Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 13m

Make sure you read the report about how Stephen Miller deported Waco's favorite Mexican restaurant owner.

www.texastribune.org/2025/10/07/t...

A picture of Sergio Garcia and George W and Laura Bush. It is signed, To Sergio Garcia with best wishes.

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Reposted by emptywheel

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 8h

thank you brett kavanaugh!

Daniel Knowles @dlknowles.bsky.social · 8h

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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Reposted by emptywheel

LOLGOP ❌👑❌ @thefarce.org · 9h

“When this goes to court — and undoubtedly it will in some form — DOJ will be stuck defending the premise that DOD has to invade Portland because right wingers with close ties to the President traveled across the country to stoke unrest.”

emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 11h

"Do something, bitch!"* Kristi Noem Dressed Russia's Useful Idiot Up to Cosplay CBP

www.emptywheel.net/2025/10/07/d...

"Do something, bitch!"* Kristi Noem Dressed Russia's Useful Idiot Up to Cosplay CBP - emptywheel

DHS is increasingly using overt propaganda to justify its invasions of Democratic states. It's horrible in real time--and possibly designed to feed Trump false claims about the states--but it could ba...

www.emptywheel.net

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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 8h

Um.

You're saying you don't know that he sued?

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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 8h

Aw heck, all the wind is blowing east.

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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 8h

One point I made about the shutdown is that a lot of what Schumer and Jeffries are doing is not for YOU, but for annoying beltway journalists who see this as a competition but whose reporting actually matters to their colleagues.

Voila: "Republicans in disarray"

www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

Trump's off-script comments cause shutdown headaches for GOP

President Donald Trump, Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune are straining to project a united front against Democrats.

www.politico.com

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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 9h

After probably 6 months of watching, I've reached parity (even though being an asshole on Xitter has boosted my followers back up there, probably all bots).

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Reposted by emptywheel

Jack Jenkins @jackjenkins.me · 9h

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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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 9h

www.emptywheel.net/2025/09/29/b...

Butt Cracks and Beer Bellies: Is Trump Failing on Immigration because ICE Creates Negative Spectacle? - emptywheel

I suspect that a big reason Stephen Miller has turned immigration into a losing issue for Donald Trump is because Miller's goons create an endless supply of negative spectacle that goes viral and seed...

www.emptywheel.net

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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 9h

When I become America's benevolent dictator, I'm going to impose a tax on every [mis]use of the word "defiant" in news articles and give the money to independent journalism outlets.

A picture of the Guard arriving in Illinois from WSJ. The headline reads:

"Local Politicians Defiant as National Guard Gathers Outside Chicago"

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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 9h

This from @jessicatarlov.bsky.social may be the most efficient use of 76 seconds of Fox News airtime I've ever seen.

Blue Georgia @bluegeorgia.bsky.social · 11h

Jessica Tarlov: I'm stunned that Republicans want to draw attention to this because... the senators who were part of this investigation are not just random names that he picked off a list, but people who were named in Jack Smith's charging documents for trying to turn over a free and fair election.

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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 10h

Really looking forward to the @jasonleopold.bsky.social FOIA for the staffer's notes who put this together, DURING a shutdown.

Not least bc (as @whitehouse.senate.gov noted), the Reid Hoffman slur was false.

Denise Wheeler @denisedwheeler.bsky.social · 10h

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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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 10h

You'll note I didn't @ her.

I know what's good for me.

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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 10h

Based off this post, which I updated w/the habeas petition.

www.emptywheel.net/2025/10/05/4...

$400,000: The "Free" Medical Care Kristi Noem's Goons Made Taxpayers Pay - emptywheel

After ICE badly broke the leg of a guy detained at a Carson car wash back in August, he's been in the hospital with 24/7 private security guard. Which means taxpayers have already paid around $400,000...

www.emptywheel.net

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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 10h

Reup: How Kristi Noem is giving away $400K in "free" medical care

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ddz...

How Kristi Noem is giving away $400K in "free" medical care

YouTube video by emptywheel

www.youtube.com

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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 10h

TY.

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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 10h

Vinegar.

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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 10h

I do it bc if I did it any other way and @jimwhitegnv.bsky.social found out he'd disown me as a friend.

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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 10h

I made pulled pork and old style creamy cole slaw (the latter, possibly for the first time in my life and not even because of @faineg.bsky.social's).

The sauce was NC vinegar.

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Reposted by emptywheel

Eric Michael Garcia @ericmgarcia.bsky.social · 15h

Ruben Gallego on whether Trump is talking to Democrats:

“Look, the President clearly has some kind of dementia, so I think there's a he's probably talking to himself, or think he's talking to a Democrat, but I sincerely doubt that that's actually he's actually physically talking to a Democrat.“

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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 10h

It's also wildly unrealistic about the possibilities going forward.

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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 11h

Also they don't meet Hegseth's fat guidelines.

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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 11h

You're right. I thought about including it.

But holy hell what a long post already. Even by my standards!

It is in the lawsuit.

legacy.www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...

91. Nearly immediately, the brute force tactics had foreseeably harmful consequences.
For example, on the morning of September 12, 2025, in Franklin Park, Illinois, two of these DHS
agents shot and killed a longtime area resident and father, following an attempted warrantless
vehicle stop. The victim had just dropped off his toddler at daycare. DHS immediately put out a
statement putting the blame on the victim, which quickly was contradicted by witness videos.

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Reposted by emptywheel

kate conger @kateconger.com · 11h

Elon Musk once said he would pursue former Twitter execs to the ends of the earth. Instead, he just settled their $128 million lawsuit. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 11h

Well, they have Russian useful idiot Benny Johnson doing just that.

www.emptywheel.net/2025/10/07/d...

"Do something, bitch!"* Kristi Noem Dressed Russia's Useful Idiot Up to Cosplay CBP - emptywheel

DHS is increasingly using overt propaganda to justify its invasions of Democratic states. It's horrible in real time--and possibly designed to feed Trump false claims about the states--but it could ba...

www.emptywheel.net

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