Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Kathleen Clark @kathleenclark.bsky.social · 1h

Trump confirms that he’s trying to do to Illinois & Oregon what he did to DC:
“Here in Washington we've deployed federal law enforcement and National Guard …, and we're working to replicate that in numerous places all over the country.”

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1h

Trump: "Here in Washington we've deployed federal law enforcement and National Guard to restore public safety, and we're working to replicate that in numerous places all over the country. We have a very powerful military, we have a very powerful National Guard."

Kathleen Clark @kathleenclark.bsky.social · 13h

… just like the Yoo-Bybee torture memo, which the Bush Administration had to rescind days after it was leaked to the Washington Post in June 2004.

Memo Offered Justification for Use of Torture

www.washingtonpost.com

Kathleen Clark @kathleenclark.bsky.social · 14h

Another #KavanaughStop:

‘“Turn around or you’re going to get the dog,” an officer said.
“We’re going to put you in cuffs, or you’re going to get the dog.” …
The officers struck Miranda from behind, which caused him to collapse …
he was taken away in an unmarked van … [and] held for several hours.’

Renee (paix120) @paix120.bsky.social · 15h

Masked ICE agents threatened an American citizen, put him into an unmarked van, held him for several hours, and dropped him back off at his workplace, without ever explaining why they abducted him

VIDEO: ICE detains, threatens Oregon man despite U.S. citizenship
www.koin.com/news/portlan...

www.koin.com

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Kathleen Clark @kathleenclark.bsky.social · 17h

“one of the biggest beneficiaries of this deal is John Paulson, a Trump donor who … owns 8.7 % of Trilogy,
yesterday valued at $30 million,
today at “more than $100 million.”
“Did the administration … dump nearly $36 million into Trilogy because … Paulson has friends in the White House?”

Walter Olson @walterolson.bsky.social · 17h

The current Republican Party will follow Donald Trump absolutely anywhere he decides to take it, including public ownership of the means of production.

Republican socialism: The Trump administration buys a stake in yet another company

Trilogy Metals will receive a $35.6 million "investment," and the federal government will now own a 10 percent stake in the company.

reason.com

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Kathleen Clark @kathleenclark.bsky.social · 17h

Under Trump 2.0, “corruption … is the price of admission and the reward for loyalty. But it also a double-edged sword when you fall out of favor.”
- @emptywheel.bsky.social predicting Patel & Bondi may reap what they’ve sown:
criminal prosecution if they fail to satisfy T’s (or Miller’s) demands

emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 1d

How Kash Patel and Pam Bondi became Slaves to Stephen Miller

www.emptywheel.net/2025/10/08/h...

How Kash Patel and Pam Bondi became Slaves to Stephen Miller - emptywheel

By indicting the first of Trump's FBI Directors and preparing to frame the second, Kash Patel may have signed his own arrest warrant.

www.emptywheel.net

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Reposted by Kathleen Clark

Chris @chris-hhh.bsky.social · 23h

someone needs to aggregate these heroic stories and reenact them on a youtube channel or something

Kathleen Clark @kathleenclark.bsky.social · 1d

Eboni (Ebony?) Watson sure sounds like a hero:

‘As Watson questioned agents about warrants and the legality of their raid, neighbors pleaded with her to be quiet for her own safety. She refused to back down.
"You claim you have warrants, but do you have a warrant to seize the entire building?”’

Eboni Watson, a neighborhood resident who filmed the hours-long raid of the apartment building, told the Weekly she had just gone to bed and closed her eyes when she heard a loud
'bang', followed by the distinct buzzing of drones, a sound she had come to recognize after noticing them hovering near her home for the past three or four weeks.
A moment later, Watson's phone lit up with a notification from the Citizen app that said there'd been a car accident outside. The buzzing grew louder. She grabbed the phone and got out of bed to look out the window.
southsideweekly.com

As Watson questioned agents about warrants and the legality of their raid, neighbors pleaded with her to be quiet for her own safety. She refused to back down.
"You claim you have warrants, but do you have a warrant to seize the entire building?" she asked the agents. "Do you have warrants to detain the entire building?" According to Watson, two federal agents told her that they were taking all detainees' photos to check them against databases for visas or warrants.

