Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Erin Cunningham

Jameel Jaffer @jameeljaffer.bsky.social · 1d

It's a pretty big deal that the NYC Bar Association--one of the most prominent and respected bar associations in the country--is accusing the President of ordering the "unlawful summary execution," i.e. murder--of civilians in violation of US and international law. www.nycbar.org/press-releas...

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Erin Cunningham @erinmcunningham.bsky.social · 1d

On Orwell, the unbelievable stupidities of our era, and how the press can rise to the moment. www.cjr.org/the_media_to...

“I predict the journalists of tomorrow will look back on our time with disbelief at the benefit of the doubt afforded to claims made by Israeli military spokespeople, justifying air strikes on hospitals, ambulances, refugee camps, schools, apartment complexes, ‘safe zones,’ and journalist hangouts. And I think future observers will find it difficult to understand how reporters who tried to move the dial on their employers’ coverage were often forced out or pressured into silence.”

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Reposted by Erin Cunningham

Dan Murphy @bungdan.bsky.social · 4d

It was a long time ago. Different soldiers, different leadership. But the 82nd's absolutely boneheaded bro-ness was what lit the Fallujah powder keg circa 2004 and all the bodies that piled up as a result. bsky.app/profile/bcfi...

Brian Finucane @bcfinucane.bsky.social · 4d

Clear desire to use the US military against Americans for authoritarian theater.

“82nd is like our top tier [quick reaction force] for abroad. So it will cause a lot of headlines,” he added. ‘Probably why he wants potus to tell him to do it.’”

Minnesota Star Tribune @startribune.com · 4d

The messages show high-level officials in the Trump administration discussing the possible deployment of the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, an infantry force that has dropped into combat zones in both World Wars, Vietnam and Afghanistan.

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Reposted by Erin Cunningham

Minnesota Star Tribune @startribune.com · 4d

The messages show high-level officials in the Trump administration discussing the possible deployment of the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, an infantry force that has dropped into combat zones in both World Wars, Vietnam and Afghanistan.

Trump officials discussed sending elite Army division to Portland, text messages show

A high-ranking White House official was indiscreetly texting about the Portland, Ore., planning last weekend, according to messages shared with the Minnesota Star Tribune.

bit.ly

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Reposted by Erin Cunningham

Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 5d

New from 404 Media: Apple just removed ICEBlock, the app for reporting sightings of ICE, from its App Store after DOJ pressure. ICEBlock's developer tells me "we are determined to fight this."

"Capitulating to an authoritarian regime is never the right move."

www.404media.co/iceblock-own...

ICEBlock Owner After Apple Removes App: ‘We Are Determined to Fight This’

Apple removed ICEBlock reportedly after direct pressure from Department of Justice officials. “I am incredibly disappointed by Apple's actions today. Capitulating to an authoritarian regime is never t...

www.404media.co

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Reposted by Erin Cunningham

Kyle Cheney @kyledcheney.bsky.social · 8d

BREAKING: Judge William Young, a Reagan appointee, delivers the most scathing legal rebuke of the Trump era, ruling that Trump and his cabinet illegally targeted pro-Palestinian students for deportation to "strike fear" into First Amendment protesters. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

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Erin Cunningham @erinmcunningham.bsky.social · 10d

Trump’s proposal for Gaza provides “little or no detail” as to how its 21 points would be addressed. Oh, and no one has given a copy to Hamas. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

Trump’s Gaza peace plan leaves door ajar for Palestinian state

Trump’s 21-point peace plan includes Hamas disarmament, an international security force and a “Trump development plan” to rebuild the shattered enclave. But Israel might balk at some proposals.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Reposted by Erin Cunningham

Sean Beckner-Carmitchel @acatwithnews.bsky.social · 10d

According to @unraveledpress.com , their reporter Steve Held has been detained during a protest near Chicago, Illinois. Steve is a fantastic reporter, a very good man and doesn’t deserve to be harassed doing his job.

unraveled @unraveledpress.com · 10d

Chaos again, feds tackling protesters at random.

