Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Shannon @drshannong.bsky.social · 3h

The number of good people has always outweighed the number of bad, but the number of indifferent people has also always outweighed the number of good.

Until the lives of the indifferent is dire - and they are finally forced to choose - it is always a struggle with more spectators than participants.

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Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 12h

MAYBE THE NATIONAL GUARD SHOULD BE STOPPING TRUMP FROM LITERALLY TEARING DOWN THE WHITE HOUSE?!?

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Molly Jong-Fast @mollyjongfast.bsky.social · Sep 6

I really resent my tax dollars being spent on this

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Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 10h

Oooooo, interesting. Somebody on the Ninth Circuit was quite unhappy with the baloney order justifying the National Guard in Oregon. (They also likely believe there's a good shot at reversal before the whole Circuit en banc, or they wouldn't have done this.)

cavalrygreek @cavalrygreek.bsky.social · 10h

BREAKING: A Ninth Circuit judge has sua sponte — on their own — already called for a vote on whether there should be an en banc rehearing (which means all active judges will vote on whether the matter should be reheard). Briefing is called for on that question, due by mid-week.

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Joshua J. Friedman @joshuajfriedman.com · 10h

Oh nooooo, Lindsey Halligan, this is not how any of this works

(15 screens into a Signal exchange) www.lawfaremedia.org/article/anna...

Screenshot of a text exchange via Signal between Anna Bower and Lindsay Halligan.

Halligan: 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.

Bower: I'm sorry, but that's not how this works.
You don't get to say that in retrospect.

Halligan: Yes I do. Off record.

Bower: I am really sorry. I would have been happy to speak with you on an off the record basis had you asked. But you didn't ask, and I still haven't agreed to speak on that basis. Do you have any further comment for the story?

Halligan: It's obvious the whole convo is off record.
There's disappearing messages and it's on signal. What is your story? You never even told me about a story.

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Nick Miroff @nickmiroff.bsky.social · 11h

SCOOP: more than a third of new recruits at the ICE training academy have failed the personal fitness test -- so many that the agency has had to start pre-screening new hires to weed out what one official called "athletically allergic candidates" www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

A Third of ICE-Academy Recruits Are Failing Out

Push-ups, sit-ups, and a brisk jog pose a threat to Trump’s deportation campaign.

www.theatlantic.com

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Shannon @drshannong.bsky.social · 10h

This seems like a stupid question, but why isn’t the White House protected as a Historical Home?

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Shannon @drshannong.bsky.social · 15h

It did a lot of good, but the compromises that had to be made to Republicans to even pass it also hurt a lot of people.
We need to have healthcare like the rest of the world. It must be non-profit across the board. Everyone gets sick-it will never be “profitable” without hurting people.

Mark Joseph Stern @mjsdc.bsky.social · 15h

If you bash the ACA from the left because it failed to achieve truly universal health care, please read this thread. The law isn't perfect. (None are.) It still did a huge amount of good and saved many, many lives.

John Pfaff @johnpfaff.bsky.social · 15h

Are we doing "The ACA Sucks" Discourse again?

I'm going to guess most people hating on it from the left have never received a hospital bill the size of book; I put the apple there for scale.

That's the $1.3 million bill my kid incurred in his first ~94 days. Why does that make me respect the ACA?

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The Barbed Wire @thebarbedwire.com · 16h

A pile of broken, colorful concrete pieces was all that remained of Texas’ first gay pride crosswalk as the sun rose on Monday, along with a few messages from protestors: “we are lucky to witness queer love,” and “don’t erase us.”

thebarbedwire.com/2025/10/20/h...

Houston Erased Texas’ First-Ever Gay Pride Crosswalk in the Middle of the Night

Houston tore up the Montrose rainbow crosswalk last night, arresting three protestors who gathered at the intersection.

thebarbedwire.com

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Timothy McBride @mcbridetd.bsky.social · 15h

Troop pay fight tests the GOP www.politico.com/live-updates...

Capitol agenda: Troop pay fight tests the GOP

www.politico.com

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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 15h

See, this captures the breadth of the MAGA movement.

Some, like Don Jr., want to return to the era when Coca-Cola still had actual cocaine in it.

Others, like Don Sr., want to return to the era when the Ford Bronco was the celebrity wife beater's preferred means of transportation.

Big tent!

hannah gais @hannahgais.bsky.social · 15h

Of course American fascism is just consumerist slop.

tweet from the department of homeland security x account showing a bottle of coke on top of a red ford bronco with the caption: "we can return" and a link to join USCIS

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Shannon @drshannong.bsky.social · 15h

It would be interesting to do medical studies. With the lack of concern over having to put effort out at all to survive, it might be true. Possibly, humans need to work hard at something and not get everything they want in order to flourish…

Brandon Friedman @brandonfriedman.bsky.social · 15h

It's very clear that unlimited wealth causes brain damage. That's not an exaggeration.

