Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Jeff Alworth

Maureen Ogle @maureenogle.bsky.social · 14h

Good stuff here from my much-respected colleague @alworth.bsky.social

Jeff Alworth @alworth.bsky.social · 20h

By now we have realized that Congress isn’t going to save us, nor the courts, nor the Constitution. But there is one group with considerable power that can stand up to Trump: the states.

States Are Our Best Tool to Stop the Coup

By now we have realized that Congress isn’t going to save us, nor the courts, nor the Constitution. But there is one group with considerable power that can stand up to Trump: the states.

jeffalworth.substack.com

1 1

Jeff Alworth @alworth.bsky.social · 14h

Huge if true.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 15h

Trump: "I don't know what could be worse than Portland. You don't even have stores anymore. They don't even put glass up. They put plywood on their windows."

1 2

Reposted by Jeff Alworth

Craig Roblewsky @pointc.bsky.social · 14h

We have a whole new website dedicated to the "burning" question.

Is Portland Burning?

No. See real-time Portland cameras, PulsePoint incidents, and sourced fact checks.

isportlandburning.com

4 130 300

Reposted by Jeff Alworth

Jeff Alworth @alworth.bsky.social · 20h

By now we have realized that Congress isn’t going to save us, nor the courts, nor the Constitution. But there is one group with considerable power that can stand up to Trump: the states.

States Are Our Best Tool to Stop the Coup

By now we have realized that Congress isn’t going to save us, nor the courts, nor the Constitution. But there is one group with considerable power that can stand up to Trump: the states.

jeffalworth.substack.com

1 2

Reposted by Jeff Alworth

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 1d

#WarRavagedPortland

1.2K 11K 35K

Reposted by Jeff Alworth

Moira Donegan @moiradonegan.bsky.social · 18h

What we don't talk about enough is the dignity harm suffered by women who have to share the public sphere with guys who go around talking about our bodies like we're a public resource whose use and distribution they're qualified to determine.

6 82 470

Jeff Alworth @alworth.bsky.social · 20h

By now we have realized that Congress isn’t going to save us, nor the courts, nor the Constitution. But there is one group with considerable power that can stand up to Trump: the states.

States Are Our Best Tool to Stop the Coup

By now we have realized that Congress isn’t going to save us, nor the courts, nor the Constitution. But there is one group with considerable power that can stand up to Trump: the states.

jeffalworth.substack.com

1 2

Reposted by Jeff Alworth

Courtney Vaughn @courtneyvaughn.bsky.social · 1d

Streets are still closed off in front of the Portland ICE facility at 8:30pm. Protesters have gathered on a side street. Dance party in progress.

780 5.2K 22K

Jeff Alworth @alworth.bsky.social · 3d

This was a good outcome, but you can see how these encounters are going to escalate. Soon we’ll have blood in the streets.

Cristian Farias @cristianfarias.com · 3d

This video of Chicagoans intervening to save a man from being abducted off the streets by ICE is making the rounds on Instagram.

Community action works.

Source: www.instagram.com/reel/DPZL2AL...

1 1

Jeff Alworth @alworth.bsky.social · 4d

Remember in Trump I how everyone kept trying to argue that Trump and MAGA weren’t animated by racism, but rather “economic insecurity?” You don hear that much, anymore.

Text block: “The Trump administration plans to slash refugee admissions to a record low level in the upcoming year, reserving a bulk of the limited slots for white Afrikaners from South Africa and others facing “unjust discrimination,” the New York Times reports.”

Reposted by Jeff Alworth

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez @aoc.bsky.social · 7d

A bus of Bronx middle schoolers pulled up to the Capitol this morning for a long-planned field trip just a few hours after the government shut down.

All Capitol tours were cancelled as the guides can’t work in shutdown.

So I escorted them in myself and gave them a personal tour. They were great!

860 4.1K 28K

Jeff Alworth @alworth.bsky.social · 8d

“Unless they’re playing false tapes.” This is a confused old man who can’t distinguish past and present, whose sources of info are randos and Russian bots on Twitter rather than his own intelligence agencies. I feel so bad for Gov. Kotek having to try to reason with this lunatic. (Portland is great)

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 8d

Trump: "Portland, Oregon, where it looks like a war zone. I get a call from the liberal governor, 'Sir, please don't come in, we don't need you.' I said, unless they're playing false tapes, this looks like World War 2."

Reposted by Jeff Alworth

pumpkin spice amb 🎃 @amb.fyi · 9d

this is some true leadership right here, cheers @councilorgreen.bsky.social www.opb.org/article/2025...

Portland councilor, Army veteran, calls on service members to reject Portland military deployment

An Army veteran on Portland City Council is calling on current and former members of the U.S. military to speak out against President Donald Trump’s planned deployment of the National Guard in Portlan...

www.opb.org

6 38

Reposted by Jeff Alworth

Lupita Nihongo @otsumamiboy.bsky.social · 9d

The state could have backed him but instead they demonstrated for the thousandth time that there is no level of respectability that will prevent white people from serving you up on a platter in order to appease powerful racists.

