Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

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Ann Monster Lipton @annmlipton.bsky.social · 5h

"Before their departure dates came and went, they had made preparations to leave — turning over the keys to their apartments, pulling their children from school, shipping their belongings to Venezuela. And they have sunk deeper into poverty as the weeks and months pass"

ProPublica @propublica.org · 6h

Trump promised free plane tickets and $1,000 “exit bonuses” to immigrants who opted to self-deport.

ProPublica spoke to a dozen Venezuelan immigrants who said they followed the president’s instructions, yet never received the promised assistance.

“I Don’t Want to Be Here Anymore”: They Tried to Self-Deport, Then Got Stranded in Trump’s America

Venezuelan immigrants signed up for a Trump-promoted app called CBP Home, which promised a safe and easy way to leave the country, and prepared to leave on their given departure dates. Those dates hav...

www.propublica.org

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Brett "Solidarity 2025" Banditelli @banditelli.org · 4h

Imagine being illegally deployed to Portland and not being able to go watch this because you live in shame and bird fans would run you out of their neighborhood.

📸 @devonfredericksen.bsky.social

www.instagram.com/reel/DPMtSdj...

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Jessica Pishko @jesspish.bsky.social · 16d

I was just reading some foia emails that involved (tangentally) hiring a social media scraper contractor to look for threats, so I guess this is all a trend with privatization, yikes.

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Matthew Guariglia @mguariglia.bsky.social · 16d

4. It still doesn't address the *root* causes of crime. Surveillance is not a theory of sustainably preventing crime or keeping people safe. Surveillance gets convictions, but do convictions lower crime rates city or state-wide? No! Put that money to things that do: housing, education, health.

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Matthew Guariglia @mguariglia.bsky.social · 16d

3. In the age of authoritarianism, think about how this much fusing of information is a ticking time bomb (that's probably already gone off) for retribution against people for their First Amendment protected activities, not to mention retroactive prosecutions for things not criminalized yet.

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Matthew Guariglia @mguariglia.bsky.social · 16d

2. No mention of the harms this can cause. Like policing generally, this tech is only being deployed a fraction of the time to address serious crime. What does it do the other 22 hours of the day and how will marginalized communities suffer for it?

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Matthew Guariglia @mguariglia.bsky.social · 16d

A few found cars is enough to appease folks that mass surveillance is OK for those small wins but here are the important takeaways: 1. Police are so shockingly cozy with the multi-billion dollar companies that sell surveillance tech that you have to ask who is actually making policy.

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Matthew Guariglia @mguariglia.bsky.social · 16d

Big takeaway here is a mass erosion of barriers between governmental and corporate data collection/surveillance--and the idea that the one-off surveillance of walking past a single CCTV camera is over, the consolidation of ALL data means true mass surveillance from 100 redundant pieces of data.

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Matthew Guariglia @mguariglia.bsky.social · 16d

You name any type of device or platform that collects data, a company exists that can package it and sell it as a data stream to police to be fused with everything else. CLEAR? Oh, yea. Geolocation from advertising databrokers? Yes!

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Matthew Guariglia @mguariglia.bsky.social · 16d

The smaller companies make money by getting the big ones to lease their services providing specific information to the bigger platforms. One company has relationships w/ smart home appliances for data, one company does only social media scraping and analysis, one does metadata from phone companies..

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Matthew Guariglia @mguariglia.bsky.social · 16d

A number of big companies are incredibly interoperable with a thousand other devices and companies and serve as major platforms to consolidate, fuse, map, and provide AI-enhanced analysis of all this data. We're talking drones, ALPRs, surveillance cameras, gunshot detection, and more....

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Matthew Guariglia @mguariglia.bsky.social · 16d

I spent the week at the police surveillance convention and let me tell you my biggest observation: The name of the game now is consolidating as much information as humanely possible from surveillance devices, the internet, other governmental data, and literally a million other places. 🧵

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YK Hong @ykhong.bsky.social · 11h

The NYC MTA is transitioning to OMNY tap-and-pay cards, rendering swipe cards obsolete by June 2026.

OMNY is notorious for tracking riders through our devices, digital wallets, and credit card top-ups, and the MTA is besties with the NYPD. MTA Surveillance is a given.

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Jay Rosen @jayrosen.bsky.social · 5h

I have always loved @propublica.org's mission statement. It speaks to method as much as mission, and does not shrink from describling their journalism as a moral undertaking. www.propublica.org/about/

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collin cornell @collincornell.bsky.social · 3d

“One of the chants that has become ubiquitous at these protests at Broadview is, ‘Love your neighbor, love your God, save your soul and quit your job,’” said Black, who pastors at the First Presbyterian Church of Chicago. “Everybody chants that.”

RNS @rns.org · 4d

The pastors’ efforts are part of rising faith-based pushback to the Trump administration as the president seeks to implement plans for mass deportation of immigrants.
religionnews.com/2025/10/07/i...

Religious protesters say ICE threatens religious freedom in Chicago

(RNS) — Despite potential danger, religious leaders and faith activists have been a visible presence at Chicago-area ICE protests, some waving signs with slogans such as ‘Love thy neighbor’ and ‘Who…

religionnews.com

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Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 6h

Someone ask JD if he thinks detainees should be denied the Body of Christ.

Rachel Maddow @maddow.msnbc.com · 8h

"Hundreds of Catholic priests, nuns and lay people led a march from a Catholic church in Maywood to the ICE detention center in Broadview..."

www.fox32chicago.com/news/faith-l...

