Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Tormented🕷Abroad @jjgass.bsky.social · 10h

We really are a most malleable people

Andrew Reeves @andrewsshi.bsky.social · 14h

Honestly, if I were Jewish, I would think it very unfair that really, really hating non-white people ends up in Jew hatred, but also that really, really hating white people *also* ends up in Jew hatred.

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Evan Bernick, a finite mode with a smol hooman and a lorg floof @evanbernick.bsky.social · 11h

Never change Bluesky

Serious reporting by Chris Geidner about a TRO federalization of the national guard and also Alice saying JT REALMUTO LET ME SIT ON THAT
BEAUTIFUL FACE

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Tormented🕷Abroad @jjgass.bsky.social · 10h

But you know Gritty’s the one I really want to meet

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Tormented🕷Abroad @jjgass.bsky.social · 10h

TPUSA is Charlie Kirk’s gang.

But God forbid anyone should suggest he promoted racism.

The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 16h

Turning Point USA announced it will host counterprogramming to the Super Bowl halftime show, called “The All American Halftime Show,” as MAGA critics have been enraged over the selection of Bad Bunny as the 2026 headliner.

MAGA rage over Bad Bunny at Super Bowl sparks an alternative show

Counterprogramming hosted by the group that Charlie Kirk founded spotlights the growing political polarization surrounding one of the biggest events of the year.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Tormented🕷Abroad @jjgass.bsky.social · 11h

The news has reached Paris.

Also, “épauler” is an excellent verb.

They should make federalized National Guard wear epaulettes

Le Monde @lemonde.fr · 11h

A Chicago, une juge bloque le déploiement de centaines de gardes nationaux qui devaient épauler la police de l’immigration

Une juge fédérale, saisie par les autorités locales, a écarté tout « danger de rébellion » dans l’Etat d’Illinois, s’opposant aux arguments de l’administration Trump qui a dépêché près de 500 soldats sur place.

www.lemonde.fr

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Rick Hasen @rickhasen.bsky.social · 13h

I believe that should be REEKING

Politico @politico.com · 13h

REAKING: New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Trump foe, is indicted by Trump’s DOJ.

She has been charged with one count of bank fraud by the same U.S. attorney who brought charges against James Comey.

New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Trump foe, is indicted by Trump’s DOJ

She has been charged with one count of bank fraud by the same U.S. attorney who brought charges against James Comey.

www.politico.com

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Classical Studies Memes for Hellenistic Teens @csmfht.bsky.social · 11h

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Tormented🕷Abroad @jjgass.bsky.social · 11h

I’m flying there in a couple weeks, & I’m not sure what I’m going to find when I arrive

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Tormented🕷Abroad @jjgass.bsky.social · 11h

I don’t think I’ll ever really understand Philadelphia

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Tormented🕷Abroad @jjgass.bsky.social · 11h

I’ve been trying to tell y’all

Robert Wright @reporterrwright.ft.com · 12h

Like probably most people of a centre-left inclination with ties to New York, I’ve been entranced by Zohran Mamdani’s remarkable rise. But this piece tells me an almost perfect point I didn’t know: he formed citywide friendships as a teenager through cricket:
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

What Zohran Mamdani Knows About Power

The thirty-three-year-old socialist is rewriting the rules of New York politics. Can he transform the city as mayor?

www.newyorker.com

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Tormented🕷Abroad @jjgass.bsky.social · 11h

Has the government actually argued this, or is it entirely the judge’s imagination?

(This is also one reason why TROs aren’t appealable: there’s usually not much of a record yet. But that’s no justification for appellate judges to make shit up that’s not supported by evidence of record.)

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Tormented🕷Abroad @jjgass.bsky.social · 11h

Folks back home: don’t even try.

“Marylebone” is the middle-class, north-of-the-river “Southwark.” And y’all never get that one right, either.

Matt Green @mattgreencomedy.com · 11h

Marylebone

Merriam-Webster @merriam-webster.com · 1d

What’s the word where you’re from that, when pronounced exactly as it looks, identifies a tourist immediately?

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Tormented🕷Abroad @jjgass.bsky.social · 11h

When my Jewish grandparents fled Germany, there was no neighboring country, & no country in Europe, that would take them. As it proved, almost no country on the continent was safe anyway.

This proposal would have been fatal in the specific instance that inspired the Refugee Convention.

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Tormented🕷Abroad @jjgass.bsky.social · 12h

They know SCOTUS is going to knife them in the back, but Article III means you get to keep your own sense of dignity intact.

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Tormented🕷Abroad @jjgass.bsky.social · 12h

Fellow lawyers: is it a good thing when a judge says this about you & your witnesses?

