Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Jim Saksa @jimsaksa.com · 3h

For more: www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...

GOP-Backed SCOTUS Case Could Open Floodgates for More Post-Election Chaos

www.democracydocket.com

Jim Saksa @jimsaksa.com · 3h

So far in Bost v. Ill. Board of Ed oral arguments, SCOTUS has been focused on the narrow reading of whether Rep. Bost has standing in this cast to challenge Illinois' 14-day post election day period for reading postmarked ballots.

Not getting to the broad argument that ALL candidates have standing

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Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · 4h

JUST IN: The Republican Mayor of Fairbanks, Alaska’s second biggest city, lost re-election last night to a Democrat.

Mayor David Pruhs is a conservative who fought protections for LGBTQ+ residents; he made comments this year drew condemnation this year from Alaska Natives. He lost to Mindy O'Neall.

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Brian Finucane @bcfinucane.bsky.social · 13h

I was completely unprepared for the threat posed by the Antifa super soldiers.

Courtney Vaughn @courtneyvaughn.bsky.social · 14h

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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Duncan Lamont @duncanlamont2.bsky.social · 8h

🫣 Profits are for wimps. Revenues are for losers. Ideas sell, not fundamentals

Over half the Nasdaq market is loss making. About 1-in-8 companies have no revenues

There are a lot more in these camps than in the past

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Anthea Butler @antheabutler.bsky.social · 7h

I'm not a quoter of scripture, but this seemed appropriate for the horror that has been unleashed because of the gutting of USAID.

“Whatever you do to the least of these, you do to me.” -Jesus

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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Sean T. Collins @seantcollins.com · 2d

CHATGPT: I understand where you're coming from. You worked really hard to get here, and now it's time to enjoy the fruit of your labors.

ISILDUR: So I should keep it? Elrond says I shouldn't

CHATGPT: The ring is precious. Sometimes friends don't have your best interests at heart.

ISILDUR: true

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Jack Jenkins @jackjenkins.me · 18h

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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Melanie D’Arrigo @darrigomelanie.bsky.social · 18h

I feel like this photo of masked, armed men pepper spraying a pastor protecting his community is going to be a defining picture of this moment in America for a long, long time.

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Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 18h

“.. Never before has so much money been spent so rapidly on a technology that, for all its potential, remains largely unproven ..”

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

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Jake Blumgart @jblumgart.bsky.social · 19h

"The campaign was unusually caustic, marked by social media attacks, fake accounts, AI-generated images, contentious union meetings, and even threats of violence."

www.inquirer.com/news/fop-pol...

Poplar wins as city’s police union president after a combative campaign

Roosevelt Poplar, who has led the Philly FOP since 2023, was elected to a three-year term on Tuesday, along with his entire slate.

www.inquirer.com

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Jim Saksa @jimsaksa.com · 23h

This is very good and important for all journos covering politics to read.

Also, it's the tipping point article for me: Time to pony up for a paid subscription to @gelliottmorris.com and support his work

www.gelliottmorris.com/p/most-polls...

Why most polls overstate support for political violence

Misperceptions about the popularity of violence increase public support for it — but you can help change that.

www.gelliottmorris.com

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Jim Saksa @jimsaksa.com · 1d

Listening to this hearing makes it clear that the GOP is going all-in pushing claims about crime, even as federal law enforcement prosecution of non-immigration crimes -- including drugs, white collar crime, financial crime, and child exploitation -- has fallen under this admin.

Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 1d

NEW: At a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing, Attorney General Pam Bondi repeatedly hurled insults at Democrats when pressed about the politicization of the Justice Department under her leadership. Check out @jimsaksa.com’s coverage of her heated testimony👇

At Oversight Hearing, AG Bondi Responds to Questions With Attacks Instead of Answers

www.democracydocket.com

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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 1d

seeing otherwise smart people share the story that a south carolina judge’s beach house was burned to the ground because of a ruling against trump despite there being no evidence of that has been frustrating. just because the other side has abandoned facts doesn’t mean we can, too.