The Gazette @thegazette.com · 9d

State panel revokes Des Moines superintendent’s license following his arrest by federal immigration officers

State panel revokes Des Moines superintendent's license following Friday arrest

A state educational licensing board has revoked the license of Des Moines Public Schools Superintendent Ian Roberts following his arrest by federal immigration officers last week.

www.thegazette.com

75 1.7K 4.7K

Reposted by Jeff Alworth

Jeff Alworth @alworth.bsky.social · 10d

(A Substack version of today’s thread.)

Portland is a safe, quirky little city with a low and quickly-falling crime rate. The only reason Trump would send in the troops is political repression. There’s nothing more to this.

Trump Announces Political Repression of an American City

Portland is a safe, quirky little city with a low and quickly-falling crime rate. The only reason Trump would send in the troops is political repression. There’s nothing more to this.

jeffalworth.substack.com

1 4 9

Reposted by Jeff Alworth

Scrunchleface @theta444.bsky.social · 10d

Even if we weren't "safe" or "quirky" or had rising crime rates, it wouldn't be justified. Not in LA. Not in Memphis. Not in Baltimore. Not here either.

Jeff Alworth @alworth.bsky.social · 10d

(A Substack version of today’s thread.)

Portland is a safe, quirky little city with a low and quickly-falling crime rate. The only reason Trump would send in the troops is political repression. There’s nothing more to this.

Trump Announces Political Repression of an American City

Portland is a safe, quirky little city with a low and quickly-falling crime rate. The only reason Trump would send in the troops is political repression. There’s nothing more to this.

jeffalworth.substack.com

1 6

Jeff Alworth @alworth.bsky.social · 10d

(A Substack version of today’s thread.)

Portland is a safe, quirky little city with a low and quickly-falling crime rate. The only reason Trump would send in the troops is political repression. There’s nothing more to this.

Trump Announces Political Repression of an American City

Portland is a safe, quirky little city with a low and quickly-falling crime rate. The only reason Trump would send in the troops is political repression. There’s nothing more to this.

jeffalworth.substack.com

1 4 9

Jeff Alworth @alworth.bsky.social · 10d

8. But please remember: Portland is a safe, quirky little town with a quickly falling crime rate. If and when conflict comes, the Trump admin will make a concerted effort to bury these facts. Don’t let him. Sending troops here is *solely* about political repression.

That’s what this is about.

4

Jeff Alworth @alworth.bsky.social · 10d

7. Plenty of people were ready to stand in the way of rubber bullets and tear-gas canisters as a show of public resistance, and they will be quick to do so again. Trump will use resistance to justify the violence his troops are committing. The media will probably fail again to report the facts.

1 3

Jeff Alworth @alworth.bsky.social · 10d

6. Portland is a pretty little city, quirky and harmless. It does have a long history of political activism, and I expect Trump will get his fireworks. In 2020, while the protests were peaceful, some fringe characters committed vandalism.

1

Jeff Alworth @alworth.bsky.social · 10d

5. As all this unfolds, I hope that people across the country refuse to accept Trump’s framework of the “war-ravaged city.” In 2020, nearly every news story uncritically repeated these lies, failing to see that the violence was committed *against* the protesters, not by them.

1 1

Jeff Alworth @alworth.bsky.social · 10d

4. Today it’s not—at least with the Supreme Court ready to use its shadow docket to rubberstamp Trump’s criminality.

But if Trump is returning to Portland better prepared, so are Oregonians. Governor Kotek, Sen Merkley, and Mayor Wilson have all been clear in their rejection of this effort.

1

Jeff Alworth @alworth.bsky.social · 10d

3. It seemed inconceivable that the U.S. government could send troops into a U.S. city to assault citizens exercising their rights, and indeed, both the city and federal govts ended up losing lawsuits or settling with protesters. It *was* illegal.

A lawsuit alleging excessive force against 2020 protesters in Oregon has been settled, ACLU says

The American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon has announced the settlement of a lawsuit alleging that agents sent by President Donald Trump in 2020 to protect a federal courthouse used excessive force ...

apnews.com

1 1

Jeff Alworth @alworth.bsky.social · 10d

2. More seriously, this is obviously the authoritarian crackdown of a city in which he received about 15% of the vote. It’s not his first crackdown, either. Much of the playbook he is using in 2025 he trialed in 2020 here—masked troops who beat and secretly scooped up citizens.

Federal Agents Push Into Portland Streets, Stretching Limits of Their Authority (Published 2020)

www.nytimes.com

1 1

Jeff Alworth @alworth.bsky.social · 10d

By coincidence, I was on a short getaway to the coast when Trump announced he was sending “all necessary Troops” into “war-ravaged Portland.” The war must have broken out in the 12 hours since I’d left.

1 1 4