When Watson walked around the block to capture footage of the ongoing raid, she noticed federal agents were using the parking lots of Excel South Shore Academy—a CPS contractor school-to load residents into vans. In them, Watson saw Black U.S. citizens, women, and children. Grabbed from their beds, they hadn't been allowed to dress themselves before they were zip-tied and brought down to the waiting vans.

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Kathleen Clark @kathleenclark.bsky.social · 23h

Another news outlet referred to her as “Ebony Sweets Watson”

www.wbez.org/immigration/...

Ebony Sweets Watson, who lives across the street, said it "looked like hundreds" of agents were outside her front door.
Watson said she saw agents dragging residents, including kids, out of the building without any clothes on and into U-Haul vans. Kids were separated from their mothers, she said.
"It was heartbreaking to watch," said Watson. "Even if you're not a mother, seeing kids coming out buck naked and taken from their mothers, it was horrible."
Watson said she went into the building to help one of the residents and was shocked by what she saw.
wbez.org

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Kathleen Clark @kathleenclark.bsky.social · 1d

Eboni (Ebony?) Watson sure sounds like a hero:

‘As Watson questioned agents about warrants and the legality of their raid, neighbors pleaded with her to be quiet for her own safety. She refused to back down.
"You claim you have warrants, but do you have a warrant to seize the entire building?”’

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Reposted by Kathleen Clark

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 1d

We know more about the massive military-style raid on a Chicago housing complex thanks to the reporting of @southsideweekly.bsky.social, @blockclubchi.bsky.social, and neighborhood resident Eboni Watson who chronicled the event. Among the emerging questions: what's real estate's role in this?

section of text from South Side Weekly's coverage, which says: "The building was purchased by Wisconsin-based investor Trinity Flood in January 2020, according to Cook County records. On October 1, the day after the raid, a judge reviewed an emergency motion from Wells Fargo seeking to appoint Matthew Tarshis of Frontline Real Estate Partners as the property’s receiver.

Flood purchased three multifamily properties in South Shore in 2020. The neighborhood, which had the highest number of eviction filings in Chicago from 2015-2019 according to the Law Center for Better Housing, has seen a rise in outside real estate investors since the 2017 announcement of the Obama Presidential Center’s construction in the neighboring Jackson Park.

Wells Fargo Bank foreclosed on the building in mid-2024, bringing a $27 million lawsuit against Flood for missed loan payments. In late 2024, the City began closing its largest migrant shelters and, through state funding assistance distributed via Catholic Charities and moving support from New Life Church, relocated many families to buildings such as this one."

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Kathleen Clark @kathleenclark.bsky.social · 1d

Important insight from @dlknowles.bsky.social:

DHS’s goal — its “priority” — is to create propaganda videos.
Evidence:
- “Professional videographers have been spotted filming [DHS Secretary] Kristi Noem … at an immigration facility in Broadview, a western suburb.”

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Kathleen Clark @kathleenclark.bsky.social · 1d

Trump found the perfect person to “lead” (destroy?) NOAA in his corrupt, personalist regime:

A man who:
- acted unethically,
- “bowed to political pressure,”
- criticized scientists who dared to contradict Trump’s false claim & provide accurate information about a hurricane’s path.

Senate Confirms
'Sharpiegate' Meteorologist to Lead NOAA
Neil Jacobs was found to have violated NOAA's code of ethics after an investigation into an incident that centered on an altered hurricane forecast map in 2019.

