Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Ben Johnson @benjaminhjohns1.bsky.social · 15h

*things could be

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Ben Johnson @benjaminhjohns1.bsky.social · 15h

JFC

James Medlock @jdcmedlock.bsky.social · 21h

“I’ll declare war on you if you don’t give me the peace prize” is an incredible bit

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Ben Johnson @benjaminhjohns1.bsky.social · 15h

I’m worried now for so many of my neighbors. And January seems like an eternity away. Things. Hold be better by then — or much much worse.

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Ben Johnson @benjaminhjohns1.bsky.social · 20h

chicago.suntimes.com/donald-trump...

Federal judge partially grants state and city bid to block Trump administration National Guard deployment

Judge's order temporarily bars Trump administration 'from ordering the federalization and deployment of the National Guard of the United States within Illinois'

chicago.suntimes.com

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Reposted by Ben Johnson

Bryan Edward Stone (שָׁלוֹם) @bestonetx.bsky.social · 2d

The latest news from colonial Boston.

Caleb Crain @calebcrain.bsky.social · 2d

Chilling insight by @barbarafwalter.com: "Once citizens view their own government’s security forces as an occupying army, violence becomes inevitable. Trump’s team knows this… They’re trying to trigger the very unrest that would justify further crackdowns."

via www.nytimes.com/2025/10/07/o...

Screenshot from a NYT article by Thomas Edsall, quoting Barbara Walter of UC-San Diego: "The quickest way to piss people off is to send soldiers into their neighborhoods especially when there’s no reason for them to be there. It’s inherently provocative, and Trump and his team understand this. Research by the political scientist Robert Pape shows that the single most powerful predictor of suicide terrorism is the presence of foreign troops on local soil. People hate, hate, hate that. They hate the humiliation, the powerlessness, the feeling of being occupied.

"Once citizens begin to view their own government’s security forces as an occupying army, violence becomes inevitable. Trump’s team knows this. In fact, that’s the point. They are not trying to restore order; they’re trying to trigger the very unrest that would justify further crackdowns. In the end, violence serves their ultimate end: They want to create the illusion of disorder so they can tighten control and stay in power indefinitely."

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Reposted by Ben Johnson

Marc Fischer @marc-fischer.bsky.social · 2d

Emergency Protest Today, 10/8/2025 in Chicago: 5:30 PM at Michigan and Ida B. Wells. We're demanding that ICE and the National Guard get out of our city. I'll attend this.

A flyer credited to Coalition Against the Trump Agenda announcing an Emergency Protest Today, 10/8/2025 in Chicago: 5:30 PM at Michigan and Ida B. Wells, demanding that ICE and the National Guard leave Chicago. A large crowd is shown marching in downtown Chicago.

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Reposted by Ben Johnson

BUM CHILLUPS AKA SPENCER HALL @edsbs.bsky.social · 2d

These guys are so vulnerable to defecting to Chicago

Wesley Morgan @wesleymorgan.bsky.social · 2d

Don’t think these Texas National Guard guys are going to be chasing any immigrants around Chicago on foot

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Reposted by Ben Johnson

Seth Abramson @sethabramson.bsky.social · 3d

It seems clear—I think to everyone, now—that a false and illegal invocation of the Insurrection Act is coming before the end of the year. Media outlets should be telling us how they will prepare for this potential Treason. State governments should be telling us. Activists should be developing plans.

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Ben Johnson @benjaminhjohns1.bsky.social · 3d

they lie, all of the time. Don't believe a fucking word.

Chicago Sun-Times @chicago.suntimes.com · 3d

Body-camera video appears to contradict the government’s claim that Marimar Martinez, 30, drove toward officers before one of them opened fire at her late Saturday morning in Brighton Park, her attorney claimed.
trib.al/9Sxu9IN

Attorney for woman shot by Border Patrol claims officer said 'Do something b-----' before shooting

Body-camera video appears to contradict the government's claim that Marimar Martinez, 30, drove toward officers before one of them opened fire at her late Saturday morning in Brighton Park, her attorney claimed. A judge ordered Martinez and a co-defendant released pending trial.

trib.al

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Reposted by Ben Johnson

Andrew Weinstein @andrewjweinstein.com · 5d

ICE admits that up to 50% of arrests in its Chicago raids are "collateral.” These aren't statistics. They are parents taken from their children, neighbors taken from our communities. When does a "collateral" U.S. citizen child's trauma matter? This isn't law enforcement; it's a campaign of terror.

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Reposted by Ben Johnson

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 8d

"Please mess with Texas, sir. Please, tell us what to think."

John Warner @biblioracle.bsky.social · 8d

University of Texas leaping to the top of the rankings of higher ed institutions most eager to cozy up to the authoritarian, taking over the top spot from previous leader, Columbia University. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/u...

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Ben Johnson @benjaminhjohns1.bsky.social · 7d

the remains of a massive ICE raid on the south side of Chicago. Dried blood, children's clothing, baby bottle, and zip-ties. chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...

Dried blood, children's clothing, baby bottle, and zip-ties on a hardwood floor.

