Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Birder K

Dr. Jen Gunter @drjengunter.bsky.social · 5h

This is frightening -> "The staff of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the journal that reports on health trends and emerging infectious threats, was also laid off. "

Sheryl Gay Stolberg @sherylnyt.bsky.social · 5h

FULL STORY HERE: Emails began flooding CDC inboxes late Friday night announcing dozens of layoffs. HR people brought back from furlough to oversee the RIFs. Disease detectives, entire Washington office, global health, injury prevention, MMWR staff among those hit.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/u...

Trump Administration Lays Off Dozens of C.D.C. Officials

www.nytimes.com

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Pan: The Reverist @ok2panic.bsky.social · 8h

The next steps in the wok pot pie which may be newly renamed… Cock Cobbler. I mean, I can’t really say no to that! 😂😂😂😂🍽️🍜

The veg and chicken and flour and chicken stock and cream in a wok.

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Mary Gemignani @marygemignani.bsky.social · 11h

I loved catching the bee coming in for landing on the goldenrod right over the wasp.
🐝 #inverts #bee #wasp

A bee flies right over a wasp as it is coming in for a taste of a goldenrod plant. The bee has pollen bags on it's legs.

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darth™️ @darthbluesky.bsky.social · 10h

nobel peace prize is not awarded posthumously

just a little fun fact to file away for next year for absolutely no particular reason

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Brandon Friedman @brandonfriedman.bsky.social · 11h

Yeah. TikTok is out. It's an arm of the ruling fascist party at this point.

Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · 11h

Huh: TikTok took down my 8-second video featuring this image of Debbie Brockman — the news producer just detained by Trump’s CBP agents — saying it violates the “joy of TikTok”

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Gwen Pearson @bug-gwen.bsky.social · 11h

Perhaps you also need a weevil in size 13 trainers this evening. 👟👟👟

Nash Turley @nashturley.bsky.social · 1d

Big fan of this weevil's color scheme, pointy snoot, and huge feet!

www.inaturalist.org/observations...

black and yellow weevil on a green leaf with long thin rostrum and very large foot pads

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Birder K @birderk.bsky.social · 11h

This car has been an absolute trooper! Road tripped all over the place with it!

Unfortunately, it is at the point where a lot of pricey things need repaired/replaced at the same time😭

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Django Wexler @djangowexler.bsky.social · 15h

My boss: so how's our fourth quarter looking?

Me, the sales manager at the company that makes inflatable frog suits: well, you're never going to believe this, but

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Kingfisher & Wombat @tkingfisher.com · 12h

This is true and they are super endangered by poachers who shovel them up by the hundreds and sell them at flea markets and shit. You should not buy the plants and if you happen to kick the poacher in the shins on accident, no one will hear about it from me.

mossworm.bsky.social @mossworm.bsky.social · 15h

still amazing to me the number of movies, games, etc. which have Venus Flytrap-based creatures in some form compared to the actual native range of Venus Flytrap, which is like, the great untamed jungles of a few wet pine savannas in North Carolina

map illustrating the native range of Venus Flytrap plants, just a little half circle around coastal North and South Carolina in USA

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Barred and Boujee aka Madiba Dennie @audrelawdamercy.bsky.social · 12h

aaand we are officially in the hide-your-neighbors stage

Sophie Sherry @sophiesherry.bsky.social · 15h

During a military-style raid on a building in Chicago’s South Shore, one resident heard a knock on his door.   It wasn’t the feds — it was a mom and her 7-year-old daughter, pleading for help.

He let them hide in his unit for the next 3 days.

chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...

Neighbor shielded 7-year-old during South Shore federal raid: ‘I didn’t want them to take her’

During the Sept. 30 raid one tenant protected a terrified girl and her mom. Remnants at the complex, including a detailed map of all the units, offer clues to what authorities may have known before th...

chicago.suntimes.com

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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 12h

The president says there are very few stores left in Portland, Oregon, and the ones that are left are made of plywood.

I know we’re numb to this, but in any other time he’d have been removed by the 25th Amendment by now

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 12h

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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Sharon @sharonk.bsky.social · 13h

chat I'm not sure they're thinking things through

www.axios.com/2025/10/10/s...

Congress erupts at Trump's shutdown mass firings: "This is a disaster"

Democrats are warning that Trump officials who carry out the layoffs could be prosecuted.

www.axios.com

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Luke Haigh Photography @lukehaigh.co.uk · 12h

A dark-plumaged Great Cormorant in flight, with wings uplifted, soaring low over water. Its yellow bill and gular patch are visible. The background is blurred green foliage. Please visit www.lukehaigh.co.uk. #Birds #lukehaigh #birdphotography #photography

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Birder K @birderk.bsky.social · 12h

I have successfully changed two of the three lights that needed it on my Fit: a taillight and one of the license plate lights! (But not the other plate light because it’s stuck or something 😅)

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Christopher Graves 👻🎃✊🏿 @itsmechriswade.mov · 13h

Put this in your minds now: these corrupt motherfuckers will argue in favor of Trump and the AI corporations that back him. Many AI companies like Palantir already define themselves by their pocketbook and because many of the judges here take bribes, they too will serve their billionaire masters.

Reuters @reuters.com · 13h

US Supreme Court asked to hear dispute over copyrights for AI creations reut.rs/478nrij

US Supreme Court asked to hear dispute over copyrights for AI creations

A computer scientist on Friday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider a ruling that a work of art generated by artificial intelligence cannot be copyrighted under U.S. law.

reut.rs

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Mike Melton @mikemelton.bsky.social · 13h

Bananas came to visit this afternoon!

I haven't seen him for a while, but he wandered through the garden today and came to say, "Hi" to me.

I love Bananas! Mi amigo.

