Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Kristi Hannam, PhD

Kevin Collins @kwcollins.bsky.social · 16h

Why is the President of the United States trying to communicate with the Attorney General about government business via direct messages on the social media site he owns?

And is a direct message on a privately owned social media site kind of like a private email server?

Sean O’Kane @seanokane.bsky.social · 16h

WSJ is reporting that the Truth Social post where Trump told Pam Bondi to prosecute Comey *really was supposed to be a private message*

www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

Inside the Justice Department Where the President Calls the Shots

The president has executed a wholesale transformation of the Justice Department, taking control in ways he could have only dreamed of in his first term.

www.wsj.com

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Reposted by Kristi Hannam, PhD

Kai Ryssdal @kairyssdal.bsky.social · 15h

This is the lesson of 2025

Quinta Jurecic @qjurecic.bsky.social · 16h

he's going to come after you either way, so you might as well act with integrity

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Reposted by Kristi Hannam, PhD

James @gravitysra1nbow.bsky.social · 16h

Underrated part of this story is that official USG business is done by Truth Social DM. It almost makes you miss the good old days of the PC small group Signal Chat.

Sean O’Kane @seanokane.bsky.social · 16h

WSJ is reporting that the Truth Social post where Trump told Pam Bondi to prosecute Comey *really was supposed to be a private message*

www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

Inside the Justice Department Where the President Calls the Shots

The president has executed a wholesale transformation of the Justice Department, taking control in ways he could have only dreamed of in his first term.

www.wsj.com

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Reposted by Kristi Hannam, PhD

David Roberts @volts.wtf · 2h

It really can't be said enough: the goal of the "anti-woke" movement was always to destroy social norms against bigotry. And it worked. And there's a whole lot of purportedly "left" thinkers & commentators who helped it -- indeed, it couldn't have been done without them.

They should feel bad.

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Reposted by Kristi Hannam, PhD

Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 4h

Crucial from former prosecutor @kristyparker.bsky.social: Trump might have immunity, but those who commit corrupt or illegal orders for him do not. That's why DOJ insiders are leaking word that cases against Comey and Letitia James are collapsing.

All on the pod:
newrepublic.com/article/2015...

Trump Threats to Jail Foes Take Darker Turn with Damning New DOJ Leaks

As ugly new information emerges about Trump’s efforts to prosecute James Comey and other enemies, a former federal prosecutor explains how his corrupt schemes are running into stiff internal resistanc...

newrepublic.com

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Reposted by Kristi Hannam, PhD

patfromthestix @patfromthestix.bsky.social · 5h

www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

The Moral Foundation of America

The idea that everyone has intrinsic rights to life and liberty was a radical break with millennia of human history. It’s worth preserving.

www.theatlantic.com

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Reposted by Kristi Hannam, PhD

Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · 20h

My gosh. After the US bombed multiple boats in the middle of the ocean, murdering people on grounds that they were allegedly "carrying drugs," the US Attorney General says "Just like we did with cartels, we're going to take the same approach, President Trump, with Antifa."

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Reposted by Kristi Hannam, PhD

Anna O. Law @unlawfulentries.bsky.social · 6h

I teach in my undergrad class on the history of the US jury system that the institution's roots are in colonial juries serving as a counterweight to abuses of imperial power. The American jury has problems for sure but still can serve that roll. Don't blow off jury service.

Josh Marshall @joshtpm.bsky.social · 16h

Jury Refuses To Indict Chicago ICE Protesters In Latest Revolt Against Trump Overreach talkingpointsmemo.com/where-things...

Jury Refuses To Indict Chicago ICE Protesters In Latest Revolt Against Trump Overreach

A grand jury Tuesday night declined to indict two protesters in the...

talkingpointsmemo.com

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Reposted by Kristi Hannam, PhD

☠️deadward niedermurder☠️ @niedermeyer.online · 2d

what if I told you that taking accountability for your actions was traditionally considered a load-bearing feature of masculinity?

Rolling Stone @rollingstone.com · 2d

“I voted for none of this."

Prominent influencers, including Theo Von, Joe Rogan, and Andrew Schulz, are starting to distance themselves from the president they helped propel to the White House.

