Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

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All In with Chris Hayes @allinwithchris.bsky.social · 15h

Gov. Tim Walz to Trump as his “man-made” crisis crushes American farmers: "Find three soybean farmers who will stand with you and say, 'This is okay.' Just three, anywhere in America. I challenge you to do that, because you're not going to find them.”

Walz CHALLENGES Trump: Find a farmer who thinks this is okay

YouTube video by MSNBC

www.youtube.com

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Karl DEFEND DEMOCRACY Bunday 🇺🇸 🗽 🇺🇦 🇹🇼 @45xiatai.bsky.social · 20h

Road repair on Highway 7 west of the event location WILL NOT STOP US from attending @indivisiblemn03.org's No Kings event, No Kings Minnetonka-Southwest Metro. Sign up now to join us at #NoKingsMinnetonka, probably the biggest protest ever in #MN03. #NoKings www.mobilize.us/nokings/even...

No Kings Minnetonka-Southwest Metro · No Kings

**In America, we don’t put up with would-be kings.** Our peaceful movement is only getting bigger and stronger. “No kings” is more than just a slogan—it’s the foundation our nation was built upon. Bo...

www.mobilize.us

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Jacob Soboroff @jacobsoboroff.bsky.social · 16h

here’s more context to the videos DHS is putting out from Chicago.

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The Bulwark @thebulwark.com · 20h

"I do think he needs help, and I don't think anybody around him on a day-to-day basis wants to get him any help, because they have more power based upon his diminished capacity."

@jbpritzker.bsky.social joins @timmiller.bsky.social on today's Bulwark Podcast:

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Minnesota 50501 @mn50501.bsky.social · 1d

Stand up to ICE - every Wednesday morning at 1 Federal Drive, Mpls.

"SALT ICE"
Stand Against Legalized Terror

ICE HQ Protest | Wednesdays

7:30 AM, 1 Federal Dr, Mpls

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Indivisible ❌👑 @indivisible.org · 1d

On Saturday, we wear yellow. ❌👑

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Betsy Baker @betsycbaker.bsky.social · 1d

Not to discount the volume but I get that every time I blow dry my hair. It’s a weird feature on the watch.

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Indivisible Twin Cities @indivistwincities.bsky.social · 1d

Disco for Democracy? Yes! Let’s get inspired by the joyful resistance in PDX, Chicago and LA! Bring your love for our communities & our country to No Kings Twin Cities in Mpls on 10/18, 1pm. Gettin’ our groove on with @mnaflcio.org @womensmarchmn.bsky.social @mn50501.bsky.social @indivisible.org

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Betsy Baker @betsycbaker.bsky.social · 1d

Sigh.

David Roberts @volts.wtf · 2d

Hard to argue with any of this.

Kelly C @kacphl.bsky.social · 2d

Yup. This guy nailed it. www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1Qv...

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Jessica Lussenhop @jlussenhop.bsky.social · 2d

Don't even know where to start sharing the most recent stories on ProPublica.org — if you're not waking up and checking every morning, you're missing out. Let's start here: due to an "extraordinary number of violations" the penalty is going to be... reduced? www.propublica.org/article/elon...

Elon Musk’s Boring Co. Accused of Nearly 800 Environmental Violations on Las Vegas Project

Nevada could’ve fined the company more than $3 million, but regulators are seeking a reduced penalty of $242,800, citing an “extraordinary number of violations.”

www.propublica.org

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Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 2d

I appreciate @punchbowlnews.bsky.social noting something that's objectively true and necessary context, but routinely elided over:

The House GOP is not away because of the shutdown, but to avoid taking a vote on releasing info about a notorious pedophile because that info implicates Trump.

Murshed Zaheed @murshedz.bsky.social · 2d

👀 “The Ghost House”: Eye opening report from @punchbowlnews.bsky.social this am on how Mike Johnson has turned the House into a joke under Republican rule. He has turned House Republican leaders into Trump White House’s poodles (if you catch my drift) covering up for #EpsteinFiles.

