Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Josh Pasek @joshpasek.com · 6h

Now, if we can only find a way to use it in an instrumental variable analysis.

Josh Pasek @joshpasek.com · 10h

How should university boards prepare?

- Strategize in advance (could happen here)
- Leverage internal expertise (strategize with political scientists, public policy scholars and law faculty)
- Respond collectively and support one another
-Stay true to the mission

This is the real fiduciary duty!

Jackie Gardina @jackiegardina.bsky.social · 11h

@joshpasek.com, @umich.edu, provides boards of trustees a roadmap for responding to external pressue, like the so-called Educational Compact.

@aaup.org @utaustinaaup.bsky.social @aaup-penn.bsky.social

riverside.fm/shared/expor...

One thing boards can d... | Oct 7, 2025 001 - Riverside - HD Podcast & Video Software

riverside.fm

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Josh Pasek @joshpasek.com · 11h

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation

www.archives.gov/founding-doc...

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 19h

DURBIN: You won't even say whether you talked to the WH about this?

BONDI: I'm not going to discuss any internal conversations with you

D: They're going to transfer TX Guard troops to the state of Illinois. What's the rationale?

B: I wish you loved Chicago as much as you hate President Trump

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Joel S. @joelhs.bsky.social · 2d

I was told not to teach a class on the intellectual histories of Zionism and Anti-Zionism next year - not because they doubted I could teach it fairly, but because it would attract too many politicians scrutinizing the syllabus.

A society where that is a valid fear is no longer fully democratic.

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Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 1d

My new op-ed with @lkfazio.bsky.social:

Trump sent a 'compact' to our universities. They should reject this devil's bargain.
Any institution that yields to these broad and intrusive demands would forever be subservient to the whims of the government.
www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...

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Thomas Zimmer @thomaszimmer.bsky.social · 1d

ICYMI yesterday:

I wrote about Ezra Klein, Ta-Nehisi Coates, the struggle to define the boundaries of what is acceptable in America – and why democratic citizens have an obligation to hold the line on what we consider beyond the pale.

Some thoughts from my new piece:

🧵

Where Is the Line?

On Ezra Klein, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and the struggle to define the boundaries of what is acceptable in America

steady.page

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Josh Pasek @joshpasek.com · 2d

At this point, the experts largely agree that the lack of fascism in a formal sense is because they lack the capacity, not the intent.

Being sober about both where we are and where we aren’t is important, however, because American institutions still have the capacity to reverse the backsliding.

Guy Grossman @guygrossman.bsky.social · 2d

I agree with Tom - we live in an electoral authoritarian regime. It has some fascist elements (e.g., disappearing migrants; masked agents detaining individuals without warrants), but the Trump regime is not (at least, yet) in a full fascist mode.

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Josh Pasek @joshpasek.com · 2d

I want to hope that this is just a coincidence, but those hopes feel less and less likely given the timeline we appear to be on.

Worth a reminder that most people from both parties oppose political violence. It is critical for all of us to uphold that norm.

donnadeka.bsky.social @donnadeka.bsky.social · 3d

“Judge Diane Goodstein is known for her recent ruling that blocked the Trump regime from accessing all sensitive information about South Carolina voters.”

www.live5news.com/2025/10/05/3...

3 hospitalized following reported Edisto Beach fire, SLED investigating

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division is investigating a house fire that hospitalized three people Saturday afternoon.

www.live5news.com

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Joey Fishkin @fishkin.bsky.social · 3d

I thought I'd put the administration's proposed "compact" with universities in context, so I wrote the blog post below.

It's especially for journalists covering this story!

Many details about how the compact itself works and why the administration has retreated to this strategy.

Balkinization: The Art of Replacing the Law with the Deal

A group blog on constitutional law, theory, and politics

balkin.blogspot.com

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Neil Lewis, Jr. @neillewisjr.bsky.social · 3d

"If you’ve figured out your core principles, then they will guide you about what to do. Remember, you’re not just performing an idea, it’s your life. It’s who you are."

Andrew Perfors @andyperfors.bsky.social · 3d

I'm a bit late to the game on this, but I finally read it and if you haven't done so, do check it out. It is a very thoughtfully kind (yet incisive) examination of where a lot of people on the left are right now, with Ezra Klein and Ta-Nehisi Coates serving as rhetorical poles of sorts.

You don't have to swallow frogs

Klein and Coates show that if you don't know what your core beliefs are, you're going to get played.

degenerateart.beehiiv.com

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Josh Pasek @joshpasek.com · 3d

There is almost certainly a large portion of Jews who both identify as Zionist and perceive what has happened as a reprehensible genocide.*

Probably a much rarer view among Christian Zionists.

*Not as a self-contradictory sentiment, but has more to do with varied definitions of Zionism.

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Josh Pasek @joshpasek.com · 3d

Important finding - merits a reminder that the vast majority of folks supporting Israeli government actions have always been Christian Zionists, not Jewish ones.

Emily Guskin @emgusk.bsky.social · 3d

Most American Jews say Israel has committed war crimes

www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

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Josh Pasek @joshpasek.com · 4d

Just a reminder that the right response is trying to reclaim the flag such that it becomes a symbol of protest against the administrations anti-American actions.

