Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Luca Trenta @lucatrenta.bsky.social · 11h

Today in entirely predictable developments: domestic authoritarian behaves like an authoritarian internationally.

Dr Emma L Briant 🇬🇧 in 🇺🇸 @emmalbriant.bsky.social · 12h

Russian asylum-seekers are being deported en masse to their country of origin, where many are imprisoned upon arrival due to their involvement in opposition and anti-war campaigning foreignpolicy.com/2025/10/08/t...

Trump Is Supporting Transnational Repression

Instead of sheltering pro-democracy dissidents, America is now returning them for arrest.

foreignpolicy.com

1 3

Luca Trenta @lucatrenta.bsky.social · 11h

This is one of the real risks. The normalisation of the US military in civilian life will have implications for the political life of teh country, including elections.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 12h

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"

6 38

Reposted by Luca Trenta

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 12h

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"

440 5.3K 15K

Luca Trenta @lucatrenta.bsky.social · 23h

Thank you. Will have a look.

Luca Trenta @lucatrenta.bsky.social · 1d

Once again "imminence." Once again, an unaccountable expansion of Presidential power to deploy force. As I told @npr.org last week, this has the potential to be another forever war, any group can end up being treated in the same manner.

Brian Finucane @bcfinucane.bsky.social · 2d

The Senate Judiciary Committee needs to get a copy of this OLC memo publicly released.

www.cnn.com/2025/10/06/p...

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

2 4

Luca Trenta @lucatrenta.bsky.social · 1d

Literally the same thing happened in Trump 1 and yet I would be curious to see how these areas voted.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/07/u...

Trump to Unveil Farmer Aid as China Shuns U.S. Crops

www.nytimes.com

3

Luca Trenta @lucatrenta.bsky.social · 1d

Has anyone got access to a digital copy if this?

books.google.com/books/about/...

Soviet Active Measures

books.google.com

1 1 2

Luca Trenta @lucatrenta.bsky.social · 1d

This. In no way should we legitimate the rhetoric and policies of the Trump administration in this area (or any other for that matter).

Edward Luce @edwardluce.bsky.social · 1d

"None — repeat none — of America’s fentanyl has been found to originate from Venezuela. Yet Trump and Pete Hegseth, his compulsively strutting “secretary of war”, insist that the country is fuelling America’s opioid epidemic." Me on Trump's wag the dog script. www.ft.com/content/5b3e...

Venezuela is Trump’s useful enemy

Despite the president’s claims, the South American country is nowhere close to being the US’s biggest drug supplier

www.ft.com

1 1 6

Luca Trenta @lucatrenta.bsky.social · 1d

Tragic story. The call for compassion is the right one. But one should not misrepresent the terms of the debate. No one is giving “moral carte blanche” to Hamas or Islamic Jihad. If anything the Netanyahu government is receiving such preferential treatment.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Two years after 7 October and the kidnap of my parents, hate is in fashion. For all our sakes, we need compassion | Sharone Lifschitz

So many were killed – yet on her release, my mother said ‘shalom’ to her captors. Let’s learn from that moment of grace, says Sharone Lifschitz, London-based film-maker and academic

www.theguardian.com

1

Luca Trenta @lucatrenta.bsky.social · 1d

2

Reposted by Luca Trenta

Alex Dukalskis @alexdukalskis.bsky.social · 1d

Authoritarians in the Academy: How the Internationalization of Higher Education and Borderless Censorship Threaten Free Speech

by @sarahemclaugh.bsky.social via @jhuartssciences.bsky.social press (2025)

#AutumnReading

Authoritarians in the Academy

How the Internationalization of Higher Education and Borderless Censorship Threaten Free Speech

www.press.jhu.edu

5 11

Luca Trenta @lucatrenta.bsky.social · 1d

Surely constructivism is the flat cap guy.

1 3

Luca Trenta @lucatrenta.bsky.social · 2d

One for the intelligence accountability crowd. ‘C.I.A. Deputy Director Has Replaced Agency’s Top Legal Official With Himself.’ www.nytimes.com/2025/10/06/u...

C.I.A. Deputy Director Has Replaced Agency’s Top Legal Official With Himself

www.nytimes.com

2 3 14

Luca Trenta @lucatrenta.bsky.social · 2d

It’s the right word for what’s happening EVERYWHERE.

John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 2d

Delighted that Cory is having a moment with "Enshittification," because it's an accurate word for what's happening in tech and he's the right person to describe it.

(Gift link)

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/05/b...

A Powerhouse Writer Found One Word to Change the Debate About Tech

www.nytimes.com

1 3 7

Luca Trenta @lucatrenta.bsky.social · 4d

This was a very good Saturday night watch. Good to revisit a world in which Nazis are bad and are not "doing politics the right way." www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zQj...

