Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 1h

a russ vought special

Sara Partridge, Ph.D. @sarapartridge.bsky.social · 1h

There are reports that the *entire* office of special education at the US Dept of Education has been cut. These hardworking folks ensure kids with disabilities get equal access to a quality education.

America’s children deserve better than this.

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Edward Nirenberg @enirenberg.bsky.social · 1h

Not enough news outlets are making it absolutely clear that last night’s RIFs are unlawful

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The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 4h

Imagine that

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Sara Partridge, Ph.D. @sarapartridge.bsky.social · 1h

There are reports that the *entire* office of special education at the US Dept of Education has been cut. These hardworking folks ensure kids with disabilities get equal access to a quality education.

America’s children deserve better than this.

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Mississippi Free Press @mississippifreepress.org · 3h

Earlier this year, ICE inked an agreement with Palantir Technologies, the firm co-founded by the billionaire Peter Thiel, to build software aimed at streamlining the process of identifying and deporting people the agency is targeting.

ICE Plans to Boost Social Media Surveillance Using Contractors

ICE plans to use a hub in Vermont to bolster its digital surveillance capabilities as the agency ramps up operations across the country.

buff.ly

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Angie Rasmussen @angierasmussen.bsky.social · 15h

I don’t know who needs to hear this but the CDC is being eviscerated right now. America is not going to have any kind of outbreak response capacity after tonight. Americans’ health data is no longer secure. Say goodbye to federal public health in any capacity. It’s a disaster. We won’t recover.

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Babsben @babsben.bsky.social · 3h

www.theverge.com/business/793...

Memo to Bari Weiss Re: CBS News: You’re doomed

Bari Weiss has sold her company, The Free Press, to manage the decline of broadcast news at CBS. How many ways can it go wrong?

www.theverge.com

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Lena Sun @lenasun.bsky.social · 5h

NEW: @CDCgov hit hard by massive firings that several staff describe to me as a “bloodbath.”
Among those RIFd:
—leadership of the center for immunization and respiratory diseases;
—leadership of global health center
—leadership of the measles outbreak response; 1/4

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Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 7h

A rare admission from the administration that policy choices have knock-off effects.

In this case: immigration crackdowns raise your grocery bill.

@washingtonpost.com
www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

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Anti-Trumpism @forabettertomorrow.bsky.social · 7h

Not only was Ghislaine Maxwell moved to ‘Club Fed’, she is allowed to leave the campus for work assignments; much like Jeffrey Epstein was allowed to leave prison as part of the sweetheart deal he got from Alex Acosta and Pam Bondi in Florida

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southpaw @nycsouthpaw.bsky.social · 7h

What an emblem of the billionaire class—descending on a peaceful city in a private jet on the horn to NYT asking for the place to be invaded by federal authorities because the rent-a-cops you employ for a week to harass a few junkies outside the convention center cost too much.

Mr. Benioff spoke as his annual Dreamforce conference is set to begin Tuesday in downtown San Francisco, bringing 50,000 visitors to the city. He is scheduled to deliver a keynote address about the benefits of "agentic enterprise," a business model in which humans and artificial intelligence bots work together.
Speaking by telephone from his private plane en route to San Francisco, he lamented that he has to pay for nundreds of off-duty law enforcement officers to help patrol the convention area and said that San Francisco needed to "re-fund" the police.
The city never actually "defunded" its police force, and San Francisco's violent crime rates are below those in many other U.S. cities.
But San Francisco has struggled to recruit and keep officers, and it still has problems with lower-level crimes and open-air drug use, especially in neighborhoods like the Tenderloin near City Hall. It has about 1,500 police officers, and Mr. Benioff says it ne → another thousand.

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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 15h

Is it cancel culture when they threaten to kill you?

www.nj.com/news/2025/10...

