Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Christine Johnson

Justin Zimmerman @jztidecat.bsky.social · 4h

Oregon has the nicest football uniforms. You would think they weren’t laying off professors.

Christine Johnson @christinkallama.bsky.social · 6h

This mindset, alas, also helps explain the deafening silence of Boards of Trustees, who should be safeguarding the universities' financial and academic status. Many trustees are happy to see professors and students who challenge the status quo get muzzled.

Blake Emerson @blakeprof.bsky.social · 8h

One of the under-observed parts of the last several years is the switch where wealthy donors claims directive authority over university policy. So they think Trump’s efforts of undermine academic freedom promote their own control. It’s a symptom of oligarchy, and how oligarchy gives way to Tyranny.

Joey Fishkin @fishkin.bsky.social · 6d

The Times' coverage of Rowan's role has been remarkable. It is sad to me that after forcing his alma mater, Penn, to oust a really good president for incredibly poor reasons, Rowan's megalomanical next thought was "maybe the federal government should do this everywhere" and they're actually trying.

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Jay @rogueaiconstruct.bsky.social · 1d

It’s because of these assholes that I’ll be attending my first No Kings rally on October 18. I value my rights so much I’m doing what I think is the best course of action to preserve them, which is the opposite of “hating the country”.

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 1d

The House Majority Whip is also insisting that a peaceful "No Kings" demonstration is in fact a "hate America rally" held for the "terrorist wing" of the Democratic Party.

Really feels like they're trying to manifest a violent reaction to it.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Emmer: "This is about one thing and one thing alone -- to score political points with the terrorist wing of their party, which is set to hold a hate America rally in DC next week."

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Mark Blacknell @blacknell.bsky.social · 1d

You know, I hadn't planned to go to this, but clearing the calendar now.

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 1d

The Speaker of the House is telling the Fox News audience that a peaceful demonstration by Americans on the National Mall will actually be a gathering of organizations the administration has designated as violent terrorists.

Seems bad?

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Mike Johnson: "We're so angry about it. I mean, I'm a very patient guy, but I've had it with these people. The theory we have right now -- they have a hate America rally that's scheduled for October 18 on the National Mall. It's the pro-Hamas wing and antifa people ... "

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Micah @rincewind.run · 1d

they are clearly trying to terrify everyone out of showing up to the No Kings protest and I simply do not think it is going to work

see you all there

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Sen. Roger Marshall: "October 18 is when the protest gets here. This will be a Soros paid-for protest for his professional protesters. The agitators show up. We'll have to get the National Guard out. Hopefully it will be peaceful. I doubt it."

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Christine Johnson @christinkallama.bsky.social · 1d

A map of the United States, including Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico, with hundreds of dark circles representing "No Kings" events on October 18, 2025.

Christine Johnson @christinkallama.bsky.social · 1d

www.nokings.org#map

No Kings

As the president escalates his authoritarian power grab, the NO KINGS non-violent movement continues to rise stronger. We are united once again to remind the world: America has No Kings and the power ...

www.nokings.org

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Reposted by Christine Johnson

Matthew Sheffield @matthew.flux.community · 1d

It's basically impossible to earn a living as an independent commentator on the left.

By contrast, Fox and its imitators *constantly* elevate new voices and encourage people to get involved.

They pool their resources. They recycle their dollars and keep them in-network. They crowdfund like crazy.

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spooky tim dewey @tjdfotographist.bsky.social · 2d

Free speech is when I encourage people to send you death threats; hate speech is when you tell me to stop.

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 2d

Can you hear the words coming out of your mouth, Megan?

Yes, the guy who received so many threats because of your own actions he had to flee to Europe isn’t the real victim. No. You are, because people called you out.

Megyn Doyle, a student at Rutgers and the treasurer for the Turning Point USA chapter who started the Change.org petition to remove Bray, told Fox News Digital in a statement that Di Filippo's petition is slanderous.
"The petition once again proves that Conservative students are always on the receiving end of hate when speaking about concerning issues," Doyle said.

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Reposted by Christine Johnson

The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 2d

CHICAGO — Outside an elementary school during dismissal… horrifying. What have we become?

