Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Laura Weiss @lauralew105.bsky.social · 7h

Apropos of nothing, here's my essay for @newrepublic.com from earlier this year about Covid's continued influence on our lives, whether we like it or not:
newrepublic.com/article/1927...
(Thanks again to @dceiver.bsky.social for letting me write it.)

The Pandemic Never Ended

Five years after Covid arrived on these shores, many believe the anxieties of the plague years are in the rearview mirror. But the threat is far from over.

newrepublic.com

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Reposted by Laura Weiss

Josh Cook @joshthelibromancer.bsky.social · 1d

Just a reminder! If you're buying books in support of #BannedBooksWeek buying from Amazon undercuts the broader project of social justice supporting the right to read is a part of. Get your banned books absolutely anywhere else!

Amazon is the invisible backbone of ICE’s immigration crackdown

Lobbying dollars and a cozy relationship with the government have given the tech giant an outsize influence in the Department of Homeland Security.

www.technologyreview.com

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Reposted by Laura Weiss

Benjamin Dreyer @bcdreyer.social · 4d

If you like yelling about misuse of the passive voice, THIS IS IT.

CNN @cnn.com · 5d

Adults and children alike were pulled from their Chicago apartments, crying and screaming, during a large overnight raid that has left tenants and neighbors shaken. https://cnn.it/4pPCXIt

37 people arrested and American kids separated from parents after ICE raid at Chicago apartments | CNN

Adults and children alike were pulled from their Chicago apartments, crying and screaming, during a large overnight raid that has left tenants and neighbors shaken.

www.cnn.com

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Laura Weiss @lauralew105.bsky.social · 4d

But also www.hhs.gov/press-room/h... sounds “good” but only supported by republicans…

www.hhs.gov

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Laura Weiss @lauralew105.bsky.social · 4d

Hmm, could be. I mean Jean Marazzo was “placed on involuntary administrative leave and told she would be transferred to the Indian Health Service” but this feels different. www.cbsnews.com/news/nih-whi...

NIH whistleblower details clash over childhood vaccines with Trump administration: "We became inconvenient"

A former NIH official says she was removed after clashes over vaccines, accusing RFK Jr. and his deputies of posing "a substantial and specific danger to public health and safety."

www.cbsnews.com

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Laura Weiss @lauralew105.bsky.social · 4d

(Also, Medicaid cuts are about to kneecap the Indian health service further than its already been defunded)

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Laura Weiss @lauralew105.bsky.social · 4d

Something about this feels very ominous to me. The govt is demonizing places like New York but then abruptly sending its top public health people to areas with mysterious public health crises in red states (measles?)

Maya Kaufman @mayakaufman.bsky.social · 7d

NEWS: The federal govt is sending NYC’s top disease control official to Arizona for a months-long stint at an Indian Health Service facility.

That could complicate local infectious disease response efforts.

“If we have an outbreak, then we’re fucked,” a city health department staffer told me.

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Reposted by Laura Weiss

Prism @prismreports.org · 5d

Trump’s health care cuts will negatively impact the communities that are already struggling most—people with disabilities, @lauralew105.bsky.social reports. When “people are dying in their districts,” lawmakers may then be compelled to recognize the government’s abandonment of vulnerable people.

Big Beautiful Bill' is deadly to vulnerable groups across the U.S.

Work requirements, increased red tape, and reduced eligibility for safety net programs will disproportionately impact poor people

prismreports.org

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Reposted by Laura Weiss

ACLU @aclu.org · 6d

BREAKING: Our client Mario Guevara, an Emmy-winning journalist detained by ICE in retaliation for livestreaming law enforcement activity, will be deported tomorrow to El Salvador.

Mario and his family are being punished for his reporting. This cruelty is meant to stifle our free press.

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AltSpaceForce 🚀🇺🇲 @altspaceforce.altgov.info · 7d

Day One

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aliciablackgirl.bsky.social @aliciablackgirl.bsky.social · 7d

The number of people that go bankrupt every year from medical bills:

Canada - 0

Australia- 0

France - 0

Sweden - 0

Norway - 0

Spain - 0

Portugal - 0

UK - 0

Finland - 0

Iceland - 0

Germany - 0

United States - 326,000

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Molly Jong-Fast @mollyjongfast.bsky.social · 7d

The awesome video team at the New York Times helped me make this video about the shutdown and Obamacare premiums.

