Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Rebecca McCray

Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 1d

www.wweek.com/culture/2025...

Can you put into words what that purpose is? You and the frog have really become icons of this protest.

There’s been a nice overall whimsy that has shown up. The frog is amazing. We had a bunch of other inflatable people here last night, too. I saw people playing Twister the other day.

What they rely on is fear. So by coming out in an absurdist manner, it speaks to them, to some extent, that we’re actually not that afraid.

It also dismantles their narrative a little bit. When they try to describe this situation as “war-torn,” it becomes much harder to take them seriously when they have to post a video saying [U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security] Kristi Noem is up on the balcony staring over the Antifa Army and it’s, like, eight journalists and five protesters and one of them is in a chicken suit.

Rebecca McCray @rebeccakmccray.bsky.social · 3d

“Your life revolves around hate from every side.” Essential reading on the NY state correction officers' strike and its aftermath that clearly captures how the prison system dehumanizes both workers and incarcerated people.

A Year of Convulsions in New York’s Prisons

Jennifer Gonnerman reports on how two murders and a strike exposed a system at its breaking point.

www.newyorker.com

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Reposted by Rebecca McCray

Alex Zielinski @alexzee.bsky.social · 5d

Two things felt different to the ppl I spoke with who’d been protesting at the ICE building for months.

1st was the sheer volume of tear gas, pepper balls and flash-bangs used, seemingly unprovoked.

2nd was seeing so many videographers/live-streamers embedded with the feds as they marched out.

Alex Zielinski @alexzee.bsky.social · 5d

Hours after a federal judge paused the Trump administration’s plans to deploy 200 members of the Oregon National Guard to Portland, federal law enforcement officers escalated the tactics used on protesters in the city.

Troy and I were on the ground:

Federal tactics on protesters escalate, hours after judge rules against Trump

Hours after a federal judge paused the Trump administration’s plans to deploy 200 members of the Oregon National Guard to Portland, federal law enforcement officers escalated the tactics used on prote...

www.opb.org

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Reposted by Rebecca McCray

Shannon Heffernan @shannonheffernan.bsky.social · 6d

U.S. Border Patrol agents shot a woman this morning in Chicago. It's the second shooting since Trump’s immigration enforcement "blitz."

The news comes as IL Gov. Pritzker announces Trump intends to federalize 300 members of the Illinois National Guard.

chicago.suntimes.com/news/2025/10...

Federal agents shoot woman they say 'boxed in' authorities on Chicago's South Side

Authorities were on patrol when they were "rammed by 10 cars," according to a statement from the Department of Homeland Security. One of the drivers "was armed with a semi-automatic weapon," prompting...

chicago.suntimes.com

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Reposted by Rebecca McCray

Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · 6d

“the federal constitution’s suddenly fluid protections” is 🔥

Bolts @boltsmag.org · 8d

The Hawaii Constitution offers safety to Hawaii’s people that exceeds the federal constitution’s suddenly fluid protections,” Hawaii Justice Todd Eddins wrote in a recent ruling, taking a shot at the U.S. Supreme Court.

Hawaii Supreme Court Expands Rights of Defendants, and Once Again Rebukes SCOTUS

The justices ruled that Hawaii’s constitution requires police to record interrogations. And they vowed to protect due process for Hawaii residents—unlike, they said, the Roberts Court.

boltsmag.org

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Rebecca McCray @rebeccakmccray.bsky.social · 6d

“Advocates are particularly concerned over the facilities’ use of Pfas gas, or f-gas, which can be potent greenhouse gases, and may mean AI datacenters’ climate impact is worse than previously thought.”

Advocates raise alarm over Pfas pollution from datacenters amid AI boom

Tech companies’ use of Pfas gas at facilities may mean datacenters’ climate impact is worse than previously thought

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Rebecca McCray

Mark Joseph Stern @mjsdc.bsky.social · 7d

Justice Jackson's sharp dissent accuses her Republican-appointed colleagues of abusing the court's shadow docket "to allow this Administration to disrupt as many lives as possible, as quickly as possible." She also takes a dig at their refusal to write opinions explaining their actions.

exigency or any other pru dent threshold limitation on the exercise of our discretion— and wordlessly override the considered judgments of our colleagues. We once again use our equitable power (but not our opinion-writing capacity) to allow this Administration to disrupt as many lives as possible, as quickly as possible.

