Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Mary Garvey Washington

Eileen Clancy 🧿 @clancyny.bsky.social · 4h

Read it all. From one small section:

Shortly after a man fired >500 rounds at CDC and killed a cop, the staff that safeguard employee, facility, and data security are gone. And the Office of Strategic Business Initiatives, that trains and supports risk management across the entire agency, is gone.

Beyond that, the CDC will not be able to function administratively, as the Office of Safety, Security, and Asset Management (OSSAM) office, which safeguards employee, facility, and data security at CDC lost its entire Occupational Health and Safety Office. Barely two months after a gunman shot more than 500 rounds at CDC and killed a police officer, the office devoted to employee safety has been The Workplace Health Office was also RIFed, as was the Office of Strategic Business Initiatives, which is charged with training and supporting risk management across the entire agency. Not only have the CDC employees been terminated, but the ones who remain will be forced to function within an organization that has eliminated mechanisms for looking after their well-being, safety, and ability to effectively do their jobs to carry out the CDC mission.

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Mary Garvey Washington @3riverspa.bsky.social · 1h

Vote YES on 50

Senator Scott Wiener @scottwiener.bsky.social · 4h

Was able to hit the doors and inform our voters on Prop 50 this morning. Don’t forget to vote YES ON 50 this upcoming special election.

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Susan Rinkunas @susanrinkunas.com · 5h

This news is yet another reason to mask up in public spaces to protect yourself and your neighbors

Sheryl Gay Stolberg @sherylnyt.bsky.social · 20h

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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Lena Sun @lenasun.bsky.social · 9h

The CDC official who was leading the measles response and was RIFd has more than 28 yrs experience as the senior USG official leading outbreaks on Ebola, Marburg virus, and mpox. 2/4

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Lena Sun @lenasun.bsky.social · 9h

NEW: @CDCgov hit hard by massive firings that several staff describe to me as a “bloodbath.”
Among those RIFd:
—leadership of the center for immunization and respiratory diseases;
—leadership of global health center
—leadership of the measles outbreak response; 1/4

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Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD @elizabethjacobs.bsky.social · 18h

The editors of the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) were apparently fired today.

The precursor to MMWR began in 1878 to address emerging public health threats rapidly.

We are not “great” without it. We are vulnerable to threats from sporadic foodborne illness to bioterrorism.

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Mo Ryan @moryan.bsky.social · 23h

Among other updates, ICE/DHS were told -- again, this time by a judge -- to remove the fence around ICE Broadview. It was still up when I left at noon. And as this story reports, today IL Sens Duckworth & Durbin were denied entry, as other local officials have been for weeks.

Block Club Chicago @blockclubchi.bsky.social · 1d

Protesters gathered Friday outside the Broadview ICE facility, as they have for weeks in resistance to the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operations. blockclubchi.co/48oEVt5

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Tina Smith @smith.senate.gov · 23h

Reminder that NONE of these workers need to be fired because of this shutdown — Trump is just using them as pawns because he views people as expendable if it serves his interests.

Russ Vought @russvought
The RIFs have begun.

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Congresswoman Gwen Moore @repgwenmoore.bsky.social · 1d

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Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 1d

Also: I know we’re all over — including me: www.lawdork.com/p/the-trials... — the troop deployment litigation in Portland and Chicago, but, don’t forget what is going on in D.C.

It’s now been more than two months since Trump authorized this.

Four National Guard troops, two leaning against the wall by the Dupont metro. None have anything to do, but they’re still here.

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Mary Garvey Washington @3riverspa.bsky.social · 1d

I'm shocked, just shocked, that Republicans would shut down the government and fail to pay employees like this! /s

Aaron Fritschner @fritschner.bsky.social · 1d

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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Kai Ryssdal @kairyssdal.bsky.social · 1d

Yes, America - the president is telling you you’ll be paid to take your meds.

FFS

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Trump: "Drug prices are going to be going down 100%, 400%, 600%, 1,000% in some cases."

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The Bulwark @thebulwark.com · 1d

George was just trying to get to work.

ICE pepper-sprayed him, dragged him from his car, locked him in a detention center, and placed him on suicide watch. He even missed his young daughter’s birthday in the process.

This man is a veteran and American citizen. Don't look away.

The Bulwark @thebulwark.com · 1d

"They put me on suicide watch and they put me in the cell, I'm naked, in like a hospital dress and just a concrete bed with like a mattress, like a thin mattress and, they leave the light on 24/7."

@timmiller.bsky.social talked to a veteran who ICE wrongly detained and brutalized

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The Bulwark @thebulwark.com · 1d

Watch the interview with @timmiller.bsky.social on

YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fykx...

Substack: www.thebulwark.com/p/dhs-lied-a...

