Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Ian Black

Viet Thanh Nguyen @vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social · 2h

Another article that does not interview a single Palestinian.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/12/w...

A Test Now for Israel: Can It Repair Its Ties to Americans?

www.nytimes.com

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Andy Craig @andycraig.bsky.social · 3h

This is why they will never be satisfied by political power, no matter how absolute and unchecked it is. They will always be perpetually aggrieved against the mere existence of cultural trends and civil society they dislike, and thus even more determined to use the government to stamp them out.

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 6h

a key thing about vought — and all of these guys — is that they have a totally top down and hierarchical vision of the world. they believe that the cultural changes they hate can be turned off by destroying the federal government because they can’t imagine that they emerged bottom-up in society

Thomas Zimmer @thomaszimmer.bsky.social · 6h

What he’s railing against is a profound shift in culture, status… He’s obsessed with the idea that America is controlled by a leftist “ruling elite” - but “elite” isn’t defined socio-economically or by political power, it means something like: Getting to define “real America” and who gets to belong.

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Ian Black @balmachreuchie.bsky.social · 3h

this post is a lesson in how much effort with words goes into kissing ass in public, single-handedly taking on the bluesky 'mob'
not everyone has this sort of talent

Sally Jenkins @sallyjenx.bsky.social · 4h

This is really smart. Amazed at the hysteria over the ascendance of a woman entrepreneur who clearly knows how to cover and sell news and who's not afraid to take on a mob. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

Don’t Bet Against Bari Weiss

The new editor in chief of CBS News triumphs over her critics.

www.theatlantic.com

Ian Black @balmachreuchie.bsky.social · 3h

'amazed' lol

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Carolyn Ownbey, PhD @carolynownbey.bsky.social · 4h

If you haven’t seen it, this footage from @apnews.com is incredibly important.

The intent here seems unmistakable, in two ways: (1) just read the genocide convention, here it **absolutely** is, and (2) this level of infrastructural destruction is, no question, meant as pre-development demolition.

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Graham Platner for Senate @grahamformaine.bsky.social · 3h

We have armed secret police kidnapping people off the street based on the color of their skin.

When we win: we will haul them before a Senate committee. The masks will come off. There will be consequences.

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Carole Cadwalladr @carolecadwalla.bsky.social · 8h

NEW: The British politician, his Russian intelligence handler & a Kremlin plot against the US & Ukraine.

My new piece about Nathan Gill and Nigel Farage for @thenerve_news in which we ask:

Why, even now, is no-one asking questions?

t.co/BUTtpK9C4S

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Dmitry Grozoubinski @explaintrade.com · 11h

This is an exact encapsulation of why I moved to Bluesky.

No amount of handwringing in the Atlantic about how I owe some eternal Promethean suffering to the discourse is going to make me stay on a site I hate, that stopped doing anything for me professionally years ago.

Well – no. Bluesky may or may not be, as one centre-right friend who felt unwelcome put it, “self-righteous island”. But the idea that’s why we went is nonsense. That I’ve largely stopped posting on a site that’s done more to shape my career and social circle than the rest of the internet combined is less about avoiding rival opinions (I love arguing with people who are wrong!) than with the fact the site simply became unusable. It stopped generating the things (good jokes, interesting debate, clicks) I wanted; it became extremely good at generating the things (racists, pornbots, racist pornbots) I did not.

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Ian Black @balmachreuchie.bsky.social · 8h

Labour deputy leader hopeful, grinning while at a multibank

Alexander Brown @alexofbrown.bsky.social · 2d

I left my house at 6:15 am to interview Bridget Phillipson in Scotland, please give me traffic
www.mirror.co.uk/news/politic...

Labour deputy leadership hopeful vows urgent child poverty action

The Education Secretary shared how her own experiences motivated her to end child poverty, and reaffirmed her commitment to ending the cruel two-child benefit cap.

www.mirror.co.uk

Ian Black @balmachreuchie.bsky.social · 8h

I remember that she was the one that thought being asked on Sunday TV about the ECHR was amusing - grim.

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Melissa Nadia Viviana @resistrebelrevolt.net · 18h

A couple also held a marriage ceremony.

For real: the unicorn & Kennedy from South Park.

www.oregonlive.com/crime/2025/1...

