Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Garrett M. Graff

Kathy E. Gill 🏍️ @kegill.bsky.social · 4m

Remember: Americans stole Texas from Mexico. They settled the area; rebelled against Mexican prohibition on slavery; and declared independence. Congress then annexed Texas and invaded Mexico because they did not recognize Texas as a US state. Then we bought half of pre-war Mexico, ended the war.

John Gramlich @johngramlich.bsky.social · 2h

Before this year, only two states – Texas in 2003 and Georgia in 2005 – voluntarily redrew their congressional maps between censuses for partisan advantage: www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/...

The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 17h

North Carolina said Monday that it will work on a new congressional map that could yield another GOP-leaning district in the state.

It's the latest state to heed President Trump’s call to redraw congressional maps five years earlier than usual.

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Reposted by Garrett M. Graff

Eric Geller @ericjgeller.com · 1h

The Trump admin is laying off nearly 200 CISA employees & forcing dozens more to take new jobs at other agencies (sometimes across the country) or quit.

Morale & productivity are sinking at the already-depleted agency, further jeopardizing US cybersecurity.

My story w/ new details: bit.ly/3KLoptn

Layoffs, reassignments further deplete CISA

Some CISA staffers have been pushed out, while others are being told to move across the country for jobs outside their skill sets.

www.cybersecuritydive.com

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Asawin Suebsaeng @swin24.bsky.social · 4h

Fitting that one of the last major things he did with his life was work on the team that tried to steal an election for Donald Trump

Garrett M. Graff @vermontgmg.bsky.social · 17h

Bernie Kerik is one of the worst characters of our time. He was carrying on an affair as police commissioner using an apartment specially reserved for 9/11 crews clearing debris from Ground Zero. He was a convicted felon and helped wreck Iraq. He deserved precisely zero tributes in public life.

Noel Hidalgo 🗽❤️🚲 @noneck.org · 17h

"Kerik's professional biography is long, fascinating, and so chock-a-block with outrageous and alarming episodes of moral failure that his life takes on a sort of mythic scale, a tall tale of rolling skullduggery." - @nickpinto.bsky.social

hellgatenyc.com/city-jail-na...

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Reposted by Garrett M. Graff

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 5h

one of my takeaways from this great piece is that weiss just doesn’t…sound like an intelligent person? or at least, not someone who has thought even a little bit about how and why they think the things that they do. www.youtube.com/watch?v=gieT...

Bari Weiss: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

YouTube video by LastWeekTonight

www.youtube.com

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Garrett M. Graff @vermontgmg.bsky.social · 5h

It’s going to be incredible how the first 25 years of the 21st century are going to be a black hole for future historians in terms of how much art, writing, and basic correspondence (emails!) they’re used to for other periods is just gone.

Luke O'Neil @lukeoneil47.bsky.social · 1d

I was pretty sure I had interviewed Marc Maron at some point. I could not have told you when it was or even what publication it was for never mind what we talked about. But the actual interview is nowhere to be found. So much of my past work is gone. So much of everything is gone.

No lessons learned

Come see me at The Sinclair in Cambridge on Saturday November 8 with Dave Wedge, Bill Shaner, Eoin Higgins, and Evan Greer; Wednesday November 12 at the Francis Kite Club in New York City with Spencer...

www.welcometohellworld.com

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Reposted by Garrett M. Graff

mtsw @mtsw.bsky.social · 14h

You're living through one of the biggest technological transformations in world history and it has nothing to do with AI

Jan Rosenow @janrosenow.bsky.social · 1d

Grid scale batteries are changing our electricity system. Excellent new visual story on batteries in FT today shows just how far this technology has evolved.

Fasten your seatbelts, this is just the beginning.

ig.ft.com/mega-batteri...

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Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 22h

Remember we're already in a world of Kavanaugh stops based solely on ethnicity. If you are from a targeted group, this can happen to you no matter what your citizenship status is. What if you forget your wallet at home? You could end up in detention for days or worse.

Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 22h

Do you want to live in a "papers, please" country?

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Garrett M. Graff @vermontgmg.bsky.social · 16h

My belief is that Kamala would have won last year if they’d let Tim Walz keep calling Vance and Trump “weird.” But the professional Dem consultant class closed off the one attack that actually resonated with voters.

Fyodor @fyodor.bsky.social · 16h

Endlessly attacking Trump as depraved and support for him as a form of moral failure actually made people stop supporting him. Shame and disgust are very powerful weapons.

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utopia deferred @utopia-defer.red · 18h

this is an incredibly ominous beginning to a future with a largely carved out federal emergency response system

News Eye @newseye.bsky.social · 1d

NEW: There’s a disaster unfolding in Alaska right now. And no major network is covering it.

The remnants of Typhoon Halong battered western Alaska overnight. Homes, with people in them, have literally been swept into the Bering Strait.

At least 20 are missing. No comment from any federal agency.

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Reposted by Garrett M. Graff

Eric Blair @protecttruth.bsky.social · 16h

I agree this is good evidence that outrage at fascism works.

The rightwing media env can lie R’s back to approval given enough time—watch what Fox airs, endless coverage of black and immigrant crime stories they find, and attacking Dems. That’s why status quo doesn’t work. We need to drive attn.

Will Stancil @whstancil.bsky.social · 16h

The Dem generic ballot advantage was greater in the “This is not normal!” early phase of Trump’s first presidency than ever again

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Reposted by Garrett M. Graff

Andy Greenberg @agreenberg.bsky.social · 16h

Researchers pointed a satellite dish at the sky for 3 years and monitored what unencrypted data it picked up. The results were shocking: They obtained thousands of T-Mobile users' phone calls and texts, military and law enforcement secrets, much more: www.wired.com/story/satell... 🧵👇

Satellites Are Leaking the World’s Secrets: Calls, Texts, Military and Corporate Data

With just $800 in basic equipment, researchers found a stunning variety of data—including thousands of T-Mobile users’ calls and texts and even US military communications—sent by satellites unencrypte...

www.wired.com

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Garrett M. Graff @vermontgmg.bsky.social · 17h

Bernie Kerik is one of the worst characters of our time. He was carrying on an affair as police commissioner using an apartment specially reserved for 9/11 crews clearing debris from Ground Zero. He was a convicted felon and helped wreck Iraq. He deserved precisely zero tributes in public life.

Noel Hidalgo 🗽❤️🚲 @noneck.org · 17h

"Kerik's professional biography is long, fascinating, and so chock-a-block with outrageous and alarming episodes of moral failure that his life takes on a sort of mythic scale, a tall tale of rolling skullduggery." - @nickpinto.bsky.social

hellgatenyc.com/city-jail-na...

Adams Administration Quietly Renames the Tombs for Disgraced Criminal Bernard Kerik

The Lower Manhattan jail facility briefly bore Kerik's name once before, until he was convicted of corruption.

hellgatenyc.com

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Reposted by Garrett M. Graff

Noel Hidalgo 🗽❤️🚲 @noneck.org · 17h

"Kerik's professional biography is long, fascinating, and so chock-a-block with outrageous and alarming episodes of moral failure that his life takes on a sort of mythic scale, a tall tale of rolling skullduggery." - @nickpinto.bsky.social

hellgatenyc.com/city-jail-na...

Adams Administration Quietly Renames the Tombs for Disgraced Criminal Bernard Kerik

The Lower Manhattan jail facility briefly bore Kerik's name once before, until he was convicted of corruption.

hellgatenyc.com

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Reposted by Garrett M. Graff

Brian Tyler Cohen @briantylercohen.bsky.social · 18h

Multiple airports are now announcing they will refuse to play Kristi Noem’s government-funded video blaming “Democrats” for the government shutdown.

“We believe the Hatch Act clearly prohibits use of public assets for political purposes and messaging,” one airport said.

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Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 17h

NEW: Barrett turns to Fox News, rather than the docket, to explain her silence in key rulings.

