Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Kira @kiragooddog.bsky.social · 2h

Jon Seidel @jonseidel.bsky.social · 16h

A federal judge in Chicago argued Tuesday that last week's South Shore immigration raid undermines recent controversial claims by Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

NEW from @chicago.suntimes.com: chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...

Chicago judge cites South Shore raid, Supreme Court controversy while ruling against ICE

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Cummings found that ICE arrested 22 people early this year without a warrant, and in violation of what’s known as the Castanon Nava settlement agreement.

chicago.suntimes.com

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Kira @kiragooddog.bsky.social · 2h

Not sure if you saw this one.

Federal judge in Chicago finds ICE repeatedly violated consent decree over ‘warrantless arrests’

A Chicago federal judge has extended a nationwide consent decree requiring ICE to better document and report probable cause for immigration arrests and found the agency repeatedly violated the 2022…

www.chicagotribune.com

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Andrew K. Gardner @akgardner.com · 5h

This is one of those things where, if you said after the first (couple) strikes on Venezuelan boats that they were laying the groundwork for killing people on US soil, you sound crazy. Hysterical.

And then.... When it actually does happen on US soil, it's nearly normalized.

Asha Rangappa @asharangappa.bsky.social · 5h

As I observed in my Substack Round Up this past week, the endgame of the military strikes against drug cartels in international waters is to lay the groundwork to use lethal military force against Americans at home. Pay attention open.substack.com/pub/asharang...

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Joanne Freeman @jbf1755.bsky.social · 6h

Want to hear re: a president who wanted his opponents physically beaten & was accused of wanting to be king?

My lecture on Andrew Jackson

In this cartoon from his presidency, he’s standing on a shredded Constitution w/a book titled “Judiciary of the US” at his feet

www.youtube.com/watch?v=vri7...

A cartoon from the early 1830s mocking Andrew Jackson as a king.

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Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 7h

Yet another incident that would’ve gotten any other president immediately impeached that is only the 127th worst thing Trump has done in 2025.

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Joanne Freeman @jbf1755.bsky.social · 6h

Want to hear about a party that isn’t too keen on democracy, deporting people who side with their opposition and stifling the opposition press to remain in power?

The Alien and Sedition Acts have a LOT to say.

Crystal Kile @crystalkile.bsky.social · 12h

America at 250: A History

Lecture 7: “What Kind of Nation? Democracy, Hamilton, Jefferson, and More” with Professor Joanne Freeman

The relevance of revisiting The Whiskey Rebellion will shock you

RIYL “Hamilton”

youtu.be/jMJLuErzYtg

DeVane Lecture, Class 7 – What Kind of Nation? Democracy, Hamilton, Jefferson, and More

YouTube video by YaleCourses

youtu.be

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Timothy Snyder @timothysnyder.bsky.social · 7h

What Governor Pritzker is doing is right for his state, but it is vital for the Republic.

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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 7h

One thing @govpritzker.illinois.gov does here, which WE ALL need to do more often, is lead with Trump's crimes.

A sex assaulted fraudster serial felon who freed HUNDREDS of cop assailants--and some terrorists--on his first day is trying to claim Democrats are criminals.

Governor JB Pritzker @govpritzker.illinois.gov · 13h

If you come for my people, you come through me.

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Josh Marshall @joshtpm.bsky.social · 15h

The Shutdown, Zombie Politics and How Trump Stumbled Into Not Being All-Powerful talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/the-s...

The Shutdown, Zombie Politics and How Trump Stumbled Into Not Being All-Powerful

It’s always a complicated matter to say who is “winning” a shutdown...

talkingpointsmemo.com

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Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 11h

Once again @nytimes.com heds and subheds are failing to convey to readers what is actually happening. The casual reader will come away with the impression that this is a genuinely held rationale on Trump's part, rather than a corrupt pretext for lawless, authoritarian threats.

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Zach Halper @zanath.bsky.social · 11h

"We took freedom of speech away" should be in every campaign ad moving forward.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 11h

Trump: "We took the freedom of speech away because that's been through the courts and the courts said you have freedom of speech, but what has happened is when they burn a flag it agitates and irritates crowds."

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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 13h

Pritzker: "He wants to militarize major cities because he wants us to get used to the idea of troops on the streets. I believe he's gonna post people outside of polling places and if he needs to in order to control those elections, he'll assume control of the ballot boxes & count the votes himself"

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Raffi Melkonian @rmfifthcircuit.bsky.social · 11h

I am never going to be a fan of a politician. That way lies disappointment. But Pritzker right now is the person I think is calibrating it right.

This isn’t negotiating about social security with W. You either get that or you don’t.

Governor JB Pritzker @govpritzker.illinois.gov · 13h

If you come for my people, you come through me.

