Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

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Jae Yeon Kim @jaeyeonkim.bsky.social · 16h

My first Substack post:
jaeyeonkim.substack.com/p/how-to-not...
How to Not Give Up

Having spent the past few years working closely with state and local governments to reduce burdens in safety net programs, this year has been particularly challenging.

jaeyeonkim.substack.com

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Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 1d

Quid Pro Qatar Quo

Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 2d

The Trump administration is REALLY allowing Qatar to build an air base in the US after they did a $5.5 billion golf resort deal with Trump and gave him a jet.

MAGA can take their ‘America First’ flags and wipe their asses with them. He is Trump First, and you are suckers.

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Don Schreiber/Methane Mad Man @vivarioarriba.bsky.social · 1d

Christopher Webb @cwebbonline.com · 1d

Federal agents aren’t trying to keep the peace. They want violence to escalate so that Trump can declare martial law.

They shot a reverend in the head with pepper balls while he was praying in front of an ICE facility. If that doesn’t tell you where we are as a country, nothing will.

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The Bulwark @thebulwark.com · 1d

"They put me on suicide watch and they put me in the cell, I'm naked, in like a hospital dress and just a concrete bed with like a mattress, like a thin mattress and, they leave the light on 24/7."

@timmiller.bsky.social talked to a veteran who ICE wrongly detained and brutalized

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 1d

These guys have gotten incredibly rich by fleecing the government with subpar tech that was designed for rentseeking rather than performance. A smart Dem agenda item would be to build internal tech capacity. The fact that it would punish these guys is just a silver lining.

Mike Masnick @mmasnick.bsky.social · 1d

Being a billionaire must really fuck with your mind. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/u...

Marc Benioff Says Trump Should Send Guard Troops to San Francisco

www.nytimes.com

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 1d

RIFs can’t be done without agency leadership so this is RFK Jr extending his purge of CDC scientists to help Vought’s shutdown agenda. Genuine public health risks created by aggrieved men.

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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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 1d

Presented without comment, the current scene outside Union Station in DC as I got off the train.

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Gabe Ortíz @tusk81.bsky.social · 2d

$20 BILLION.

Remember that we’re being lied to whenever we’re told that we can’t afford something that helps American families.

The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 2d

The Trump administration confirmed that the U.S. bailed out Argentina.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he had directly bought Argentine pesos in global currency markets in a bid to relieve pressure on the nation’s embattled President Javier Milei, a supporter of President Trump.

The U.S. just bailed out Argentina, Treasury Secretary confirms

The US Treasury has finalized a $20 billion financial rescue of Argentina, including a currency swap arrangement with the country's central bank.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Holly Berkley Fletcher @hollybfletcher.bsky.social · 4d

Gotta say--dressing up in costumes is the kind of creatively brilliant resistance we all need. It brings joy and humor to things while vividly painting the authoritarian as foolish and absurd. Hats off Portlanders! @benjaminwittes.lawfaremedia.org I think this counts as the sprite of mischief.

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 4d

#WarRavagedPortland

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Julianne McShane @juliannemcshane.bsky.social · 4d

“There is going to be infants skipping feeds. There is going to be pregnant women skipping meals so that they can feed their toddlers."
apnews.com/article/wic-...

Government shutdown threatens food aid program relied on by millions of families

Experts say a food aid program that helps 6 million low-income mothers and young children will run out of federal money unless the government shutdown ends within two weeks.

apnews.com

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John Pfaff @johnpfaff.bsky.social · 4d

Um, ICE just coldly shot an unarmed PRIEST in the head w a pepper ball when he (and everyone around him) clearly posed no threat.

For the crime of … complaining about government policy.

Core 1A speech.

With cameras rolling, they’re sniping priests for sport.

Kurt @flglchicago.bsky.social · 4d

Here’s video of the incident

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Denise Wheeler @denisedwheeler.bsky.social · 4d

Reuters photographer Jonathan Ernst noticed that Bondi flipped open a file during the Senate hearing and he zoomed in.

Inside were her crib notes for attacking the senators.

The GOP now practicing Cliff's Notes Fascism

In other words, under oath Bondi was purely a performance.

