Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Jared Rizzi

Joshua J. Friedman @joshuajfriedman.com · 5h

“The agency’s human resources staff, which had been furloughed as part of the government shutdown, [was] called back to work to send out layoff notices to their colleagues.”

Sheryl Gay Stolberg @sherylnyt.bsky.social · 12h

FULL STORY HERE: Emails began flooding CDC inboxes late Friday night announcing dozens of layoffs. HR people brought back from furlough to oversee the RIFs. Disease detectives, entire Washington office, global health, injury prevention, MMWR staff among those hit.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/u...

Trump Administration Lays Off Dozens of C.D.C. Officials

www.nytimes.com

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The Editorial Board @editorialboard.bsky.social · 6h

Translation: if the president has to give in to the Democrats’ demand for renewing health insurance subsidies, don’t worry. We can come back later with clawbacks (“rescissions”) that require a simple majority (“reconciliation bill”) to pass.

IOW, Johnson is announcing his intention to cheat.

The Editorial Board @editorialboard.bsky.social · 21h

Read my interview with the peerless @tify330.bsky.social.

www.editorialboard.com/hakeem-jeffr...

Hakeem Jeffries: 'Republicans have zero credibility, zero'

The Democrats' message is breaking through, says Tiffany Carlock.

www.editorialboard.com

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southpaw @nycsouthpaw.bsky.social · 6h

What an emblem of the billionaire class—descending on a peaceful city in a private jet on the horn to NYT asking for the place to be invaded by federal authorities because the rent-a-cops you employ for a week to harass a few junkies outside the convention center cost too much.

Mr. Benioff spoke as his annual Dreamforce conference is set to begin Tuesday in downtown San Francisco, bringing 50,000 visitors to the city. He is scheduled to deliver a keynote address about the benefits of "agentic enterprise," a business model in which humans and artificial intelligence bots work together.
Speaking by telephone from his private plane en route to San Francisco, he lamented that he has to pay for nundreds of off-duty law enforcement officers to help patrol the convention area and said that San Francisco needed to "re-fund" the police.
The city never actually "defunded" its police force, and San Francisco's violent crime rates are below those in many other U.S. cities.
But San Francisco has struggled to recruit and keep officers, and it still has problems with lower-level crimes and open-air drug use, especially in neighborhoods like the Tenderloin near City Hall. It has about 1,500 police officers, and Mr. Benioff says it ne → another thousand.

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JC died ten years ago this very night @conductress.bsky.social · 23h

Frank's cap reads GIRLS CAN'T DRIVE

Lutz just nervous giggles through the whole thing

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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 1d

The House Majority Whip is also insisting that a peaceful "No Kings" demonstration is in fact a "hate America rally" held for the "terrorist wing" of the Democratic Party.

Really feels like they're trying to manifest a violent reaction to it.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Emmer: "This is about one thing and one thing alone -- to score political points with the terrorist wing of their party, which is set to hold a hate America rally in DC next week."

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Jared Rizzi @jaredrizzi.bsky.social · 1d

Dr Spaceman: "Technically, any saw can cut bones if you believe in yourself enough"

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Matt King @mattking.bsky.social · 1d

Jack attempts to create a microwave for the Saudi market and doesn’t realize it looks exactly like the Kaaba until the first ad runs.

Sexy CHOAM Nomsky costume @samthielman.com · 1d

Jenna would make Liz write jokes for her, Liz would write a bunch of feminist material because she’s mad at Jenna and then try to pull it at the last minute because she’s worried for Jenna’s safety. Jenna would ham it up so hard that the Saudis would love it as parody of shrill American women

Suss-- 🥌 @suss2hyphens.bsky.social · 1d

which 30 rock character was most likely to headline the riyadh comedy festival, tracy or jenna

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Jared Rizzi @jaredrizzi.bsky.social · 1d

incredible scene out of Portland

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Costa Samaras @costasamaras.com · 1d

The Administration

- raised taxes on clean energy with one big beautiful bill

- is stopping or making clean energy projects harder to be built

- is raising prices on materials with tariffs

- all while AI is spiking electricity demand

They are stopping supply while demand goes up

It’s a crisis

jael holzman @jael.bsky.social · 1d

SCOOP: The Bureau of Land Management says the largest solar project in Nevada — the Esmeralda 7 mega-farm — has been canceled

The news was quietly dropped via a sudden website update with no public word from any of the companies involved or a statement from the agency

@heatmap.news

Esmeralda 7 Solar Project Has Been Canceled, BLM Says

It would have delivered a gargantuan 6.2 gigawatts of power.

heatmap.news

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Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 1d

VA Gov debate:

Spanberger: my opponent has previously said that she does not think that gay couples should be allowed to marry

Earle-Sears: That's not discrimination

Spanberger: she thinks it's okay for someone to be fired from their job for being gay

Earle-Sears: that's not discrimination

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Jared Rizzi @jaredrizzi.bsky.social · 1d

Not since Glenn said, "Frog will do" has our company been so improved

The Oregonian @oregonian.com · 1d

Things are happening at Portland's ICE facility tonight.

Read more of our protest coverage here: www.oregonlive.com/crime/2025/1...

