Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Erik Moeller @eloquence.bsky.social · 4h

I'd love to see a fresh Chomsky style "column inches" analysis of what the NYT does - and doesn't - spend time on (and direct attention towards).

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Renee DiResta @noupside.bsky.social · 5h

The Macedonian Teenagers, all grown up! 10 yrs later it turns out that tapping the right wing rage machine remains extraordinarily lucrative! Who could’ve guessed?

(I wrote a book about it lol and researched some of this guy’s prior art)

Meanwhile, the capacity for investigations has diminished.

Jacqueline Sweet @jsweetli.bsky.social · 12h

NEW: A MAGA X account often shared by Senator Mike Lee and House Republicans like Nancy Mace--that often alleges Democrats encourage voting fraud-- is run by a man who not only has never stepped foot in the US, he also illegally donated to an American campaign.

www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

The Viral MAGA Accounts Run by a Man Who Has Never Been to America

Two influential MAGA social media accounts are run by Rumen Naumovski, a Macedonian who may have illegally donated to a U.S. election.

www.rollingstone.com

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Julia Rose Kraut @juliarosekraut.bsky.social · 1d

Happy Banned Books Week! 🗃️

For more information on Book Bans, check out this recent report from @penamerica.bsky.social

pen.org/report/the-n...

Read Banned Books under a shelf of books.

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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 9h

Pritzker: "He wants to militarize major cities because he wants us to get used to the idea of troops on the streets. I believe he's gonna post people outside of polling places and if he needs to in order to control those elections, he'll assume control of the ballot boxes & count the votes himself"

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Jack Jenkins @jackjenkins.me · 8h

I spoke to another pastor after publication, Rev. David Swanson.

He's only been to the facility once (last Friday), and wasn't shot w/pepper balls.

Instead, he says senior Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino just walked up to him — in full clerical garb — and began shoving.

He put it this way:

I've been at many protests in our city over the years for a variety of different things, in my clergy attire, desiring to be a presence for peace in situations that can get volatile, desiring to be a person who different sides can be able to approach and talk with and have conversations with. I do think this is one of the important roles that faith leaders can play in contentious public situations.

This was the first time that I felt like there was absolutely no regard and no respect for a person who was visibly associated with the faith tradition. It did not seem like it made one iota of difference.

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Jack Jenkins @jackjenkins.me · 1d

Wanna learn more about the pastor in this photo?

I talked to him yesterday.

He's currently part of a lawsuit against DHS, in part due to this exact moment: religionnews.com/2025/10/07/i...

Religious protesters say ICE threatens religious freedom in Chicago

(RNS) — Despite potential danger, religious leaders and faith activists have been a visible presence at Chicago-area ICE protests, some waving signs with slogans such as ‘Love thy neighbor’ and ‘Who w...

religionnews.com

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Melanie D’Arrigo @darrigomelanie.bsky.social · 1d

I feel like this photo of masked, armed men pepper spraying a pastor protecting his community is going to be a defining picture of this moment in America for a long, long time.

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Daniel Knowles @dlknowles.bsky.social · 1d

Good reporting on the South Shore raid from South Side weekly here.

Confirms one thing I was told but didn't put in my own piece because I didn't have a second source and it seemed too insane: border agents segregated arrested residents by race

southsideweekly.com/federal-agen...

Federal Agents Storm South Shore Building, Detaining Families and Children

Families were woken by flashbangs and helicopters as hundreds of federal agents raided their homes. Days later, neighbors are still searching for the missing.

southsideweekly.com

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Meredith Whittaker @meredithmeredith.bsky.social · 2d

📣 Germany's close to reversing its opposition to mass surveillance & private message scanning, & backing the Chat Control bill. This could end private comms-& Signal-in the EU.

Time's short and they're counting on obscurity: please let German politicians know how horrifying their reversal would be.

Signal @signal.org · 5d

We are alarmed by reports that Germany is on the verge of a catastrophic about-face, reversing its longstanding and principled opposition to the EU’s Chat Control proposal which, if passed, could spell the end of the right to privacy in Europe. signal.org/blog/pdfs/ge...

signal.org

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Erik Moeller @eloquence.bsky.social · 2d

I've had an account there since 2017.

Social media doesn't have to be the kind of thing where you hop from one corporate fiefdom to another. On the fediverse we've been building a community-grounded alternative for many years now. Give it another try if you haven't looked in a while. :)

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Erik Moeller @eloquence.bsky.social · 2d

Thanks to budget surpluses, social.coop has been able to make donations to other nonprofit projects as well: to the Mastodon software maintainers, to IFTAS (Trust & Safety nonprofit), to Peertube (YouTube alternative), etc. Democratically decided, of course.