Dr. Jacobs was found to have violated NOAA's code of ethics in 2020 after an investigation into an incident that centered on an altered hurricane forecast map President Trump presented in the Oval Office in 2019. The investigation found he had bowed to political pressure in releasing a statement critical of National Weather Service forecasters in Alabama, who had stressed on social media that Hurricane Dorian was not expected to affect that state, despite warnings to the contrary from Mr.
Trump.
Hurricane Dorian Forecast Track and I Note: The cone contains the probable path of the storm center but does not show the size of the storm. Hazardous conditions can occur outside of the cone.
[map]

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Kathleen Clark @kathleenclark.bsky.social · 1d

source:

Senate Confirms ‘Sharpiegate’ Meteorologist to Lead NOAA

www.nytimes.com

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Kathleen Clark @kathleenclark.bsky.social · 1d

Trump found the perfect person to “lead” (destroy?) NOAA in his corrupt, personalist regime:

A man who:
- acted unethically,
- “bowed to political pressure,”
- criticized scientists who dared to contradict Trump’s false claim & provide accurate information about a hurricane’s path.

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Kathleen Clark @kathleenclark.bsky.social · 1d

#KavanaughRaid

“Masked agents made people line up outside the building, where they asked each resident their name and country of origin … [and] if they had documents that proved they resided in the U.S. legally. … Black U.S. citizens, were loaded into vans where they were questioned further.”

Federal Agents Storm South Shore Building, Detaining Families and Children

Families were woken by flashbangs and helicopters as hundreds of federal agents raided their homes. Days later, neighbors are still searching for the missing.

southsideweekly.com

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Kathleen Clark @kathleenclark.bsky.social · 1d

Kathleen Clark @kathleenclark.bsky.social · 9d

“Gregory Bovino, commander at large of the Border Patrol,” openly admits that they use racial profiling

Chicago Oribune
Gregory Bovino, commander at large of the Border Patrol who participated in the downtown operation, told a WBEZ reporter that agents rely on a person's appearance before detaining them.
"It would be agent experience, intelligence that indicates there's illegal aliens in a particular place or location," Bovino said.
"Then, obviously, the particular characteristics of an individual, how they look. How do they look compared to, say, you?" he said to the reporter - a tall, middle-aged man of Anglo descent.
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court said federal agents could continue stopping people based on factors including race, language and type of work.

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Kathleen Clark @kathleenclark.bsky.social · 1d

Kathleen Clark @kathleenclark.bsky.social · 9d

“Gregory Bovino, commander at large of the Border Patrol,” openly admits that they use racial profiling

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Kathleen Clark @kathleenclark.bsky.social · 1d

“Hastily awakened residents were only given a few seconds to open before agents broke doors down and forced their way inside.”

#KavanaughRaid

“U.S. Chief Patrol Agent Gregory Bovino said that … ‘no rights have been violated today.’”

Bovino: noted authority on rights (!)

Federal Agents Storm South Shore Building, Detaining Families and Children

Families were woken by flashbangs and helicopters as hundreds of federal agents raided their homes. Days later, neighbors are still searching for the missing.

southsideweekly.com

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Kathleen Clark @kathleenclark.bsky.social · 1d

#KavanaughRaid
“federal agents detained nearly every resident of the 130-unit building—including children and babies—placing them in zip ties and separating them by race into vans for more than two hours early Tuesday morning.”

Daniel Knowles @dlknowles.bsky.social · 1d

Good reporting on the South Shore raid from South Side weekly here.

Confirms one thing I was told but didn't put in my own piece because I didn't have a second source and it seemed too insane: border agents segregated arrested residents by race

southsideweekly.com/federal-agen...

Federal Agents Storm South Shore Building, Detaining Families and Children

Families were woken by flashbangs and helicopters as hundreds of federal agents raided their homes. Days later, neighbors are still searching for the missing.

southsideweekly.com

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Kathleen Clark @kathleenclark.bsky.social · 1d

To @dlknowles.bsky.social, “it seemed too insane [that] border agents segregated arrested residents by race” during the South Shore raid.
OTOH “Greg Bovino, the chief patrol officer at the border agency,” who notoriously (if inadvertently) admitted racial profiling, was at the scene of the raid.

At the scene Greg Bovino, the chief patrol officer at the border agency, said that overwhelming force was needed because "we know there's weapons" and because gang members had taken over the building, where they were trafficking in sex and drugs. He said this to NewsNation, a right-wing news channel, which was invited along for the raid.

