Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Kathleen Lu

Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1.bsky.social · 8h

A library director in Wyoming who was fired two years ago because she refused to remove books with sexual content and LGBTQ themes from a library's children and young adult sections has just been awarded $700,000 in a settlement. t.co/EA5L1kOZfV

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/09/us/wyoming-library-settlement-book-bans-terri-lesley.html?smtyp=cur&smid=fb-nytimes&fbclid=IwdGRjcANWLXdleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHhlnY6nKj_j4zuP3VjNSstXWBaV1t8-sPQ5C3b_jS6WN...

t.co

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derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 4h

seems like a non-insignificant percentage of rage against the machine's fanbase are young republican men driving SUVs bopping their head to anti-oil, pro-immigrant songs thinking the lyrics are about how they wish their suburban parents would get off their back

Tom Morello tweets: "Fascinating that all those “don’t tread on me” posers and their AR-15’s are nowhere to be seen and government tyranny is instead being opposed by a guy in an inflatable frog suit."

Someone named Manny replies: "@grok
why do some people say Tom Morello and band mates are RAGE FOR THE MACHINE and not against ?"

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Mikael Thalen @mikaelthalen.bsky.social · 6h

EXCLUSIVE: A cell-site simulator, commonly referred to as an IMSI-catcher or "Stingray," may have been used at the ICE facility in Portland.

Analysis of cellular signals in the area showed phones receiving abnormal spikes in requests for their unique identifiers. san.com/cc/exclusive...

Exclusive: Fake cellphone tower likely surveilled protesters at Portland ICE facility

Law enforcement officials may have deployed a secretive cellphone surveillance technology last weekend at Portland’s ICE facility.

san.com

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Karl (sad trombone noise enthusiast) @brainnotonyet.bsky.social · 4h

The amount of grief, information overload and unease we are all experiencing in cycle after cycle is affecting us all in different ways.

Fascism is incredibly cognitively invasive and manifests in waves through our lives.

We must learn to treat ourselves with grace as the noise increases.

Laura Jedeed @laurajedeed.bsky.social · 4h

This year, I've had so many productivity issues. Whole days lost, deadlines completely blown I've been trying to figure out what's wrong with me

Yeah, so for the last 48 hours I decided to tune out the news and concentrate on an article and surprise surprise: it was the fascism this whole time

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Reposted by Kathleen Lu

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 22h

“.. Inside the White House, top advisers joke that they are ruling Congress with an “iron fist,” according to people who have heard the comments. Steve Bannon, the influential Trump ally, likened Congress to the Duma, the Russian assembly that is largely ceremonial.”

www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

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NPR @npr.org · 15h

Alexandra is one of many people who lost their jobs for posting about the conservative influencer's death. She described the online mob that got her fired as "state-sponsored censorship." n.pr/4ocHQcG

She posted about Charlie Kirk's death. Within eight hours, she was fired

Alexandra is one of many people who lost their jobs for posting about the conservative influencer's death. She described the online mob that got her fired as "state-sponsored censorship."

n.pr

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Reposted by Kathleen Lu

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 23h

My first thought was “wow I hope this guy didn’t give out his name because he could absolutely be charged” and yup, he is correct to stay anonymous.

This man’s account is shocking. His neighbors’ situation is shocking. The entire Chicago raid is shocking.

On the other side was a mom and her 7-year-old daughter, pleading for his help.
"I wasn't planning on letting her stay, but I didn't know what the hell was going on," the man said of his Venezuelan migrant neighbors. But he quickly relented. The little girl was inconsolable and hid under his bed.
"I didn't want them to take her," said the man, who didn't want to be named because he fears he'll be targeted by federal authorities for his actions.
"I gave her my bedroom, and I just told her,
'Just stay there. Don't open, don't, shh, just stay quiet," he recalled telling the mom and daughter as he choked back tears.

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The New Republic @newrepublic.com · 1d

His slip of the tongue reveals who’s really in charge. trib.al/mIvP0yE

“Illinois governor says we’re provoking actions that are unlawful,” Miller said on CNN. “If I put federal law enforcement and National Guard into a nice sleepy Southern town, is anyone gonna riot?”

