Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

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Dimitri Drekonja, MD, MS @dimitridrekonja.bsky.social · 7h

The people getting laid off are some of the highest-trained and most specialized people in healthcare. They don’t just get replaced by hiring some new people when a sane administration takes over. This is a huge loss for America.

Sheryl Gay Stolberg @sherylnyt.bsky.social · 7h

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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Open Culture @openculture.bsky.social · 16h

The Medieval Masterpiece, the Book of Kells, Is Now Digitized and Available Online

If you know nothing else about medieval European illuminated manuscripts, you surely know the Book of Kells. “One of Ireland’s greatest cultural treasures” comments Medievalists.net, “it is set apart ...

www.openculture.com

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Sheryl Gay Stolberg @sherylnyt.bsky.social · 7h

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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Mrs. Detective PikaBOO, Esq. @clapifyoulikeme.favrd.social · 12h

Furious that I don’t know French, their memes must be INCROYABLE right now

NYT Breaking News
President Emmanuel Macron of France reappointed Sébastien Lecornu as prime minister days after Lecornu resigned.

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Brendel @brendelbored.bsky.social · 9h

I like how the news will be like “while the President claiming Portland was ruled by a giant skeleton named Mr Nibbles is not strictly true, it does speak to the anxiety of many Americans”

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Senate Judiciary Democrats 🇺🇸 @judiciarydems.senate.gov · 12h

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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Dorit Reiss @doritreiss.bsky.social · 1d

"In North Carolina and other states, low-income families who normally get no-cost Covid-19 vaccines for their kids have been told those shots aren’t available because states have been unable to order Covid-19 vaccines through the VFC program."

www.cnn.com/2025/10/08/h...

Low-income families are still waiting on Covid-19 vaccines for kids, but states say they’re coming | CNN

Many low-income families who normally get no-cost Covid-19 vaccines for their kids through the Vaccines for Children program have been told those shots aren’t available because states have been unable...

www.cnn.com

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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 9h

UPDATE: Judge Perry issued an opinion explaining why she blocked the Texas National Guard deployment in Chicago.

She begins with Alexander Hamilton’s rejection of a “preposterous” idea that the Constitution lets a President deploy a State’s militia to a different State for political retribution. 🧵

OPINION AND ORDER
Since this country was founded, Americans have disagreed about the appropriate division
of power between the federal government and the fifty states that make up our Union. This
tension is a natural result of the system of federalism adopted by our Founders. And yet, not even
the Founding Father most ardently in favor of a strong federal government believed that one
state's militia could be sent to another state for the purposes of political retribution, calling such
a suggestion "inflammatory," and stating "it is impossible to believe that [a President] would employ such preposterous means to accomplish their designs." But Plaintiffs contend that such
an event has come to pass, and argue that National Guard troops from both Illinois and Texas
have been deployed to Illinois because the President of the United States wants to punish state elected officials whose policies are different from his own.

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Oriana González @oriana.bsky.social · 8h

Update: A federal judge officially set a hearing on whether to issue a temporary restraining order on the Trump administration's shutdown layoffs on Oct. 15

ecf.cand.uscourts.gov/doc1/0351263...

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Zohran Kwame Mamdani @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social · 8h

The Democratic Attorneys General Association established a Legal Defense Fund for exactly this moment: when its members — including AG Tish James—are targeted by the Trump administration for political prosecution.

Donate here.

Donate to DAGA's Legal Defense Fund

The Democratic Attorneys General Association has launched a defense fund to help defend Democratic attorneys general and their staff who are targeted for political retribution by the Trump administrat...

secure.actblue.com

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Sophie Sherry @sophiesherry.bsky.social · 14h

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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Jonathan Cohn @jonathancohn.bsky.social · 8h

Anne Frank and Underground Railroad analogies write themselves.

Sophie Sherry @sophiesherry.bsky.social · 14h

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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Raider @iwillnotbesilenced.bsky.social · 8h

Member of the Chicago press gets arrested by
masked ICE GOONS

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Helen Kennedy @helenkennedy.bsky.social · 8h

I want them all prosecuted. Every last one of them.