They just detained @peoplesfabric.com.

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Reposted by Erin Cunningham

Eric Umansky @ericumansky.bsky.social · 11d

So top Portland cops wrote & *testified* that fed agents have been "instigating and causing" conflict.

They said agents were firing pepper balls unprovoked and "without any apparent warning"

When a Portland chief called a federal agent w/ Qs, the agent hung up.

www.oregonlive.com/crime/2025/0...

“It makes it extremely difficult for us to deal with, as the folks that are on the other side of this fence have been, night after night, actually instigating and causing some of the ruckus that’s occurring down there,” Dobson said.

“Okay. So it’s your testimony ICE is creating the problem?” Rask asked.

“I’m saying that they’re not following best practice,” Dobson replied.

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Reposted by Erin Cunningham

Frederick Deknatel @freddydeknatel.bsky.social · 11d

“In the 100 years before eradication, half a billion unvaccinated lives were lost to smallpox, 300 million of which occurred in the 20th century itself.

When it comes to disease, human memory is fallible — the dark shadow of smallpox has faded.” on.ft.com/4pE1IXS

Vaccination and the price of forgetting

History shows how dangerous anti-vax sentiment can prove

on.ft.com

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Erin Cunningham @erinmcunningham.bsky.social · 12d

For the third year in a row, the number of people living in the Washington region facing the most severe form of hunger has increased, with more than 820,000 adults regularly skipping meals and struggling to find food in the last year. www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/202...

More than 820,000 people face dire hunger in D.C. region, report states

The annual report from the Capital Area Food Bank points to troubling trends for hunger in the region.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Reposted by Erin Cunningham

Mara Gay @maragay.bsky.social · 12d

“I’m not afraid, and I hope you’re not either,” Former F.B.I. Director James Comey says

James Comey @jamescomey.bsky.social · 12d

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Erin Cunningham @erinmcunningham.bsky.social · 13d

Once again, as Israeli forces pummel Gaza City, the area's already threadbare health-care system is unraveling at a rapid pace, with patients and doctors forced to flee the bombardment and residents burying their loved ones in hospital courtyards. www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...

Gaza City hospitals close, patients flee as Israeli forces advance

Israel’s ground invasion of Gaza City has put several hospitals and more than two dozen primary health care providers out of service, medical staff and the U.N. say.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Reposted by Erin Cunningham

Lisa Tozzi @lisatozzi.bsky.social · 19d

"We see where this is all going, correct?"
www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv...

David Letterman Slams 'Ridiculous' Decision to Pull 'Jimmy Kimmel Live'

David Letterman expressed his frustration with ABC's decision to pull 'Jimmy Kimmel Live' following pressure from the Trump admin.

www.rollingstone.com

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Reposted by Erin Cunningham

Drew Harwell @drewharwell.com · 25d

⦁ Created watch list of professors while preaching free speech
⦁ Captured internet with viral videos playing liberals for laughs and sound clips calling George Floyd a "scumbag" and the Civil Rights Act a "huge mistake"
⦁ Made tens of millions in dark money to boost Trump to victory

wapo.st/3IjwuEC

How Charlie Kirk’s social media machine rewired a generation’s politics

The 31-year-old activist and provocateur build a modern political organization for the social media age, through the arts of online discourse and discord.

wapo.st

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Reposted by Erin Cunningham

Drew Harwell @drewharwell.com · 25d

Important to be clear-eyed about the reality of Charlie Kirk's social media machine:

⦁ Built movement that mocked diversity initiatives, called trans identity a “mental delusion," sowed baseless suspicion about vaccines and election fraud ...

wapo.st/3IjwuEC

How Charlie Kirk’s social media machine rewired a generation’s politics

The 31-year-old activist and provocateur build a modern political organization for the social media age, through the arts of online discourse and discord.

wapo.st

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Reposted by Erin Cunningham

The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 26d

Exclusive: Trump health officials plan to link coronavirus vaccines to the deaths of 25 children as they consider limiting who should get the shots. The findings appear to be based on unverified reports submitted to an online reporting system which is open to anyone.

