Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

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David Roberts

@volts.wtf

Knowing fucking anything is "professorial" and "condescending." Only a level of ignorance & belligerence that matches the dumbest 20% of the population is truly authentic.

This is why the GOP is full of rich nepo-baby Ivy league graduates trying their level best to act as stupid as they can.

January 27, 2026 at 6:51 AM

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Curb Your Malthusiasm

@manucleardevice.bsky.social

None of these Republicans and most of these Democrats are not all of a sudden “seeing the light on ICE.” They simply understand the worm turning on public opinion and saving face. They will ALL go back to voting for minority brutalization as soon as they can. You can’t keep falling for this.

January 26, 2026 at 11:19 PM

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Drew Magary

@drewmagary.bsky.social

Tide might be turning. Keep pushing. Keep calling, donating, protesting, all of it. Don’t stop, especially if Trump starts throwing them overboard. Don’t stop until they’re all gone

January 26, 2026 at 9:34 PM

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Chad Loder

@chadloder.bsky.social

An all hands meetings announced last minute to discuss the future of the company, that's good right?

Ben Mullin @benmullin.bsky.social · 2d

NEWS: Bari Weiss will hold an all-hands meeting to discuss the future of CBS News tomorrow, per note that just went out to employees.

January 26, 2026 at 3:53 PM

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John Drake

@johndrake.bsky.social

Wake up. Make breakfast. Do email. Watch a murder. Go to a party for a 5 year old. Laugh with my daughter. See a different angle of that murder. Hear govt officials slander the victim. Play Barbies with my kid. Feed her dinner. Tear up at that victim reading last honors to a vet. Put kid to bed. USA

January 25, 2026 at 4:43 AM

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Hari Kunzru

@harikunzru.bsky.social

As we go into a period of 24-48 hours when a lot of people will be stuck inside with plenty of time to sit with their anger, this may be a turning point for US politics.

January 25, 2026 at 3:02 AM

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Nathan Goldwag

@goldwagnathan.bsky.social

The feedback loop here, where the people ostensibly in charge of the most powerful government in the world are completely obsessed with and deferential to the conservative media-industrial complex, is what's going to get us all killed.

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 4d

Bondi vows escalation in Minnesota.

U.S. Department of Justice reposted
Attorney General Pamela Bondi v
• 39m X
The full weight of federal law enforcement is engaged in Minnesota and this Department of Justice is advancing action on every front.
Walz, Ellison and Frey have acknowledged receipt of federal grand jury subpoenas from this DOJ.
We have arrested multiple individuals in the Cities Church attack and will continue to fight for our religious organizations.
Today we arrested a man who violently assaulted an HSI agent.
More arrests are coming.
Meanwhile, our attorneys are relentlessly fighting to defeat the unprecedented judicial activism unfolding in Minnesota.
Accountability is coming.
toddstarnes
@toddstarnes • 4h
Who wants to tell AG Pam Bondi that the time for strongly-worded letters is long gone? Declare an insurrection. Invoke the Insurrection Act and put down the rebellion.
Not sure what's going on in t...

January 25, 2026 at 3:08 AM

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Better Things Are Possible

@internethippo.bsky.social

I think it's good to keep getting mad about evil and unjust things, if only to remind yourself and everyone else that these things are in fact evil and unjust. I don't think it's naive. Nor is it wise and sophisticated to adopt a "You fool, nothing matters and nothing good can ever happen" posture

September 10, 2025 at 2:58 PM

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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò

@olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social

imo of all the formal political institutions in US life, the judiciary has given the best account of itself by a pretty large margin (with the obvious exception of SCOTUS) and a younger me was way more dismissive of the courts than history would prove deserved

Anna Bower @annabower.bsky.social · 4d

A magistrate judge found no probable cause to support arrest warrants for 5 people involved in the St. Paul church protest.

DOJ appealed to the 8th Cir.

