Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Joey Fishkin @fishkin.bsky.social · 56m

Definitely giving peaceful, prizeworthy

Steve Herman @newsguy.bsky.social · 5h

The Guardian- The US president may impose tariffs, demand higher NATO contributions or even declare Norway an enemy, analyst says, if on Friday he is not awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. www.theguardian.com/world/202...

Norway braces for Trump’s reaction if he does not win Nobel peace prize

US president may impose tariffs, demand higher Nato contributions or even declare Norway an enemy, analyst says

www.theguardian.com

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 5h

This is the genius of the Portland protests - they make the claims of lawlessness look not just wrong, but comical

The Daily Show @thedailyshow.com · 7h

The following is REAL footage from Portland, 2025. Viewer discretion is advised.

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New York Attorney General Letitia James @newyorkstateag.bsky.social · 6h

This is nothing more than a continuation of the president’s desperate weaponization of our justice system.

I am not fearful — I am fearless.

We will fight these baseless charges aggressively, and my office will continue to fiercely protect New Yorkers and their rights..

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Joey Fishkin @fishkin.bsky.social · 5h

The sad (or maybe hopeful?) thing is that if you're merely an *aspiring* totalitarian, you still have to go ahead and replace "all first-rate talents" with "crackpots and fools."

Indeed, to guarantee loyalty, an iffy, likely-to-fail aspiring totalitarian might need people who are even more foolish.

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 6h

"Totalitarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their sympathies, with those crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty.”
― Hannah Arendt,

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Joey Fishkin @fishkin.bsky.social · 12h

If these people have somehow convinced themselves that the last pope's emphasis on taking care of immigrants was some kind of fluke, they're going to be really disappointed...

Link to article,

As Pope Leo riles conservatives, some say ‘just focus on the church’

Conservatives who hoped that Leo, the first U.S.-born pope, would be more of a traditionalist instead hear echoes of his predecessor, Francis, in his public statements.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Joey Fishkin @fishkin.bsky.social · 12h

If there's one thing that almost everyone in the world knows about the Catholic Church, it is that they oppose both abortion and the death penalty.

Do today's right-wing American Catholics understand the idea here, or has it been too many years of Fox News / X / right-wing information bubble?

“He weighs into the abortion question through remarks that are absolutely scandalous,” John-Henry Westen, founder of the conservative-Catholic Sign of the Cross Media, said on a podcast last week titled “Pope Fuels Moral Confusion.” Westen added, “He actually says if you call yourself pro-life and you’re in favor of the death penalty you’re not really pro-life.”

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Joey Fishkin @fishkin.bsky.social · 12h

This is an astonishingly weak position. It suggests that the misleading talking points they were going with for days about healthcare for undocumented immigrants actually failed to mislead.

"We were always going to" fix this in October/Nov
↘️
...ok, it's October, how about now?

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 13h

Mike Johnson: "It's about keeping Congress operating so we can get to healthcare. We always were going to. They're lying to you. Okay? The healthcare issues were always gonna be something discussed, deliberated, contemplated, and debated in October and November."

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Joey Fishkin @fishkin.bsky.social · 12h

This is why I thought it was so essential for the biggest protests in LA to be not only large but joyous, with dancing & great street food.

Portand protesters are showing the way in their own way with dance parties and animal costumes. It won't all get on Fox but some of it breaks through.

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Joey Fishkin @fishkin.bsky.social · 13h

@aselrod.bsky.social argues we have to focus on the lies, "creat[e] dissonance" as "a means of disrupting the information environment. We have to constantly clang about and to object loudly and out of key" to the false portrayal of American cities as "wastelands of murder and despair."

⬇️

All In Our Heads: On Losing Our Democracy and Life Beyond Our Imaginations

Our language has to meet the moment, and we have to be relentless about dispelling the fiction MAGA is selling.

www.liberalcurrents.com

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George Conway 👊🇺🇸🔥 @gtconway.bsky.social · 16h

Apart from helping Comey's selective prosecution defense, this also means the president of the United States uses direct messages on Truth Social to communicate with cabinet officials.

I didn't know that, but we can be sure intelligence agencies all over the planet already did.

