Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Derek Sayer

@coastsofbohemia.bsky.social

290 followers 260 following 120 posts

Author and retired academic. British/Canadian. Unapologetically woke. Loves food, drink, music, travel, and our standard poodles Luci and Alice. Free Palestine! I write at https://substack.com/@dereksayer1

Videos

Political science 37%

Sociology 29%

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Reposted by Derek Sayer

Canadian Dimension @canadiandimension.bsky.social · 8d

Trump’s “peace plan” for Gaza isn’t peace—it’s an ultimatum. Palestinians are told to disarm, abandon legal claims of genocide, and accept foreign control, while Israel retains the right to “finish the job.” A ceasefire that erases justice is no peace at all, writes @coastsofbohemia.bsky.social.

The rewards of terror

Almost two years after October 7, Gaza lies in ruins. Western governments have condemned the slaughter but continue to shield Israel, while Trump and Netanyahu push a “peace plan” critics see as surre...

canadiandimension.com

11 17

Derek Sayer @coastsofbohemia.bsky.social · 9d

My latest Substack on Gaza. dereksayer.substack.com/p/the-reward...

The rewards of terror

Erasing a genocide with the art of the deal

dereksayer.substack.com

Derek Sayer @coastsofbohemia.bsky.social · Sep 3

My latest Canadian Dimension piece. Btw why did it take Anita Anand 2 weeks to call Kim Prost (as she has now done)? canadiandimension.com/articles/vie...

Oh Canada, where art thou?

Canada once stood apart by challenging apartheid and asserting an independent foreign policy, even against US pressure. Now, as Washington sanctions Canadian ICC judge Kimberly Prost for pursuing Isra...

canadiandimension.com

Derek Sayer @coastsofbohemia.bsky.social · Aug 13

I have a new piece in Canadian Dimension on the Gaza genocide. canadiandimension.com/articles/vie...

A graveyard of liberal illusions

The West may now be finally waking up to the full enormity of the horrors Israel has inflicted in Gaza. It needs also to wake up to the evils it has nurtured not just for the last two years, but for o...

canadiandimension.com

1 1 5

Derek Sayer @coastsofbohemia.bsky.social · Jul 29

My latest piece on Gaza. canadiandimension.com/articles/vie...

Endgames in Gaza?

What’s unfolding in Gaza is not just a humanitarian crisis—it’s a deliberate, systematic campaign to destroy a population. Mass killings, starvation, and attacks on aid efforts are part of a broader s...

canadiandimension.com

2 8

Reposted by Derek Sayer

Canadian Dimension @canadiandimension.bsky.social · Jul 29

NEW: What’s happening in Gaza isn’t a tragedy, it’s policy. A deliberate effort to erase a people. And the West, fully aware, keeps supplying the weapons and covering with words. This isn’t just happening on Israel’s watch. It’s happening with our permission, writes @coastsofbohemia.bsky.social.

Endgames in Gaza?

canadiandimension.com

9 11

Derek Sayer @coastsofbohemia.bsky.social · Jul 15

Our magnificent wet sock creature.

Derek Sayer @coastsofbohemia.bsky.social · Jul 9

My latest article on the genocide in Gaza: canadiandimension.com/articles/vie...

1 2

Reposted by Derek Sayer

Doug Aoki @nantanreikan.bsky.social · Jun 17

Free Palestine.

1 3

Derek Sayer @coastsofbohemia.bsky.social · Jun 17

My new piece on the Gaza war and Israel’s attack on Iran. canadiandimension.com/articles/vie...

Gaslighting the way to World War III

Are we so morally bankrupt that we will allow Netanyahu’s cynical maneuver, an act of naked aggression in flagrant breach of international law, to divert us from our responsibilities to end Israel’s g...

canadiandimension.com

2 7

Derek Sayer @coastsofbohemia.bsky.social · Jun 10

x.com/smohyeddin/s...