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Reposted by Rebecca McCray

Tim Marchman @timmarchman.bsky.social · 8d

NEW: Federal workers had their out-of-office replies changed to an unhinged and probably illegal partisan screed; when they changed them to neutral language, the replies were changed yet again. @leahfeiger.bsky.social and @telliotter.bsky.social have the details:

Government Workers Say Their Out-of-Office Replies Were Forcibly Changed to Blame Democrats for Shutdown

Some employees at the Department of Education changed their responses back to the more neutral language, only to have it changed yet again to the partisan response, multiple sources tell WIRED.

www.wired.com

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Reposted by Rebecca McCray

Violet Miller @vimiller.bsky.social · 12d

Broadview Police have opened an investigation into an attack from federal agents on a CBS crew at Broadview, per BPD Chief Mills.

The following statement can be attributed to Broadview Police Chief Thomas Mills:

“The Village of Broadview Police Department has launched a criminal investigation into an allegedly unprovoked attack on a CBS Chicago TV news reporter’s vehicle on Sunday by a chemical munition fired from the direction of U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement detention facility. The victim declined medical attention. The Broadview Police Department expects the full cooperation of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security into our criminal investigation.”

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Julia Carrie Wong @joolia.bsky.social · 15d

Microsoft will no longer allow Israel to use its cloud services to enable its mass surveillance of occupied Palestinians – "the first known case of a US technology company withdrawing services provided to the Israeli military since the beginning of its war on Gaza"

Microsoft blocks Israel’s use of its technology in mass surveillance of Palestinians

Exclusive: Tech firm ends military unit’s access to AI and data services after Guardian reveals secret spy project

www.theguardian.com

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Rebecca McCray @rebeccakmccray.bsky.social · 15d

"This is one valuable function of shame: it reminds us of who we want to be when we fall short, a goalpost that is necessarily anchored to the lofty height that our conduct fell beneath."

How Can We Live Together? - Boston Review

Ezra Klein is wrong: shame is essential.

www.bostonreview.net

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Reposted by Rebecca McCray

Gwynne Hogan @gwynnefitz.bsky.social · 16d

A crackdown on gay cruising inside the Penn Station bathroom by the federal Amtrak Police has landed one person in ICE custody. Amtrak Police, unlike the NYPD, are not bound by local sanctuary protections. www.thecity.nyc/2025/09/24/a...

New Cruising Crackdown by Feds at Penn Station

Amtrak Police turned a person arrested inside a Penn Station bathroom directly over to ICE.

www.thecity.nyc

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Reposted by Rebecca McCray

Rainesford Stauffer @rainesford.bsky.social · 19d

Must-read by journalist Mario Guevara for @bittersouth.bsky.social: "On the afternoon of Saturday, June 14, 2025, my life changed completely. Just as I was doing a regular news coverage, I was arrested by the police in the state of Georgia."

Journalist Mario Guevara Speaks - Letter from ICE DETENTION FACILITY — THE BITTER SOUTHERNER

The only journalist detained by ICE on US soil, sends a letter to The Bitter Southerner.

bittersoutherner.com

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Reposted by Rebecca McCray

Prisonculture @prisonculture.bsky.social · 18d

Everyone, I wanted to let you know about the sad news that despite everyone's best efforts Bluestockings will close at the end of the year: www.bluestockings.com - I want to thank every single person who sent books to them through my book drive [will share more later]. A tremendous loss to NYC.

Bluestockings Cooperative

Bluestockings Cooperative: Established in 1999, Worker-Owned since 2021. Located at 116 Suffolk Street, New York, NY 10002. One of NYC's only queer, trans, sex-worker run bookstores.

www.bluestockings.com

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Reposted by Rebecca McCray

Laur-eeeeee😱 (spooky scream) @laurie-merrell.bsky.social · 20d

Absolutely shattering details in this Sun-Times piece chicago.suntimes.com/news/2025/09...

A screenshot from the Chicago Sun-Times that says: "Milagros Pelayo, 22, and Yessenia Garcia, 16, said seeing others protesting against the treatment of immigrants made them feel seen.

Their father, Rosalio Pelayo Salgago, was detained at his home Sept. 10.

“We’re a little overwhelmed, a little scared, but we’re still here,” Pelayo said. “We’re still fighting, and the fight is not only now for us, but for other people like us and other people who have immigrant parents.”"

A screenshot from the Chicago Sun-Times that says: "Tania Ramos, 25, arrived at the facility around 6 p.m. Friday.

The setting sun lit up tears streaming down her face as she spoke of her father inside.

“Vino, your daughter is here,” an activist yelled in Spanish through a bullhorn. “She says she loves you a lot.”"

A screenshot from the Chicago Sun-Times that says: "Ramos, who spoke on condition her father’s full name not be published, said he arrived in the United States from Guatemala nearly 30 years ago and does not have a criminal record.

“He just had back surgery,” she said. “He had a bulging disc, so he’s been recuperating. He has a lung disease, and he also has diabetes and high cholesterol, so he takes a lot of medication every day.”

