Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Daniel Knowles

Eric Michael Garcia

@ericmgarcia.bsky.social

I spoke with Aliya Rahman, the autistic woman with a TBI whom ICE dragged out of her car. But that video was just the beginning of her nightmare. To this day, she can’t lift her arms normally.
www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...

I’m autistic and have a brain injury. ICE dragged me from my car anyway.

Exclusive Details: Aliya Rahman speaks to Eric Garcia about her ordeals — on the streets of Minneapolis, in a grim ICE detention center where she was mocked over her condition and through the public t...

www.independent.co.uk

February 5, 2026 at 6:34 PM

Daniel Knowles

@dlknowles.bsky.social

A jokey 2014 Brandeis University mathematics paper I just love found this: "trying hard to be different often ends up in hipsters consistently taking the same decision". Feel like it applies perfectly to "contrarian" writing

February 5, 2026 at 4:46 PM

Daniel Knowles

@dlknowles.bsky.social

My piece this week tying together the prosecution of Don Lemon and the ruination of the federal justice system:

www.economist.com/united-state...

Federal prosecutors in Minnesota are cracking down on dissent

But the pursuit of serious criminals has slackened off

www.economist.com

February 5, 2026 at 2:58 PM

Reposted by Daniel Knowles

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick

@reichlinmelnick.bsky.social

🚨HOLY CRAP. The Trump admin just took a SLEDGEHAMMER to due process, largely eliminating the Board of Immigration Appeals process and MANDATING DISMISSAL of ALL appeals (which cost $1,000 thanks to OBBBA) filed after tomorrow unless a majority of the BIA votes to hear the case.

Thus, rather than require such adjudications, the Department is changing its regulations to provide the Board more flexibility in reviewing appeals. Instead, for appeals taken from decisions issued after this IF becomes effective, as explained in
Section IV.A of this preamble, the default will be summary dismissal unless a majority of current Board members vote to consider the appeal on the merits. And such dismissals
will occur quickly—within 15 days of filing the appeal—allowing aliens to seek Federal court review expeditiously, rather than potentially waiting for years for a Board decision that in the vast majority of cases would affirm the underlying Immigration Judge
decision.

February 5, 2026 at 2:37 PM

Reposted by Daniel Knowles

Aisha Chughtai

@aishaforward10.com

I’m on the scene at Franklin and 1st. A convoy of about a couple dozen ICE/HSI agents broke the entryway into an apartment building at 6am. No warrant presented. Less than 24 hours ago, Tom Homan announced the end of large convoys in Minnesota… Bullshit.

February 5, 2026 at 12:49 PM

Reposted by Daniel Knowles

floating in lotus position

@gallantdimwit.bsky.social

After 6am this morning in Whittier, Minneapolis—FOUR BLOCKS from where Pretti was murdered.

18 agents with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) markings smashed an apartment window, ran in, and came out with one man.

February 5, 2026 at 1:41 PM

Reposted by Daniel Knowles

Ed Bott

@edbott.com

Must-read from @emptywheel.bsky.social

"The problem here is not just that ICE is blowing off judicial orders ... there are so many orders because the detentions are illegal ... The crime is the unlawful detention of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people. They’re kidnapping people legally..."

The Minnesota Lawyer Backlog Arises from ICE Kidnappings - emptywheel

The reason -- at least one reason -- ICE is having such a difficult time following judicial instructions in Minnesota is because ICE is snatching so many people illegally.

emptywheel.net

February 5, 2026 at 1:47 PM

Reposted by Daniel Knowles

Carl Quintanilla

@carlquintanilla.bsky.social

* US Companies Announce Most Job Cuts for Any January Since 2009

@bloomberg.com

February 5, 2026 at 12:35 PM

Reposted by Daniel Knowles

emptywheel

@emptywheel.bsky.social

This NYT piece never mentions the most important detail of the hearing.

THESE PEOPLE ARE UNLAWFULLY being held--and many are unlawfully being snatched in the first place.

The reason there's such a caseload is bc ICE is kidnapping people illegally.

Joel Mathis @joelmathis.bsky.social · 5h

Flooding the zone with shit, but for the legal system. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/u...

Surge in Immigration Cases in Minnesota Pushes Prosecutors and Judges to Brink

www.nytimes.com

February 5, 2026 at 1:49 PM

Daniel Knowles

@dlknowles.bsky.social

Honestly going on r/Bitcoin to watch the cope is the only source of hope and joy I have from the internet

February 5, 2026 at 6:35 AM

Reposted by Daniel Knowles

Kathleen Clark

@kathleenclark.bsky.social

I just read the declaration that Kira Kelley asked J. Blackwell to consider.
This immigrant describes being
-unlawfully arrested
-taken from one overcrowded & filthy prison to another over 19 days
-held incommunicado
& ICE never telling him a court ordered his release