Unicorn bride marries Kenny from South Park at Portland ICE protest

The couple in costumes said they wanted to bring joy to the protests and show that demonstrators are "fun loving people."

www.oregonlive.com

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Ian Black @balmachreuchie.bsky.social · 23h

Cowards

Joshua Reed Eakle 🗽 @joshuaeakle.com · 1d

In Chicago, four vehicles descended and eight ICE agents moved in to kidnap a child.

She screams, “I’m 15,” as ICE yanks her from the car and kneels on her neck.

This is not about immigration enforcement.

It's about terrorizing Americans.

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Joshua Reed Eakle 🗽 @joshuaeakle.com · 1d

In Chicago, four vehicles descended and eight ICE agents moved in to kidnap a child.

She screams, “I’m 15,” as ICE yanks her from the car and kneels on her neck.

This is not about immigration enforcement.

It's about terrorizing Americans.

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Ian Black @balmachreuchie.bsky.social · 23h

And so the weather, as a thing in itself, becomes obsolete

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Zach Everson @zacheverson.com · 1d

“Parliament had turned over its constitutional authority to Hitler and thereby committed suicide, though its body lingered on in an embalmed state.”

Shirer, William L. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (p. 331)

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 1d

“.. Inside the White House, top advisers joke that they are ruling Congress with an “iron fist,” according to people who have heard the comments. Steve Bannon, the influential Trump ally, likened Congress to the Duma, the Russian assembly that is largely ceremonial.”

www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

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David Corn @davidcorn.bsky.social · 1d

A classic case of irresponsible both-sidesism from the NYT. The story is that Trump and MAGA propagandists are lying about Portland to incite a conflict, not that there are different views of the matter.

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Eileen Clancy 🧿 @clancyny.bsky.social · 1d

CDC staff in Africa right now, including those helping to manage the current Ebola outbreak, are laid off/fired.

Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 1d

Lots of Epidemic Intelligence Service officers ("disease detectives") gone.
In-country staff in Africa (including those helping to manage the current Ebola outbreak) are fired.

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Peter Jukes @peterjukes.bsky.social · 1d

Same day. Same plenary session. Same visit to Gill’s office. Same Farage, Same Gill, same wife of sanctioned pro Russian agent.

Six days after the first bribery charge

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Kate from Kharkiv @kateinkharkiv.bsky.social · 1d

Autumn once brought a quiet kind of joy: cozy evenings, golden leaves, hot chocolate, and the gentle thrill of the festive season approaching.

Now it brings russian bombing campaigns, blackouts, and a fresh wave of uncertainty, if more of it is even possible for us.

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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 1d

New — Video shared with me shows ICE officers in DC detaining a man on Friday.

Bystander filming asks man for his name. ICE agent lies and says he’s not allowed to speak to him “by law” and another says “We’ve arrested American citizens for being too close…If he gets any closer, put him in cuffs.”

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Will Stancil @whstancil.bsky.social · 1d

Why isn’t every Democrat holding a press conference with this video, talking about the criminal army of thugs invading Chicago and the rest of the country, and the need to bring these criminals to justice? React as you would if this really was MS13 or something

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Will Stancil @whstancil.bsky.social · 1d

This is insane. I feel like I’m going insane when I’m watching this. Not just the fact that it’s clearly their fault, but the way a heavily-armed squad of masked thugs immediately jumps into the street and brutalizes the woman they just hit, despite having no idea who she is.

Raider @iwillnotbesilenced.bsky.social · 1d

ICE GOONS crash into car and then point weapons to kidnap man.

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Ian Black @balmachreuchie.bsky.social · 1d

If Alan Partridge likes him then he should be fine

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dag @davidallengreen.bsky.social · 3d

NEW

Law versus politics

Both the UK and the US face a choice between unchecked executive power or a balanced constitution

By me at @prospectmagazine.co.uk

www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/th...

This is the crucial choice facing those both in the United Kingdom and the United States. What is to be the relationship between those with political power and the force of law?

In the United States it would seem that, at a federal level, both Congress and the Supreme Court are content to nod along with excessive use of presidential power. It is only the individual states themselves and the lower courts that are seeking to hold that executive power to account.

While in the United Kingdom there are louder political demands for the government to be free from the constraints placed by international law and supposedly activist judges. The implicit call is that ministers and officials should be able to do as they like to the rest of us without any possibility of a court ever saying otherwise.

What will happen in this contest between executive power and legal restraint cannot be predicted. The happy assumption of the Whig interpretation of history may not be well-grounded. From a liberal perspective things are not only getting worse, but could get a lot worse. The illiberals know what they are doing and they are doing it well.

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