Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

James Gleick @around.com · 9h

In the age-old struggle of humanity against disease, has there ever before been a government so determined to side with disease?

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/u...

Trump Administration Lays Off Dozens of C.D.C. Officials

www.nytimes.com

2 6 13

James Gleick @around.com · 5d

Here, for instance, you know very well that there are no protesters in Portland engaging in insurrection.

And you know equally well that federal forces are attacking protesters without provocation.

So don't be lazy. Tell your readers what you know.

As the legal battles intensified, both sides engaged in an increasingly caustic war of words, with administration officials accusing protesters in Portland of engaging in insurrection, and officials in Chicago accusing federal forces of attacking demonstrators without provocation.

3 8

James Gleick @around.com · 5d

Dear New York Times,

Henceforth, forbid the tired formulation "both sides." Just don't allow it.

Likewise the cliché "war of words."

These should be red flags. They encourage laziness and sloppiness.

Report what they say. And use your superpower—reporters on the ground—to report what's true.

2 4 15

James Gleick @around.com · 8d

The fatal blow to constitutional government came when the Roberts Supreme Court told Donald Trump that, as president, he could break any law with impunity: election fraud, bribery, and even murder. He heard them.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/03/u...

U.S. Military Attacked Boat Off Venezuela, Killing Four Men, Hegseth Says

www.nytimes.com

2 5

James Gleick @around.com · 8d

"Agents left the people tied up outside for hours before letting all but 37 of them go. The apartments residents returned to were trashed.”

US citizens seized from their homes. No warrants. No due process.

open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...

October 2, 2025

At about 1:00 on Tuesday morning, federal agents from Border Patrol, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) raided an apartment b...

open.substack.com

1 2

James Gleick @around.com · 8d

... and dressed in military fatigues, agents broke down the doors of the residents of the five-story building and pulled them from their homes in zip ties, some of them naked.

October 2, 2025

At about 1:00 on Tuesday morning, federal agents from Border Patrol, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) raided an apartment b...

open.substack.com

1

James Gleick @around.com · 8d

“At about 1:00 on Tuesday morning, federal agents from Border Patrol, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives raided an apartment building on Chicago’s South Shore Drive. Using helicopters and large vehicles, as well as flash-bang grenades,

October 2, 2025

At about 1:00 on Tuesday morning, federal agents from Border Patrol, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) raided an apartment b...

open.substack.com

1 3 2

James Gleick @around.com · 9d

“Today is another liberation day, the liberation of America's warriors, in name, in deed and in authorities. You kill people and break things for a living.”

1 1

James Gleick @around.com · 9d

"We also don't fight with stupid rules of engagement. We untie the hands of our war fighters to intimidate, demoralize, hunt and kill the enemies of our country. No more politically correct and overbearing rules of engagement. Just common sense, maximum lethality and authority for war fighters.

1 1 1

James Gleick @around.com · 9d

The Secretary of Defense, with the President alongside, summons the nation’s generals and admirals to tell them that they must turn the power of the military against American civilians, particularly in Democratic cities, and the Rules of Engagement are suspended. Time to kill.

1 1 5

James Gleick @around.com · 10d

It's true, mass transit is a DEI program. It serves a Diverse public, it attempts to serve them Equitably, and it Includes all who wish to ride.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/01/n...

Trump Administration to Withhold $18 Billion for N.Y.C. Transit Projects

www.nytimes.com

1 3 13

James Gleick @around.com · 14d

The only question is whether it would be enough to drown out the other story: that the president is suppressing evidence that he conspired with the pedophile Jeffrey Epstein to rape and traffic teenage girls.

2

James Gleick @around.com · 14d

Imagine if some lunatic hacked into the official account of the President of the United States and used it to broadcast false and dangerous medical advice. That would be a big story.

Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
Pregnant Women, DON'T USE TYLENOL UNLESS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY, DON'T GIVE TYLENOL TO YOUR YOUNG CHILD FOR VIRTUALLY ANY REASON, BREAK UP THE MMR SHOT INTO THREE TOTALLY SEPARATE SHOTS (NOT MIXED!), TAKE CHICKEN P SHOT SEPARATELY, TAKE HEPATITAS B SHOT AT 12 YEARS OLD, OR OLDER, AND, IMPORTANTLY, TAKE VACCINE IN
5 SEPARATE MEDICAL VISITS! President DJT

1 11

James Gleick @around.com · 15d

Our daily reminder that secretive lawless masked police force is spreading terror across the U.S., seizing and incarcerating people with no process or accountability.

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/26/u...

Des Moines Schools Superintendent Is Detained by ICE

www.nytimes.com

1 8

James Gleick @around.com · 17d

“Novels are over, they're finished.”

—Iris Murdoch (1987) in the twenty-third of her twenty-six novels.

6

James Gleick @around.com · 17d

My version of this “closer look” would be shorter:

"President Trump repeated his claim that he had ended seven ‘unendable wars.’ It's a lie. He hasn’t ended a single one.”

Am I wrong? Show me.

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/23/w...

Trump Claims Again That He Has Ended Seven Wars. Here’s a Closer Look.

www.nytimes.com

1 5 21

James Gleick @around.com · 17d

This thing where the president of the United States sues individuals and newspapers and television networks AS A PRIVATE CITIZEN to line his own pockets — how did that happen?

Meanwhile no one can sue or prosecute the president, because supposedly that would interfere with his official duties.

2 2 11

James Gleick @around.com · 17d

No. Trump and his press secretary set off the conspiracy theories. Trump's own videographer triggered the safety mechanism.

Escalator Malfunction at U.N. Sets
Off Conspiracy Theories A sudden stop just as President Trump stepped on the stairs may have been caused by the triggering of a safety mechanism, the
U.N. said.

1 5

James Gleick @around.com · 18d

World Power Humiliates Itself;
Sends Crackpot to Address U.N.

www.nytimes.com/live/2025/09...

Live Updates: Trump Attacks U.N. and Lectures Nations in Address to General Assembly

www.nytimes.com

4 10

James Gleick @around.com · 19d

4. [bonus] The hatchet man who killed the prosecution is rewarded with a lifetime judgeship on the Court of Appeals.

3

James Gleick @around.com · 19d

2. His prosecution is secretly shut down by Trump’s own former personal lawyer.
3. Instead of going to jail, the corrupt official is rewarded by Trump with a top national security position.

Remember what Bill Clinton was impeached for? Those were the days.

2 2 8

James Gleick @around.com · 19d

So many scandals, so little time. This alone would have ended any presidential administration before now:

1. Official is caught on video taking a $50,000 cash bribe in a bags.

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/20/u...

Trump Justice Dept. Closed Investigation Into Tom Homan for Accepting Bag of Cash

www.nytimes.com

1 3 18

James Gleick @around.com · 21d

While no one pays attention, Putin has launched a low-grade war of micro-aggressions and attrition against Europe: drones, fighter-jet incursions, cyberattacks. He knows Trump has given him a green light, weakening NATO and (literally) rolling out the red carpet.

1 3 8

James Gleick @around.com · 23d

The main television news programs are already compliant. It's more urgent for the regime to silence the late-night talk shows.

James Gleick @around.com · 23d

It's a strange fact of American life that the most eloquent, hard-hitting, and effective critics of the Trump regime have been the comedians hosting late-night talk shows.

2 3 10

James Gleick @around.com · 23d

It's a strange fact of American life that the most eloquent, hard-hitting, and effective critics of the Trump regime have been the comedians hosting late-night talk shows.

1 3 13