Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Ashley Jester

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 3h

UPDATE: Judge Perry issued an opinion explaining why she blocked the Texas National Guard deployment in Chicago.

She begins with Alexander Hamilton’s rejection of a “preposterous” idea that the Constitution lets a President deploy a State’s militia to a different State for political retribution. 🧵

OPINION AND ORDER
Since this country was founded, Americans have disagreed about the appropriate division
of power between the federal government and the fifty states that make up our Union. This
tension is a natural result of the system of federalism adopted by our Founders. And yet, not even
the Founding Father most ardently in favor of a strong federal government believed that one
state's militia could be sent to another state for the purposes of political retribution, calling such
a suggestion "inflammatory," and stating "it is impossible to believe that [a President] would employ such preposterous means to accomplish their designs." But Plaintiffs contend that such
an event has come to pass, and argue that National Guard troops from both Illinois and Texas
have been deployed to Illinois because the President of the United States wants to punish state elected officials whose policies are different from his own.

22 620 1.8K

Reposted by Ashley Jester

BeijingPalmer @beijingpalmer.bsky.social · 6h

this man's name is written in the book of life

Sophie Sherry @sophiesherry.bsky.social · 8h

During a military-style raid on a building in Chicago’s South Shore, one resident heard a knock on his door.   It wasn’t the feds — it was a mom and her 7-year-old daughter, pleading for help.

He let them hide in his unit for the next 3 days.

chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...

Neighbor shielded 7-year-old during South Shore federal raid: ‘I didn’t want them to take her’

During the Sept. 30 raid one tenant protected a terrified girl and her mom. Remnants at the complex, including a detailed map of all the units, offer clues to what authorities may have known before th...

chicago.suntimes.com

11 280 1.7K

Reposted by Ashley Jester

Drew Starr @thedrewstarr.bsky.social · 3h

MIT was MIT when Donald was a pup
And MIT will be MIT when Donald's time is up
And any fascist Son of a Bitch who thinks he's in our class
Can pucker up his rosy lips and kiss the beaver's ass

Universal Hub @universalhub.com · 9h

MIT declares it's not bowing down before the convicted felon in chief and his toadies
www.universalhub.com/2025/mit-dec...

1 18 59

Reposted by Ashley Jester

Django Wexler @djangowexler.bsky.social · 8h

My boss: so how's our fourth quarter looking?

Me, the sales manager at the company that makes inflatable frog suits: well, you're never going to believe this, but

90 2.7K 13K

Ashley Jester @ajester.bsky.social · 4h

It finally hit me

RFK reminds me of the Skeksis that dies at the beginning of Dark Crystal

That’s why it’s so fucking triggering; that shit terrified young me

1 1 4

Reposted by Ashley Jester

Barred and Boujee aka Madiba Dennie @audrelawdamercy.bsky.social · 5h

aaand we are officially in the hide-your-neighbors stage

Sophie Sherry @sophiesherry.bsky.social · 8h

During a military-style raid on a building in Chicago’s South Shore, one resident heard a knock on his door.   It wasn’t the feds — it was a mom and her 7-year-old daughter, pleading for help.

He let them hide in his unit for the next 3 days.

chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...

Neighbor shielded 7-year-old during South Shore federal raid: ‘I didn’t want them to take her’

During the Sept. 30 raid one tenant protected a terrified girl and her mom. Remnants at the complex, including a detailed map of all the units, offer clues to what authorities may have known before th...

chicago.suntimes.com

230 5.6K 14K

Reposted by Ashley Jester

Grudgie the Whale @grudgie.bsky.social · 5h

The WH press corps sucks but for fuck’s sake, they’ve made the same mathematically impossible claim dozens of times and even fucking once do they even get asked about it????

4 40 360

Reposted by Ashley Jester

David Noll @david.noll.org · 8h

Jessica Tisch is all of us

Joshua J. Friedman @joshuajfriedman.com · 8h

"What is it going to take before you drop your hate and say, 'Listen, the guy did the job!' I'm not running anymore, so you no longer have to do this whole charade. I turned the city around, folks—come on! ... Stop coming up with all of these creative ways of saying 'Eric failed.' Eric didn't fail."

2 2 25

Reposted by Ashley Jester

Ed Zitron @edzitron.com · 8h

lying

Financial Times @financialtimes.com · 9h

How OpenAI put itself at the centre of a $1tn network of deals on.ft.com/4q0tjCV

How OpenAI put itself at the centre of a $1tn network of deals

The company behind ChatGPT has signed agreements with many of the largest tech groups, adding to a growing web of financial dependencies across the AI world

on.ft.com

30 170 1.3K

Ashley Jester @ajester.bsky.social · 7h

Not sure what the context is but technocrats are folks who use data and analytics to make policy decisions; think NYC under Bloomberg & his push for 311 data & other city-wide performance metrics

Reposted by Ashley Jester

Yair Wallach @yairwallach.bsky.social · 8h

This is still a genocide, it still has to be stopped

Rima I Anabtawi @rimaanabtawi.bsky.social · 8h

Hudu Abu Naja, 12- before and after starvation. Like thousands of children in Gaza, she suffered from severe malnutrition. In the last two months, organizations and doctors tried to evacuate her without success. This morning, Dr. Ahmed Al-Farra reported she has died reports
@nirhasson.bsky.social

21 56

Reposted by Ashley Jester

Joshua Erlich @joshuaerlich.bsky.social · 9h

the pinnacle of studio exec brain is thinking there was any appetite for a TRON sequel in 2025 starring Jared fucking Leto

30 Rock site gag ass movie

Slate @slate.com · 9h

The new Tron is like if a Terminator movie wanted you to cheer for Skynet. slate.trib.al/XZ9iQq4

One of Our Oldest Sci-Fi Franchises Is Back. The New Movie Is Woefully Out of Step With Our Moment.

