Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted

mtsw @mtsw.bsky.social · 10h

Thiessen having a good chuckle about his fired liberal colleagues - some of whom he worked with for 15 years - is a good reminder that token conservatives at mainstream news outlets are/were there to destroy them, not to contribute to them.

Philip Bump @pbump.com · 12h

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Quinta Jurecic @qjurecic.bsky.social · 15h

and that's why we don't trust private equity

Jacob Shamsian @jayshams.bsky.social · 18h

I've been wondering why Dominion Voting Systems suddenly reached settlements with Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, and One America News.

Turns out, it's been purchased by a Republican-owned election tech firm that insisted on it, per Axios.

www.axios.com/2025/10/09/d...

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The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 23h

Context matters

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The A.V. Club @avclub.com · 12h

After doing a brief theatrical tour, The Onion's very funny 20-minute send-up of true crime tropes is watchable online.
www.avclub.com/onion-jeffre...

The Onion's Jeffrey Epstein: Bad Pedophile is now available online

www.avclub.com

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southpaw @nycsouthpaw.bsky.social · 11h

No money flowing to USAID and hardly any to PEPFAR despite their duly enacted funding; well north of twenty billion dollars being deployed for other weird hair autocrats. www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

The U.S. just bailed out Argentina, treasury secretary confirms

The U.S. Treasury has finalized a financial rescue of Argentina, including a currency swap arrangement with the country’s central bank.

www.washingtonpost.com

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southpaw @nycsouthpaw.bsky.social · 11h

Truly a man of peace www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

Norway braces for Trump’s reaction if he does not win Nobel peace prize

US president may impose tariffs, demand higher Nato contributions or even declare Norway an enemy, analyst says

www.theguardian.com

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Julianne McShane @juliannemcshane.bsky.social · 12h

"Only about 13% of the personnel carrying out Trump’s deportation agenda are employed by ICE’s primary deportation unit; the rest are pulled from other jobs, primarily crime-fighting jobs. The admin “is deprioritizing all other types of criminal law enforcement,” says Cato Institute’s David Bier"

Trump's deportation machine has diverted some 42,000 crime fighters from other tasks

Feeling safer now?

www.motherjones.com

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Julianne McShane @juliannemcshane.bsky.social · 13h

This is a crazy must-read from @nlanard.bsky.social:

www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

ICE is sending people to a prison in Africa’s only absolute monarchy

Inside the “legal black hole” in Eswatini, where Trump is sending detainees.

www.motherjones.com

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Pema Levy @pemalevy.bsky.social · 13h

Remember, the Supreme Court okay’d this without explanation on the shadow docket

Julianne McShane @juliannemcshane.bsky.social · 13h

This is a crazy must-read from @nlanard.bsky.social:

www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

ICE is sending people to a prison in Africa’s only absolute monarchy

Inside the “legal black hole” in Eswatini, where Trump is sending detainees.

www.motherjones.com

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Ian Gordon @idgordon.bsky.social · 18h

Acquisition Logistics had no prior experience in incarceration. Previously, its biggest federal contract was $16 million, and CEO Ken Wagner is circling retirement at 77. Could it safely operate a 5,000-bed detention facility? (1/x)

How a tiny, inexperienced firm landed a $1.3 billion detention deal

To hold 5,000 human beings.

bit.ly

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Lindsay Beyerstein @beyerstein.bsky.social · 12h

Of all the clerics they could have popped, those ICE idiots had to hit Hot Priest.

Presbyterian minister David Black on CNN, who was shot with pepper balls while praying outside an ICE facility.

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James Medlock @jdcmedlock.bsky.social · 15h

“I’ll declare war on you if you don’t give me the peace prize” is an incredible bit

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Karen S Wilcox, PhD (she/her) @karenswilcoxphd.bsky.social · 10h

so much we shouldn't have to say

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God @thegodpodcast.com · 15h

Thou shalt not shoot pastors in the head with smoke bombs. I shouldn’t have to say this.

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Molly Jong-Fast @mollyjongfast.bsky.social · 11h

Why?

Matt Peterson @mattpeterson.bsky.social · 16h

Anyway we're bailing out Argentina

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Tim Onion @bencollins.bsky.social · 13h

Welp, here it is: maybe the funniest thing we've ever done, in its entirety.

The Onion Investigates: Jeffrey Epstein

YouTube video by The Onion

www.youtube.com

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Molly Jong-Fast @mollyjongfast.bsky.social · 11h

Oh god

The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 18h

🤷🏼

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 11h

One way of thinking about the Trump administration is that the worst people in American government are pushing out the best people in American government
www.msn.com/en-us/news/u...

Their interview, described in a federal lawsuit filed last week by Mr. Driscoll and two other recently fired senior FBI officials, began with benign questions about the gravest threats to the nation and possible adjustments to the FBI's structure, but then took a swerve: Who had Mr. Driscoll voted for? When did he start supporting President Donald J. Trump? And had he voted for a Democrat in the past five elections? He declined to answer those three, noting to the 29-year-old attorney and former podcaster that the questions were inappropriate and potentially violative of the Hatch Act.

Mr. Ingrassia asked another question that would in the ensuing weeks take on greater significance: Did Mr. Driscoll think the FBI agents who had "stormed" Mar-a-Lago in August 2022 should be held accountable? Mr. Driscoll said no, since they had been executing legal search warrants.

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 12h

"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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southpaw @nycsouthpaw.bsky.social · 11h

Horrifically creepy and emblematic of this rape-coded administration, but also a govt employee staying at the fuckin ritz on a business trip shows you how much the DC world has changed since the DOJ muffin scandal of 2011.

Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 12h

"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...

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Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 11h

www.wweek.com/culture/2025...

Can you put into words what that purpose is? You and the frog have really become icons of this protest.

There’s been a nice overall whimsy that has shown up. The frog is amazing. We had a bunch of other inflatable people here last night, too. I saw people playing Twister the other day.

What they rely on is fear. So by coming out in an absurdist manner, it speaks to them, to some extent, that we’re actually not that afraid.

It also dismantles their narrative a little bit. When they try to describe this situation as “war-torn,” it becomes much harder to take them seriously when they have to post a video saying [U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security] Kristi Noem is up on the balcony staring over the Antifa Army and it’s, like, eight journalists and five protesters and one of them is in a chicken suit.

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Jeff Tischauser @jtischauser.bsky.social · 18h

"You know, there’s many different factors that go into something like that...Then obviously the particular characteristics of an individual, how they look. How do they look compared to, say, you," Greg Bovino said before gesturing to a white reporter.

chicago.suntimes.com/2025/09/30/t...

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Constant Scream @ajaxsinger.bsky.social · 17h

The only good news about having a bunch of white supremacists in positions of power is that, largely, white supremacists are really really dumb.

Jeff Tischauser @jtischauser.bsky.social · 18h

"You know, there’s many different factors that go into something like that...Then obviously the particular characteristics of an individual, how they look. How do they look compared to, say, you," Greg Bovino said before gesturing to a white reporter.

chicago.suntimes.com/2025/09/30/t...

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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 17h

Stephen Miller is murdering Venezuelans and Colombians in cold blood bc he believes it helps his propaganda campaign to paint Latinos as dangerous.

www.theatlantic.com/national-sec...

Stephen Miller views the air strikes as an opportunity to paint immigrants as a dangerous menace, according to one of the White House officials.

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The Daily Show @thedailyshow.com · 16h

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

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