Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by j.l. feldman

Dana El Kurd @danaelkurd.bsky.social · 1d

My article on the 20 point gaza "peace plan" is now out. Let me tell you why peace processes in the Israeli Palestinian conflict seem to keep failing, with a focus on Tony Blair the menace of the middle east

theconversation.com/a-gaza-peace...

Gaza peace plan risks borrowing more from Tony Blair’s failures in the Middle East than his success in Northern Ireland

The former British leader was tapped to lead redevelopment efforts in Gaza if a deal is agreed upon.

theconversation.com

3 85 170

Reposted by j.l. feldman

Preorder Read This When Things Fall Apart @mskellymhayes.bsky.social · 8d

We need a bigger national spotlight on this building raid, fam. Agents dropped from helicopters onto the roof. Citizens and non-citizens alike were dragged from their homes in the night. People who weren't kidnapped during the raid had their belongings seized after the fact. This is madness.

Preorder Read This When Things Fall Apart @mskellymhayes.bsky.social · 8d

"Jones, 27, is among the residents left at 7500 S. South Shore Drive who are trying to piece together what remains after an early morning, high-powered federal immigration raid led to the arrests of dozens of their neighbors at their South Shore apartment building."

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

230 5.5K 8.8K

Reposted by j.l. feldman

Brad Lander @bradlander.bsky.social · Aug 9

True: @zohranmamdani lives in 1 unit of rent-stabilized housing.

Also true: Andrew Cuomo oversaw the loss of 96,064 units of rent-stabilized housing. And killed NYC’s program helping people move out of shelter.

Leaders must show moral clarity. Andrew, time to move out. 🧵
x.com/andrewcuomo/...

160 2.4K 9K

j.l. feldman @jlfeldman.bsky.social · Aug 7

I see your point—that’s a helpful distinction! Still imo necessities like housing & healthcare shouldn’t be bought & sold via markets. (perhaps this is why I’m a a pol. theorist & not an economist 😉). But regulating the private housing market, plus more public housing, would def be an improvement!

1

j.l. feldman @jlfeldman.bsky.social · Aug 7

A helpful thread! Owners of rent-stabilized units may be facing rising costs relative to rent increases—but this seems to reflect the cost of financing, not the cost of operations and management per se. Add to the list of reasons why housing should not be a commodity…

JW Mason @jwmason.bsky.social · Aug 7

This article on on NYC landlords unable to pay their expenses gives a foretaste of what I suspect the pushback to a rent freeze is going to look like. www.thecity.nyc/2025/08/07/b...

Rent Freeze Proposal Chills Cash-Starved Owners of Bronx Buildings

Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani’s pledge is raising alarms as bankers refuse to finance regulated buildings where costs outstrip income.

www.thecity.nyc

1 3

j.l. feldman @jlfeldman.bsky.social · Aug 4

I agree with Warren (& Mamdani) that the focus should be on affordability for all. But we should call BS on fake objections: The fact is Mamdani has a plan to raise revenue and is building a political coalition to do that. Naysayers are content to maintain the status quo, as this man explicitly says

j.l. feldman @jlfeldman.bsky.social · Aug 4

Warren’s interlocutor says raising taxes on the rich is an issue for Congress, not NYC, to solve. It makes one wonder which Congress he thinks will do that and when? Moreover, if/when Congress ever does decide to raise taxes on the rich, he’ll say “But the wealthy will just pick up and leave the US”

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · Aug 4

ELIZABETH WARREN: What Zohran is saying is 'I want people to be able to afford to live in NYC'

FABER: But raising taxes in order to do it?

WARREN: Oh my goodness! Oh dear! Are you worried that billionaires are going to go hungry?

1 1

Reposted by j.l. feldman

lauragarbes.bsky.social @lauragarbes.bsky.social · Aug 1

cpb.org/pressroom/Co...

The corporation for public broadcasting shutting down is awful news for people looking to keep public media’s mission alive.

a brief thread on what it means for public radio:

Corporation for Public Broadcasting Addresses Operations Following Loss of Federal Funding

WASHINGTON, D.C. (August 1, 2025) – The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) announced today that it will begin an orderly wind-down of its operations following the passage of a federal rescissio...

cpb.org

3 41 72

Reposted by j.l. feldman

lauragarbes.bsky.social @lauragarbes.bsky.social · Jul 21

Copy of my book just arrived in the mail today! Feels unreal. You can preorder it here: press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...

A book cover with title “Listeners Like Who? Exclusion and Resistance in the Public Radio Industry”

8 18 83

Reposted by j.l. feldman

Ursula @ladyofsardines.bsky.social · Jul 28

This offering from @prisonculture.bsky.social is for us — the heartbroken & yet hopeful, the exhausted & still going, the down but not out.

Ursula @ladyofsardines.bsky.social · Jul 28

"Brandon is proof that each of us can show up for the most vulnerable in our communities. We can do so with what’s within our capacity to offer. We can be the people on the banks."

