Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

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Kevin St. Alder @kevinstalder.bsky.social · 7h

Statement from the Nobel Peace Prize Committee 👏 🙏

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Joseph Schafer @joseph-schafer.bsky.social · 20h

Well that’s Exhibit 1002 in journalistic malpractice in the 2020’s.

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Reposted by Joseph Schafer

Barton Gellman @bartongellman.bsky.social · 20h

Correct. This headline and others, similar, entirely miss the meaning of the event.

Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 20h

The prosecutor put in office after the president who wants vengeance against his enemies told his AG that a WH lawyer was the person for the job — despite no prosecution experience — successfully sought an indictment against one of the named enemies, the second such indictment.

And you push this?

Notification Center
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NBC NEWS
Breaking news
Federal grand jury in Virginia charges Letitia James, the New York attorney general who investigated Trump's business practices, with bank fraud

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The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 21h

The idea that everyone has intrinsic rights to life and liberty was a radical break with millennia of human history. It’s the moral foundation of America, Elaine Pagels writes—and it’s worth preserving.

The Moral Foundation of America

The idea that everyone has intrinsic rights to life and liberty was a radical break with millennia of human history. It’s worth preserving.

bit.ly

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Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias.bsky.social · 23h

I don't think Secretary Kennedy knows what a placenta is.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

RFK Jr: "Somebody showed me a TikTok video of a pregnant woman at 8 months pregnant -- she's an associate professor at the Columbia Medical School -- and she is saying 'F Trump' and gobbling Tylenol with her baby in her placenta. The level of Trump Derangement Syndrome is now a pathology."

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Jay Young @impactofficer.bsky.social · 1d

A good read (as usual) from @stevevladeck.bsky.social on the lack of deterrence:

"[A] federal officer today faces almost no meaningful specter of losing a damages lawsuit even for actions that violate clearly established constitutional rights."

www.stevevladeck.com/p/bonus-182-...

Bonus 182: Damages as a (Missing) Deterrent

It's worth reflecting on how different things might look right now if federal officers—or the federal government itself—faced a meaningful specter of monetary liability for constitutional violations.

www.stevevladeck.com

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Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 1d

Nothing remotely resembling an insurrection is happening anywhere in the country. Any violence associated with protest has been isolated, mild, and, in nearly every case, instigated by federal law enforcement. If we let Trump get away with calling dissent an insurrection, our republic is over.

BREAKING: Trump Admin 'Seriously' Considering Using the Insurrection Act, Reports NBC

President Trump is "seriously" considering invoking the Insurrection Act in order to more easily deploy National Guard troops to major cities as part of crime crackdown, NBC reported on Wednesday

www.mediaite.com

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@GottaLaff @gottalaff.bsky.social · 1d

Couldn't be clearer. MAGA-GOP is just fine with their shutdown.

So much for blaming Dems.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Sen. Jim Banks: "I hear from hoosiers every day who understand that the government in Washington is way too big, and they think about all the wasteful bureaucracy and bureaucrats in Washington DC, so in that case a government shutdown means less government and in many ways we're okay with that."

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Quinta Jurecic @qjurecic.bsky.social · 1d

I wrote legal editorials for the Post for a hot minute many years ago, and I was constantly anxious about making sure I got the details right. This editorial is just humiliating for everyone involved

Philip Bump @pbump.com · 1d

I spent more than a decade at The Post. It was good to me and I was proud to work there. I’ve largely refrained from being critical since I left. But this framing of the special counsel probe is embarrassing and flatly wrong. Stunning, but not. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

Opinion | Jack Smith’s lawfare and James Comey’s arraignment on pathetically weak charges

Good people will be deterred from public service if they see a meaningful risk of winding up in jail afterward.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Philip Bump @pbump.com · 1d

I spent more than a decade at The Post. It was good to me and I was proud to work there. I’ve largely refrained from being critical since I left. But this framing of the special counsel probe is embarrassing and flatly wrong. Stunning, but not. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

Opinion | Jack Smith’s lawfare and James Comey’s arraignment on pathetically weak charges

Good people will be deterred from public service if they see a meaningful risk of winding up in jail afterward.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Aubrey Gilleran @aubreygilleran.bsky.social · 1d

The subtle implication that Trump v. U.S. has always been law and that a president's official acts weren't considered prosecutable when Smith started is disgustingly dishonest.

Anna Bower @annabower.bsky.social · 1d

You’ve gotta be kidding me.

This WaPo editorial presents a misleading revisionist history of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s criminal cases against Trump.

Then it has the gall to compare that to Trump’s overt targeting of his perceived enemies.

Really embarrassing stuff.

But the mere fact that a legal tool might be available does not mean it should be used. The
current rage over Grassley's revelation shows why. Smith showed little restraint in his pursuit of a former president. He charged Trump for official acts he took as president. He sought a gag order to limit Trump's ability to criticize the prosecution. He tried to accelerate the case to try a leading presidential candidate before the 2024 election.

