Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Hartzell @hartzell.bsky.social · 10h

1.4 million federal workers without pay. People crowdfunding groceries on GoFundMe. 42 million Americans will be without SNAP benefits at the end of this month.

That’s not a strong economy — that’s richest country in the world is forcing its people starve to keep profits for the rich flowing.

Yahoo Finance @yahoofinance.com · 7d

GoFundMe CEO Tim Cadogan said users are coming to the platform to fundraise for groceries.

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Hartzell @hartzell.bsky.social · 12h

It’s my birthday in a few days. Still younger than your average congressperson! 😉

Celebrate the next generation of leadership at Hartzell’s Birthday Bash Fundraiser.
📍 The Ship | Tue 10/28 | 6 PM
RSVP: tinyurl.com/3ns4escp
People-powered. No corporate PACs.

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Hartzell @hartzell.bsky.social · 16h

An AWS outage shouldn’t freeze banks, schools, and hospitals. But when a few giants own the pipes, we all pay. Monopolies profit; communities absorb the risk. We need guardrails: antitrust, open standards, and real redundancy that serves people first.

The Guardian @theguardian.com · 1d

Amazon Web Services outage shows internet users ‘at mercy’ of too few providers, experts say

Crash that hit apps and websites around world demonstrates ‘urgent need for diversification in cloud computing’ * Business live – latest updates Experts have warned of the perils of relying on a small number of companies for operating the global internet after a glitch at Amazon’s cloud computing service brought down apps and websites around the world. The affected platforms included Snapchat, Roblox, Signal and Duolingo as well as a host of Amazon-owned operations including its main retail site and the Ring doorbell company. Continue reading...

www.theguardian.com

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Hartzell @hartzell.bsky.social · 1d

Main Street > Wall Street.

Small businesses, like Ting’s Filipino Bistro, keep money in our communities, create local jobs, and grow opportunity. Let’s end corporate giveaways and invest in the shops, co-ops, and startups rooted right here. People over profit.

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Hartzell @hartzell.bsky.social · 1d

Tonight, Kansas City shines a little brighter.
To everyone celebrating Diwali, may this festival of lights bring renewal, good health, and peace. Let’s carry that light forward, lifting each other up and building a future rooted in dignity and hope. Shubh Diwali! 🪔

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Hartzell @hartzell.bsky.social · 1d

We’re the richest country and yet illness can erase your life savings.
Universal health care isn’t radical. It’s human. Corporate power over who lives or dies is not only radical, it is inherently violent. We must put an end to it. But first we have to clean house, starting with Mark Alford.

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Hartzell @hartzell.bsky.social · 1d

A broken leg. A sudden illness. A month in the hospital.
Too many are forced into bankruptcy because the system treats health as a commodity, not a human right.
We deserve a guarantee: care that doesn’t punish you for being human. Universal health care must be the foundation, not the exception.

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Hartzell @hartzell.bsky.social · 3d

NO KINGS. NO DICTATORS.
In a democracy, the people rule, not billionaires, corporate monopolists, oligarchs, or would-be monarchs.
Universal health care, affordable housing, living wages, human rights. Power to the people.

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Hartzell @hartzell.bsky.social · 4d

We must reassert our right to privacy, and ban data surveillance.
Protect kids from algorithmic manipulation.

Our lives aren’t data points. Our children aren’t experiments. A healthy democracy requires minds that are free, not farmed.

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Hartzell @hartzell.bsky.social · 4d

The angrier we get, the richer big tech and media corporations become. They sell our attention to the highest bidder, even when it harms kids and divides communities.

Rage = revenue.

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Hartzell @hartzell.bsky.social · 4d

Your data isn’t just tracked, it’s weaponized.
Algorithms hijack our emotions for profit, feeding outrage, anxiety, and fear to keep us scrolling. That’s not connection, it’s manipulation.

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Hartzell @hartzell.bsky.social · 5d

Our government is bought, the rot runs deep. We can still change course. But we need to clean house, starting with Mark Alford.

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Hartzell @hartzell.bsky.social · 5d

SCOTUS gutted VRA preclearance in 2013 and now looks poised to finish the job. Paired with mid-decade gerrymanders to lock in power before a single vote is cast, this is an authoritarian power grab enabled by Citizens United’s flood of corporate cash.

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Hartzell @hartzell.bsky.social · 5d

We will stop this by taking on the billionaire class — reclaiming ownership of our lives, our neighborhoods, our resources, our country.

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Hartzell @hartzell.bsky.social · 5d

Ever notice how recessions, layoffs, foreclosures always come before their next round of asset buying? Its a feast for the billionaires and corporations.
They manufacture crisis so they can buy the pieces. Your home, your land, your business, all pieces of you.

Barchart @barchart.com · 6d

U.S. Housing Market has reached its most unaffordable level in history 🚨🚨

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Hartzell @hartzell.bsky.social · 6d

A federal judge just blocked Trump’s plan to lay off thousands of federal workers during the shutdown.

Let’s be clear, this wasn’t about saving money. It was about breaking unions, gutting public service, and consolidating power.

Workers stopped him. The fight isn’t over.

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Hartzell @hartzell.bsky.social · 6d

Do you know someone earning $15/hour and making it all stretch, but still falling short? That’s by design.

They deprive us of power, demand we stay silent, and call it the “market.”

We demand a living wage. The freedom to form unions. Real workplace dignity.

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Hartzell @hartzell.bsky.social · 7d

Every dollar they divert to war profiteers is a dollar not spent on our neighborhoods.
We have an infrastructure crisis, health care crisis, housing crisis.

They feed that by exporting our money to weapons, surveillance, and genocide.

We say: keep the money here. Invest at home.

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Hartzell @hartzell.bsky.social · 8d

Today, we honor their resilience, their defense of treaty rights and sovereignty and their ongoing fight for environmental and social justice. The struggle for self-determination endures.

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Hartzell @hartzell.bsky.social · 8d

These principles were practiced by Indigenous nations who protected the land, the waters, and one another, not corporations, not kings.

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Hartzell @hartzell.bsky.social · 8d

Indigenous Peoples’ Day reminds us that democratic principles, community accountability, consensus, and shared stewardship existed on this land long before the formation of the United States.

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Hartzell @hartzell.bsky.social · 10d

A society where health is tied to corporate profit is a society in crisis.

We refuse to let insurance companies and big pharma determine who gets care.

Universal health care isn't some radical idea — it's justice.

Stop the theft. We must tax the billionaires who profit from human suffering.

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Hartzell @hartzell.bsky.social · 12d

The Trump DOJ is targeting critics, not criminals.

In a democracy, law enforcement must be impartial, used to uphold justice, not punish dissent. What this says about our democracy is frighteningly clear.

This is illegal. Congress must step up and rein in this lawless administration.

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Hartzell @hartzell.bsky.social · 13d

It’s official: we’re running in Missouri’s 4th Congressional District.

This is what the fight demands of us. Bought-off politicians thought we’d take their gerrymander lying down — but they were wrong. Working people are fighting back.

It’s people versus money. And together, we will win.

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Hartzell @hartzell.bsky.social · 14d

This is not a “pause.” It’s a gutting of our government to fund wars abroad, enrich billionaires, and to dismantle the services working Americans depend on.

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