Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Chase Strangio

Reuters @reuters.com · 5d

'When authoritarians seize power, it is crucial to recognize courageous defenders of freedom who rise and resist,' the Norwegian Nobel Committee said as it announced Maria Corina Machado as the winner of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize

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Cristian Farias @cristianfarias.com · 5d

This is a word:

“They may try to take away our 501(c)(3) tax status, which would be devastating. But I would rather be a truth-teller and taxed, than to be silent and untaxed.”

Melissa Murray @profmmurray.bsky.social · 7d

If you read one thing today, make it this piece by @nytimes.com's Kurt Streeter about the extraordinary Bryan Stevenson. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/u...

Civil Rights Lawyer Bryan Stevenson on How America’s Story Should Be Told

www.nytimes.com

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ACLU @aclu.org · 8d

BREAKING: We're asking the Supreme Court to reject the Trump administration's attempt to revive its discriminatory passport policy.

Lower courts were right when they stopped the the State Department from denying transgender, non-binary, and intersex people accurate identification.

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Steve Vladeck @stevevladeck.bsky.social · 9d

The very first statute authorizing domestic use of the military during domestic emergencies, enacted in 1792 by a Congress full of the same folks who wrote and ratified the Constitution, expressly provided for judicial review in certain circumstances *before* the President could even send troops.

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Tim Onion @bencollins.bsky.social · 10d

The ICE agents deploying these are people without necessary training, those who couldn’t cut it in police training or didn’t want to join the military.

They are in this to hurt people and play Call of Duty on our streets, deploying chemical weapons on our neighbors as if they’re pressing L1.

Dave Byrnes @djbyrnes1.bsky.social · 10d

Remaining feds left the scene in a large caravan, deploying more tear gas straight into the crowd - and right at my feet - as they left.

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Mark Joseph Stern @mjsdc.bsky.social · 11d

I really appreciate Justice Jackson contrasting the lower courts' meticulous and responsible approach to judging—extensive deliberations, written opinions—with the Supreme Court's slapdash, unreasoned work over the shadow docket. www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...

They have done so in reasoned and thoughtful written opinions—opinions that, in the nor- ‘mal course, we would get to parse, assess, and embrace or reject, while fully explaining our reasoning.

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Steve Vladeck @stevevladeck.bsky.social · 12d

Next Monday's "One First" was going to be about how we should stop covering new #SCOTUS terms through the "big" cases the Court will hear; and instead focus on how the Court is behaving.

Fortunately for me (and you), @dahlialithwick.bsky.social and @mjsdc.bsky.social did it first—and *way* better:

The Supreme Court Will Do Four Things This Term That Tell You Everything You Need to Know

In the week before the October 2025 Supreme Court term opens, the impulse among court watchers will again be to do what we always do.

slate.com

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ACLU @aclu.org · 12d

BREAKING: Our client Mario Guevara, an Emmy-winning journalist detained by ICE in retaliation for livestreaming law enforcement activity, will be deported tomorrow to El Salvador.

Mario and his family are being punished for his reporting. This cruelty is meant to stifle our free press.

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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 22d

Important to note that Congress has never passed any law giving the President authority to designate anything as a “domestic terrorist organization.”

As a result, this would appear to have no direct legal effect beyond acting as a statement of policy for the Executive Branch.

Sec. 2. Designation as a Domestic Terrorist Organization. Because of the aforementioned pattern of political violence designed to suppress lawful political activity and obstruct the rule of law, I hereby designate Antifa as a "domestic terrorist organization." All relevant executive departments and agencies shall utilize all applicable authorities to investigate, disrupt, and dismantle any and all illegal operations --especially those involving terrorist actions --conducted by Antifa or any person claiming to act on behalf of Antifa, or for which Antifa or any person claiming to act on behalf of Antifa provided material support, including necessary investigatory and prosecutorial actions against those who fund such operations.

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Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 22d

In dissent as to the stay, Justice Kagan — joined by Justices Sotomayor and Jackson — lays out the lawlessness of the majority plainly.

"Our emergency docket should never be used, as it has been this year, to permit what our own precedent bars."

Order/dissent: www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24p...

I dissented from the majority's prior stay orders, and today do so again. Under existing law, what Congress said goes-as this Court unanimously decided nearly a century ago. In Humphrey's Executor v. United States, 295 U.S. 602 (1935), we rejected a claim of presidential prerogative identical to the one made in this case. (Indeed, the suit emerged from a discharge at the very same agency.) Con-gress, we held, may restrict the President's power to remove members of the FTC, as well as other agencies performing
"quasi-legislative or quasi-judicial" functions, without violating the Constitution. Id., at 629. So the President can-not, as he concededly did here, fire an FTC Commissioner without any reason. To reach a different result requires reversing the rule stated in Humphrey's: It entails overriding

rather than accepting Congress's judgment about agency design. The majority may be raring to take that action, as its grant of certiorari before judgment suggests. But until the deed is done, Humphrey's controls, and prevents the majority from giving the President the unlimited removal power Congress denied him. Because the majority's stay does just that, I respectfully dissent. Our emergency docket should never be used, as it has been this year, to permit what our own precedent bars. Still more, it should not be used, as it also has been, to transfer government authority from Congress to the President, and thus to reshape the Nation's separation of powers.

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Zohran Kwame Mamdani @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social · 26d

Awful and dangerous to hear the Mayor echo the transphobic bigotry coming from the Trump administration. It's completely at odds with the values of our city and another reason why his single, disgraced term in office cannot end soon enough.

A screenshot of two tweets from the Politico reporter Joe Anuta.