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National Security Counselors 🕵 @nationalsecuritylaw.org · 20h

I bet you a steak dinner the DHS RIFs were FEMA, and Mike Johnson, who tearfully said that a shutdown would keep them from protecting us from disasters, will have no thoughts on the matter.

Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 20h

CNN reporting that 4,000 federal employees were fired on Friday, in HHS, Education, Energy, HUD, Homeland Security, Patent and Trademark Office, EPA.
www.cnn.com/2025/10/10/p...

Trump administration lays off thousands of federal workers during government shutdown | CNN Politics

More than 4,000 federal employees received layoff notices Friday as part of the Trump administration’s broad effort to reshape the government while it remains shutdown, according to a court filing Fri...

www.cnn.com

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Reposted by Kathleen Lu

southpaw @nycsouthpaw.bsky.social · 14h

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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Patrick Chovanec @prchovanec.bsky.social · 18h

Of course he did, because they don't actually believe the anti-vaxx bullshit they peddle.

CNN @cnn.com · 18h

President Donald Trump received a Covid vaccine and flu shot during his visit to Walter Reed Medical Center on Friday, his physician said in a memo released by the White House.

Trump received Covid vaccine and flu shot during second physical of the year | CNN Politics

President Donald Trump received a Covid vaccine and flu shot during his visit to Walter Reed Medical Center on Friday, his physician said in a memo released by the White House.

www.cnn.com

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Reposted by Kathleen Lu

Daniel A. Horwitz @danielahorwitz.bsky.social · 11h

Yo this is wild AF

The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 1d

PERRY COUNTY, TN — a man arrested and faces felony “threatening mass violence in a school” for posting an image of Trump with his own words in a facebook group after Charlie Kirk’s murder.

His son calls it “an egregious violation of his 1A rights”
www.instagram.com/p/DPoq7b9Fez...

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Sheryl Gay Stolberg @sherylnyt.bsky.social · 22h

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 Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Q: How many layoffs have you authorized?

TRUMP: It'll be a lot. And it'll be Democrat-oriented.

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David Corn @davidcorn.bsky.social · 11h

A classic case of irresponsible both-sidesism from the NYT. The story is that Trump and MAGA propagandists are lying about Portland to incite a conflict, not that there are different views of the matter.

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The Questionable Authority @questauthority.bsky.social · 21h

Painfully real.

Also appellate lawyers are coddled when it comes to word count.

Raffi Melkonian @rmfifthcircuit.bsky.social · 1d

Undergrad: "Man, 10 page essay. what am I going to write in here"

Lawyer: "What do you mean just 13,000 words?"

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Reposted by Kathleen Lu

Eric Goldman @ericgoldman.bsky.social · 1d

This is a preview of the content rules we can expect when Trump's cronies take over TikTok. TikTok will only allow content that shows the Trump administration in a flattering light 📉

Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · 1d

Huh: TikTok took down my 8-second video featuring this image of Debbie Brockman — the news producer just detained by Trump’s CBP agents — saying it violates the “joy of TikTok”

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Reposted by Kathleen Lu

Mike Stabile @mikestabile.bsky.social · 1d

JFC. Ron DeHaas, founder of the Christian antiporn app Covenant Eyes, has stepped down from NCOSE after his 38-year old son was charged with sexual abuse of a child.

Covenant Eyes is the app used by House Speaker Mike Johnson and his son to monitor each other's internet behavior.

Covenant Eyes Cofounder Helps Post Bond for Adult Stepson, Who Is Charged With Felony Child Sex Abuse

In August, Thomas Wideman, an adult stepson of Covenant Eyes cofounder Ron DeHaas, was arrested during a CSAM sting operation.

churchleaders.com

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Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · 1d

Huh: TikTok took down my 8-second video featuring this image of Debbie Brockman — the news producer just detained by Trump’s CBP agents — saying it violates the “joy of TikTok”

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Joe 👻 BOO! 👻 dek @joedudekjd.bsky.social · 1d

Holy footnote, Batman!

Hamilton: What kind of stupid, self-defeating, tyrannical maniac would send the National Guard hundreds of miles from home to oppress people in other states?! Sit down, Don.