Number 24 - Official Trailer | Netflix

YouTube video by MVSRS

www.youtube.com

2 1 7

Luca Trenta @lucatrenta.bsky.social · 4d

@teamlabouruk.bsky.social should be pushing this daily. UKIP and now Reform are tools of Russia’s propaganda and active measures.

Peter Jukes @peterjukes.bsky.social · 4d

🔴NEW🔴

Thread 🧵

@bylinetimes.bsky.social can now reveal that, during the crucial period when convicted Reform leader Nathan Gill was most active, working directly with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most senior ally in Ukraine, he was also one of Nigel Farage’s closest confidantes 1/12

‘Thick as Thieves’: Nathan Gill and Nigel Farage’s Putin Problem

Far from being distant from the Reform UK Leader, insiders told Byline Times that the former MEP convicted of bribery was one of Farage’s closest aides, while we reveal how Gill worked on the Kremlin’...

bylinetimes.com

1 3

Reposted by Luca Trenta

Peter Jukes @peterjukes.bsky.social · 4d

🔴NEW🔴

Thread 🧵

@bylinetimes.bsky.social can now reveal that, during the crucial period when convicted Reform leader Nathan Gill was most active, working directly with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most senior ally in Ukraine, he was also one of Nigel Farage’s closest confidantes 1/12

‘Thick as Thieves’: Nathan Gill and Nigel Farage’s Putin Problem

Far from being distant from the Reform UK Leader, insiders told Byline Times that the former MEP convicted of bribery was one of Farage’s closest aides, while we reveal how Gill worked on the Kremlin’...

bylinetimes.com

50 1.1K 1.7K

Luca Trenta @lucatrenta.bsky.social · 4d

Useful idiots, witting grifters? All of the above?

1 4

Luca Trenta @lucatrenta.bsky.social · 5d

@mm-corriere-bot.bsky.social ci regala questa chicca. In un articolo, sui droni sopra l’areoporto di Monaco - per cui si sospetta mano Russa - ci mostra questo drone.

2

Luca Trenta @lucatrenta.bsky.social · 6d

A good overview by Ryan Lucas at @npr.org on the Trump administration's violence against cartels, with comments from myself and other experts. www.npr.org/2025/09/30/g...

With 'drug boat' strikes, Trump leans into war on terror tactic against cartels

The administration's approach to drug cartels relies — at least in part — on a blueprint for military strikes that mirror those waged during the global war on terrorism after the Sept. 11, 2001 attack...

www.npr.org

1

Reposted by Luca Trenta

Philip Gourevitch @pgourevitch.bsky.social · 9d

can never forget that Fred Trump spent his later years totally gaga but surrounded by a gaggle of senility-denial-enablers who drove him to a make believe office where a make believe secretary had him sign make believe papers—which sounds cute til you see the sequel & the secretary is Stephen Miller

Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 9d

Trump’s increasingly bizarre behavior can no longer be attributed to a calculated “strategy.”

Why isn’t the media reporting on Trump’s growing dementia?

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/why-isnt-the-media-reporting-on-trumps-d1e

Why isn’t the media reporting on Trump’s growing dementia?

Trump’s increasingly bizarre behavior can no longer be attributed to a calculated “strategy.”

robertreich.substack.com

120 1.8K 4.7K

Reposted by Luca Trenta

Governor JB Pritzker @govpritzker.illinois.gov · 8d

Let’s be clear: Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans forced a government shutdown tonight.

Rather than address the health care crisis that they created just earlier this year, they refuse to come to the table and do their jobs.

What happened to the art of the deal?

240 2K 8.4K

Luca Trenta @lucatrenta.bsky.social · 7d

Was @theguardian.com always this bad? How can you frame the story this way?!

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

US government shuts down after Democrats refuse to back Republican funding plan

First shutdown in nearly seven years as Republicans accused of ‘risking America’s healthcare’ in spending bill

www.theguardian.com

2 3

Luca Trenta @lucatrenta.bsky.social · 8d

If your topic has to do with intelligence, covert action, or state-sponsored assassinations, get in touch with me via email

SwanseaUni_PPIR @swanseaunippir.bsky.social · 8d

🚨 Fully Funded PhD at Swansea 🚨

Politics & IR | A variety of topics within the department | Includes 3-month placement.

🗓 Apply by 11 Dec 2025 | Start Oct 2026
🌍 UK + international applicants welcome
Details 👉 www.swansea.ac.uk/postgraduate...

This link will take you to a page that’s not on LinkedIn

lnkd.in

1

Reposted by Luca Trenta

Christy Quirk @cequirk.bsky.social · 9d

Sandu got in front of Russian influence ops before the election. She explained the problem, told citizens what’s at stake and what to look for and appealed to values. Curious the impact of this and how much it contributed to victory. Speech on @moldovamatters.md open.substack.com/pub/moldovam...

President Sandu Live Address to Citizens

September 22, 2025

open.substack.com

6 8