Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Jeremy BOO! Yoder 🎃💀🕷️

Maryn McKenna @marynmck.bsky.social · 6h

Extremely bad news if true (and unlikely this reporter would run with it if not). The MMWR has been the earliest warning bell for outbreaks since it announced the first US cases, in 1981, of what was later identified as AIDS.

This will be a grievous shock to what remains of US public health.

Sheryl Gay Stolberg @sherylnyt.bsky.social · 6h

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:

8 230 500

Reposted by Jeremy BOO! Yoder 🎃💀🕷️

Dean Baker @deanbaker13.bsky.social · 6h

This is exactly right. Trump wanted to hide his gutting of CDC staff because he knows the public would be outraged by getting rid of the people who monitor the spread of diseases. It's a bit more important than Trump's idiot ballroom.

Mark Histed @markhisted.org · 6h

When Russell Vought pushes something into the news on Friday night of a long weekend, is that a sign of strength — of a battle for public opinion he thinks he can win?

Sheryl Gay Stolberg @sherylnyt.bsky.social · 6h

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:

1 21 88

Reposted by Jeremy BOO! Yoder 🎃💀🕷️

Michael Hobbes @michaelhobbes.bsky.social · 5h

Please keep making podcasts about how democrats need to stop being so condescending about red states

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 10h

Trump: "Portland, I mean -- every time I look at that place it's burning down. There are fires all over the place. When a store -- there are very few of them left -- but when a store owner rebuilds a store they build it out of plywood. They don't put up storefronts anymore. They just put wood up."

23 140 1.3K

Reposted by Jeremy BOO! Yoder 🎃💀🕷️

🎃 public HELLth guy 🎃 @publichealthguy1.bsky.social · 5h

vought’s war of attrition on federal public health capacity to respond to outbreaks + collect health statistics is best seen as an erosion rather than a binary on/off. tonight is another chapter in that destruction, a very bad one. not much outbreak response capacity was left, this cuts even deeper

2 9 47

Reposted by Jeremy BOO! Yoder 🎃💀🕷️

🎃 public HELLth guy 🎃 @publichealthguy1.bsky.social · 5h

as someone who worked at the CDC, the way they’ve targeted these illegal firings are pretty much what i would do to inflict maximum damage to what remains of our nation’s federal public health infrastructure. a hostile takeover of the agency

Adam Keiper @adamkeiper.com · 6h

You would not fire these people—including the staff of the hugely, HUGELY important 'Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report'—if you cared at all about public health, if you wanted people to live.

And you would not let your thuggish henchmen fire people like this if you were a responsible president.

Sheryl Gay Stolberg @sherylnyt.bsky.social · 6h

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:

4 110 300

Reposted by Jeremy BOO! Yoder 🎃💀🕷️

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 10h

The president says there are very few stores left in Portland, Oregon, and the ones that are left are made of plywood.

I know we’re numb to this, but in any other time he’d have been removed by the 25th Amendment by now

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 10h

Trump: "Portland, I mean -- every time I look at that place it's burning down. There are fires all over the place. When a store -- there are very few of them left -- but when a store owner rebuilds a store they build it out of plywood. They don't put up storefronts anymore. They just put wood up."

360 1.7K 6.3K

Reposted by Jeremy BOO! Yoder 🎃💀🕷️

Ken Schwencke @schwanksta.com · 11h

I keep thinking about how this shutdown feels so different and I think it comes down to this — the administration is already basically ignoring laws and appropriations etc. A shutdown doesn’t feel as consequential when things are already bashed up and the plan is to do that more.

Dave Levitan @davelevitan.bsky.social · 11h

One fed employee told me the internal conversations feel very different from previous shutdowns.

www.gravityisgone.com/federal-empl...

"Every other fed I've talked to agrees how much it sucks to be furloughed, but also that this shutdown needs to continue until the administration starts respecting the rule of law," said a NOAA employee. "Even the conservative Republicans."

