Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Laia Balcells

Samantha Michaels @samanthamichaels.bsky.social · 10h

So much tear gas that people who aren't even protesting are getting sick when they leave their homes to run errands: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

ICE is hounding Chicago area locals with excessive chemical munitions

Agents are firing tear gas and pepper balls on lawful protesters, lawsuits say, sickening even uninvolved residents.

www.motherjones.com

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Tom Joscelyn @tomjoscelyn.bsky.social · 17h

Here’s Trump calling for the jailing of the mayor of Chicago and the governor of Illinois.

Totally normal. Just an ordinary day in the Trump regime.

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Laura Helmuth @laurahelmuth.bsky.social · 17h

Six of the nine Nobel Prize winners this year work in the U.S.
Three of the six were born outside the U.S., which is the pattern most years. No country has benefited more from welcoming immigrants from around the world.
www.nobelprize.org

The official website of the Nobel Prize - NobelPrize.org

The Nobel Prize rewards science, humanism and peace efforts. This is one of the central concepts in the will of Alfred Nobel, and it also permeates the outreach activities that have been developed for...

www.nobelprize.org

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Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.bsky.social · 17h

All university researchers around the country are having to deal with new procedures around the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme yet foreign fascists are given free rein to pollute our public space. What a joke of a country. Zero dignity.

Josiah Mortimer @josiah.writes.news · 17h

🔴 ‘America Must Save Britain’: MAGA-Mania and Conspiracy Theories Broadcast Nightly on GB News’ New US Show

A new daily GB News programme broadcast from Washington features climate denial, vaccine misinformation, and non-stop praise for Donald Trump. ✍️ @bylinetimes.bsky.social

'America Must Save Britain': MAGA-Mania and Conspiracy Theories Broadcast Nightly on GB News' New US Show

A new daily GB News programme broadcast from Washington features climate denial, vaccine misinformation, and non-stop praise for Donald Trump – as its hosts tell the American audience that the UK need...

bylinetimes.com

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Vicente Valentim @valentimvicente.bsky.social · 1d

Despite the grim topic, this is a very good paper: monuments that signal white supremacy can substitute performative violence and thus reduce it.

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Political Symbols and Social Order: Confederate Monuments and Performative Violence in the Post-Reconstruction U.S. South | American Political Science Review | Cambridge Core

Political Symbols and Social Order: Confederate Monuments and Performative Violence in the Post-Reconstruction U.S. South

www.cambridge.org

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Laia Balcells @laiabalcells.bsky.social · 1d

Scary.

Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 1d

Someone should start asking why we’re hearing and seeing Stephen Miller so much all of a sudden.

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G Elliott Morris @gelliottmorris.com · 2d

at this point you have to acknowledge that there is no way that these guys don't try to mess with the 2026 midterms. there is absolutely no respect for the legitimacy of the opposition

Blue Georgia @bluegeorgia.bsky.social · 2d

Stephen Miller: "Eventually elections don’t carry the day because violence beats votes… When we see a muscular response from the federal government, it’s because we’re not going to let violence beat votes."

Is he implying federal intervention determines political legitimacy, not ballots or courts?

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Andrea Chalupa @andreachalupa.bsky.social · 2d

Psychiatrists call for RFK Jr. to be replaced as health secretary
www.npr.org/sections/sho...

Psychiatrists call for RFK Jr. to be replaced as health secretary

Two groups are calling for new leadership at HHS after Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s actions on substance abuse treatment and mental health medications, among other issues.

www.npr.org

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Senator Tammy Baldwin @baldwin.senate.gov · 3d

There it is.

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Gabe Ortíz @tusk81.bsky.social · 3d

I’m just going to keep repeating that undocumented immigrant workers actually _help subsidize federal programs for everybody else_.

In 2022 alone, they paid $25.7 billion into Social Security and $6.4 billion into Medicare—both programs they can’t access due to their legal status👇🏽

Gabe Ortíz @tusk81.bsky.social · 3d

Oh so the guy who made up gross lies about immigrants STEALING AND EATING PETS has more thoughts about immigrants? I’m sure he’s totally telling the truth this time.

open.substack.com/pub/americas...

