Laura Thorsett
LightNews LightNews
laurathorsett.bsky.social
Laura Thorsett
@laurathorsett.bsky.social
280 followers 130 following 380 posts
Polling at GBAO. Posting about politics, TEC, child welfare, ed policy, and women's soccer. West coast best coast.
Posts Replies Media Videos
laurathorsett.bsky.social
This is a **one-time tax** that applies to a very small number of very well-resourced people based on their residency on a **specific day.**

This is not "they will uproot their lives" like "rich people will leave New York."

This is "they will go to their vacation home for a short time."
nytimes.com The New York Times @nytimes.com · 9h
Billionaires are considering cutting or reducing their ties to California by the end of the year because of a proposed ballot measure that could tax the state’s wealthiest residents.
A Wealth Tax Floated in California Has Billionaires Thinking of Leaving
It’s uncertain whether the proposal will reach the statewide ballot in November, but some billionaires like Peter Thiel and Larry Page may be unwilling to take the risk.
nyti.ms
December 27, 2025 at 4:11 AM
laurathorsett.bsky.social
15d = £0.75
£0.75 pounds in 1843 = £83.18 today
£83.18 today = $111.23

Assuming a 40 hour week (which is not what Cratchit was working...), that is $2.78 an hour.

Math is fun, but apparently not as fun as making things up?
December 14, 2025 at 3:51 AM
Reposted by Laura Thorsett
chrislhayes.bsky.social
I truly do not think these moves are going to have the effect that the people pushing for them are hoping for.

www.nytimes.com/2025/12/12/u...
Harvard Replaces Leader of Health Center Said to Have Focused on Palestinians
www.nytimes.com
December 13, 2025 at 7:46 PM
Reposted by Laura Thorsett
ericmgarcia.bsky.social
Also, I should add, as much as Bluesky hates Colin Allred, he outperformed Kamala Harris in 2024 and won parts of the Rio Grande Valley.
December 7, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Reposted by Laura Thorsett
paleofuture.bsky.social
They were 8 and 11 years old
Asked for comment by Sky News, the IDF responded: "Earlier today, IDF troops identified two suspects who crossed the yellow line, conducted suspicious activities on the ground, and approached IDF troops operating in the southern Gaza Strip, posing an immediate threat to them. "Following the identification, the IAF eliminated the suspects in order to remove the threat."
December 2, 2025 at 6:50 AM
Reposted by Laura Thorsett
gelliottmorris.com
it looks like the "mississippi" miracle in reading scores was due to be a pretty basic stats error in the design of the experimental study (selecting on the dependent variable)... a lotta people Got Got on this one! statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2025/12/01/h...
December 1, 2025 at 8:32 PM
Reposted by Laura Thorsett
annabower.bsky.social
Harvard Law School’s Jack Goldsmith:

“In short, if the Post’s facts are correct, it appears that Special Operations Forces committed murder when the ‘two men were blown apart in the water, as the Post put it.’”

open.substack.com/pub/executiv...
11:19 14 in shot, i the Post's facts are correct it appears that Special Operations Forces committed murder when the "two men were blown apart in the water," as the Post put it. It is unclear from the Post's Seporting precisely what role Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth
November 29, 2025 at 4:25 AM
Reposted by Laura Thorsett
mollyquell.bsky.social
November 28, 2025 at 8:01 PM
Reposted by Laura Thorsett
mollyquell.bsky.social
Some light reading of the Rome Statue on a Friday evening.
Article 8 (2) (e) (x) War crime of denying quarter Elements 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. The perpetrator declared or ordered that there shall be no survivors. Such declaration or order was given in order to threaten an adversary or to conduct hostilities on the basis that there shall be no survivors. The perpetrator was in a position of effective command or control over the subordinate forces to which the declaration or order was directed.
November 28, 2025 at 7:47 PM
Reposted by Laura Thorsett
hankgreen.bsky.social
Neither Montana nor California have legalized in-app gambling and the fact that those two very different states agree on this should be a signal to everywhere else.
November 28, 2025 at 6:27 PM
Reposted by Laura Thorsett
katz.theracket.news
I don’t know who needs to read this but the Farragut Metro station is not the White House.
November 27, 2025 at 12:52 AM
Reposted by Laura Thorsett
oliviamesser.bsky.social
79-year-old Paul Bojerski was born to Polish parents in a WWII German refugee camp. His family legally emigrated to the U.S. when he was 5.

