Author | Lightnews

Reposted by Brendan Buhler

PM2.5 Kills ~9 Million People Worldwide Annually @tkovach.bsky.social · 13h

This is from Foner's "The Second Founding."

Sen. Jacob Howard said birthright citizenship was "the law of the land already," but "We wanted to put this question beyond legislative power, beyond the reach of [those] who would pull the whole system up by the roots and destroy it."

At the end of April 1866, after a somewhat disorienting series of further votes, in which language was added and eliminated from Owen's now almost unrecognizable proposal, the Joint Committee approved a five-section Fourteenth Amendment and sent it to Congress. In the Senate it underwent further changes, most significantly the addition of the current first sentence, which put into the Constitution the principle of birthright citizenship in both the nation and the individual states. The new first sentence was meant to "settle the great question of citizenship" once and for all according to Howard, who managed passage in the Senate. Howard noted that birthright citizenship was “the law of the land already,"

in the Civil Rights Act. But of course a law can be repealed. "We wanted to put this question
legislative power, beyond the reach of [those] who would pull the whole system up by the roots and destroy it." The rest of the first section remained intact. It prohibited states from abridging the privileges or immunities of citizens, depriving any "person"-a more expansive category that included aliens-of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, and denying any person the equal protection of the laws. “I can hardly believe," Stevens proclaimed, "that any person can be found who will not admit that every one of these provisions is just."23

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Brendan Buhler @thebuhler.bsky.social · 11h

An updated list of pro-confederate states.

Lawrence Hurley @lawrencehurley.bsky.social · 13h

24 states have filed a brief at the Supreme Court in support of the Trump administration's effort to curb birthright citizenship, suggesting that it is not correct to say the issue is "settled and beyond debate."
www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...

Reposted by Brendan Buhler

Matt Shipman (he/him) @shiplives.bsky.social · 12h

Or at the very least lead with the fact that this "appears" to be illegal, if you want to cover your butts. It's an obvious violation of the Antideficiency Act! You can quote the law itself and as many legal scholars as you want!

Matt Shipman (he/him) @shiplives.bsky.social · 13h

"Some Democrats have also raised concerns about its legality," the story reads, just before quoting a Republican expert who says that this is illegal, citing the relevant law that it violates.

Come *ON* reporters, do better.
It's transparently illegal. Say that.
www.cnn.com/2025/10/24/p...

Pentagon to use $130 million donation from anonymous Trump ‘friend’ to pay military members | CNN Politics

The Trump administration plans to funnel a $130 million donation from an anonymous ally of President Donald Trump toward paying military service members during the government shutdown, the Defense Dep...

www.cnn.com

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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 13h

The U.S. has conducted 10 strikes on alleged drug-carrying boats, killing 43 people.

Remember: no judge or jury has found these boats were trafficking drugs. We're simply taking Trump's word for it.

He’s unilaterally acting as judge, jury, and executioner.

This is a danger to us all.

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Gremliny Nussboo @emilynussbaum.bsky.social · 15h

People kvetch about the chaos-inducing serial comma, but you can also do a lot with a colon! Beware, biographers!!

NYPost headline reading “Prince Andrew had a network of staff, pals to ‘arrange girls’ for sex – and he had a type: biographer”

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Bill Grueskin @bgrueskin.bsky.social · 3d

"Rick Scott, an expert in healthcare"

In 2000, during a deposition for a civil suit unrelated to the fraud investigation, Scott pleaded the Fifth Amendment 75 times.[47] In settlements reached in 2000 and 2002, Columbia/HCA pleaded guilty to 14 felonies and agreed to a $600+ million fine in what was at the time the largest health care fraud settlement in U.S. history. Columbia/HCA admitted systematically overcharging the government by claiming marketing costs as reimbursable, by striking illegal deals with home care agencies, and by filing false data about use of hospital space. It also admitted to fraudulently billing Medicare and other health programs by inflating the seriousness of diagnoses and to giving doctors partnerships in company hospitals as a kickback for the doctors referring patients to HCA. It filed false cost reports, fraudulently billed Medicare for home health care workers, and paid kickbacks in the sale of home health agencies and to doctors to refer patients. In addition, it gave doctors "loans" never intending to be repaid, free rent, free office furniture, and free drugs from hospital pharmacies.[48][8]

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Scott Shapiro @scottjshapiro.bsky.social · 4d

“Anyone who has ever read the Federalist Papers knows that anywhere between a third and a half of them are about Donald Trump.” talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/the-s...