Ramos said she just wanted to “make sure that he has his medication and that he’s safe.”"

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Reposted by Rebecca McCray

Dan Vock @danvock.bsky.social · 21d

At Broadview ICE facility, federal agents hurl tear gas and pepper spray at protesters blocking vans www.chicagotribune.com/2025/09/19/t...

At Broadview ICE facility, federal agents hurl tear gas and pepper spray at protesters blocking vans

Federal agents hurled tear gas and pepper spray into a crowd of about 100 protesters who attempted to block vans from entering and exiting a U.S. Immigration and Customs holding facility in Broadvi…

www.chicagotribune.com

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Reposted by Rebecca McCray

Melissa Gira Grant @melissagiragrant.com · 23d

“…our words have made you rich.”

deadline.com/2025/09/sag-...

The Writers Guild of America West and Writers Guild of America East also both condemned the decision and said it stands with Kimmel and his writers.
"The right to speak our minds and to disagree with each other - to disturb, even - is at the very heart of what it means to be a free people. It is not to be denied. Not by violence, not by the abuse of governmental power, nor by acts of corporate cowardice," it noted. "As a Guild, we stand united in opposition to anyone who uses their power and influence to silence the voices of writers, or anyone who speaks in dissent. If free speech applied only to ideas we like, we needn't have bothered to write it into the Constitution. What we have signed on to - painful as it may be at times - is the freeing agreement to disagree. Shame on those in government who forget this founding truth. As for our employers, our words have made you rich. Silencing us impoverishes the whole world."

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Reposted by Rebecca McCray

Mindy McAdams @macloo.bsky.social · 23d

The decimation of public media in the U.S. begins here, in central Pennsylvania, with the closing of WPSU, Penn State’s NPR and PBS affiliate.
web.archive.org/web/20250917...

‘Never would have imagined it’: Pennsylvania NPR station set to be first to shutter following Trump’s cuts

WPSU, which has been broadcasting out of Penn State since 1953, will shut down following federal cuts to public media organizations

web.archive.org

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Reposted by Rebecca McCray

404 Media @404media.co · 24d

The Department of Justice has removed a study showing that white supremacist and far-right violence “continues to outpace all other types of terrorism and domestic violent extremism” in the United States.

🔗 www.404media.co/doj-deletes-...

DOJ Deletes Study Showing Domestic Terrorists Are Most Often Right Wing

Following Charlie Kirk’s assassination and the Trump administration’s promise to go after the “radical left” a study showing most domestic terrosim is far-right was disappeared.

www.404media.co

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Rebecca McCray @rebeccakmccray.bsky.social · 25d

While immigration checkpoints have long existed within the 100-mile border zone, checkpoints run by non-CBP agents are unusual. For @themarshallproject.org, I took a look at how communities are pushing back against the spread of checkpoints and stops.
www.themarshallproject.org/2025/09/12/w...

A New Front in Trump’s Immigration Crackdown: ICE Checkpoints Far From the Border

Checkpoints have long run near the southern border, but their recent use in other parts of the country has ignited strong responses.

www.themarshallproject.org

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Reposted by Rebecca McCray

The Marshall Project @themarshallproject.org · 29d

For decades, New York prisoners have refused meals on Sept. 13 to mark the end of the 1971 Attica prison uprising. Read to go inside a ritual in decline:

Why ‘Attica Day’ Still Matters

For decades, New York prisoners have refused meals on Sept. 13 to mark the end of the 1971 Attica prison uprising. Inside a ritual in decline.

www.themarshallproject.org

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Rebecca McCray @rebeccakmccray.bsky.social · 29d

It’s so wild! I swear everyone used to abide by this rule…

Rebecca McCray @rebeccakmccray.bsky.social · 29d

When did New Yorkers collectively decide no one has to take their backpack off on crowded rush hour trains?

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Reposted by Rebecca McCray

Becky with the good scare 🎃👻💀🕸️ @rebeccaclewis.bsky.social · 29d

It's really hard to sue federal officials in federal court. So lawmakers in New York want to give people the ability to sue them in state court instead www.cityandstateny.com/policy/2025/...

Want to sue an ICE agent? State lawmakers could make that possible

A new proposed law would create a private right to action in state court against federal officials who violate your constitutional rights

www.cityandstateny.com

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Reposted by Rebecca McCray

Ben Zipperer @benzipperer.org · 29d

Latest deportation data: ICE is on course to deport more than 400 thousand people in 2025.

The current deportation rate is about half of Trump's goal (1 million annual deportations).

Line graph showing average daily ICE removals in 2025 from biweekly detention reports published by ICE. The title of the figure is "Trump is deporting more than 1300 people every day"

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