Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Mark Krotov @markkrotov.bsky.social · Aug 5

An honor to review the new NYC subway map for the mighty @nyreviewofarch.bsky.social!

New York Review of Architecture @nyreviewofarch.bsky.social · Aug 4

markkrotov.bsky.social‬ has tunnel vision.nyra.nyc/articles/tra...es

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New York Review of Architecture @nyreviewofarch.bsky.social · Aug 4

markkrotov.bsky.social‬ has tunnel vision.nyra.nyc/articles/tra...es

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Mark Krotov @markkrotov.bsky.social · Jul 28

@shaabiranks.bsky.social, March 2024: "The aim of this strategy is to achieve by starvation what could not be achieved by military force." www.nplusonemag.com/online-only/...

Aid Wars | Dylan Saba

As Israel’s ground operation in Gaza nears its close, the next major struggle is coming into view. The battle over the provision of essential humanitarian aid, already so brutal over the past few mont...

www.nplusonemag.com

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Democrats @democrats.org · Jul 18

Aerial view of the White House with multiple red map pointer icons above it.

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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez @aoc.bsky.social · Jul 3

I don’t think anyone is prepared for what they just did w/ ICE.

This is not a simple budget increase. It is an explosion - making ICE bigger than the FBI, US Bureau of Prisons, DEA,& others combined.

It is setting up to make what’s happening now look like child’s play. And people are disappearing.

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Nick Kapur @nickkapur.bsky.social · Jul 2

It's hard to avoid recalling this passage from the English historian Tony Judt:

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Mark Krotov @markkrotov.bsky.social · Jul 3

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

120. Upon arrival at CECOT, the detainees were greeted by a prison official who stated, “Welcome to CECOT. Whoever enters here doesn’t leave.” Plaintiff Abrego Garcia was then forced to strip, issued prison clothing, and subjected to physical abuse including being kicked in
the legs with boots and struck on his head and arms to make him change clothes faster. His head was shaved with a zero razor, and he was frog-marched to cell 15, being struck with wooden batons along the way. By the following day, Plaintiff Abrego Garcia had visible bruises and lumps all over his body.
121. In Cell 15, Plaintiff Abrego Garcia and 20 other Salvadorans were forced to kneel from approximately 9:00 PM to 6:00 AM, with guards striking anyone who fell from exhaustion. During this time, Plaintiff Abrego Garcia was denied bathroom access and soiled himself. The
detainees were confined to metal bunks with no mattresses in an overcrowded cell with no windows, bright lights that remained on 24 hours a day, and minimal access to sanitation.

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Melissa Gira Grant @melissagiragrant.com · Jul 2

I wrote about the day the president attended the opening of an American concentration camp:

The Grand Opening of an American Concentration Camp

The Republicans are proudly calling it “Alligator Alcatraz.” Let’s call it what it is.

newrepublic.com

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Mark Krotov @markkrotov.bsky.social · Jul 1

Just some lighthearted jokes on the way to the concentration camp approval bill

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David Dayen @ddayen.bsky.social · Jun 29

Yuriana Julia Pelaez Calderon, an organizer with the Los Angeles-based Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, was picked up by men in an unmarked car last Wednesday, and nobody knows where she is. She made a phone call late Friday and the information she gave is chilling:

Juli was able to make a phone call late Friday and told her family that:

She is in a warehouse, but she does not know the location

She believes that the people who picked her up are bounty hunters

There are many others being held where she is being held.

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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · Jun 29

this is the level of funding where all the possibilities for American politics that have been described as hyperbolic over the past decades - the comparisons to Nazi Germany and other nightmares of the 20th century - become logistically possible and politically likely

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · Jun 28

If the GOP reconciliation bill passes, ICE gets through FY2029:

- $45 billion for detention, on top of the current annual budget of $3.4 billion
- $14.4 billion for transportation and removal, on top of the current annual budget of $750 million
- $8 billion for hiring/retention
- Billions more.

Jon Cooper @joncooper-us.bsky.social · Jun 28

‼️‼️

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Dylan Williams @dylanwilliams.bsky.social · Jun 27

The difference between this and Nazi propaganda against Jews is that this is AI-generated.

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surlyurbanist.bsky.social @surlyurbanist.bsky.social · Jun 27

Legit CQB role playing shit…no need to blow these doors and go in there that heavy…these cats watch “Sicario” on loop and now get to do it in real time

Christopher Webb @cwebbonline.com · Jun 27

Damn‼️ Federal agents blew a door off for this?

Federal agents blasted their way into an LA home where Jenny Ramirez lives with her boyfriend and two kids.

She heard the blast while checking on her 6-year-old, with her 1-year-old in her arms.

Ramirez says everyone in the home is a U.S. citizen.
🧵

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Siddhartha Mitter @siddharthamitter.bsky.social · Jun 27

"inner-city rats"

Robin Marty @robinmarty.com · Jun 27

“[These] inner-city rats, they live off the federal government. And that’s one reason we’re $37 trillion in debt. And it’s time we find these rats and we send them back home, that are living off the American taxpayers, that are working very hard every week to pay taxes.” www.al.com/politics/202...