The Subtle Genius of ‘No Kings’

The turnout and character of the weekend’s No Kings demonstrations speak for...

talkingpointsmemo.com

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Charlie Warzel @cwarzel.bsky.social · 4d

Hi. I wrote an essay about AI slop: How it feels like an invasive species for the internet. How its boosters describe building a future that’s devoid of craft. How frictionlessness can be nihilistic & how this stuff seems to leach part of our shared humanity out of the world. I hope you'll read it.

AI’s Invasive Species

The slop is winning.

www.theatlantic.com

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Colin Brooker @colinbrooker.bsky.social · 4d

The woman hosting this shit is CMO at a VC firm that funds AI projects. But the great @nytimes.com does not disclose that

The New York Times @nytimes.com · 4d

“Prompt parties,” gatherings of women over cheese and wine to chat about how ChatGPT can help them, are emerging as the next-generation of Tupperware party in San Francisco.

Wine, Cheese and ChatGPT: Ladies’ Night in San Francisco

www.nytimes.com

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ProPublica @propublica.org · 4d

A spokesperson for Texas Gov. Greg Abbott argued his office’s emails with Elon Musk are confidential under a “common-law privacy” exception to public records laws because they may include “intimate and embarrassing” information.

(Published July)
With @kutnews.bsky.social @texastribune.org

Texas Governor’s Office Says Its Emails With Elon Musk May Be, in Part, Too “Embarrassing” to Release to the Public

We asked Abbott for his and his staff’s emails with Elon Musk and Musk’s companies. The governor’s office won’t turn them over, saying some contain “intimate and embarrassing” information that is “not...

www.propublica.org

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Barred and Boujee aka Madiba Dennie @audrelawdamercy.bsky.social · 4d

"By the way - everything I ever sent you is off the record. You're not a journalist so it's weird saying that but just letting you know"

lmao I think the fuck not you trickass bitch

Anna Bower @annabower.bsky.social · 4d

Lindsey Halligan says I’m not a journalist.

But if you think I am, and you value our our non-profit legal news and analysis, you can support our work here: givebutter.com/journalism/a...

You can also follow me on Substack: annabower.substack.com/about

LH Lindsey Halligan @
© 8h
Sat, Oct 11
• Unknown set disappearing message time to 8 hours.
‹ You accepted the message request.
Options
Today
By the way - everything I ever sent you is off record. You're not a journalist so it's weird saying that but just letting you know.
32m O
I'm sorry, but that's not how this works.
You don't get to say that in retrospect.
24m O o

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Adam Weinstein @adamweinstein.bsky.social · 4d

Lecturing active soldiers about being too fat while dropping standards so low for the ICE deportation force that a third of their recruits can't handle the easiest PT test I've ever heard of www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

More than a third have failed so far, four officials told me, impeding the agency’s plan to hire, train, and deploy 10,000 deportation officers by January. To pass, recruits must do 15 push-ups and 32 sit-ups, and run 1.5 miles in 14 minutes.
“It’s pathetic,” one career ICE official told me, adding that before now, a typical class of 40 recruits had only a couple of candidates fail, because the screening process was more rigorous.

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John Schwartz @jswatz.bsky.social · 5d

With that kind of money, you could kill a lot of dogs. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/18/u...

Coast Guard Buys Two Private Jets for Noem, Costing $172 Million

www.nytimes.com

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Tim Dickinson @timdickinson.bsky.social · 6d

I'll leave you from Portland with one last video of the @unpresidentedbrass.bsky.social, the unofficial house band of #NoKings

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Brendan Buhler @thebuhler.bsky.social · 6d

Oh, for fuck's sake.

Truthdig @truthdig.com · 6d

A memo obtained from HHS reveals plans to investigate chemtrail conspiracies, signaling fringe theories gaining federal traction.

It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane! It’s a Chemtrail? - Truthdig

A fringe conspiracy theory warning of menace from above takes wing at Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s HHS.

www.truthdig.com

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Reposted by Brendan Buhler

Nick (derogatory) ✨ @slothropsmap.bsky.social · 6d

It is a scandal totally unprecedented in history that the Vice President has shared a video depicting the President as king. It’s an obscene violation of every founding American principle.

And nothing will come of it. It makes me physically sick.

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Garrett M. Graff @vermontgmg.bsky.social · 6d

Amazing that “No kings and no Nazis” is suddenly a controversial slogan and up for debate in 2025. These are the two most basic creeds of American history.

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Karen Tumulty @ktumulty.bsky.social · 6d

My favorite sign at the Montclair NJ No Kings today:

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Alexis Alexandridis MD MBA FACS @alexis-md.bsky.social · 6d

Petaluma people are awesome people.
#nokings

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Brendan Buhler @thebuhler.bsky.social · 6d

American flags, kids, dogs, old people, and inflatable chicken costumes (this is Petaluma). A very friendly protest, and much larger than in the spring.