Author | Lightnews

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Simon Rosenberg @simonwdc.bsky.social · 20m

So Rs right now are assaulting our health care system, raising prices on everything, exploding the deficit, throwing people in gulags, cutting off food assistance to 42m despite a court order and now threatening not to pay federal workers money they are clearly owed. Villains they are.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 23m

Q: Does the administration guarantee that all furloughed federal workers will get back pay?

LEAVITT: This is something we are very much open to discussing with Democrats as part of the discussions about the continuing resolution

(That's not a yes!)

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Joey Fishkin @fishkin.bsky.social · 1h

I'm not really into the "constitutional crisis" discourse but if this is the thing you were waiting for, it's here.

Next: which media outlets will report that the President is violating two court orders that the government must immediately distribute SNAP benefits—and which will go with euphemisms.

Leah Litman @leahlitman.bsky.social · 2h

🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨

This is the President openly announcing that he will violate court orders - two courts had concluded that the Trump regime withholding SNAP funding was illegal - and that the government had to pay out (at least reduced) SNAP benefits starting this week

DJT truth social - SNAP benefits .. will be given only when the Radical Left Democrats open up govt

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Steve Vladeck @stevevladeck.bsky.social · 1h

It's impossible to overstate how much of what ICE is doing on the ground reflects this completely preposterous conflation of hostile *speech* and hostile *conduct.*

The First Amendment protects—or, at least, is supposed to protect—the former up and until it's a "true threat," which none of this is.

Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 2h

From Bovino's deposition: (1) he calls protestors "violent" if they articulate views hostile to ICE, even if no violence is manifested; (2) he instructs his forces to attack and arrest protestors who express "hyperbolic comments," which is to say, criticism of ICE and Bovino.

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Representative Jim McGovern @repmcgovern.bsky.social · 36m

Another shameless lie.

Trump’s own lawyers at USDA posted (then deleted) the guidance below that SNAP continues during a shutdown.

Can someone ask him to explain why he disagrees with Trump’s own lawyers?

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GZY ⍼ גז"י @gamzehyaavor.bsky.social · 3h

Oh cool! Kill the job market and then go after folks' Unemployment Insurance. Just great!

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 3h

Lori Chavez-DeRemer: "When we're talking about the SNAP program, one of the other programs we're definitely concerned about is Unemployment Insurance. That will be the next thing that we have to be concerned about."

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 4h

Get that? This is a government with a ZERO TOLERANCE approach to illegal actions, no matter the cost. No price is too high. We will spend whatever it takes.

And you can get a taste of the sweet flow of federal contracts for the low, low price of $50K cash in a Cava bag.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 4h

Homan: "Others are in the country illegally but may not have a criminal history, but guess what? They're coming too. ICE is no longer turning a blind eye to illegal aliens in this country."

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Ernie Fox @hipsterkibble.bsky.social · 4h

People are way too comfortable criticizing how people with less money spend it.

We should be criticizing billionaires who are so rich money means nothing to them.

They can't even pay living wages to workers because they are so focused on accumulation over need.

Truly disgusting.

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Amanda Litman @amandalitman.bsky.social · 5h

We need Democratic candidates of all kinds in order to be able to win everywhere. The answer to “which is the future of the Democratic Party” has to be “all of it, and then some.”

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 5h

i want to repeat this: mamdani and spanberger have run similar campaigns tailored to their respective electorates and it is maddening to watch political journalists attempt to create some broad contrast where none exist

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 7h

the other thing about this is that there is no reason to pit these candidates against each other? each are good fits for their respective electorates and each shows the value of vigorous campaigns focused on the stated material problems of voters.

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Senator Patty Murray @murray.senate.gov · 17h

Johnson won't talk about the Republican health care plan—not because it's secret, but because it doesn't exist.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 2d

Mike Johnson talks about the Republican "healthcare plan" like it's highly classified information: "We're not gonna be on a conference call explaining all our plans and strategies for healthcare reform, because they're leaked in real time."

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livingflame @livingflame.bsky.social · 16h

and it tastes fine i guess but mostly i'm just pissed off and aggravated at how much of a godawful mess things ended up and it stressed me out trying to clean and stir it constantly. and i just sort of wish i hadn't bothered.

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livingflame @livingflame.bsky.social · 16h

so i came up with this chowder idea, dump some stuff together, immersion blender it, then add in mix ins and heat it to warm them. but it turned out mega thick and then became a bubbling magma mess that splorted crap all over the counters, stovetop, and just about every other surface it could reach

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Soraya Nadia McDonald @sorayanadiamcdonald.com · 19h

"There are no longer any Black women working at Teen Vogue."

