Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 3h

Yes. And, importantly, of the regime’s limited prosecutorial resources.

Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 3h

By rule of law democracy standards, the Letitia James charges are very bad.

But by fighting against authoritarianism standards, not so much. James doesn’t deserve it, but she’ll be good at defending herself, and tie up regime resources; more limited given who they had to push out to go after James.

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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 5h

Another judge ruling against the Trump admin based on facts, rejecting the govt’s claim that reality is whatever the president says.

Good. If they don’t have to change laws to get new powers, they simply have to lie about the facts and say existing laws applies, that’s unlimited dictatorship.

Jon Seidel @jonseidel.bsky.social · 6h

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 · 6h

#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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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 9h

By the new standard universities are supposed to adopt and some media already uses as a style guide, the term for this is “fighting antisemitism.”

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 11h

JD Vance describes Chuck Schumer as "one of the most famous Palestinians in the world"

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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 9h

That’s what you think. But the Roberts court helpfully explained that everyone’s gotten the Constitution wrong for over 230 years.

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Reposted by Nicholas Grossman

Matt Zoller Seitz @mattzollerseitz.bsky.social · 9h

Finally, some common sense from a deep-red governor

Larry Ferlazzo @larryferlazzo.bsky.social · 10h

Oklahoma’s Republican governor criticizes guard deployment. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/09/u...

Gov. Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma, a Republican and the chairman of the National Governors Association, on Thursday criticized the deployment of Texas National Guard troops to Illinois as a violation of his beliefs in federalism and “states’ rights.”

His comments, in an interview with The New York Times, marked the first time a Republican governor has questioned the interstate deployment of National Guard troops over a governor’s objections. Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois and other Democratic elected officials have been strongly critical of the move and have implored Republican governors to join the opposition.

Mr. Stitt on Thursday said, “We believe in the federalist system — that’s states’ rights,” adding, “Oklahomans would lose their mind if Pritzker in Illinois sent troops down to Oklahoma during the Biden administration.”

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Reposted by Nicholas Grossman

David_j_roth @davidjroth.bsky.social · 10h

The "somebody showed me a TikTok" era of American government is going pretty much exactly how you'd expect.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 11h

RFK Jr: "Somebody showed me a TikTok video of a pregnant woman at 8 months pregnant -- she's an associate professor at the Columbia Medical School -- and she is saying 'F Trump' and gobbling Tylenol with her baby in her placenta. The level of Trump Derangement Syndrome is now a pathology."

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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 9h

It’s not racial profiling, it’s reasonable suspicion, we simply think anyone with darker skin tones is suspicious and that this belief is reasonable, so it’s not racial profiling, how dare you.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 9h

McLaughlin: "Pritzker said there's racial profiling, which is absolutely false. Our officials use reasonable suspicion. That's protected under the US Constitution 4th Amendment."

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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 10h

You know, that fake quote isn't a terrible summary of Maimonides. He more or less argued "too many of you are thinking with the wrong head, so we should desensitize the lower one."

Though that's different than RFK Jr's point.

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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 10h

Nothing is more basic than the right to live in factual reality, rather than required to pretend that someone's obvious lies are real.

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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 10h

Yes, if everyone must defer to the president's lies, that is an unrestricted dictatorship.

If "that's just not true" has zero sway, then non-emergencies permit emergency powers, nonviolent actions permit war powers, and any behavior the president doesn't like is an act of war, permitting anything.

Grudgie the Whale @grudgie.bsky.social · 10h

So the Administration is arguing there’s no actual threshold for dictatorial power besides the willingness to lie. You don’t have to demonstrate literally anything, just be willing to say it.

Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 10h

You must defer to the president’s determination that there is an armed rebellion in Chicago, argues the govt’s lawyer.

That’s the Trump admin’s stance on everything. When the law doesn’t allow it, lie about the facts until it’s something that would be legal, then insist others live inside the lie.

