Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Kevin White

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 1h

last i checked these young republicans were like 25 years old. but this is a classic case of infantilization to diminish the significance of the offense. www.yahoo.com/news/article...

Vance downplays group chat messages: ‘Kids do stupid things, especially young boys.’

The vice president called the texts "edgy, offensive jokes."

www.yahoo.com

240 680 3.3K

Reposted by Kevin White

Bobby Kogan @bbkogan.bsky.social · 3h

You can check the milpers accounts in the OMB apportionment website. There is no money transferred into those accounts for them to use. No money has been transferred from RDTE to milpers.

Instead, what happened? They spent RDTE money, which can only be used on RDTE, on milpers.

2 43 300

Reposted by Kevin White

Bobby Kogan @bbkogan.bsky.social · 3h

And the craziest part is this was needless. Congress would've passed a military pay bill with near unanimous support! Congressional Ds have been begging Rs to bring a bill to pay the military to the floor! But Johnson refuses to gavel in because he doesn't want an Epstein vote.

Johnson wearing a jacket that's photoshopped to say "this has nothing to do with epstein"

3 130 580

Reposted by Kevin White

Emily Badger @emmbadger.bsky.social · 7h

If Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act falls, Democrats might need to win the national popular vote by 5 to 6 points to take control of the House, via Nate Cohn
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/u...

12 130 270

Reposted by Kevin White

Wesley Morgan @wesleymorgan.bsky.social · 2h

Wow—has a president ever explicitly confirmed a presidential finding authorizing an ongoing covert action before? Let alone a brand new one?

5 38 190

Reposted by Kevin White

Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 2h

Thread of the illegality of Trump's paying the military with R&D money.
The fact that it is also entirely needless signals a GOP preference for the military to be dependent on Trump's lawbreaking rather than bipartisan lawful actions.
bsky.app/profile/bbko...

Bobby Kogan @bbkogan.bsky.social · 4h

Trump's mechanism to pay the troops during the shutdown is by far the most illegal budgetary action he's taken as POTUS, potentially setting the stage to break everything.

It's also needless because Congress would easily pass a troop pay bill if Johnson were willing to gavel in.

Long thread.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/10/national-security-presidential-memorandum-nspm-8/

17 53

Reposted by Kevin White

ElieNYC @elienyc.bsky.social · 8h

Roberts is saying that the court's own precedent from a couple of years ago, where it ruled that Alabama had to draw racial fair maps, doesn't apply to this (identical) case, essentially because the Alabama case was poorly argued.
It's a terrible argument, but the hill Roberts is gonna die on.

24 160 1.3K

Reposted by Kevin White

Sharon @sharonk.bsky.social · 3h

sort of fascinating that Mike was in the running to be the AG at one point

Tom Joscelyn @tomjoscelyn.bsky.social · 3h

Hakeem Jeffries posted pictures of two Rep. Members posing with “Young Republicans” who were part of a racist text thread (as reported by Politico).

In response, Mike Davis (well-connected in Trump World & on the Hill) called Jeffries a “house slave” for George Soros - proving Jeffries’ point.

5 8 79

Reposted by Kevin White

Seth Cotlar @sethcotlar.bsky.social · 2h

Journalists spent months documenting Stephen Miller's affinities for white nationalism and Trump just goes and tweets it out.

Acyn @acyn.bsky.social · 3h

Trump: I want to thank Stephen Miller I would love to have him come up and explain his true feelings. Maybe not his truest feelings. That might be going a little too far

8 88 320

Kevin White @kevinwhitejr.bsky.social · 3h

This world certainly at least partially explain their lack of concern about the outcome of the midterms - they’re going to gerrymander 7+ seats.

WatchYourRepsSC @watchyourrepssc.bsky.social · 3h

apnews.com/article/supr...

Supreme Court seems inclined to limit race-based electoral districts under the Voting Rights Act

The Supreme Court appears ready to gut a key tool of the Voting Rights Act that's helped root out racial discrimination in voting for more than a half century.

apnews.com

2

Reposted by Kevin White

StrictlyChristo 🇺🇦🌻❌👑 @strictlychristo.bsky.social · 4h

Well-known internet personality Robby Roadsteamer makes fun of ICE and calls them Nazis. They prove his point & come out to arrest him for trespassing after shoving him over the property line.

Just like Russia, if you protest the regime, men with guns come to take you away.
youtu.be/HHTuJ7P8YiM?...

50 390 720

Reposted by Kevin White

ghost malone ergo propter malone @proptermalone.bsky.social · 3h

we're going to have to prosecute this stuff

Bobby Kogan @bbkogan.bsky.social · 4h

The mechanism through which Trump is paying the troops is the most blatant large Antideficiency Act (ADA) violation in US history. It's also clearly willful. No one has been charged under the ADA before, but violations carry a two-year jail term. The statute of limitations is five years.

