Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Ken Pisani @kpsmartypants.bsky.social · 7h

War-ravaged Portland.

Courtney Vaughn @courtneyvaughn.bsky.social · 9h

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.

Ken Pisani @kpsmartypants.bsky.social · 7h

When @washingtonpost.com is gone, there will be all kinds of hand wringing about its legacy and loss of a lion of journalism and of course Watergate, but it’s already gone, so gone. The time to lament the loss is now, not years from now when they pull the plug on the pale shadow that’s left.

Gillian Brockell @gbrockell.bsky.social · 9h

This little twerp, who’s been there a few months, axed two of the lions of WaPo??

Fisher is an investigative champion and had been at The Post for 39 years. Hoffman had been there for 42, and he won a Pulitzer LAST YEAR.

Oliver Darcy @oliverdarcy.bsky.social · 11h

Last week, new WaPo opinion editor Adam O'Neal quietly carried out another purge of staffers, cutting editors and major names like Marc Fisher and David Hoffman, among others.

Meanwhile, he welcomed three conservatives to the section.

Details in @status.news: www.status.news/p/washington...

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Ken Pisani @kpsmartypants.bsky.social · 9h

👏👏👏👏👏

Brian Floyd @brianmfloyd.bsky.social · 11h

the guy who caught cal raleigh’s homer was wearing a shirt that said dump 61 here and he immediately took it off and had a shirt that said dump 62 here

Reposted by Ken Pisani

Democracy Forward @democracyforward.org · 13h

We’d also love to know what happened to the $50,000 Tom Homan allegedly took from FBI agents.

Luckily, we’ve sued for the receipts.

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Ken Pisani @kpsmartypants.bsky.social · 12h

👏👏👏

Melissa Sue Stanley 🌿✨🍄 IX Showcase, October @melissasuestanley.bsky.social · 12h

One more before I log off for the evening:

Just a reminder that the special price on the Artist Edition of Shackling ends tomorrow morning! So jump on that, lovers of doodled huts!

Kickstarter.com/projects/babayaga/shackling

Little graphite doodles on a white background. The doodles are all different shapes and sizes and styles of chicken-legged witch huts. They're pretty cute.

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Ken Pisani @kpsmartypants.bsky.social · 14h

These are good numbers for passage, but more than a third of Californians against the initiative and just over half for it is a depressing reality about how “blue” we really are.

Christopher Webb @cwebbonline.com · 1d

This is encouraging. Californians understood the assignment. We got loud and spread the word on Prop 50. This is a fight against Republican anti-democratic tactics, but we still have to vote.

Get those ballots in, early voting has started. We’re going to pass Prop 50.

Ken Pisani @kpsmartypants.bsky.social · 14h

“Rocky” has a unique arc in that it got awful and then very good again, although now it’s on a familiar wane.

Matt Singer @mattsinger.bsky.social · 16h

Food for thought: What is the worst franchise made from the best movie?

15 Great Movies That Were Ruined By Becoming Franchises

These classic films should never have gotten sequels.

screencrush.com

Ken Pisani @kpsmartypants.bsky.social · 15h

If this is true and high level Guild members are (really?) embracing it like this, then maybe we don’t have any right to ask for protections? I mean, can we whine about it in principle as an existential threat and then use it presumably to streamline the writers room? 🤔 Serious question.

Ken Pisani @kpsmartypants.bsky.social · 18h

There are a lot of disingenuous arguments to vote NO on Prop 50 but this one, that the ballot vote will cost $280 million, isn’t solved by voting NO on the ballot that will still cost $280 million no matter how you vote. Further evidence Republicans think their constituents are profoundly stupid.

Ken Pisani @kpsmartypants.bsky.social · 21h

I bailed on “Lot 49.” He’s tough. But probably deserves another shot.

Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 22h

The only Thomas Pynchon novel I've read is "The Crying of Lot 49." I've started and then abandoned "Gravity's Rainbow" twice. Is it time for me to give him yet another shot?