He’s been taken by ICE in Florida.

www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/11/16/s...
Sanford grandfather, born in refugee camp, nabbed by ICE after 70 years in U.S.
Paul Bojerski never gained official residency, but he checked in regularly with ICE for years. Then in July, at age 79, he was detained and sent to Alligator Alcatraz.
www.orlandosentinel.com
November 17, 2025 at 2:18 PM
Reposted by Laura Thorsett
ashtonpittman.bsky.social
Meanwhile, here's an example of the horrendous things found in Hillary Clinton's emails—the only story worth covering for any serious news outlet in 2016, apparently.

This email is also regarding a child who suffered abuse from a grown man.
From: Sent: To: Subject: H <hrod17@clintonemail.com> Friday, August 28, 2009 4:39 PM verveerms@state.gov' Noori Ali Do you recall Noori Ali(?), the ten year. old Yemeni girl who got herself divorced? I met her at the Glamour awards last year. There was a CNN story last few days about how unhappy she is, still living at home, not attending school and quite angry that her life is not better. Is there any way we can help her? Could we get her to the US for counselling and education?
November 13, 2025 at 2:09 PM
laurathorsett.bsky.social
I don't know if I believe in the Devil, but this is 100% from the Devil.
November 14, 2025 at 10:38 PM
Reposted by Laura Thorsett
xkcd.com
Car Size

xkcd.com/3167/
4-panel vertical comic. (1) 100 Years Ago [two people standing next to bicycle with small car nearby] PERSON 1: It’s too dangerous riding a bike with these cars around. I should get a car, too. (2) 50 Years Ago [two people between smaller car and bigger car] PERSON 2 with short hair: Small cars are less safe in collisions with larger vehicles, so I should get a bigger one. (3) Today [two people between big car and even bigger car] PERSON 1: Everyone has huge SUVs now. If I don’t get the biggest one, I’m putting my family at risk. (4) Soon [two people next to large armored car with spiked clubs attached] PERSON 2: If I don’t install more whirling spike clubs, I’ll be destroyed by all the other drivers who...
November 14, 2025 at 9:15 PM
laurathorsett.bsky.social
Is J.P. Morgan (1837-1913) a vampire? A zombie? Has he been reincarnated? I have a lot of questions.
atrupar.com Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · Nov 14
he’s crashing out
Now that the Democrats are using the Epstein Hoax, involving Democrats, not Republicans, to try and deflect from their disastrous SHUTDOWN, and all of their other failures, I will be asking A.G. Pam Bondi, and the Department of Justice, together with our great patriots at the FBI, to investigate Jeffrey Epstein’s involvement and relationship with Bill Clinton, Larry Summers, Reid Hoffman, J.P. Morgan, Chase, and many other people and institutions, to determine what was going on with them, and him. This is another Russia, Russia, Russia Scam, with all arrows pointing to the Democrats. Records show that these men, and many others, spent large portions of their life with Epstein, and on his “Island.” Stay tuned!!!
November 14, 2025 at 4:57 PM
Reposted by Laura Thorsett
caitlindeangelis.bsky.social
ICE kidnapped a 7th-grader with a pending asylum claim and spirited him out of state without notifying his parents, seemingly with the cooperation of the local police in Everett, MA.

