Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Carolyn Shapiro

Mollie Katzen @molliekatzen.bsky.social · 9h

"President Trump continued to describe Portland as a city on fire Friday even as residents enjoyed the first fall rain and the lone demonstrator at the city’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement building was dressed as a pink Care Bear."

Sometimes there is a good sentence or two in the NYT.

20 500 2.3K

Reposted by Carolyn Shapiro

The New Republic @newrepublic.com · 11h

His slip of the tongue reveals who’s really in charge. trib.al/mIvP0yE

“Illinois governor says we’re provoking actions that are unlawful,” Miller said on CNN. “If I put federal law enforcement and National Guard into a nice sleepy Southern town, is anyone gonna riot?”

1.3K 6.2K 15K

Reposted by Carolyn Shapiro

Philip Bump @pbump.com · 13h

Oh, does it benefit the US to provide aid to foreign countries? That would have been good to know back in January and February.

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 16h

“Stabilizing Argentina is ‘America First’.”

🇦🇷 🇺🇸

110 810 3.6K

Reposted by Carolyn Shapiro

Joey Fishkin @fishkin.bsky.social · 13h

Apart from the massive invasion of academic freedom that this compact demands, MIT simply does not want a special leg up—it wants "open competition for excellence."

"In that free marketplace of ideas, the people of MIT gladly compete with the very best, without preferences."

A stunning rebuke.

Regarding the Compact | MIT Organization Chart

orgchart.mit.edu

1 10 39

Reposted by Carolyn Shapiro

David Noll @david.noll.org · 13h

i just got back from Antifa headquarters.

they're making an INSANE new set of demands.

first, the radical left is saying, "no money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in consequence of appropriations made by law."

David Noll @david.noll.org · 14h

interesting that if you say the constitution creates a separation of powers systems in which there are no kings, they think you hate america

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 19h

Emmer: "This is about one thing and one thing alone -- to score political points with the terrorist wing of their party, which is set to hold a hate America rally in DC next week."

12 160 690

Reposted by Carolyn Shapiro

Liz Szabo @lizszabo.bsky.social · 13h

Reductions in force “are not a new power these bozos get in a shutdown,” said Sen. Patty Murray (D., Wash.), the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, on social media. “We can’t be intimidated by these crooks.”

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

White House Starts Mass Layoffs of Government Workers

OMB chief Russell Vought made the announcement on social media as the shutdown continued.

www.wsj.com

7 18

Reposted by Carolyn Shapiro

Mark Joseph Stern @mjsdc.bsky.social · 16h

I think we need to be crystal clear about how Trump's creation of a nationwide police force—loyal only to him—threatens to create a feedback loop of lawlessness in which our constitutional right to dissent may vanish. slate.com/news-and-pol...

It is now beyond debate that one of Donald Trump’s key goals is the creation of a national police force that is loyal to him alone. To that end, the president has repeatedly federalized the National Guard—often over governors’ objections—and deployed troops to invade blue cities whose residents oppose his administration. He has also transformed Immigration and Customs Enforcement into a kind of secret police that targets, with especially sadistic brutality, journalists, protesters, and others exercising their First Amendment rights. Trump’s multifaceted attack on the Constitution creates a feedback loop of lawlessness: He first erodes the structural limits on his authority, then exploits his newly unchecked power to trample the people’s freedom to dissent.

11 150 360

Reposted by Carolyn Shapiro

Louis Römer @lromeranth.bsky.social · 1d

This from @aselrod.bsky.social resonates with the conversation that @sifill.bsky.social had with us at Vassar last week: "We have passed through the veil. Whatever becomes of American liberal democracy in the near or distant future, it will be a resurrection and not a continuation."

Alan Elrod @aselrod.bsky.social · 1d

I wrote about how hard it is to do politics in reality right now, both because of the fictions beings imposed on us and because of the fictions we maintain in our own minds. Read at @liberalcurrents.com

www.liberalcurrents.com/all-in-our-h...

All In Our Heads: On Losing Our Democracy and Life Beyond Our Imaginations

Our language has to meet the moment, and we have to be relentless about dispelling the fiction MAGA is selling.

www.liberalcurrents.com

1 18 45

Reposted by Carolyn Shapiro

Deva Woodly @devawo.bsky.social · 20h

“When courts close doors, people can open new ones… As the preamble to the document makes clear, “we the people” are the ultimate sovereigns.”

Opinion | The Constitution Doesn’t Belong to Trump or the Supreme Court

www.nytimes.com

13 38

Carolyn Shapiro @cshaplaw.bsky.social · 1d

Highly recommend the Tiny Desk concert.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouuP...

2 4

Carolyn Shapiro @cshaplaw.bsky.social · 1d

It’s fantastic!

1

Reposted by Carolyn Shapiro

Mel Buer @melbuer.bsky.social · 1d

Hehehe game five baby lets GO

a man holds up a white banner with a blue letter w on it

ALT: a man holds up a white banner with a blue letter w on it

media.tenor.com

3 35

Reposted by Carolyn Shapiro

James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 1d

Adventures in framing:

Headline presenting this as a real-world question. Rather than as another sign of deepening vortex of narcissistic delusion and detachment from reality.

Headline: Trump Has His Eyes on Nobel Prize. Will He Get It?

