Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Melissa Gira Grant @melissagiragrant.com · 7h

1866 do-over?

Melissa Gira Grant @melissagiragrant.com · 8h

starting to think much of the “how democracies end”/“how autocracies are born” literature could benefit from considering the actual existence of American law enforcement

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Melissa Gira Grant @melissagiragrant.com · 8h

Maybe I’m reacting strongly because this stuff is getting used to tell people in these communities under attack not to “start” violence, or maybe it’s because of it sliding over history…..

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Melissa Gira Grant @melissagiragrant.com · 8h

(And, plenty of people have felt that way about their own local law enforcement, for decades….)

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Melissa Gira Grant @melissagiragrant.com · 8h

What we’re seeing now is not people “[beginning] to view their own government’s security forces as an occupying army”—the federal agents are becoming an occupying army, and the violence is theirs. The violence is already here.

Caleb Crain @calebcrain.bsky.social · 8h

Chilling insight by @barbarafwalter.com: "Once citizens view their own government’s security forces as an occupying army, violence becomes inevitable. Trump’s team knows this… They’re trying to trigger the very unrest that would justify further crackdowns."

via www.nytimes.com/2025/10/07/o...

Screenshot from a NYT article by Thomas Edsall, quoting Barbara Walter of UC-San Diego: "The quickest way to piss people off is to send soldiers into their neighborhoods especially when there’s no reason for them to be there. It’s inherently provocative, and Trump and his team understand this. Research by the political scientist Robert Pape shows that the single most powerful predictor of suicide terrorism is the presence of foreign troops on local soil. People hate, hate, hate that. They hate the humiliation, the powerlessness, the feeling of being occupied.

"Once citizens begin to view their own government’s security forces as an occupying army, violence becomes inevitable. Trump’s team knows this. In fact, that’s the point. They are not trying to restore order; they’re trying to trigger the very unrest that would justify further crackdowns. In the end, violence serves their ultimate end: They want to create the illusion of disorder so they can tighten control and stay in power indefinitely."

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Reposted by Melissa Gira Grant

Barred and Boujee aka Madiba Dennie @audrelawdamercy.bsky.social · 11h

I've written my analysis of today's grim Supreme Court oral argument in the conversion therapy case:

As far as the Court's concerned, imaginary medical uncertainty gives states the authority to hurt queer kids, and takes away states' authority to protect them

ballsandstrikes.org/scotus/chile...

The Conservative Justices Don't Trust Any Science That Supports LGBTQ Kids

States that want to facilitate discrimination against LGBTQ people have the Court's blessing. States that want to protect LGBTQ people from discrimination do not.

ballsandstrikes.org

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Melissa Gira Grant @melissagiragrant.com · 8h

for days whenever I’ve seen shots of this guy all I can think of is

Yakuza Apocalypse Frog Theme Song

YouTube video by Comsuon Daihiep

youtu.be

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Melissa Gira Grant @melissagiragrant.com · 8h

Incredible (via www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...)

A group of apparent armed agents assemble at the end of a street, as seen from the perspective of a person in inflatable frog costume, their frog’s eyes dominating the foreground. The Ice facility in downtown Portland on Monday. Photograph: Mathieu Lewis-Rolland/AFP/Getty Images

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Jack Jenkins @jackjenkins.me · 9h

Gonna be thinking about this lede for a minute.

(RNS) — Last month, the Rev. David Black stood in front of a Chicago-area U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility and spread his arms wide. Adorned in all black and wearing a clerical collar, the pastor looked up at a group of masked, heavily armed ICE agents on the roof and began to pray.

“I invited them to repentance,” Black, a minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA), said in an interview. “I basically offered an altar call. I invited them to come and receive that salvation, and be part of the kingdom that is coming.”

But when Black began to lower his arms a few seconds later, the agents responded to his spiritual plea by firing pepper balls, or chemical agents that cause eye irritation and respiratory distress, video footage shows. One struck Black in the head, exploding into a puff of white pepper smoke and forcing him to his knees. Fellow demonstrators rushed to his aid, and as the pastor rubbed his face in pain, the agents continued to fire.

“We could hear them laughing,” Black said.

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Melissa Gira Grant @melissagiragrant.com · 12h

photo by one of DHS/Noem's handpicked right-wing media influencers (who have been getting access press have not)

Alex Zielinski @alexzee.bsky.social · 13h

Apropos of nothing, Sec. Kristi Noem is currently praying over Burgerville with Portland ICE officials.

A screenshot of a video of Noem praying at a conference table with other people wearing suits. Fast food bags and water bottles sit on the table.

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Reposted by Melissa Gira Grant

Alex Baumhardt @alexbaumhardt.bsky.social · 15h

DHS police taking down protest signs in preparation for Noem’s arrival. Apparently streamer Benny Johnson will be with her to video but actual press are being kept a block away….

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Reposted by Melissa Gira Grant

Preorder Read This When Things Fall Apart @mskellymhayes.bsky.social · 20h

I support nonviolent action. It's literally what I do. But telling people that allowing themselves to be harmed to demonstrate the character of their enemy will be politically transformative denies the desensitized reality of the present.

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Reposted by Melissa Gira Grant

Preorder Read This When Things Fall Apart @mskellymhayes.bsky.social · 20h

How many videos have you seen of protesters being brutalized? Pretending this imagery still changes the math the way you wish it would is an insult to the people whose bodies you would treat as props. Ghandi's era was more complex than many of you make out. This is not the 60s either. Things change.

