Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Tammy Rainey @tammybeth.bsky.social · 15m

"Everything we can" except, ya know, fairly taxing billionaires and mega-corporations.

GHOULLIKEHELLMACHINE @golikehellmachine.com · 25m

“we are telling you right now that we do not intend to honor anything we agree to” is certainly a negotiating position one can take

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1h

Q: Rescission are something Dems have said is a reason for a lack of trust. What rescissions are you discussing?

JOHNSON: We have more than $37t in debt. We're doing everything we can to get us back to sound fiscal responsibility. What does that include? A rescission package is part of our process

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Andy Craig @andycraig.bsky.social · 23m

Hegseth sucks. The Qataris suck. But we aren’t giving Qatar an airbase in Idaho. It’s building dorms etc. at an existing base to train them on F-15s we sold them, just like Singapore already has there. Common arrangement we have with lots of countries. This one was already being planned under Biden.

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Lauren MacIvor Thompson @lmacthompson1.bsky.social · 1h

I am writing this because it has swiftly become crystal clear to me that many people have no idea what is happening or how this works. Here is a thread for non-academics to put into context what just happened to Dr. Mark Bray, a fellow historian.

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Parker Molloy @parkermolloy.com · 23h

Over at @damemagazine.bsky.social I wrote about CBS' hiring of Bari Weiss in the context of one of The Free Press's sloppiest reported stories. h/t @evanurquhart.bsky.social www.damemagazine.com/2025/10/09/c...

CBS News Just Made a Terrible Mistake - Dame Magazine

On Monday, Paramount announced it had acquired The Free Press for $150 million and would be installing its founder, Bari Weiss, as editor-in-chief of CBS News. Weiss will report directly to Paramount ...

www.damemagazine.com

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DeidShaw @deidshaw.bsky.social · 1h

This, from the book tour a few months back of @sarahkendzior.bsky.social's latest, offers with clear-eyes and moral clarity an important message of this time in our country.
Very much worth your time.

Sarah Kendzior | The Last American Roadtrip

YouTube video by Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California

www.youtube.com

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Dr. William Horne @wihorne.bsky.social · 2h

I’m teaching abt Red Summer today, when white vigilantes & National Guardsmen across the country harassed, detained, assaulted, & murdered Black Americans as part of a backlash against Black military service in WWI.

Red Summer of 1919

eji.org

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Bobby Kogan @bbkogan.bsky.social · 1h

Three key points:
1) The admin has been planning mass firings to begin in October since February
2) The work necessary to carry out mass firings is illegal during a shutdown, violating the Antideficiency Act, which carries a criminal penalty
3) This harms America, ridding us of talent and expertise

Russ Vought v @russvought
The RIFs have begun.
12:27 PM • 10/10/25 • 15K Views

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David Corn @davidcorn.bsky.social · 1h

The No Kings rallies have been peaceful. But when was there ever a protest with violence in Washington, DC? I'm racking my brain on that one....Oh yeah, when YOUR people showed up to overturn an election, beat up cops, and threatened Dem. and Repub. legislators. Trump pardoned all those thugs.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 3h

Sen. Roger Marshall: "October 18 is when the protest gets here. This will be a Soros paid-for protest for his professional protesters. The agitators show up. We'll have to get the National Guard out. Hopefully it will be peaceful. I doubt it."

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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 4h

Independent C-SPAN caller to Rep. Mark Alford: "You're taking credit for $50b that you just gave to the hospital industry. That's after you took away $150b. You don't take credit for just giving back a little bit of money after taking away so much. So quit lying. It just makes you look horrible."

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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 1h

EXCLUSIVE — DHS Acting General Counsel sent out a memo Wednesday to all Federal Protective Service staff (the sub-agency that guards federal buildings) letting officers know they could take any action necessary "in the vicinity" federal property to protect themselves.

The Handbasket reports:

DHS top lawyer says 'no legal barrier' to actions officers can take to defend federal property

In a memo obtained exclusively by The Handbasket, Federal Protective Service (FPS) officers were given free rein.

www.thehandbasket.co

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Tammy Rainey @tammybeth.bsky.social · 54m

So he's saying Trump would sign all that?

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Aaron Fritschner @fritschner.bsky.social · 1h

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.

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Wajahat Ali @wajali.bsky.social · 59m

I remember when the GOP & right-wing hacks accused all Muslims of being Qatari agents & anyone who worked at Al Jazeera English or AJAM of being terrorists and extremists.

So, what does that make Donald Trump, who accepted a $400 million jet from them & now is letting them build a base on US soil?

