Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Ashwini Vasanthakumar

Lisa Stampnitzky @lisastampnitzky.bsky.social · 5h

This really is beyond parody

Thomas M. Keck @tmksyracuse.bsky.social · 5h

Weber State administrators told student they couldn't present their research on the state's anti-DEI law at an on-campus conference on censorship(!) unless they removed all mentions of DEI from their slides

www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty...

Weber State Censors, Then Cancels, Censorship Conference

University officials said that several planned presentations violated a Utah state law banning diversity, equity and inclusion at public universities.

www.insidehighered.com

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Ashwini Vasanthakumar @ashwinivasantha.bsky.social · 1d

“Alexa Culver, a planning lawyer who works at RSK Wilding, added: “There are lots of elements of nature that are essential to social and economic prosperity, and are microscopic, that we can’t see. Air for example, being one of them.”

Reeves reveals herself to be both corrupt and incompetent.

George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 1d

Utterly beholden to lobbyists, staggeringly ignorant and dismissive of the natural world: Rachel Reeves might not look or sound like Donald Trump, but she is behaving very much like him. This government is even more of an ecological hazard than the Tories were.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Rachel Reeves clears planning blockage amid ‘good relationship’ with developer

Exclusive: Chancellor says 20,000 homes were being held up due to ‘some snails that are a protected species or something’

www.theguardian.com

Reposted by Ashwini Vasanthakumar

Elise Wang @elisewang.bsky.social · 1d

One of the more incredible stories out of LA this year has been how a taco review blog became the best on-the-ground coverage of ICE raids in the city.

They do a dispatch every day, follow-up on the kidnapped people (which almost no media outlet has done), and fact-check government claims.

Mother Jones @motherjones.com · 2d

@lataco.bsky.social first began as a blog documenting local Mexican cuisine. Now, it’s an essential reporting powerhouse to the city as Trump’s mass deportation plot unfolds.

Check out the latest from our friends at Reveal: tinyurl.com/4cm2bsdr

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Gillian Brockell @gbrockell.bsky.social · 2d

Claim: 10 cars rammed ICE
Truth: No cars rammed ICE

Claim: She boxed ICE in
Truth: ICE boxed her in

Claim: She shot a rifle at ICE
Truth: She did not have a rifle

Claim: ICE returned fire
Truth: Only ICE fired

Claim: She drove herself to the hospital
Truth: Paramedics found her

Chicago Sun-Times @chicago.suntimes.com · 2d

Body-camera video appears to contradict the government’s claim that Marimar Martinez, 30, drove toward officers before one of them opened fire at her late Saturday morning in Brighton Park, her attorney claimed.
trib.al/9Sxu9IN

Attorney for woman shot by Border Patrol claims officer said 'Do something b-----' before shooting

Body-camera video appears to contradict the government's claim that Marimar Martinez, 30, drove toward officers before one of them opened fire at her late Saturday morning in Brighton Park, her attorney claimed. A judge ordered Martinez and a co-defendant released pending trial.

trib.al

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Reposted by Ashwini Vasanthakumar

Lisa Young 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @jlisayoung.bsky.social · 2d

The war on Christmas continues!

Dale Smith @journodale.bsky.social · 2d

New ceremonial robes vs old ceremonial robes. #SCC

2026 photo of the Supreme Court of Canada, where the new robes are black with red piping.

2025 photo of the Supreme Court of Canada, with the red velvet and ermine robes.

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Ashwini Vasanthakumar @ashwinivasantha.bsky.social · 2d

Is this excerpted from the post linked below? Sorry I couldn't find it.

Reposted by Ashwini Vasanthakumar

Movement Law Lab @movementlawlab.bsky.social · 2d

From @lawdorknews.bsky.social: Calling the order “yet another grave misuse of our emergency docket,“ Jackson wrote that the majority had failed by “privileging the bald assertion of unconstrained executive power over countless families’ pleas for the stability our Government has promised them.“

Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 4d

Friday’s SCOTUS decision was issued in a brief, unsigned order that contained virtually no reasoning. It was accompanied by no signed opinions from any of the justices in the majority and over opposition from the three Democratic appointees. Only Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote.

Supreme Court lets Noem end legal status for many Venezuelans in the U.S.

The majority gave virtually no reasoning. The Democratic appointees objected, but only Justice Jackson wrote: "[Y]et another grave misuse of our emergency docket."

www.lawdork.com

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Ashwini Vasanthakumar @ashwinivasantha.bsky.social · 2d

ploughshares.ca/targeted-fro...

Targeted from above: Canadian sensors facilitating unlawful U.S. airstrikes in the Caribbean - Project Ploughshares

On the morning of September 2, 2025, a small speedboat skims across open water somewhere in the Caribbean Sea. Suddenly, in a flash of white, it’s destroyed in a U.S.-launched airstrike. All 11 people...

ploughshares.ca

Ashwini Vasanthakumar @ashwinivasantha.bsky.social · 3d

Masked cowards picking up people off the street with no warrant and no cause.

This is what Kemi Badenoch wants, and where all those 'difficult conversations' about immigration got us.

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...

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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 4d

important for us in the US to note: even a solidly right wing government can't ignore this.

The Associated Press @apnews.com · 4d

Over 2 million people across Italy have rallied in more than 100 cities for a one-day general strike.

2 million rally in Italy for Gaza as general strike halts key services

Over 2 million people across Italy have rallied in more than 100 cities for a one-day general strike.

bit.ly

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Ashwini Vasanthakumar @ashwinivasantha.bsky.social · 6d

Reposted by Ashwini Vasanthakumar

Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 6d

Memorizing this

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Ashwini Vasanthakumar @ashwinivasantha.bsky.social · 6d

Reading this book made me hopeful about egalitarianism and place-making in cities; re-reading it gave me a deeper appreciation of its technical achievements: drawing on different disciplines and interviews while reading like a thoughtful conversation over a pint.

