Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Erin Cikanek @erincikanek.bsky.social · 6h

I love my hometown

Jacob Soboroff @jacobsoboroff.bsky.social · 6h

Michigan Avenue right now.

3

Reposted by Erin Cikanek

McSweeney's @mcsweeneys.net · 12h

"WE MAKE NEWS LOUDER. IF STORY GOOD ON ONE SIDE, SHOW OTHER SIDE TOO. OTHER SIDE WRONG? OTHER SIDE WANT BLEACH IN VEINS? ANIMAL RUN BOTH. REPORT BOTH SIDES. EVEN WHEN ONE SIDE THINK HEAD MEDS MAKE QUIET BABIES."

“AAAGGGHHH!!!” A Memo from Animal, Your New Editor-in-Chief

“[Editor-in-chief of CBS News] Bari Weiss told network staffers in a morning editorial call that she wants to ‘win’ before delivering a rallying cr...

buff.ly

14 210 790

Reposted by Erin Cikanek

Monster Dan Kelly @mrdankelly.bsky.social · 16h

It's Great Chicago Fire day. Learn more about the conflagration in this terrific @robertloerzel.bsky.social article published during the Fire's 150th anniversary a few years back.

www.chicagomag.com/chicago-maga...

The Great Chicago Fire, As Told By Those Who Lived Through It

As the city marks the 150th anniversary of the defining event, ROBERT LOERZEL mines the archival record to offer a compelling portrait of what it was like to live through those disastrous days.

www.chicagomag.com

1 15 20

Reposted by Erin Cikanek

Maris Kreizman @maris.bsky.social · 17h

It happened. Last night I was feeling despair about a lot of different things and I realized I needed to enlist my dog’s help to make me feel better.

I present to you Maggie the Pug as Cher Pugowitz.

Maggie the Pug is majorly, totally, butt crazy in love with Josh. She’s wearing Cher’s classic yellow plaid ensemble.

43 110 1.3K

Reposted by Erin Cikanek

Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 1d

Monstrous.

"federal agents detained nearly every resident of the 130-unit building—including children and babies—placing them in zip ties and separating them by race into vans for more than two hours early Tuesday morning."

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

32 720 1.5K

Reposted by Erin Cikanek

Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 1d

Associate Professor / Full Professor / Assistant Professor

7 22 240

Reposted by Erin Cikanek

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.

190 4.8K 10K

Erin Cikanek @erincikanek.bsky.social · 1d

You need a note to remember to call someone a hypocrite?!?!

1 3

Reposted by Erin Cikanek

Chris Murphy @chrismurphyct.bsky.social · 1d

This is out of hand. These agents are there to cause trouble and violence, not to keep people safe. These are the scenes that play out in war torn, destitute countries - not America.

490 2K 5.7K

Erin Cikanek @erincikanek.bsky.social · 1d

I saw something that said this was in Berwyn. Which is minutes from where I grew up and where we would go on weekends to visit family.
My most loved childhood park is there. This is stomach churning.

Jake Grumbach @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social · 1d

Whichever way history turns, I have a feeling that this will be a historic photo

1

Erin Cikanek @erincikanek.bsky.social · 1d

I’ve seen a big man move before, so the part that really strikes me about this?

They sent the most Bill Swerski looking dudes. Absolutely Da Bears coded.

Wesley Morgan @wesleymorgan.bsky.social · 1d

Don’t think these Texas National Guard guys are going to be chasing any immigrants around Chicago on foot

2 2

Reposted by Erin Cikanek

Micah @rincewind.run · 1d

I am not a constitutional scholar but I am pretty sure “the president my personally levy taxes and choose what they fund” is not in fact what the founders intended

George Pearkes @peark.es · 1d

Well that's not how appropriations work at all

*WHITE HOUSE TO TRANSFER TARIFF REVENUE TO FUND WIC: LEAVITT

16 300 1.9K

Reposted by Erin Cikanek

dr. caitlin m. green @caitlinmoriah.bsky.social · 4d

michael?
peter.

Page from fox in socks by dr seuss. Drawing of weird little four legged bugs with faces.
Text reads:
What do you know about tweetle beetles?
Well
When tweetle beetles fight, it's called
a tweetle beetle battle.

7 46 190

Erin Cikanek @erincikanek.bsky.social · 1d

New epigraph just dropped

max tani @maxtani.bsky.social · 1d

Bari Weiss introduced herself to CBS News staff today on the network's 9AM call, saying she wants to "win," which requires restoring trust to CBS. She also said she was excited for staff to get to know the Free Press, and ended her remarks by saying: "Let's do the fucking news."

2

Reposted by Erin Cikanek

Jacob Montgomery @jacobmontgomery.bsky.social · 2d

What people cannot seem to get through their heads is that the justifications the Trump administration uses to attack higher education is a *pretext* not the actual reason. There is no reasonable permanent compromise available, because their actual goal is control.

Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 2d

Danielle Allen fails the Lando test / lives out the Arrested Development meme: "A deal on the core principles in a compact could then become a framework for negotiating on legislation." Come ON. With this administration and this Congress?
therenovator.substack.com/p/why-im-exc...