Damn, what a coincidence. All these news orgs keep laying off the same types of people while a bilious, rapey, leather-faced buffoon provides them cover and shakes them down for money to build a library named for a man who does not read.

Lex McMenamin (they/them) @leximcmenamin.com · 19h

thank you for all the support; the statement from our union is now live here with some more reporting.

now that this is public I can confirm that the majority of today’s layoffs were women of color. there are no longer any Black women working at Teen Vogue.

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Anna Gifty @itsafronomics.bsky.social · 17h

TLDR: Teen Vogue's coverage is about to be watered down in a way that serves no one. The politics section, which featured cutting edge stories on repro rights, the economy, and more is now gone. Black women are no longer at what remains.

Everybody loses. This is #TheDoubleTax.

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Peter Sagal @petersagal.bsky.social · 1d

And again, a pattern of putting out statements accusing people of serious Federal crimes and then releasing them hours or days or weeks later with no charges. And no retraction.

Gregory Pratt @royalpratt.bsky.social · 1d

NEWS: Federal agents crashed with woman’s car, pointed guns at her, dragged her out by legs, tossed her in a minivan, held her and (eventually) let her go without charges. This as Chicagoans say the immigration blitz is out of control. (DHS blames her.)
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/03/c...

Chicago woman dragged out of her car after colliding with ICE demands accountability

The arrest of Dayanne Figueroa highlights growing concerns about the use of force against U.S. citizens and due process. She was released after a few hours without charges.

www.chicagotribune.com

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Soraya Nadia McDonald @sorayanadiamcdonald.com · 23h

seems bad!

www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...

Screenshot text from the Atlantic

Here is where the bubble dynamics get complicated. Tech firms don’t want to formally take on debt—that is, directly ask investors for loans—because debt looks bad on their balance sheets and could reduce shareholder returns. To get around this, some are partnering with private-equity titans to do some sophisticated financial engineering, Paul Kedrosky, an investor and a financial consultant, told us. These private-equity firms put up or raise the money to build a data center, which a tech company will repay through rent. Data-center leases from, say, Meta can then be repackaged into a financial instrument that people can buy and sell—a bond, in essence. Meta recently did just this: Blue Owl Capital raised money for a massive Meta data center in Louisiana by, in essence, issuing bonds backed by Meta’s rent. And multiple data-center leases can be combined into a security and sorted into what are called “tranches” based on their risk of default. Data centers represent an $800 billion market for private-equity firms through 2028 alone. (Meta has said of its arrangement with Blue Owl that the “innovative partnership was designed to support the speed and flexibility required for Meta’s data center projects.”)

In this way, the data-center financing ends up being a real-estate deal as much as an AI deal. If this sounds complicated, it’s supposed to: The complexity, investment structure, and repackaging make exactly what is going on hard to parse. And if the dynamics also sound familiar, it’s because not two decades ago, the Great Recession was precipitated by banks packaging risky mortgages into tranches of securities that were falsely marketed as high-quality. By 2008, the house of cards had collapsed.

Data-center build-outs aren’t the same as subprime mortgages. Still, there is plenty of precarity baked into these investments. Data centers deteriorate rapidly, unlike the more durable infrastructure of canals, railroads, or even fiber-…

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Jane Fonda Official VEVO @janetherevelator.bsky.social · 20h

As @meganhunt.bsky.social pointed out, Briese is resigning so that Julie Slama can run for treasurer. While this would be a win for a hater such as myself, it would further entrench the stranglehold Pete Ricketts has on our state politics, despite the fact that he is not even a state officeholder.

Chris Dunker @chrisdunker.bsky.social · 21h

Nebraska Treasurer Secretary Tom Briese has resigned, Gov. Jim Pillen announced today.

Briese was a two-term state senator appointed to that position two years ago.

Pillen is appointing Joey Spellerberg, the major of Fremont, to the position.

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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 20h

ICE is now using facial recognition software— including on American citizens — to detain people its app concludes are in the country illegally.

This, as Trump says ICE raids "haven't gone far enough."

Connect the dots: No one is safe from Trump's tyranny.

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Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 23h

Dolly Parton releases “9 to 5” 45 yrs ago today.

“I knew what it was like to be a working woman trying to make a decent living, trying to be taken seriously. .. I wanted a song that sounded playful on the surface but spoke to that frustration .. A song about women .. saying, ‘We deserve better.’”

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DiscoPriest @discopriest.bsky.social · 1d

It is incumbent upon me to point out that, should you wish to take them up on this (freaking great) deal, you will also need to get eggs and sugar to make the punkin pie and cranberry sauce, assuming you don’t just want to eat cranberries. But also: Do this! It’s an amazing deal! (And get butter.)