Help it become something they are uncomfortable with.

Spooky Scott Kelley Ernest, BSPH 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ #mtpol @mxscottkernest.bsky.social · 4d

Trump says American flag burners will be ‘immediately arrested’ under executive order
www.foxnews.com/politics/tru...

Trump says American flag burners will be ‘immediately arrested’ under executive order

President Donald Trump said American flag burners would be arrested and face a year in prison in a Truth Social post citing his August executive order on flag desecration.

www.foxnews.com

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Ariel Edwards-Levy @aedwardslevy.bsky.social · 4d

as a similarly annoying person I am motivated to say this, but one of the best things about working in a newsroom is being able to run things by subject matter specialists and I really encourage anyone in that situation to take advantage of it to avoid...this

Will Oremus @willoremus.com · 5d

at the post we have a small team of professional pollsters who have to review the full methodology behind any survey results before we can feature them in a story. they’re super annoying sometimes and i’m also very grateful that we have them

The Independent @the-independent.com · 5d

Nearly a third of Americans have had a ‘romantic relationship’ with an AI bot, new survey says

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Dan Hirschman @asociologist.bsky.social · 4d

A petition for alums of University of Arizona, Brown University, Dartmouth College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Southern California, the University of Texas, Vanderbilt University, and the University of Virginia!

Trump attacks 9 universities: Sign the alumni petition to defend your school now

Are you an alum outraged by Trump's attacks on universities? Defend your school now by signing this alumni petition in support of these 9 universities as well as campus communities across America.

alumni.controlshift.app

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Jackie Gardina @jackiegardina.bsky.social · 4d

The webinar is now available. Watch @joshpasek.com, @umich.edu, and David Rabban, @utaustin.bsky.social, discuss political pressure, academic freedom, and the boards responsibility to resist the former to protect the latter. @aaup.org @utaustinaaup.bsky.social

agb.org/events/webin...

The Integral Relationship Between Board Independence and Academic Freedom

Watch this Webinar on Demand to explore the foundational role of board independence in preserving academic freedom and the pursuit of knowledge.

agb.org

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Evan Bernick, a finite mode with a smol hooman and a lorg floof @evanbernick.bsky.social · 5d

this is as open an admission that an entire agency is engaging in routine constitutional violations that I can imagine

David Bier @davidjbier.bsky.social · 5d

Holy hell. DHS just openly stated that its agents use “reasonable suspicion” to make ARRESTS. This is blatantly unconstitutional. The Supreme Court is clear that you need probable cause to arrest someone, as opposed to stop them to ask them a question or two. This is huge b/c…

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Josh Pasek @joshpasek.com · 5d

In Amend 4 - DELETE:

“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, … but upon probable cause, … and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

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Joel S. @joelhs.bsky.social · 6d

We all need to stand together and reject this extortion.

Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 6d

Trump's higher ed ransom note is here - everyone would have to acquiesce to their unprecedented demands or not be "given priority for grants," plus they can demand "reimbursement" for "violations" www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...

A mechanism to enforce fealty. An attack on academic freedom and democracy

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Josh Pasek @joshpasek.com · 6d

Who goes Nazi and Don’t Be a Sucker are the two you should keep returning to. m.youtube.com/watch?v=vGAq...

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Josh Pasek @joshpasek.com · 6d

And this was the timeline cleanse I needed.

Jeff VanderMeer @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social · 6d

Portland enacts emergency powers of nudity to check federal overreach.

Emergency World Naked Bike Ride planned in Portland, with blurred photi of naked bicyclists.

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Josh Pasek @joshpasek.com · 6d

On Erev Yom Kippur, DHS suggests denying visas to “globalists” and the ADL got rid of its glossary of extremism after getting called out by Elon Musk.

There’s a lot of symbolism here, but one day of repentance is probably not enough time to untangle it.

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Josh Pasek @joshpasek.com · 6d

This has long been my basic prediction about the shutdown. When GOP starts realizing shutdown is hurting them, they will change the rules and end it. The decision not to do so is a calculation. Whether the Democrats can do enough to make this a focusing event before that happens is the big question.

Kevin Collins @kwcollins.bsky.social · 6d

A reminder, the GOP can re-open the government anytime they want to. They just have to change Senate rules on appropriations votes, something they did on confirmation votes just about a month ago.

They are choosing not to do so, and choosing to keep the Government closed.

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michael veale @michae.lv · 7d

Either real-time bidding data or app SDK data is being bought and used by ICE to seize people from the streets. If you didn’t believe that the adtech stack is a human rights concern, I’m not sure what more evidence you need. www.404media.co/ice-to-buy-t...

ICE to Buy Tool that Tracks Locations of Hundreds of Millions of Phones Every Day

Documents show that ICE has gone back on its decision to not use location data remotely harvested from peoples' phones. The database is updated every day with billions of pieces of location data.

www.404media.co

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Josh Pasek @joshpasek.com · 7d

I lean toward short mostly because I expect Republicans to nuke the rules that require any input from Democrats. It’s not clear that they think steamrollering norms would be more costly than a long shutdown.

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