: the swastika is not obvious to the naked eye. But is more visible when captured on video or by a still photo.

One source described this as an “optical illusion.” Another said the swastika was “easy to miss.”

Fox has learned that dozens of Congressional offices received these American flags from an undetermined group who brought them around Capitol Hill early in the year. One office tells Fox that the swastika on their flag was clear, so they tossed it out. But the flag in the office of Taylor was not visible until captured on camera.

It is not known what group brought the flags around. That is under investigation. The US Capitol Police are also conducting an inquiry. Fox is told that that the group brought the flags to multiple offices. At issues is if the group knew the swastika was embedded into the flag. It is also unclear if this was an effort to covertly deliver American flags to lawmakers with swastikas on them. Or, if this was an effort to deliberately embarrass offices by bringing them an American flag – which featured a swastika which wasn’t obvious to the naked eye.

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San Francisco Chronicle @sfchronicle.com · 9h

Lower-cost insulin manufactured by the state of California will be available to consumers starting Jan. 1, 2026, for about $11 per pen.

Lower-cost, California-branded insulin will be available to consumers in January

Lower-cost insulin manufactured by the state of California will be available to consumers starting Jan. 1, 2026, for about $11 per pen.

bit.ly

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eileen @espiegler.bsky.social · 6h

La vie est faite de petits moments de bonheur. Find yours where you can.

eileen @espiegler.bsky.social · 7h

It's surreal that the South Florida Cuban community sees no dissonance in cheering for freedom and democracy elsewhere while playing a significant role in electing the people dead set on ending it in the United States. www.wlrn.org/americas/202...

'Our moment will come': Miami's Cuban diaspora celebrates Machado's Nobel - and hopes

Venezuelan democracy champion María Corina Machado won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, but on Monday Cuban exiles — who see Venezuela's struggle intertwined with Cuba's — recounted the big part they ...

www.wlrn.org

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eileen @espiegler.bsky.social · 8h

Apologies for being so late to this moving piece by my friend and former Herald colleague, @defector.com's @dianamoskovitz.bsky.social, on the Marc Maron podcast-shaped hole in our lives, in this season of melancholy. defector.com/there-will-n...

There Will Never Be Another 'WTF With Marc Maron' | Defector

I heard Marc Maron announce he was ending his podcast the way that I imagine he’d’ve wanted me to—while walking through my neighborhood in Los Angeles, through wired headphones, just a little too hopp...

defector.com

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Dave Weigel @daveweigel.bsky.social · 9h

Basic problem for Fetterman 28: His small donors won't come back.

He raised $3.9 million in his first quarter as a Senate candidate after a decade of building a brand that's simply not his current brand.

Jordan @slclunk.com · 11h

Media is awesome because it can show an organization trying to get rid a guy who is underwater with state Democrats by 50 points, undermines any Democratic policy, and is just completely off-putting to anyone who has to spend five minutes around him; and they phrase it as “seeding discord”

Axios @axios.com · 14h

SCOOP: Top Democrats in Pennsylvania are maneuvering to run against Sen. John Fetterman in a 2028 primary, threatening to tear the party apart in the biggest battleground state in the nation.

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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 9h

This entire article is, unsurprisingly, kicked off by Brett Kavanaugh and includes this: "A spokesperson for Kavanaugh did not return an emailed request for comment."

Eric Umansky @ericumansky.bsky.social · 9h

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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Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg @theradr.bsky.social · 9h

Funny how the press + white politicians just about never refer to unarmed Black teenagers who get murdered --

like Laquan McDonald, Mike Brown, Trayvon Martin, Jordan Davis, Ma'Khia Bryant, & younger, like Tamir Rice, Aiyana Jones-

as "kids," even though they call 30something racists "kids". 🤔

Clara Jeffery @clarajeffery.bsky.social · 1d

These. Were. Men. In. Their. 30s.

www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

No one in the GOP Hitler chat was a "kid"

We checked. Sorry, JD Vance.

www.motherjones.com

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Harlem Toots @chadstanton.blacksky.app · 9h

Cutting off food aid while conducting mass layoffs.

www.urban.org/urban-wire/2...

230,000 Families in the DC Area Will Lose Some or All of Their SNAP Benefits Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act

Federal cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program could cause some DC-area families to lose an average of $187 in monthly benefits.

www.urban.org

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George Takei @georgetakei.bsky.social · 9h

This is shameful and un-American. The people have a right to ask what their military is doing, and we shouldn’t have to buy just the official line.

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Matt Ford @mford.bsky.social · 11h

It was also a gift for future historians that the Callais arguments were on the same day as the WH developing a whites-only refugee program and a swastika being found in a GOP lawmaker’s office on the Hill.

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Matt Ford @mford.bsky.social · 11h

Lots of grim stuff at SCOTUS yesterday, but Alito cooking up pretexts for state lawmakers to use for racial gerrymandering felt like a nadir.

The Supreme Court’s War on the Voting Rights Act Is Almost Over

The Roberts court has long had a monomaniacal obsession with gutting the laws that guarantee the right to vote. They are on the brink of getting their wish.

newrepublic.com

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Zach Everson @zacheverson.com · 12h

Rep. Bryon Donalds (R-Fla.) is running for governor.

In the last quarter, his congressional campaign spent $101,000, per new filing.

Almost half of it went to security.

For his wife.

Schedule B for ALL Line #'s Schedule B for ALL Line #'s

docquery.fec.gov

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eileen @espiegler.bsky.social · 11h

It's hard to imagine that nothing at all
Could be so exciting, could be this much fun
Oh, Heaven
Heaven is a place
A place where nothing
Nothing ever happens
– David Byrne, "Heaven"

Reposted by eileen

Will Bunch @willbunch.bsky.social · 11h

Live cam of Republican congressman calling the Capitol Police to investigate the swastika flag in his staffer's cubicle

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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 11h

Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva on Mike Johnson refusing to swear her in: "The excuses depending on the day keep changing ... the timing is the fact that I am the 218th signer to the discharge petition for the Epstein files"

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eileen @espiegler.bsky.social · 22h

I'm sure you saw there's also an Emerald Fennell remake of Wuthering Heights w/music by Charli xcx and judging from the trailer, ugh.

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eileen @espiegler.bsky.social · 22h

Unreal.

Clara Jeffery @clarajeffery.bsky.social · 23h

The Arc d’Trump??? www.tiktok.com/t/ZTMPYGkxj/

A model of President Trump's proposed triumphal arch to commemorate the country’s 250th anniversary was seen on the Resolute Desk as the president held a press conference with FBI Director Kash Patel ...

TikTok video by cbsnews

www.tiktok.com

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Andrew Lawrence @ndrew.bsky.social · 1d

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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Rachel Maddow @maddow.msnbc.com · 1d

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...