Author | Lightnews

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 4h

“Presidents should be able to fire any civil servants that they choose for any reason.”
A slim majority disagree with this statement in 2025, compared to 72% in 2024. Support for this position goes from 1 in 4 respondents to 1 in 3. Again, this is largely driven by Republicans.

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Julia Azari @juliaazari.bsky.social · 1d

this really gets to the issue. the government is supposed to belong to all of us and it's getting co-opted for personal and political gain at a rate impossible to fully respond to

🎃🪦 BLOODSUGARSETHMASKET 🪦🎃 @smotus.bsky.social · 1d

New at Tusk

Why it hurts to watch the East Wing torn up

When something is more than a symbol

open.substack.com

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Harlem Toots @chadstanton.blacksky.app · 1d

In “Takin’ It To The Street” Michael McDonald expresses the need for leaderless grassroots action after expressing broad solidarity and skepticism of self-appointed leadership, in this essay I will…

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Christopher Moltisanti Weighs In On Current Events @moltisantithots.bsky.social · 2d

We just got the White House East Wing job. Maybe we should ask for the money up front, T.

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 2d

Nominee to be the Office of Special Counsel, ie., the guy federal employees must appeal to if they think they have been treated unfairly

Politico @politico.com · 2d

EXCLUSIVE: Embattled Trump nominee Paul Ingrassia told Republicans that the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday should be “tossed into the seventh circle of hell” and that he has “a Nazi streak,” according to a group chat viewed by POLITICO.

Trump nominee says he has a ‘Nazi streak,’ bashes MLK Jr. Day, according to texts

Paul Ingrassia’s bid to lead a whistleblower agency is set for a Senate confirmation hearing Thursday.

www.politico.com

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Jake Grumbach @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social · 2d

Rule of law is not in effect if they can violate your rights and then just lie about it

Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 2d

DHS just got caught telling multiple lies about federal agents shooting a US citizen multiple times

newrepublic.com/article/2019...

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molly ✨ @brat.fm · 2d

I know writers who use subtext, and they're all COWARDS

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Maybe the children will only have two dolls @bhanson.bsky.social · 2d

Who says a concert can’t have it all?

Farm Aid III lineup. Highlights include Lou Reed and Jim Varney. Lowlights include … well yeah…

FARM AID III
University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE
September 19, 1987
These artists donated their talents:
Dove Alvin, David Amram, John Anderson, Lynn Anderson, Asleep at the Wheel, Catherine Boch, Bendalo Doctors, Gary Beaty, Bruce Boxleitner, Karen Brooks, Johnny Carson, Bill Carter, Dick Clark, John Conlee, Rita Coolidge, Bill Cosby, Cruzados, John Denver, Patrick Duffy, Stove Forie & the Dukes, Exile, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Vince Gill, William Lee Golden & The Goldens, Merle Haggard, Charles Haid, Emmylou Harris, Alex Harvey, Dennis Hopper, Bruce Jenner, Booker T. Jones, David Lynn Jones, John Kay &, Steppenwolf, Kris Kristefferson, Lyle Lovett, Barbare Mandrell, Delbert McClinton, John Cougar Mellencamp, Donna Mills, Gary Morris, Susie Nelson, Willle Nelson. John Prine, Sarah Purcell, Rattlesnake Annie, Lou Reed, Ted Shackelford, Silent Partners, The Unforgiven, Jim Varney, Joe Walsh,
Neil Young

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Maybe the children will only have two dolls @bhanson.bsky.social · 4d

I met Bender

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Jonathan Ladd @jonmladd.bsky.social · 6d

We often say Congress has the power of the purse, a framing coming from the Federalist Papers. But to be technical, it is federal law that has the power of the purse. Appropriations bills are laws! Rather than a fight between branches, it's better to think of this as a question of the rule of law.

Jonathan Ladd @jonmladd.bsky.social · 6d

"No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law.”
-Article 1, Section 8, US Constitution

Not a "norm" violation. A legal and constitutional violation.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 6d

Leavitt: "President Trump had to tap into tariff revenue to get WIC money out the door for vulnerable women, infants, and children/"

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Jonathan Ladd @jonmladd.bsky.social · 6d

"No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law.”
-Article 1, Section 8, US Constitution

Not a "norm" violation. A legal and constitutional violation.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 6d

Leavitt: "President Trump had to tap into tariff revenue to get WIC money out the door for vulnerable women, infants, and children/"

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Jonathan Ladd @jonmladd.bsky.social · 6d

Only in the Federalist Society academic bubble could you say that the government going in and splitting up geographically contiguous communities of Black voters in order to prevent them from ever being a majority in any House district is "government not taking race into account."

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Grudgie the Whale @grudgie.bsky.social · 6d

“The only government service we will provide is a Secret Police.”

Dave Jamieson @jamieson.bsky.social · 6d

Internal DHS memo shows Trump plans to keep paying ICE agents and Border Patrol officers throughout the shutdown, while other feds go without pay.