The 1st: ".@NYCMayor elaborates on his comments yesterday that boys and girls should not use the same bathroom. He says he will review the policy of his own education department, which allows students to use restrooms “consistent with their gender identity” and potentially change it"

2nd: "He says students whose sex at birth differs should never be allowed to use the bathroom at the same time, regardless of gender identity"

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Governor JB Pritzker @govpritzker.illinois.gov · 27d

👀

FCC Chair Carr’s post from 12/30/23:

Free speech is the counterweight—it is the check on government control. That is why censorship is the authoritarian’s dream.

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Chris Hayes @chrislhayes.bsky.social · Jul 18

Not really an overstatement to say that the test of a free society is whether or not comedians can make fun of the country's leader on TV without repurcussions.

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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · Sep 15

This is utterly ridiculous. Karen wrote multiple threads over the last few days condemning gun violence and political violence. She wrote one post about Kirk directly and that was only quoting him. She’s an opinion writer. She did her job.

Karen Attiah @karenattiah.bsky.social · Sep 15

Some personal news:

I've been fired from the Washington Post in the aftermath of the Charlie Kirk shooting.

Thread incoming.

substack.com/@karenattiah...

The Washington Post Fired Me — But My Voice Will Not Be Silenced.

I spoke out against hatred and violence in America — and it cost me my job.

substack.com

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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · Sep 14

The thing to emphasize here is that this treatment is *utterly normal.* It's part of the system of detention which has existed for decades. Folkston has been like this for many, many years,

Sharon @sharonk.bsky.social · Sep 14

korean reporting is nightmarish on the conditions Korean workers were contained in

Their waists and hands were tied together, forcing them to bend down and lick water to drink. The unscreened bathrooms contained only a single sheet to cover their lower bodies. Sunlight barely penetrated through a fist-sized hole, and they were only allowed access to the small yard for two hours. Detained by US immigration authorities for eight days, the workers and their families expressed shock, describing human rights violations and absurdities they could not have imagined as ordinary Koreans living in 2025.

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Gregg Gonsalves @gregggonsalves.bsky.social · Sep 13

I absolutely condemn the killing this week. But let’s be clear: Turning Point USA and its allies have been harassing professors across the nation for years. 4/

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Gregg Gonsalves @gregggonsalves.bsky.social · Sep 13

I abhor violence, even as I was targeted with violent threats. Turning Point USA has a professors watchlist: it has been used to harass hundreds of academics, many women, people of color and LGBTQ people. 3/

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Prisonculture @prisonculture.bsky.social · Sep 13

The ONLY thing the two have in common is that BOTH were murdered on video by white men.

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Chris Hayes @chrislhayes.bsky.social · Sep 12

It’s also worth noting that as soon as it became clear the Trump shooter had no real legible politics and certainly not from “the left” he completely vanished into anonymity. No one knows his name.

James Goodwin @jamesgoodwin.bsky.social · Sep 12

Is it just me or does this share a lot of commonalities with the attempted Trump assassination last summer? Maybe worth exploring those

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Chase Strangio @chasestrangio.bsky.social · Sep 11

And then print them knowing the harm it will cause….

Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · Sep 11

what the actual f---

who the hell would take leaks from the administration at face value at this point?

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Aubrey Hirsch @aubreyhirsch.bsky.social · Sep 7

NYC PEOPLE: You can catch me, @theferocity.bsky.social, @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social, @mirajacob.bsky.social, @chasestrangio.bsky.social and Hala Alyan in Brooklyn on Wednesday talking about The People’s Project!

Friends, this book is SO GOOD!!

Saeed Jones and Maggie Smith with Hala Alyan, Aubrey Hirsch, Mira Jacob, and Chase Strangio at SJNY

Brooklyn independent bookstore

greenlightbookstore.com

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Tom Scocca @tomscocca.bsky.social · Sep 3

There's nothing chaotic about the race! The runaway winner of the Democratic primary has a comfortable ongoing lead in the polls! The only chaotic element is the mind-traffic of the small circle of self-appointed civic elites melting down over their refusal to accept a straightforward situation.

Tom Scocca @tomscocca.bsky.social · Sep 3

Amazed by the sentence "But the topic has taken on added urgency in New York in recent days as an already chaotic race steams into the last stretch of the campaign season." www.nytimes.com/2025/09/03/n...

Trump Advisers Have Discussed a Job for Adams if He Quits Mayor’s Race

www.nytimes.com

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Aaron Radney Commissions Closed (For Now) @aaronradney.bsky.social · Aug 29

I will remind folks those images of Nazi book burnings aren't burning just any books. They're burning the library of Magnus Hirschfeld; a gay, Jewish doctor who created an institute dedicated to LGBTQ sex education and healthcare. And a man who pioneered gender affirming care surgeries.

PinkNews @pinknews.bsky.social · Aug 27

US government orders 46 states to destroy trans education materials
https://www.thepinknews.com/2025/08/27/trans-education-us-state-directive/?utm_content=1756312804&utm_medium=social&utm_source=bluesky

US government orders states to destroy trans education materials

The US government has ordered 46 states and territories to destroy education materials referencing trans people.

www.thepinknews.com

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Gregg Gonsalves @gregggonsalves.bsky.social · Aug 28

AND NOW THE SENIOR CDC LEADERS HAVE JOINED THE WALK OUT! www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZ7Q...

LIVE: CDC staff plan walkout at Atlanta HQ after Trump firings

YouTube video by Associated Press

www.youtube.com

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · Aug 28

I have never seen so many public servants protest the mismanagement of a government. Trumpists will point to this as proof of the deep state, but the reality is that these are professionals who are desperately trying to get the public to understand how bad things are.

Dan Murphy @bungdan.bsky.social · Aug 28

AP live feed of the CDC walkout in Atlanta. www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZ7Q...

LIVE: CDC staff plan walkout at Atlanta HQ after Trump firings

YouTube video by Associated Press

www.youtube.com

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