Asha Rangappa @asharangappa.bsky.social · 1d

We’re in a moment now where it would be worth people taking three hours to watch Gandhi, particularly the scene of the salt march. There is value to making the brutality of your opponent so plain as day that no one can argue with it. The clarity of that brought down an empire

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Melissa Gira Grant @melissagiragrant.com · 14h

restraining myself from posting this daily, or each time I look at my phone, etc

Corey Atad @coreyatad.com · 9d

a few small beers

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Melissa Gira Grant @melissagiragrant.com · 18h

seriously it is her brand!

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Melissa Gira Grant @melissagiragrant.com · 18h

there is no need to take tactical social movement advice from former fbi agents posting on social media

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Sam Cole @samleecole.bsky.social · 19h

Cops misled journalists about using a powerful surveillance tool to track a woman across state lines because she had an abortion, then tried to cover it up when we found out the truth. Huge story from @jasonkoebler.bsky.social and @josephcox.bsky.social this morning: www.404media.co/police-said-...

Police Said They Surveilled Woman Who Had an Abortion for Her 'Safety.' Court Records Show They Considered Charging Her With a Crime

Court records show that the narrative Flock and a Texas Sheriff's Office has told the public isn't the whole story, and that police were conducting a 'death investigation' into the abortion.

www.404media.co

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Melissa Gira Grant @melissagiragrant.com · 19h

(is there only one getty photo of her? apologies for you having to see it over and over)

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Melissa Gira Grant @melissagiragrant.com · 19h

“CBS in particular—that’s your new company, now—has the oldest audience in primetime TV… It’s normie grandparents, a bunch of whom are planning to appear at the next No Kings rally. I might invoke Edward R. Murrow, but they remember him…They don’t know who you are at all.”

Memo to Bari Weiss Re: CBS News: You’re doomed

Bari Weiss has sold her company, The Free Press, to manage the decline of broadcast news at CBS. How many ways can it go wrong?

www.theverge.com

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Reposted by Melissa Gira Grant

Susan Rinkunas @susanrinkunas.com · 1d

From the people who brought you a fake case in 303 Creative and still got the justices to bulldoze protections for queer people………

Mark Joseph Stern @mjsdc.bsky.social · 1d

I'm sorry but how does this person have standing to challenge Colorado's ban on LGBTQ conversion therapy when she has explicitly disclaimed any desire to change a patient's sexual orientation or gender identity? How is this a real case? slate.com/news-and-pol...

The Supreme Court’s First Blockbuster Case This Term Looks Pretty Fake

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in Chiles v. Salazar, a case that seeks to undo a major triumph of the LGBTQ+ movement.

slate.com

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Melissa Gira Grant @melissagiragrant.com · 1d

a bald man in a blue shirt and red bow tie is saying it is happening again

ALT: a bald man in a blue shirt and red bow tie is saying it is happening again

media.tenor.com

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Melissa Gira Grant @melissagiragrant.com · 1d

In this case, ADF “cited several scholars to support its argument that conversion practices should once again be permitted. Two of those experts, however, told the Guardian that ADF had ‘profoundly’ misrepresented their research, which discussed the ‘psychological damage’ of conversion therapy.’”

Sam Levin @samtlevin.bsky.social · 1d

NEW: Christian legal group Alliance Defending Freedom "deceived" the Supreme Court + "profoundly misrepresented" LGBTQ+ research, according to scholars cited by ADF.

Quoted experts speak out about ADF's "distortions" + "false evidence" in major case, on deck tomorrow, to revive "conversion therapy"

Christian group ‘deceived’ supreme court about LGBTQ+ research, cited scholars say

Exclusive: Experts say Alliance Defending Freedom, arguing to revive conversion therapy, ‘profoundly misrepresented’ their work in case threatening trans and queer youth

www.theguardian.com

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hannah gais @hannahgais.bsky.social · 1d

Identifying public officials isn't "doxing." People have the right to know who is working for their government. Nor, for that matter, is it "radical left-wing terrorism." So it's frustrating to see platforms caving to these bad faith characterizations. www.technologyreview.com/2025/10/06/1...

Another effort to track ICE raids was just taken offline

People over Papers was removed by Padlet, the platform it was built on, yesterday.

www.technologyreview.com

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Melissa Gira Grant @melissagiragrant.com · 1d

I wonder where she is now

Jo Rae Perkins demands martial law to stop 'antifa' from invading towns

YouTube video by Daily Kos

www.youtube.com

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Melissa Gira Grant @melissagiragrant.com · 1d

in the MAGA imaginary, a version of 2020 that never happened never ended

Seth Cotlar @sethcotlar.bsky.social · 1d

In case you’re wondering how grassroots Republican activists in Oregon are metabolizing what’s happening in the state. This person is a coordinator for two long running conservative organizations in the state: The Gathering of the Eagles and the Abigail Adams project.

Oregon Republican League
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Bleiler Donna • 7h • G
Trump is preparing to go after Antifa, waiting for them to make a move. Antifa is preparing for riots in major cities. Since Portland is their headquarters, it seems essential that the National Guard would be in Oregon.
Governor Kotek is in panic mode releasing news every day on her opposition. Portland Police are working with Antifa to criminalize federal agents. "Out in Oregon, the Governor, the mayor and police are all part of Antifa." Shan Davis explains, "Once you understand that Portland police is Antifa, everything else it does and refuses to do suddenly makes sense." If they are part of Antifa, they are part of the insurrection.
Antifa has been hired to create a civil war. Kotek has been telling people to stay calm, all the while she is still promoting Antifa to start a civil war.
[https://rumble.com/embed/v6xoc3g/?
pub=50601&start=2506](https://rumble.com/embed/ v6xoc3g/?pub=50601&start=2506)
2X22 Report Political • Geopolitical
rumble.com
Ep 3745b - [DS] Pushing A Hybrid War, Trump Is Using The Shutdown To Defund The [DS], Timing,...
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