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Democrats @democrats.org · 1h

Trump’s building a golf course in Qatar.
He accepted a $400M luxury jet as a gift from Qatar.
His son-in-law got a $1.5B investment from Qatar and other Middle Eastern countries.
His top officials like Kash Patel and Pam Bondi worked for Qatar.

And now this.

FactPost @factpostnews.bsky.social · 3h

Hegseth: I'm also proud that today we're signing a letter of acceptance to build a Qatari Emeri air force facility at the Mountain Home Airbase in Idaho.

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Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · Aug 2

The guy Trump picked to lead the office that’s now investigating Jack Smith:

— said Niki Haley is ineligible to be president
— has neo-Nazi ties
— was Andrew Tate’s lawyer
— 2x Claremont fellow
— wrote for Gateway Pundit
— called for Pence to be hanged
— called for secession after 2020 election

Paul Ingrassia (lawyer) - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

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mtsw @mtsw.bsky.social · 14h

Thiessen having a good chuckle about his fired liberal colleagues - some of whom he worked with for 15 years - is a good reminder that token conservatives at mainstream news outlets are/were there to destroy them, not to contribute to them.

Philip Bump @pbump.com · 17h

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jael holzman @jael.bsky.social · 14h

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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Juno Rylee Schultz @junoryleejournalism.com · 1d

David Simon, creator of ‘The Wire’, being interviewed by Ari Shapiro (NPR)

SHAPIRO: OK, so you've spent your career creating television without Al, and I could imagine today you thinking, boy, I wish I had had that tool to solve those thorny problems...
SIMON: What?
SHAPIRO: ...Or saying...
SIMON: You imagine that?
SHAPIRO: ...Boy, if that had existed, it would have screwed me over.
SIMON: I don't think Al can remotely challenge what writers do at a fundamentally creative level.
SHAPIRO: But if you're trying to transition from scene five to scene six, and you're stuck with that transition, you could imagine plugging that portion of the script into an Al and say, give me 10 ideas for how to transition this.
SIMON: I'd rather put a gun in my mouth.

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Michael E. Carter @deckofcarterhist.bsky.social · 15h

Trump appears to be openly considering ordering the construction of an imperial monument to his vanity as the gateway to this republic's most solemn national gravesite.

Olga Nesterova @onestpress.onestnetwork.com · 18h

Press pool: “On Trump’s desk in the Oval Office today was a plan for a triumphal arch on the other side of the river from the Lincoln Memorial”

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Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 1d

Noem claims Portland hid their war zone from her.

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TommasinaResist⚜️🇨🇦🦋🐈‍⬛🇺🇦 @tommasinaresist.bsky.social · 21h

"The right loves the accounts, which often rail against supposed voter fraud.
They’re run by a Macedonian who illegally donated to a U.S. House candidate."

Yes indeed. MAGA doesn't care, even when they learn the truth.
#USDemocracy #Voices4Victory

The Viral MAGA Accounts Run by a Man Who Has Never Been to America

Two influential MAGA social media accounts are run by Rumen Naumovski, a Macedonian who may have illegally donated to a U.S. election.

www.rollingstone.com

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❀°。Der Siebenschläfer *.ﾟ✿ ⋆ @sababausa.bsky.social · 12h

The history books having to explain cartoon frog = fascist, inflatable frog = anti-fascist…

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 16h

"30-year-old conservative lawyer and activist who is Trump’s nominee to lead the Office of Special Counsel, which deals with federal employee whistleblower complaints and discrimination" cancelled his colleague's hotel room so she would be forced to stay with him.
www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

In late July, Paul Ingrassia, the White House liaison for the Department of Homeland Security, arrived at a Ritz-Carlton in Orlando with a lower-ranking female colleague and others from their department. When the group reached the front desk, the woman learned she didn’t have a hotel room.

Ingrassia then informed her that she would be staying with him, according to five administration officials familiar with the episode. Eventually the woman discovered that Ingrassia had arranged ahead of time to have her hotel room canceled so she would have to stay with him, three of those officials said.

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Tim Onion @bencollins.bsky.social · 18h

Welp, here it is: maybe the funniest thing we've ever done, in its entirety.

The Onion Investigates: Jeffrey Epstein

YouTube video by The Onion

www.youtube.com

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Frederick Clarkson @fredclarkson.bsky.social · 20h

...to launch a campaign aimed at colleges and universities.

This is consistent with the history of NAR which has long recruited college students and attacked leading universities as cursed or demonic, a posture that is certainly congruent with the Trump administration’s agenda thus far.

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