Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

David @dkuofu.bsky.social · 5m

We will pay for abandoning the hungry, the poor, and vulnerable.

Of everything that has been going on, the vast scale of death we have wrought by cutting off all humanitarian aid is the most horrific.

MAE SOT, Thailand (AP) — Mohammed Taher clutched the lifeless body of his 2-year-old son and wept. Ever since his family’s food rations stopped arriving at their internment camp in Myanmar in April, the father had watched helplessly as his once-vibrant baby boy weakened, suffering from diarrhea and begging for food.

On May 21, exactly two weeks after Taher’s little boy died, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio sat before Congress and declared: “No one has died” because of his government’s decision to gut its foreign aid program. Rubio also insisted: “No children are dying on my watch.”

That, Taher says, “is a lie.”

Reposted by David

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 25m

i desperately want everyone involved in the destruction of USAID to have to, st the very least, answer to the american people for the suffering and misery they have caused apnews.com/article/myan...

Starving children screaming for food as US aid cuts unleash devastation and death across Myanmar

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has repeatedly said “no one has died" because of his government’s decision to gut its foreign aid program.

apnews.com

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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 31m

The people running our major media institutions are not human beings—they're paid mercenaries.

Dave Jorgenson @davejorgenson.bsky.social · 2h

The Post laid off seemingly the remaining of their liberal-leaning staff members on Opinion last Thursday, when some of them were observing Yom Kippur.

from @oliverdarcy.bsky.social for Status
status.news/p/washington-post-opinion-cuts-adam-oneal

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Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 3h

Trump just threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act if governors/judges act *lawfully* within the constitutional system in ways that displease him.

Miller's statements reveal their real position: Trump's power to invent pretexts for emergency actions is limitless.

newrepublic.com/article/2014...

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Fighting Against Fascism @fightinginjustice.bsky.social · 17h

Stephen Miller states that Trump has plenary authority, then immediately stops talking as if he’s realized what he just said.

The fact that he knows he's not supposed to be just saying it out loud like that because it's not true and he didn't mean to telegraph their intentions that clearly

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Alexander Chee @alexanderchee.bsky.social · 4h

In case you, like me, saw your electric bill more than double.

Peter Butler @peter-butler.bsky.social · 13h

Bloomberg research found wholesale electricity up ~270% in areas near data centers

It doesn't seem like nearly enough people are taking it seriously

One A.I. image isn't too much energy, but 5 million videos? Per day/hour/minute whatever. It's not sustainable

www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...

AI Data Centers Are Sending Power Bills Soaring

Wholesale electricity costs as much as 267% more than it did five years ago in areas near data centers. That’s being passed on to customers.

www.bloomberg.com

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 21h

very cool that if you are working on behalf of right-wing culture warriors, you no longer need standing to have your claim adjudicated by the supreme court

Tom Scocca @tomscocca.bsky.social · 23h

It's not just that they're going to strike down a law against conversion therapy, it's that they're going to do it on behalf of made-up claims from a straw plaintiff who can't honestly show the law affected her at all

Tom Scocca @tomscocca.bsky.social · 23h

One thing about American's widespread distrust and disapproval of the Supreme Court is that mainstream news coverage mostly doesn't dwell on stuff like standing, so people don't even begin to grasp how rigged the Court truly is www.nytimes.com/live/2025/10...

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Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 12h

Monstrous.

"federal agents detained nearly every resident of the 130-unit building—including children and babies—placing them in zip ties and separating them by race into vans for more than two hours early Tuesday morning."

Daniel Knowles @dlknowles.bsky.social · 14h

Good reporting on the South Shore raid from South Side weekly here.

Confirms one thing I was told but didn't put in my own piece because I didn't have a second source and it seemed too insane: border agents segregated arrested residents by race

southsideweekly.com/federal-agen...

Federal Agents Storm South Shore Building, Detaining Families and Children

Families were woken by flashbangs and helicopters as hundreds of federal agents raided their homes. Days later, neighbors are still searching for the missing.

southsideweekly.com

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Philipp Heimberger @heimbergecon.bsky.social · 1d

I fear that the decline of reading will have disastrous societal consequences.

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Senator Patty Murray @murray.senate.gov · 19h

The scenes out of Chicago should outrage us all. These federal agents are out of control, committing senseless acts of violence & putting everyone at risk.

American citizens are being detained & brutalized.

This kind of immigration "enforcement" shouldn't be acceptable to anyone.

Immigration agents become increasingly aggressive in Chicago

Activists, residents and elected leaders say increasingly combative tactics used by federal immigration agents are sparking violence and fueling neighborhood tensions in the nation’s third-largest cit...

www.pbs.org

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David @dkuofu.bsky.social · 7h

Kavanaugh Stop

Kathleen Clark @kathleenclark.bsky.social · 10h

Brooks ‘repeatedly … pointed out her citizenship. … When she continued to object to her arrest, an officer knocked her to the ground, removed the zip-ties and replaced them with handcuffs, locked as tightly as they would go. By the time she was released, … the sun was coming up.’
#KavanaughStop

cause. Ms Brooks, who is black, with an American accent, says she repeatedly asked officers why she was being arrested, and pointed out her citizenship.
Nobody asked her any questions. When she continued to object to her arrest, an officer knocked her to the ground, removed the zip-ties and replaced them with handcuffs, locked as tightly as they would go. By the time she was released, together with several other citizens, she says the sun was coming up.

