Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

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John Skiles Skinner @skiles.blue · 10h

Techbro billionaires successfully hid their fascism even from the high-level people they worked with directly

Stephanie Rewis @stefsull.bsky.social · 1d

It’s fucking insane. I can not even tell you the amount of trainings we had to go through each year. DEI, equality, accessibility, etc. He pretended he was totally with us. He came to the Women’s March. We had gay parade floats.

I mean, I was a Sr Director and my mouth is on the floor. Grotesque!!

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James @gravitysra1nbow.bsky.social · 10h

It's incredible the extent to which Congress just utterly refuses to defend itself. You'd think for entirely self-interested reasons you would stridently oppose having the power of the purse arbitrarily ripped from you, ya know?

Why would you allow yourself to become the Roman Senate circa 27 BC.

Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 12h

Unconstitutionally taking money that the law says must be spent on one purpose & using it for something else—when it's to establish personalist control over the FUCKING MILITARY—is about as dangerous a constitutional crisis/failure as you can imagine

Via: www.nbcnews.com/politics/tru...

The Office of Management and Budget sent a notification to Congress about their intent to use research and development funds to pay members of the military, two sources with direct knowledge tell NBC News.

A spokesperson for the OMB confirmed to NBC News that it plans to use the research and development funds and that there are two years' worth of funds available within the Department of Defense.

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Grudgie the Whale @grudgie.bsky.social · 12h

We have barely even sniffed around the insider trading crimes of the WH and its friends

The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 19h

Imagine that

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Sarah J. Jackson @sjjphd.bsky.social · 11h

I’m not trying to give @pbs.org ideas for raising money—but I am. I would buy women’s fit T-shirts of all my favorite childhood shows. Reading rainbow, 321 contact, square one, zoobiliee zoo. I feel like two generations will run to donate even more money for shirts with Levar Burton on them…

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Asha Rangappa @asharangappa.bsky.social · 11h

If James visits the home regularly then it is available to her for personal use, which means it is not a “rental investment property” as defined by the mortgage rider…and therefore negates the central claim of the indictment

Anna Bower @annabower.bsky.social · 17h

NYT reports that Letitia James’s great niece lives in the home that is the subject of the indictment.

The niece reportedly testified before a *different* grand jury, telling them that she had lived there for many years without paying rent. James visits regularly.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/u...

Letitia James
Indictment
Read the Indictment
Timeline of Conflict
Indic
But in June, IMs. Thompson testified to a grand
jury in Norfolk that she had lived in the house for years and that she did not pay rent, a person familiar with her testimony said. She was not asked to testify again, and the grand jury that voted to indict Ms. James was not seated in Norfolk, but in Alexandria.
The specter of Mr. Trump's revenge campaign has so far overshadowed the facts of the case, given how he has pushed for Ms. James's punishment. For years, he has railed against her on social media, calling her a "crook" and
"corrunt" Last month. he also appointed Ms.

for a peaceful life after years of turbulence in several cities.
The family, Nakia Thompson and her children, have lived at the address ever since, according to two people familiar with the home, and until this week, the plan for a more lacid existence had largely gone as expected. Several times a year, the people said, a great-aunt who had purchased the house in 2020 with Ms.
Thompson in mind would come for an extended stay.
This week, with the filing of court papers some 200 miles north, the plan came to an abrupt end.
The great-aunt - Letitia James, the New York attorney general - was indicted by President Trump's Justice Department. The yellow house,

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Shepherd @neolithicsheep.bsky.social · 11h

"G-d have mercy on the souls of those who know exactly what they're doing." is also a banger.

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Shepherd @neolithicsheep.bsky.social · 11h

Holy shit, Fr Dowling.

Rich Raho @richraho.bsky.social · 12h

Chicago priest Fr. Larry Dowling describes procession to ICE facility: “No one had the courage to speak directly to us. No one from Homeland Security could stand in the presence of the Monstrance holding the Blessed Sacrament. No wonder. Evil is repelled, recoils in the presence of Christ.”

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definitely not going to touch the belly @aeolist.bsky.social · 10h

this is the only way through the shit we're in right now. if we can get people to recognize their common ground and shared material interests with the most marginalized groups we can fight the real enemy and win.

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George Conway 👊🇺🇸🔥 @gtconway.bsky.social · 11h

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🌮 Chef Bruce 🇨🇦🇲🇽🇺🇦 @chef-bruce.bsky.social · 11h

Trump’s current government, through Pam Bondi, just convinced a federal judge to force a gun rights group to hand over its membership list.