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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 8d

FUCK ICE FOREVER

Till Eckert @tilleckert.com · 8d

1/ DEVELOPING: A journalist was rushed to New York-Presbyterian Hospital following another incident with an ICE agent at 26 Federal Plaza, an immigration court in NYC. The last I heard, he was getting X-rays for his lower back.

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Brad Lander @bradlander.bsky.social · 8d

Another violent attack by an ICE officer on a civilian at 26 Federal Plaza—this time on a journalist, who had to be carried out on stretcher.

Another attack on the First Amendment, our neighbors, and our democracy.

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Anodyne @anodynesix.bsky.social · 9d

"It's shameful ... that we live in the richest country in the world, yet we are cutting nearly a trillion dollars in lifesaving and life-sustaining health care for people who need it most."

Laura Weiss @lauralew105.bsky.social · 9d

The Medicaid cuts will harm the most vulnerable and threaten to bring the already-failing healthcare system to its knees. Been at this one for a while @prismreports.org.
Thanks @newdisabledsouth.org @pnhp.bsky.social @soumya-goblue.medsky.social & more for comments
prismreports.org/2025/09/29/b...

Big Beautiful Bill' is deadly to vulnerable groups across the U.S.

Work requirements, increased red tape, and reduced eligibility for safety net programs will disproportionately impact poor people

prismreports.org

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Laura Weiss @lauralew105.bsky.social · 9d

The Medicaid cuts will harm the most vulnerable and threaten to bring the already-failing healthcare system to its knees. Been at this one for a while @prismreports.org.
Thanks @newdisabledsouth.org @pnhp.bsky.social @soumya-goblue.medsky.social & more for comments
prismreports.org/2025/09/29/b...

Big Beautiful Bill' is deadly to vulnerable groups across the U.S.

Work requirements, increased red tape, and reduced eligibility for safety net programs will disproportionately impact poor people

prismreports.org

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Reposted by Laura Weiss

Prism @prismreports.org · 9d

Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ is deadly to already vulnerable groups across the U.S., @lauralew105.bsky.social reports. Work requirements, increased red tape, & reduced eligibility for Medicaid & other safety net programs will disproportionately impact poor people of marginalized backgrounds.

Big Beautiful Bill' is deadly to vulnerable groups across the U.S.

Work requirements, increased red tape, and reduced eligibility for safety net programs will disproportionately impact poor people

prismreports.org

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Laura Weiss @lauralew105.bsky.social · 9d

That the government even has to subsidize premiums — and that they’re so unaffordable in the first place—is due to insurance company greed. www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/09/25/potential-government-shutdown-over-obamacare-tax-credits/86186415007/

www.usatoday.com

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Laura Weiss @lauralew105.bsky.social · 11d

😤 I feel this!!!

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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 13d

I’m at the New Yorkers Against ICE rally in Foley Square with hundreds of others.

Earlier today ICE agents threw a grieving wife of a detainee to the ground inside 26 Federal Plaza, just steps from here.

Elected officials @bradlander.bsky.social, @jumaane.bsky.social and others are speaking.

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Laura Weiss @lauralew105.bsky.social · 13d

🫠

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Laura Weiss @lauralew105.bsky.social · 13d

I looked for weeks from now… maybe I’ll call. Thanks!

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Laura Weiss @lauralew105.bsky.social · 13d

Still not seeing them!

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Will Bunch @willbunch.bsky.social · 13d

I'm struggling to contain my anger over the government's handling of the ICE shooting in Dallas - specifically, the refusal to publicly identify three human beings who were killed or seriously wounded

These monsters do everything possible to dehumanize refugees. We can't let them get away with it

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dan sinker @dansinker.com · 13d

Dave Matthews has the opportunity to do the funniest thing.

Alyssa @alyssad.bsky.social · 13d

Hmmm....

US Border Patrol docks along Chicago Harbor Lock as part of immigration blitz

U.S. Border Patrol is making its presence known on Lake Michigan, the only Great Lake without a foreign border.

www.chicagotribune.com

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