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Kathleen Clark @kathleenclark.bsky.social · 1d

Suggestion from @bcfinucane.bsky.social:

Meet DHS’s propaganda with mockery & derision

Brian Finucane @bcfinucane.bsky.social · 1d

The administration wants authoritarian theater.

Mockery and derision may be an effective response.

Resulting in them looking buffoonish and absurd rather than strong and dominant.

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Kathleen Clark @kathleenclark.bsky.social · 1d

Brooks ‘repeatedly … pointed out her citizenship. … When she continued to object to her arrest, an officer knocked her to the ground, removed the zip-ties and replaced them with handcuffs, locked as tightly as they would go. By the time she was released, … the sun was coming up.’
#KavanaughStop

cause. Ms Brooks, who is black, with an American accent, says she repeatedly asked officers why she was being arrested, and pointed out her citizenship.
Nobody asked her any questions. When she continued to object to her arrest, an officer knocked her to the ground, removed the zip-ties and replaced them with handcuffs, locked as tightly as they would go. By the time she was released, together with several other citizens, she says the sun was coming up.

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Kathleen Clark @kathleenclark.bsky.social · 1d

A #KavanaughStop in Chicago (with notorious CBP supervisor Greg Bovino on the scene):

‘Alicia Brooks, a 33-year-old American citizen[,] … heard a helicopter right outside her window …. “I started to get my key, and I was grabbed … I was zip-tied … and escorted outside the building.”’

One of the residents who remains is Alicia Brooks, a 33-year-old American citizen. By her account, when the raid started, she heard a helicopter right outside her window on the fifth floor. "I started to get my key, and I was grabbed," she says. "I was zip-tied in front of me and escorted outside the building." Dozens of men in military-style uniforms carrying assault rifles evacuated the complex "like it was on fire",
", she says. They lined up the
inhabitants outside, zip-tying the hands of the adults, and put them on buses.

United States. At the scene Greg Bovino, the chief patrol officer at the border agency, said that overwhelming force was needed because "we know there's weapons" and because gang members had taken over the building, where they were trafficking in sex and drugs. He said this to NewsNation, a right-wing news channel, which was invited along for the raid.

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Kathleen Clark @kathleenclark.bsky.social · 1d

- “Not long after [its nighttime raid on a South Shore apartment building, DHS] … published a short video of the raid, with Hollywood-style visuals of young Hispanic men being led away in cuffs.”

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

What happens now? For DHS, the raid seemed to achieve its goal. Not long after, the agency published a short video of the raid, with Hollywood-style visuals of young Hispanic men being led away in cuffs. As with much of "Operation Midway Blitz", as the immigration crackdown in Chicago is officially called, the production of video content seems to be a priority. On September 25th border-patrol boats made a show of prowling the Chicago River downtown, perhaps looking for migrants on an architecture cruise. Professional videographers have been spotted filming Kristi Noem, the homeland- security secretary, at an immigration facility in Broadview, a western suburb of the city.

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Kathleen Clark @kathleenclark.bsky.social · 1d

Important insight from @dlknowles.bsky.social:

DHS’s goal — its “priority” — is to create propaganda videos.
Evidence:
- “Professional videographers have been spotted filming [DHS Secretary] Kristi Noem … at an immigration facility in Broadview, a western suburb.”

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Kathleen Clark @kathleenclark.bsky.social · 3d

In effect, Trump is trying to treat Oregon & Illinois the same way he treated DC:
- [ ] imposing federalized military troops
- [ ] on a false claim of necessity
- [ ] over the objection of democratically elected officials.

Brandon Friedman @brandonfriedman.bsky.social · 3d

Sending troops from Texas to forcefully occupy and suppress cities in Illinois and Oregon IN OPPOSITION TO THOSE STATES' GOVERNORS is literally a civil war and it's cooking my brain that Democrats are simply pretending it isn't happening

Kyle Cheney @kyledcheney.bsky.social · 3d

UPDATE: Hegseth today called up 400 members of the Texas National Guard, with Gov. Abbott's apparent permission, to be deployed "where needed, including in the cities of Portland and Chicago." www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

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