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Jim Saksa @jimsaksa.com · 2d

Theoretical economic modeling suggests AI is gonna make the online misinformation problem worse:

www.nber.org/papers/w3431...

The Impact of AI and Digital Platforms on the Information Ecosystem

Founded in 1920, the NBER is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to conducting economic research and to disseminating research findings among academics, public policy makers, an...

www.nber.org

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Jim Saksa @jimsaksa.com · 2d

Yeah, fair.

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Jim Saksa @jimsaksa.com · 2d

just about any small college town, like Gettysburg. Bethlehem is lovely.

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Jim Saksa @jimsaksa.com · 2d

Not just philly! Also, Baltimore, Lancaster, and if you can grab the right house, tons of small cities with walkable downtowns like Frederick, Md, Doylestown, Ardmore, Phoenixville, Wayne… now that I have kids, being able to walk to more than one bar/restaurants is all I want, really.

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Jim Saksa @jimsaksa.com · 2d

I periodically pitch “we need to close all the J schools” to places like CJR and for some reason never hear back from them.

Michael Hobbes @michaelhobbes.bsky.social · 4d

Do not pay $100,000 to become a podcaster for the love of god

"spooky sukkot" daniel s. @self.agency · 4d

Syracuse University, which costs $100,000 per year, has opened a school to give degrees in podcasting and social media influencing 🫥

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Brandon Friedman @brandonfriedman.bsky.social · 2d

Judge Diane Goodstein crossed the Trump administration last month. Yesterday, her home burned, her husband was injured and it's being investigated for arson.

www.postandcourier.com/news/crime/s...

Judge blocks South Carolina from giving DOJ millions of voters' data
Sep. 3, 2025

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Steve Vladeck @stevevladeck.bsky.social · 3d

The very first statute authorizing domestic use of the military during domestic emergencies, enacted in 1792 by a Congress full of the same folks who wrote and ratified the Constitution, expressly provided for judicial review in certain circumstances *before* the President could even send troops.

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G Elliott Morris @gelliottmorris.com · 3d

There has been basically no (public) reckoning with the democratic strategists who said that "raising the salience" of immigration/deportations in ~March would help Trump, which was obviously wrong at the time and has been proved wrong over the last 6 months www.gelliottmorris.com/p/kilmar-abr...

Jake Grumbach @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social · 4d

Incredible @perrybaconjr.bsky.social interview with Chris Van Hollen

newrepublic.com/article/2013...

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Frank Vehafric @fvehafric.bsky.social · 3d

One of the things I took away from the 60s and Richard Nixon, first mentioned by Hunter Thompson, but I believe to be true, is the fact that we believed, at time, that all our protesting, marching and sign waving was futile and pointless when in fact, it drove Richard Nixon to alcohol fueled madness

Brandon Friedman @brandonfriedman.bsky.social · 3d

Everyone is trying to have a normal Saturday night and the president's top advisor is on X announcing that civil war is necessary

@StephenM on X: Legal insurrection. The President is the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces, not an Oregon judge. Portland and Oregon law enforcement, at the direction of local leaders, have refused to aid ICE officers facing relentless terrorist assault and threats to life. (There are more local law enforcement officers in Oregon than there are guns and badges in the FBI nationwide). This is an organized terrorist attack on the federal government and its officers, and the deployment of troops is an absolute necessity to defend our personnel, our laws, our government, public order and the Republic itself.

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Andrea Junker @strandjunker.com · 3d

“Terrible things are happening outside. Poor helpless people are being dragged out of their homes. Families are torn apart. Men, women, and children are separated. Children come home from school to find that their parents have disappeared.”

Diary of Anne Frank
January 13, 1943

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GHOULLIKEHELLMACHINE @golikehellmachine.com · 3d

idk man, if you’re getting to the point where you’re accusing prosecutors, judges, and metro police of being the enemy, i am skeptical you have achieved the kind of consolidation you need for this kind of a project

Lawrence Hurley @lawrencehurley.bsky.social · 3d

Stephen Miller again lashes out at the judiciary, suggesting federal judges are aiding and abetting domestic terrorism:

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