He describes an American gulag

CASE 0:26-cv-00749-NEB-DLM Doc. 67 Filed 02/03/26 Page 7 of 8
33. At the time of my release, I had been detained by ICE for about 19 days. In those days, ICE never told me why they detained me. They didn't tell me that a judge had ordered my release just five days into my detention. I only knew about the release order through my attorney.
34. My father was deported to Guatemala by ICE after he was detained with me. So was my
cousin. They were deported on January 23rd.
35. Right now, I am happy that I have been released. I am grateful I have my family and an attorney. Other people are not so lucky. I am trying to adjust to my life now but am still dealing with the emotional trauma of being detained. When I think of my time in detention, I think of so many ways I could have died there: the way my car was stopped in the middle of the road, the diseases I could have caught at the Whipple, the driver who was falling asleep at the wheel driving us from El Paso to New Mexico, and exposure to COVID multiple times.
I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct.
Date: February 2, 2026
/s/_0_

Source:

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mnd.230969/gov.uscourts.mnd.230969.67.0_1.pdf

February 5, 2026 at 5:52 AM

Reposted by Daniel Knowles

Mark Chadbourn

@chadbourn.bsky.social

Former speechwriter for Bush the Younger and Senior Editor at The Atlantic:

David Frum & @davidfrum • 6h
The thing Keir Starmer cannot say:
...
"Of course I knew the man had sinister secret ties to Jeffrey Epstein. That's why I chose him.
The job was to protect Britain from the madness of President Caligula. Epstein connections are a bona fide job qualification for that mission."

February 4, 2026 at 9:04 PM

Reposted by Daniel Knowles

Hugo Rifkind

@hugorifkind.bsky.social

Weird and almost universal revisionism today. Even at the time, it was pretty clear that Mandelson wasn't appointed *despite* his dodgy links but *because* of them. Trump's Washington is a dirty swamp. Mandelson was deemed a man able to swim in it. This wasn't a secret. Everybody said it out loud.

February 4, 2026 at 8:55 PM

Reposted by Daniel Knowles

Nora Cregan

@noracregan.bsky.social

I’ve been working on the Lawyers’ Committee Election Protection project for more than 20 years. This kind of threat happens in almost every cycle and almost never materializes. The threat - creating fear - IS the voter suppression tool. It costs nothing so any suppression it produces is a plus.

February 4, 2026 at 7:32 PM

Reposted by Daniel Knowles

amanda moore 🐢

@noturtlesoup17.bsky.social

I cowrote a cover story!

Mother Jones @motherjones.com · 1d

Trump wants to control the country’s future by rewriting its past.

For the latest issue of our magazine, @dfriedman.bsky.social and @noturtlesoup17.bsky.social explain how the president is weaponizing history to wage his never-ending cultural and legal battles.

Read it here: tinyurl.com/32n7948b

The March+April 2026 cover of Mother Jones magazine, depicting President Donald Trump and Stephen Miller marching in colonial garb, a parody of the famous "The Spirit of ’76," painting.

The president's cornsilk hair is being blown off his scalp. In the background, Pete Hegseth, dressed in a soldier's uniform, is holding a bottle of wine in celebration.

February 4, 2026 at 8:00 PM

Daniel Knowles

@dlknowles.bsky.social

Novel of the moment

February 4, 2026 at 2:41 AM

Reposted by Daniel Knowles

WIRED

@wired.com

The tactics used by SRT and BORTAC vastly differ from those of local police or sheriffs. They use explosives to breach the doors of homes, and team members are equipped with full tactical gear, assault rifles, and heavy-duty crowd-control weapons.

The Paramilitary ICE and CBP Units at the Center of Minnesota's Killings

Two agents involved in the shooting deaths of US citizens in Minneapolis are reportedly part of highly militarized DHS units whose extreme tactics are generally reserved for war zones.

www.wired.com

February 3, 2026 at 8:25 PM

Reposted by Daniel Knowles

Jose Pagliery

@josepagliery.bsky.social

According to FOX 9, a Minneapolis federal judge demanded to know why DOJ is missing deadlines & AUSA Julie Le said, "The system sucks, this job sucks" & asked to be held in contempt so she could sleep.

PACER shows she got assigned to defend the govt in 88+ cases since Operation Metro Surge started.

February 3, 2026 at 9:27 PM

Reposted by Daniel Knowles

Jon Seidel

@jonseidel.bsky.social

Chicago's Broadview conspiracy defendants give Judge April Perry an update on negotiations over an order governing evidence in their case:

They say the feds want "to summarily prohibit all Defendants and Defendants' counsel from using, discussing, or disseminating any and all" info from the case.

DEFENDANTS’ SUBMISSION ON PROPOSED PROTECTIVE ORDER GOVERNING DISCOVERY PRODUCED BY THE GOVERNMENT
On January 28, 2026 the Court heard argument from the parties about proposed terms of a Protective Order governing the discovery produced by the government in this case. After hearing from the parties, the Court directed the parties to confer with each other to see if an agreement could be reached as to the terms of a Protective Order. The parties did confer, through counsel, and exchanged draft protective orders, but were unable to agree to all terms.
Defendants hereby submit the attached draft Protective Order Governing Discovery to the Court (Ex. A, hereto) which they sent to the government on January 30, 2026.1 The Defendants’ proposed Protective Order fully addresses the lone substantive concern articulated by the government: that is, Defendants will agree not to publicly disseminate personal identifying information of the federal and local law enforcement personnel involved in this matter obtained in discovery from the government (absent further Order of Court).