They’re Lying, Dividing, And Distracting. Don’t Believe The GOP’s Shutdown Hype

“This isn’t about health care for undocumented immigrants—that’s already against the law," said Sen. Mark Warner. "It’s about the fact that Republicans are intentionally skyrocketing your premiums.”

open.substack.com

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Sara Mitchell @sbmitche.bsky.social · 3d

www.bbc.com/news/article...

Before and after images show glaciers vanishing before our eyes

They are melting like never seen before, changing landscapes around the world beyond recognition.

www.bbc.com

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David Darmofal @daviddarmofal.bsky.social · 3d

Gosh, maybe if these toxic know-it-all bros had taken the time to educate themselves on Trump & his positions before they endorsed him, this wouldn’t be happening now.

David Darmofal @daviddarmofal.bsky.social · 3d

Pod man out: Trump's support with influential podcasters is waning
www.nbcnews.com/politics/don...

Pod man out: Trump's support with influential podcasters is waning

Some of the podcasters who hosted Trump ahead of last year's election are breaking with him now on key issues like deportations and the war in Gaza.

www.nbcnews.com

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Adam Harris @adamhsays.com · 4d

“The administration is inviting universities to voluntarily put on a yoke and hand it the keys.“

From @kevincarey1.bsky.social: www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

A Deal That Would End Universities’ Independence

The free-speech provisions of the so-called compact are an exercise in contradiction.

www.theatlantic.com

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jenn m. jackson @jennmjacksonphd.bsky.social · 4d

The Vice President of the United States used his social media page to tell Joy Reid, a private citizen with no connection to the government, that she should express "gratitude" for how this country has treated her.

Black women remain the most consistent targets in all of this.

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Berna Devezer @devezer.bsky.social · 5d

Not everything is something. Some things are nothing. Some things are not a thing.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

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Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 5d

As a kid, I got into politics partly to do my bit fighting the Soviet Union.

Now we have a president who wants to turn us into a country that mimics the Soviet Union.

www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

Treasury Department considers minting a $1 Trump coin

The draft design of the coin, which was overseen by the Office of the U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach, features Trump’s profile on one side of the coin.

www.politico.com

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Guy Grossman @guygrossman.bsky.social · 5d

Even if he manages to bring about the end of the war in Gaza, he can’t be worthy of the Noble prize because he declared war on half his own people.

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Adam Rose @adamrose.bsky.social · 5d

How bad are tariffs going?

I paid for $32 of shaving cream from Canada. Unique stuff I’ve used for years, nothing like it in US. Small family business.

UPS guy came to my door today with box and said I have to pay additional $120 before he can hand it to me.

That makes it 5x more expensive!!! 🤯

Screenshot of message from UPS:

Hi Adam,
All import fees must be paid prior to delivery.
Save time - prepay online for your FREIGHTCOM shipment. If import fees are not paid before delivery, an additional surcharge will be applied.
Total Amount Due
119.20 USD
Additional charges may have been applied based on recent tariff policy changes.
Pay Now ›

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Killian Clarke @kbclarke.bsky.social · 5d

There's a book launch at Georgetown on October 30, hosted by @mortaracenter.bsky.social and with my fantastic colleague @laiabalcells.bsky.social as discussant. If you’re in the DC area, please consider joining!

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Scott Shapiro @scottjshapiro.bsky.social · 5d

Democrats should run on one promise: release the Epstein files. They’d crush.

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Laia Balcells @laiabalcells.bsky.social · 6d

Good morning. Starting the day overhearing two American business men at a US airport: "This whole tariffs issue is nonsense. Just look at the EO. It does not make any sense. They are undermining the backbone of American economic growth".

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Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 7d

Jane Goodall, ethologist and conservationist, has died. She was 91

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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 7d

Sorry we had to cancel your cancer treatment, but the Secretary of Defense had to fly all the generals in so he could call them fat.

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Joshua Holland @joshuaholland.bsky.social · 7d

'The question is, why did Donald Trump shut down the government? He says he doesn't need Congress's permission to spend taxpayer money as he wants. He says he doesn't have to follow spending laws. So why doesn't he just order the Treasury to keep everything running? He's the boss, right?'

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Joshua Holland @joshuaholland.bsky.social · 7d

Someone on FB urged me to "GPT a recipe" and I immediately unfriended him.

Just be normal, dude.

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