Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Wayne Koestenbaum @waynekoestenbaum.bsky.social · 15d

“Someday, / someone will stand before you, and you’ll / realize / time is just a trick by which the sun renews / its vow to the flowers.”
—Selma Asotić @archipelagobooks.bsky.social

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Wayne Koestenbaum @waynekoestenbaum.bsky.social · 20d

Now I’m getting ads for Snapple on Instagram. I’ll never buy Snapple. I’ve never bought Snapple. Doesn’t the algorithm know that I’m not susceptible to Snapple? Why bother trying to recruit me to become a Snapple devotee? Observe how degraded and coarse the strategies of capital have become.

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Wayne Koestenbaum @waynekoestenbaum.bsky.social · Sep 8

“Thought does not progress in a single direction; instead, the moments are interwoven as in a carpet. The fruitfulness of the thoughts depends on the density of the texture.”
—Theodor W. Adorno

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Wayne Koestenbaum @waynekoestenbaum.bsky.social · Jul 22

“It is sometimes possible to put the fallen petal back / on the flower.”
—Alice Notley

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Reposted by Wayne Koestenbaum

Molly Crane-Newman @mollycranenewman.bsky.social · Jun 20

New order — Farbiarz orders Khalil’s release for 6:30 pm CT. He must surrender his passport, and the gov has to give him a copy of it and his green card.

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Reposted by Wayne Koestenbaum

🇺🇸𝕀𝕟𝕕𝕪 ℝ𝕖𝕗𝕦𝕘𝕖𝕖🇺🇸 𝚍𝚋𝚊 𝙱𝚊𝚍 𝙱𝚞𝚗𝚗𝚢 @indyrefugee.bsky.social · May 4

Sometimes I just stop, shake my head, and think how ridiculous it is watching my country be destroyed by a demented old man just because some white people are afraid of the future.

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Reposted by Wayne Koestenbaum

Blue Virginia @bluevirginia.bsky.social · May 5

Why won't the media report, as glaringly obvious fact, that our president is an unhinged imbecile? bluevirginia.us/2025/05/sund...

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Reposted by Wayne Koestenbaum

maija @maijasofia.bsky.social · Mar 18

Announcing issue 1 of fallow, a new literary journal, featuring new work by @evagriff.bsky.social @waynekoestenbaum.bsky.social @greggerkesocrates.bsky.social Oisin Fagan, Ellen Dillon, Gabriel Josipivici, Helen Charman, Chris Beausang, Pascale Sardin @rhiansasseen.bsky.social & Patrick Nathan

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Wayne Koestenbaum @waynekoestenbaum.bsky.social · Mar 15

trying to get a good night’s sleep during a dictatorship: “sleep no more, _____ hath murdered sleep”

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Reposted by Wayne Koestenbaum

AAUP @aaup.org · Mar 15

“It’s an escalation of a kind that is unheard of,” said Joan Scott, a historian & member of the academic freedom committee of the AAUP. “Even during the McCarthy period in the United States, this was not done.”

apnews.com/article/colu...

Trump demands unprecedented control at Columbia, alarming scholars and speech groups

The Trump administration has delivered an extraordinary ultimatum to Columbia University, threatening to permanently end federal funding to the school unless it cedes control of an international studi...

apnews.com

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Wayne Koestenbaum @waynekoestenbaum.bsky.social · Mar 14

when the mainstream media attacked and mocked deconstruction and cultural studies and all the other progressive intellectual advances of those times, that denigration was a rehearsal for what is now happening at Columbia

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Reposted by Wayne Koestenbaum

Leigh Gilmore @lgilmore.bsky.social · Mar 13

Marianne Hirsch for context and insight.

I grew up under a terrifying authoritarian regime. Mahmoud Khalil's arrest is right out of their playbook

Mahmoud Khalil's arrest by ICE reminds one professor at Columbia University, Khalil's alma mater, or her childhood in authoritarian Romania.

forward.com

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Reposted by Wayne Koestenbaum

Bill Grueskin @bgrueskin.bsky.social · Mar 12

Among the projects Musk and Trump have killed via Johns Hopkins:

Mosquito nets to prevent malaria in Mozambique, and chlorine tablets to prevent diarrhea deaths in Bangladesh.

www.wsj.com/health/healt...

Johns Hopkins Plans Staff Layoffs After $800 Million Grant Cuts

Local and international health research efforts are already winding down as the university braces for even more potential cuts.

www.wsj.com

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Wayne Koestenbaum @waynekoestenbaum.bsky.social · Mar 12

Imagine a world in which the words “Gulf of Mexico” are forbidden.

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Wayne Koestenbaum @waynekoestenbaum.bsky.social · Mar 11

Free Mahmoud Khalil.

Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · Mar 11

The detention of Mahmoud Khalil puts all Americans fundamental rights at risk. And if you can’t see that because you oppose his politics, well that’s exactly the reaction Trump and his cronies are counting on. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

Mahmoud Khalil’s Detention Is a Trial Run

The pro-Palestine student was arrested without due process for exercising his right to free speech. He will not be the last.

www.theatlantic.com

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Reposted by Wayne Koestenbaum

Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · Mar 11

They have nothing. Nothing. They kidnapped a legal resident, shipped him across the country, denied access to his attorney, and are now trying to deport him. And their only justification for it is either protected speech or vague descriptions of alleged crimes committed by other people.

Justin Baragona @justinbaragona.bsky.social · Mar 11

Reporter: What crime did Mahmoud Khalil commit to warrant his arrest and threatened deportation?

Mike Johnson: We are going to arrest your tail and send you home where you belong. This is just getting started. I appreciate free speech, I used to defend it in courts. This is far beyond the pale.

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Reposted by Wayne Koestenbaum

Bend the Arc: Jewish Action @bendthearc.bsky.social · Mar 10

ADD YOUR NAME: American Jews demand that Mahmoud be released from custody and returned to his family immediately with his green card intact. For Mahmoud’s safety and all of our safety.

www.bendthearc.us/release_khalil

Jews Demand: Release Mahmoud Khalil

We refuse to be used by Trump to enact his authoritarian agenda.

www.bendthearc.us

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Reposted by Wayne Koestenbaum

Ayanna Pressley @ayannapressley.bsky.social · Mar 10

A President who detains a protestor and revokes their legal status can only be called one thing:

A dictator.

Silencing dissent is unlawful, unjust, and authoritarian through and through.

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Reposted by Wayne Koestenbaum

Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · Mar 10

The way it works is that you strip fundamental rights from targets with less political support that people will turn their consciences off to justify persecuting and then eventually the state can do it to anyone, that’s always been the plan bsky.app/profile/pbum...

Philip Bump @pbump.com · Mar 9

Setting aside the incredibly dangerous and fascist aspect of this, is there actual evidence that Khalil was a “Hamas supporter”? Or is the standard for a green-card holder being sent to a secret location and possibly deported just “critical of Israel”?

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Reposted by Wayne Koestenbaum

Jonathan W. Gray @elmcitytree.blacksky.app · Mar 10

Tomorrow in NYC will be sunny & pleasant. This will be important.

A flyer for a protest tomorrow which reads

Monday, March 10
4PM
Jacob K. Javits Federal Building
26 Federal Plaza, NYC
EMERGENCY MOBILIZATION!
RELEASE
MAHMOUD KHALIL
HANDS OFF
OUR STUDENTS ICE OFF OUR CAMPUSES
MON. MAR 10 • 4PM

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Reposted by Wayne Koestenbaum

Philip Bump @pbump.com · Mar 9

Setting aside the incredibly dangerous and fascist aspect of this, is there actual evidence that Khalil was a “Hamas supporter”? Or is the standard for a green-card holder being sent to a secret location and possibly deported just “critical of Israel”?

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · Mar 9

re the previous repost: if they can disappear permanent residents they can disappear citizens

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Reposted by Wayne Koestenbaum

Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · Mar 10

25 hours after Mahmoud Khalil was detained in a Columbia-owned apartment building — Khalil’s whereabouts are still unknown & Columbia has still not commented

Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · Mar 9

NEWS: Last night, the Department of Homeland Security detained a Palestinian who helped lead the Columbia encampment.

Agents told him his visa was revoked. He said he had a green card. They were confused—then said that was revoked too.

His attorney demanded a warrant. Agents hung up instead.

BREAKING: DHS Detains Palestinian Student from Columbia Encampment, Says Advocates

Agents told him his student visa was revoked. But he had a green card. Agents then said that was revoked too.

zeteo.com

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Reposted by Wayne Koestenbaum

David Pakman @davidpakman.bsky.social · Mar 9

Bernie Sanders is holding MASSIVE rallies in packed venues, bigger crowds than Trump was getting, and legacy media is practically silent. Bernie is talking to workers rather than hanging out with socialites with mediocre plastic surgery at Mar-a-Lago, and it's just not interesting to corporate media

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Jacob T. Levy @jacobtlevy.bsky.social · Mar 7

The choice of Columbia in particular shows that there's *no* amount of suppression of pro-Palestinian speech a university can engage in that will insulate and protect it; so might as well try to do the right thing, which Columbia has determinedly avoided since October 7.

www.gsa.gov/about-us/new...

DOJ, HHS, ED, and GSA Announce Initial Cancellation of Grants and Contracts to Columbia University Worth $400 Million

Today, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Department of Education (ED), and the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) announced that through their coordinated efforts they would i...

www.gsa.gov

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