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Jonah Newman @jonahshai.bsky.social · 1d

I keep thinking about this detail from today’s hearing: Federal judge April Perry said she began getting threats “about 10 minutes” after she was assigned the case seeking to block Trump’s national guard deployment. This is the world we live in now.

Jon Seidel @jonseidel.bsky.social · 1d

Perry: "I agree with you about the seriousness of threats, generally, across the United States right now. I don't think there's a single public servant, really, who is not being subject to threats.

"Mine started about 10 minutes after I got this case."

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southpaw @nycsouthpaw.bsky.social · 1d

I think it’s pretty easy to see the gap in the logical progression between paragraphs 6 and 7 that will doom the case.

Joshua J. Friedman @joshuajfriedman.com · 1d

NEW: Here's the two-count indictment against NY AG Letitia James. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

INDICTMENT
October 2025 Term - at Alexandria, Virginia
THE GRAND JURY CHARGES THAT:
GENERAL ALLEGATIONS
At all times relevant to this Indictment:
1. Letitia A. James ("JAMES) was a resident of Brooklyn, New York, and the borrower on a
Fannie Mae-backed mortgage loan for the property located at 3121 Peronne Avenue,
Norfolk, Virginia.
2. OVM Financial (also known as Old Virginia Mortgage / AnnieMac) was a mortgage lending business located in Virginia Beach, Virginia, engaged in the business of originating and underwriting residential mortgage loans, including those backed by the Federal National Mortgage Association ("Fannie Mae"). OVM Financial qualified as a "financial institution" within the meaning of 18 U.S.C. § 20(10).
3. Fannie Mae was a federally chartered corporation that purchased and guaranteed mortgages,
operating as a government-sponsored enterprise under the oversight of the Federal Housing

Finance Agency ("FHFA").
4. First Savings Bank was a state-chartered, FDIC-insured financial institution (Certificate
#29961), headquartered in Jeffersonville, Indiana, which acquired mortgage loans through assignment or acquisition. First Savings Bank qualified as a "financial institution" within the meaning of 18 U.S.C. § 20(1).
5. On or about August 17, 2020, JAMES, as sole borrower, purchased the three (3) bedroom,
(1) bathroom property located at 3121 Peronne Avenue, Norfolk, Virginia 23509 (the
"Peronne Property"), for approximately $137,000, financed with a mortgage loan of approximately $109,600 (Loan #4430025978) backed by Fannie Mae.
6. The loan was originated by OVM Financial under a signed Second Home Rider, which required JAMES, as the sole borrower to occupy and use the property as her secondary residence, and prohibited its use as a timesharing or other shared ownership arrangement or agreement that requires her either to rent the property or give any other person any control over the occupancy or use of the property.
7. Despite these representations, the Peronne Property was not occupied or used by JAMES as a secondary residence and was instead used as a rental investment property, renting the property to a family of (3).
8. This misrepresentation allowed JAMES to obtain favorable loan terms not available for investment properties, including a note rate of 3.000% (avoiding a 0.815% higher
comparable investment property rate of 3.815%, resulting in approximately $17,837 in rate savings over the life of the loan), a seller credit of approximately $3,288 (exceeding the seller credit for investment properties by approximately $1,096), for total ill-gotten gains of approximately $18,933 over the life of the loan.
9. JAMES' Universal Property application for homeowners' insurance indicated "owner-

occupied non-seasonal use," further misrepresenting the intended use of the property.
10. JAMES filed Schedule E tax forms), under penalties of perjury, treating the Perrone Property as rental real estate, reporting fair rental days, zero personal use days, thousand(s)
of dollars in rents received, and claiming deductions for expenses relating to the property, further contradicting the second home classification.
11. The loan was acquired by or assigned to First Savings Bank by March 2021, exposing it to risks associated with the misrepresented loan.
12. The acts described herein occurred within the Eastern District of Virginia.
COUNT ONE
(Bank Fraud - 18 U.S.C. § 1344)
13. The allegations in paragraphs 1 through 12 are re-alleged and incorporated herein.
14. From on or about August 7, 2020, through at least January 2024, in the Eastern District of Virginia and elsewhere, the Defendant, LETITIA A. JAMES, did knowingly execute and attempt to execute a scheme and artifice to defraud OVM Financial and First Savings Bank,
financial institutions, and to obtain moneys, funds, and credits owned by and under the custody and control of OVM Financial and First Savings Bank by means of false and fraudulent pretenses, representations, and promises.
15. The scheme involved falsely representing the Peronne Property as a secondary residence to obtain favorable mortgage terms, while using it as an investment property with no intended
or actual personal occupancy or use by her.
(In violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1344).
COUNT TWO
(False Statements to a Financial Institution - 18 U.S.C. § 1014)
16. The allegations in paragraphs 1 through 12 are re-alleged and incorporated herein.