www.bostonglobe.com/2025/10/12/m...
Everett 13-year-old arrested by ICE and sent to Virginia detention facility By Marcela Rodrigues Globe Staff,Updated October 12, 2025, 44 minutes ago 31 A 13-year-old boy was arrested by ICE in Everett and sent to a juvenile detention facility in Virginia. A 13-year-old boy was arrested by ICE in Everett and sent to a juvenile detention facility in Virginia. A 13-year-old boy was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Everett after an interaction with members of the Everett Police Department and sent to a juvenile detention facility in Virginia, according to his mother and immigration lawyer Andrew Lattarulo. The boy’s mother, Josiele Berto, was called to pick her son up from the Everett Police Department on Thursday, the day he was arrested. After waiting for about an hour and a half, she was told her son was taken by ICE, Berto told the Globe in a phone interview. “My world collapsed,” Berto said in Portuguese. From the police department, the boy was taken to ICE’s holding facility in Burlington on Thursday evening, where he spent a night before being transferred by car to the Northwestern Regional Juvenile Detention Center in Winchester, Va., on Friday morning, his mother said. The juvenile facility is more than 500 miles away from Everett. The boy is a 7th-grader at Albert N. Parlin School in Everett, his mother said. The teen and his family, who are Brazilian nationals, have a pending asylum case and are authorized to work legally in the United States, Lattarulo said.
October 12, 2025 at 9:43 PM
laurathorsett.bsky.social
If you tell me 8 days before the meeting to discuss and approve the budget that we cannot discuss the budget at the meeting, I'm going to assume you're doing something shady.

Especially when paired with "we have a one year grace period where we don't have to follow the organization's bylaws."
October 12, 2025 at 12:27 AM
Reposted by Laura Thorsett
thedailyshow.com
The following is REAL footage from Portland, 2025. Viewer discretion is advised.
October 9, 2025 at 8:23 PM
Reposted by Laura Thorsett
shaanthx.bsky.social
“In the Capitol, Representative Hòa Nguyễn will be remembered for pouring her heart and soul into bringing communities together.”

oregoncapitalchronicle.com/2025/10/09/o...
Oregon Rep. Hòa Nguyễn dies at 41 after cancer diagnosis • Oregon Capital Chronicle
Oregon State Rep. Hòa Nguyễn, D-Portland, died Thursday morning following a months-long battle with advanced stage cancer. She was 41.
oregoncapitalchronicle.com
October 9, 2025 at 6:25 PM
Reposted by Laura Thorsett
astrokatie.com
Every time he does this a calculator somewhere in the country spontaneously bursts into flames
atrupar.com Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · Oct 9
Trump: "We're gonna be reducing the cost of medicines by 100%, 200%, 300%, 500% and even more than that."
October 9, 2025 at 7:46 PM
Reposted by Laura Thorsett
ericmgarcia.bsky.social
One of the least surprising revelations from Kamala Harris's book was the fact that Joe Biden couldn't bring himself to empathize as much with the Palestinians as he did Ukrainians, saying simply "I am a Zionist."
www.timesofisrael.com/harris-biden...
Harris: Biden couldn’t show Gazans empathy, support for Netanyahu helped lose election
PM disregarded White House loyalty, 'wanted Trump in the seat opposite him,' former US vice president and Democratic nominee says in her account of failed 2024 presidential campaign
www.timesofisrael.com
October 9, 2025 at 8:50 PM
Reposted by Laura Thorsett
trustedreveler.bsky.social
LA: we will fight you.

Chicago: we will fight you.

PDX: we will make you endure week after week of of improv theater.
October 8, 2025 at 1:38 AM
Reposted by Laura Thorsett
donmoyn.bsky.social
The elimination of USAID is a moral atrocity and all involved made a choice to enable, and then lie about, ending the lives of some of the most vulnerable people in the world.
MAE SOT, Thailand (AP) - Mohammed Taher clutched the lifeless body of his 2-year-old son and wept. Ever since his family's food rations stopped arriving at their internment camp in Myanmar in April, the father had watched helplessly as his once-vibrant baby boy weakened, suffering from diarrhea and begging for food. On May 21, exactly two weeks after Taher's little boy died, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio sat before Congress and declared: "No one has died" because of his government's decision to gut its foreign aid program. Rubio also insisted: "No children are dying on my watch." That, Taher says, "is a lie."
October 8, 2025 at 2:09 PM
laurathorsett.bsky.social
What insane coding issue makes Siri interpret "set timer hour and a half" as "set timer for one hour and two minutes"?
October 6, 2025 at 11:52 PM