12 140 810

Reposted by Kevin White

Peter Wade @peterwade.bsky.social · 3h

Vance suggested that whoever leaked the racist messages is a “scumbag.”

Rolling Stone @rollingstone.com · 3h

A bombshell report detailing racist and antisemitic texts shared among Young Republicans lifted the veil on how the next generation of GOP leaders talk when they think no one is watching.

Unsurprisingly, prominent conservatives defended the participants.

The Right Jumps to Defend Young Republicans' Racist Texts

bit.ly

18 27 110

Reposted by Kevin White

Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 3h

Now, Dems hold 7 of 33 US house seats (21%) across AL, LA, MS, SC & TN. Dems won 37% of 2024 presidential vote in those states.

Now Supreme Court may allow those states to eliminate >all< Dem seats by undermining the VRA www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/u...

Our democracy being chipped away, bit by bit.

Current vs a plausible congressional seat map, if the Supreme Court heads in the direction it appears to be by killing elements of the VRA.

4 61 130

Reposted by Kevin White

Scott Shapiro @scottjshapiro.bsky.social · 3h

Well, everyone knows the US Constitution mandates three branches of government. What this administration presupposes is... maybe there is only one.

14 27 200

Reposted by Kevin White

The Associated Press @apnews.com · 4h

BREAKING: President Donald Trump’s administration for now must stop firing workers during the government shutdown, a federal judge in San Francisco ordered.

Judge temporarily blocks the Trump administration from firing workers during the government shutdown

A federal judge has temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s administration from firing workers during the government shutdown. U.S.

bit.ly

39 490 1.4K

Reposted by Kevin White

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 6h

This is the same Speaker who has repeatedly refused to put up the congressionally-mandated plaque honoring the Capitol Police members who were viciously assaulted by MAGA goons on January 6th.

We've seen your deeds, you oily liar.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 8h

Mike Johnson: "We've always stood with Capitol police and law enforcement. We've shown that in word and deed."

30 340 1.5K

Reposted by Kevin White

Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 3h

NEWS: Here's a report on the shutdown RIF TRO issued by Judge Illston at a hearing just now. (This is also the end of a thread from @jennifershutt.bsky.social on the hearing.) —>

Jennifer Shutt @jennifershutt.bsky.social · 4h

Federal judge blocks Trump from carrying out thousands of layoffs during shutdown

w/ @arianalfigueroa.bsky.social

www.newsfromthestates.com/article/brea...

BREAKING: Federal judge blocks Trump from carrying out thousands of layoffs during shutdown

WASHINGTON — A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order Wednesday, blocking the Trump administration from moving forward with the thousands of layoffs it initiated after the government shutd...

www.newsfromthestates.com

60 190

Reposted by Kevin White

LOLGOP ❌👑❌ @thefarce.org · 4h

Almost everyone in these chats is older than the kids chanting "Free Palestine."

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 5h

JD Vance dismisses Young Republicans who in a group chat said "I love Hitler" and joked about slavery and rape as "a bunch of kids" who "told stupid jokes" and adds that "most of the stupid things I did when I was a teenager and young adult, they're not on the internet."

9 32 170

Reposted by Kevin White

Social Media Lab @socialmedialab.ca · 4h

"The Supreme Court Case That Could Hand the House to Republicans.
Democrats would be in danger of losing around a dozen majority-minority districts across the South if the court struck down part of the Voting Rights Act." www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/u...

1 5 10

Reposted by Kevin White

FinTwitter @fintwitter.bsky.social · 4h

*JUDGE BLOCKS FEDERAL FIRINGS DURING GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN FOR NOW

2 2

Reposted by Kevin White

Annika Brockschmidt @ardenthistorian.bsky.social · 4h

1.) One of those „kids“ is a state senator in Vermont. (They’re not kids)
2.) kids are bigots is a weird stance
3.) going full boys will be boys about the „I love Hitler“ chat is quite a choice
4.) What else to expect from a guy who still follows Bronze Age Pervert on X? (Rhetorical question)

19 170 740

Kevin White @kevinwhitejr.bsky.social · 4h

This is the real point of MAGA because it serves the interests of their masters in Moscow.

AltYellostoneNatPar @altyellonatpark.org · 4h

The USA is burning its reputation fast.

news.yahoo.com/articles/us-...

US drops out of world’s most powerful passport top 10 list for the first time

Once a ticket to visa-free travel across the world, the US passport’s potency has dwindled in recent times. And now, for the first time, it’s completely fallen off the leaderboard of nationalities ran...

news.yahoo.com

1

Reposted by Kevin White

AltYellostoneNatPar @altyellonatpark.org · 4h

The USA is burning its reputation fast.

news.yahoo.com/articles/us-...

US drops out of world’s most powerful passport top 10 list for the first time

Once a ticket to visa-free travel across the world, the US passport’s potency has dwindled in recent times. And now, for the first time, it’s completely fallen off the leaderboard of nationalities ran...

news.yahoo.com

7 61 200