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Joey Fishkin @fishkin.bsky.social · 21h

Just thinking about the recent arrest of "the girlfriend of one of the founders of antifa" in light of the news—from that same roundtable!—that the group started during the Weimar Republic (to oppose Nazis).

I mean, at her age, it's quite impressive to still be out protesting...

Blake Emerson @blakeprof.bsky.social · 22h

Live from the fascism debate.

Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · 1d

From Donald Trump's Roundtable on Antifa just now —
"Antifa has been around in various iterations for almost 100 years in some instances, going back to the Weimar Republic in Germany."
— special guest Jack Posobiec

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Amy Kapczynski @akapczynski.bsky.social · 1d

The key thing now is "that the government does not actually have the capacity to successfully negotiate a bespoke 'deal' with every university in the country. All universities have to do now is do nothing—no accepting the compact, no counter-offers, nothing." Great analysis by @fishkin.bsky.social

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Joey Fishkin @fishkin.bsky.social · 1d

@himself.bsky.social has a good opinion piece in the NYT (Gift Link).

He notes that one element of the "compact" that I had not thought about reflects the govt's weak hand: the fact that it was public.

A bolder power move would have been to get 9 schools to sign and then announce. They couldn't.

Opinion | Where Trump Is Vulnerable and How to Act on It

www.nytimes.com

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Joey Fishkin @fishkin.bsky.social · 1d

Accidentally split this thread into two. Let's try knitting them back together since the point here is that this is all one topic...

Joey Fishkin @fishkin.bsky.social · 2d

The more it recedes into history, the more important the Dominion lawsuit seems to me.

It was an extremely unusual moment where cynical, repeated public lying by authorities (in that case, by quasi-state media [Fox] & Rudy Giuliani) was actually punished in a way that imposed cost (>$700m).

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 3d

eventually politicians need to start advocating for criminal and civil penalties for people involved in fabricating stories to get citizens incarcerated.

or, put another way: a society that would like to keep functioning has to discourage baldfaced lying, especially by authorities

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Joey Fishkin @fishkin.bsky.social · 1d

A very succinct statement of why the underlying problem of our time is the lies.

It's genuinely disturbing how far the administration is now going—domestic insurrectionists, domestic terrorists, etc—in laying down (with a straight face) completely false predicates for violent "counter"-attacks.

Joanne Freeman @jbf1755.bsky.social · 1d

It's the only way to justify their extreme actions -- the suppression and violence.

"It was self-defense."

Melissa Jo Peltier @melissjpeltier.bsky.social · 1d

I’ve never seen a group of people more committed to defining themselves as perpetual victims.

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Joey Fishkin @fishkin.bsky.social · 2d

👍 for finding and linking to the original poster.

These days, the clearer the chain of custody of video, the better. Well done.

Yikes!

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Renee DiResta @noupside.bsky.social · 2d

“Who was president in 2020?” is the question of our time

Senator Jim Banks V
@SenatorBanks
Follow g..
The 2020 Census was a fraud. The Biden admin used a shady "privacy" formula that scrambled the data and miscounted 14 states.
It included illegal immigrants and handed
Democrats extra seats. Americans deserve a fair count and l'm fighting to fix it.
Zinited Statcs SScnate
MASHNORON DEYNN
October 6, 2025
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Socretary
U.S. Department of Commerce Washington, DXC 20230
Dear Secretary Lutaick:
I urge you to investigate and correct erroes from the 2020 Census that handed disproportionntd political power to Democrats and illogal alicns. The Census Burcau adoptod a now and opaque
voting districts. As preparod by the Biden administration, the 2020 Censas roports miscountod the population of fourteen states, ' wrongly allocating six congressional scats aod Electoral
xx conwuu tmora uy, toc taroro tu mot đoo tnn Cunu lc pung t imber of votine districts. And the reoorts de aniovety inchaded ilecnl nhens widhout track those aliens' citiz enship status, If left uncorrected, these erroes will coetinue diluting the political power of American citizens.
Consus data plays a crucial role in allocating political roprescntation and goverment funding
Under the Constitution, cach state gets Congressional represcotutives and Electoeal College votes- based on "the whole number of persons" within the state." The number of persoes is in
tum clabaabod by a consttubocalty-mandalcd dcccacaal ccavas. Pcual agcco nely on census data to allocate billions of dollars in federal funding, much of which hinges ee opulation. And states use consus data to deaw congrossicnal and voting districts, »hich the
The it eiy of tie soaren alie n tor dur at ce hor inc ae oam toy ee n
nght wilbout statsica ly signilicant ciroo.
Diffcrcntial privacy is opaque and liable to mistakcn count totals. Sure cnough, the 2020 Ccnsus ovarocunted the noculation in cicht states and undercounted it in six." Tihe most extrcmi andercount was Arkansas, at 5.04%, and the larg…