17. From on or about July 28, 2020, through at least August 31, 2020, in the Eastern District of Virginia and elsewhere, the Defendant, LETITIA A. JAMES, did knowingly make and cause to be made false statements and reports for the purpose of influencing the action of OVM Financial, a Fannie Mae-backed lender, upon an application for a loan, in that JAMES represented and affirmed in uniform residential loan applications and related documents that
the Peronne Property would be used as a secondary residence, when in truth and fact, as JAMES then knew, the property was intended and used as an investment property with no intended or actual personal occupancy or use by her.
(In violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1014).
FORFEITURE NOTICE
Pursuant to Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 32.2(a) and Title 18, U.S.C. §
982(a)(2)(A), upon conviction of the offenses in Counts One and Two, the Defendant, Letitia
A. James, shall forfeit to the United States any property constituting, or derived from, proceeds obtained, directly or indirectly, as a result of such violations, including but not limited to a money judgment in the amount of $18,933.
If any of the property described above, as a result of any act or omission of the Defendant: (a) cannot be located upon the exercise of due diligence; (b) has been transferred or sold to, or deposited with, a third party; (c) has been placed beyond the jurisdiction of the court; (d) has been substantially diminished in value; or (e) has been commingled with other property which cannot be divided without difficulty, the United States shall be entitled to a forfeiture of substitute property pursuant to Title 21, U.S.C. § 853(b), as incorporated by Title
18 U.S.C. § 982(b)(1).
(In accordance with Title 18 U.S.C. § 981(a)(1)(C) and 982(a)(1); Title 28, U.S.C. § 2461(c); and Title 21 U.S.C. § 853(p).)

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Jared Rizzi @jaredrizzi.bsky.social · 1d

the powerful mohel lobby

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Jared Rizzi @jaredrizzi.bsky.social · 1d

Arrested Development (2003) still image.
Lindsay Bluth Fünke: "I'm not gonna lie to you, Michael. This is great news for HOOP."

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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 1d

It’s quite the loophole. A get out of laws free card.

Murder is illegal, but logging is not. So Trump says that person is a tree. Voila, killing is legal.

Sound absurd? Real claims include:

Unarmed migrants are invading foreign soldiers.
Drugs are military arms.
Peaceful expression is rebellion.

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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 1d

You must defer to the president’s determination that there is an armed rebellion in Chicago, argues the govt’s lawyer.

That’s the Trump admin’s stance on everything. When the law doesn’t allow it, lie about the facts until it’s something that would be legal, then insist others live inside the lie.

Heather Cherone @heathercherone.bsky.social · 2d

Perry: DOJ's definition of rebellion would mean that
"literally all nonviolent protest” could be considered evidence of rebellion. Is that your argument?
Hamilton: The president has determined there is a danger of a rebellion, and you must defer to that finding

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Josh Marshall @joshtpm.bsky.social · 2d

Fascinating moment in the power of DC Think. Democrats are clearly *not* looking for an off ramp right now. They’re actually saying this. Which is a measure of how badly it’s going for the GOP. It’s the GOP that is actually looking for the offeamp.

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Kate Riga @kateriga.bsky.social · 2d

Full-on SCOTUS audition today by Nelson: do you admit that it was "ill advised" by the city of Portland to order the boards be taken off the ICE building?

His whole thesis is: we don't know what Trump is seeing behind the scenes, so how could we possibly question his judgment in sending in troops?

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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 2d

Republican C-SPAN caller to Mike Johnson: "As a Republican, I'm very disappointed in my party,and I'm very disappointed in you, because you have the power to call the House back. You refuse to do that just for a show."

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Jared Rizzi @jaredrizzi.bsky.social · 2d

This has been a Republican promise for more than 15 years and not one Republican leader has put forward an actual plan. In the meantime the popularity of the ACA has only increased.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 2d

Thune: "The president would like to overhaul Obamacare and give people health insurance that is higher quality and more affordable."

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Senate Gabe @senategabe.bsky.social · 2d

"I support the military occupation of my own state" is a wild wild thing to say.

Eric Michael Garcia @ericmgarcia.bsky.social · 2d

Durbin on whether Democrats can use reining in ICE in Chicago as a precondition to rein in the government says “can’t do that. It’s gotta be health care all the way.”

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Ghastreblyansky @yastreblyansky.bsky.social · 2d

Folks, that's no irony. It's the whole point.
www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

At the IRS, for example, staff reductions have fallen particularly heavily upon auditors and revenue agents, whose numbers were down by 31 percent in the first three months of this year. (It is no small irony that few government investments offer a higher rate of return than tax audits on upper-income filers, which can yield as much as $12 for every dollar spent.)

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Brian Finucane @bcfinucane.bsky.social · 2d

“Independent Sen. Angus King of Maine said Wednesday that he and other members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, in a classified briefing this week, were denied access to the Pentagon’s legal opinion about whether the boat strikes adhered to U.S. law.”

apnews.com/article/trum...

Trump has yet to provide Congress hard evidence that targeted boats carried drugs, officials say

The Trump administration hasn't provided evidence to lawmakers that recent U.S. military strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats were justified.

apnews.com

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Justin Baragona @justinbaragona.bsky.social · 2d

Incredible.

Jack Posobiec references the earliest version of antifa -- the anti-fascists in the Weimar Republic who were opposed to the Nazi Party -- as the bad guys.

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