Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Kombiz Lavasany

Eliot Higgins @eliothiggins.bsky.social · 6h

Big presence on the beaches of Normandy in 1944 too.

Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · 16h

From Donald Trump's Roundtable on Antifa just now —
"Antifa has been around in various iterations for almost 100 years in some instances, going back to the Weimar Republic in Germany."
— special guest Jack Posobiec

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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 3h

Annals in sane-washing. When I checked NYT, WSJ, Politico, and WaPo for a story abt how Trump invited PizzaGate guy to the White House and declared an end to the First Amendment, this single story that mentioned it was on top of WaPo. Now it's buried.

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

A story headlined, Trump builds case for deploying National Guard to Chicago, Portland The president said he would pursue designating antifa a "foreign terrorist organization" and called for Democratic officials in Chicago to be jailed.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday looked to bolster his public case for deploying the National Guard to Chicago and Portland, Oregon, cities where he claims Democrat politicians have failed to protect journalists and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from people whom he sees as left-wing domestic terrorists.

Trump said during a televised meeting at the White House that he would pursue designating antifa as a “foreign terrorist organization” — a label that would allow for key financial and legal penalties because foreign entities are not protected by the First Amendment. Proponents of antifa — a political protest movement composed of unaffiliated groups — militantly oppose fascism, right-wing ideologies and are often anti-capitalist or anti-state.

Trump also repeated a call he had made earlier in the day for Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, both Democrats, to be jailed, accusing them without evidence of “failing to protect” ICE officers who have been sent to the city.

His statements and other remarks given by top aides during a 2½-hour event laid out a legal and moral case for the administration’s push to send National Guard troops into U.S. cities. Designated foreign terrorist groups can face financial sanctions imposed by the Treasury Department. The Justice Department can prosecute supporters under enhanced charges of providing “material support” to a terrorist group.

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Kombiz Lavasany @kombiz.bsky.social · 3h

ok, we are absolutely in the biggest bubble ever. not since the tulip bubble - AI Agent Startup N8n Nets $2.5 Billion Valuation With Backing From Nvidia - Bloomberg share.google/jrOGmubOJz3B...

AI Agent Startup N8n Nets $2.5 Billion Valuation With Backing From Nvidia

N8n, a German startup that helps businesses deploy artificial intelligence agents, has raised $180 million to compete in a crowded market that includes OpenAI.

share.google

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Kombiz Lavasany @kombiz.bsky.social · 9h

the best healthcare system in the world!!! girl who is alive because of heart transplant may not be able to stay alive because of health insurance. An organ donor gave her his heart. But now she can’t afford the life-saving medicines to keep it beating | The Independent share.google/fAQOIylqDApL...

An organ donor gave her his heart. She can’t afford the medicines to keep it beating

Exclusive: A heart transplant recipient tells Rhian Lubin how she feels a health insurance company is ‘gambling’ with the gift of life from her donor: ‘If they let me go into rejection, they’re not ju...

share.google

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Kombiz Lavasany @kombiz.bsky.social · 9h

Gotta love twitter - Priest shot in the head by ICE. Community note: He desreved it

He is antifa.

Community notes:
Officials have confirmed he refused to obey a lawful order and was trespassing.

Second community note:

Although allegedly a minister, the cleric in the video is a known antifa activist and agitator. The post gives the impression of an innocent bystanding priest being assaulted by ICE, which is most probably what the video is meant to achieve.

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Noah Berlatsky @nberlat.bsky.social · 12h

notably doing better than pope pius xii here

Sarah Posner @sarahposner.bsky.social · 1d

Pope Leo tells US bishops to address Trump's immigration crackdown

www.reuters.com/world/pope-l...

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Kombiz Lavasany @kombiz.bsky.social · 12h

wait, trump is giving Qatar security guarantees now because Bibi's attacks on Qatar backfired? it is a good thing that Qatar's adversaries are all even bigger client states of the US, but wow. share.google/86p1AlGoDLiY...