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Matt Ford @mford.bsky.social · 2d

Yep. Dems should also be salivating over Trump’s IEEPA powers if SCOTUS upholds them. Forget the regulatory agencies, just slap 500% tariffs on Tesla and Oracle until they bend the knee.

Mark Joseph Stern @mjsdc.bsky.social · 2d

This is why I think the next Democratic president needs to use the EXACT tools that SCOTUS has handed Trump. Don't leave room for any distinctions.

Impound funds for deportation. Give ICE the USAID treatment. Refuse to collect government-backed debt. Purge MAGA loyalists from the executive branch.

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Reposted by Christine Johnson

Erin J. Wamsley 🧠📈😴 @wamsleylab.bsky.social · 2d

If you are an alum of:

Vanderbilt
UVA
UT Austin
U of Southern California
Dartmouth
Brown
MIT
U Penn
U Arizona

Your alma mater is RIGHT NOW weighing the costs and benefits of giving up its independence and abandoning academic freedom. SPEAK UP NOW:

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STAND WITH YOUR SCHOOL: Trump attacks 9 universities. Sign the alumni petition now.

Are you an alum from one of the 9 schools the federal government just attacked? Sign this alumni petition now to support your school, defend democracy, and build a grassroots movement for campus freed...

alumni.controlshift.app

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Reposted by Christine Johnson

John Pfaff @johnpfaff.bsky.social · 3d

For the record, he has a JD, was a constitutional lawyer for the ADF (rightwing group behind 303 Creative, the Colorado gay cake case, and current conversion therapy one), and was even dean of a law school that never opened (shady).

But also? Claims to have no idea how laws or constitutions work.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 3d

Q: Do you agree that the mayor of Chicago and governor of Illinois should be in prison?

MIKE JOHNSON: Should they be in prison? I'm not the attorney general. I'm not following the day to day on that

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#TeslaTakedown @teslatakedown.com · 3d

Why will we keep working to hold Elon Musk accountable? For one thing, because tens of millions of the poorest people around the world are suffering and dying because of what he's done. #teslatakedown #MuskMustFall
apnews.com/article/myan...

Starving children screaming for food as US aid cuts unleash devastation and death across Myanmar

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has repeatedly said “no one has died" because of his government’s decision to gut its foreign aid program.

apnews.com

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Soraya Nadia McDonald @sorayanadiamcdonald.com · 3d

Just so we're clear, what Dropsite is reporting Frum did is very bad and wrong. Like the sort of ethics violations you learn not to commit in J-school because they'd get you banished from the profession entirely

This shit is way more damaging wrt credibility than anything Karen Attiah has EVER said

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David M. Luebke @davidmluebke.bsky.social · 3d

Parachute journalism at its worst. Reading this story, you'd never guess that the disturbance, such as it is, is confined to the South Waterfront, a narrow slice of Portland that is sandwiched between a spur of I-5 and the Willamette River.

#ICE
#Portland

www.bbc.com/news/article...

How Portland is wrestling with Trump protests, National Guard threat

As Trump threatens military action, residents in Portland tell the BBC about life amid the protests.

www.bbc.com

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Dr Surekha Davies (she/her) @drsurekhadavies.bsky.social · 4d

It's the anti-prime sale on @bookshop.org, with free shipping Oct 7 & 8!

If you have a nerd with a conscience on your "need to buy them a gift soon" list, perhaps HUMANS: A MONSTROUS HISTORY might be it? Or perhaps this is just the book for you for #spookyseason / #monstertober?

💙📚 🗃 #histsci

Dr Surekha Davies (she/her) @drsurekhadavies.bsky.social · Feb 4

Launch day for HUMANS: A MONSTROUS HISTORY! So relieved to make it this far.
💙📚 🧪 🗃 #medieval #earlymodern #histsci #histmed #18thC #HAMH
buttondown.com/surekhadavie...

Launch Day for HUMANS: A MONSTROUS HISTORY!

Welcome back, and hallo, new readers! This is it! The US launch day for HUMANS: A MONSTROUS HISTORY is February 4th. I’m amazed and relieved to get to this...

buttondown.com

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Reposted by Christine Johnson

Lisa D. T. Rice #MaskUp @lisadtrice.bsky.social · 4d

Are you an alum from one of the 9 schools the federal government just attacked? I am.