Jon Seidel @jonseidel.bsky.social · 13h

Perry cites other fed prosecutions/lawsuits in Chicago and says "in the last 48 hours, in four separate unrelated legal decision from different neutral parties, they all cast significant doubt on DHS' credibility and assessment of what is happening on the streets of Chicago."

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Tormented🕷Abroad @jjgass.bsky.social · 13h

I've said it before, but it's remarkable how quickly the feds have managed to piss away the seemingly ironclad presumption of candor & credibility they enjoyed with federal judges.

They've lied so shamelessly, flagrantly, & frequently that judges have decided not to be played for fools any more.

Jon Seidel @jonseidel.bsky.social · 13h

U.S. District Judge April Perry says it comes down to a "credibility determination."

"I simply cannot credit [the Trump administration's] declarations to the extent they contradict state and local law enforcement. … DHS' perception of events are simply unreliable."

Jon Seidel @jonseidel.bsky.social · 13h

#BREAKING A federal judge say she will grant "in part" a request by the state of Illinois for a temporary restraining order against the deployment of National Guard troops into the state.

U.S. District Judge April Perry is still ruling and has not outlined the details of her order.

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Tormented🕷Abroad @jjgass.bsky.social · 13h

Garland appointed Republican prosecutors as special counsel; they found evidence of serious crimes.

Trump appointed a US Attorney who said there was nothing to indict Comey & James for, so he fired his own guy & appointed an unqualified replacement to indict them.

No "both sides" here.

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Tormented🕷Abroad @jjgass.bsky.social · 13h

There's outrageous stuff on federal dockets tonight. So let's take a break with the more humorous side.

Among lawyers who I can recall seeing comment on this case, approximately 100% predicted the outcome.

Were I on the bench, would I have resisted inserting "A minor" into the opinion somewhere?

Meghann Cuniff @meghanncuniff.bsky.social · 14h

A federal judge has dismissed Drake’s defamation lawsuit against UMG over Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us.”

“Because the Court concludes that the allegedly defamatory statements in “Not Like Us” are nonactionable opinion, the motion to dismiss is GRANTED.” storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

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Tormented🕷Abroad @jjgass.bsky.social · 13h

As long as Congress isn't in session, they can busy themselves drafting articles of impeachment.

This is cut-and-dried, unfit-to-serve, high-crime-or-misdeamor, get-his-ass-out-of-the-Oval Office stuff.

Joshua J. Friedman @joshuajfriedman.com · 13h

NEW: Here's the two-count indictment against NY AG Letitia James. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

INDICTMENT
October 2025 Term - at Alexandria, Virginia
THE GRAND JURY CHARGES THAT:
GENERAL ALLEGATIONS
At all times relevant to this Indictment:
1. Letitia A. James ("JAMES) was a resident of Brooklyn, New York, and the borrower on a
Fannie Mae-backed mortgage loan for the property located at 3121 Peronne Avenue,
Norfolk, Virginia.
2. OVM Financial (also known as Old Virginia Mortgage / AnnieMac) was a mortgage lending business located in Virginia Beach, Virginia, engaged in the business of originating and underwriting residential mortgage loans, including those backed by the Federal National Mortgage Association ("Fannie Mae"). OVM Financial qualified as a "financial institution" within the meaning of 18 U.S.C. § 20(10).
3. Fannie Mae was a federally chartered corporation that purchased and guaranteed mortgages,
operating as a government-sponsored enterprise under the oversight of the Federal Housing

Finance Agency ("FHFA").
4. First Savings Bank was a state-chartered, FDIC-insured financial institution (Certificate
#29961), headquartered in Jeffersonville, Indiana, which acquired mortgage loans through assignment or acquisition. First Savings Bank qualified as a "financial institution" within the meaning of 18 U.S.C. § 20(1).
5. On or about August 17, 2020, JAMES, as sole borrower, purchased the three (3) bedroom,
(1) bathroom property located at 3121 Peronne Avenue, Norfolk, Virginia 23509 (the
"Peronne Property"), for approximately $137,000, financed with a mortgage loan of approximately $109,600 (Loan #4430025978) backed by Fannie Mae.
6. The loan was originated by OVM Financial under a signed Second Home Rider, which required JAMES, as the sole borrower to occupy and use the property as her secondary residence, and prohibited its use as a timesharing or other shared ownership arrangement or agreement that requires her either to rent the property or give any other person any control over the occupancy or use of the property.
7. Despite these representations, the Peronne Property was not occupied or used by JAMES as a secondary residence and was instead used as a rental investment property, renting the property to a family of (3).
8. This misrepresentation allowed JAMES to obtain favorable loan terms not available for investment properties, including a note rate of 3.000% (avoiding a 0.815% higher
comparable investment property rate of 3.815%, resulting in approximately $17,837 in rate savings over the life of the loan), a seller credit of approximately $3,288 (exceeding the seller credit for investment properties by approximately $1,096), for total ill-gotten gains of approximately $18,933 over the life of the loan.
9. JAMES' Universal Property application for homeowners' insurance indicated "owner-