What to make of Qatar's diet Article 5 protections

Trump "may well have intended it one way, and the region could interpret it in another," said one expert.

share.google

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Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 1d

#WarRavagedPortland

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Zeeshan Aleem @zeeshanaleem.bsky.social · 15h

this is what a "politically undistracted" DoD looks like
www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

Hegseth’s sprawling hunt for Charlie Kirk critics spans nearly 300 investigations

The inquiry, resulting in a smattering of disciplinary action so far, follows an extraordinary directive aimed at silencing criticism of the slain activist and Trump supporter.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Zach Dorfman @zachsdorfman.bsky.social · 15h

Wow, tell me more about Weimar Germany and what came after?

Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 16h

"Antifa has been around in various iterations for almost 100 years in some instances, going back to the Weimar Republic in Germany."

- Jack Posobiec at Trump's roundtable on antifa

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Liselle Baker @elles-bells.bsky.social · 16h

“Despotism doesn’t impose itself on everyone all at once. It creeps inward from the margins of society. We need to remind ourselves, constantly, that in the median experience of tyranny, life’s largely unchanged. Even the median experience of those being tyrannized can be free of intolerable forms..

Brian Beutler @brianbeutler.bsky.social · 21h

Watching so many people in high places go through the motions of polling and median-voter whispering can make you feel like you're in Bodysnatchers. It's worth a reminder that the typical experience of tyranny is...basically normal life. Which means we have to will ourselves to fight harder.

The Median Experience Of Tyranny

If the politics of tyranny were self-discrediting, we wouldn't need mantras like "never again."

www.offmessage.net

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Brian Beutler @brianbeutler.bsky.social · 21h

Watching so many people in high places go through the motions of polling and median-voter whispering can make you feel like you're in Bodysnatchers. It's worth a reminder that the typical experience of tyranny is...basically normal life. Which means we have to will ourselves to fight harder.

The Median Experience Of Tyranny

If the politics of tyranny were self-discrediting, we wouldn't need mantras like "never again."

www.offmessage.net

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Justin Baragona @justinbaragona.bsky.social · 16h

Incredible.

Jack Posobiec references the earliest version of antifa -- the anti-fascists in the Weimar Republic who were opposed to the Nazi Party -- as the bad guys.

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Kombiz Lavasany @kombiz.bsky.social · 16h

Arrested for being Iranian: How a war in the Middle East gave ICE new targets at home prismreports.org/2025/10/08/i...

Arrested for being Iranian: How war in Middle East gave ICE targets at home

After the U.S. joined Israel’s war against Iran in June, ICE arrests of Iranian immigrants surged, data shows

prismreports.org

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Cammie Croft @cammiecroft.bsky.social · 1d

This is disgusting and disgraceful. When someone shows you who they are, believe them. I won’t only be voting for @mikiesherrill.bsky.social this November; I’ll be knocking on doors every weekend to make sure we have a leader and fighter for all New Jerseyans in Trenton. #njgov

American Bridge 21st Century @ab21.bsky.social · 2d

You gotta beat this what, Jack Ciattarelli? Finish the sentence. #NJGov

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Ryan Goodman @rgoodlaw.bsky.social · 2d

"At the Pentagon, some military lawyers, including international law experts within DoD’s Office of General Counsel, have raised concerns about the legality of the lethal strikes on suspected drug traffickers....

Multiple current and former JAGs ... told CNN that the strikes do not appear lawful."

Exclusive: Classified Justice Department opinion authorizes strikes on secret list of cartels, sources say | CNN Politics

The Trump administration has produced a classified legal opinion that justifies lethal strikes against a secret and expansive list of cartels and suspected drug traffickers, according to multiple peop...

www.cnn.com

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Kombiz Lavasany @kombiz.bsky.social · 2d

He's running share.google/xHBEckykLsoV...