Every generation gets the Tron movie it deserves. That’s bad news for the new one.

slate.trib.al

18 14 210

Reposted by Ashley Jester

Amadi Lovelace @amaditalks.bsky.social · 14h

Ro Khanna stays fucking up. He's also got his tongue too far up tech's ass to be a legitimate representative for the people in his district whose lives are being made worse, not better, by their tech neighbors.

Who is primarying this waste of space?

3 9

Reposted by Ashley Jester

The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 8h

“I’m worried about my community… I’m out here in a frog costume to show how ridiculous the notion that we’re violent terrorists is, and showcase how that narrative is wrong…”

Serious Q: is it too late to give this dude the Nobel Peace Prize? 🐸 🏆

370 3.6K 14K

Reposted by Ashley Jester

Katelyn Boo-urns @katelynburns.com · 8h

In the past, the first DHS statement in these situations has been a lie meant to make them look as innocent as possible.

CJ Ciaramella @cjciaramella.bsky.social · 8h

UPDATE: In emailed statement to me / @reason.com, DHS alleges that WGN-TV producer Debbie Brockman "threw objects at Border Patrol’s car and she was placed under arrest for assault on a federal law enforcement officer."

Screencap of email from DHS public affairs: Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin:

“U.S. Border Patrol was conducting immigration enforcement operations and when several violent agitators used their vehicles to block in agents in an effort to impede and assault federal officers. In fear of public safety and of law enforcement, officers used their service vehicle to strike a suspect’s vehicle and create an opening. As agents were driving, Deborah Brockman, a U.S. citizen, threw objects at Border Patrol’s car and she was placed under arrest for assault on a federal law enforcement officer.

“This incident is not isolated and reflects a growing and dangerous trend of illegal aliens violently resisting arrest and agitators and criminals ramming cars into our law enforcement officers. These attacks highlight the dangers our law enforcement officers face daily—all while receiving no pay thanks to the Democrats’ government shutdown.”

6 49 190

Reposted by Ashley Jester

Matthew Segal @segalmr.bsky.social · 10h

One reason why the Constitution broadly protects speech without regard to its content, and why it also protects expressive conduct rather than words alone, is that you never know whether the most profound form of protest against authoritarianism will turn out to be a frog costume.

2 11 49

Reposted by Ashley Jester

Missing The Point @missingthept.bsky.social · 8h

Of all the things that have never happened, this seems more likely to have never happened than most.

CJ Ciaramella @cjciaramella.bsky.social · 8h

UPDATE: In emailed statement to me / @reason.com, DHS alleges that WGN-TV producer Debbie Brockman "threw objects at Border Patrol’s car and she was placed under arrest for assault on a federal law enforcement officer."

3 14 45

Reposted by Ashley Jester

Colin Dickey @colindickey.com · 1d

Baby in a placenta I know I know, it’s serious

9 23 220

Reposted by Ashley Jester

Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 11h

EXCLUSIVE — DHS Acting General Counsel sent out a memo Wednesday to all Federal Protective Service staff (the sub-agency that guards federal buildings) letting officers know they could take any action necessary "in the vicinity" federal property to protect themselves.

The Handbasket reports:

DHS top lawyer says 'no legal barrier' to actions officers can take to defend federal property

In a memo obtained exclusively by The Handbasket, Federal Protective Service (FPS) officers were given free rein.

www.thehandbasket.co

66 630 1.3K

Ashley Jester @ajester.bsky.social · 8h

Too bad we've put all of the Federal investigatory agents on brutalizing grandma's and mama's duty

But if a foreign actor wanted to disrupt us, now seems like a ripe time to act, no?

If they were aiming for treason, how would things look different?

Al Jazeera English @aljazeera.com · 8h

A massive blast at a military explosives factory in the US state of Tennessee has left multiple people dead and others missing.

Officials have not given any indication of what may have triggered the explosion about 85 kilometres southwest of Nashville.

1

Reposted by Ashley Jester

APSA @apsa.bsky.social · 8h

JHU Political Scientist and APSA Member Dr. Hahrie Han receives the 2025 MacArthur Foundation Fellowship. Han is the inaugural director of the JHU SNF Agora Institute: buff.ly/wLW0Rm7

1 9

Reposted by Ashley Jester

Kragar @kragar.bsky.social · 9h

6 220 690

Reposted by Ashley Jester

bort @crushbort.bsky.social · 9h

is it not weird that every day there’s a new video of anonymous masked men having the time of their lives beating/shooting/disappearing people and the dem response from the top down is “republicans want to double your health insurance premiums”

14 1K 4.4K

Reposted by Ashley Jester

Matthew Triponey @matthewtriponey.bsky.social · 9h

I don’t agree with every point made here, but the main thesis — what we do with billionaires’ money is secondary to the fact that a free society simply cannot allow them to have it — accounts for most of my politics these days.

Liberal Currents @liberalcurrents.com · 17h

“The problem with billionaires isn’t that they’re hoarding money that would otherwise pay for a Scandinavian social utopia. It’s that their money has become a source of wildly distorted political power that allows a few men with extremist views to wreak havoc on the rest of us.”

Billionaires Are Hoarding Power, Not Money

Billionaire money has become a source of wildly distorted political power that allows a few men with extremist views to wreak havoc on the rest of us.

www.liberalcurrents.com

1 18 52