OpenCollective log of community contributions from social.coop

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Erik Moeller @eloquence.bsky.social · 2d

If you're looking for a Mastodon server, I can recommend the one I'm on - social.coop. As the name suggests it's run as a co-operative, and we do each pay a bit into the shared pot to defray costs. Governance decisions are made democratically.

social.coop

A Fediverse instance for people interested in cooperative and collective projects. If you are interested in joining our community, please apply at https://join.social.coop/registration-form.html.

social.coop

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Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 2d

My new op-ed with @lkfazio.bsky.social:

Trump sent a 'compact' to our universities. They should reject this devil's bargain.
Any institution that yields to these broad and intrusive demands would forever be subservient to the whims of the government.
www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...

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Miranda Yaver @mirandayaver.bsky.social · 2d

New Yorker cartoons nail it again.

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Sean T. Collins @seantcollins.com · 2d

CHATGPT: I understand where you're coming from. You worked really hard to get here, and now it's time to enjoy the fruit of your labors.

ISILDUR: So I should keep it? Elrond says I shouldn't

CHATGPT: The ring is precious. Sometimes friends don't have your best interests at heart.

ISILDUR: true

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Jeff Sharlet @jeffsharlet.bsky.social · 3d

Pritzker doing better journalism 101 than a lot of tv news producers these days

Molly Jong-Fast @mollyjongfast.bsky.social · 3d

This from @govpritzker.illinois.gov on @cnn.com

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Joseph Rezek @rezekjoe.bsky.social · 4d

Just posting this. Everyone knows why.

Text of the fourth amendment “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

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Daniel Knowles @dlknowles.bsky.social · 4d

I visited the apartment building ICE raided on Tuesday today. Story to come, but you can walk right in. Half of the apartments have no doors on them. Children's stuff abandoned in some flats. *Citizen* residents told me they were arrested and held for hours in zipties. This is America

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Mark Hamill @markhamillofficial.bsky.social · 4d

Who could ever have imagined when I played a fictional rebel who joined the Resistance to oppose a criminal Authoritarian & wannabe King, it would be happening in real-life?

#TwentyfiveFortyseven

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Sheryl Weikal and the colorful Parrotlegals @leftistlawyer.com · 5d

If you're in Illinois and facing criminal charges from protesting ICE, or if you were attacked by ICE or law enforcement supporting them, I might be able to represent you pro bono. Email me at [email protected]. As always, I will take as many cases as I can.

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Mark Joseph Stern @mjsdc.bsky.social · 5d

NEW: By a 6–3 vote, the Supreme Court allows the Trump administration to cancel Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelan migrants.

KBJ, dissenting, says she "cannot abide our repeated, gratuitous, and harmful interference" while "lives hang in the balance."
www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...

I view today's decision as yet another grave misuse of our emergency docket. This Court should have stayed its hand. Having opted instead to join the fray, the Court plainly mis- judges the irreparable harm and balance-of-the-equities factors by privileging the bald assertion of unconstrained executive power over countless families’ pleas for the sta- bility our Government has promised them. Because, re- spectfully, I cannot abide our repeated, gratuitous, and harmful interference with cases pending in the lower courts while lives hang in the balance, I dissent.

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Karen Attiah @karenattiah.bsky.social · 6d

Washington Post dismantled the platform Jamal wrote on. Discarded the fellowship they created in his memory.

They fired me unjustly for speaking the truth.

But I’ll never stop talking about my friend, writer, and amazing human, Jamal Khashoggi.

RIP, Jamal.

open.substack.com/pub/karenatt...

Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post, and the Cost of Speaking Out

As Saudi Arabia hosts comedians and courts gamers, the silenced voice of Jamal Khashoggi still echoes.

open.substack.com

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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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Josh Gondelman @joshgondelman.bsky.social · 8d

Chuck Schumer, in an hour from now: The president plans to flood the streets with military personnel to oppress innocent people, but what he should be flooding the streets with is tax credits for the middle class!

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Brad Lander @bradlander.bsky.social · 9d

Whatever is or isn’t “beneath ICE,” assault is a criminal act. That’s why @repdangoldman.bsky.social and I referred this ICE officer for felony prosecution.

We aren’t holding our breath for Pam Bondi to uphold the law. But we won’t stop demanding accountability. drive.google.com/file/d/1FujS...

FINAL - Sept. 2025 Letter to AG Bondi re Excessive Force by ICE Officer (Rep. Goldman, NYC Comp. Lander).pdf

drive.google.com

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