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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 10h

DHS claimed they had arrested 11 people at a "shitshow" Greg Bovino staged on September 27. Only 5 were ever publicly charged (another was a journalist who is suing). Of those 3 cases have been dismissed. [2 got no-billed.]

www.emptywheel.net/2025/10/08/g...

Greg Bovino's September 27 "Shitshow:" Batting 18% - emptywheel

Of the eleven people the government charged in conjunction with a "shitshow" Chief Custom and Border Patrol Greg Bovino staged at Chicago's ICE facility on September 27, the publicly filed charges aga...

www.emptywheel.net

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Kira @kiragooddog.bsky.social · 7h

So talk to your buddy Schumer and refuse to fund the government until the illegality stops.

And if you won’t do that, please resign so Gov. Pritzker can appoint someone who will.

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Tammy Duckworth @duckworth.senate.gov · 10h

I cherished every day I got to call myself a Soldier—but ordering troops to intimidate the very Americans they sacrifice to protect doesn’t make us safer.

Trump is wasting millions to terrorize citizens exercising their First Amendment rights. It's wrong.

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/sen-tammy-duckworth-trumps-domestic-troop-deployments-betray-milita…

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Ryan J. Reilly “paints a vivid and urgent portrait of… disarray” @ryanjreilly.com · 9h

One of the FBI employees fired, a combat veteran who was months away from becoming eligible for retirement, was called back to the office after they left for the day and informed of their dismissal, a person familiar with the matter told NBC News.

www.nbcnews.com/politics/jus...

FBI fires special agents who worked on Jack Smith's probe into Trump

The agents were fired after Kash Patel disclosed that Jack Smith's team obtained phone records of members of Congress, which the Smith report itself referenced.

www.nbcnews.com

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Walter Olson @walterolson.bsky.social · 9h

And this: federal judge Jeffrey Cummings said that in June ICE's "principal legal adviser sent an email to all ICE employees stating that the [existing consent decree, known as Castañon Nava] was terminated" even though it hadn't been. [Block Club Chicago] /2, end

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Walter Olson @walterolson.bsky.social · 9h

A federal judge in Chicago has found that ICE conducted numerous illegal warrantless arrests in Illinois and nearby states in defiance of a 2022 consent decree. It also prepared post hoc arrest rationales after the fact based on details agents "did not know at the time they made the arrests". /1

ICE Violated Consent Decree With Warrantless Arrests, Federal Judge In Chicago Says

Attorneys argued that the recent arrest of an Albany Park family at Millennium Park violated a consent decree that limits the conditions under which federal agents can make warrantless arrests.

blockclubchicago.org

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Governor JB Pritzker @govpritzker.illinois.gov · 9h

Donald Trump is breaching the Constitution and breaking the law.

A show of force so he can militarize our cities because of the 2026 elections.

We need to stand up together and speak up.

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Timothy Snyder @timothysnyder.bsky.social · 9h

Our authoritarianism is run on clichés borrowed from the Eastern Europe of twenty years ago. Paid protestors, disloyal cities, evil Soros, vast conspiracies — it was all tiresome then and there, and now it’s pathetic.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 10h

Trump: "They're, like, insurrectionists, they're terrible people. But you really wonder why. Why are they doing it? What are they gaining? Other than they're obviously paid. They're paid a lot of money."

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Matthew Sheffield @matthew.flux.community · 11h

Fear is the foundation of Trumpism. He knows that getting people to fear for their own safety activates their most primal—and manipulable—instincts.

Most Americans have never seen pure fascism before. Pritzker and Newsom are 100% right to describe what Trump is doing and why.

Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 19h

JB Pritzker and Gavin Newsom are doing something new and important: They understand Stephen Miller's theory of fascist power politics, and they've developed a theory on how to combat it. More Dems need to reckon with Miller's understanding of the moment.

New from me:
newrepublic.com/article/2014...

Inside Stephen Miller’s Secret Plan to Normalize Trump’s Dictator Rule

He wants to supercharge searing civil tensions to get low-information voters to embrace their inner authoritarian. Exactly two Democrats appear to fully grasp this.

newrepublic.com

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Phillips OBrien @phillipspobrien.bsky.social · 9h

All it requires is the determination to do the right thing. The Russian military is beatable and the Russian economy is weakening

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Phillips OBrien @phillipspobrien.bsky.social · 9h

The most frustrating thing about this war is that the US could step in forcefully now with harsh sanctions against Russia and a large military package for Ukraine with ranged weapons as the centrepiece, and the war would end soon with a Russian defeat.

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Tammy Duckworth @duckworth.senate.gov · 9h

Trump is moving us closer to authoritarianism with each deployment of troops into states.

From Illinois to Oregon to California—

None of our states asked for this, nor need this.

I and every U.S. Senator from these states are demanding Trump to end these deployments ASAP.

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