110 440 2.2K

Reposted by Carolyn Shapiro

Jen Rubin @jenrubin.bsky.social · 1d

ANTIFA:

200 2.5K 8.2K

Reposted by Carolyn Shapiro

southpaw @nycsouthpaw.bsky.social · 1d

No money flowing to USAID and hardly any to PEPFAR despite their duly enacted funding; well north of twenty billion dollars being deployed for other weird hair autocrats. www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

The U.S. just bailed out Argentina, treasury secretary confirms

The U.S. Treasury has finalized a financial rescue of Argentina, including a currency swap arrangement with the country’s central bank.

www.washingtonpost.com

170 1.2K 2.8K

Reposted by Carolyn Shapiro

Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 1d

www.wweek.com/culture/2025...

Can you put into words what that purpose is? You and the frog have really become icons of this protest.

There’s been a nice overall whimsy that has shown up. The frog is amazing. We had a bunch of other inflatable people here last night, too. I saw people playing Twister the other day.

What they rely on is fear. So by coming out in an absurdist manner, it speaks to them, to some extent, that we’re actually not that afraid.

It also dismantles their narrative a little bit. When they try to describe this situation as “war-torn,” it becomes much harder to take them seriously when they have to post a video saying [U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security] Kristi Noem is up on the balcony staring over the Antifa Army and it’s, like, eight journalists and five protesters and one of them is in a chicken suit.

94 3.1K 11K

Reposted by Carolyn Shapiro

Alex Wayne @aawayne.bsky.social · 1d

“Oklahomans would lose their mind if Pritzker in Illinois sent troops down to Oklahoma during the Biden administration.”

The Republican chair of the National Governors Association breaks with Trump.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/09/u...

Oklahoma’s Republican Governor Criticizes National Guard Deployment in Chicago

www.nytimes.com

44 640 2.8K

Carolyn Shapiro @cshaplaw.bsky.social · 1d

Ick

Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 1d

"30-year-old conservative lawyer and activist who is Trump’s nominee to lead the Office of Special Counsel, which deals with federal employee whistleblower complaints and discrimination" cancelled his colleague's hotel room so she would be forced to stay with him.
www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

In late July, Paul Ingrassia, the White House liaison for the Department of Homeland Security, arrived at a Ritz-Carlton in Orlando with a lower-ranking female colleague and others from their department. When the group reached the front desk, the woman learned she didn’t have a hotel room.

Ingrassia then informed her that she would be staying with him, according to five administration officials familiar with the episode. Eventually the woman discovered that Ingrassia had arranged ahead of time to have her hotel room canceled so she would have to stay with him, three of those officials said.

3

Reposted by Carolyn Shapiro

Leah Litman @leahlitman.bsky.social · 1d

Indicting political opponents & critics because they are political opponents & critics is terrifying.

It's completely inconsistent with the rule of law & democracy.

It should scare everyone - and (hopefully) will get people to realize that we all need to stand against this.

40 370 1.3K

Carolyn Shapiro @cshaplaw.bsky.social · 1d

This

Leah Litman @leahlitman.bsky.social · 1d

Indicting political opponents & critics because they are political opponents & critics is terrifying.

It's completely inconsistent with the rule of law & democracy.

It should scare everyone - and (hopefully) will get people to realize that we all need to stand against this.

3

Reposted by Carolyn Shapiro

Leah Litman @leahlitman.bsky.social · 1d

From the Supreme Court opinion granting Trump immunity:

"Investigative & prosecutorial decisionmaking is the special province of the Executive ... allegations that the requested investigations were shams or proposed for an improper purpose do not divest the President of [his] exclusive authority"

28 140 440

Reposted by Carolyn Shapiro

Elad Nehorai @eladn.bsky.social · 1d

I really cannot help but marvel at how, for a certain class, all behavior by a politician must be framed as a horse race, as opposed to genuine opposition.

At a time when Democrats are searching for leadership, Mr. Pritzker is trying to seize the moment to demonstrate it — to fuel opposition to Mr. Trump across the nation, and, perhaps, his future presidential ambitions.

14 59 390

Reposted by Carolyn Shapiro

Barred and Boujee aka Madiba Dennie @audrelawdamercy.bsky.social · 1d

for context, Alito, Gorsuch, and Thomas are already down to declare assault weapons bans unconstitutional, and in June, Kavanaugh indicated that he was *almost* ready, too

ballsandstrikes.org/scotus/kavan...

8 26 67

Carolyn Shapiro @cshaplaw.bsky.social · 1d

This. Immigration (as well as funding for scientific research) have made America great.

Jason Kuznicki @jkuznicki.bsky.social · 1d

How does the United States dominate the Nobels?

Immigration. Scientific mastery is a policy choice.

Speranta Dumitru @spe07.bsky.social · 1d

30%: #Immigrants are overrepresented amongst #Nobel winners 🏆
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

4

Carolyn Shapiro @cshaplaw.bsky.social · 1d

Many many thanks and kudos to @jonseidel.bsky.social for his live reporting on this case. Invaluable!

Jon Seidel @jonseidel.bsky.social · 1d

Good morning. U.S. District Judge April Perry just took the bench for oral arguments in Illinois v. Trump, over the deployment of the National Guard.

Jon Seidel @jonseidel.bsky.social · 1d

Ok, I'm in my seat and waiting as they fill up the gallery of Judge Perry's courtroom. Stay tuned.

4