Crown Prince of Norway makes stop in Iowa

The crown prince was in town to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the first organized Norwegian emigration to the United States.

share.google

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Gillian Brockell @gbrockell.bsky.social · 2d

Claim: 10 cars rammed ICE
Truth: No cars rammed ICE

Claim: She boxed ICE in
Truth: ICE boxed her in

Claim: She shot a rifle at ICE
Truth: She did not have a rifle

Claim: ICE returned fire
Truth: Only ICE fired

Claim: She drove herself to the hospital
Truth: Paramedics found her

Chicago Sun-Times @chicago.suntimes.com · 2d

Body-camera video appears to contradict the government’s claim that Marimar Martinez, 30, drove toward officers before one of them opened fire at her late Saturday morning in Brighton Park, her attorney claimed.
trib.al/9Sxu9IN

Attorney for woman shot by Border Patrol claims officer said 'Do something b-----' before shooting

Body-camera video appears to contradict the government's claim that Marimar Martinez, 30, drove toward officers before one of them opened fire at her late Saturday morning in Brighton Park, her attorney claimed. A judge ordered Martinez and a co-defendant released pending trial.

trib.al

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ProPublica @propublica.org · 4d

Now that Tom Homan is border czar, his former business associate Charles Sowell is continuing to work with companies actively seeking to land a chunk of the $45 billion Congress approved to spend on immigration detention.

➡️ Read the full story: https://propub.li/3IusbGP

Article excerpt: After Trump won and formally announced Homan would be returning with him to the White House, Sowell kept Homan on his payroll until the end of the year. Once named as the border czar, Homan said he would recuse himself from contracting, saying he would have no “involvement, discussion, input, or decision of any future government contracts.”

But several industry executives who spoke with ProPublica said at least half a dozen companies vying for a slice of the $45 billion Congress has allocated for immigration detention work had hired Sowell because he had led them to believe his connections to Homan would help their chances of winning government work.

Homan's business relationships are under greater scrutiny after MSNBC reported an FBI sting that allegedly caught him on tape accepting $50,000 in cash from undercover agents posing as would-be government contractors before he took the border czar post.

His relationship with Sowell raises fresh questions about the integrity of the billion-dollar contracting process for immigration enforcement, ethics experts say.

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Andrew Couts @couts.bsky.social · 5d

NEW: ICE is planning to hire a team of nearly 30 people to surveil social media 24/7, build dossiers on people, and flag them for arrest and deportation. @dell.bsky.social has the scoop: www.wired.com/story/ice-so...

ICE Wants to Build Out a 24/7 Social Media Surveillance Team

Documents show ICE plans to hire dozens of contractors to scan X, Facebook, TikTok, and other platforms to target people for deportation.

www.wired.com

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Kate Klonick @klonick.bsky.social · 4d

Everything is content moderation.

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Anil Dash @anildash.com · 4d

One first step people should do to respond to this is start using the “report a speed trap” function in Apple Maps to report where ICE is operating. Make Apple party to the attempt to protect people.

404 Media @404media.co · 6d

ICEBlock Owner After Apple Removes App: ‘We Are Determined to Fight This’

🔗 www.404media.co/iceblock-own...

ICEBlock Owner After Apple Removes App: ‘We Are Determined to Fight This’

Apple removed ICEBlock reportedly after direct pressure from Department of Justice officials. “I am incredibly disappointed by Apple's actions today. Capitulating to an authoritarian regime is never t...

www.404media.co

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Meatball Rob @wrenispinkle.bsky.social · 5d

Absolutely INSANE use of passive voice in this CNN piece

just incredible

@katmabu.bsky.social “landed on the ground” during the protest???

At least one other person, who identified herself on social media as Kat Abughazaleh, a former journalist also running for Congress, landed on the ground during that same protest after she was pushed by a federal law enforcement agent in a camouflage uniform wearing a full face covering, sunglasses and a helmet, video by CNN affiliate WBBM showed.

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Elon Green @elongreen.bsky.social · 27d

Still thinking about Goatse Airlines

Anna Merlan @annamerlan.bsky.social · 29d

We live in a SOCIETY and YET

A man reaches over the back of his airplane seat so that his fingers are just above my display screen just directly in my face ew

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Way to Win @waytowinus.bsky.social · 5d

Sen. Van Hollen on Kilmar Abrego Garcia: “There were a lot of pollsters and pundits who said I shouldn’t go because we shouldn’t talk about immigration... It’s a false choice to say we have to only talk about the price of eggs and we can’t talk about the assaults on our freedoms.” #Persuasion2025

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