$“The Ghost House. Speaker Mike Johnson and top House GOP leaders have kept members home since Sept. 19. While the complaints are growing louder inside House GOP ranks over the issue, Johnson insists Republicans have done their job and there’s no reason for them to be here. House GOP lawmakers passed a “clean” CR that would keep federal agencies open until Nov. 21. Senate Democrats have repeatedly blocked that measure, which led to this shutdown. Democrats are demanding a vote on their own proposal to permanently extend expiring Obamacare premium credits, a rollback in massive Medicaid cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and the end of unilateral spending rescissions. Yet the House’s absence makes it easier for the shutdown to continue. Part of what ends shutdowns is anxiety building among the rank-and-file. Members are home, so there’s limited pressure on House GOP leaders to do anything. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and dozens of Democrats have been in D.C. throughout the shutdown. More importantly, Johnson has emerged as the “face” of the shutdown for House Republicans. He’s doing daily press conferences and more media interviews, putting himself in the center of the fracas. A C-SPAN caller begging Johnson to bring the House back last week went viral. So did Johnson’s hallway confrontation with Arizona Democratic Sens. Ruben Gallego and Mark Kelly over Johnson’s refusal to swear in Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva, a move that has infuriated Democrats.”$

OBBB and done. The reality is that since the OBBB passed on July 3, the House has been checked out. A virtual non-entity for more than three months. And this is the off-year, when Congress is supposed to be busy.
Since July 3, the House has only been in session for 20 days (out of more than 100 calendar days.) Even accounting for the normal August break — which began early because of the Epstein mess – the House has been AWOL.
There have been just over 90 floor votes during this period. A lot of these were amendment votes or votes on non-controversial suspension bills. Several were partisan FY2026 spending bills that have no chance of passage. All in all, very little of substance has been taken up. But as Johnson will remind you, the House did pass a CR.
The only period comparable to this in recent decades was in 2020, during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi used proxy voting to buttress the Democratic leadership’s power. Republicans yelled loudly about that at the time, even filing an unsuccessful lawsuit to stop it. But a similar thing is happening in reverse now.
If you see it, don’t say it. House Republicans have done virtually no oversight on the Trump administration, rolling over on a number of issues that their predecessors would have screamed loudly about. It’s true that House Democrats did little or nothing to rein in President Joe Biden when they controlled the House. But Trump has gone far beyond Biden in using executive authority. “Inside the White House, top advisers joke that they are ruling Congress with an ‘iron fist,’” the Wall Street Journal reported.
For an institution that has complained for years about the need to claw back power from the executive branch, it’s a sad state of affairs. And it shows no sign of ending soon.

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Minnesota Reformer @minnesotareformer.com · 1d

Here’s a simple way to stand up for a free America: Back a Minnesota-based, independent, nonprofit source of real, fact-based news so you can participate in democracy as a knowledgeable citizen. minnesotareformer.com/donate/

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Adam Keiper @adamkeiper.com · 2d

This is a really well done—I hope it catches on: A silent roadside protest staged over the weekend in Westerville, Ohio, and posted to the Facebook page of the Westerville Progressive Alliance.
www.youtube.com/shorts/TpZFS...

Signs of Fascism!

YouTube video by COOLHAND

www.youtube.com

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Indivisible Twin Cities @indivistwincities.bsky.social · 3d

Meet us in The Commons on 10/18 for No Kings Twin Cities 1pm! We hope to see chickens, frogs, narwhals, Liberty statues and other wildlife in the park (hint hint)!

Raider @iwillnotbesilenced.bsky.social · 3d

Portland 🔥

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ou812-8675308.bsky.social @ou812-8675308.bsky.social · 2d

Yep, and masks won’t protect you from subpoenas for payroll records, scheduling, injury reports, use of force reports (ha ha ha, never mind), arrest records, charging instruments, ect. Your family will still suffer, just not today. You’ll know when there is lien placed on your family home.