Justice Barrett wrote nothing in the racial profiling shadow docket ruling, but had something to say on Fox News Sunday.

Tonight, at Law Dork:

Barrett turns to Fox News, rather than the docket, to explain her silence in key rulings

Justice Barrett wrote nothing in the racial profiling shadow docket ruling, but had something to say on Fox News Sunday. And, for paid subscribers: Closing my tabs.

www.lawdork.com

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Garrett M. Graff @vermontgmg.bsky.social · 1d

By the time you get to the point where the Transportation Secretary is complaining about political protests, you know the administration is truly scared of the public backlash.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Sean Duffy: "The No Kings protest, Maria, really frustrating. This is part of antifa, paid protesters. It begs the question who's funding it."

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Joe Walsh @walshfreedom.bsky.social · 1d

Bullshit. “No Kings” on October 18 will be the largest peaceful protest in American history. Millions & millions & millions & millions of Americans organically taking to the streets to reaffirm this basic American ideal: No Kings here. Never.

Team Trump is scared to death of No Kings.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Sean Duffy: "The No Kings protest, Maria, really frustrating. This is part of antifa, paid protesters. It begs the question who's funding it."

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elias isquith @eliasisquith.blog · 1d

it’s striking to me that the admin seems focused on promoting the no kings protests as much as possible.

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Andrew D Thaler @drandrewthaler.bsky.social · 1d

You don't have to judge Columbus by the standards of today. His tenure as governor of Hispaniola was so horrific that he was dragged back to Spain in chains to answer for his many crimes.

Plus he never set foot on any land that would ever be a part of the United States of America.

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Social Media Lab @socialmedialab.ca · 1d

They arrested people on the job, so it’s not about being unemployed. They arrested people in court seeking legal status, so it’s not about legality. They used the IRS to track the undocumented, so it’s not about taxes. This is about punishment, not justice. #crueltyIStheONLYpoint

Julie DiCaro @juliedicaro.bsky.social · 1d

So Kilmer Abrego-Garcia will not challenge a deportation to Costa Rica, who has agreed to for him residency, but DHS won’t agree to send him there because it’s not cruel enough.

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

For weeks, Mr. Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national who is married to a U.S. citizen, has made clear that he would not challenge his deportation if he were sent to Costa Rica, which has promised him legal residency and guaranteed that he would not be sent back to El Salvador.

But the Trump administration has refused to deport him to Costa Rica, and in an earlier hearing this week, Judge Xinis pressed the administration to consider the option or clarify why it was unacceptable.

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Justin Elliott @justinelliott.bsky.social · 2d

Here is our full story that Vance is dismissing, with primary source documents showing Trump cabinet members with multiple primary-residence mortgages

www.propublica.org/article/trum...

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

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Andrew Reeve @andrewjreeve.bsky.social · 1d

Super excited to stumble upon a new book by one of my favourite history authors, @vermontgmg.bsky.social, at Bolen Books! #InstantPurchase

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Josh Shepperd @joshshepperd.bsky.social · 2d

There are so few academic jobs, and thousands of excellent scholars are all trying to move at the same time due to location.

‘Fear and hopelessness’: study finds one in four professors consider leaving US south

Survey by American Association of Professors shows nearly quarter of respondents are switching due to states’s politics

www.theguardian.com

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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 2d

Not sure why it has taken until late 2025 to see this, but this is how you do it. Every time. For every one of these guests.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 2d

STEPHANOPOULOS: I didn't insinuate anything. I asked you whether Tom Homan accepted $50k as was heard on an audio tape recorded by the FBI in September 2024. You did not answer the question. Thank you for your time.

VANCE: No, George, I sai--

STEPHANOPOULOS: We'll be right back

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 2d

Hegseth restored the name of a confederate general to the base.
Taking care of your troops matters. You can't eat the culture war.

Alexander Clarkson @aphclarkson.bsky.social · 3d

If this was happening in any other country you'd have journalists and analysts discussing risks of state failure

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