Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted

Stephen Schwartz

@atomicanalyst.bsky.social

For more on this significant yet largely forgotten nuclear-weapons-related accident, see this excellent article in the November 2020 issue of Texas Monthly.

Remember That Time a Nuclear Weapons Bunker Blew Up in San Antonio?

In 1963, Lackland Air Force Base experienced a cataclysmic explosion. People thought World War III had started. Today, it's been almost completely forgotten.

www.texasmonthly.com

November 13, 2025 at 3:51 PM

Reposted

Jason Koebler

@jasonkoebler.bsky.social

Google considers ICE agents to be a vulnerable group in need of protecting but does not consider the immigrants they're hunting down to be vulnerable group

www.404media.co/google-has-c...

Google Has Chosen a Side in Trump's Mass Deportation Effort

Google is hosting a CBP app that uses facial recognition to identify immigrants, while simultaneously removing apps that report the location of ICE officials because Google sees ICE as a vulnerable gr...

www.404media.co

November 13, 2025 at 3:37 PM

Reposted

Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham

@paulgp.com

For folks (and journalists) who want to search the Oversight Committee email texts, I made a database for searching the 20k text files:

splendorous-chaja-f79791.netlify.app

Epstein Document Search

splendorous-chaja-f79791.netlify.app

November 13, 2025 at 1:12 AM

Reposted

Bolts

@boltsmag.org

The charge of “felony murder” allows defendants to be charged with the death of an accomplice, even when the killing was committed by someone else. Between 2009 and 2017, 83 percent of people charged with felony murder in Alabama were Black.

A Friend’s Death to Mourn, and to Serve Time for

An Alabama teen was shot alongside his friend, then prosecuted for his killing. His case highlights a particularly harsh doctrine in American criminal punishment: felony murder.

boltsmag.org

November 11, 2025 at 2:00 PM

Reposted

Alex Burness

@burness.bsky.social

A Republican sheriff in a swing county that Trump won by 0.1% signed a contract to help ICE, then lost last week by 11.

New by me in @boltsmag.org: boltsmag.org/sheriff-of-b...

Voters Ousted This Pennsylvania Sheriff After He Signed Up to Collaborate With ICE - Bolts

A populous, swing county replaced its GOP sheriff on Tuesday after months of controversy over his joining ICE’s 287(g) program. The Democratic winner promises he’ll end the contract.

boltsmag.org

November 10, 2025 at 7:20 PM

Reposted

emptywheel

@emptywheel.bsky.social

Todd Blanche says they're trying to insource attorney discipline so their crimes don't get people disbarred.

www.politico.com/news/2025/11...

Blanche said the Justice Department was looking to move the investigation of such complaints “in house” and only refer them to bar authorities if warranted.

Blanche also griped about media coverage, complaining that journalists paint Trump’s immigration actions as overly harsh, while ignoring past comments by prominent Democrats like Hillary Clinton urging “no questions asked” deportations for immigrants who’d committed crimes.

November 8, 2025 at 8:52 AM

Reposted

emptywheel

@emptywheel.bsky.social

Kristi Noem and Corey Lewandowski were going to buy 10 jets without engines from Spririt Airlines that Spirit didn't own.

www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

More broadly, officials across ICE say Noem and Lewandowski have directed them to use a $170 billion infusion of cash from Congress to launch splashy ideas that have proven ineffective or impractical.

Among the examples some ICE officials have cited: A few weeks ago, the pair ordered ICE officials to buy 10 737 jets from Spirit Airlines that they said would be used to boost deportation flights—and for their own travel, according to people familiar with the matter. Some officials warned the pair that the effort would be prohibitively expensive compared with hiring more flight contractors, the people said.

Once the officials looked into the proposal, they learned that Spirit, which filed for bankruptcy for a second time in August, didn’t own the planes. The planes also don’t have engines, which would need to be purchased separately. The project has since been put on pause, though DHS recently purchased two Gulfstream jets for $200 million, according to Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee, who were notified by the department.

A spokesperson for Spirit didn’t respond to a request for comment.

November 8, 2025 at 4:08 PM

Reposted

Chris Geidner

@chrisgeidner.bsky.social

BREAKING: Cornell caved.

Here is the settlement agreement, signed today by the university's president, Michael Kotlikoff: statements.cornell.edu/2025/documen...