It's similar to other unnatural human conditions like solitary confinement (which is widely understood to cause mental deterioration) and other types of sensory deprivation.

Gil Durán @gilduran.com · 17h

Someone went there:

"It Kind of Seems Like Peter Thiel is Losing It"

via @futurism.com

futurism.com/future-socie...

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Timothy McBride @mcbridetd.bsky.social · 15h

CMS’ change of heart
A really wacky — and wonky — thing happened last week. CMS issued notice that they were halting all Medicare payments to doctors during the government shutdown.

But later that evening, CMS was backtracking. www.statnews.com/2025/10/20/c...

A CMS about-face on Medicare payments, and a STAT Summit recap

This is the online version of STAT's weekly email newsletter Health Care Inc.

www.statnews.com

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Bubba's Dad @bubsdad.bsky.social · 16h

Just receieved this today from Florida Blue. This is for a Bronze plan. Our monthly premiums are going from $333 (2025) to $2300 in 2026.

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Shannon @drshannong.bsky.social · 15h

Like all Industrial barons before them. Humans are just another commodity in the game of insatiable greed.

Denise Wheeler @denisedwheeler.bsky.social · 15h

Work Harder. Work Longer. Die Faster.

GOP goal.

Republicans taking sick leave away, too.

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WIRED @wired.com · 19h

Anthropic partnered with the US government to create a filter meant to block Claude from helping someone build a nuke. Experts are divided on whether its a necessary protection—or a protection at all.

Anthropic Has a Plan to Keep Its AI From Building a Nuclear Weapon. Will It Work?

Anthropic partnered with the US government to create a filter meant to block Claude from helping someone build a nuke. Experts are divided on whether its a necessary protection—or a protection at all.

wrd.cm

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altNOAA 🇺🇸 @altnoaa.bsky.social · 19h

Here’s an even better video of GHWB. If you understand what he’s saying and the documents he’s referring to, it’s actually the blueprint for Ukraine joining NATO—something nobody in politics today remembers or understands. Everything needed is already a legal document that Russia is signatory.

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Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 21h

Now that Trump has illegally bombed a seventh boat in the Caribbean, please note this: Rep Adam Smith, ranking Dem on Armed Services, tells me that *at no point* have officials given lawmakers even the most basic information about these extrajudicial murders:

newrepublic.com/article/2019...

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Shannon @drshannong.bsky.social · 17h

I just reported and blocked.

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Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 19h

In the wake of the George Santos rescue, Trump has now pardoned or commuted the sentences of most of the Republican congressmen convicted of felonies in the 21st century. The message: do my bidding and you can commit all the crimes you like. It's the party of choice for convicted felons.

With George Santos, Trump finds another convicted congressional Republican to reward

The president has now pardoned or commuted the sentences of most of the Republican congressmen convicted of felonies in the 21st century.

www.msnbc.com

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Politico @politico.com · 19h

ICE is hiring dozens of health workers as lawsuits and deaths in custody mount.

Nearly as many migrants have died in detention so far this year than over the four years of the Biden administration.

ICE is hiring dozens of health workers as lawsuits, deaths in custody mount

Nearly as many migrants have died in detention so far this year than over the four years of the Biden administration.

www.politico.com

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Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 19h

60 Minutes @60minutes.bsky.social · 1d

“We found over 35 cases in which the judges have specifically said what the government is providing…false information. It might be intentionally false information, including false sworn declarations time and again," says Ryan Goodman, law professor at New York University.

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Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 19h

Scientists have invented an eye implant to help blind patients
see again by partly restoring central vision crucial to reading and other everyday tasks. The device helped 81% of trial participants suffering from advanced age-related macular degeneration achievel improvements in their vision.

Scientists invent eye implant to help blind patients see again

Device improves vision of people suffering from advanced macular degeneration

www.ft.com

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Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 19h

SEN. SCHATZ: "“Look, I want the troops to be paid. .. But, as usual, they find the most illegal way to do everything.”

@politico.com
www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

Lawmakers bemoan Trump’s latest power grab: Troop pay

Members of Congress appreciate the political cover but don’t love how the White House is circumventing Capitol Hill’s power of the purse yet again.

www.politico.com

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Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 19h

China plans to use Trump's misfires as an opportunity to regain control over high tech from the US. www.ft.com/content/ba6a...

China set to push high tech in 5-year plan as tensions with US intensify

Central Committee expected to highlight the importance of consumption in an economy threatened by deflation

www.ft.com

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