That appeal led to this remarkable letter from the Chief Judge of the Minnesota district court…

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Re:
In Re: United States of America
No. 26-1135
Dear Chief Judge Colloton,
I apologize for addressing this letter to you, but, for reasons I will describe, I do
not have any other option.
I am working from home today, as the program that my mentally disabled adult son attends each day is closed because of the extreme cold At 11:34 am, I received an email regarding Case No. 26-1135, entitled "In re: United States of America." The order in its entirety read:
The motion of the United States to seal is granted. The Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota is invited to file a response, at his discretion, to the petition for writ of mandamus. Any response is due by 2:00 p.m. Friday, January 23.
This is the first that I have heard of any petition for a writ of mandamus. The
United States did not have the courtesy to tell me that they would be filing such a petition, nor did the United States serve the petition on me. I am unable to access any documents in Case No. 26-1135 because, at the request of the United States, the case is sealed-apparently even from me. So I have been given about two-and-one-half hours to respond to a mandamus petition that I have not read and cannot read.
Apparently I am supposed to guess what the petition is about and guess what
the mandamus petition says and then respond. I will do so.

The Honorable Steven M. Colloton
January 23, 2026
Page 2
On the evening of Tuesday, January 20, the United States presented an application for eight arrest warrants to Magistrate Judge Douglas Micko in connection with the disruption of a religious service at Cities Church on Sunday, January 18. Judge Micko was the magistrate judge who was on duty at the time. Judge Micko found there was probable cause to issue warrants with respect to three of the suspects but not with respect to the other five.
Minutes after Judge Micko signed three arrest warrants, the U.S. Attorney
notified me that his office wanted a district judge to review Judge Micko's decision -either by hearing an appeal of that decision or by considering the application de novo. The first thing I did is ask our Clerk's Office to randomly assign a district judge to consider the government's request. I was the judge who was randomly assigned.
It is important to emphasize that what the U.S. Attorney requested is unheard of
in our district or, as best as I can tell, any other district in the Eighth Circuit. I have surveyed all of our judges — some of whom have been judges in our District for over 40 years —and no one can remember the government asking a district judge to review a magistrate judge's denial of an arrest warrant. I have also surveyed the chief judges of all of the districts in the Eighth Circuit. I have heard back from almost all of them, and all of those responding have said that, to their knowledge, no district judge has ever reviewed the decision of a magistrate judge to deny an arrest warrant. The reason why this never happens is likely that, if the government does not like the magistrate judge's decision, it can either improve the affidavit and present it again to the same magistrate judge or it can present its case to a grand jury and seek an indictment.
On Wednesday, January 21, I informed the U.S. Attorney that because he was asking me to do something that was unprecedented, and because m…

January 24, 2026 at 6:43 PM

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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick

@reichlinmelnick.bsky.social

You have to read this. Firsthand affidavit from one of the women who was there and recording the video. She talks about how Alex Pretti was directing traffic when she arrived. She watched him be killed in front of her. She's afraid to go home, worried she'll be arrested.

1. I am a resident of the Whittier neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota. I am over 18 years of age. I am a children's entertainer who specializes in face painting.
2. On Saturday, January 24, 2026, at about 8:50 am, I was getting ready to go to work when I heard whistles outside. I knew the whistles meant that ICE agents were in the area, so I decided to check it out on my way to work. I've been involved in observing in my community because it is so important to document what ICE is doing to my neighbors. Connecting to your local community and knowing who your neighbors are is something I profoundly value.
3. I drove to Nicollet Ave. and 26th where I could hear the whistles coming from. I turned south onto Nicollet. There were already several ICE agents there and they'd set up a sort of vehicle convoy on Nicollet and 28th. There were also about 15 observers there, recording and observing ICE.
4. I saw ICE agents surrounding cars and punching car windows. I also saw them stopping vehicles further down Nicollet, so I backed up because I didn't feel safe continuing on.
5. I noticed a man sort of acting to help traffic move more smoothly. He helped me find a place to park. I got out with my whistle and my camera. I went over to him and said something like, "I'm going to film and use my whistle."
6. It seemed like most ICE activity was happening a little farther down the street from us, near 27th. Someone was being thrown to the ground.

