Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Firthermor

Nick Schwellenbach @schwellenbach.bsky.social · 1h

"in each of these three cases the district court judges came close to accusing the Trump administration of making up facts to suit its political purposes"

wapo.st/4qcW8vN

Opinion | Trump’s war on ‘the enemy within’ keeps running into a legal buzzsaw

Lower courts are rejecting the president’s claims of rebellion to use the military on U.S. soil.

wapo.st

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Stephen Wolf @stephenwolf.bsky.social · 1h

Unlike the redistricting reform ballot initiative that voters passed in 2018, the GOP’s “initiative” would put the repeal measure before lawmakers if they gather enough signatures.

This would almost certainly lead to more litigation after the courts blocked the last GOP effort to repeal the reforms

Stephen Wolf @stephenwolf.bsky.social · 1h

Utah Republicans have launched a scheme to stop a court from replacing their House gerrymander with a fairer map for 2026.

They aim to use a referendum to suspend the new map they just passed at the court’s directive & an initiative to repeal the reforms that led the court to overturn their old map

www.abc4.com

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Firthermor @firthermor.bsky.social · 20m

The credulous are being taken in by the puffery on what has been accomplished.

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Prasad Jallepalli, MD, PhD @prasad.bsky.social · 10h

basic research on wacky things like Gila monster venom are what gave us GLP-1 drugs that are treating diabetes, obesity, & addiction in new ways

this piece from @whyy.org is great

an analogy: navigation apps are great but don't tell you how to climb Mt. Everest & survive

whyy.org/segments/oze...

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Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 4h

Wow. Trump's masked federal agents tear-gassed a crowd in Chicago and ended up gassing a bunch of local Chicago cops who were there to *deescalate tensions.* One local cop was captured on film washing out his eyes with a hose:

chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...

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Matt Burgess (WIRED) @mattburgess1.bsky.social · 1d

New from @agreenberg.bsky.social and me: For three years, security researchers pointed a satellite at the sky and found highly sensitive data being sent unencrypted

They found: calls and texts on T-Mobile’s network; military info from the US and Mexico; in-flight Wi-Fi browsing, and a lot more

Satellites Are Leaking the World’s Secrets: Calls, Texts, Military and Corporate Data

With just $800 in basic equipment, researchers found a stunning variety of data—including thousands of T-Mobile users’ calls and texts and even US military communications—sent by satellites unencrypte...

www.wired.com

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Firthermor @firthermor.bsky.social · 1h

Which came first: the Fox host or the astroturfing?

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Justin Hendrix @justinhendrix.bsky.social · 2h

"A group of non-revenue-generating energy companies have collectively ballooned in value to more than $45 billion in hopes that tech companies will one day pay for their yet-to-be-built power.The biggest of these is the OpenAI CEO Sam Altman-backed nuclear startup Oklo..."

The Frothiest AI Bubble Is in Energy Stocks

Concept stocks with no revenue have soaring valuations. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has backed the biggest of these energy companies.

www.wsj.com

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Brian Finucane @bcfinucane.bsky.social · 2h

Unlike with targeted killings conducted as part of actual armed conflicts under prior administrations, Trump 2.0 is both posting boastful videos of the U.S. strikes in the Caribbean AND refusing to disclose which specific entities and individuals are being targeted.

Propaganda plus secrecy.

Brian Finucane @bcfinucane.bsky.social · 20h

Further premeditated, lawless killing in the Caribbean.

Making at least five such US strikes.

Against unidentified "narcoterrorists" affiliated w/ an unspecified "designated terrorist organization" allegedly trafficking unspecified narcotics.

POTUS is asserting a license to kill outside the law.

Under my Standing Authorities as Commander-in-Chief, this morning, the Secretary of War, ordered a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization (DTO) conducting narcotrafficking in the USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility — just off the Coast of Venezuela. Intelligence confirmed the vessel was trafficking narcotics, was associated with illicit narcoterrorist networks, and was transiting along a known DTO route. The strike was conducted in International Waters, and six male narcoterrorists aboard the vessel were killed in the strike. No U.S. Forces were harmed. Thank you for your attention to this matter!!!!!!

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Max Boot @maxboot.bsky.social · 2h

“This guy is an officer, who also wears a civilian hat, who is also representing the secretary, who also is in the secretary’s front office, who also still has a private law firm,” one person said. “It’s like, who is he representing here?” www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

Hegseth’s legal fixer at the center of Pentagon’s new media restrictions

Tim Parlatore represented Hegseth when he faced sexual assault allegations, and he also counts alleged mobsters and President Donald Trump as former clients.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Brian Finucane @bcfinucane.bsky.social · 20h

Further premeditated, lawless killing in the Caribbean.

Making at least five such US strikes.

Against unidentified "narcoterrorists" affiliated w/ an unspecified "designated terrorist organization" allegedly trafficking unspecified narcotics.

POTUS is asserting a license to kill outside the law.

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Brian Finucane @bcfinucane.bsky.social · 2h

“Lawyers specializing in international law within DoD’s Office of General Counsel have also raised concerns about the legality of the strikes, sources familiar with the matter said.”

The departure of a lawyer from DoD/OGC with whom I used to work closely on use of force matters is a major red flag.

Natasha Bertrand @natashabertrand.bsky.social · 2h

NEW: How the Pentagon sidelined lawyers while testing the legal limits of military action
New details here about how the Army’s top uniformed lawyer was fired just weeks after raising concerns about the use of the military domestically and mass firings of DoD employees www.cnn.com/2025/10/15/p...