$1 “A sample of this is to be observed in the exaggerated and improbable suggestions which have taken place respecting the power of calling for the services of the militia. That of New-Hampshire is to be marched to Georgia, of Georgia to New-Hampshire, of New-York to Kentuke and of Kentuke to Lake Champlain. Nay the debts due to the French and Dutch are to be paid in Militia-men instead of Louis d’ors and ducats. At one moment there is to be a large army to lay prostrate the liberties of the people; at another moment the militia of Virginia are to be dragged from their homes five or six hundred miles to tame the republican contumacy of Massachusetts; and that of Massachusetts is to be transported an equal distance to subdue the refractory haughtiness of the aristocratic Virginians. Do the persons, who rave at this rate, imagine, that their art or their eloquence can impose any conceits or absurdities upon the people of America for infallible truths?$

If there should be an army to be made use of as the engine of despotism what need of the militia? If
there should be no army, whither would the militia, irritated by being called upon to undertake a distant
and hopeless expedition for the purpose of rivetting the chains of slavery upon a part of their countrymen
direct their course, but to the seat of the tyrants, who had meditated so foolish as well as so wicked a
project; to crush them in their imagined intrenchments of power and to make them an example of the just
vengeance of an abused and incensed people? Is this the way in which usurpers stride to dominion over a
numerous and enlightened nation? Do they begin by exciting the detestation of the very instruments of
their intended usurpations? Do they usually commence their career by wanton and disgustful acts of
power calculated to answer no end, but to draw upon themselves universal hatred and execration? Are
suppositions of this sort the sober admonitions of discerning patriots to a discerning people? Or are they
the inflammatory ravings of chagrined incendiaries or distempered enthusiasts? If we were even to
suppose the national rulers actuated by the most ungovernable ambition, it is impossible to believe that
they would employ such preposterous means to accomplish their designs.”
The Federalist No. 29, at 186-187 (Alexander Hamilton) (Jacob Ernest Cooke ed., 1961).

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bort @crushbort.bsky.social · 1d

is it not weird that every day there’s a new video of anonymous masked men having the time of their lives beating/shooting/disappearing people and the dem response from the top down is “republicans want to double your health insurance premiums”

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Barred and Boujee aka Madiba Dennie @audrelawdamercy.bsky.social · 1d

aaand we are officially in the hide-your-neighbors stage

Sophie Sherry @sophiesherry.bsky.social · 1d

During a military-style raid on a building in Chicago’s South Shore, one resident heard a knock on his door.   It wasn’t the feds — it was a mom and her 7-year-old daughter, pleading for help.

He let them hide in his unit for the next 3 days.

chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...

Neighbor shielded 7-year-old during South Shore federal raid: ‘I didn’t want them to take her’

During the Sept. 30 raid one tenant protected a terrified girl and her mom. Remnants at the complex, including a detailed map of all the units, offer clues to what authorities may have known before th...

chicago.suntimes.com

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Governor JB Pritzker @govpritzker.illinois.gov · 1d

Donald Trump ended the National Blue Ribbon Schools program this year.

But, I believe that educational excellence should be celebrated — and it's why we're picking up where they've dropped the ball.

I’m recognizing 28 schools in IL as the 2025 Governor’s Blue Ribbon Schools.

Governor Pritzker speaks behind the podium.

Governor Pritzker shakes hands with employees of Glen Oaks Elementary.

Governor Pritzker takes photos with principals and superintendents.

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Jon Seidel @jonseidel.bsky.social · 1d

Dana Briggs' case has been downgraded to a misdemeanor, btw. And his lawyer sought a trial.

It's set for Dec. 8.

Jon Seidel @jonseidel.bsky.social · 1d

U.S. Magistrate Judge Gabriel Fuentes has been holding a hearing in the case of Dana Briggs, a protester arrested outside Broadview's ICE facility. The prosecutor did not move to exclude time, and Fuentes found it curious.

"Lately, you see some strange things," he says.

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Monica Maalouf, MD @maaloufmd.bsky.social · 1d

So this IL Hospital Association memo describes an incident where ICE detained a US citizen, gave them HEART PROBLEMS, took them to a hospital where the fought with medical personnel, then left when they realized they detained a CITIZEN.

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