29 130

Reposted by Jeremy BOO! Yoder 🎃💀🕷️

Faine Greenwood @faineg.bsky.social · 12h

this is what the AI bros sound like

sri (but spooky) @sri.plur.ca · 15h

yeah I built an AI that hangs out on your porch and drinks a six pack for you so you can write regexes at work

5 83 520

Reposted by Jeremy BOO! Yoder 🎃💀🕷️

Josh Marshall @joshtpm.bsky.social · 11h

Just noting the fine print

14 99 310

Reposted by Jeremy BOO! Yoder 🎃💀🕷️

Colin Dickey @colindickey.com · 18h

[Me, a poor, on the subway, glowering jealously at all those fat cat, fancy pants rich people on the public bus]

Andrew Cuomo tweet:

@ZohranKMamdani's "plan" provides no relief for working families who take the subway, and unnecessary benefits to wealthy New Yorkers who take the bus and can afford the fare.

I focus on working families, while @ZohranKMamdani the mansion boy focuses on helping the rich.

76 200 1.7K

Reposted by Jeremy BOO! Yoder 🎃💀🕷️

Carolina A. Miranda @cmonstah.bsky.social · 14h

Early in the year I was contracted to do a series for WaPo about the aesthetics of the Trump administration. That project was just cancelled.

You can read my final column — about Confederate monuments and Charlie Kirk — in my newsletter.

Thanks for reading!

buttondown.com/cmonstah/arc...

2 29 110

Reposted by Jeremy BOO! Yoder 🎃💀🕷️

Aaron Fritschner @fritschner.bsky.social · 15h

A few minutes ago in the House:

- Speaker Mike Johnson officially cancels votes next week, extending the House recess through a fourth week

- House Republicans block Democrats from passing a bill to pay the troops during the shutdown, ensuring they will miss paychecks next week

House Press Gallery: During today's pro forma session, the Clerk read a message from the Speaker designating Tuesday, October 14 through Sunday, October 19 as a district work period.

Punchbowl's Briana Reilly: House gaveled in and out of its pro forma just now w/o recognizing Rep Elfreth, who was seeking to UC a mil pay bill from Rep Sykes.

Elfreth told reporters after that House Dems stand “ready and willing to take” up standalone legislation to pay troops.

110 1.2K 2.6K

Reposted by Jeremy BOO! Yoder 🎃💀🕷️

Colette Delawalla @cdelawalla.bsky.social · 14h

(To be clear, we have heard third hand. But nothing first hand and we haven’t confirmed anything yet)

2 2 7

Reposted by Jeremy BOO! Yoder 🎃💀🕷️

Colette Delawalla @cdelawalla.bsky.social · 14h

RIF UPDATE:

We @standupforscience.bsky.social are in communication with our network. So far, we have not heard of any actual RIFs, only Russ’ tweet.

To press—we will send a release and facilitate interviews if we do hear abt them taking place.

1 25 79

Reposted by Jeremy BOO! Yoder 🎃💀🕷️

Colin Carlson @colincarlson.bsky.social · 14h

oh wow look it's the exact thing every single person who works in public health ethics said was a risk with wastewater surveillance especially when we took it to the point where we had researchers trying to identify individual chronic infections using social media and crowdsourcing

David Wallace-Wells @dwallacewells.bsky.social · 14h

"Senior officials at the EPA directed a team of scientists over the summer to assess whether the government could develop methods for detecting traces of abortion pills in wastewater." www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/u...

Under Trump, E.P.A. Explored if Abortion Pills Could Be Detected in Wastewater

www.nytimes.com

2 20 69

Reposted by Jeremy BOO! Yoder 🎃💀🕷️

Damnèd Screamvens @thehighsign.bsky.social · 14h

Shakespeare = the ultimate "there's always a tweet"

William Shakespeare @shakespeare.lol · 14h

Would I could find a fine frog!

1 18 88

Reposted by Jeremy BOO! Yoder 🎃💀🕷️

Mike Grillo @mikegrillo.bsky.social · 14h

I am hiring a postdoc to examine the genomic and evolutionary basis of plant microbiome variation in legumes. There are opportunities to gain teaching experience. Chicago is a great city to live in! Please help spread the word.
share.google/gukbzS1zdIx6...