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Quinta Jurecic @qjurecic.bsky.social · 1d

incredibly, bleakly funny that trump is going after christopher wray, who spent his entire tenure at the fbi with his head down desperately trying to avoid trump's attention and did nothing to protect the bureau from trump's attacks www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

Other prosecutors are investigating former CIA director John Brennan, another prominent Trump critic, and former FBI director Christopher Wray, who was originally appointed by Trump but enraged conservatives who came to believe he had wielded the bureau’s powers against them. Former officials have received subpoenas in recent days in the Wray inquiry, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.

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Ian Livingston @ianlivingston.bsky.social · 1d

We’ve def reached the it’s way too dark before 8 pm season. The worst.

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Mark Bray @mark-bray.bsky.social · 1d

Solidarity!

RutgersAAUP-AFT @ruaaup-aft.bsky.social · 1d

This week, our colleague Dr. Mark Bray came under attack by Turning Point USA’s Rutgers chapter for his public scholarship. Rutgers AAUP-AFT and the Rutgers Adjunct Faculty Union condemn this campaign and stand in solidarity with our colleagues. Read our full statement here: https://loom.ly/BDXasRY

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Mark Bray @mark-bray.bsky.social · 1d

“Someone” cancelled my family’s flight out of the country at the last second.

We got our boarding passes. We checked our bags. Went through security. Then at our gate our reservation ‘disappeared.’

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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 1d

Bray is a historian at Rutgers who received death threats after landing on Turning Points USA's Professor Watchlist. As a result, he announced he was moving to Europe. And then this happened.

This kind of harassment and abuse of scholars is Charlie Kirk's legacy and it's only getting worse.

Mark Bray @mark-bray.bsky.social · 1d

“Someone” cancelled my family’s flight out of the country at the last second.

We got our boarding passes. We checked our bags. Went through security. Then at our gate our reservation ‘disappeared.’

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Kai Ryssdal @kairyssdal.bsky.social · 1d

This is the lesson of 2025

Quinta Jurecic @qjurecic.bsky.social · 1d

he's going to come after you either way, so you might as well act with integrity

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Senator Ed Markey @markey.senate.gov · 1d

It’s 7:30 p.m. and I’m heading back to the Senate floor—7,700 steps in, full speed ahead. The fight continues against Trump and the MAGA Republicans who want to gut health care and undermine democracy.

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Joseph Schafer @joseph-schafer.bsky.social · 1d

Reason 1001 why my NYT sub has lapsed since November.

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 1d

Shocked, just shocked, by this important scoop on front page of today's NYT. /s/

Based on report that came out ... nine months ago

And behavior long predating that

("Skip a class? Perish the thought!!" Says anyone who ever worked on a college newspaper, which covers a lot of people in the media.)

NYT front page headline: "Harvard Finds Skipping Class Part of Culture."

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Karly Kingsley @karlykingsley.bsky.social · 2d

All these headlines saying “Bondi Goes on the Attack.” Really? She wasn’t in the octagon, she’s a public servant who was at an oversight hearing. Her job was to answer questions. She refused to do her job. Stop glamorizing and whitewashing this moronic, performative bullshit.

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Nerdy G.I. James 🤓🪖📚🧠🍺🥃🗳️ @nerdygi.bsky.social · 2d

Isn’t there a word for “bucking legal precedent?”

a man in a suit and tie holds his hand to his forehead and says it 's umm

ALT: a man in a suit and tie holds his hand to his forehead and says it 's umm

media.tenor.com

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Adam Weinstein @adamweinstein.bsky.social · 2d

And... what would you say... *constitutes* this tradition he's bucking? What exactly is it *constituted* of?

NPR @npr.org · 3d

President Trump is bucking tradition and legal precedent in pushing to deploy the National Guard to Democratic-led cities like Portland, Oregon, and Chicago due to what he says is rampant crime and to support his crackdown on illegal immigration.

Trump's power to deploy National Guard, explained

President Trump is bucking tradition and legal precedent in pushing to deploy the National Guard to Democratic-led cities like Portland, Oregon, and Chicago due to what he says is rampant crime and to support his crackdown on illegal immigration.

n.pr

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Kai Ryssdal @kairyssdal.bsky.social · 2d

👇

Adam Weinstein @adamweinstein.bsky.social · 2d

And... what would you say... *constitutes* this tradition he's bucking? What exactly is it *constituted* of?

NPR @npr.org · 3d

President Trump is bucking tradition and legal precedent in pushing to deploy the National Guard to Democratic-led cities like Portland, Oregon, and Chicago due to what he says is rampant crime and to support his crackdown on illegal immigration.

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J6 Plaque @thejan6plaque.bsky.social · 2d

No, I haven’t

Scott MacFarlane @macfarlanenews.bsky.social · 2d

Justice Dept has 10 days left to respond to civil lawsuit filed by Jan 6 police responders who are seeking court order to require display of Jan 6 law enforcement honorary plaque at US Capitol

Plaque was required to be hung by 2023 under federal law

It hasn’t been hung

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