7. I started recording. There was an agent by a car across the street. Two observers were a few feet away from the agent, blowing their whistles. One was wearing a backpack.
8. I and the man who was observing and helping direct traffic were standing in the street. There was a phone in the man's hand recording a video.
9. An agent approached and asked us to back up, so I moved slowly back onto the sidewalk.
10. The man stayed in the street, filming as the other observers I mentioned earlier were being forced backward by another ICE agent threatening them with pepper spray. The man went closer to support them as they got threatened, just with his camera out. I didn't see him reach for or hold a gun.
11. Then the ICE agent shoved one of the other observers to the ground. Then he started pepper spraying all three of them directly in the face and all over. The man with the phone put his hands above his head and the agent sprayed him again and pushed him.
12. Then the man tried to help up the woman the ICE agent had shoved to the ground. The ICE agents just kept spraying. More agents came over and grabbed the man who was still trying to help the woman get up. All three of the observers looked to have been badly affected by the pepper spray. I could feel the pepper spray in my eyes.

13. The agents pulled the man on the ground. I didn't see him touch any of them-he wasn't even turned toward them. It didn't look like he was trying to resist, just trying to help the woman up. I didn't see him with a gun. They threw him to the ground. Four or five agents had him on the ground and they just started shooting him. They shot him so many times.
14.1 don't know why they shot him. He was only helping. I was five feet from him and they just shot him.
15. The video I recorded of what happened accurately depicts the events leading up to the agents shooting him and several minutes afterwards. The video is attached as Exhibit 1.
16. I have read the statement from DHS about what happened and it is wrong. The man did not approach the agents with a gun. He approached them with a camera. He was just trying to help a woman get up and they took him to the ground.
17. I feel afraid. Only hours have passed since they shot a man right in front me and I don't feel like I can go home because I heard agents were looking for me. I don't know what the agents will do when they find me. I do know that they're not telling the truth about what happened. I've heard that other witnesses might have been arrested and taken to the Whipple Building.
18. I am disgusted and gutted at how they are treating my neighbors and my state. I keep alternating between crying and feeling determined it is important to remember the value of documenting injustice. We show up for the people who need us to bear

witness, because it can't just be one group of people bearing the brunt of their tyranny. This is a struggle to protect our freedom and democracy, those things are on the line. He lost his life for those values.
I declare under penalty of perjury that everything I have stated in this document is true and correct.

Dated and signed on Jan 24, 2026 in Hennepin County, State of Minnesota.

January 25, 2026 at 1:15 AM

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Tim Onion

@bencollins.bsky.social

Imagine what’s happening in the camps.

Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 4d

Imagine how much they’d be lying about what happened without all the videos showing it from multiple angles.

January 24, 2026 at 11:29 PM

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Hamilton Nolan

@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social

I certainly hope to live long enough to see Stephen Miller imprisoned for his many crimes.

January 24, 2026 at 9:57 PM

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Osita Nwanevu

@ositanwanevu.com

Nonviolence is, in fact, working. This administration is weaker than it was a year ago. More and more of the public is becoming galvanized against it; its agents are being impeded.

Will Stancil @whstancil.bsky.social · 4d

Do you honestly think people in the civil rights movement and other nonviolent movements faced no violence themselves? They practiced nonviolence because it works, because the oppressor wants a shooting war, which is the war it will win

Arno_Xen (ANTIFA) @arno-aman.bsky.social · 4d

How's your non-violent working Mr Gandhi stancil? They will kill each and everyone of you right if they had the chance and you will still be writing Kumbaya.