Postdoctoral Researcher in Plant Evolutionary Genomics

The postdoctoral researcher will work in Dr. Michael Grillo’s plant evolutionary genetics lab. The goal of this research project is to understand the genomic basis of plant-microbiome variation in leg...

share.google

30 21

Reposted by Jeremy BOO! Yoder 🎃💀🕷️

CalMatters @calmatters.org · 16h

After weeks of waiting, California's governor signed a bill that will allow mid-rise apartment buildings near major transit stops in California's biggest metro areas. https://cal.news/4n3hzge

📝 @frombenc.bsky.social
📸 Ray Chavez

Passengers look on as a BART train didn’t stop at the Rockridge BART station due to a systemwide closure that affected all BART stations, in Oakland on March 9, 2025. Photo by Ray Chavez, Bay Area News Group

Hed: Breaking: Gov. Newsom signs massive California housing overhaul

2 16 47

Reposted by Jeremy BOO! Yoder 🎃💀🕷️

Jess McLaughlin, PhD (they/them) @jfmclaughlin92.bsky.social · 14h

beautiful

Rose Lerner @roselerner.bsky.social · 22h

This made me so happy

Screenshot of Claire's last skeet with one from the Frog and Toad bot underneath of Frog saying "don't be silly"

4 28

Reposted by Jeremy BOO! Yoder 🎃💀🕷️

Dana Houle @danahoule.bsky.social · 15h

Important thread

Angus Johnston @angus.bsky.social · 18h

There was never going to be a moment when everyone—everyone in government, everyone in media, everyone in the population—was roused to action at the same time. We're turning a battleship. And Pritzker understands that.

Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 18h

By contrast, JB Pritzker told me that people should flood the No Kings protests precisely in order to let the American people know that something is deeply amiss.

More Dems should be doing this, to send the message widely that we are in real trouble right now.

newrepublic.com/article/2016...

5 13

Reposted by Jeremy BOO! Yoder 🎃💀🕷️

Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 1d

Heads up, Yinzers...

Ryan Deto @ryandeto.bsky.social · 1d

NEW - The feds are seeking Pittsburgh office space for an unspecified law enforcement agency expansion in the region. Reporting from WaPo and NPR indicate that ICE is behind the request as part of a 10,000 officer nationwide expansion www.axios.com/local/pittsb...

Feds quietly plan Pittsburgh office for unspecified law enforcement

NPR and the Washington Post both reported last month that the office space request is being made on behalf of ICE.

www.axios.com

3 19 25

Reposted by Jeremy BOO! Yoder 🎃💀🕷️

nahhan sandiego @nahhansandiego.bsky.social · 19h

press: why wasn’t trump considered for the nobel peace prize?

committee chair person in the most norwegian way possible: we only give the award to people of courage and integrity.

2 31 110

Reposted by Jeremy BOO! Yoder 🎃💀🕷️

Anthony @anteater7474.bsky.social · 1d

Stoat

#wildlife #stoat #nature #wildlifephotography #uk #animal #mamals #britishcountryside #woodland #nikon #cute #fyp

6 25

Reposted by Jeremy BOO! Yoder 🎃💀🕷️

Preeti Chhibber @runwithskizzers.bsky.social · 16h

it is wild how much congressional republicans hate american people and how legacy media refuses to acknowledge that fact

3 18 75

Reposted by Jeremy BOO! Yoder 🎃💀🕷️

Philip Bump @pbump.com · 16h

You can draw a line from Trump's evidence-free claims about the need for troops in Portland to top Republicans insisting today that the upcoming "No Kings" rally is the work of antifa agitators. www.pbump.net/o/the-presid...

The president’s pretend enemy

There is no crisis of unrest in Portland, Oregon. One way I know this to be true is that President Trump — who is insistent that Portland faces just such a crisis — doesn't offer any evidence of it. A...

www.pbump.net

18 120 320