Trump officials to link child deaths to covid shots, alarming career scientists

The move to link coronavirus vaccines to 25 child deaths alarms career scientists who say the shots have been extensively studied.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Reposted by Erin Cunningham

Fenit Nirappil @fenitn.bsky.social · Sep 5

It’s really striking when you see the side by side video footage of how RFK Jr. contradicted himself at the Senate hearing. www.washingtonpost.com/video/politi...

RFK Jr. contradicts his past false statements and himself

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Sept. 4 denied and downplayed his previous positions, including public health falsehoods he pushed.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Reposted by Erin Cunningham

The Associated Press @apnews.com · Sep 4

The most severe drought in decades is gripping much of the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East, leading to a particularly dire situation in Syria, where the fledgling government is trying to stitch the country back together after a 14-year civil war that left millions impoverished.

Severe drought is devastating war-torn Syria

The most severe drought in decades is gripping much of the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East following the impacts of climate change, leading to a particularly dire situation in Syria.

bit.ly

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Erin Cunningham @erinmcunningham.bsky.social · Sep 2

“… the technology might never live up to its promise. But this would require every CEO of America's seven biggest companies to be collectively delusional about where they're spending trillions in combined capital.”

Yes. Yes it would. You’re sooo close, Axios… www.axios.com/2025/09/02/a...

Behind the Curtain: Why you should be AI-obsessed

Imagine knowing electricity or the internet were coming.

www.axios.com

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Reposted by Erin Cunningham

The New York Times @nytimes.com · Sep 2

A man who was being held in a Manhattan police precinct station house on Friday was found unconscious and was rushed to Bellevue Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead, according to a city official. He is at least the fourth detainee in city custody to die in a little over a week.

N.Y.C. Man Is at Least Fourth Person to Die in Custody in Just Over a Week

A Turkish-born pedicab driver who was arrested on Friday night was found unconscious and unresponsive in a police station house cell. He later died at Bellevue Hospital.

nyti.ms

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Erin Cunningham @erinmcunningham.bsky.social · Sep 1

Do we think they’ll eventually figure it out or nah

NBC News @nbcnews.com · Sep 1

Such gigs are part of a new category of work spawned by the generative AI boom that threatened to displace creative jobs across the board: Anyone can now write blog posts or produce a graphic, but AI-generated content rarely makes for a satisfactory final product on its own.

Humans are being hired to make AI slop look less sloppy

In the age of automation, human workers are being brought in to fix what artificial intelligence gets wrong.

nbcnews.to

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Erin Cunningham @erinmcunningham.bsky.social · Sep 1

Hello! This is on the WashPost homepage www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/...

Nationwide Labor Day protests denounce billionaires in Trump’s orbit

The “Workers over Billionaires” event, backed by AFL-CIO and others, focused on issues like Medicaid and Social Security cuts.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Erin Cunningham @erinmcunningham.bsky.social · Sep 1

Israel’s nearly two-year military campaign in Gaza, which has killed tens of thousands of people and left swaths of the enclave in rubble, meets “the legal definition of genocide,” the oldest and largest association of genocide scholars said in a resolution. www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...

Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, leading scholars’ association says

Israel’s foreign ministry called the resolution “disgraceful,” but it added to a growing chorus from rights groups concluding that Israel is committing genocide.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Erin Cunningham @erinmcunningham.bsky.social · Sep 1

Read that sentence again.

NBC News @nbcnews.com · Sep 1

Doctors discovered a bullet fragment in the neck of a 10-year-old boy who went viral for recounting how his friend jumped on top of him to shield him during the shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church.

Bullet fragment found in neck of boy who went viral for saying his friend shielded him from school shooting

Weston Halsne's father said the fragment stopped short of the 10-year-old's carotid artery, which a doctor described as a "miracle."

nbcnews.to

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