Kawa @kawarcc.bsky.social · 8d

In light of the cut to SNAP this coming month, I'd like to share that Aldi grocery stores have a "Feast for 10" deal for $40 until 12/24. It includes everything for making turkey, sides, and dessert.

www.aldi.us/products/tha...

Feast for 10

www.aldi.us

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Senator Patty Murray @murray.senate.gov · 21h

Trump's tariffs are driving up the cost of everything, especially groceries.

But the President doesn't have a clue, maybe because he's too busy throwing obscene Gatsby-themed parties while he denies millions of families SNAP benefits.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

O'DONNELL: The stock market doesn't affect everybody. Not everybody is invested in the stock market

TRUMP: It does

O'DONNELL: But grocery prices are up

TRUMP: No. 401ks. People have 401ks.

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Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 22h

I wonder why they shut down their politics vertifcal. It's a big mystery. /s

www.teenvogue.com/story/colleg...

www.teenvogue.com/story/vivian...

Vivian Wilson on Being Elon Musk’s Estranged Daughter, Going Viral, and Protecting Trans Youth

Elon Musk’s estranged daughter is coming into her own.

www.teenvogue.com

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Gretchen Felker-Martin 🍉 @scumbelievable.bsky.social · 22h

The gutting of Teen Vogue, a publication which dared to treat its readers seriously and with respect, is an especially dispiriting day in old media's long, self-destructive forced march to nowhere

Lex McMenamin (they/them) @leximcmenamin.com · 23h

I was laid off from Teen Vogue today along with multiple other staffers, and today is my last day.

certainly more to come from me when the dust has settled more, but to my knowledge, after today, there will be no politics staffers at Teen Vogue.

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GZY ⍼ גז"י @gamzehyaavor.bsky.social · 23h

The only people saying churches can step up to replace SNAP are the people who have never in their lives stepped foot into a soup kitchen to volunteer

David “Handsome Dave” Bishop @gnuconsulting.com · 23h

My response is always "Okay, how many people is *your* church going to support? How much more tithing are *you* paying? How many hours are *you* spending at your church helping with the logistics/slinging soup?"

And obvs. lots of religious folks do all of that, but those who do don't say this shit.

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Jack Jenkins @jackjenkins.me · 1d

Faith leaders — as well as faith-based food banks — have long argued they absolutely cannot independently handle the raw number of people currently served by government food assistance programs.

They argued it again last week in Congress, calling the idea a "lie". religionnews.com/2025/10/30/f...

Barber also railed against the idea that food banks and churches could step in to fill the gap left if SNAP benefits expire, saying it’s a “lie” perpetrated by devotees of “extremism, religious nationalism and MAGA.” Impoverished Americans are being hit with a growing list of problems created by lawmakers, he said.

“One minute you can’t eat. The next minute you can’t get your medicine. One minute you’re scared to go to the hospital. The next minute, you’ve got to pay higher prices, then somebody dies — because food and health and health care are all connected,” Barber, who himself suffers from a chronic illness, said in an interview. “You’re creating anxiety, you’re creating burdens.”

In a separate interview with Religion News Service, Stoess said a series of GOP-led policy decisions are having a compounding effect on impoverished people in his community. In addition to hosting traditional worship services, his Church of the Promise has long offered a pay-what-you-can restaurant, a nonprofit construction group to help build housing, an outreach effort to unhoused people, an addiction recovery program and early childhood development programming, he said.

Stoess said members of his staff broke down in tears this week as they began reckoning with the reality that SNAP benefits will likely expire for many they serve. Meanwhile, food banks across the country, many of which are faith-based, are bracing for a massive increase in people seeking food if SNAP benefits expire.

Stoess joined others in warning that outfits like his likely will not be able to handle the influx of people seeking services, should the benefits expire. He said that while many people pay for food at his church’s restaurant by offering to clean dishes, the number offering to do so has risen throughout the year — and likely will increase even more if SNAP benefits dry up.

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Wandering Hoo @wanderlib.bsky.social · 1d

It's stewardship season, and I do budget stuff at church.

I need to say, this is simply not possible.
If you want government level service (and we do) you need professionalized systems and MONEY to fund them.

Charity is a supplement to taxes, not a replacement.

Right Wing Watch @rightwingwatch.bsky.social · 1d

Indiana's Christian nationalist Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith says "it's not the government's job to feed people" and so tens of millions of people losing SNAP benefits because of the government shutdown represents "a great opportunity for the local church to step up."

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