How the Pentagon sidelined lawyers while testing the legal limits of military action | CNN Politics

For weeks earlier this year, the Army’s top uniformed lawyer had been raising legal concerns inside the Pentagon about some of the new policies being rolled out dictating how the military can be used ...

www.cnn.com

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 2h

New, from me: I break down all that is happening with the shutdown.
Shutdowns are bad. But only Trump and Russ Vought are brave enough to ask: what if shutdowns aren’t painful enough? How can we use this as an opportunity to target our political enemies? 🧵
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-shutdo...

The Shutdown Shitshow

As Trump uses the shutdown to settle scores, the public bears the cost

donmoynihan.substack.com

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Natasha Bertrand @natashabertrand.bsky.social · 2h

NEW: How the Pentagon sidelined lawyers while testing the legal limits of military action
New details here about how the Army’s top uniformed lawyer was fired just weeks after raising concerns about the use of the military domestically and mass firings of DoD employees www.cnn.com/2025/10/15/p...

How the Pentagon sidelined lawyers while testing the legal limits of military action | CNN Politics

For weeks earlier this year, the Army’s top uniformed lawyer had been raising legal concerns inside the Pentagon about some of the new policies being rolled out dictating how the military can be used ...

www.cnn.com

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Garrett M. Graff @vermontgmg.bsky.social · 3h

It’s incredible that the VT State Senator wrapped up in this hasn’t resigned yet — every major GOP leader in the state has called for his resignation. Fixing democracy requires restoring shame to public life. And accountability. Lots of accountability. vtdigger.org/2025/10/14/v...

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Zohran Kwame Mamdani @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social · 12h

Tish James lit up the room last night — and her words echoed far beyond the walls of The United Palace. This is a fight for the future.

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 11h

Yeah, that is a tear gas canister being fired toward the retreating couple holding the baby

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Matthew Segal @segalmr.bsky.social · 1d

Demonstrating once again that, by holding that partisan gerrymandering is a nonjusticiable “political question,” SCOTUS set up a situation in which voters and their representatives are essentially punished in Congress if they choose to run their own states fairly.

Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · 1d

North Carolina Republicans announced today they’re going to pass a new congressional map to draw a Dem out of Congress; they already did last cycle, going from 7-7 to 10-4. Thus would be 11-3. t.co/XLJIhe8vZn

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Firthermor @firthermor.bsky.social · 11h

“The dead worm is so charismatic that defense is futile.”

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Jess Calarco @jessicacalarco.com · 12h

They're trying to prevent the student newspaper from printing news, period. Not just a particular story.

"The Media School directed us to print no news in the paper... nothing but information about homecoming — no other news at all, and particularly no traditional front page news coverage."

Jess Calarco @jessicacalarco.com · 14h

Indiana University has fired the staff director of the student newspaper, after disputes in which university leadership tried to pressure him to prevent students from publishing news.

IndyStar 2 . Follow
1h:
"All Media School and IU students, faculty and staff
should be scared by this blatant attack on someone
standing up for what's right," student Editors-ln-Chief
Mia Hilkowitz and Andrew Miller said in a statement.
Read more: bit.ly/43ebKW1
IndyStar.
IDS
The original investigative student
newsroom of Indiana University
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Indiana University fires IDS
adviser amid push to control
student newspaper's content

The director of student media at Indiana University was fired amidst a dispute between university leadership and editors at the Indiana Daily Student over what content gets printed in the student newspaper.

As director of student media, Jim Rodenbush did not directly oversee or have any say over the content published in the IDS, per a charter between the IDS and the university. But he told IndyStar his firing follows a series of meetings with IU Media School leadership in which it grew increasingly apparent they were expecting him to officially prohibit students from publishing news.

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Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · 12h

NEW: Pentagon officials are forcing staff to watch Pete Hegseth's "Warrior" speech he forced generals to listen to.

Officials are even "testing" staff to see if they watched — and are threatening consequences if they lie about watching it or if they mock it, sources tell @swin24.bsky.social and I.

The Pentagon Is Ordering Staff to Watch Hegseth’s ‘MAGA Garbage’ Speech… Or Else

Defense Department sources tell Zeteo that staff have been warned that if they don’t watch or read the speech, or if they speak negatively of it, they could face severe consequences.

zeteo.com

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Barred and Boujee aka Madiba Dennie @audrelawdamercy.bsky.social · 17h

wrote about last week's super interesting tribal sovereignty decision in Washington Supreme Court

one justice wrote a standalone concurrence basically saying 'the court applied the law correctly, but also the law is terrible and it's our responsibility to say so'
ballsandstrikes.org/legal-cultur...

A Washington State Supreme Court Justice Condemns Federal Indian Law as Racist and Awful

"Each time a court cites a case that has as its foundation such racist fallacies, it is incumbent on us to call out that racism, even if just in a footnote."

ballsandstrikes.org

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Barred and Boujee aka Madiba Dennie @audrelawdamercy.bsky.social · 17h

also i'm fairly familiar with Fucked Up Supreme Court Behavior but, before Mungia's opinion put me on, I'm not actually confident that I had read Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock, a 1903 decision Mungia writes is “often characterized as the American Indian Dred Scott”

ballsandstrikes.org/legal-cultur...

A Washington State Supreme Court Justice Condemns Federal Indian Law as Racist and Awful

"Each time a court cites a case that has as its foundation such racist fallacies, it is incumbent on us to call out that racism, even if just in a footnote."

ballsandstrikes.org

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CJ Ciaramella @cjciaramella.bsky.social · 16h

Over at Reason we have a "puppycide" tag for cop-shoots-dog stories going back to 2012. Easiest way to get a normie 4th Amendment-pilled against the cops is to show them this stuff reason.com/tag/puppycide/

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Jacob Soboroff @jacobsoboroff.bsky.social · 13h

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

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