Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Nina Berman

Governor Gavin Newsom @governor.ca.gov · 6d

IF ANY CALIFORNIA UNIVERSITY SIGNS THIS RADICAL AGREEMENT, THEY'LL LOSE BILLIONS IN STATE FUNDING — INCLUDING CAL GRANTS — INSTANTLY.

CALIFORNIA WILL NOT BANKROLL SCHOOLS THAT SELL OUT THEIR STUDENTS, PROFESSORS, RESEARCHERS, AND SURRENDER ACADEMIC FREEDOM.

New York Times: "Trump Administration Asks Colleges to Sign ‘Compact’ to Get Funding Preference."

The White House asked nine top universities to pledge support for President Trump’s agenda to help ensure access to research funding.

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The Dallas Morning News @dallasnews.com · 6d

#BREAKING: Megachurch founder Robert Morris pleaded guilty Thursday to five counts of lewd or indecent acts to a child.

Morris, who founded Gateway Church in Southlake, agreed to a plea deal during a hearing at the Osage County District Court.

Robert Morris pleads guilty to child sex abuse charges

Robert Morris was formally presented with the charges against him — five counts of lewd or indecent acts to a child — at his arraignment in Oklahoma Thursday.

www.dallasnews.com

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Anjali Enjeti @anjalienjeti.bsky.social · 6d

My god.

“Watson said she saw agents dragging residents, including kids, out of the building without any clothes on and into U-Haul vans. Kids were separated from their mothers…’It was heartbreaking to watch…seeing kids coming out buck naked and taken from their mothers, it was horrible.’”

Massive immigration raid on Chicago apartment building leaves residents reeling: 'I feel defeated'

The Department of Homeland Security said federal agents with Border Patrol, the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives arrested 37 people in the raid.

chicago.suntimes.com

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Laura Bassett @lebassett.bsky.social · 15d

More than 1800 detainees are missing after the closure of Alligator Alcatraz. Their families and lawyers can’t find them and they’ve vanished from the ICE database. Feels like this should be a much bigger story www.miamiherald.com/news/local/i...

Hundreds of Alligator Alcatraz detainees drop off the grid after leaving site

As of the end of August, the whereabouts of two-thirds of more than 1,800 men detained at Alligator Alcatraz during the month of July could not be determined by the Miami Herald.

www.miamiherald.com

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The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 19d

ILLINOIS — Trump’s Gestapo violently throws female congressional candidate @KatAbughazaleh to the ground to the ground

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Karen Attiah @karenattiah.bsky.social · 20d

Last night, a judge ordered recently-released Palestinian activist and former @columbiasipa.bsky.social student Mahmoud Khalil deported

Tonight at 6 at Busboys and Poets, I’ll be the first to speak with Khalil since the ruling.

We will talk about Columbia, cancellation, and free speech.

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Meduza in English @meduza.io · 20d

Russians say the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s show feels familiar. Here’s what became of the country’s TV comedy shows that dared to criticize the Putin administration.
meduza.io/en/feature/2...

‘Americans, don’t take this sitting down’ Russians say the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s show feels familiar. Here’s what became of the country’s TV comedy shows that dared to criticize the Kremlin. — Meduza

On Wednesday evening, the American TV network ABC announced that it was indefinitely suspending comedian Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night talk show. The news came just hours after the head of the FCC, the…

meduza.io

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Timothy Snyder @timothysnyder.bsky.social · 21d

On this date in 1939, the USSR invaded Poland in cooperation with its ally, Nazi Germany.
www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/timot...

Bloodlands

From the author of the international bestseller On Tyranny, the definitive history of Hitler’s and Stalin’s politics of mass killi...

www.hachettebookgroup.com

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Blue Georgia @bluegeorgia.bsky.social · 21d

David Frum on Jimmy Kimmel: "This is not cancel culture because it's not culture. It's state repression. It's an order from the government. Here is the script, you must read, if you do not read it, you will be taken off the air."

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Molly Ploofkins @mollyploofkins.bsky.social · 21d

Photo of the day

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Karen Attiah @karenattiah.bsky.social · 23d

Some personal news:

I've been fired from the Washington Post in the aftermath of the Charlie Kirk shooting.

Thread incoming.

substack.com/@karenattiah...

The Washington Post Fired Me — But My Voice Will Not Be Silenced.

I spoke out against hatred and violence in America — and it cost me my job.

substack.com

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Andrea Junker @strandjunker.com · 25d

The fact that Matthew Dowd lost his job for pointing out Charlie Kirk’s hate speech, while Brian Kilmeade openly suggests we should euthanize the homeless and there is zero outrage, shows exactly what is terribly wrong with today’s political mainstream media.

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 25d

Wow.

People fighting for freedom in China, encouraging Americans to "be braver" now.

h/t @samanthaculp.bsky.social

Yaqiu Wang 王亚秋 @yaqiu.bsky.social · 25d

In which I said to Americans: “I just can’t emphasize enough to be braver than you think you can. If you don’t pay the middle price now, you’re gonna pay a huge price. People go to jail, people disappear, people die for the right to speak, now you only need to lose your job.” pen.org/what-oversea...