Faith leaders blocked from sharing Communion with detainees at Broadview ICE center

A large group of Chicago area Catholics marched to the ICE detention center in Broadview Saturday, hoping to share Communion with detainees.

www.fox32chicago.com

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Dominique Baker @bakerdphd.bsky.social · 7h

Posting with alt text

Screenshot of a list that reads: Office of Communications and Outreach (OCO):
State and Local Engagement

Office of Post Secondary Education (OPE):
Student Support Services (TRIO)
Institutional Service (HBCUs, HSIs, Tribal Colleges, ANAPISI)

Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS):

Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP)
Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA)

Office of Civil Rights (OCR)
Enforcement Offices

Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development (OPEPD)
Budget Seryice

Screenshot of list that reads: Office of Elementary and Secondary Education
OESE):

Office of Innovation and Early Learning
Office of School Community Improvement Programs
Well Rounded Education Division (Arts Education)
Charter Schools Program
Office of Safe and Supportive Schools
Program and Grantee Support Services
Comprehensive Literacy State Development
JAVITS (Gifted and Talented)
School Support and Accountability
Office of Formula Grants
Office of Migrant Education
Effective Educator Development Program
Innovation and Early Learning Programs
Effective Development Division
Program and Grantee Support Services

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haunted jorbo 👻 @bookenj.bsky.social · 6h

if a helicopter crashes because of some dipshit, that’s the end of any hope of greater solidarity. i really can’t think of a more high-risk/low-reward form of protest.

not to mention everyone in the vicinity will get the death penalty

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Faine Greenwood @faineg.bsky.social · 6h

I was not aware that “don’t commit federal crimes that could result in deadly crashes by means of shining lasers at manned aircraft” was a hot take that I lacked moral or practical standing to speak on.

Everyone who isn’t a fed or a moron has moral and practical standing to speak on this one.

Lillly @lillly3ls.bsky.social · 6h

"Unless you wish to threaten serious harm to them and great risk to yourself" -- i think everyone involved knows it's illegal and dangerous

sounds like it's to discourage ICE copters, not prank planes. don't post hot takes about shit you don't have the moral or practical standing to speak on

Faine Greenwood @faineg.bsky.social · 8h

someone on the Internet who really wants to convince you to shine lasers at manned aircraft as a protest tactic “because they did it in Chile in 2019” is either:

1. a fascist fed, or,

2. so terminally stupid that they have become functionally indistinguishable from one

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Andrew Blum @ablum.bsky.social · 6h

We had Angela Davis speak at my university a couple of years back. One of the many insightful things she said - protest in the way that aligns with your passion. If that’s poetry do poetry or music etc. Because then you will be able to sustain it. If naked bike rides are your passion, 100% do that.

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 7h

Someone in my mentions is upset because these people haven’t suffered the worst at ICE’s hands and therefore they shouldn’t be praised for being out on the streets?

Yeah, no. To push back on these people we need everyone — especially those with relative privilege — to get up and get involved.

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 9h

Portland, you magnificent weirdos

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Philadelphia Inquirer @inquirer.com · 6h

Every day at noon, no matter how busy, Johny Merida Aguilar left his construction job and hurried to his 5-year-old son's school to feed him. His son has brain cancer and generally only accepts food from his father.

Merida Aguilar was arrested by ICE in September and faces deportation to Bolivia.

He was caring for his 5-year-old son with brain cancer. Then he was detained by ICE.

A court has temporarily blocked Johny Merida Aguilar's deportation to Bolivia.

www.inquirer.com

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MirandaPitcher @mirandapitcher.bsky.social · 5h

My not-at-all-secret hypothesis is that by effortlessly demonstrating a way to be cool and masculine and smart while also talking about a “women’s topic” and being an Asian guy, he terrifies insecure and racist white men everywhere. 🤷‍♀️

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Marnie Kaplan @marniekaplan.bsky.social · 6h

This is infuriating and insane. Fascism truly sucks.

NPR @npr.org · 9h

A Cornell University researcher has been developing an artificial heart for children for more than 20 years. Now, his research is on hold and his lab is shut down.

This 4-year-old's heart is failing. A federal grant that might help him was canceled

A Cornell University researcher has been developing an artificial heart for children for more than 20 years. Now, his research is on hold and his lab is shut down.

n.pr

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Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 6h

—>

Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · May 18

Occasional reminder: Dick Tracy (1990) includes music by Sondheim, sung by Madonna (and Mandy Patinkin), in a movie starring Warren Beatty and featuring Madonna, Al Pacino, Dustin Hoffman, and Catherine O’Hara.

It’s the sort of thing that sounds like a fever dream if you don’t know about it.

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Joshua Weitz @joshuasweitz.bsky.social · 6h

Friday night: ~1,250 fired in CDC, immediate pushback.

Saturday: administration says layoffs were in 'error'.

*But* does not specify how many.

Now, @axios.com reports ~600 remain RIFed by an admin that blends incompetence & malice to public health.

Mismanagement should have consequences.

Axios @axios.com · 6h

About 600 CDC staff in offices dealing with health statistics, injury and violence prevention, congressional outreach and human resources are out of work as a result of the Trump administration's mass layoffs of agency workers Friday, sources familiar said.

CDC purge hits 600 workers in key offices despite reversals

The casualties include employees working on health statistics, injury and violence prevention, congressional outreach and human resources.

www.axios.com

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