Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

SH😮CK-tor Benway @docbenway.bsky.social · 4h

USAID was a net positive in basically every way and Musk killed it, and untold numbers of people, because he’s as racist as he is stupid and he’s as stupid as he is evil.

Meatball Rob @wrenispinkle.bsky.social · 9h

I’m a single-issue voter from now until the day I die: “hold the people who did this and all these other crimes responsible, no matter what it takes”

I’m gonna go to town halls and congressional field offices and bring it up ad infinitum

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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GHOULLIKEHELLMACHINE @golikehellmachine.com · 10h

lmao, kristi noem wanted a black bloc fight and got an inflatable rave instead. fuck you DHS, rip city forever.

Courtney Vaughn @courtneyvaughn.bsky.social · 12h

Streets are still closed off in front of the Portland ICE facility at 8:30pm. Protesters have gathered on a side street. Dance party in progress.

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Jack Jenkins @jackjenkins.me · 15h

Gonna be thinking about this lede for a minute.

(RNS) — Last month, the Rev. David Black stood in front of a Chicago-area U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility and spread his arms wide. Adorned in all black and wearing a clerical collar, the pastor looked up at a group of masked, heavily armed ICE agents on the roof and began to pray.

“I invited them to repentance,” Black, a minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA), said in an interview. “I basically offered an altar call. I invited them to come and receive that salvation, and be part of the kingdom that is coming.”

But when Black began to lower his arms a few seconds later, the agents responded to his spiritual plea by firing pepper balls, or chemical agents that cause eye irritation and respiratory distress, video footage shows. One struck Black in the head, exploding into a puff of white pepper smoke and forcing him to his knees. Fellow demonstrators rushed to his aid, and as the pastor rubbed his face in pain, the agents continued to fire.

“We could hear them laughing,” Black said.

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Susan Rinkunas @susanrinkunas.com · 15h

“Four months ago, in Skrmetti, the Court used purported medical uncertainty to give Tennessee more flexibility to discriminate. Today, Alito used purported medical uncertainty to give Colorado less flexibility to protect.”

Barred and Boujee aka Madiba Dennie @audrelawdamercy.bsky.social · 18h

I've written my analysis of today's grim Supreme Court oral argument in the conversion therapy case:

As far as the Court's concerned, imaginary medical uncertainty gives states the authority to hurt queer kids, and takes away states' authority to protect them

ballsandstrikes.org/scotus/chile...

The Conservative Justices Don't Trust Any Science That Supports LGBTQ Kids

States that want to facilitate discrimination against LGBTQ people have the Court's blessing. States that want to protect LGBTQ people from discrimination do not.

ballsandstrikes.org

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Andy Craig @andycraig.bsky.social · 17h

They believe they will never be out of power and relatedly, even if they eventually are, there will be no accountability.

Refusal to openly, credible, emphatically threaten them with it isn't just a failure on the principle of the matter for what should happen then. It worsens the situation now.

Andrea Junker @strandjunker.com · 20h

You can joke about Pam Bondi’s ridiculous unprofessionalism all you want, but I’m deeply shocked by it: She acts as if she fears absolutely no consequences, convinced that there will be no more political power transfers. — This should shake everyone to their core.

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Kelsey Atherton @atherton.bsky.social · 19h

this is literally stuff King Charles did, like not only did the American colonists have a revolution to not have this happen, but they did so in the wake of the English revolution, which was about not having stuff like this happen

George Pearkes @peark.es · 19h

Well that's not how appropriations work at all

*WHITE HOUSE TO TRANSFER TARIFF REVENUE TO FUND WIC: LEAVITT

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George Pearkes @peark.es · 19h

This is a fair question (the answer is no) but I am begging people to just quickly check out U.S. Const. art. I, § 9, cl. 7 because it's really not about counting dollars.

a pound of flax @oatsmemento.bsky.social · 19h

dumb question, but: are we making enough in tariff revenue to fund these programs?

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SH😮CK-tor Benway @docbenway.bsky.social · 1d

Senior partner/rainmaker/junior partner

Anthony Michael Kreis @anthonymkreis.bsky.social · 1d

Another crack:

Dean / Associate Dean for Research / Associate Dean for Academic Affairs

Anil Kalhan @akalhan.bsky.social · 1d

University general counsel, university trustee, university president

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cow tools daily @cowtoolsdaily.bsky.social · 1d

No Country for Old Cows (2007)

Edited screenshots from No Country for Old Men. Anton Chigurh (with cow horns and cow ears) sits in a hotel chair and asks someone across from him, "If the tool you followed brought you to this, of what use was the tool?"

In a zoomed out view, Anton sits silently behind a table with the 4 cow tools look8ng at his victim as if studying him.

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Lottie @sellottie.bsky.social · 2d

It’s happened again

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southpaw @nycsouthpaw.bsky.social · 2d

Stanford Law graduate Eric Hamilton is DOJ here. www.justice.gov/civil/staff-...

Joshua J. Friedman @joshuajfriedman.com · 2d

DOJ: CA NG is already federalized

Judge: You are an officer of the court. Do you think this is an appropriate way to deal with my order? Appropriate way of dealing with ruling you disagree with?

DOJ: Well, I'm not a policy maker

Judge: You're a lawyer

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Grudgie the Whale @grudgie.bsky.social · 2d

Look. Invading our own country is about as straightforward a case as you can have for impeachment. The GOP abandoning the Constitution is kind of the only story there is and it gets no coverage.