4 31 110

Reposted by Erin Cikanek

Ahmed Baba @ahmedbaba.bsky.social · 2d

Black people in Chicago had their apartment building raided in the middle of the night, were detained for hours, and had their Fourth Amendment rights violated during an ICE operation that had nothing to do with them. Nah, they are not thrilled.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 2d

Stephen Miller: "The Black people in Chicago are thrilled that we're getting the illegal aliens out of their communities who are stealing their housing, jobs, and resources."

280 1.8K 6.6K

Reposted by Erin Cikanek

dan sinker @dansinker.com · 3d

Tonight of all nights I’m going to re-up my benediction for Chicago.

We are everything.

dansinker.com/posts/202…

No matter what happens in the coming weeks, we are Chicago. We rose from the ashes. We never quit.&10;&10;We are the lake in the morning, the sun rising over the water, its reflection drawing a line straight to our shores.&10;&10;We are the Haymarket Martyrs, the Pullman strikers, always demanding better than what we've got.&10;&10;We are the words of Sandburg and Algren and Brooks and Wright.&10;&10;We are the 90s Bulls, making the impossible possible.&10;&10;We are the dipped Italian Beef. Messy, sure, but incredible.&10;&10;We are the humidity in the summer, the frostbitten cheeks in the winter.&10;&10;We are smoke-kissed rib tips.&10;&10;We are elotes on the street. We are pierogis in a pot.&10;&10;We are Curtis singing Hush now child.

7 120 370

Reposted by Erin Cikanek

Jake Grumbach @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social · 3d

There are reasons for what’s going on with this administration and the military

The Unequal Effects of Unequal Contact:
Power, Race, and Social Cohesion in the U.S. Military
Salma Mousa*
Eddie Yangt
May 21, 2025
Abstract
The contact hypothesis posits that cooperative, equal contact reduces prejudice.
Yet in practice, contact is often unequal — both within the contact setting itself, or because of inherent power imbalances between minority and majority groups. Leveraging rich data from surveys, censuses, and testimonials among servicemembers in WWII and the Vietnam War, we develop and test a theory of unequal contact. For minori-ties, we find that equal contact improves intergroup attitudes, while unequal contact between soldiers and lieutenants sparks backlash effects. For majorities, we find mixed effects: White soldiers respond to equal contact with more support for military integration but less support for Black rights, suggesting that equality may trigger feelings of threat. We add qualitative nuance to these results by digitizing thousands of veteran testimonies from both wars, revealing drastic asymmetric in how White vs. non-White veterans describe their experiences with race within and outside the military. Our results underscore the importance of internal and external power status in determining the effects of contact.

2 11 54

Reposted by Erin Cikanek

The Daily Northwestern @thedailynu.bsky.social · 3d

Many NU websites have been updated to fall in line with the Trump administration’s orders and have erased resources, history and information that were once easily accessible to students, faculty and staff.
—
Reported by Alexander Hernandez Gonzalez

What Northwestern has changed on DEI-related websites

In recent decades, Northwestern has touted its efforts to support students through Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives. “At Northwestern, we believe that diversity — of background, identity, ...

dailynorthwestern.com

1 42 59

Reposted by Erin Cikanek

Helen Kennedy @helenkennedy.bsky.social · 3d

I don’t mean to overreact or anything, but this is the commander-in-chief telling military personnel that Democrats are a problem to be dealt with.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 3d

Trump to the Navy: "We have to take care of this little gnat that's on our shoulder called the Democrats."

41 360 1.2K

Erin Cikanek @erincikanek.bsky.social · 3d

ThE lIbRuLs NeEd To CoOl ThE rHeToRiC

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 3d

Trump to the Navy: "We have to take care of this little gnat that's on our shoulder called the Democrats."

1 6

Reposted by Erin Cikanek

Victor Ray @victorerikray.bsky.social · 3d

The media trots out the "deplorable" comment from a decade ago to castigate the left. Once a week now Trump implies that the military should destroy democrats, and it is just how things are.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 3d

Trump to the Navy: "We have to take care of this little gnat that's on our shoulder called the Democrats."

96 1.3K 5.5K

Reposted by Erin Cikanek

Ada Palmer @adapalmer.bsky.social · 3d

Puffins return to Maine after half a century of absence. Eastern Egg Rock now hosts the only puffin colony in the United States, restored through decades of painstaking work after the birds were hunted out a century ago. buff.ly/RB0Ibz0
#ShareGoodNewsToo

How researchers restored a thriving habitat for Atlantic puffins in Maine

Atlantic puffins face an increasingly precarious foothold due in part to a loss of habitat and to troubles tied to warming ocean waters and climate change. But an effort off the coast of Maine…

buff.ly

4 110 370

Reposted by Erin Cikanek

Senator Lea Webb @senatorleawebb.bsky.social · 3d

I’m excited to invite you to join my constituent services team for “Satellite Office Hours” on tomorrow October 6, 2025, from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM at the YWCA Cortland on 14 Clayton Ave, Cortland, NY 13045.

2

Reposted by Erin Cikanek

BeijingPalmer @beijingpalmer.bsky.social · 3d

Explaining to my wife that I cannot simply “read the books I’ve already bought and haven’t read” like some kind of peasant.

28 170 1.1K