Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

cleanwatr 💙 @cleanwatr.bsky.social · 14h

The Right’s Secret Plan to Help Billionaires Buy Elections
How two lawsuits could expand Citizens United and turn America into a kleptocracy — and how this nightmare can be stopped

By David Sirota, Jared Jacang Maher
October 13, 2025

www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

The Right's Secret Plan to Help Billionaires Buy Elections

J.D. Vance and other MAGA interests are working to get the Supreme Court to end restrictions on campaign-spending limits.

www.rollingstone.com

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cleanwatr 💙 @cleanwatr.bsky.social · 17h

trump = some kind of evil son of a bltch. Who would do this? Oh yeah, MAGAt repuglicans.

"Amid shutdown, Trump administration guts department overseeing special education"

SmartNews: l.smartnews.com/p-6nOkJpO8/s...

Amid shutdown, Trump administration guts department overseeing special education (NPR)

Sweeping layoffs announced Friday by the Trump administration landed another body blow to the U.S. Department of Education, this time gutting the office resp...

l.smartnews.com

cleanwatr 💙 @cleanwatr.bsky.social · 17h

Education Department layoffs hit offices that oversee special education and civil rights enforcement

Source: Los Angeles Times
share.newsbreak.com/ffvjln8n

Education Department layoffs hit offices that oversee special education and civil rights enforcement - NewsBreak

The Education Department's latest layoffs are depleting an agency already hit hard by previous mass firings, threatening new disruption to the nation's sch

share.newsbreak.com

cleanwatr 💙 @cleanwatr.bsky.social · 17h

Newsom signs controversial bill letting relatives care for kids if parents are deported

Source: CalMatters
share.newsbreak.com/ffvgio1k

Newsom signs controversial bill letting relatives care for kids if parents are deported - NewsBreak

Immigrants’ rights groups and child advocates say the new law will help parents prepare for emergencies, such as a deportation. It caused a firestorm of co

share.newsbreak.com

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Jon Cooper @joncooper-us.bsky.social · 1d

We don't know where Trump is seeing Portland 'on fire.' That's frightening.

If Trump can be fooled by a fake video with his own face and voice, what else is fooling him?

Opinion | We don't know why Trump thinks Portland 'on fire.' That's frightening.

If Trump can be fooled by a fake video with his own face and voice, what else is fooling him?

share.google

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The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 1d

All facts

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SpryOldLorax @spryoldlorax.bsky.social · 1d

Things people do not choose:

- Sexual Orientation
- Gender Identity
- Appearance
- Disability
- Mental Illness
- Race

Things people do choose:

To be an asshole to people over things they cannot control.

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Alt National Park Service @altnps.bsky.social · 1d

Nearly all employees within the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) were dismissed in Friday’s reduction-in-force, leaving only a few senior officials and administrative staff.

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cleanwatr 💙 @cleanwatr.bsky.social · 18h

Good Work If You Can Keep It.
Before Trump dismantled the bureaucracy, working for the government was an honorable job.

Dan Rather and Team Steady
Oct 13, 2025

steady.substack.com/p/good-work-...

Good Work If You Can Keep It

Before Trump dismantled the bureaucracy, working for the government was an honorable job

steady.substack.com

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Rep. Summer Lee @repsummerlee.bsky.social · 1d

Let's get this straight: Speaker Johnson canceled session and refuses to swear in Rep-Elect Adelita Grijalva, who would be the 218th signer of the discharge petition to force a vote to release the Epstein files.

Bring us back in session, release the files, and let's open the government.

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Marc Elias @marcelias.bsky.social · 23h

Today I wrote about the importance of not falling into the trap of allowing career prosecutors to legitimize political prosecutions. Become a Democracy Docket member to receive all of my writings and other exclusive content while also supporting independent, pro-democracy media. hubs.ly/Q03CbHTt0

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💙🦋Joy M Sayles🦋💙 @iam-woman.bsky.social · 20h

Renowned political scientist says GOP officially a “full-blown cult” after Senate’s “appalling” move www.lgbtqnation.com/2025/10/reno...