Ashton Pittman @ashtonpittman.bsky.social · 9h

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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Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1.bsky.social · 8h

The Trump administration has been spreading anti-vaccine propaganda for months. Tonight, Trump's physician announced he just received a flu shot and a COVID booster.

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Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 17h

“Stabilizing Argentina is ‘America First’.”

🇦🇷 🇺🇸

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Oliver Darcy @oliverdarcy.bsky.social · 19h

News: Bari Weiss just sent a memo to staffers at CBS News asking them to produce a memo explaining "how you spend your working hours—and ideally, what you've made (or are making) that you're most proud of."

One CBS News staffer puts it like this to me: "We just got Elon Musked."

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Assigned Media @assignedmedia.org · 17h

With Harvard (not on this particular list but under other Trump admin attacks) reportedly considering a deal, perhaps this will stiffen their spines and other top schools. @rikiwilchins.bsky.social

MIT rejects Trump's compact, saying it 'would restrict freedom of expression'

MIT has rejected President Donald Trump's “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education,” saying it "includes principles with which we disagree, including those that would restrict freedom of e...

www.nbcboston.com

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Chuck Taggart, Private Eye @sazeracla.bsky.social · 17h

Okay, LOLing at the headline.

You won’t believe what degrading practice the pope just condemned

Communication must be freed from clickbait and misguided thinking, head of Catholic church tells journalists

www.theguardian.com

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Boston Public Schools @bostonschools.boston.gov · 16h

Wednesday was a big day for @BostonSchools!

We joined the @CityofBoston to celebrate the ribbon cutting for Sarah Roberts Elementary School — honoring the Roberts family’s fight for school desegregation in Boston.

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Genie Lauren @moreandagain.social · 17h

If you:

1. Go to chrome://flags
2. Type in "AI" in the Search Flags bar
3. Turn all the "Defaults" to "Disabled"

You can turn off ALL the AI bullshit in Chrome.

Here's a demonstration
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Si1s...

How to Remove AI Mode from Google Chrome URL/Address Bar

YouTube video by Droidwin

www.youtube.com

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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 16h

Pretty insane stuff from DHS Acting General Counsel Joseph Mazzara:

www.thehandbasket.co/p/dhs-fps-me...

Accordingly, if an individual across the street from a federal building throws a rock or bottle at FPS officers on federal property, as many of these rioters are wont to do, FPS can leave federal property and either arrest the malefactors or take other appropriate action in line with FPS's continuum of force policies. FPS could even enter a private residence containing an identified sniper blocks away from a federal facility in order to eliminate that exigent threat. There is simply no legal barrier to FPS taking action off federal property where a reasonable nexus to protecting that property exists.

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Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 19h

By contrast, JB Pritzker told me that people should flood the No Kings protests precisely in order to let the American people know that something is deeply amiss.

More Dems should be doing this, to send the message widely that we are in real trouble right now.

newrepublic.com/article/2016...

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Aaron Fritschner @fritschner.bsky.social · 16h

A few minutes ago in the House:

- Speaker Mike Johnson officially cancels votes next week, extending the House recess through a fourth week

- House Republicans block Democrats from passing a bill to pay the troops during the shutdown, ensuring they will miss paychecks next week

House Press Gallery: During today's pro forma session, the Clerk read a message from the Speaker designating Tuesday, October 14 through Sunday, October 19 as a district work period.

Punchbowl's Briana Reilly: House gaveled in and out of its pro forma just now w/o recognizing Rep Elfreth, who was seeking to UC a mil pay bill from Rep Sykes.

Elfreth told reporters after that House Dems stand “ready and willing to take” up standalone legislation to pay troops.

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Politico @politico.com · 16h

The Trump admin has started firing federal workers 10 days into the shutdown, according OMB Director Russ Vought — who called the firings "substantial."

At least nine agencies appear to be affected.

Vought sounds layoff siren: 'The RIFs have begun'

At least nine agencies appear to be affected.

www.politico.com

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