Sold-out Ta-Nehisi Coates speaker appearance in N.J. canceled over security reasons

Organizers canceled a sold-out Ta-Nehisi Coates event in Montclair citing undisclosed security concerns.

www.nj.com

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Gregory Pratt @royalpratt.bsky.social · 23h

ICE went after rideshare drivers at O’Hare today, according to statement from Illinois Drivers Alliance

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Drew Harwell @drewharwell.com · 14h

Military families on day 9 of the shutdown lining up at the food bank

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The New Republic @newrepublic.com · 3h

The Pentagon has to provide The New York Times information about Elon Musk’s security clearances, a federal judge ruled Wednesday—and the billionaire’s own posting habits helped decide the case. trib.al/f74QkIn

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The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 21h

😕🇺🇸

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Sheryl Gay Stolberg @sherylnyt.bsky.social · 16h

BREAKING: Friday night massacre underway at CDC. Doznes of "disease detectives," high-level scientists, entire Washington staff and editors of the MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) have all been RIFed and received the following notice:

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Tim Onion @bencollins.bsky.social · 18h

This man is being Gorilla Channel'd with a rotating selection of AI slop riot porn by several known white supremacists who are secretly running the government.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 20h

Trump: "Portland, I mean -- every time I look at that place it's burning down. There are fires all over the place. When a store -- there are very few of them left -- but when a store owner rebuilds a store they build it out of plywood. They don't put up storefronts anymore. They just put wood up."

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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 21h

Adelita Grijalva won her election to Congress over two weeks ago, but Mike Johnson still hasn't sworn her in.

Why the delay?

Perhaps it's because Grijalva would cast the final vote needed to release the Epstein files.

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Senate Judiciary Democrats 🇺🇸 @judiciarydems.senate.gov · 21h

BREAKING: Sens. DURBIN, DUCKWORTH were just denied entrance to the Broadview ICE Facility in Illinois, unable to conduct constitutional role of oversight.

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Nora Reed (they/them ze/hir) @nora.zone · 17h

cry havoc and let slip the frogs of war

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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 17h

My first thought was “wow I hope this guy didn’t give out his name because he could absolutely be charged” and yup, he is correct to stay anonymous.

This man’s account is shocking. His neighbors’ situation is shocking. The entire Chicago raid is shocking.

On the other side was a mom and her 7-year-old daughter, pleading for his help.
"I wasn't planning on letting her stay, but I didn't know what the hell was going on," the man said of his Venezuelan migrant neighbors. But he quickly relented. The little girl was inconsolable and hid under his bed.
"I didn't want them to take her," said the man, who didn't want to be named because he fears he'll be targeted by federal authorities for his actions.
"I gave her my bedroom, and I just told her,
'Just stay there. Don't open, don't, shh, just stay quiet," he recalled telling the mom and daughter as he choked back tears.

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Ashton Pittman @ashtonpittman.bsky.social · 18h

ICE left David, a 17-year-old boy, stranded on the side of Interstate 20 after pulling over his immigrant father, Hector, in Mississippi.

David began running in the scorching sun after the car and watched as it disappeared from sight—soon headed to a Louisiana ICE prison.

Here's their story.

ICE Stranded a 17-Year-Old on I-20 After Arresting His Father. The Mississippi Dad Now Faces Deportation.

A 17-year-old watched as ICE arrested his immigrant father, Hector, on I-20 in June. The family faces mounting legal fees and the risk of deportation.

www.mississippifreepress.org

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Mueller, She Wrote @muellershewrote.com · 23h

A restraining order was issued YESTERDAY by a federal judge barring detention of journalists in this district unless they refuse to reposition themselves and are given adequate time to do so, or there’s probable cause they’ve committed a crime.

Heartland Signal @heartlandsignal.bsky.social · 1d

BREAKING: Masked Border Patrol agents aggressively arrested WGN video producer Debbie Brockman in Lincoln Square Friday morning, supposedly for "obstructing justice." (Video via Josh Thomas on Facebook)

Follow @heartlandsignal for more.

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The Bulwark @thebulwark.com · 23h

George was just trying to get to work.

ICE pepper-sprayed him, dragged him from his car, locked him in a detention center, and placed him on suicide watch. He even missed his young daughter’s birthday in the process.

This man is a veteran and American citizen. Don't look away.

The Bulwark @thebulwark.com · 23h

"They put me on suicide watch and they put me in the cell, I'm naked, in like a hospital dress and just a concrete bed with like a mattress, like a thin mattress and, they leave the light on 24/7."

@timmiller.bsky.social talked to a veteran who ICE wrongly detained and brutalized

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