At @casabentbill.bsky.social #CostaRica

#tapirs #mammals #wildlife #bairdstapir

A close-up photo of a Baird’s tapir standing on a wet, leafy path in a lush green forest, looking directly at the camera with its long snout and large rounded ears visible.

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rahaeli @rahaeli.bsky.social · 13h

The Catholic Church requires bishops to submit their resignation to the Pope when they turn 75 and the Pope chooses whether to accept it or not and as much as I hate having to hand anything to the Catholic Church, they are kinda on to something

hammancheez @hammancheez.bsky.social · 14h

Dems building a bench of senators younger than 75 challenge fail

Eric Michael Garcia @ericmgarcia.bsky.social · 14h

Janet Mills's campaign account just posted this video of her saying that she just announced her campaign against Susan Collins. #MESen. Mills, 77, is expected to jump in the race against Collins. She would face Graham Platner, Jordan Wood and Dan Kleban.

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Emily L. Hauser (she/her) ❌👑 @emilylhauser.bsky.social · 13h

*10/10/2025 noncooperation thread*

THE
FROGS
HAVE
LANDED
IN
CHICAGO
‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️

7/

Adam Selzer @adamchicago.bsky.social · 16h

The frogs have landed in Chicago!

Protestor in a frog suit and an anti-Ice sign with what I believe to be a Pokémon character on a street corner in Rogers Park.

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Dr. Johnathan Flowers, Blade Wielding Bisexual (Lordean arc) @shengokai.blacksky.app · 17h

Since Link is banned, his mutual aid Fridays have gone with him. This was one of the most altruistic things I’ve seen anyone on this site do.

In light of this, I’m gonna try to fill the gap.

Drop your mutual aid requests under this thread and I will repost them for as long as I can.

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HELLody SchreiBOO @melodyschreiber.com · 16h

AFGE, the largest union representing federal employees, calls the RIFs during the government shutdown "illegal" and points out that this has never happened before during a shutdown

AFGE President Everett Kelley Condemns Trump Administration Illegal Mass firings
Largest federal employee union demands Congress end the government shutdown immediately

WASHINGTON – Today, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the largest union representing more than 800,000 federal and D.C. government employees condemned the Trump administration’s decision to illegally fire thousands of federal employees during the government shutdown.

AFGE National President Everett Kelley issued the following statement:

“It is disgraceful that the Trump administration has used the government shutdown as an excuse to illegally fire thousands of workers who provide critical services to communities across the country.

“These workers show up every day to serve the American people, and for the past nine months have been met with nothing but cruelty and viciousness from President Trump. Every single American citizen should be outraged.

“Federal workers are tired of being used as pawns for the political and personal gains of the elected and un-elected leaders. It’s time for Congress to do their jobs and negotiate an end to this shutdown immediately.

“In AFGE’s 93 years of existence under several presidential administrations – including during Trump’s first term – no president has ever decided to fire thousands of furloughed workers during a government shutdown.

“AFGE is currently challenging President Trump’s illegal, unprecedented, abuse of power and we will not stop fighting until every reduction-in-force notice is rescinded.”

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T. Greg "Antifa General Counsel (Retired)" Doucette @gregdoucette.bsky.social · 16h

Absolutely hilarious when attorneys release statements that are like "this thing totally happened, but your interpretation of it is wrong and you must apologize for libelslander"

Total clown sh*t

Anna Bower @annabower.bsky.social · 18h

Paul Ingrassia is now threatening to sue Politico:

“This vexatious political attack masquerading as "journalism" is defamatory and will be addressed in forthcoming litigation.”

October 10, 2025
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Re: Statement on behalf of my client Paul Ingrassia regarding last night's story, Key Trump nominee accused of sexual harassment, POLITICO (Oct. 9, 2025), https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/09/ingrassia-trump-harassment-dhs-
00596545
POLITICO's hit piece about Mr. Ingrassia is calculated to cause maximum harm to his promising career — and torpedo his nomination for Special Counsel. This vexatious political attack masquerading as "journalism" is defamatory and will be addressed in forthcoming litigation.
To be 100% crystal clear, so that there is zero room for doubt: Mr. Ingrassia did not engage in any wrongdoing in connection with the matters reported. As POLITICO itself reported: "The woman, whom POLITICO is not naming, said in a statement that she 'never felt uncomfortable' about Ingrassia's behavior and said she had never made a complaint." This is one of the only accurate parts of POLITICO's otherwise fantastical and fictional partisan fairy tale.
Accordingly, one last time, I call upon POLITICO to publicly apologize and issue a full retraction of this disgraceful and partisan sludge.
/s/ Edward Andrew Paltzik
taylordykema.com

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Rose Lerner @roselerner.bsky.social · 1d

This made me so happy

Screenshot of Claire's last skeet with one from the Frog and Toad bot underneath of Frog saying "don't be silly"

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Lauren MacIvor Thompson @lmacthompson1.bsky.social · 17h

I am writing this because it has swiftly become crystal clear to me that many people have no idea what is happening or how this works. Here is a thread for non-academics to put into context what just happened to Dr. Mark Bray, a fellow historian.

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Mongabay @mongabay.com · 16h

On Oct. 7 in Brazil’s National Congress in Brasília, lawmakers, Indigenous leaders and civil society representatives gathered to present a global parliamentary investigation into the effort to phase out fossil fuels in the Amazon.

MPs across Latin America unite to stop fossil fuels in the Amazon

BOGOTÁ, Colombia and SÃO PAULO, Brazil — On Oct. 7 in Brazil’s National Congress in Brasília, lawmakers, Indigenous leaders and civil society representatives gathered to present a global…

news.mongabay.com

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Birder K @birderk.bsky.social · 16h

I’m both a little impressed, but also I can’t imagine having the audacity to attempt anything like that😅

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