Tuberville says ‘inner city rats’ live off the American taxpayers: Trump should send them ‘back home’

"These inner city rats, they live on the federal government," Tuberville said in the interview.

www.al.com

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Mark Krotov @markkrotov.bsky.social · Jun 26

"His campaign has advocated, he said, ’with no apology,’ on behalf of a particular New York, a city where hours and commutes are long, paychecks stretched, and housing precarious.” Beautiful @cgvanderburg.bsky.social piece about the Mamdani moment and the work it took to get us here.

A Knock at the Door | Colin Vanderburg

I think of the people I met on canvasses. The older Polish woman in Greenpoint who took a thick stack of Zohran flyers to give out to all her friends. The hijabi Indian American mother and daughter wh...

www.nplusonemag.com

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Rick Perlstein @rickperlstein.bsky.social · Jun 26

Fantastic reported essay about what a public acclimated into fascism looks like on the ground.

www.nplusonemag.com/online-only/...

Two Days Talking to People Looking for Jobs at ICE | Yanis Varoufuckice

This is a disgusting country, I thought, irredeemable visually, psychically, morally, and ethically, and whatever is likable about our people’s warm patter does not in any way forgive what we have don...

www.nplusonemag.com

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Jacob Bacharach @jacobbacharach.bsky.social · Jun 25

I wrote a sonnet about Jonathan Chait's hypothetical vote.

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ryan cooper @ryanlcooper.com · Jun 23

ICE has imprisoned the wife of a Marine veteran who was still breastfeeding a 3-month-old baby because her *mother* failed to attend a hearing in 2018 apnews.com/article/ice-...

ICE detains Marine Corps veteran's wife who was still breastfeeding their baby

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers detained the wife of a Marine Corps veteran in Louisiana during a routine immigration appointment in New Orleans.

apnews.com

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Melissa Gira Grant @melissagiragrant.com · Jun 23

once conspiracy theories about “FEMA camps” for mass internment flourished on the far right, and now—they’re going for it?

Hamed Aleaziz @haleaziz.bsky.social · Jun 23

Scoop: Florida is building a detention facility for migrants nicknamed “Alligator Alcatraz,” in the Everglades designed to help the Trump administration's immigration crackdown.

DHS will help pay for the detention facility with money from FEMA.

www.nytimes.com/2025/06/23/u...

Florida to Build ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ Detention Center for Migrants in Everglades

www.nytimes.com

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Mark Krotov @markkrotov.bsky.social · Jun 23

"Trump’s reliance on ICE underscores a transformation toward a domestic politics of domination that mirrors his administration’s lawlessness abroad." Excellent piece by @shaabiranks.bsky.social that connects the dots between the attack on Iran and ICE fascism at home.

Wave of Domination | Dylan Saba

The Trump Administration’s reliance on ICE underscores a transformation toward a domestic politics of domination that mirrors its lawlessness abroad. Just as Trump felt no obligation toward any kind o...

www.nplusonemag.com

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n+1 @nplusonemag.com · Jun 23

“Increasingly, sovereignty appears to be a privilege limited by the caprices of the world hegemon.” New online: @shaabiranks.bsky.social on the Iran attack and the politics of domination abroad and at home.

Wave of Domination | Dylan Saba

The Trump Administration’s reliance on ICE underscores a transformation toward a domestic politics of domination that mirrors its lawlessness abroad. Just as Trump felt no obligation toward any kind o...

www.nplusonemag.com

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mtsw @mtsw.bsky.social · Jun 23

It's one of those things like "the velvet underground only sold 6,000 records but everyone who bought it started their own band" but for everyone who answered "yes" to this being given a national newspaper column

Polling USA @usapolling.bsky.social · Jun 23

"Do you want America to be at war with Iran?"

No: 85%
Yes: 5%

YouGov / June 22, 2025

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Mark Krotov @markkrotov.bsky.social · Jun 22

Wish I could vote for him a second time

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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · Jun 22

Two answers to “how could X let this happen” and they boil down to 1) greed and avarice on one hand and 2) political violence on the other.

American authoritarianism will be the dumbest iteration imaginable — memes, masks — but no less horrible.

Lisa Fazio @lkfazio.bsky.social · Jun 22

"In other words, maybe the Gestapo won’t be jackbooted thugs but keyboard warriors. And maybe the keyboard warriors are worse."

@tressiemcphd.bsky.social making the point that Trump already has a secret police force committing political violence among his followers

www.nytimes.com/2025/06/22/o...

Opinion | Political Violence Is Here, and It’s Working

www.nytimes.com

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Tom Scocca @tomscocca.bsky.social · Jun 22

'NOW IS THE TIME FOR PEACE!"

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