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Rachel Maddow @maddow.msnbc.com · 3d

“With your patient and rigorous work, you can act as a barrier against those who, through the ancient art of lying, seek to create divisions in order to rule by dividing,” he said. “You can be a bulwark of civility against the quicksand of approximation and post-truth...”

apnews.com/article/pope...

Pope urges news agencies to stand as bulwark against lies, manipulation and post-truths

Pope Leo XIV has encouraged international news agencies to stand firm as a bulwark against the “ancient art of lying” and manipulation.

apnews.com

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CajunBlueAZ ⚜️🇺🇸 🇺🇦 @cajunblue.bsky.social · 2d

🚨🚨🚨WA Governor Bob Ferguson responds to a letter he received from AG Pam Bondi in which she threatened to place him in jail. 🧯He is on fire! 1/2

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50501: The People’s Movement ❌👑 @50501movement.bsky.social · 2d

Giving up? LOL. We're just getting started.

October 18th, Everywhere

#nokings

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 2d

I am going to re-up this a third time:

Please read this excellent piece by Lincoln Caplan about why John Roberts—more than Mitch McConnell, more than Stephen Miller or Russell Vought, more than anyone else—owns the destruction of Constitutional order.

www.harvardmagazine.com/legal/suprem...

James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 4d

Re-upping:

Excellent assessment of John "Roger Taney" Roberts.

In @harvardmagazine.bsky.social , by Lincoln Caplan.

As careful, legally informed, judicious-minded writer as you're going to find. With an unsparing judgment.

www.harvardmagazine.com/legal/suprem...

What Trump Means for John Roberts's Legacy | Harvard Magazine

Executive power is on the docket at the Supreme Court.

www.harvardmagazine.com

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D. Earl Stephens @dearlstephens.bsky.social · 2d

📌“The fact that I am American means, among other things, people can’t say, like they did about Francis, ‘he doesn’t understand the United States, he just doesn’t see what’s going on.’
“Do you not see the suffering? Is your conscience not disturbed?”

-Pope Leo in a direct rebuke of the hideous Trump

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Indivisible ❌👑 @indivisible.org · 2d

The largest demonstration during Trump’s first term was around 750 events.

“We’re now expecting about 2,500 events around the country on No Kings. So we’re talking about literally four times as many.” - @leahgreenberg.bsky.social

Please join us on Saturday: www.nokings.org?SQF_SOURCE=i... #NoKings

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 2d

if we are going to have a supreme court that is as powerful as it is, i basically think justices should be forbidden from public comment on their work as well as any supplemental source of income while they are on the bench. (they should also ride circuit again but that's a bit separate.)

Andy Craig @andycraig.bsky.social · 3d

The substance of what she's saying is bad and unconvincing, but more fundamentally, I really don't think Supreme Court justices should be going on book tours where they publicly comment on their work and respond to criticism of it. Either put it in a written opinion or hold your peace.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 3d

Amy Coney Barrett defends heavy use of the shadow docket: "If we wrote a long opinion, it might give the impression that we have finally resolved the issue, and in none of these cases have we finally resolved the issue."

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Betsy Baker @betsycbaker.bsky.social · 2d

Cramming for the Final Exam.

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derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 2d

This two-parter below is exactly why it's hard to make clothes in the United States.

Let's look at how much it costs to produce a button-up shirt in the US. 🧵

Someone on Twitter replies to me: "meh. buy american or stfu."

Two hours later, in a separate thread, the write: "$30 for a single button-up is ridiculous unless it is decent quality silk."

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Indivisible ❌👑 @indivisible.org · 3d

“No, Speaker Johnson — the No Kings rally on October 18 is not a hate America rally. In fact, it’s quite the contrary: It’s a love America rally.” #NoKings

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