DHS Lied About a Veteran They Wrongfully Arrested (w/ George Retes)

YouTube video by The Bulwark

www.youtube.com

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Clara Jeffery @clarajeffery.bsky.social · 1d

Here's the video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TF1...

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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

The campaign against “antifa” is about establishing a beachhead for further attacks on speech and assembly rights. We see that today in the effort to preemptively label No Kings protesters as “terrorists.”

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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 1d

The random people who called into this C-SPAN session had better questions for Mike Johnson than most corporate media outlets

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 2d

C-SPAN caller to Mike Johnson: "Hearing you say that 'everyone is smiling' in cities where troops have been rolled into feels dystopian and insane watching the response to it."

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Dave Weigel @daveweigel.bsky.social · 1d

Bumpin’ that youtu.be/HKZMDI1nxD4?...

Haircut 100 - Kingsize (You're My Little Steam Whistle) (Official Audio)

YouTube video by Haircut100VEVO

youtu.be

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Schooley @schooley.bsky.social · 1d

Pretending every huge peaceful protest is worse than January 6th while also pretending January 6th never happened.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Emmer: "This is about one thing and one thing alone -- to score political points with the terrorist wing of their party, which is set to hold a hate America rally in DC next week."

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 1d

"30-year-old conservative lawyer and activist who is Trump’s nominee to lead the Office of Special Counsel, which deals with federal employee whistleblower complaints and discrimination" cancelled his colleague's hotel room so she would be forced to stay with him.
www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

In late July, Paul Ingrassia, the White House liaison for the Department of Homeland Security, arrived at a Ritz-Carlton in Orlando with a lower-ranking female colleague and others from their department. When the group reached the front desk, the woman learned she didn’t have a hotel room.

Ingrassia then informed her that she would be staying with him, according to five administration officials familiar with the episode. Eventually the woman discovered that Ingrassia had arranged ahead of time to have her hotel room canceled so she would have to stay with him, three of those officials said.

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Costa Samaras @costasamaras.com · 1d

We're spending $20B to bail out Argentina, but they cut USAID down to the bone, causing deaths around the world. The entire budget of USAID, the whole agency, was $21B last year. Shameful.

The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 1d

The Trump administration confirmed that the U.S. bailed out Argentina.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he had directly bought Argentine pesos in global currency markets in a bid to relieve pressure on the nation’s embattled President Javier Milei, a supporter of President Trump.

The U.S. just bailed out Argentina, Treasury Secretary confirms

The US Treasury has finalized a $20 billion financial rescue of Argentina, including a currency swap arrangement with the country's central bank.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Costa Samaras @costasamaras.com · 1d

Picture how big the Hoover Dam is. An absolute unit. The Hoover Dam has a power capacity of 2 gigawatts (GW).

The solar farm that the Admin just cancelled could have produces 6.2 GW of power. That's more than 3 Hoover Dams.

jael holzman @jael.bsky.social · 1d

SCOOP: The Bureau of Land Management says the largest solar project in Nevada — the Esmeralda 7 mega-farm — has been canceled

The news was quietly dropped via a sudden website update with no public word from any of the companies involved or a statement from the agency

@heatmap.news

Esmeralda 7 Solar Project Has Been Canceled, BLM Says

It would have delivered a gargantuan 6.2 gigawatts of power.

heatmap.news

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ProPublica @propublica.org · 1d

Kristi Noem, while governor of South Dakota, supplemented her roughly $130,000 salary by secretly accepting $80,000 donated to a political nonprofit she was affiliated with, records show.

She never disclosed this income on federal ethics forms.

(Published June)

Kristi Noem Secretly Took a Cut of Political Donations

A dark money group paid $80,000 to Noem’s personal company when she was governor of South Dakota. She did not include this income on her federal disclosure forms, a likely violation of ethics requirem...

www.propublica.org

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Juno Rylee Schultz @junoryleejournalism.com · 2d

David Simon, creator of ‘The Wire’, being interviewed by Ari Shapiro (NPR)

SHAPIRO: OK, so you've spent your career creating television without Al, and I could imagine today you thinking, boy, I wish I had had that tool to solve those thorny problems...
SIMON: What?
SHAPIRO: ...Or saying...
SIMON: You imagine that?
SHAPIRO: ...Boy, if that had existed, it would have screwed me over.
SIMON: I don't think Al can remotely challenge what writers do at a fundamentally creative level.
SHAPIRO: But if you're trying to transition from scene five to scene six, and you're stuck with that transition, you could imagine plugging that portion of the script into an Al and say, give me 10 ideas for how to transition this.
SIMON: I'd rather put a gun in my mouth.

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The Daily Show @thedailyshow.com · 2d

The following is REAL footage from Portland, 2025. Viewer discretion is advised.

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