Join me in signing this alumni petition now to support your school, defend democracy, and build a grassroots movement for campus freedom across America. alumni.controlshift.app/petitions/tr...

STAND WITH YOUR SCHOOL: Trump attacks 9 universities. Sign the alumni petition now.

Are you an alum from one of the 9 schools the federal government just attacked? Sign this alumni petition now to support your school, defend democracy, and build a grassroots movement for campus freed...

alumni.controlshift.app

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Christine Johnson @christinkallama.bsky.social · 4d

For the What's History Feed 🗃️

Henry Snow @henrysnow.bsky.social · 4d

My colleague Jack Bouchard's book Terra Nova is out today! It's about early 16th-century mariners and the seasonal fishery around present-day Newfoundland, and its place within the Atlantic World. I cannot wait to read it

yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300...

Terra Nova

A bottom-up story of the fishworkers, whalers, First Nations, merchantwomen, oceans, and animals who together made a new colonial world in the early Atlantic...

yalebooks.yale.edu

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Reposted by Christine Johnson

Audrey Truschke @audreytruschke.bsky.social · 4d

Feeling unsafe on campus.

This is a common claim by right-wing students at present. What they mean is they don't like learning about left-leaning ideas. But college is about being intellectually challenged; that's the point.

Hearing ideas you dislike poses no physical threat.

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Audrey Truschke @audreytruschke.bsky.social · 4d

A Rutgers professor has been forced to flee the country for his safety, after targeting by a far-right student group that was *checks notes* claiming they felt unsafe.

I'm horrified.
I'm angry.

A short 🧵 #AcademicFreedom #Rutgers #violence #antifa

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Rutgers professor moving to Europe after threats over antifa accusations

Mark Bray says threats intensified after a Turning Point USA petition accused him of promoting political violence

www.theguardian.com

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TJ Alexander (they/them) @tjalexandernyc.bsky.social · 4d

as part of their anti-Prime sale @bookshop.org has free shipping for the next couple days.

you can support your local bookstore by buying from their bookshop page. or a favorite author! We get a lil kickback from any sales we drive. Here's my link w lots of book recs if that is of interest

TJ Alexander Bookshop

TJ Alexander writes about queer love. Originally from Florida, they received their MA in writing and publishing from Emerson College in Boston. They live in New York City with their wife and various h...

bookshop.org

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Gregg Gonsalves @gregggonsalves.bsky.social · 4d

And now @acls1919.bsky.social speaks out. Just. Say. No. To Trump's compact on higher ed. It's extortion plain and simple. www.acls.org/news/acls-st...

ACLS Statement Regarding White House “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education”

ACLS stands firmly against this latest White House effort to divide faculties by giving special privileges to students in “hard science programs” and its demand that institutions abolish “units that p...

www.acls.org

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Dr. Rebecca J. Epstein-Levi @rjelevi.bsky.social · 4d

Vandy AAUP on the Compact. Share widely!

"We join the @aaup.org National Leadership in urging the Board of Trust, Chancellor Diermeier, Provost Raver, & the Vanderbilt leadership to completely reject this Trump loyalty oath & any other that seeks to commandeer Vanderbilt’s institutional autonomy."

Statement by the Vanderbilt AAUP Executive Committee on the “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education”

October 6, 2025 On October 2nd, Vanderbilt was among nine universities “invited” to sign a “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” with the federal government. The Compact, however, i…

vanderbiltaaup.org

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Texas Observer @texasobserver.org · 5d

Last week: When I heard Marwan Marouf had been swept up in connection with decades-old charitable donations, my mind went to his gentle voice we sometimes had to strain to hear at the mosque.

Trump's ICE Has Arrested a Pillar of the Dallas Muslim Community. I Grew Up Hearing His Calls for Compassion.

When I heard Marwan Marouf had been swept up in connection with decades-old charitable donations, my mind went to his gentle voice we sometimes had to strain to hear at the mosque.

www.texasobserver.org

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