During the meet-and-confer, however, the government indicated it wants to summarily prohibit all Defendants and Defendants’ counsel from using, discussing, or disseminating any and all information contained in the discovery it provides to the Defense. (See Ex. B, paras. 1-6 of Govt’s Proposed Prot. Order). The additional term(s) suggested by the government are neither necessary nor appropriate here.
This case concerns matters of great public interest, including that most fundamental interest: the relationship between the people and their government under our Constitution. There is no reason to unnecessarily mute the discussion of such matters; and there is no danger posed to anyone in such discussion – particularly in light of the agreement from Defendants not to publicly disseminate personal identifying information in the government’s discovery about law enforcement personnel involved in the events at issue. Moreover, a great deal of information about this case is already in the public square – no small amount due to public statements made by the government and others in the current administration.2 There is, therefore, a real concern that if the contested terms in the government’s proposed Protective Order were accepted (described above), Defendants and/or Defendants’
2 The DOJ and others in the administration have already made multiple public statements about this case and certain of the individual Defendants, both formally and informally. See, e.g.:
1. Post by Abigail Jackson, White House Office of the Press Secretary (@ATJackson47), available at: https://x.com/atjackson47/status/1969062022466744425?s=10 (last visited February 3, 2026);
2. DOJ Press Release, including statement by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, available at: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndil/pr/federal-grand-jury-chicago-indicts-six- individuals-charges-impeding-federal-agent (last visited February 3, 2026);
3. Laura Loomer, Sept. 19, 2025, X, “I love watching communists get body slammed …

counsel will be forced to defend themselves from specious claims they violated the Protective Order when, in reality, a plethora of information about the events of September 26, 2025 outside the Broadview ICE facility are already public and/or otherwise accessible.
The public interest is surely and substantially served by transparency, not government-controlled opacity, in this already very public dispute between citizens exercising their First Amendment rights, on the one hand, and the government in the conduct of its substantial criminal law enforcement apparatus against such citizens, on the other.
Accordingly, Defendants respectfully request that the Court enter the attached Proposed Protective Order Governing Discovery.
Respectfully submitted,
/s/ Terence H. Campbell
An Attorney for Defendant Andre Martin
On behalf of All Defendants

February 3, 2026 at 10:39 PM

Reposted by Daniel Knowles

Matt Novak

@paleofuture.bsky.social

They just blindly shot through the fucking door.

"Additional photographs show damage consistent with a bullet fragment lodged in a bedroom wall down the hallway — suggesting it traveled between a mattress and a portable crib in a room where several small children sleep."

Dan Froomkin/Press Watch/Heads Up News @froomkin.bsky.social · 1d

"Photographic evidence from the shooting scene of a Venezuelan man by federal agents last month in Minneapolis supports the account of witnesses there – and appears to undercut the narrative provided by federal officials." www.startribune.com/ice-raids-mi...

Live: Judge orders release of suspects in alleged shovel attack on agent

Department of Homeland Security says agent fired in self-defense after being attacked with a snow shovel and broom.

www.startribune.com

February 3, 2026 at 10:25 PM

Reposted by Daniel Knowles

Adam Bonin

@adambonin.bsky.social

Beyond confirming that DOJ attorney Julie Le said, "I wish you would just hold me in contempt of court so I can get 24 hours of sleep," the reporter adds now that she is an ICE attorney who volunteered to help with the habeas cases, but "We have no guidance or direction on what we need to do."

February 3, 2026 at 10:20 PM

Reposted by Daniel Knowles

Shashank Joshi

@shashj.bsky.social

The Post describes how DHS is now using 'administrative subpoenas' as a form of domestic surveillance, apparently to intimidate those engaged in lawful activity & speech. www.washingtonpost.com/investigatio...

February 3, 2026 at 5:27 PM

Daniel Knowles

@dlknowles.bsky.social

This story is terrifying: www.washingtonpost.com/investigatio...

Homeland Security is targeting Americans with this secretive legal weapon

Under Trump, the Department of Homeland Security has weaponized administrative subpoenas to attack free speech, according to privacy and civil rights groups.

www.washingtonpost.com

February 3, 2026 at 5:23 PM

Reposted by Daniel Knowles

Marisa Kabas

@marisakabas.bsky.social

“One cop we talked to—he appeared to be a lieutenant or commander—about babies being gassed said in response ‘that's too bad.’”

Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 2d

New — I spoke to eight people who were present at the ICE protest on Saturday in Portland, Oregon when federal agents deployed tear gas and rubber bullets into a crowd of families, children, elderly and disabled people, and their pets.

These are their stories: