Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Sabrina Vourvoulias

Simon Moya-Smith @simonmoyasmith.bsky.social · 10h

Imagine:

This Thanksgiving, all of you white people — all of you — by some crazy fucking way, have to go back to Europe.

Then, when you *try* to come back, only Indigenous peoples are waiting for you at the shoreline. Like an Ellis Island ran by Indigenous folks.

Why should we let you back in?

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Sabrina Vourvoulias @followthelede.bsky.social · 14h

From @migrantinsider.bsky.social: migrantinsider.com/p/scoop-appl...

SCOOP: Apple Quietly Made ICE Agents a Protected Class

Internal emails show tech giant used anti-hate-speech rules meant for minorities to block an app documenting immigration enforcement.

migrantinsider.com

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Sabrina Vourvoulias @followthelede.bsky.social · 1d

Trump vs. the Vatican at the UN general assembly
www.americamagazine.org/weekly-dispa...

Trump vs. the Vatican at the UN general assembly

Despite the growing American threats to withdraw, Vatican officials still perceive the United Nations as a fundamental instrument of world peace and justice seeking.

www.americamagazine.org

Sabrina Vourvoulias @followthelede.bsky.social · 1d

Nota bene Bishop Robert Barron and Cardinal Timothy Dolan: "Church leaders can either acknowledge their grave error and work toward genuine reconciliation or they can continue tacitly sanctifying racist speech and injustice."
www.americamagazine.org/faith-and-re...

What are Black Catholics hearing when church leaders praise Charlie Kirk?

For many Black Catholics familiar with Charlie Kirk's full record, endorsements of his message by Catholic leaders can be devastating.

www.americamagazine.org

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Sabrina Vourvoulias @followthelede.bsky.social · 3d

Always fun to see my column in print...

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Sabrina Vourvoulias @followthelede.bsky.social · 3d

My friend @wallacewriter.bsky.social has a new piece out at Religion Unplugged. Like all her journalism, it is well worth a read: religionunplugged.com/news/speakin...

Speaking To The Dead: Why Americans Consult Mediums

Interest in communicating with the dead has continued to thread itself through contemporary American life. For a medium in Pennsylvania, communicating with loved ones helps bring her clients comfort.

religionunplugged.com

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Reposted by Sabrina Vourvoulias

Victoria Janssen @victoriajanssen.bsky.social · 7d

Something to complain about, if you're in the mood. Ahem.

The Downballot @the-downballot.com · 7d

House Republicans are refusing to seat Dem Adelita Grijalva, who won a special election more than a week ago. She's the last signature needed to force a vote on the Epstein files.

The soonest the GOP will act is Oct. 7. In three prior specials this year, the winners were all sworn in a day later.

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Sabrina Vourvoulias @followthelede.bsky.social · 6d

Apparently neither of my books (including one published by Hachette's Running Press Kids), and none of my short stories (including two published by MacMillan), are eligible, despite being on the list of those scraped by AI... 😡

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Sabrina Vourvoulias @followthelede.bsky.social · 6d

This kind of middle-of-the-night-break-down-doors-and-take-everybody kind of action is so familiar to those of us who have lived under authoritarian rule. Go to www.inquirer.com/opinion/ice-... to read about other authoritarian markers.

chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...

Massive immigration raid on Chicago apartment building leaves residents reeling: 'I feel defeated'

The Department of Homeland Security said federal agents with Border Patrol, the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives arrested 37 people in the raid.

chicago.suntimes.com

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Sabrina Vourvoulias @followthelede.bsky.social · 6d

By all means, let's make the person who propagated the lie about Haitians eating cats and dogs the arbitrer of what is racist and what isn't. 🙄 wapo.st/46zkkRv

Vance downplays Trump post of Jeffries in sombrero: ‘I think it’s funny’

Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday characterized Trump’s AI-generated post of Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) as “funny,” pushing back on criticism of the video.

wapo.st

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Sabrina Vourvoulias @followthelede.bsky.social · 6d

In case that link doesn't work, try this one: migrantinsider.com/p/ice-threat...

ICE Threatens Bad Bunny's Super Bowl Stage

Trump’s DHS goon Corey Lewandowski vows raids at Bad Bunny’s halftime show, turning America’s biggest sports event into a deportation spectacle.

migrantinsider.com

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Sabrina Vourvoulias @followthelede.bsky.social · 6d

For every MAGA Latino out there who still thinks any of this is about immigration status, wake the hell up. No importa si has sido ciudadano desde que naciste y no importa cuán exitoso seas ... nunca serás uno de «ellos».
ICE Threatens Bad Bunny's Super Bowl Stage
migrantinsider.com/p/ice-threat...

ICE Threatens Bad Bunny's Super Bowl Stage

Trump’s DHS goon Corey Lewandowski vows raids at Bad Bunny’s halftime show, turning America’s biggest sports event into a deportation spectacle.

migrantinsider.com

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Sabrina Vourvoulias @followthelede.bsky.social · 7d

I have a short story in this!

Doctora Malka Older @older.bsky.social · 8d

STARRED review in @libraryjournal.bsky.social for WE WILL RISE AGAIN, the speculative activism anthology edited by @drkarenlord.bsky.social @annaleen.bsky.social and yours truly! Pre-order here: www.simonandschuster.com/books/We-Wil...