Story: www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

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Reposted by Kristi Hannam, PhD

Matthew Kirschenbaum @mkirschenbaum.bsky.social · 23h

Virginia State Senate Dems just brought down fire and fury regarding the “Compact,” notifying the President and Rector that UVA would lose ALL STATE APPROPRIATIONS if it signs and cedes the University to “federal political control.” Notably, their letter directly restates points made here by @siva.

Siva @sivav.bsky.social · 1d

The “compact” for higher ed is an unserious document written by unserious people from a position of spectacular ignorance. No one should take it seriously. Sadly, my bosses are taking it seriously.

newrepublic.com/article/2013...

Why This Essay Could Cause the University of Virginia to Shut Down

How Linda McMahon’s latest “compact” would do deep and permanent harm to American higher education

newrepublic.com

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Reposted by Kristi Hannam, PhD

Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 1d

Today seems like a great day to re-up my slides from 2017 about the Nazi takeover of German physics, in part because in my estimation, a lot of American physicists in 2025 are confused about whether "agreeing to work with them" is resistance (it's not) and whether it works (it doesn't) 🧪⚛️

Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · Jan 31

In light of this deeply illegal activity at NSF and the ongoing attack on American science, I'm posting the slides from my 2017 talk at the American Physical Society about the Nazi take over of German physics/why German is no longer science's lingua franca 🧪

🧵 1/26
drive.google.com/file/d/1_MCm...

nazi germany & physics
Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, PhD
Department of Physics,University of Washington, Seattle
APS April Meeting, January 2017
Dismantling the (Nazi) German Nuclear Reactor (Pile) at Haigerloch, 50 km SW of Stuttgart, in April 1945

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Reposted by Kristi Hannam, PhD

Costa Samaras @costasamaras.com · 23h

Stand up for the rights of trans folks because everyone should have human rights and freedom to live their lives, it's really not complicated.

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Reposted by Kristi Hannam, PhD

Julie DiCaro @juliedicaro.bsky.social · 16h

This is getting wild.

The states of Iowa, Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and 14 others have just asked for permission to file THEIR amicus brief in IL v. Trump.

The States of Iowa, Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina and 14 additional States
respectfully move for leave to submit the attached amicus curiae brief in support of Defendants
and their opposition to Plaintiffs’ requested temporary restraining order and preliminary
injunction. Proposed amici are States with a vested interest in federalism, the relationship between
States and the federal government, and deploying the National Guard. We also each have a vital
interest in supporting the President and Congress in enacting and enforcing valid immigration
laws. Every State has a responsibility to protect our citizens.
The federalization of States’ National Guard units is a matter of profound public
importance, as it directly implicates the delicate balance of power between state and federal
governments—a true cornerstone of Federalism. States generally maintain authority over their
National Guard units, allowing governors to deploy them for state-specific needs, such as disaster
response or public safety. Federalization of state National Guard units without gubernatorial

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Reposted by Kristi Hannam, PhD

BOOncombe Corpus @buncombian.bsky.social · 20h

bsky.app/profile/beck...

Becky Hammer @beckyhammer.bsky.social · 7d

Ooookay here we go. Bad Bunny 101 condensed into six weeks of music, reading material, and perreo

Bad Bunny 101

docs.google.com

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Reposted by Kristi Hannam, PhD

New York Focus @nysfocus.bsky.social · 20h

The ICE detention center near Buffalo has banned book deliveries, New York Focus has learned.
One advocate says almost all the material at the facility is in English.
nysfocus.com/2025/10/08/b...

New York’s Biggest ICE Detention Center Bans Book Deliveries

Rejected books include a Spanish-English dictionary, a Spanish translation of a George R.R. Martin novel, and "The Seven Principles for Making Marriage…

nysfocus.com

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Reposted by Kristi Hannam, PhD

Nat Clarke @natclarke.bsky.social · 22h

🚨 My lab is hiring at all levels!

Interested in animal origins & evolutionary cell biology?

I'm recruiting a postdoc, PhD students & a research assistant to study the molecular evolution of cell adhesion using marine invertebrates + comparative genomics.

🔗: clarkelab.com/join/

Please repost!

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Reposted by Kristi Hannam, PhD

Ghostly Bree @mostlybree.kitrocha.com · 1d

The fact that they can't get a random sampling of citizens from any city to indict people for interfering with ICE seems more informative than any political poll, tbh

Seth Stern @sethstern.bsky.social · 1d

A federal grand jury declined to indict two people charged with assaulting law enforcement agents outside a suburban Chicago ICE facility, an attorney for one of the defendants said, Megan Crepeau and @benjaminpenn.bsky.social report

news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...