SIGNATURES
For Cornell University:
Michael I. Kotlikoff
President of Cornell University
Office of the President
300 Day Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853
Ben the Winited States (including but not limited to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Servives and the U.S, Department of Education):
/N
istant Attorney General
U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20530
For the Department of Health and Human Services:
Paula Matana S
Paula M. Stannard
Director, Office for Civil Rights
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
200 Independence Avenue, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20201
Effective Date:
14/7/2025.

November 7, 2025 at 5:11 PM

Reposted

Lynda Lopez

@lyndab08.bsky.social

This account also feels in line with some of what other people that have been in Broadview have shared.

Lawsuit Alleges Inhumane Conditions at Broadview ICE Facility

Federal authorities moved two plaintiffs in the suit out of state; a judge has ordered they be returned Monday.

southsideweekly.com

November 7, 2025 at 3:40 AM

Reposted

James

@sirjamesa12.bsky.social

LOCAL ELECTION RESULT:

Let me congratulate @zysaidso.bsky.social for her election to the Charlottesville School Board.

For those wondering: Zyahna Bryant was a student organizer who led the successful fight in removing two confederate statues from downtown Charlottesville.

Image of Zyahna Bryant. She is wearing a lavender suit.

November 5, 2025 at 6:42 AM

Reposted

Taniel

@taniel.bsky.social

A big result: Maine voters have rejected the conservative ballot measure that'd have restricted ballot access.

The measure was going to impose voter ID, and restrict mail voting significantly.

It lost easily, a year before the crucial midterms there.

Our coverage: boltsmag.org/maine-questi...

November 5, 2025 at 3:35 AM

Reposted

Taniel

@taniel.bsky.social

JUST IN: Democrats have swept the 3 supreme court elections in Pennsylvania.

They beat back a concerted GOP effort to erase their majority; instead, they'll keep a 5-2 edge on this very important court.

Democrats Retain Control of Pennsylvania's Supreme Court with Three-Seat Sweep - Bolts

Three Democratic justices on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court have defeated an unusually high-profile Republican bid to unseat them. They secured large statewide victories on Tuesday, following an histo...

boltsmag.org

November 5, 2025 at 3:08 AM

Reposted

Taniel

@taniel.bsky.social

Zohran Mamdani has won, & will be the next mayor of NYC.

November 5, 2025 at 2:37 AM

Reposted

Taniel

@taniel.bsky.social

Alvin Bragg has won a second term race for DA of Manhattan.

The Democrat, who prosecuted Trump last year, was facing two challengers who were targeting him for going too far toward criminal justice reforms.

(The Republican nominee here was a prominent anti-trans voice.)

November 5, 2025 at 2:49 AM

Reposted

emptywheel

@emptywheel.bsky.social

Per @raskin.house.gov letter SDNY moved a still-active Epstein investigation to Main DOJ when Trump came in.

democrats-judiciary.house.gov/media-center...

In January 2025, there was a sudden and dramatic shift in the posture of the investigation.
SDNY prosecutors notified the survivors that they were sending their investigative files to
Washington, D.C. and that prosecutors at DOJ headquarters would be leading the investigation
moving forward. Yet it appears the case was not transferred so that it could be continued.
Unbeknownst to both survivors and SDNY prosecutors, it was transferred so that it could be
killed.

November 4, 2025 at 4:03 PM

Reposted

emptywheel

@emptywheel.bsky.social

Plaintiffs in the Chicago Headlines Club lawsuit claim that DHS is outright refusing to provide drone and BWC footage from a recent attack on peaceful protestors.

DHS is refusing to provide ANY drone footage which ... huh.

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

1. Plaintiffs filed a motion for expedited discovery to compel Defendants to produce
all video footage responsive to Plaintiffs’ requests for production Nos. 2 & 5 as ordered by the
Court for the incident October 23, 2025 in Little Village, Chicago, where Defendant Bovino
himself deployed tear gas munitions into a crowd. Dkt. 152.
2. As Plaintiffs motion pointed out, Defendants have posted video montages of this
incident to social media. Id. ¶¶3-4. Plaintiffs pointed out that Defendants social media included
what appears to be body worn camera footage “as well as drone footage” from the October 23rd
incident in Little Village. Id. The two cited DHS social media videos a relevant to this suit. One
Calls the events in Little Village a “riot,” id. n.2, while another purports to depict a rock being
thrown at Bovino, id. n.1.
3. The court granted the motion, and required Defendants to produce “both BWC
and drone footage” from the “use of force incidents on 10/30/2025 in the Little Village
neighborhood” by 9pm on October 29, 2025. Dkt. 159.
4. Defendants refuse to comply with this Court’s unequivocal order. Specifically,
Defendants have simply refused to produce drone footage from Little Village, despite the Court
ordering its production and despite the fact that the Defendants have used it in their social media
to support their contentions that the violence in Little Village (and throughout this District) is
justified.

