Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Julia Ioffe @juliaioffe.bsky.social · 12h

Hey, New York people! I'm coming to the 92nd St Y to talk to David Remnick about my book, MOTHERLAND, now a finalist for the National Book Award.

Get your tickets today!

www.92ny.org/event/julia-...

www.92ny.org

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Julia Ioffe @juliaioffe.bsky.social · 16h

“That’s not what you train for,” one retired Marine officer told me. (“I’m not a liberal,” he made clear.) “You’re hearing, ‘Blood makes the grass grow! Kill, kill, kill!’ in bayonet training, and then you send them to a U.S. city?”

My latest.

puck.news/what-the-tro...

Portlandia

As Trump masses troops outside blue cities in the name of protecting federal properties, current and former members of the military grapple with the question of which orders are legal—and resent being...

puck.news

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Julia Ioffe @juliaioffe.bsky.social · 1d

Thank you! You've been on this journey with me for ages!

Reposted by Julia Ioffe

Princeton University @princeton.edu · 2d

Congratulations to Princeton professors @poetpatriciasmith.bsky.social and @appletwigli.bsky.social and alumna @juliaioffe.bsky.social '05 who were named finalists for National Book Awards this week.

2025 National Book Awards Finalists Announced

Twenty-five Finalists to contend for National Book Awards in the categories of Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Translated Literature, and Young People’s Literature

www.nationalbook.org

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Julia Ioffe @juliaioffe.bsky.social · 1d

Thank you, Mary!!! I'm a big fan of your work!

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Reposted by Julia Ioffe

Peter Baker @peterbakernyt.bsky.social · 2d

Congratulations to the amazing @juliaioffe.bsky.social whose upcoming "MOTHERLAND: A Feminist History of Modern Russia, from Revolution to Autocracy" was just named a National Book Award finalist. It's a gripping read, pre-order today. www.nationalbook.org/books/mother...

Motherland: A Feminist History of Modern Russia, from Revolution to Autocracy - National Book Foundation

In 1990, seven-year-old Julia Ioffe and her family fled the Soviet Union. Nearly 20 years later, Ioffe returned to Moscow—only to discover just how much Russian society had changed while she had been ...

www.nationalbook.org

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Reposted by Julia Ioffe

Meduza in English @meduza.io · 2d

Since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, thousands of Russian soldiers have fled the army. Here’s why so many contract soldiers and mobilized men are deserting — and when it leads to criminal prosecution.

meduza.io/en/feature/2...

‘For the Defense Ministry, people are garbage’ Why thousands of Russian soldiers are deserting — Meduza

Since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, at least 50,000 Russian soldiers have fled the army, according to leaked Defense Ministry documents from 2024. Now, in the war’s fourth year,…

meduza.io

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Julia Ioffe @juliaioffe.bsky.social · 3d

bookshop.org/p/books/moth...

Motherland: A Feminist History of Modern Russia, from Revolution to Autocracy

A Feminist History of Modern Russia, from Revolution to Autocracy

bookshop.org

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Julia Ioffe @juliaioffe.bsky.social · 3d

MOTHERLAND is a National Book Award finalist! She made the shortlist! I can hardly believe it—and I am humbled to be in such illustrious company.

www.nationalbook.org/2025-nationa...

2025 National Book Awards Finalists Announced

Twenty-five Finalists to contend for National Book Awards in the categories of Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Translated Literature, and Young People’s Literature

www.nationalbook.org

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Reposted by Julia Ioffe

SpyTalker @spytalker.bsky.social · 9d

This is probably the most comprehensive and insightful piece you can find on the Hegseth debacle at Quantico, by @juliaioffe.bsky.social puck.news/how-was-pete...

The Secretary of Wardrobe

Pete Hegseth summoned generals from all over the globe to Virginia to hear him talk shaving and fitness standards. If this seems below the pay grade of a four-star, chances are the generals weren’t hi...

puck.news

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Reposted by Julia Ioffe

Julia Ioffe @juliaioffe.bsky.social · 14d

American diplomats are being dragooned into helping the Trump administration with deportations in unprecedented ways.

My latest.

puck.news/how-the-stat...

State of Deportations

As Trump bends more of the federal government to focus on expelling migrants, the bleeding-heart foreign service officers of the State Department are finding themselves pulled into a project they neve...

puck.news

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Julia Ioffe @juliaioffe.bsky.social · 14d

American diplomats are being dragooned into helping the Trump administration with deportations in unprecedented ways.