That’s a gun owner registry.

Is MAGA winning yet?

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Michele Okoh |🖤🩶🤍💜|🔺🐘 @okohlaw.bsky.social · 1d

It’s the Portland way.

LA: we will fight you.
Chicago: we will fight you.
PDX: we will make you endure week after week of of improv theater.

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Sam Halpert @samhalpert.bsky.social · 12h

Dems floated a narrow bill to fund the military, which can’t move because the House isn’t in session. Meanwhile, DoD is now going to spend funds not appropriated by Congress to ensure military paychecks continue.

POTUS now both commands and provisions the military. Unconstitutional and SO dangerous

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Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 14h

Manly men brutalize, terrorize a teen girl

Redsky @redsky.pirhoo.com · 16h

Northwest Chicago Suburb: ICE Agents Rip 15-Year-Old Girl from Car, Slam Her to Ground She Screams Im 15! as Man Kneels on Her Neck

Link | Subreddit

Northwest Chicago Suburb: ICE Agents Rip 15-Year-Old Girl from Car, Slam Her to Ground She Screams Im 15! as Man Kneels on Her Neck

www.reddit.com

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derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 13h

seems like a non-insignificant percentage of rage against the machine's fanbase are young republican men driving SUVs bopping their head to anti-oil, pro-immigrant songs thinking the lyrics are about how they wish their suburban parents would get off their back

Tom Morello tweets: "Fascinating that all those “don’t tread on me” posers and their AR-15’s are nowhere to be seen and government tyranny is instead being opposed by a guy in an inflatable frog suit."

Someone named Manny replies: "@grok
why do some people say Tom Morello and band mates are RAGE FOR THE MACHINE and not against ?"

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The New Republic @newrepublic.com · 13h

Justice Department lawyers reposted President Trump’s statements and may have inadvertently endangered their prosecution of Luigi Mangione, violating the judge’s explicit orders that DOJ employees refrain from public comment about the case. trib.al/mZts17M

DOJ in Trouble After Lawyers Reposted Trump Rants on Luigi Mangione

The Justice Department’s case against Luigi Mangione just hit a major obstacle.

trib.al

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James Vizzard @jwvizzard.bsky.social · 17h

Imagine being raised with every advantage and being like this. His family must be so proud.

Lede of the day: “Before Bill Pulte started targeting President Donald Trump’s political enemies, he practiced on his own family,” AP’s Brian Slodysko and Chris Megerian report. “He accused his grandfather’s widow of insider trading. He was allegedly the driving force behind a website trashing an aunt as a ‘fake Christian.’ And he publicly blasted another relative as ‘a fat slob,’ ‘weirdo’ and ‘grifter,’ according to court records from a bitter legal feud pursued by Pulte that ensnared PulteGroup, the multibillion-dollar homebuilding giant his grandfather founded.” Pulte pre-butted the story by writing on X that it was a “hit piece, filled with falsehoods”; he then deleted the post.

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Dave Levitan @davelevitan.bsky.social · 14h

“We can give $20 billion to Argentina but we can’t afford the CDC’s measles experts” is a hell of an argument

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Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 13h

Lots of Epidemic Intelligence Service officers ("disease detectives") gone.
In-country staff in Africa (including those helping to manage the current Ebola outbreak) are fired.

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Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 13h

Policy, comms, ethics, and science management (the people who clear science docs — determine whether they meet scientific standards) heavily hit.
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report staff are gone.

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Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 13h

Per CDC source: At internal leadership meeting this afternoon, it was shared that 1,257 people were RIF'd at CDC. Number may not be final. Apparently, chief of staff was unaware that RIFs were going to occur so not clear who is making decisions. (Short 🧵)

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Adrian Daub @adriandaub.bsky.social · 15h

I’d invite German newspaper readers to reflect on the number of articles you’re seeing atm about a researcher on anti-fascism having to flee the US (I found 2) compared to the time a student thought the bánh mì was inauthentic.

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Mark Lemley @marklemley.bsky.social · 13h

And this:
92% of the growth in the entire country this year has been data centers. And some of that is "circular deals" that dont involve actual money

fortune.com/2025/10/07/d...

Without data centers, GDP growth was 0.1% in the first half of 2025, Harvard economist says | Fortune

Is a U.S. without data centers a country without GDP growth?

fortune.com

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Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 13h

They behave like mob men out on a caper. Illinois law requires all registered vehicles to display front and back license plates, without exception. But to evade accountability, Trump's secret police are driving around in unmarked cars without plates,