Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Randy Hart

Brandon Friedman @brandonfriedman.bsky.social · 1d

The government is shooting priests in the head with pepper balls. I feel like this is a kitchen table issue.

Kurt @flglchicago.bsky.social · 1d

Here’s video of the incident

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Reposted by Randy Hart

Alt18F @alt18f.bsky.social · 1d

🗣️ We're hosting an archival version of "plainlanguage.gov" to help make sure this trusted resource remains available to folks who need it.

plainlanguage.gov | Home

Plain language makes it easier for the public to read, understand, and use government communications.

plainlanguage.18f.org

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John Skiles Skinner @skiles.blue · 5d

"Unsure of which systems are still safe from foreign spies, judicial officials have elected to revert to paper filing... It's unclear how these filings will ever become public."

Huh if only the government had some kind of computer people to fix this

Exclusive: Chief Justice “Stonewalls Congress" on PACER Hack, Senator Says

The Courts sidestep a congressional request for independent review. Post-hack procedures have significantly reduced transparency in the judicial system.

www.courtwatch.news

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Randy Hart @randyhart.bsky.social · 4d

Great article. DNC should fired all their consultants.

Molly Jong-Fast @mollyjongfast.bsky.social · 4d

Here’s a gift link to my New York Times piece on what Dems can learn from bad bunny

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/04/o...

Opinion | What Chuck Schumer Can Learn From Bad Bunny

www.nytimes.com

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 5d

Running out of ways to communicate they are violating the consntitution

Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 5d

Trump calls for ICE and other cops to enforce his executive order banning flag burning, something that’s blatantly unconstitutional given Texas v Johnson (1989), which established flag burning as protected speech.

To ICE, Border Patrol, Law Enforcement, and all U.S. Military: As per my August 25, 2025
Executive Order, please be advised that, from this point forward, anybody burning the American Flag will be subject to one year in prison. You will be immediately arrested. Thank you for your attention to this matter!
5 ReTruths 32 Likes
10/3/25, 4:26 PM

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Alt18F @alt18f.bsky.social · 9d

"The inspector general’s office for the General Services Administration ... said it will look at the impact of several DOGE-backed projects at GSA—including its mass termination of government leases and its decision to shutter its tech office 18F."

Agency watchdog will see if DOGE-led projects improved efficiency

DOGE officials no longer take up residence in GSA’s headquarters. But its legacy on government operations will be a priority for its IG office in FY 2026.

federalnewsnetwork.com

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Kelly Barnhill @kellybarnhill.bsky.social · 10d

Democracy dies in a political consultant's messaging strategy.

Andrew Perez @andrewperez.bsky.social · 10d

someone got the dumb memo www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

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John Skiles Skinner @skiles.blue · 10d

Imagine the hubris required to burst into the largest socio-technical system on earth and just start yanking out wires, thinking you are genius. Mass-emailing insulting messages and thinking people will welcome your help. Destroying careers, killing kids in Africa, and thinking you're the hero.

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Peter Morley ♿️ @petermorley.bsky.social · 10d

The unsung heroes of America: lifelong agency workers at Social Security, Medicare, VA and so many other agencies who are staying there to ensure the American people are taken care of. They didn’t have to stay. They are being worked into the ground. Thank you with all of my heart.🙏

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Alex Spahn 🌋🌪️☄️ @spahn711.bsky.social · 11d

🙌

A meme that says "live your life in such a way that if the escalator stops, you don't assume it's because people hate you."

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 12d

New from me: Russ Vought is using federal employees as hostages in federal shutdown negotiations, threatening mass firings if Dems do not accept Trump's terms.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court just allowed Vought to impose a de facto impoundment of foreign aid.

donmoynihan.substack.com/p/shutdown-h...

Shutdown hostage taking

Russ Vought's threatens more mass firings; SCOTUS blesses his de facto impoundment

donmoynihan.substack.com

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Helen Kennedy @helenkennedy.bsky.social · 12d

It will be interesting in a bleak sort of way to see how the Court decides the clear wording of the Constitution isn’t what it appears to be.

Anthony Michael Kreis @anthonymkreis.bsky.social · 12d

Trump asks Supreme Court to decide whether he can end birthright citizenship www.cnn.com/2025/09/26/p...

Trump asks Supreme Court to decide whether he can end birthright citizenship | CNN Politics

The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Friday to review the constitutionality of President Donald Trump’s executive order seeking to end birthright citizenship, pushing the issue back bef...

www.cnn.com

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Cyd Harrell @cydharrell.bsky.social · 13d

I know there are 50 million things going on, but this is pretty important (Democrats doing something, formal documentation of DOGE) www.hsgac.senate.gov/wp-content/u...

www.hsgac.senate.gov

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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 18d

There is no world in which it is normal for the president to publicly call upon his attorney general to hurry up and prosecute his political foes. It’s like the Watergate tapes but posted on social media. Let’s get a grip on what’s happening here.

