Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Michael Kevane

@mkevane.com

1.8K followers 610 following 1.7K posts

Economics professor, Santa Clara University. Political economy of Burkina Faso, Sudan, and Puerto Rico, university governance, and housing issues in San José, CA. Posts here are strictly personal opinion. Also, libraries and reading: www.favl.org

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Michael Kevane @mkevane.com · Dec 2

Proud the FAVL partner in Burkina Faso distributed 1,520 illustrated, locally produced books to 152 students in Maro, Tuy Province. The books cost about $.75 each, so this is about $1200 to produce and distribute. Or $7 per child to get 10 books to read. favl.org/2024/12/02/d...

Distribution de 1,500 livres aux élèves du CEG de Maro

L’association des Amis des Bibliothèques de Villages du Burkina Faso/ABVBF a distribué gratuitement ce 27 novembre 2024, des livres produits au centre multimédia de Houndé/CMH aux élèves du collège…

favl.org

1 1 10

Reposted by Michael Kevane

Jameel Jaffer @jameeljaffer.bsky.social · 2d

It's a pretty big deal that the NYC Bar Association--one of the most prominent and respected bar associations in the country--is accusing the President of ordering the "unlawful summary execution," i.e. murder--of civilians in violation of US and international law. www.nycbar.org/press-releas...

310 6.8K 18K

Michael Kevane @mkevane.com · 22h

Pranab Bardhan on politics and populism... "When I first Came to the US two Political Issues Unexpectedly Disturbed Me" pranabbardhan.substack.com/p/when-i-fir...

Reposted by Michael Kevane

Goldy @goldy.horsesass.org · 2d

Hey, @governorferguson.bsky.social, a show of solidarity with CA and IL but vowing the same?

Heather Cherone @heathercherone.bsky.social · 2d

Pritzker is also furious: “Should National Governors Association leadership choose to remain silent, Illinois will have no choice but to withdraw from the organization.”

Gov. JB Pritzker’s letter to the National Governors Association

3 9 40

Reposted by Michael Kevane

Kathleen Bush-Joseph @kathleenbush.bsky.social · 2d

The number of international students arriving in the US in Augugst fell 19% this year compared with last year, the largest decline on record outside the pandemic

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Nearly 20 Percent Fewer International Students Traveled to the U.S. in August

The data shows the steepest decline in August international student arrivals since the pandemic.

www.nytimes.com

2 8 17

Reposted by Michael Kevane

Charles Onyango-Obbo @cobbo3.bsky.social · 2d

President Samia Suluhu Hassan has ushered in a new era of authoritarianism, and in key ways more autocratic than her predecessor Magufuli. She has crossed autocratic thresholds that haven’t been breached since Tanzania’s transition to multipartyism in 1992.

Tanzania’s Samia Hassan has ushered in a new era of authoritarianism: here’s how

President Samia Hassan is relying on repressive tactics to eliminate her most significant competitors from the 2025 presidential race.

theconversation.com

3 8

Reposted by Michael Kevane

Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 3d

Bad Bunny responds to his Super Bowl critics in Spanish, and then English: “And, if you didn’t understand know what I just said, you have four months to learn!”

200 2.2K 10K

Reposted by Michael Kevane

Helen Day @lbflyawayhome.bsky.social · 3d

“A full harvest moon is rising, though it is still only twilight”

Artist: CF Tunnicliffe
Writer: EL GrantWatson

A barn owl is perched on a wall at dusk. A full moon has risen in the still blue sky above a small village.

4 48 300

Michael Kevane @mkevane.com · 3d

This point seems so obviously true based on the Bad Bunny rhetoric from Kristi Noem etc. You "look" Latino, you speak Spanish? For the Trump administration, you're a second-class citizen.

Will Stancil @whstancil.bsky.social · 3d

I wish Dems would PLAY INTO IT: highlight the abuses, describe what Trump’s doing as specifically a war against Latinos, and demand protections for Latinos in the law and Constitution. It’s all upside - it shreds Trump’s coalition and it’s a powerful vehicle for resistance

Rude Law Dog @esghound.com · 3d

Latino guys I talk to who are conservative coded: guys in well paying blue collar work, rosary on the rear view mirror guys, guys who hate communism and say the Dems are too extreme left etc.... they are almost all disgusted and furious about this shit.

Michael Kevane @mkevane.com · 3d

Biden top assistant last year spoke at my university: "Susie Wiles is a true professional," she said. I'm sorry, but anyone who stands next to Donald Trump while he rants is exactly the opposite of a professional.

FactPost @factpostnews.bsky.social · 3d

Trump opens the door to repealing the ACA:

"It's not working. Obamacare has been a disaster for the people."

Reposted by Michael Kevane

Senator Ron Wyden @wyden.senate.gov · 3d

They’re using American tax dollars to fund infrastructure in Argentina because that’s where they’re all going to flee when we kick them out of office

Ryan Grim @ryangrim.bsky.social · 7d

After announcing a $20 billion bailout of Argentina, the White House now says it's pausing $18 billion in funding for NYC infrastructure projects

Russ Vought would love nothing more than to tear this country down to its studs

660 4.2K 14K

Reposted by Michael Kevane

Will Stancil @whstancil.bsky.social · 4d

Oh, for sure. Miller has pretty clearly spent 20 years of his life giving speeches in the mirror where he dissolves the Reichstag and calls for the opposition to be rounded up and shot, he's in the driver's seat right now, and he thinks he can go full Goebbels. Good odds it backfires horrifically

Mike 🇺🇸🇺🇦 @notkissinger.bsky.social · 4d

I’d say there is like >10% chance that Miller takes down himself, Trump, and the entire GOP as a party by attempting a fascism when the public hates it.