Grand Jury Declines to Indict Two Chicago-Area ICE Protesters

A federal grand jury declined to indict two people charged with assaulting law enforcement agents outside a suburban Chicago ICE facility, an attorney for one of the defendants said.

news.bloomberglaw.com

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Kristi Hannam, PhD @byrdgyrl1.bsky.social · 22h

Even a stopped clock is right 2x per day? (In this case Epstein & the shutdown)

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Reposted by Kristi Hannam, PhD

Sarah Posner @sarahposner.bsky.social · 1d

Try to imagine if federal agents under a Democratic administration had fired pepper balls at conservative clergy protesting--- let's just say --- abortion.

They've litigated and won Supreme Court cases over much less.

bsky.app/profile/jack...

Jack Jenkins @jackjenkins.me · 1d

Gonna be thinking about this lede for a minute.

(RNS) — Last month, the Rev. David Black stood in front of a Chicago-area U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility and spread his arms wide. Adorned in all black and wearing a clerical collar, the pastor looked up at a group of masked, heavily armed ICE agents on the roof and began to pray.

“I invited them to repentance,” Black, a minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA), said in an interview. “I basically offered an altar call. I invited them to come and receive that salvation, and be part of the kingdom that is coming.”

But when Black began to lower his arms a few seconds later, the agents responded to his spiritual plea by firing pepper balls, or chemical agents that cause eye irritation and respiratory distress, video footage shows. One struck Black in the head, exploding into a puff of white pepper smoke and forcing him to his knees. Fellow demonstrators rushed to his aid, and as the pastor rubbed his face in pain, the agents continued to fire.

“We could hear them laughing,” Black said.

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Reposted by Kristi Hannam, PhD

David M. Perry @lollardfish.bsky.social · 1d

I really believe that huge majorities of Americans don’t want masked soldiers shooting priests in the street. They don’t want naked children ripped out out of their apartments in the middle of the night and handcuffed. We win by making sure these stories get told.

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 1d

The same people who insisted devout Catholic Joe Biden was leading a “war on Christianity” are now cheering Trump on as his armed goons assault clergymen.

The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 1d

WATCH: Trump’s lawless Ice goons shoot an unarmed priest in the head with a pepper ball. Completely out of control.

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Albert Pinto @70sbachchan.bsky.social · 1d

US is NOT the world:
"More renewables will be built in the next 5 years than in the last 40 years" - International Energy Agency, slashing forecasts for US while raising forecasts for EU, India, SE Asia AND Middle East.
"Global Solar & Wind power surges despite cut in US green energy under Trump"-FT

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Dr. Jonathan N. Stea @jonathanstea.bsky.social · 2d

This guy is in charge of US health care.

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Gabe Ortíz @tusk81.bsky.social · 1d

When US citizen Leo Garcia Venegas tried to prove his identity by showing federal agents his REAL ID, they dismissed it as a fake and kept him detained, releasing him only after they bothered to run his Social Security number.

Just a few weeks later, they detained him again:

Mass Deportation Is A Threat To Us All

Aided by the Supreme Court and the insidious "Kavanaugh stop," the administration's chaotic mass deportation operations are sweeping up Americans – including children and U.S. military veterans.

americasvoicecnn.substack.com

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Reposted by Kristi Hannam, PhD

Tom Richmond @tom-richmond.com · 1d

They're right to be worried about poorer critical thinking, research and problem-solving skills.

My recent report showed that studies have already demonstrated the wide-ranging detrimental impacts that AI tools can have on learning.

www.smf.co.uk/publications...

EducAItion, educAItion, educAItion: Could Generative Artificial Intelligence pose a risk to educational standards? - Social Market Foundation.

Could Generative Artificial Intelligence pose a risk to educational standards? SMF Senior Fellow Tom Richmond explores.

www.smf.co.uk

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Reposted by Kristi Hannam, PhD

💞Sabrina💞 @sabrinarina.bsky.social · 1d

Oregon National Guard Adjutant General, General Gronewold says if they are federalized, that he will advise the Title 10 commander to utilize National Guard Troops to PROTECT protesters at ICE facilities. This is the right answer.

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