Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Trump’s CISA Raid: Pulling Cybersecurity Experts Off Critical Infrastructure Defense To Process Deportation Paperwork

Emmett O'Connell @emmettoconnell.bsky.social · 8h

DHS is reassigning hundreds of CISA cybersecurity experts to process deportation paperwork, pulling them off defending U.S. infrastructure from hacks.

We are gutting cyber defense for political theater, leaving power grids and networks more vulnerable.

www.techdirt.com/2025/10/17/t...

Last week we covered how Trump’s immigration theater was pulling federal agents off child sex crimes, drug interdiction, and terrorism investigations to chase landscapers and line cooks inste…

Flock Safety & Texas Sheriff Claimed License Plate Search Was For A Missing Person. It Was An Abortion Investigation.

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Emmett O'Connell @emmettoconnell.bsky.social · 8h

The woman targeted in the abortion investigation later reported her partner (who had turned her in) to police for choking her and holding her at gunpoint. He’s been charged with domestic violence, revealing how law enforcement pursued her instead of protecting her.

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Emmett O'Connell @emmettoconnell.bsky.social · 9h

Texas deputies used Flock Safety license plate data to investigate a woman’s self-managed abortion, despite claiming it was a “missing person” search. Records show it was a “death investigation” of a fetus, exposing how ALPR data can endanger abortion seekers.

www.techdirt.com/2025/10/17/f...

New documents and court records obtained by EFF show that Texas deputies queried Flock Safety’s surveillance data in an abortion investigation, contradicting the narrative promoted by the com…

Seattle board rejects Gas Works Park changes aimed at stopping deadly climbs

Emmett O'Connell @emmettoconnell.bsky.social · 1d

Seattle’s landmarks board chose nostalgia over safety. Preserving the “character” of Gas Works Park towers after a teen’s death isn’t history, it’s vanity. History should serve people, not monuments to our reflection. Narcissus would recognize this decision.

www.axios.com/local/seattl...

Seattle's landmarks board said the proposed changes were too drastic without more due diligence.

www.axios.com

Denver study shows removing parking requirements results in more affordable housing being built

Emmett O'Connell @emmettoconnell.bsky.social · 1d

Eliminating parking minimums boosts housing construction by 12.5%, about 460 more homes a year. Parking spaces can cost up to $50K each, driving up rents. Removing mandates frees land, lowers costs, and helps create more affordable, walkable neighborhoods.

theconversation.com/denver-study...

Structured parking can cost as much as $50,000 per space, making housing more expensive to build and for those living there.

theconversation.com

Vance’s Double Standard: Nazi Jokes Are “Kids Being Kids,” But Mocking Charlie Kirk Gets Your Visa Revoked

Emmett O'Connell @emmettoconnell.bsky.social · 1d

Praising Hitler is “edgy,” criticizing MAGA is punishable, Vance’s double standard shows free speech only applies to his side.

www.techdirt.com/2025/10/16/v...

JD Vance thinks praising Hitler and talking about putting political enemies into death chambers is harmless “kids being kids,” but criticizing Charlie Kirk is somehow deserving of state-supported p…

5 Minutes to Defend Democracy | The Civics Center

Emmett O'Connell @emmettoconnell.bsky.social · 1d

After the SAVE Act failed in Congress, its supporters asked the Election Assistance Commission to impose its rules anyway, requiring passports or similar ID to register with the federal form. Even a birth certificate wouldn’t count, making registration harder

www.thecivicscenter.org/blog/defend-...

Submit a quick comment to oppose new voting restrictions proposed by the Election Assistance Commission. Deadline: Monday, October 20.

www.thecivicscenter.org

Emmett O'Connell @emmettoconnell.bsky.social · 1d

Over 170 U.S. citizens have been detained by immigration agents this year. Some beaten, tased, or held for days without contact. Most were Latino. Despite claims of no profiling, agents often dismissed REAL IDs as fake.

politicalwire.com/2025/10/17/m...

More Than 170 U.S. Citizens Held by ICE Agents

ProPublica: “The government doesn’t track how many citizens are held by immigration agents. We found more than 170 cases this year where citizens were detained at raids and protests.” “More than 20 ci...

politicalwire.com

Emmett O'Connell @emmettoconnell.bsky.social · 2d

Starbucks fired three Portland-area baristas for writing pro-union chalk messages like “Workers deserve a fair contract” outside a Hillsboro store. The union calls it retaliation and filed federal charges, but NLRB action is paused by the government shutdown.

nwlaborpress.org/2025/10/star...

Starbucks fires three pro-union baristas

Starbucks fired three Portland-area union supporters last month. Their crime? Writing union slogans on the sidewalk outside their store.

nwlaborpress.org

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Emmett O'Connell @emmettoconnell.bsky.social · 3d

@finchfrii.bsky.social new No on Prop 1 (Workers Bill of Rights) mailer in Olympia

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Emmett O'Connell @emmettoconnell.bsky.social · 3d

DOGE promised $2T in cuts but instead increased spending by $220B. CBO confirms DOGE’s chaos: firings, gutted programs, rehiring costs, and accounting tricks left taxpayers paying more for less. Efficiency theater, expensive reality.

www.techdirt.com/2025/10/14/m...