11 48 460

Reposted by Michael Kevane

Kelsey Atherton @atherton.bsky.social · 3d

Stephen Miller is screaming on
X that his feeling of their being an insurrection in Oregon is more important than the obvious truth, asserted by judge, that there's nothing of the sort. He can keep trying to force reality to bend to his moods (& SCOTUS will help) but at some point people will balk.

12 88 720

Reposted by Michael Kevane

Flying Mezerkis @bananapantz.bsky.social · 3d

Yes. Miller can’t do this. Yes. He will be stopped. Yes. This isn’t a reason for all of us to give up hope.

But it’s an absolute 7 alarm fire that we are at a point where this can be said by COS and not a single GOP, elite or media person will point out how batshit it is.

Maybe Luttig and Cato.

Brandon Friedman @brandonfriedman.bsky.social · 4d

Everyone is trying to have a normal Saturday night and the president's top advisor is on X announcing that civil war is necessary

@StephenM on X: Legal insurrection. The President is the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces, not an Oregon judge. Portland and Oregon law enforcement, at the direction of local leaders, have refused to aid ICE officers facing relentless terrorist assault and threats to life. (There are more local law enforcement officers in Oregon than there are guns and badges in the FBI nationwide). This is an organized terrorist attack on the federal government and its officers, and the deployment of troops is an absolute necessity to defend our personnel, our laws, our government, public order and the Republic itself.

6 46 220

Reposted by Michael Kevane

Sipho Phiri 🇿🇲 @siphophiri.bsky.social · 4d

HH is good with traditional leaders . Here he is with Paramount Chief Charles of the English tribe.

This has been widely viewed on Zed-X witj amusement & surprise, largely bc Africans & Europeans alike do not view the European monarchies as tribal. Phrasing it this way has been a wake up call

President Hakainde Hichilema with Paramount Chief Charles

2 6

Reposted by Michael Kevane

Prof Sam Illingworth @samillingworth.com · 4d

❄️ A glacier-free Sierra Nevada is unprecedented

New evidence shows that glaciers in California’s Sierra Nevada disappearance would be the first in recorded geological time.

🔗 doi.org/10.1126/scia...

#SciComm #ClimateCrisis 🧪

Glaciers in California’s Sierra Nevada are likely disappearing for the first time in the Holocene

The projected loss of glaciers in California’s Sierra Nevada is likely unprecedented in at least the past 30,000 years.

doi.org

6 77 160

Reposted by Michael Kevane

JW Mason @jwmason.bsky.social · 4d

I turned my thread on Ai from earlier this eevning into a blogpost. jwmason.org/slackwire/ac...

Actual Intelligence – J. W. Mason

jwmason.org

3 9 38

Michael Kevane @mkevane.com · 4d

Nice framing!

Reposted by Michael Kevane

southpaw @nycsouthpaw.bsky.social · 5d

Even the grandchildren are using public property to run little grifts

Lynn Sacco @urbanexile.bsky.social · 7d

Grifter merit.

www.wsj.com/style/fashio...

Meet the 18-Year-Old Trump Scion Selling Sweatshirts From the White House Lawn

Kai Trump launched a line of monogrammed $130 pullovers last week, making her the latest family member to trade on their association with the president.

www.wsj.com

61 200 1.1K

Reposted by Michael Kevane

Mrs Dalloway in Parenthesis @dallowayaside.bsky.social · 5d

(and he had left her, Peter Walsh remembered, without a word in the drawing-room that night when Clarissa had asked him to come boating)

Reposted by Michael Kevane

Jonathan Cohn @jonathancohn.bsky.social · 5d

Intentionally murdering civilians is a war crime.

www.cnn.com/2025/10/03/p...

US strikes another boat off Venezuela coast killing four, Defense Secretary announces | CNN Politics

The US military carried out another strike on a boat operating in the Caribbean officials deemed to be a “narco-trafficking vessel” on Friday morning, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced in a ...

www.cnn.com

3 29 74

Reposted by Michael Kevane

Tim Onion @bencollins.bsky.social · 5d

I am just so fucking proud of her.

220 3.5K 15K

Michael Kevane @mkevane.com · 5d

Be interesting to see your list of “what it can do”!

Michael Kevane @mkevane.com · 5d

I think railroads better sector to use to make comparisons and draw lessons from than tulips in this case?

Reposted by Michael Kevane

Ben Barclay @benbarclay.bsky.social · 5d

What remains of the ancient Iberian oppidum, and later Roman town, of Basti. The Muslims moved the settlement to nearby Baza.

In the necropolis they found the 5th century BC Dama de Baza, one of the most important archaeological finds from the Iberian period.

2 1 12

Reposted by Michael Kevane

Chris Hayes @chrislhayes.bsky.social · 5d

According to eyewitnesses, armed ICE agents dragged kids out of their beds in the middle of the night, zip tied them and put them in rented vans while raiding an * entire apartment building* on the South Side of Chicago.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOXO...

‘F--- them kids’: ICE agents drag children out of bed, ransack Chicago building

YouTube video by MSNBC

www.youtube.com

1.2K 7.2K 14K