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Joshua Erlich @joshuaerlich.bsky.social · 22d

folks, I want to remind you that a ton of federal workers are about to get their last pay check at the end of this month and this stuff is going to get much worse

FinTwitter @fintwitter.bsky.social · 22d

GOOGLE SEARCHES FOR “HELP WITH MORTGAGE” SURPASS 2008 GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS PEAK, SIGNALING GROWING FINANCIAL STRAIN ON U.S. HOUSEHOLDS

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Randy Hart @randyhart.bsky.social · 22d

This story is bananas and I believe every word of it.

Pam Herd @pamherd.bsky.social · 22d

“DOGE, he said, began acting like “a bunch of people who didn’t know what they were doing, with ideas of how government should run — thinking it should work like a McDonald’s or a bank — screaming all the time.”

The Untold Saga of What Happened When DOGE Stormed Social Security

DOGE has ignored urgently needed reforms and upgrades at the Social Security Administration, according to dozens of insiders and 15 hours of candid interviews with the former acting chief of the agenc...

www.propublica.org

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Waldo Jaquith @waldo.net · 25d

The Trump administration knew that they could fire thousands of people, and by the time courts got around to issuing a ruling, it would be too late for any meaningful action to be taken. That's precisely what has happened. Now they'll keep doing it, because it works.

Mass Firing of Probationary Federal Employees Was Illegal, Judge Rules

www.nytimes.com

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Randy Hart @randyhart.bsky.social · 28d

Got fired by DOGE in February via a midnight email after 23 years of federal service. Got hired by a great company doing federal, state, and local benefits work and still enjoying the work.

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Aaron Snow @aaronsnow.net · Sep 8

Shot: "The last [18F] report urged the courts to 'start small.'"

Chaser: "In mid-2022, the administrative office awarded a five-year, $298 million contract to General Dynamics Information Technology."

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/03/u...

Federal Courts Slow to Fix Vulnerable System After Repeated Hacking

www.nytimes.com

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Randy Hart @randyhart.bsky.social · Sep 6

# hi

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Jacob Harris @jacobharr.is · Sep 6

This company just named Stephen Ehikian of DOGE/GSA as its new CEO

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · Sep 6

Real shame when your panopticon doesn’t work out as planned.

Billionaire Tom Siebel's C3 AI Was Supposed To Speed Up Policing. It’s Not Going Well.

San Mateo County pumped $12 million into a grand AI surveillance system that was supposed to level up its police work. Three years later, it still hasn’t seen the benefits.

www.forbes.com

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Mike Boylan-Kolchin @mbkplus.bsky.social · Sep 4

This is consistent with the hypothesis that they just fired people at random

Sia At The Game @rhpsia.bsky.social · Sep 4

NEW: US Treasury watchdog finds that of the 7,315 IRS workers terminated by DOGE, just 43 were documented underperformers. Almost 50% of the fired employees had been appraised as working at or above expectations. www.icij.org/news/2025/09... via @icij.org

Watchdog report finds overwhelming majority of IRS employees fired by DOGE for performance had no documented issues - ICIJ

A new report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration notes that the termination letters were written for the agency by the OPM and its cuts failed to follow internal IRS procedures.

www.icij.org

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Randy Hart @randyhart.bsky.social · Aug 29

Best thing I’ve read on what’s going on here

Ethan Marcotte @ethanmarcotte.com · Aug 27

🦊

I wrote about the administration’s “national design studio,” and how its shoddy construction isn’t a mistake. It’s a clear signal of priorities, and ones we need to actively, urgently rebuke. ethanmarcotte.com/wrote/a-noti...

A notional design studio. — ethanmarcotte.com

A design language, if you can keep it.

ethanmarcotte.com

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Waldo Jaquith @waldo.net · Aug 25

This would be like shutting down the Federal Highway Administration in 1970 and then, six months later, announcing an exciting new idea: the country could build build big roads all across the country, perhaps topped with some kind of hardened surface that research could identify.

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Randy Hart @randyhart.bsky.social · Aug 25

I bet they turned a chatGPT produced em dash into another comma in this sentence. Which makes it an even worse sentence.

“The USA stands for freedom, independence, and dreams, yet to those who live here, the government is known for being slow, hard to use, and often stuck in the past.”

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