Derek Sayer @coastsofbohemia.bsky.social · Jun 9

My latest article on the genocide in Gaza. canadiandimension.com/articles/vie...

One day, everyone will have always been against this

One of the most remarkable—not to say shameful—features of the last 20 months of carnage in Gaza has been the near-unanimity of support for Israel’s assault from Western governments and political part...

canadiandimension.com

2 4

Derek Sayer @coastsofbohemia.bsky.social · Jun 9

Proud to be one of over 400 Canadian signatories to this open letter to PM Mark Carney and foreign minister Anita Anand on Gaza. Please share. www.alexneve.ca/blog/prime-m...

Prime Minister Carney must take decisive action to end genocide in Gaza — Alex Neve: Moving Rights Along

We write because of the catastrophic human rights and humanitarian crisis in Gaza, now into its twentieth month, which is broadly understood by international law experts and leading human rights organ...

www.alexneve.ca

Derek Sayer @coastsofbohemia.bsky.social · May 7

Hello Robin.

Derek Sayer @coastsofbohemia.bsky.social · Apr 18

Very sorry to hear this, Sewell. I will never forget how carefully you checked my op-ed for the New York Times a few years back. All best for the future.

1 28

Derek Sayer @coastsofbohemia.bsky.social · Apr 10

What does it tell you about the contemporary US—its people, its culture, its education system, its self-images—that it has contrived to elect two demented psychopaths in succession to the highest office in the land? It’s terrifying.

Reposted by Derek Sayer

Samantha is the spectre haunting bluesky 👻 @bolshevikmilf.bsky.social · Apr 9

every fucking democrat who says that there was nothing biden or harris could have done to take the question of a FUCKING GENOCIDE off the table before they lost a fucking election over it needs to shut the fuck up forever.

2 12 64

Reposted by Derek Sayer

Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · Apr 9

Ex-Biden State Department official says even the Israeli military expected the US to only let them bomb Gaza for weeks, rather than unconditionally for a year and a half:

The history of America's unwillingness to sacrifice the profits of the U.S. defense industry to the rule of law, combined with the unique privilege enjoyed by the state of Israel, should have meant that U.S. support for Israel in the aftermath of October 7, 2023, was not surprising. Yet even the Israeli military expected the United States to allow them to carry out the indiscriminate bombing campaign only for a matter of weeks before reining in the scale of destruction, as the U.S. had repeatedly done in the past. Instead, the Biden administration violated American laws and bypassed Congress to rush an unprecedented $17.9 billion in weapons and security assistance to Israel, all while lying to the American public about working tirelessly toward a ceasefire.

62 1.2K 2.7K

Derek Sayer @coastsofbohemia.bsky.social · Apr 8

… feeling the joy while the genocide goes on, and on, and on …

Reposted by Derek Sayer

Dollop of Mayo 🫠 @dollop-of-mayo.bsky.social · Apr 8

see this is the problem with liberals

it's all about the veneer of respectability with you, not the actual crimes against humanity

Biden simply aided Israel in a genocide

But Trump wants to build a resort once the rubble has been cleared and the bodies buried? oh, now that's a bridge too far

1 2 8

Reposted by Derek Sayer

Mark Joseph Stern @mjsdc.bsky.social · Apr 8

I think the Supreme Court got the law badly wrong tonight. But beyond that, it’s just incredibly ominous that Roberts would throw Boasberg under the bus and hand Trump this big win when his administration has conducted this case in EXTREME bad faith from the start. slate.com/news-and-pol...