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Joey Fishkin @fishkin.bsky.social · 2d

Good conversation this morning with @politicsprof.bsky.social & @stephenricher.bsky.social about the proposed Trump "compact" on their Terms of Engagement podcast. Video at the link below.

My emphasis was: ignore the lofty goals and keep your eye on the enforcement mechanism—who has what power.

The Art of the Higher Education Deal?

YouTube video by Harvard Ash Center

www.youtube.com

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Mary Anne Franks @maryannefranks.bsky.social · 2d

"Academic freedom policies came from faculties, not the government. Governments are the enemies of academic freedom, not their protectors." Brilliant piece by @sivav.bsky.social about the Trump administrations' latest effort to censor universities newrepublic.com/article/2013...

Why This Essay Could Cause the University of Virginia to Shut Down

How Linda McMahon’s latest “compact” would do deep and permanent harm to American higher education

newrepublic.com

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Blake Emerson @blakeprof.bsky.social · 2d

Courtesy of Prof Bagenstos, the statutory provision is 31 USC 1341(c)(2)

(2) Each employee of the United States Government or of a District of Columbia public employer furloughed as a result of a covered lapse in appropriations shall be paid for the period of the lapse in appropriations, and each excepted employee who is required to perform work during a covered lapse in appropriations shall be paid for such work, at the employee's standard rate of pay, at the earliest date possible after the lapse in appropriations ends, regardless of scheduled pay dates, and subject to the enactment of appropriations Acts ending the lapse.

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Joey Fishkin @fishkin.bsky.social · 2d

The more it recedes into history, the more important the Dominion lawsuit seems to me.

It was an extremely unusual moment where cynical, repeated public lying by authorities (in that case, by quasi-state media [Fox] & Rudy Giuliani) was actually punished in a way that imposed cost (>$700m).

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 3d

eventually politicians need to start advocating for criminal and civil penalties for people involved in fabricating stories to get citizens incarcerated.

or, put another way: a society that would like to keep functioning has to discourage baldfaced lying, especially by authorities

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

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Joey Fishkin @fishkin.bsky.social · 2d

@sivav.bsky.social has a really good piece up in TNR that, instead of my earnest and straightforward approach above, goes for belittling mockery of this mockery of higher education.

Which in turn provides an example of the "belittling" the compact demands schools take action against...

Why This Essay Could Cause the University of Virginia to Shut Down

How Linda McMahon’s latest “compact” would do deep and permanent harm to American higher education

newrepublic.com

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David Lay Williams @laywilliams.bsky.social · 2d

Check out @durlauf.bsky.social's fantastic new interview with @fishkin.bsky.social on the Inequality Podcast, hosted by the @ucstonecenter.bsky.social at the University of Chicago.

Joseph Fishkin on ‘Bottlenecks’ and Democracy

Podcast Episode · The Inequality Podcast · 10/06/2025 · 49m

podcasts.apple.com

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Lydia Polgreen @polgreen.bsky.social · 2d

As a news nerd I'm always fascinated by org charts, and to me even more telling than who Bari reports to is who will report to her. Troops, territory and budgets are the actual stuff that shapes news coverage. Controlling them is how you control the narrative a news org shapes.

David Klion @davidklion.bsky.social · 2d

The notion that Bari will be "running CBS News" is slightly misleading. What the reporting suggests is that Tom Cibrowski, a guy with normal qualifications, will be doing that. Bari will be Emperor Ellison's Vader-esque enforcer, outside the chain of command, intervening at will.

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