Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Carolyn Sissoko

The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 4h

Imagine that

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Reposted by Carolyn Sissoko

Walter Olson @walterolson.bsky.social · 15h

New from me at Cato: I go through the numerous and massive First Amendment and academic-freedom violations of Trump's proffered "compact" with universities and then talk about the mechanism by which it would be enforced, by way of what I describe as a "retroactive push-button guillotine."

Universities Must Defend Their Independence by Rejecting Trump's "Compact"

The Trump administration has proffered a “compact” to universities that would require them to surrender their independence and academic freedom. How many First Amendment violations can we identify in ...

www.cato.org

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Jump! @dla.bsky.social · 14h

It’s our time to defend Democracy. The next nationwide “No Kings” protest is October 18, 2025. Find a protest near you and bring 1-3 people with you so we can reach the 3.5% needed to stop our country’s slide into authoritarianism:
www.americanprogress.org/article/how-...

How Peaceful Protest by Just 3.5 Percent of Americans Could Force Major Policy Changes From the Trump Administration

History shows that when just 3.5 percent of a population—about 12 million Americans—engage in peaceful protest, their demands become nearly impossible to ignore. This is particularly relevant today, a...

www.americanprogress.org

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Boo-is @louisevans.bsky.social · 18h

It’s maybe not shocking that the institutions closest to fact—district judges, juries—have proven most robust against an onslaught of lies, but it’s to journalism’s eternal shame that it has behaved like the political institutions and not the honest ones.

Quinta Jurecic @qjurecic.bsky.social · 18h

unlike the rest of these folks (and unlike appellate judges and supreme court justices), the job of a district judge is essentially to see what's in front of them

Chris Hayes @chrislhayes.bsky.social · 18h

It's very striking how clearly they seem to see what's right in front of their faces in way that so many others -- law firm partners, university presidents, members of congress, and on and on -- refuse to.

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Barred and Boujee aka Madiba Dennie @audrelawdamercy.bsky.social · 14h

[disclaimer: i'm just talkin, these are normative statements, idk and am not commenting on what infrastructure exists irl]

there has to be a way to absorb some of these people into state health departments..or set up an interstate body to keep tryna do this work..we just cant lose all this capacity

Sheryl Gay Stolberg @sherylnyt.bsky.social · 15h

BREAKING: Friday night massacre underway at CDC. Doznes of "disease detectives," high-level scientists, entire Washington staff and editors of the MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) have all been RIFed and received the following notice:

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Sheryl Gay Stolberg @sherylnyt.bsky.social · 15h

BREAKING: Friday night massacre underway at CDC. Doznes of "disease detectives," high-level scientists, entire Washington staff and editors of the MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) have all been RIFed and received the following notice:

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Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 15h

Law and order www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Nearly half of FBI agents in major offices reassigned to immigration enforcement

Data shows stunning shift in law enforcement priorities that has raised public safety concerns

www.theguardian.com

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NightMar on Hicks Street, Part 4: The Rabbit’s Revenge @histoftech.bsky.social · 20h

The Virginia Senate just told UVA it’s not getting state funding if it accepts the compact since UVA exists to serve Virginia, its residents, & their interests—not be a tool of the federal govt. Scoop from our student newspaper, who’ve been doing vital reporting www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2025...

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Dana Houle @danahoule.bsky.social · 17h

Press needs to assume everything McLaughlin says is a lie. On Saturday within an hour or so of it happening, she was tweeting about the woman they shot and
Everything
She
Said
Was
A
Lie

Jacqueline Sweet @jsweetli.bsky.social · 19h

WGN, this woman’s employer, is now reporting she was not charged with any crimes and was released.

DHS said earlier she was arrested for assault for throwing objects at agents.

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Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · 18h

Huh: TikTok took down my 8-second video featuring this image of Debbie Brockman — the news producer just detained by Trump’s CBP agents — saying it violates the “joy of TikTok”

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Slackermom @slackermom.bsky.social · 21h

Was just at a neighborhood school at dismissal. Hundreds of people with whistles surrounding the school and stationed down every block making sure ICE doesn’t snatch anyone. The same is happening at all the schools around here. I love my neighborhood and I love Chicago.

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Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 1d

Appalling: JB Pritzker tells me he hasn't been able to get a single conversation with Kristi Noem or any other top Trump officials to even discuss their Chicago operations. Pritzker just wants a heads up for logistical purposes. Nada.

Pritzker opens up on the pod:
newrepublic.com/article/2016...

Trump ICE Raids Take Unnerving Turn as Dem Gov Drops Bombshell Warning

With Trump’s occupation of Chicago worsening, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker shares new details about what’s happening—and tells us the time is now for Americans to rise up against authoritarianism bef...

newrepublic.com

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jael holzman @jael.bsky.social · 15d

Scoop: Trump lost the legal battle over halting the offshore Revolution Wind project after Orsted, its developer, brought reams of evidence to court alleging the government was lying about military security concerns.

It’s a sign truth can empower companies Trump targets.