The majority seems to be affording the president a strong presumption of regulatory-assuming good faith and respect for constitutional boundaries. But everything this administration has done since Jan. 20 rebuts that presumption (a reality that may be dawning on Barrett, but apparently not Roberts or Brett Kavanaugh). As Boasberg has shown, and Sotomayor noted, the president invoked the Alien Enemies Act in secret so it could hustle
migrants overseas before courts could intervene. Why should he now receive this extraordinary, undeserved assistance to continue operating what is so obviously an unlawful program, with a pinky promise that he'll afford due process this time to those ensnared on the thinnest of pretenses? Roberts' decision to bail Trump out is a deeply ominous sign that the chief justice wants to rein in lower courts standing in the way of the MAGA agenda. If he does, it won't just be Venezuelan migrants who pay the price. J

210 1.6K 5.6K

Reposted by Jonathan Renshon, Derek Sayer, Jen Nelles , and 1 more Jonathan Renshon, Derek Sayer, Jen Nelles, Todd M. Gureckis

Jeremy "Looking for Arrows" Zorek @jeremyzorek.bsky.social · Apr 8

Absolutely incredible: the Feds totally folded on Congestion Pricing, thanks to the MTA just...refusing to abide by their demands
www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news...

MTA, feds agree to keep NYC congestion pricing tolls through October

The MTA and the Trump administration have reached an agreement to keep New York City congestion pricing through October.

www.cbsnews.com

89 1.3K 5.6K

Reposted by Derek Sayer, Samuel Gerald Collins

CNN @cnn.com · Apr 7

JUST IN: After criticism, the National Park Service has restored an old Underground Railroad webpage that prominently features Harriet Tubman.

After a backlash, National Park Service restores old Underground Railroad webpage that prominently features Harriet Tubman | CNN

The National Park Service seems to have returned an image of and quote from Harriet Tubman to a webpage about the Underground Railroad, following backlash after her presence on the page was dramatical...

www.cnn.com

150 1.3K 5.4K

Reposted by Éric Gilbert, Derek Sayer

Randi Mayem Singer @rmayemsinger.bsky.social · Apr 7

Can we stop calling these atrocities "deportations." These people sold to El Salvadorian prisons were not deported. Deportation is a process that did not take place. They were rounded up and removed with no process. They were kidnapped, not deported.

1.2K 12K 44K

Reposted by Alison Johnson, Derek Sayer

Dawn Xiana Moon @dawnxianamoon.bsky.social · Apr 7

To sum up: An estimated 5 million people protested in 50 states but the stories were deliberately relegated to the back of most major newspapers.

Screenshot:

And Rupert Murdoch’s media properties? The New York Post and The Wall Street Journal made no mention whatsoever of the protests on either their April 6 or April 7 front pages. Surprise, surprise.

This isn’t just bad journalism. It’s a deliberate editorial choice that speaks volumes about how establishment media downplays collective action challenging power.

When hundreds of thousands of people coordinate across an entire nation to protest governmental policies, that’s not a page 18 story. That’s not a “see more in section B” situation. That’s front-page news. Period.

54 750 2.6K

Reposted by Cary P. Gross, Michael Harris, Derek Sayer , and 2 more Cary P. Gross, Michael Harris, Derek Sayer, David Gamage, Kathleen M. Comerford

George Takei @georgetakei.bsky.social · Apr 7

A reminder that if the government can send migrants to a prison camp without any due process, it can send U.S. citizens there, too. I know because this happened to me and my family in 1942.

510 13K 43K

Derek Sayer @coastsofbohemia.bsky.social · Jan 9

Learning from Canada and the US, then.

1 1

Reposted by Derek Sayer

Lamentably Undead @lamentablyawake.bsky.social · Jan 7

Liberals: "You just have to unquestioningly vote for the Democrats for decades, especially when their policies hurt you, and eventually they'll listen to you.

You: "Muslim Americans voted Democrat for decades and were told to kick rocks when they opposed genocide."

Liberals: "Enjoy the camps!"

1 18 50

Derek Sayer @coastsofbohemia.bsky.social · Jan 6

If anyone is interested, here are links to all my writings Gaza genocide over the last year. open.substack.com/pub/dereksay...

list of my articles on the Gaza genocide, 2024

final texts as published in Canadian Dimension and Britské listy

open.substack.com

Derek Sayer @coastsofbohemia.bsky.social · Jan 6

“Even Richard Nixon has got soul” (Neil Young, c. 1971).