Seth Cotlar @sethcotlar.bsky.social · 2d

Guys. I just had a crazy idea. What if the President DIDN’T deploy troops in American cities. Just a thought. Have we tried that before?

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James @gravitysra1nbow.bsky.social · 2d

Okay. Well, if Trump is going to attempt legal end-arounds like federalizing the NG of GOP states to send them to Dem states over the objections of governors and courts, I think the Democrats should just keep the federal government shut down indefinitely.

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☀️ Starshine @starshine.bsky.social · 2d

Hmmmmmmmm

Doctors TARDIS @doctorstardis.bsky.social · 2d

A judge's home is burning to the ground.

In what I am sure is just a coincidence.... that they were recently targeted on x . com by the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Justice

SOUTH CAROLINA… “Judge Goodstein was walking on the beach when the fire started. Her husband, Arnie, was in the house with children and perhaps grandchildren. The family had to escape by jumping from a window or balcony...”

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competentposter @competentposter.bsky.social · 3d

wizard frog is insane

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utopia deferred @utopia-defer.red · 2d

This is the state secret police committing acts of public humiliation and torture. Americans don’t have a language for this in the public consciousness but that is what this is with no exaggeration or embellishment.

Kelly @broadwaybabyto.bsky.social · 2d

ICE is hog tying protesters in Portland and removing them on Dollies.

This is dangerous and could cause serious injury.

The Department of Homeland Security thinks it’s a joke.

They’ve shared this video with the tagline “Refuse to Walk? We’ll give you a ride”.

Stay strong Portland.

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Barred and Boujee aka Madiba Dennie @audrelawdamercy.bsky.social · 3d

Again, Kavanaugh justified racial profiling by claiming that this doesn't happen--a justification that becomes more preposterous with each passing day as Trump's goons terrorize more people based on the color of their skin

ballsandstrikes.org/scotus/brett...

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Will Stancil @whstancil.bsky.social · 2d

What’s amazing about this is that it’s not activists, it’s random people in the street, dudes in trucks. They know who the villain is.

I think MAGA has a bigger problem here than they realize

Cristian Farias @cristianfarias.com · 2d

This video of Chicagoans intervening to save a man from being abducted off the streets by ICE is making the rounds on Instagram.

Community action works.

Source: www.instagram.com/reel/DPZL2AL...

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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 3d

So much Democrat and pundit handwringing about the shutdown as if they're in charge of the government.

They're not. The only possibilities are Trump makes things worse with Democratic approval or Trump makes things worse despite Democratic resistance. Don't bail him out.

My latest (on @msnbc.com):

Opinion | Democrats shouldn’t bail out Trump as the shutdown drags on

The best time for the opposition to take a stand, rather than settle for untrustworthy promises, is right now.

www.msnbc.com

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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 2d

The President of the United States is lying and/or delusional, and it seems like we should be talking about this and nothing else.

Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 2d

The protests are on one block. Nothing is burning down. His justification for sending in troops is all based on lies.

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Joshua McElwee @joshmcelwee.org · 3d

Pope Leo urged the world's 1.4 billion Catholics on Sunday to care for immigrants, pressing ahead with a message of welcome for migrants days after criticizing U.S. President Donald Trump's hard-line anti-immigration policies. For @reuters.com:

Pope Leo, after Trump critique, urges Catholics to help immigrants

Pope Leo urged the world's 1.4 billion Catholics on Sunday to care for immigrants, pressing ahead with a message of welcome for migrants days after criticizing U.S. President Donald Trump's hard-line anti-immigration policies.

www.reuters.com

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Will Stancil @whstancil.bsky.social · 3d

Trump could have entered office, engaged in some corruption, let the GOP cut taxes for him, and played golf for four years, and left in 2029 a rich man.

But instead he put Stephen Miller in charge. And Stephen Miller doesn't want to be rich. Stephen Miller wants to do fascism.

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Darin Self @darinself.com · 3d

This thread of expected premium inflation is startling. Millions of people potentially are about to experience premium inflation in the 100s of %

Charles Ghoul-ba ✡️ @charlesgaba.com · 7d

4. #UTAH: ~410,000 ACA enrollees

Avg gross rate change: +14.2% (preliminary)
Avg gross 2026 premium: $587/mo
NET 2026 increase for 64-yr old couple earning $90K/yr if the enhanced tax credits expire: +263%

Utah: Breakout of ACA individual market enrollment by House district

Utah: Breakout of impact of enhanced ACA tax credits expiring on net benchmark Silver plan premiums for various households at various income levels

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Robert Evans (the Only Robert Evans) @iwriteok.bsky.social · 3d

Pritzker needs to take some sort of demonstrative action against this. But nothing he does will stop this.

Still, liberal voters and elected leaders are confronted by the fact that the police are not democratically accountable. They have no interest in protecting you or your rights from the feds.

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 5d

Gov. Pritzker has said all the right things, but now he needs to act and get these state troopers out of there.

unraveled @unraveledpress.com · 5d

A protester with a mobility aid (cane) was sitting in the road. Illinois state troopers dragged them to the grass and arrested them.

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California Adderalles 🇵🇸🇺🇦🍞🌹🌻↙️↙️↙️ @caliredandgreen.bsky.social · 3d

When they ask me if I support a “two-state solution”:

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