Bondi senate hearing had a folder full of notes for attacking the senators

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Jae Yeon Kim @jaeyeonkim.bsky.social · 4d

FYI, if you try to measure the strength of civil society (what Hahrie, Milan, and I call civic opportunity in our 2023 Nature Human Behaviour paper), you may want to consider using our org-, county-, and ZIP code-level datasets published in Scientific Data: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

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Jamila Michener @povertyscholar.bsky.social · 20d

My book w/@profsorelle.bsky.social will be out in January! These ideas have brewed since I interned at Queens Legal Services 20 years ago. The book is for anyone who cares about people, justice, power & democracy. Much more to share more in the coming months!

press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

Uncivil Democracy

How the civil legal system undermines the political lives of marginalized communities

press.princeton.edu

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Loren DeJonge Schulman @lorenraeds.bsky.social · 5d

Former OMB associate director on personnel here: This is blatantly false and inexplicably undermines Congress's authority. Congress made extremely clear in 2019 that furloughed feds are to be paid, full stop, period. There is no question, except why the Speaker would make such a statement.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 5d

Johnson: "It's true that in previous shutdowns, many or most furloughed employees have been paid for the time they were furloughed, but there is new legal analysis - I don't know the details, I just saw a headline - but there are some legal analysts saying that might not be appropriate or necessary"

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Gabe Ortíz @tusk81.bsky.social · 5d

“I’ve never seen that guy in real life, but he looks like he’s, like, 4′ 10” … And he looks like he is angry about the fact that he’s 4’10”. And he looks like he is so mad that he is 4′10″, that he has taken that anger out on at any other population possible.” www.thedailybeast.com/aoc-mocks-sh...

AOC Mocks ‘Short Troll’ Stephen Miller And Urges Dems to ‘Laugh’ at MAGA Men

The progressive congresswoman took a jab at MAGA men and diagnosed them with “insecure masculinity.”

www.thedailybeast.com

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Veni Kunche @veni.dev · 5d

"Deloitte Australia will issue a partial refund to the federal government after admitting that AI had been used in the creation of a $440,000 report littered with errors including three nonexistent academic references and a made-up quote from a Federal Court judgement."

www.afr.com/companies/pr...

Deloitte to refund government, admits using AI in $440k report

Deloitte will issue a partial refund to the government after admitting that artificial intelligence had been used in the creation of a report littered with errors.

www.afr.com

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Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 5d

New "How not to write a poll question" example just dropped. (Kids: Learn to not write horrible poll questions like this.)

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Jen Rubin @jenrubin.bsky.social · 5d

of course it is www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

Trump’s Immigration Push Diverts U.S. Agents From Drug, Money and Sex-Crime Cases

Federal investigators are resigning, and morale is low, as they juggle complex cases and detain migrants.

www.wsj.com

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Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan.bsky.social · 5d

😳

Attorney for woman shot by Border Patrol claims officer said 'Do something b----' before shooting

Body-camera video appears to contradict the government's claim that Marimar Martinez, 30, drove toward officers before one of them opened fire at her late Saturday morning in Brighton Park, her attorn...

chicago.suntimes.com

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Heather Cherone @heathercherone.bsky.social · 5d

Pritzker is also furious: “Should National Governors Association leadership choose to remain silent, Illinois will have no choice but to withdraw from the organization.”

Gov. JB Pritzker’s letter to the National Governors Association

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 6d

If I Ran the Media™
Fewer stories on:
—How Dems Need to Change Their Messaging
—How [event xx] Will Play w [voter bloc YY]
—How 2028 Field Is Shaping Up

More of:
—Which points of resistance are actually working
—What specifically GOP Reps/Sens are so afraid of
—Real-world tariff/immig effects
—ETC

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Project On Government Oversight @pogo.org · 6d

It’s just ONE DAY until our letter to the editor training!

We’re hosting an Advocacy Training TOMORROW, Tuesday night, where you can get the skills you need to make your voice heard. Learn more:

Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: POGO Letter to the Editor Training: Domestic Deployment. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the meeting.

What is a letter to the editor? Why are they useful? How do you begin writing one? Join us on Tuesday, October 7th to explore the answers to these questions and start writing your own letter to the editor focused on domestic deployment!

zoom.us

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 5d

Work requirements are going to cost a ton to implement, at a time when states will have less administrative resources, and despite evidence that they don't work

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities @centeronbudget.bsky.social · 5d

Reports raise red flags: Georgia spent $54M on admin costs for its #Medicaid waiver, nearly twice the $26M spent on care, while enrolling under 3,500 people. CMS still extended the costly program that ties coverage to work requirements. www.cbpp.org/research/fed...

CMS Extends Georgia’s Medicaid Waiver Program, Despite GAO Report Raising Concerns with Costs | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

September 23, 2025: A new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) raising concerns about the cost of Georgia’s Pathways to Coverage Medicaid waiver program is a forewarning about how ex...

www.cbpp.org

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Yashar Ali 🐘 @yasharali.bsky.social · 6d

Earlier this year, Dr. Jane Goodall sat down for an interview for Brad Falchuk’s new Netflix series, Famous Last Words.

The premise of the series is to interview people on the condition that the interview not air until the subject has passed away.

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