Via @heatmap.news

How Trump’s Case Against Revolution Wind Fell Apart

The administration argued in the name of national defense — but Orsted had receipts.

heatmap.news

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Costa Samaras @costasamaras.com · 1d

Picture how big the Hoover Dam is. An absolute unit. The Hoover Dam has a power capacity of 2 gigawatts (GW).

The solar farm that the Admin just cancelled could have produces 6.2 GW of power. That's more than 3 Hoover Dams.

jael holzman @jael.bsky.social · 1d

SCOOP: The Bureau of Land Management says the largest solar project in Nevada — the Esmeralda 7 mega-farm — has been canceled

The news was quietly dropped via a sudden website update with no public word from any of the companies involved or a statement from the agency

@heatmap.news

Esmeralda 7 Solar Project Has Been Canceled, BLM Says

It would have delivered a gargantuan 6.2 gigawatts of power.

heatmap.news

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mtsw @mtsw.bsky.social · 1d

Thiessen having a good chuckle about his fired liberal colleagues - some of whom he worked with for 15 years - is a good reminder that token conservatives at mainstream news outlets are/were there to destroy them, not to contribute to them.

Philip Bump @pbump.com · 1d

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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

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Alex Wayne @aawayne.bsky.social · 2d

“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

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Matt Gabriele @profgabriele.com · 1d

I know this case is all over - & it should be - but Turning Point USA has waged a harassment campaign against faculty for more than a decade. I know of at least a half dozen other faculty, personally, who have received death threats and several of those who felt so unsafe they too left their homes

David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 1d

Are we great yet?

Mark Bray, a Rutgers University professor and expert on anti-fascist groups, is fleeing to Spain with his family due to death threats that stem from a campaign by Turning Point USA and other conservative groups to get him fired, falsely labeling him as an antifa member.

Antifa expert at Rutgers University says he is moving to Spain because of death threats

An expert on anti-fascist groups who teaches at New Jersey’s flagship state university is moving his family overseas.

apnews.com

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Jon Seidel @jonseidel.bsky.social · 1d

Perry says the order will say defendants are "temporarily enjoined from ordering the federalization and deployment of the National Guard of the United States within Illinois."

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Alt18F @alt18f.bsky.social · 1d

"What sets Kupor’s efforts to attract tech talent apart from his predecessors' is the fact that they come after sweeping cuts pushed by DOGE. ... The entire 18F office at the General Services Administration ... was laid off in the spring."

How Trump’s OPM director wants to attract tech talent after months of workforce cuts

OPM Director Scott Kupor wants to bring on new feds with cutting edge skills, but the government’s recent flood of layoffs and resignations could complicate that effort. With a government shutdown ong...

www.nextgov.com

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Protect Democracy @protectdemocracy.org · 2d

VICTORY: Today, together with our partners, we won an emergency order stopping federal agents from using violent force against protestors in Illinois. Federal ICE/DHS agents are now blocked from using tactics like tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse lawful assembly. protdem.org/474KWsA

Court Halts Unlawful Suppression of Speech by ICE

DHS ordered to stop violating First Amendment rights of press, clergy, and protesters in Illinois

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Matt Negrin still host of Hardball on MSNBC @mattnegrin.bsky.social · 1d

That (NPR!) journalists think AI is a creative engine that can finesse iconic productions is not just context for the crap quality of writing in media but alarmingly the inability among a class of supposedly professional scrutinizers to distinguish between art and slop, good and bad, truth and lie

Juno Rylee Schultz @junoryleejournalism.com · 2d

David Simon, creator of ‘The Wire’, being interviewed by Ari Shapiro (NPR)

SHAPIRO: OK, so you've spent your career creating television without Al, and I could imagine today you thinking, boy, I wish I had had that tool to solve those thorny problems...
SIMON: What?
SHAPIRO: ...Or saying...
SIMON: You imagine that?
SHAPIRO: ...Boy, if that had existed, it would have screwed me over.
SIMON: I don't think Al can remotely challenge what writers do at a fundamentally creative level.
SHAPIRO: But if you're trying to transition from scene five to scene six, and you're stuck with that transition, you could imagine plugging that portion of the script into an Al and say, give me 10 ideas for how to transition this.
SIMON: I'd rather put a gun in my mouth.

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Heather Cherone @heathercherone.bsky.social · 2d

Perry: DOJ's definition of rebellion would mean that
"literally all nonviolent protest” could be considered evidence of rebellion. Is that your argument?
Hamilton: The president has determined there is a danger of a rebellion, and you must defer to that finding

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Kevin Anderson @kevinclimate.bsky.social · 2d

Attached is a suggestion I made several years ago. It would need to be part of a broader package, including eliminating first & business class, & ensuring even the first flight incurs the same tax & carbon costs as other fuels do. Aviation remains heavily dependent on its highly privileged status

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Kelsey Atherton @atherton.bsky.social · 3d

'By applying protections meant for vulnerable groups to shield government actors, Apple has created — within its own ecosystem — a new kind of protected class: state power itself."

migrantinsider.com/p/scoop-appl...

SCOOP: Apple Quietly Made ICE Agents a Protected Class

Internal emails show tech giant used anti-hate-speech rules meant for minorities to block an app documenting immigration enforcement.

migrantinsider.com

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