occupied non-seasonal use," further misrepresenting the intended use of the property.
10. JAMES filed Schedule E tax forms), under penalties of perjury, treating the Perrone Property as rental real estate, reporting fair rental days, zero personal use days, thousand(s)
of dollars in rents received, and claiming deductions for expenses relating to the property, further contradicting the second home classification.
11. The loan was acquired by or assigned to First Savings Bank by March 2021, exposing it to risks associated with the misrepresented loan.
12. The acts described herein occurred within the Eastern District of Virginia.
COUNT ONE
(Bank Fraud - 18 U.S.C. § 1344)
13. The allegations in paragraphs 1 through 12 are re-alleged and incorporated herein.
14. From on or about August 7, 2020, through at least January 2024, in the Eastern District of Virginia and elsewhere, the Defendant, LETITIA A. JAMES, did knowingly execute and attempt to execute a scheme and artifice to defraud OVM Financial and First Savings Bank,
financial institutions, and to obtain moneys, funds, and credits owned by and under the custody and control of OVM Financial and First Savings Bank by means of false and fraudulent pretenses, representations, and promises.
15. The scheme involved falsely representing the Peronne Property as a secondary residence to obtain favorable mortgage terms, while using it as an investment property with no intended
or actual personal occupancy or use by her.
(In violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1344).
COUNT TWO
(False Statements to a Financial Institution - 18 U.S.C. § 1014)
16. The allegations in paragraphs 1 through 12 are re-alleged and incorporated herein.

17. From on or about July 28, 2020, through at least August 31, 2020, in the Eastern District of Virginia and elsewhere, the Defendant, LETITIA A. JAMES, did knowingly make and cause to be made false statements and reports for the purpose of influencing the action of OVM Financial, a Fannie Mae-backed lender, upon an application for a loan, in that JAMES represented and affirmed in uniform residential loan applications and related documents that
the Peronne Property would be used as a secondary residence, when in truth and fact, as JAMES then knew, the property was intended and used as an investment property with no intended or actual personal occupancy or use by her.
(In violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1014).
FORFEITURE NOTICE
Pursuant to Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 32.2(a) and Title 18, U.S.C. §
982(a)(2)(A), upon conviction of the offenses in Counts One and Two, the Defendant, Letitia
A. James, shall forfeit to the United States any property constituting, or derived from, proceeds obtained, directly or indirectly, as a result of such violations, including but not limited to a money judgment in the amount of $18,933.
If any of the property described above, as a result of any act or omission of the Defendant: (a) cannot be located upon the exercise of due diligence; (b) has been transferred or sold to, or deposited with, a third party; (c) has been placed beyond the jurisdiction of the court; (d) has been substantially diminished in value; or (e) has been commingled with other property which cannot be divided without difficulty, the United States shall be entitled to a forfeiture of substitute property pursuant to Title 21, U.S.C. § 853(b), as incorporated by Title
18 U.S.C. § 982(b)(1).
(In accordance with Title 18 U.S.C. § 981(a)(1)(C) and 982(a)(1); Title 28, U.S.C. § 2461(c); and Title 21 U.S.C. § 853(p).)

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Tormented🕷Abroad @jjgass.bsky.social · 13h

Boy, Jim Jordan's weaponization committee is going to be busy.

He must be pissed off at these flagrant abuses of prosecutorial power to punish the president's personal enemies with ludicrous charges.

It flouts every principle he's claimed to hold. So, look out, Halligan! Subpoenas incoming!

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Tormented🕷Abroad @jjgass.bsky.social · 13h

Holding.

Not an argument; a SCOTUS holding, several times already this year.

It's disgraceful.

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Tormented🕷Abroad @jjgass.bsky.social · 13h

That's saying something.

Overreacting to litigation filings is the one thing that could conceivably make me favor getting rid of on-line docket access.

Meghann Cuniff @meghanncuniff.bsky.social · 14h

This was one of the more annoying lawsuits in terms of the seemingly endless emails about every single filing that might possibly be construed as favorable to one side or the other. (“Hey, Meghann. Just making sure you saw this news. UMG is running and hiding scared again.” 🙄)