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Ben Johnson @benjaminhjohns1.bsky.social · 8d

glad to see the @oah.org weigh in on this troubling case. Reinstate Tom Alter now! @aaup.org @texasaaup.bsky.social www.oah.org/2025/10/01/o...

OAH | OAH Submits Letter to Texas State University Affirming Academic Freedom, Shared GovernanceOAH | OAH Submits Letter to Texas State University Affirming Academic Freedom, Shared Governance

www.oah.org

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Ben Johnson @benjaminhjohns1.bsky.social · 8d

stunned by this article; as bad as things keep getting, I keep being surprised. WE ALL NEED TO READ THIS. Not just law enforcement, this is thuggery. chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...

Massive immigration raid on Chicago apartment building leaves residents reeling: 'I feel defeated'

The Department of Homeland Security said federal agents with Border Patrol, the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives arrested 37 people in the raid.

chicago.suntimes.com

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Reposted by Ben Johnson

Bryan Edward Stone (שָׁלוֹם) @bestonetx.bsky.social · 9d

All across the country, as faculty rights and freedoms are under attack, @aaup.org is really stepping into the breach. If you teach in higher ed and aren't a member, please consider joining.

North Carolina Conference of the AAUP @ncaaup.bsky.social · 9d

UNC CH Chapter & NC AAUP statement re Prof. Dwayne Dixon: @aaup.org

AAUP NC and UNC-Chapel Hill AAUP condemn the egregious violation of Professor Dwayne Dixon's First Amendment rights to free speech and free association, his Fourteenth Amendment right to due process, and his academic freedom. 1/

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Ben Johnson @benjaminhjohns1.bsky.social · 9d

oops

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

That's the definition of fascism from Robert Paxton, one of the preeminent historians of the subject, from his book ANATOMY OF FASCISM which came out more than two decades ago.

George Takei @georgetakei.bsky.social · 10d

Oh yes, this is clearly now.

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Ben Johnson @benjaminhjohns1.bsky.social · 10d

this is why I have been an @aaup.org member since grad school in the 1990s. We cannot file and win cases like this without the financial, intellectual, and logistical support of thousands of faculty.

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 10d

Judge Young: "This case ... squarely presents the issue whether non-citizens lawfully present here in United States actually have the same free speech rights as the rest of us. The Court answers this Constitutional question unequivocally 'yes, they do.' 'No law' means 'no law.'"

This case -– perhaps the most important ever to fall within the jurisdiction of this district court –- squarely presents the issue whether non-citizens lawfully present here in United States actually have the same free speech rights as the rest of us. The Court answers this Constitutional question unequivocally “yes, they do.” “No law” means “no law.” The First Amendment does not draw President Trump’s invidious distinction and it is not to be found in our history or jurisprudence. See Section III.A infra. No one’s freedom of speech is unlimited, of course, but these limits are the same for both citizens and non-citizens alike.

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Ben Johnson @benjaminhjohns1.bsky.social · 10d

Hit me up with ideas! www.jtxh.org/vantage-points

Vantage Points — Journal of Texas History

www.jtxh.org

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Reposted by Ben Johnson

Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 11d

You cannot have a functioning classroom under these conditions. As I've said before, classroom surveillance has been a much bigger and more damaging change to campus than wokeness.

Nathan Kalman-Lamb @nkalamb.bsky.social · 11d

Cornell is cancelling a distinguished professor's classes on Gaza and suspending him because of the complaints of a student who previously served in Israel's military surveillance agency and was literally recording the comments of other students in class and deliberately derailing discussion.

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Reposted by Ben Johnson

The Bulwark @thebulwark.com · 10d

Pritzker: “ICE is running around the Loop harassing people for not being white. Just a year ago, that was illegal in the United States. Now, ICE is making it commonplace.”

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 11d

yeah they're just murdering random people on these boats

Michael Paarlberg @mpaarlberg.bsky.social · 11d

I think the Trump admin assumed no one would try to find out who the people on the boats they blew up really were

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Ben Johnson @benjaminhjohns1.bsky.social · 11d

they're saying the quiet part out loud, thanks to our AWOL Supreme Court, which has as much legitimacy as Taney after the Dred Scott decision.

chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...

Feds in military gear flood downtown Chicago; top border chief says people arrested based on ‘how they look’

The immigration agents were spotted making arrests in downtown Chicago and River North neighborhood early Sunday.

chicago.suntimes.com

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Ben Johnson @benjaminhjohns1.bsky.social · 11d

he is such a whore it is unbelievable. But of course the payment came in crypto, not brown paper bags.

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Bill Wolkoff @billwearsties.bsky.social · 12d

Indie director Barbara Marques has been kidnapped by ICE. She is legally married to a U.S. citizen & was at a green card mtg when she was abducted and prevented from seeing her lawyer. Her husband Tucker May does not know where she is. Please spread the word so he can find her /1

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Ben Johnson @benjaminhjohns1.bsky.social · 13d

this double murder badly exacerbated the situation in south Texas in 1915 and has reverberated across the generations.

Refusing to Forget @refusing2forget.bsky.social · 13d

#OTD in 1915, Texas Rangers murdered Jesús Bazan and his son-in-law, Antonio Longoria, in cold blood. /1

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