We Will Rise Again

From genre luminaries, esteemed organizers, and exciting new voices in fiction, an anthology of stories, essays, and interviews that offer transfor...

www.simonandschuster.com

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Sabrina Vourvoulias @followthelede.bsky.social · 7d

👏

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Sabrina Vourvoulias @followthelede.bsky.social · 7d

What can be done? We must “encourage the U.S. to recommit to its international human rights obligations and fully engage and participate in the international human rights systems.”
My new column.
www.inquirer.com/opinion/ice-...

‘Say it with me: Our government is forcibly disappearing people’

Enforced disappearance of immigrants and noncitizens aren’t the only way the Trump administration is showing its authoritarian character, but it is one with deep resonances.

www.inquirer.com

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Reposted by Sabrina Vourvoulias

Christopher Webb @cwebbonline.com · 8d

75% 🤬

I’m not alone, but we pay over $19K/year for insurance through the ACA for my daughter, my wife, and myself.

Like millions of other Americans, we are bracing ourselves to be priced out. We don’t need to just save healthcare. We need to make it better and affordable.
#DonaldTrumpsShutdown

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Sabrina Vourvoulias @followthelede.bsky.social · 8d

This makes me so damn sad.
www.inquirer.com/food/cantina...

Kensington’s Cantina La Martina, from James Beard-nominated chef Dionicio Jiménez, is closing

After a nearly four-year run, the restaurant's owners have decided not to renew their lease on the space at the corner of D Street and Kensington Avenue.

www.inquirer.com

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Reposted by Sabrina Vourvoulias

Karl Jacoby @karl-jacoby.bsky.social · 8d

Hegseth's words seem especially chilling in light of his whitewashing of the Wounded Knee Massacre as a heroic "battle" only a few days ago. The message would seem to be that the Trump Administration is willing to forgive any atrocity US troops may commit as an "earnest mistake."

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 8d

Hegseth: "You should not pay for an earnest mistake for your entire career. That's why today, at my direction, we're making changes to the retention of adverse information on personnel records."

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Reposted by Sabrina Vourvoulias

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 8d

yeah, this is hegseth straightforwardly announcing that it is free play time for bigots in the ranks. and together with his comments on standards, he clearly wants to purge as many women, black and brown people as he can from the armed services. a white man's military.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 8d

Hegseth: "We are overhauling an inspector general process that has been weaponized, putting complainers and poor performers in the driver seat. We are doing the same with the equal opportunity policies. No more frivolous complaints, no more anonymous complains ... no more walking on eggshells."

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Reposted by Sabrina Vourvoulias

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 8d

i'm guessing this is for his buddies who have been accused of war crimes or blatant racism

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 8d

Hegseth: "You should not pay for an earnest mistake for your entire career. That's why today, at my direction, we're making changes to the retention of adverse information on personnel records."

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Sabrina Vourvoulias @followthelede.bsky.social · 8d

It will take more than clicking the heels of my ruby slippers twice to pull back the curtain on what is passing for science in the White House, writes Michelle Francl-Donnay.
www.inquirer.com/opinion/comm...

Medbeds, ‘truths’, and fantastical science, oh my! | Opinion

It will take more than clicking the heels of my ruby slippers twice to pull back the curtain on what is passing for science in the White House, writes Michelle Francl-Donnay.

www.inquirer.com

Reposted by Sabrina Vourvoulias

Jack Jenkins @jackjenkins.me · 8d

Religion note: there is an entire wing of Christianity that disagrees.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 8d

Hegseth: "As history teaches us, the only people who actually deserve peace and those who are willing to wage war to defend it. That's why pacifism is so naive and dangerous."

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Reposted by Sabrina Vourvoulias

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 9d

Pritzker: "In any other country, if federal agents fired upon journalists & protesters when unprovoked what would we call it? If officials marched down streets harassing civilians & demanding their papers, what would we say? I don't think we'd have trouble calling it what it is: authoritarianism"

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Reposted by Sabrina Vourvoulias

ProPublica @propublica.org · 10d

The video I filmed of an ICE agent shoving a woman to the ground at 26 Federal Plaza, a New York City immigration courthouse, went viral.

Then, in a rare move, the government publicly reprimanded the officer, calling his actions “unacceptable.”

By @tilleckert.com

I Filmed the ICE Officer Who Shoved a Woman to the Floor Inside a New York Courthouse

I arrived in the U.S. eight weeks ago to report on how the administration’s immigration crackdown was playing out from the front lines. What I saw Thursday was the culmination of ICE’s aggressive beha...

www.propublica.org

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Reposted by Sabrina Vourvoulias

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 11d

WOW. This entire story is HORRIFIC. This is FOIA of a body cam from the raid in upstate New York the same day as the Hyundai plant. It catches a Border Patrol agent on camera only bragging about denying medical care to migrants detained at the border under Biden — who he says are all "animals."

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David Bier @davidjbier.bsky.social · 11d

The agent admits he treats immigrants like "they're animals" and that he tells his kids that they are animals "all the time"

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