Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by B. Safarik

Tom Carter @thcarter123.bsky.social · 2h

Vermeule, Schmitt, Integralists.

firstthings.com/liberal-inte...

Eight years ago, Andrew Willard Jones’s Before Church and State was described in these pages as “the hot beach read of the summer” for young integralist Catholics. In his...

firstthings.com

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Mark Bray @mark-bray.bsky.social · 8d

The director of the FBI glamorizing a vigilante (Punisher) who kills people bc the law isn’t ’strong enough.’ This is clearly fascist symbolism.

Sam @samd.bsky.social · 8d

reddit occupied government

Ken Dilanian
@DilanianMSNBC
Follow
The challenge coins being handed out by @FBIDirectorKash. Seems someone put a lot of thought into this.

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Le Monde @lemonde.fr · 3h

A Madagascar, le président, Andry Rajoelina, affirme qu’une « tentative de prise illégale du pouvoir » est en cours

Une partie de l’armée malgache a appelé samedi à la sédition pour chasser du pouvoir le président qui affronte, depuis la fin de septembre, la fronde de la jeunesse, lancée par le mouvement Gen Z.

www.lemonde.fr

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Thomas Zimmer @thomaszimmer.bsky.social · 4h

The regime gets more deranged every day. A rightwing conspiracy theorist assassinated a Democratic lawmaker - which the attorney general presents as an example of leftwing political violence in order to justify an authoritarian crackdown on the opposition…

We’re in incredibly dangerous territory.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Bondi: "We've been living through a horrific cycle of political violence in this country ... night after night antifa wrecks havoc on the streets of our cities. In Minnesota, a gunman murdered a state lawmaker and her husband."

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Alan Dettlaff @alandettlaff.com · 15h

Yesterday I was told that the class I’m scheduled to teach this month, Confronting Oppression & Injustice, is no longer part of our curriculum. This is a required class yet there was no discussion, no faculty vote, just an email saying the class no longer exists. This is what it’s like in Texas now.

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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 7h

Unprecedented grift & corruption, happening daily right in front of us

Daniel A Collier, PhD @dcollier74.bsky.social · 1d

Man what a lucky guess.........

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Peter @plawman.bsky.social · 8h

Had dinner tonight with a friend who’s a middle school teacher in the southwest. They told me schools now have trainings for when ICE agents sweep through schools to take children, and it’s worse than active shooter trainings, because it’s the government kidnapping children.

This is where we are.

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 14h

vought's view is that the president is an elected dictator and lo and behold he is seizing outright the power of the purse

Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 15h

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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Rich Raho @richraho.bsky.social · 15h

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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derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 7h

About a month ago, the Trump administration got rid of the de minimis exemption, whereby packages valued under $800 could slide in without import duties. Now there's a backlog as the government can't process all of this paperwork, leading to UPS just destroying packages

Business Insider headline reads: UPS is telling customers that their packages coming to the US are marked for destruction.

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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 1d

Why has Dominion Voting Systems been settling defamation lawsuits with Trump allies who falsely claimed the company stole the 2020 election?

Because Dominion has just been bought by a company run by a former GOP election official.

Be warned.

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Jacob Shamsian @jayshams.bsky.social · 2d

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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Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 17h

Illinois law requires all registered vehicles to display front and back license plates, without exception. But to evade accountability, masked federal immigration agents are driving around in unmarked cars without plates.
chicago.suntimes.com/news/2025/10...?

Federal immigration officers wear masks, no name tags — now some drive cars without license plates

The Sun-Times has documented four unmarked cars carrying federal officers without required plates, offering another way to shield their identities. Federal officials say they’re meeting regulations.

chicago.suntimes.com

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Khashoggi's Ghost @urocklive1.bsky.social · 16h

An anonymous trader made a fast $88 million by shorting Bitcoin.

The trader made the bet that Bitcoin would plummet in value on Friday after opening their account “30 minutes before Trump’s announcement of 100% tariffs on China."

Not suspicious at all, right?

www.rawstory.com/trump-267417...