Musk Promised To Cut $2 Trillion. Government Spending Went Up Instead

Elon Musk’s promises on government spending cuts have followed a predictable trajectory: slash $2 trillion, then $1 trillion, then a mere $150 billion. Now we have the final accounting from t…

Why Lawsuits Over AI Summaries Will Fail: There is No Right to Traffic | TechPolicy.Press

Emmett O'Connell @emmettoconnell.bsky.social · 3d

Mayor Dontae Payne and Caleb Geiger debate the pros and cons of the Workers’ Bill of Rights (Prop 1), which will be on your ballot this week! This discussion was hosted by Daniel Garcia, who runs the Heal Olympia project.

theolympiastandard.com/2025/10/14/1...

theolympiastandard.com

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Emmett O'Connell @emmettoconnell.bsky.social · 5d

Publishers’ lawsuits against Google’s AI Overviews hinge on a “right to traffic," a claim that losing clicks is a legal harm. But traffic isn’t property, and AI summaries are fair use. Courts won’t create a right to clicks, and the web is moving on without it.

techpolicy.press/why-lawsuits...

Robert Diab makes the case that lawsuits over Google’s AI Overviews won’t create a “right to traffic."

techpolicy.press

What makes a good (Civic) apology

Emmett O'Connell @emmettoconnell.bsky.social · 6d

What makes a good apology, personal or civic? In this week’s Olympia Time, I explore how we move from “sorry” to real repair, from Lakefair to reparations in Olympia.

Plus: new campaign interviews on The Olympia Standard as ballots drop!

buttondown.com/OlympiaTime/...

As I predicted last week, I wrote about apologies this week. In the communications world, this is one of the hardest moves to pull off. Not only how to do...

buttondown.com

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Reposted by Emmett O'Connell

Leah Sottile @leahsottile.bsky.social · 7d

It’s the weekend. We have a new podcast. You know what to do.

Leah Sottile @leahsottile.bsky.social · 10d

Why was 18-year-old Sarah Zuber found dead 400 feet from her front door? And how is it possible, six years later, that no one knows what happened to her?

Hush, Season 2, "Love Thy Neighbor" — my investigation with @ryanjhaas.bsky.social — starts today.

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...

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Emmett O'Connell @emmettoconnell.bsky.social · 9d

The Trump administration’s cancellation of the Digital Equity Act is a classic “anti-woke” move that backfires, blocking broadband and tech access meant to help poor rural white communities as much as anyone else. NDIA is suing, calling the shutdown unconstitutional.

statescoop.com/digital-incl...

Digital inclusion nonprofit sues Trump administration over Digital Equity Act cancellation | StateScoop

The National Digital Inclusion Alliance has sued the Trump administration for what it says was an overreach of power in its cancellation of the Digital Equity Act.

statescoop.com

The Mystery of the Mima Mounds

Emmett O'Connell @emmettoconnell.bsky.social · 9d

They fired investigative reporters to save this.

I'm not saying this isn't cute, but valuing this over actual reporting is a misplacement of values.

www.cascadepbs.org/show/mossbac...

A pimpled prairie south of Olympia is an enigma. No one agrees on what made it.

www.cascadepbs.org

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Emmett O'Connell @emmettoconnell.bsky.social · 10d

Cops aren't social workers turned into cops don't believe in social work.

www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...

Seattle officers ‘undermining’ city’s police alternative, report says

The CARE team has become a darling both inside City Hall and among candidates for office, but Seattle police often aren't using this resource, records show.

www.seattletimes.com

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Emmett O'Connell @emmettoconnell.bsky.social · 10d

News lobbyists are again pushing the JCPA, a bill letting publishers collude for payments from tech platforms. It harms fair use, benefits big media, limits access to news, and won’t fix journalism’s AI-era challenges.

publicknowledge.org/is-the-jcpa-...

Is the JCPA Coming Back? Why We Still Oppose the Journalism Competition & Preservation Act

Public Knowledge promotes freedom of expression, an open internet, and access to affordable communications tools and creative works. We work to shape policy.

publicknowledge.org

Why most polls overstate support for political violence

Emmett O'Connell @emmettoconnell.bsky.social · 11d

Vague or biased questions and inattentive respondents inflate support for political violence. Real support is under 5%.

Now you have to ask why some are advantaged by misreporting support for political violence

www.gelliottmorris.com/p/most-polls...

Misperceptions about the popularity of violence increase public support for it — but you can help change that.

www.gelliottmorris.com

Emmett O'Connell @emmettoconnell.bsky.social · 11d

I am going to point out that this papacy is Chicago in nature

Emmett O'Connell @emmettoconnell.bsky.social · 11d

The old trip down the stairs play

Emmett O'Connell @emmettoconnell.bsky.social · 11d

Especially since "Rome" as a metonym isn't consistently "Italian government"