Renowned political scientist says GOP officially a "full-blown cult" after Senate's "appalling" move - LGBTQ Nation

Norman Ornstein has been analyzing politics for five decades. He has never seen something as egregious as this.

www.lgbtqnation.com

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That Preppy Black Girl @tmwillia.bsky.social · 1d

This guy allies.

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Katie Phang @katiephang.bsky.social · 21h

There’s been an active cover-up since the mid-2000s to conceal the Epstein Files.

The damning info from the DOJ’s Office of Professional Responsibility’s investigation & report into allegations of professional misconduct by the federal prosecutors, including Alex Acosta.

youtu.be/7et6kS7r-T4?...

YIKES! DOJ BUSTED in Epstein COVER-UP as GOP STALLS RELEASE

YouTube video by Katie Phang

youtu.be

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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

REPORTER: We know the president moved forward with mass layoffs. We're also learning there were significant cuts to staff at special education services. Are you comfortable with those cuts?

MIKE JOHNSON: I haven't seen the specifics of that and I don't know

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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 23h

"Call it democracy, or call it democratic socialism, but there must be a better distribution of wealth within this country for all God's children." —MLK Jr.

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Rachel Maddow @maddow.msnbc.com · 21h

“I was afraid to go over there,” he said. “I got braver the more people came out. I know my neighbors have my back, and I have their back. ... These are Americans who know what freedom is — we’re being invaded by strangers.”

chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...

Feds deploy tear gas in another Chicago neighborhood: 'We chased federal agents out of Albany Park today'

A federal judge’s temporary restraining order requires federal agents to issue two warnings before using riot control weapons such as tear gas. Witnesses say they didn't get any warning Sunday afterno...

chicago.suntimes.com

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Wajahat Ali @wajali.bsky.social · 21h

What did Tom Homan do with the $50K he took in a CAVA bag from undercover FBI agents?

Just keep asking this everyday. Its a big scandal they can't escape because Pam Bondi and her DOJ killed the investigation. They're cornered on this and the Epstein Files.

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Zambeezee @zambeezee.bsky.social · 20h

Oh well. Life’s a bitch. Tell them to pack their own lunch. And bring their own shit and piss containers. Fkn nazis.

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Bruno J. Navarro @brunojnavarro.bsky.social · 20h

… today, a group of 160 scientists from 23 countries is announcing that the planet has already reached its first major tipping point: the widespread death of warm-water coral reefs.

Corals are disappearing, pushing Earth to its first major ‘tipping point’

A new report says Earth has reached a dire milestone with the widespread death of warm-water coral reefs. It's not too late to save what remains.

grist.org

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CajunBlueAZ ⚜️🇺🇸 🇺🇦 @cajunblue.bsky.social · 21h

🚨After being tased and beaten by ICE, a man dies in a Chicago hospital. Date and location in following post. These are the horrors of 2025 and we cannot look away. 1/2

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Alt National Park Service @altnps.bsky.social · 22h

Ah yes, air traffic controllers must show up for work without pay, but Congress can take the day off. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says he’ll be making “necessary cuts” to the department, because nothing fixes staffing shortages quite like firing more people.

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George Conway 🇺🇸🚫👑🐸 @gtconway.bsky.social · 1d

"Authoritarianism, it's a cancer. The symptoms are here, today... We thought it couldn't happen here... and now the disease is growing, metastasizing in America. But there is a cure—it requires you. On October 18, Americans will stand up, peacefully, for what makes America, America." nokings.org

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Bernard Taylor @btaylorforcongress.bsky.social · 1d

As a parent of a child with autism, this isn’t just politics, it’s personal.

The federal gov’t firing special-needs staff in the Dept. of Education is a direct blow to families like mine. Our kids deserve better.

In Congress, I’ll fight to protect & fully fund special education.

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Mrs. Betty Bowers @mrsbettybowers.bsky.social · 22h

ICE has been deployed to *provoke* civilians, not to protect them. They want to throw tear gas canisters and get people on the streets riled up, all to create footage for Fox News and Newsmax, et al., that will be used as a pretext for imposing martial law to lower voting rates in Democratic cities.

Christopher Webb @cwebbonline.com · 1d

The only violence I’ve been seeing in Portland is from the so-called Feds!!!

Keep sharing these videos; it’s evidence.

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