And it's open access!

World's most perfect dog with book, City of Equals, by Jo Wolff and Avner de-Shalit, published by Oxford University Press.

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Ashwini Vasanthakumar @ashwinivasantha.bsky.social · 6d

I held back on the fan-girling in the review; re-reading it made me appreciate what a class act of scholarship it is. It's made me look at the city I live in differently. Congratulations again.

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Reposted by Ashwini Vasanthakumar

Rachel Cunliffe @rmcunliffe.bsky.social · 6d

"I hear again and again that the Israelis – the Jews – had it coming. Knowing allusions to Jewish influence, Jewish power. Stereotypes of Jewish cruelty."

Written before today's attack on a Manchester synagogue. It's the kind of piece I never thought I'd write.

www.newstatesman.com/internationa...

The 7 October attacks changed what it means to be Jewish in Britain

The war in Gaza has exposed a level of anti-Semitism I didn’t realise was there

www.newstatesman.com

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Reposted by Ashwini Vasanthakumar

Andy Fleming @slackbastard.bsky.social · 6d

'A former deputy head of the Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation, McInerney has also argued the White Australia Policy did not go far enough and that white Australians may need to live in separate neighbourhoods as a form of “tactical retreat”.'

www.smh.com.au/national/nsw...

The far-right figures teaching students at a Sydney college

The dean of studies says the country will need political parties for white Australians. A senior lecturer wants an Anglo-Celtic club to inspire fear in “leftist thugs”.

www.smh.com.au

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Brian Goldstone @brian-goldstone.bsky.social · 7d

Really grateful to Western City Magazine for this interview about There Is No Place for Us.

"The painful truth is that it's less of a contradiction than just the system functioning the way it's been designed."

‘Who are our cities for,’ asks Brian Goldstone, ‘if millions of Americans are homeless?’ - Western City Magazine

"The painful truth is that it’s less of a contradiction than just the system functioning the way it’s been designed. That ...

www.westerncity.com

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Ashwini Vasanthakumar @ashwinivasantha.bsky.social · 7d

I would love to blame Goodwin and all that he has laundered on … the REF. The need for demonstrable impact is the source of much evil.

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Reposted by Ashwini Vasanthakumar

Elizabeth Thompson @lizt1.bsky.social · 7d

The Canadian government has updated its travel advisory for the U.S., warning that those who have X listed as their gender on their passports could have problems at the border. www.cbc.ca/news/politic...

Canada issues new warning for citizens with gender-neutral passports travelling to U.S. | CBC News

The Canadian government is warning citizens who list "X" as their gender on their passports could have problems entering the U.S.

www.cbc.ca

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Brian Goldstone @brian-goldstone.bsky.social · 8d

If the Trump administration has its way, nearly *four million* people—half of them children—will be at imminent risk of eviction and homelessness.

Let that sink in.

Millions Could Lose Housing Aid Under Trump Plan

Drafts of unpublished rules obtained by ProPublica detail plans that would open the door to full-time work requirements, two-year limits on living in federally supported housing and stripping aid from...

www.propublica.org

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Dana El Kurd @danaelkurd.bsky.social · 8d

On this day, Sept 30 2000, Muhammad al-Durra was killed on camera.

I was 9 years old. On this day I understood the lives of Palestinian children were considered cheap by many.

If only we knew that we would go on to watch thousands of children die on our screens.

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Reposted by Ashwini Vasanthakumar

lindsay thomas @lindsaythomas.net · 8d

A small bright spot. Does this mean that university administrators will stop doing this administration’s illegal work for them??

AAUP @aaup.org · 8d

BREAKING: WE WON!!!
💥 💥 💥

Federal Judge William G. Young ruled today in our lawsuit against the Trump administration that the policy of arresting, detaining, & deporting noncitizen students & faculty members for their pro-Palestinian advocacy violates the 1st Amendment.

Full ruling here:

Findings of Fact & Conclusions of Law – #261 in American Association of University Professors v. Rubio (D. Mass., 1:25-cv-10685) – CourtListener.com

Judge William G. Young: ORDER entered. FINDINGS OF FACT AND RULINGS OF LAW, PURSUANT TO FED. R. CIV. P. 52(A)(Sonnenberg, Elizabeth) (Additional attachment(s) added on 9/30/2025: # 1 Main Document) (J...

www.courtlistener.com

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Mathew Kumar @mathewkumar.com · 9d

Western politicians rely on wasting the talent of immigrants because how else are you going to make political capital on demonising them?

The Walrus @thewalrus.ca · 16d

“Canadian experience”—for many newcomers, these words close every professional door. In 2023, Ontario announced a plan to ban requirements about Canadian work experience in job postings. But even if unwritten, the rule still shapes immigrant underemployment. thewalrus.ca/canada-is-wastin...

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Karl Jacoby @karl-jacoby.bsky.social · 12d

Only an administration intent on committing war crimes in the present and future would stoop to calling Wounded Knee a "battle" rather than what it truly was: a massacre of over 250 Lakotas, mainly women, children, and the elderly. 1/

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Jim Pickard @pickardje.bsky.social · 12d

this is an extraordinary canary in the coal mine

Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 12d

Nathan Gill, Reform's leader in Wales at the last Welsh parliament election, has pled guilty to 8 bribery charges, taking Russian cash while he was one of Nigel Farage’s MEPs to speak in favour of Putin's Russia in that parliament
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Reform UK’s ex-leader in Wales Nathan Gill pleads guilty to bribery charges

Gill admits to eight counts of bribery relating to pro-Russia statements made in the European parliament and articles

www.theguardian.com

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