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Reposted by Ken Pisani

Alexandra Petri @petridishes.bsky.social · 22h

counterpoint: that speech was bad, actually, and even if it had been an email it would have been a bad email

If the Urgent Trump-Hegseth Address to the Military Had Been an Email

THIS IS NOT SPAM.

www.theatlantic.com

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Reposted by Ken Pisani

Katelyn Boo-urns @katelynburns.com · 22h

The biggest dumbass you've ever met in your life:

Opinion
Guest Essay

That Hegseth Speech Was Actually Pretty Good
Oct. 7, 2025, 5:01 a.m. ET

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Reposted by Ken Pisani

ElieNYC @elienyc.bsky.social · 1d

It's the first Monday in October which means the Supreme Court is back in session. Here's my preview of all the cruelty and evil they will visit upon us this term.
My *cover story* in @thenation.com :)

www.thenation.com/article/soci...

The Supreme Court v. Democracy

The Nation’s justice correspondent previews the court’s coming term—and explains why it will never stand up to Trump.

www.thenation.com

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Reposted by Ken Pisani

Sanho Tree @sanho.bsky.social · 22h

As everyone knows, there is nothing more threatening than a former president with a time machine and an axe to grind.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Ron Johnson: "Quite honestly, by now it should be obvious to every American that it's not the Republicans that are a threat to our democracy. It's President Obama, it's President Biden."

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Reposted by Ken Pisani

Imani Gandy Corn 🎃 @angryblacklady.blacksky.app · 22h

I notice that none of the people who usually live-tweet/skeet/post oral arguments are even bothering anymore. Including me.

Literally what's the point.

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Ken Pisani @kpsmartypants.bsky.social · 21h

“Bucking tradition.” Any media outlet this deliberately soft on the current administration deserves what happens to them.

NPR @npr.org · 1d

President Trump is bucking tradition and legal precedent in pushing to deploy the National Guard to Democratic-led cities like Portland, Oregon, and Chicago due to what he says is rampant crime and to support his crackdown on illegal immigration.

Trump's power to deploy National Guard, explained

President Trump is bucking tradition and legal precedent in pushing to deploy the National Guard to Democratic-led cities like Portland, Oregon, and Chicago due to what he says is rampant crime and to support his crackdown on illegal immigration.

n.pr

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Ken Pisani @kpsmartypants.bsky.social · 21h

If ICE agents don’t get paid I’m all for the shutdown.

FinTwitter @fintwitter.bsky.social · 22h

US House Speaker Johnson: Some legal analysts don't believe in shutdown backpay.

Reposted by Ken Pisani

Coach Finstock @coachfinstock.bsky.social · 22h

Hey CNN why are the gas prices on this photo so low? Ohhhh. I see. You're hoping no one notices this photo is from before the internet fucking existed. You shitheads.

CNN @cnn.com · 1d

"President Donald Trump and his top aides are using the word 'insurrection' more frequently to describe anti-ICE protests in places like Portland," writes Zachary B. Wolf. https://cnn.it/4pWYmzr

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Ken Pisani @kpsmartypants.bsky.social · 22h

This is only “pressure on Dems” if they fail to properly message “Republicans say they don’t have to pay you because they don’t give a shit about you or the job of governing.”

Marc Caputo @marcacaputo.bsky.social · 1d

The conventional wisdom is that furloughed federal workers get backpay when the shutdown ends

But a draft White House memo says that’s not the case as the Trump admin considers ratcheting up the pressure on Senate Dems to end the shutdown

News here 👇

www.axios.com/2025/10/07/t...

Scoop: White House memo says furloughed federal workers aren't entitled to backpay

A move to deny backpay to up to 750,000 furloughed workers would dramatically escalate Trump's pressure on Democrats to end the shutdown.

www.axios.com

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Reposted by Ken Pisani

Your Internet Friend Tom Tomorrow @tomtomorrow.bsky.social · 22h

new toon in phone-friendly format

tinyview.com/this-modern-...

Shutting down

Please be sure to check out my Kickstarter! This collection of five years' worth of TMW cartoons will not be in stores or on Amazon -- this is the only way to get a copy!

tinyview.com

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Ken Pisani @kpsmartypants.bsky.social · 22h

And yet.

Reposted by Ken Pisani

Gary Legum @glegum.bsky.social · 22h

"If the Democrats don't cave, Republicans won't pay you" does not actually put the pressure to resolve this on Dems.

bsky.app/profile/atru...

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 22h

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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Reposted by Ken Pisani

The Frito Bandito @thefritobanditoo.bsky.social · 1d

Kristi Noem was the governor of South Dakota when Biden was President. Guess what she said regarding Biden potentially federalizing the Guard.

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Reposted by Ken Pisani

Adam Parkhomenko @adamparkhomenko.bsky.social · 1d

There it is

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