November 4, 2025 at 10:47 AM

Reposted

emptywheel

@emptywheel.bsky.social

Busboys and Poets joins amicus in lawsuit fighting warrantless immigration arrests in DC.

www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
JOSE ESCOBAR MOLINA, et al., individually
and on behalf of all others similarly situated,
Plaintiffs,
v.
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND
SECURITY, et al.,
Defendants.
Case No. 1:25-cv-03417-BAH
BRIEF OF AMICI CURIAE BUSBOYS AND POETS, CHEFS STOPPING AAPI HATE,
COUNCIL FIRE, IMMIGRANT FOOD, IMPACT GC, MASA GROUP, THRIFT THE
DISTRICT, AND ERIK BRUNER-YANG IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS

November 3, 2025 at 4:54 PM

Reposted

emptywheel

@emptywheel.bsky.social

They've brought a new Loaner AUSA into the Comey case but (like the other one) w/o filing notice of appearance.

Document properties
File name: gov.uscourts.vaed.582135.138.0.pdf
File size: 449 KB
Title: -
Author: Stoughton, Kathleen (USASC)
Subject: -
Keywords: -
Created: 11/3/25, 9:04:27 PM
Modified: 11/3/25, 9:20:29 PM
Application: Acrobat PDFMaker 25 for Word

November 3, 2025 at 9:31 PM

Reposted

Don Moynihan

@donmoyn.bsky.social

ICE shot an American citizen and food bank worker who tried to block them arresting an immigrant by pulling his car in front of them.
After being released from hospital: "He is now facing charges for assault on a federal officer."
www.calonews.com/featured-top...

Carlos Jimenez, a 24-year-old U.S. citizen, was on his way to work at a food bank when he was shot by ICE officers in what a DHS spokesperson calls “defensive shots.”

On Thursday morning at approximately 6:30 a.m., ICE officers were at Vineyard Avenue in Ontario when Jimenez, who was not in the target vehicle, attempted to pull in front of the officers.

According to Javier Hernandez, executive director of the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice, Jimenez was trying to assist and provide aid to the person who was being stopped by ICE officers.

After Jimenez was shot in the shoulder, the LA Times and LA Taco reported that he drove to his brother’s house so he could take him to the hospital.

November 2, 2025 at 6:54 PM

Reposted

Don Moynihan

@donmoyn.bsky.social

One good way to destroy a society its to incentivize a snitch culture, where people learn to distrust one another. You don't have to look for Stasi examples. See state laws putting private bounties on women seeking an abortion.
From 2024 @adamserwer.bsky.social: www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

November 1, 2025 at 6:09 PM

Reposted

Charles GetCovered-ba ✡️

@charlesgaba.com

I looked it up...over 48,000 of those SNAP households are in Clay Higgins' district.

That's around 126,000 of his constituents, or 16% of the entire population of LA-03.

Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 14d

Rep. Clay Higgins of Louisiana blames SNAP recipients for not stockpiling a month's worth of food.

He ends his tweet with "stop smoking crack."

Rep. Clay Higgins:

There are 22 million American households receiving SNAP benefits for groceries, at $4200 per year on average.
Try to get your head wrapped around how many pantries you can stock with $4200 dollars in properly shopped groceries.
Any American who has been receiving $4200 dollars per year of free groceries and does NOT have at least 1 month of groceries stocked should never again receive SNAP, because wow, stop smoking crack.

November 1, 2025 at 1:01 PM

Reposted

Philip Bump

@pbump.com

I use Claude (an AI) to scan my posts for spelling and grammar errors. On the most recent post (about the East Wing, link below), I got a really amazing addendum.
www.pbump.net/o/yes-most-a...

October 30, 2025 at 3:03 PM

Reposted

emptywheel

@emptywheel.bsky.social

It took years of shaming before we got NYT to call torture torture (they used Enhanced Interrogation Technique).

Open to suggestions how we accelerate the process here.

M-U-R-D-E-R

NBC News @nbcnews.com · 14d

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says that the Pentagon carried out another "lethal kinetic strike" at President Trump's direction on a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing four men.