Even the DHS administrative staff processing the paychecks won't get theirs, employee tells me.
www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-...

Trump Plans To Keep Paying Immigration Agents While Other Federal Workers Go Without Paychecks

The move amounts to special treatment for Trump’s favorite constituency within the federal bureaucracy.

www.huffpost.com

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Mark Joseph Stern @mjsdc.bsky.social · 6d

Contrast this report with Brett Kavanaugh's recent description of ICE's raids. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24p...

Under this Court’s precedents, not to mention common
sense, those circumstances taken together can constitute at
least reasonable suspicion of illegal presence in the United
States. Importantly, reasonable suspicion means only that
immigration officers may briefly stop the individual and
inquire about immigration status. If the person is a U. S.
citizen or otherwise lawfully in the United States, that
individual will be free to go after the brief encounter. Only
if the person is illegally in the United States may the stop
lead to further immigration proceedings

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Eric Umansky @ericumansky.bsky.social · 6d

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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Kevin Morris @kevintmorris.bsky.social · 6d

I've been calling this the Rucho–Alexander two-step. In very short order go from "partisan gerrymandering is lamentable but not addressable by the Court" to "if it COULD be partisan gerrymandering, it MUST be partisan gerrymandering"

Jerry Edwards @jerryedwards.bsky.social · 6d

They also explicitly greenlighted this sophistry last year in Alexander v. South Carolina State Conference of the NAACP. Alito argued there that racial discrimination isn't racial discrimination if Republicans target Black voters for political reasons.

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 7d

white reactionaries disenfranchising black voters to secure political power? that’s a jim crow. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/u...

The Supreme Court Case That Could Hand the House to Republicans

www.nytimes.com

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Kevin Collins @kwcollins.bsky.social · 7d

"One party only needs 44% of the national popular vote to maintain control over the legislature" sure is a statement about the state of American democracy

Emily Badger @emmbadger.bsky.social · 7d

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...

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Kevin Morris @kevintmorris.bsky.social · 7d

This. Over and over and over and over again.

Aubrey Gilleran @aubreygilleran.bsky.social · 7d

Frankly, it seems wrong for Congress to be the focus when the biggest impact of gutting Section 2 will be felt in state legislatures, county commissions, school boards, and city councils across the country. We're talking about the decimation of minority representatives at all levels.

Lakshya Jain @lakshya.splitticket.org · 8d

Don't galaxy-brain this.

Contrary to discourse on certain parts of this site, the VRA being overturned would be horrific for Democrats and democracy as a whole.

It would not be as bad as creating 30 new safe GOP seats — but it would not *help* Democrats. They still net seats because of it.

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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 7d

This entire argument by Louisiana and the conservatives questions are premised on an erasure of Congress’ enforcement power under the 14th & 15th Amendments.

Literally swinging for the fences to wipe out the premise for the legitimacy of Congress’ power to enact civil rights statutes.

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Jonathan Ladd @jonmladd.bsky.social · 9d

This is an essential. "Democrats need to beat the Trumpists in elections that we ensure are free" is the best strategy for the next 2-4 years. But it is not a long-term strategy! The only possible long-term strategy is that someone else needs to defeat the Trumpists for control of the Repub Party.

Jake Grumbach @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social · 9d

“Win every election” is not a viable strategy for preventing authoritarianism

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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 9d

Again, every time this happens, we literally have no idea if the masked, plainclothes people are actual government agents, or private citizens acting in party-affiliated paramilitaries. The whole point of IDs & uniforms & no masks is that we know these things.

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Eric Umansky @ericumansky.bsky.social · 9d

ICE agents blocked an ambulance that was trying to take an injured protester to hospital.

"We are still not being allowed to leave by ICE officers.” an EMT said on radio

When driver tried to get out, an agent yelled, "DON’T YOU EVER DO THAT AGAIN, I WILL SHOOT YOU"

www.wweek.com/news/2025/10...

Documents Allege a Federal Agent at Portland ICE Threatened to Shoot an Ambulance Driver

Feds delayed medics who had come to pick up an injured protester. Then, according to confidential incident reports, the agents became aggressive.

www.wweek.com

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 10d

"Send them back where they came from" not good enough when they have embarrassed the administration. They must be deported to a place where he might be tortured.

Julie DiCaro @juliedicaro.bsky.social · 10d

So Kilmer Abrego-Garcia will not challenge a deportation to Costa Rica, who has agreed to for him residency, but DHS won’t agree to send him there because it’s not cruel enough.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/u...

For weeks, Mr. Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national who is married to a U.S. citizen, has made clear that he would not challenge his deportation if he were sent to Costa Rica, which has promised him legal residency and guaranteed that he would not be sent back to El Salvador.

But the Trump administration has refused to deport him to Costa Rica, and in an earlier hearing this week, Judge Xinis pressed the administration to consider the option or clarify why it was unacceptable.

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