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Jeffrey Tumlin 🏳️‍🌈 🌁 @jeffreytumlin.bsky.social · 14h

Speed safety cameras are astonishingly successful. We know the tools that reduce traffic violence. Legalize them.
www.sfmta.com/blog/our-spe...

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Denise Wheeler @denisedwheeler.bsky.social · 16h

Reuters photographer Jonathan Ernst noticed that Bondi flipped open a file during the Senate hearing and he zoomed in.

Inside were her crib notes for attacking the senators.

The GOP now practicing Cliff's Notes Fascism

In other words, under oath Bondi was purely a performance.

Bondi senate hearing had a folder full of notes for attacking the senators

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murderedbybluesky.bsky.social @murderedbybluesky.bsky.social · 18h

"Speaker Mike Johnson’s abrupt closure of the House may have more to do with stalling a congressional investigation into Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking operation than previously reported, and appears to have been a direct response to the Treasury’s surrender of Epstein’s financial records."

SCOOP: Johnson closed House hours after Congress received Epstein’s financial records

The decision to shut down the House — and by extension the government — came hours after the Oversight Committee received documents from the US Treasury.

www.beltway.news

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KSL.com @ksl.com · 12h

Plaintiffs filed a new complaint Monday over the gerrymandering standards adopted by the Legislature earlier that day, saying they "neuter" Proposition 4's ban on partisan gerrymandering. https://ow.ly/R8Z050X8gHr

Plaintiffs sue Legislature over redistricting bill, submit new maps to judge ahead of deadline

Plaintiffs filed a new complaint Monday over the gerrymandering standards adopted by the Legislature earlier that day, saying they

ow.ly

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 14h

thank you brett kavanaugh!

Daniel Knowles @dlknowles.bsky.social · 14h

Good reporting on the South Shore raid from South Side weekly here.

Confirms one thing I was told but didn't put in my own piece because I didn't have a second source and it seemed too insane: border agents segregated arrested residents by race

southsideweekly.com/federal-agen...

Federal Agents Storm South Shore Building, Detaining Families and Children

Families were woken by flashbangs and helicopters as hundreds of federal agents raided their homes. Days later, neighbors are still searching for the missing.

southsideweekly.com

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Josh Marshall @joshtpm.bsky.social · 16h

I've been looking for more reporting on this. NVIDIA has an increasing number of deals where it is paying companies to buy its chips. sounds very bubbly.

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 16h

NVIDIA and OpenAi:

Concerns that their “increasingly complex and interconnected web of business transactions is artificially propping up the trillion-dollar AI boom.“

@bloomberg.com $NVDA 👀
www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

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David @dkuofu.bsky.social · 15h

See, now was that so hard NYT?

NYT heading that says "President Trump signals that he may try to deny federal workers back pay after the shutdown, in contradiction to US law."

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David @dkuofu.bsky.social · 23h

Have you made it up Black Mountain yet?

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NY Times Pitchbot @nytpitchbot.bsky.social · 23h

Hard to compete with this.

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David @dkuofu.bsky.social · 1d

Are we surprised?

(Article from 2016) Reports: Donald Trump stiffs contractors share.google/Tv0zLaEQtFno...

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Kai Ryssdal @kairyssdal.bsky.social · 1d

Whoaaaaa

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Johnson: "It's true that in previous shutdowns, many or most furloughed employees have been paid for the time they were furloughed, but there is new legal analysis - I don't know the details, I just saw a headline - but there are some legal analysts saying that might not be appropriate or necessary"

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scarylawyerguy.bsky.social @scarylawyerguy.bsky.social · 1d

A $50 billion government bailout for farmers who are impacted by Trump's tariffs and one of the biggest beneficiaries will be his Treasury Secretary. Same folks who otherwise call this stuff socialism but hypocrisy is their game and shoulder shrugging it off is the media's.

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ballerinaX @ballerinax.bsky.social · 1d

75%vaporware

Justin Hendrix @justinhendrix.bsky.social · 2d

"The hundreds of billions of dollars companies are investing in AI now account for an astonishing 40 per cent share of US GDP growth this year... In a way, then, America has become one big bet on AI."

America is now one big bet on AI

It’s seen as the magic fix for every threat to the US economy

www.ft.com

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Alessandro Rigolon @alerigolon.bsky.social · 1d

The legislative branch casually threatening the judiciary. Is this “The Utah Way?”

The Salt Lake Tribune @sltrib.com · 1d

Utah GOP Sen. Brady Brammer appeared to send a warning to Utah’s courts and the state's top election official, Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson, should they adopt and enforce a map other than the one approved by lawmakers Monday, seemingly suggesting they could be impeached.

Republican lawmakers picked their preferred congressional redistricting map. See what district you’d be in.

Utah Republican lawmakers pushed through a new congressional map that would give their party an advantage in all four of the state’s U.S. House districts — but would give the minority Democrats at least a fighting chance in one competitive district.

www.sltrib.com

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