The Magic of Showing Up

720 Weeks On 79th and Cottage Grove

open.substack.com

17 38

j.l. feldman @jlfeldman.bsky.social · Jul 23

“We should see political theory’s expanding geographic remit as something other than accumulating cases of historical difference, of minor literatures. ... [W]e might see decolonization & its study for what it is: a direct & unambiguous contribution to democratic theory.”

Really excellent essay!

Kevin Duong @ktduong.bsky.social · Jul 14

I wrote an idiosyncratic snapshot of the state of political theory. Basically, I don't think the study of decolonization grows out of postcolonial theory. It's the intellectual afterlife of the global financial crisis and the protest decade that followed.
doi.org/10.1177/0090...

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

doi.org

1 1

j.l. feldman @jlfeldman.bsky.social · Jul 23

This was really excellent! Your conclusion on the material/institutional conditions of study and of decolonial world-building lands perhaps even harder than you might have imagined it would while writing this (I assume pre-2025)...

1

j.l. feldman @jlfeldman.bsky.social · Jul 23

“The actual politics of ‘free speech’ in the United States is not as a freestanding statement of values but a right-wing political strategy—one that advances polarization against the left under the guise of reducing it”

Concise & convincing history of “free speech” as right-wing polarization tactic

Nicole Hemmer @pastpunditry.bsky.social · Jul 22

I explore why liberals fell for the heterodox movement’s “free speech” ploy in my latest for @bostonreview.bsky.social: www.bostonreview.net/forum/the-ri...

The actual politics of free speech is fueled by a right-wing political strategy. - Boston Review

Nicole Hemmer responds to Alex Gourevitch’s “The Right to Be Hostile.”

www.bostonreview.net

20 71

j.l. feldman @jlfeldman.bsky.social · Jul 23

I love this little passage on memory that Edmund White drops in the middle of his memoirish novel “A Boy’s Own Story”

FOUR
Like a blind man's hands exploring a face, the memory lingers over an identifying or beloved feature but dismisses the rest as just a curve, a bump, an expanse. Only this feature-these lashes tickling the palm like a firefly or this breath pulsing hot on a knuckle or this vibrating Adam's apple-only this feature seems lovable, sexy. But in writing one draws in the rest, the forgotten parts. One even composes one's improvisations into a quite new face never glimpsed before, the likeness of an invention. Busoni once said he prized the most those empty…

passages composers make up to get from one "good part" to another. He said such workmanlike but minor transitions reveal more about a composer-the actual vernacular of his imagination-than the deliberately bravura moments. I say all this by way of hoping that the lies I've made up to get from one poor truth to another may mean something-may even mean something most particular to you, my eccentric, pa-tient, scrupulous reader, willing to make so much of so little, more patient and more respectful of life, of a life, than the author you're allowing for a moment to exist yet again.

1 37

j.l. feldman @jlfeldman.bsky.social · Jul 11

A remarkable moment from an interview with Brad Lander on the Jewish Currents podcast: two ICE officers who arrested him are immigrant New Yorkers, one of whom was considering voting for him and Mamdani

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/o...

“I get arrested at 26 Federal Plaza.

Pretty rough arrest as everyone could see in the video, and they take me back in a hallway, and then they take off their masks. The first guy is a Pakistani Muslim immigrant who lives in Brighton Beach. The first ICE officer, and the second guy is an Indo-Gaianese immigrant who lives in South Ozone Park.

And one guy says, yeah, my wife really wants me to quit my job. I don't know how I'm going to pay the mortgage. And then the Pakistani Muslim guy says, what's Mamdani like?

He's been to my mosque a couple of times, and I'm thinking of ranking you guys. And I'm just like, I don't know what to make of this. I mean, there's a whole broader issue.

Like these guys were not born brown shirts, but Donald Trump and the times that we're living in are making them brown shirts.”

41 800 2.3K

j.l. feldman @jlfeldman.bsky.social · Jul 10

In case you missed this bsky.app/profile/bell...

Bellingcat @bellingcat.com · Jul 8

Armed officers, frequent use of force and people grabbed on the street or at their places of work. Working with @evidentmedia.org and @calmatters.org we have monitored the LA raids, discovering recurring trends and tactics used by officers. www.bellingcat.com/news/2025/07...

Masked, Armed and Forceful: Finding Patterns in Los Angeles Immigration Raids - bellingcat

Bellingcat collected videos and images from recent immigration raids in Los Angeles, analysing trends and apparent tactics used by law enforcement.

www.bellingcat.com

1 5

j.l. feldman @jlfeldman.bsky.social · Jul 10

Note to the copy editors: the author of the book spells her name “Katrina” not “Katrine”

katrinaforrester.scholars.harvard.edu

Katrina Forrester | Katrina Forrester

katrinaforrester.scholars.harvard.edu

1

Reposted by j.l. feldman

Andrea Pitzer @andreapitzer.bsky.social · Jul 5

I wrote about how the Everglades experiment fits into the history of concentration camps in the US and abroad, and how it will connect a domestic network of camps to an international one. We’re watching the imposition of a global concentration camp network.