My latest.

puck.news/how-the-stat...

State of Deportations

As Trump bends more of the federal government to focus on expelling migrants, the bleeding-heart foreign service officers of the State Department are finding themselves pulled into a project they neve...

puck.news

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Julia Ioffe @juliaioffe.bsky.social · 17d

I see the meeting with Zelensky went well?

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Reposted by Julia Ioffe

Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 18d

The Great Resegregation in housing www.nytimes.com/2025/09/22/r...

Trump Appointees Roll Back Enforcement of Fair Housing Laws

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Julia Ioffe

LOLGOP ❌👑❌ @thefarce.org · 21d

They were going to do it anyway.

A great video from @juliaioffe.bsky.social that a friend just sent me.

The takeaway: Forget about the pretenses and the excuses. Focus on the tyranny and the crimes because they're going to do it anyway.

Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) on Threads

I tend to see a lot of things through the lens of history and the assassination of Charlie Kirk—especially the Trump administration’s response to it—has me thinking of one historical analogy in partic...

www.threads.com

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Reposted by Julia Ioffe

Julia Ioffe @juliaioffe.bsky.social · 22d

The Trump administration is rooting out "anti-Christian bias" at the State Dept. What does that really mean?

“If you pick that one group off, that’s not equality,” a senior State Dept official said. “That’s a favored group.”

My latest.

puck.news/is-the-state...

Church and State

A Trump administration report claims that anti-Christian bias is pervasive inside the State Department. But multiple Christian employees say they never felt targeted—and now they worry members of othe...

puck.news

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Julia Ioffe @juliaioffe.bsky.social · 22d

Thank you for this. And for reading the piece.

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Julia Ioffe @juliaioffe.bsky.social · 22d

Other State Department officials I spoke with say that there has been a spike in Isalmophobia at Foggy Bottom. “The attacks on Muslims at State have really increased,” said one senior official who identifies as an evangelical Christian. “There is a strong anti-Muslim contingent,” said another.

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Julia Ioffe @juliaioffe.bsky.social · 22d

The Trump administration is rooting out "anti-Christian bias" at the State Dept. What does that really mean?

“If you pick that one group off, that’s not equality,” a senior State Dept official said. “That’s a favored group.”

My latest.

puck.news/is-the-state...

Church and State

A Trump administration report claims that anti-Christian bias is pervasive inside the State Department. But multiple Christian employees say they never felt targeted—and now they worry members of othe...

puck.news

20 81 270

Reposted by Julia Ioffe

Julia Ioffe @juliaioffe.bsky.social · 25d

If America isn't a one-party state by the time the midterms are over, I'll be pleasantly surprised.

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Julia Ioffe @juliaioffe.bsky.social · 23d

When the walls started truly started closing in in Russia, there was a now infamous editorial meeting in a vaunted Moscow newsroom. One of the reporters asked, "Where is the line?"

The EIC responded, "It zig-zags."

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Julia Ioffe @juliaioffe.bsky.social · 25d

All the way back in 2016, when I got antisemitic death threats from the right for writing about Melania Trump, the First Lady said I had "provoked" them.

The outrage can't only go one way.

www.cnn.com/2016/05/17/p...

Melania Trump: Husband is ‘not Hitler,’ reporter ‘provoked’ anti-semitic attacks | CNN Politics

Melania Trump on Tuesday defended her husband, Donald Trump, against a comparison between him and Adolf Hitler, arguing his campaign is about uniting the country.

www.cnn.com

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Julia Ioffe @juliaioffe.bsky.social · 25d

So the Trump administration lied about Lisa Cook and alleged that she committed mortgage fraud. Is there a legal name for a lie that materially damages a person's professional standing?

www.reuters.com/world/us/fed...

Exclusive: Fed Governor Cook declared her Atlanta property as “vacation home,” documents show

A loan estimate for an Atlanta home purchased by Lisa Cook, the Federal Reserve governor accused of mortgage fraud by the Trump administration, shows that Cook had declared the property as a “vacation home,” according to a document reviewed by Reuters.

www.reuters.com

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Julia Ioffe @juliaioffe.bsky.social · 25d

If America isn't a one-party state by the time the midterms are over, I'll be pleasantly surprised.

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Julia Ioffe @juliaioffe.bsky.social · 28d

Incredible.

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