Propaganda, Isolation, Censorship, and Entertainment: What Overseas Press Know About the Authoritarian Playbook

Anna Nemzer, M. Gessen, and Yaqiu Wang discuss how media falls victim under authoritarianism, and what America should watch out for.

pen.org

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Democracy Now! @democracynow.org · 27d

Trump’s Personal Army? Exec. Order to Create “Quick Reaction Force” Raises Alarm https://www.democracynow.org/2025/9/11/trump_quick_reaction_force_radley_balko

Trump’s Personal Army? Exec. Order to Create “Quick Reaction Force” Raises Alarm

Is President Trump working to build his own personal army? Investigative reporter Radley Balko responds to Trump’s new executive order for a “standing National Guard quick reaction force” that the pre...

www.democracynow.org

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Philip Gourevitch @pgourevitch.bsky.social · Sep 6

Very short step now from broadcasters being required to edit in clips of adoring crowds cheering Trump and big strong men with tears in their eyes falling at Il Douche’s feet saying Sir, thank you.

Ben Rothenberg @benrothenberg.bsky.social · Sep 6

More news breaking at Bounces about Donald Trump's visit to the US Open men's final.

The US Open has sent an email to broadcasters, obtained by Bounces, ordering them to censor any reactions or protests from the crowd to Trump's appearance.

Read more here:

www.benrothenberg.com/p/us-open-do...

U.S. Open Orders Broadcasters to Censor Reactions to Trump

An email obtained by Bounces includes instructions from the U.S. Open on supporting Trump's planned stagecraft during the National Anthem.

www.benrothenberg.com

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Governor JB Pritzker @govpritzker.illinois.gov · Sep 6

The President of the United States is threatening to go to war with an American city.

This is not a joke. This is not normal.

Donald Trump isn't a strongman, he's a scared man. Illinois won’t be intimidated by a wannabe dictator.

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Kat Abughazaleh @katmabu.bsky.social · Sep 6

The President of the United States just essentially declared a war on Chicago because — wait for it! — Black and Brown people live here.

This is not normal. This is not okay. And we are going to fucking fight back.

A TruthSocial post from Donald Trump, featuring an AI generated image of him in front of Chicago burning and under invasion with the words “Chipocalypse Now” near him stylized like the poster for the film Apocalypse Now. The text accompanying the post reads “‘I love the smell of deportations in the morning…’ Chicago about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR 🚁🚁🚁”

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Ben Rothenberg @benrothenberg.bsky.social · Sep 6

More news breaking at Bounces about Donald Trump's visit to the US Open men's final.

The US Open has sent an email to broadcasters, obtained by Bounces, ordering them to censor any reactions or protests from the crowd to Trump's appearance.

Read more here:

www.benrothenberg.com/p/us-open-do...

U.S. Open Orders Broadcasters to Censor Reactions to Trump

An email obtained by Bounces includes instructions from the U.S. Open on supporting Trump's planned stagecraft during the National Anthem.

www.benrothenberg.com

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Mueller, She Wrote @muellershewrote.com · Sep 6

Changing the name of the Department of Defense will cost billions.We could build units for all unhoused veterans. Or give service members a pay raise so 35K active duty members wouldn’t have to rely on food stamps. Or… or… or…

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Jonathan Cohn @jonathancohn.bsky.social · Sep 2

Perfect encapsulation of the Trump administration: The guy suing Harvard for alleged antisemitism is a straight-up Hitler-admiring Nazi.

www.bostonglobe.com/2025/09/02/m...

A DOJ lawyer accused Harvard of ‘indifference to antisemitism.’ As a Harvard undergrad he wrote a paper from Hitler’s perspective. - The Boston Globe

Michael Velchik once also told a peer that "Mein Kampf" was among his favorite recent reads.

www.bostonglobe.com

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Newsweek @newsweek.com · Sep 2

Two lawmakers are backing a bipartisan amendment to let voters decide whether to change the state constitution to ban "secret police."

Oregon moves to ban "secret police" in state

www.newsweek.com

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Nina Berman @ninaber.bsky.social · Sep 2

Now the Times is advocating for federal troops everywhere and it's not even an opinion piece. Shame. Where is the sourcing from DC residents who have been terrorized? This is an outrageously bad piece of journalism

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Preorder Read This When Things Fall Apart @mskellymhayes.bsky.social · Aug 29

Last night, about 60 Chicago activists and organizers gathered to discuss Trump's threatened military occupation of our city. Our convo centered around a worksheet that some friends and I put together this week—a tool that can help us build and strengthen local networks of support and protection.

Mapping Community Defense and Care in Our Neighborhoods

This worksheet can help us prepare for Trump's military interventions at the neighborhood level.

organizingmythoughts.org

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Nina Berman @ninaber.bsky.social · Aug 30

Essential reading

Dan Nexon @dhnexon.bsky.social · Aug 30

🧵 Authoritarianism, Democratization, and Coalition Politics.

The consensus around here is, more or less, that the United States is currently a consolidating authoritarian regime controlled by a mix of reactionary populists and fascists.

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Adrian Streete @profastreete.bsky.social · Aug 29

Job klaxon: full time, permanent lectureship in Liberal Arts at the University of Glasgow: www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DOM506/l...

Lecturer in Liberal Arts (R&T) at University of Glasgow

Discover Lecturer in Liberal Arts (R&T) jobs and more in higher education on jobs.ac.uk. Apply for further details on the top job board.

www.jobs.ac.uk

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