Opinion | Don’t call it ‘Alligator Alcatraz.’ Call it a concentration camp.

This facility’s purpose fits the classic model, and its existence points to serious dangers ahead for the country.

www.msnbc.com

270 3.3K 7.6K

j.l. feldman @jlfeldman.bsky.social · Jul 3

now calling and texting friends and family who live in these districts...

Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · Jul 3

IF YOU ARE IN ONE OF THESE DISTRICTS PLEASE MAKE A CALL RIGHT NOW

DOES NOT MATTER IF YOUR VOICE SHAKES

CALL AND SAY YOU OPPOSE BBB

Scripts here: 5calls.org

DCCC
2026 DISTRICTS IN PLAY
NICK
BEGICH
AK-AL
DAVID
SCHWEIKERT
AZ-OI
ELI
CRANE
AZ-02
JUAN
CISCOMANI
AZ-06
DAVID VALADAO
CA-22
YOUNG
KIM
CA-40
KEN
CALVERT
CA-41
GABE EVANS
CO-08
CORY MILLS
FL-07
ANNA
PAULINA LUNA
FL-13
MARIA ELVIRA
SALAZAR
FL-27
MARIANNETTE MILLER-MEEKS
IA-OI
ASHLEY HINSON
IA-02
ZACH NUNN
1A-03
ANDY BARR
KY-06
BILL
HUIZENGA
MI-04
TOM
BARRETT
MI-07
MIKE
LAWLER
NY-17
MAX
MILLER
OH-07
MIKE TURNER
OH-10
OPEN SEAT
MI-IO
MIKE CAREY
0H-15
ANN
WAGNER
MO-02
DON BACON
NE-02
TOM
KEAN JR.
NJ-07
BRIAN
FITZPATRICK
PA-OI
RYAN
MACKENZIE
PA-07
ROB
BRESNAHAN
PA-08
SCOTT PERRY
PA-10
ANDY OGLES
TN-05
MONICA
DE LA CRUZ
TX-15
ROB
WITTMAN
VA-O1
JEN
KIGGANS
VA-02
BRYAN STEIL
WI-OI
DERRICK VAN
ORDEN
WI-03

1

Reposted by j.l. feldman

Justin Wolfers @justinwolfers.bsky.social · Jun 13

You have to add up all the red bars and stack them on top of each other to pay for the green bar.

50 670 1.5K

j.l. feldman @jlfeldman.bsky.social · Jun 13

“If it involves handcuffs on wrists, it’s probably worth pursuing”

Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · Jun 13

Guardian story by Jose Olivares:

US immigration officers ordered to arrest more people even without warrants

Exclusive: Ice officers told to get ‘creative’ with arrests, including of undocumented people encountered by chance

www.theguardian.com

Reposted by j.l. feldman

Ethan Corey @ethanscorey.bsky.social · Jun 12

In case those names aren't familiar:

Harvard Medical School fired Martin Kulldorff last year after he refused to get a mandatory COVID shot.

Twitter banned Robert Malone in 2021 for sharing videos that falsely linked athlete deaths with COVID vaccines (including a guy who died in 2013).

Sheryl Gay Stolberg @sherylnyt.bsky.social · Jun 11

BREAKING: RFK Jr. names Martin Kulldorff and Robert Malone and six others to ACIP.

x.com/SecKennedy/s...

Secretary Kennedy on X: "On Monday, I took a major step towards restoring public trust in vaccines by reconstituting the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP). I retired the 17 current members of the committee. I’m now repopulating ACIP with the eight new members who will attend ACIP’s" / X

On Monday, I took a major step towards restoring public trust in vaccines by reconstituting the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP). I retired the 17 current members of the committee. I’m now repopulating ACIP with the eight new members who will attend ACIP’s

x.com

2 3 5

j.l. feldman @jlfeldman.bsky.social · Jun 9

about the sources of the “content of men’s desires” & whether cultural criticism can fully account for the latter. To me, the skepticism of antiporn politics doesn’t detract much from the genuine contributions of the essay to public feminist discourse. But it sounds like you think otherwise?

1

j.l. feldman @jlfeldman.bsky.social · Jun 9

by “this kind of audience”, do you mean New Yorker readers or critics like DT? Yes, on the margins it seems that DT made unnecessary concessions re porn that I could imagine a NYer editor insisting on. But as I read it, the point of the porn discussion in this piece was to raise good-faith questions

1 1

Reposted by j.l. feldman

Ruwa Romman @ruwaromman.bsky.social · May 20

Babies can only have milk. They can’t even have water. Since Israel is banning all aid including baby formula, these babies will die. And since Israel is also starving everyone in Gaza, moms can’t nurse their babies either. They’re just watching their babies die as they die to.

Al Jazeera English @aljazeera.com · May 20

14,000 babies are at risk of dying in the next 48 hours in Gaza if aid doesn’t reach them, warns Tom Fletcher, the UN’s under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs – a figure he called “utterly chilling.”

🔴 LIVE updates: aje.io/x26ghx

12 440 560