‘That’s the MAGA playbook’: Crypto trade made moments before Trump post raises eyebrows

An anonymous online cryptocurrency trader reportedly scored an $88 million profit after making a lofty bet that the value of Bitcoin would plummet, a bet that was made just before a major tariff annou...

www.rawstory.com

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Tim Dickinson @timdickinson.bsky.social · 16h

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@NewsJennifer (Jennifer Schulze) @newsjennifer.bsky.social · 16h

At least 6 vehicles racing through a quiet suburban neighborhood; multiple agents, all of them armed and masked.

the excessive response plus the violence against this 15 year old girl is outrageous.

Laguna Beach Democratic Club @lagunabeachdems.bsky.social · 17h

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

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Angie Rasmussen @angierasmussen.bsky.social · 20h

For more information about the Friday night massacre at CDC, I wrote up an analysis of who got terminated and what that means for public health.

Grateful to @saveamericamvmt.bsky.social for supporting and amplifying. We are in really terrible trouble.

rasmussenretorts.substack.com/p/the-death-...

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Adam Keiper @adamkeiper.com · 1d

You would not fire these people—including the staff of the hugely, HUGELY important 'Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report'—if you cared at all about public health, if you wanted people to live.

And you would not let your thuggish henchmen fire people like this if you were a responsible president.

Sheryl Gay Stolberg @sherylnyt.bsky.social · 1d

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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Pam Herd @pamherd.bsky.social · 21h

RFK fired the CDC official (w/decades of experience) leading the measles outbreak response. It's been decades since we've had such a large outbreak. And just to ensure they they can spread the measles outbreak even farther, they also fired the leadership for the center focused on immunization.

Figure showing the largest measles outbreak in the US in decades. There are over 1500 cases as of October 7 2025

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B. Safarik @bradsafarik.bsky.social · 16h

Not just Roberts, but every Justice appointed by Republicans. Alito & Thomas don't even bother, their votes are decided on pure partisanship.

Betting on the odds, the Trump admin is not wrong. Roberts steers the Titanic, but all the conservative justices are strapped in with similar coordinates.

Murshed Zaheed @murshedz.bsky.social · 21h

“Trump administration officials have expressed confidence that they will continue to win at the Supreme Court — where the president has racked up multiple victories this year. That might make them less concerned with activities in the lower courts.”

They believe they own John Roberts …

Skeptical judges increasingly question administration’s veracity

Judges have increasingly shown exasperation with Trump administration court tactics. The White House has shot back, raising tensions to previously unseen levels.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Matthew Stiegler @matthewstiegler.bsky.social · 21h

Roberts is presiding over, and driving, a stunning collapse in faith in the U.S. Supreme Court, not just among the public, but among federal judges.

What a failure. The Titanic captain of chief justices.

Murshed Zaheed @murshedz.bsky.social · 21h

“More than three dozen federal judges have told The New York Times that the Supreme Court’s flurry of brief, opaque emergency orders in cases related to the Trump administration have left them confused about how to proceed in those matters and are hurting the judiciary’s image with the public.”

Federal Judges, Warning of ‘Judicial Crisis,’ Fault Supreme Court’s Emergency Orders

www.nytimes.com

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Sara Partridge, Ph.D. @sarapartridge.bsky.social · 19h

There are reports that the *entire* office of special education at the US Dept of Education has been cut. These hardworking folks ensure kids with disabilities get equal access to a quality education.

America’s children deserve better than this.

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LongTime🤓FirstTime👨‍💻 @longtimehistory.bsky.social · 21h

ICE secretly kidnap autistic boy during bathroom break—never notify parents.

Mother reported him missing a week ago—turns out ICE had him detained the whole time.

He was helping sell fruit and asked to go to the restroom—by the time she was done helping a customer he was gone.

Houston, Texas

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Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 1d

Trump said he deserved a cut for brokering the TikTok deal, and at once there was agreement that his son Baron would have a top executive slot... though he hasn't asked for it, and has no apparent qualifications to hold it. This is how Trump 2.0 works. www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2025...

Barron Trump tipped for top TikTok job

US president’s 19-year-old son could be appointed to the app’s board

www.telegraph.co.uk

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Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan.bsky.social · 1d

"Inside Trump’s Plot To Terrorize Chicago"

Sources in the administration tell Zeteo that Trump is also seriously discussing invoking the Insurrection Act with his top advisers.

Important reporting from @swin24.bsky.social:

Inside Trump’s Plot To Terrorize Chicago

Sources in the administration tell Zeteo that Trump is also seriously discussing invoking the Insurrection Act with his top advisers.

zeteo.com

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