January 24, 2026 at 9:53 PM

prepostroff

@prepostroff.bsky.social

If there are people in your life who don’t know this is what is happening - it’s past time you tell them

Judd Legum @juddlegum.bsky.social · 4d

The federal government is gunning people down in the streets, lying about what happened and then preventing any independent investigation of the killings

January 24, 2026 at 9:57 PM

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Marisa Kabas

@marisakabas.bsky.social

no matter what trump or anyone in his administration or any republican or any random shit online says happened to alex pretti, we know what we saw. never forget that you KNOW what you fucking saw.

January 24, 2026 at 9:37 PM

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Dan O’Sullivan

@osullyville.bsky.social

I think it is time for there to be blowback and a scandal for any elected Democrat even saying this sort of thing. You should be shamed for pretending this is a thing. We do not need this gesture anymore. The Republicans are the Nazi Party and Donald Trump is their Fuhrer.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 4d

Frey: "To President Trump -- this is a moment to act like a leader"

January 24, 2026 at 9:01 PM

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Osita Nwanevu

@ositanwanevu.com

This random online comment from 2018 remains one of the last half-century's most important works of political commentary. crookedtimber.org/2018/03/21/l...

Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit:

There must be in-groups whom the law protectes but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.

There is nothing more or else to it, and there never has been, in any place or time.

For millenia, conservatism had no name, because no other model of polity had ever been proposed. “The king can do no wrong.” In practice, this immunity was always extended to the king’s friends, however fungible a group they might have been. Today, we still have the king’s friends even where there is no king (dictator, etc.). Another way to look at this is that the king is a faction, rather than an individual.

As the core proposition of conservatism is indefensible if stated baldly, it has always been surrounded by an elaborate backwash of pseudophilosophy, amounting over time to millions of pages. All such is axiomatically dishonest and undeserving of serious scrutiny. Today, the accelerating de-education of humanity has reached a point where the market for pseudophilosophy is vanishing; it is, as The Kids Say These Days, tl;dr . All that is left is the core proposition itself — backed up, no longer by misdirection and sophistry, but by violence.

January 24, 2026 at 5:42 PM

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nilay patel

@reckless.bsky.social

“Everyone should be allowed to carry a gun for their safety but the government can murder you in the street if you have a gun” is an incredible endpoint for the conservative moment

January 24, 2026 at 5:48 PM

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James Fallows

@jfallows.bsky.social

From this moment forward (and before, but clearly now):

-If you work for ICE.
-If you vote for money for ICE.

You are complicit. This is the gestapo. You're on the wrong side. You can't pretend not to know.

January 24, 2026 at 5:07 PM

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Prisonculture

@prisonculture.bsky.social

If you are talking about training today, you are a mark.

January 24, 2026 at 4:45 PM

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Kashana

@kashana.blacksky.app

At the end of the day, the Black Lives Matter era was about whether people should be killed in the street, and lots of people decided yeah and put those little blue flags on their cars. It spread to everyone because it stopped for no one.

January 24, 2026 at 4:45 PM

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Osita Nwanevu

@ositanwanevu.com

Immigration is a fake problem. We have politicians on the one hand who want to use immigrants as scapegoats for our real ones and politicians on the other who are too cowardly to stand against them and tell the truth. That is the entire situation. Until that changes, people will continue to die.

January 24, 2026 at 4:25 PM

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Kevin M. Kruse

@kevinmkruse.bsky.social

ICE has now carried out two summary executions of innocent people in the streets of an American city.

If you work for ICE, there's no denying that's the mission you're supporting now. You don't get to claim in one year or ten or twenty that you didn't know what ICE was doing. You're complicit.

January 24, 2026 at 3:55 PM

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Jay Kirell

@jasonkirell.bsky.social

Two women trained as first responders were abducted by three ICE agents. One of the agents starts seizing. The other two don’t know what to do. The women jump into action and save the agent’s life, only to be re-handcuffed and processed.

www.startribune.com/detained-by-...