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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 10h

New theory of Jewish historical exceptionalism just dropped

Justin Baragona @justinbaragona.bsky.social · 11h

Besides linking Tylenol in pregnant women to autism, RFK Jr. now says circumcision is part of the reason why kids are autistic.

"Children who are circumcised early have double the rate of autism, and it's highly likely because they're given Tylenol. None of this is positive..."

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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 10h

It’s quite the loophole. A get out of laws free card.

Murder is illegal, but logging is not. So Trump says that person is a tree. Voila, killing is legal.

Sound absurd? Real claims include:

Unarmed migrants are invading foreign soldiers.
Drugs are military arms.
Peaceful expression is rebellion.

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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 10h

You must defer to the president’s determination that there is an armed rebellion in Chicago, argues the govt’s lawyer.

That’s the Trump admin’s stance on everything. When the law doesn’t allow it, lie about the facts until it’s something that would be legal, then insist others live inside the lie.

Heather Cherone @heathercherone.bsky.social · 11h

Perry: DOJ's definition of rebellion would mean that
"literally all nonviolent protest” could be considered evidence of rebellion. Is that your argument?
Hamilton: The president has determined there is a danger of a rebellion, and you must defer to that finding

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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 10h

“It can’t happen here” and frog slowly boiling and normal human denial of frightening things they can’t control are all powerful forces.

It’s why I’m a touch-the-stoveist. More people need to register what’s happening before the authoritarians can consolidate power and it’s too late.

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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 12h

We already did defending democracy. And we lost.

To be clear, I don’t mean that as a marketing slogan or campaign strategy. I mean it literally. For nearly a decade, we tried to defend US Constitutional democracy. The anti-democracy forces won.

Doesn’t mean it’s all over. Politics never ends.

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Reposted by Nicholas Grossman

Dan Nexon @dhnexon.bsky.social · 13h

What Bob leaves out is that the rise in threats against Republican officials is driven, in no small measure, by stochastic MAGA terrorism aimed at cowing anyone who does, or might, cross Trump.

Jacob Ware @jacobware.bsky.social · 13h

"Violent populism—a phase of politics characterized by high levels of political violence and broad support for it—now represents a greater risk to American democracy than any competition with another country or any menace by a foreign terrorist group."🎯

America’s New Age of Political Violence

What happens when the threat comes from both left and right.

www.foreignaffairs.com

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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 12h

“Bizarre” was my reaction too. I can’t think of another time terrorism scholars — as distinct from politicians and media figures — publicly announced a trend and serious threat from such few deaths, and in such a short time period, seemingly separated from the political-security context.

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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 12h

I've been passed that for months. Since the election, really. I don't see how pretending it isn't happening would help— if anything, makes for complacency—but I also don't think acknowledging that we've already lost the liberal democracy we had is defeatist. We can rebuild, or make something better.

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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 12h

This agreement says they won't be. I expect either follow-through on that or resumption of war.

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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 12h

There are similarities, but it's not exactly the same.

Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 12h

I liked reading and recommend this essay by @sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com, in particular for the argument that fighting does not mean mindless aggression or abandoning values, but does require eschewing procedural caution while remaining anti-doomerist. (Plus Clausewitz and Biddle references!)

Democrats Must Embrace War Mindset

We have exited a long period of peace and entered into a struggle not unlike war, in which all the old certainties have gone malleable and the future of the republic is at stake.

www.liberalcurrents.com

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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 12h

That looks impossible. For one, Hamas was in charge of Gaza, and Israel semi-partnered with them in that endeavor. That's not happening again.

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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 12h

That's the sort of thing I had in mind by "using it for their long-running arguments."

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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 13h

"As much as we are being lied to by this administration and the media ecosystem supporting it, perhaps the most dangerous falsehoods are the ones we tell ourselves about the severity of the crisis."

@aselrod.bsky.social in @liberalcurrents.com on lies about crime and other impactful fictions

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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