Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Rob Mickey

Brendel @brendelbored.bsky.social · 1d

Football is a waste of time unlike scolding people on a website

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Joey Fishkin @fishkin.bsky.social · 1d

This is the single most shocking part of federalism pivot.

It's one thing to switch from pro-states' rights to pro-federal power. That I sort of expect. But to embrace Jade Helm-style military operations against civilian targets in American states still retains the power to shock.

Houston Chronicle @houstonchronicle.com · 1d

Texas once feared a phantom federal occupation. Now Gov. Abbott’s troops are helping carry it out under Trump. And Houston may be next, writes the Houston Chronicle editorial board. bit.ly/48Q3D5C

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Neil Hillhouse (The Haunting Of) @nstenhouse.bsky.social · 1d

New CBS head Bari Weiss' devotion to reporting on "the world as it actually is" is so great that when confronted with multiple large factual errors in one of her site's articles, she... did nothing to change or correct the article radleybalko.substack.com/p/the-retcon...

Hughes’s response includes a defensive introduction by Weiss, which takes issue with both my criticism of his column and a separate piece I wrote for the Unpopulist that’s more broadly critical of “heterodox” thinkers — the cadre of academics and pundits Weiss once dubbed the “Intellectual Dark Web.” I don’t think there’s much in Weiss’s introduction that merits a response. The Free Press did not publish any corrections or clarifications to Hughes’s original column, which I think really only confirms my point that their vows to cover “the world as it actually is” and to pierce “ideological narratives” ring fairly hollow. They then published a response from Hughes that, as I’ll show here, is just as problematic as his original column.

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Rob Mickey @robmickey.bsky.social · 2d

This (and all of your other posts) are super-helpful, thanks!

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Joey Fishkin @fishkin.bsky.social · 3d

I thought I'd put the administration's proposed "compact" with universities in context, so I wrote the blog post below.

It's especially for journalists covering this story!

Many details about how the compact itself works and why the administration has retreated to this strategy.

Balkinization: The Art of Replacing the Law with the Deal

A group blog on constitutional law, theory, and politics

balkin.blogspot.com

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Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 3d

Judge Immergut is a Republican and a 2019 Trump appointee.

Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 3d

Good news.

Federal judge enjoins Trump administration’s attempt to order federalization and deployment of Oregon National Guard service members to Portland. Denies administration’s request to stay the TRO.

Case No. 3:25-cv-1756-IM

OPINION AND ORDER GRANTING MOTION FOR TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER

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Dan Nexon @dhnexon.bsky.social · 3d

Why are those of us with even passing familiarity with authoritarian consolidation freaking out? Because the answers to a) will Trump's paramilitary forces fire on civilians and b) will elements in the military follow orders to carry out unambiguously illegal extra-judicial murders are both "yes."

Dan Nexon @dhnexon.bsky.social · 3d

Yes. Do not rush to conclusions. But as the story develops, this looks more and more like a targeted attack. Also, once again, DHS has already been caught lying about the incident and cannot be trusted.

unraveled @unraveledpress.com · 3d

ICE reportedly opened fire on rapid responders on the southwest side this afternoon.

There are *very few* details on this available at this time. Treat all rumors with caution until verified.

This Sun-Times article cites a DHS statement that should be treated, as always, with extreme skepticism:

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Governor JB Pritzker @govpritzker.illinois.gov · 3d

This morning, the Trump Administration’s Department of War gave me an ultimatum: call up your troops, or we will. It is absolutely outrageous and un-American to demand a Governor send military troops within our own borders and against our will.

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 4d

*A Republican lawmaker objected to reference to Charlie Kirk holding “often racist and controversial views” in local Alaska news
*The corporate owner took down the story and edited it
*The journalists resigned

This feels like more and more of our media now.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/03/u...

Journalists at 3 Newspapers Quit Over Edits to a Charlie Kirk Story

www.nytimes.com

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Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.bsky.social · 4d

Google has determined that ICE agents are a vulnerable group and has used this designation as pretext to delete an app that helped communities determine where ICE raids were happening

www.404media.co/google-calls...

Google Calls ICE Agents a Vulnerable Group, Removes ICE-Spotting App ‘Red Dot’

The move comes as Apple removed ICEBlock after direct pressure from U.S. Department of Justice officials and signals a broader crackdown on ICE-spotting apps.

www.404media.co

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Ida Bae Wells @nhannahjones.bsky.social · 5d

In case it wasn’t clear, the anti-DEI crusade has never been about merit. Zero news experience. Never been a reporter. Elevated to Editor in Chief of CBS News, one of the most storied news institutions in the nation. www.mediaite.com/media/news/p...

Paramount Officially Acquiring The Free Press and Making Bari Weiss CBS News Editor in Chief: Report

Paramount Skydance will be officially acquiring The Free Press and hiring its founder Bari Weiss as editor in chief of its CBS News division, with the deal to be announced this coming Monday, accordin...

www.mediaite.com

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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 6d

LISTEN: So appreciate @leahlitman.bsky.social, @profmmurray.bsky.social, & @kateshaw.bsky.social for allowing NYT columnist @jamellebouie.net & I to join them in a deep dive about the ongoing attempt to derail the promise of the 14th Amendment. Begins at min 57:00. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s...

The Trump Administration's SCOTUS Winning Streak

Podcast Episode · Strict Scrutiny · 09/29/2025 · 1h 59m

podcasts.apple.com

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Rob Mickey @robmickey.bsky.social · 4d

RIP, Herr Doktor Offe

Ben Laurence @agentsofchange.bsky.social · 4d

Claus Offe, the great German Marxist sociologist died yesterday. His essays collection Disorganized Capitalism is so good! I'm obsessed with "2 Logics of Collective Action", a rejoinder to Mancur Olson's neo-classical treatment of unions. "The Political Economy of the Labor Market" is also a banger!

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Jake Grumbach @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social · 5d

Bonica used to have to analyze data to show this kind of pattern, but now they just come out and say it

Adam Bonica
@adambonica.bsky.social
The DOGE firings have nothing to do with
"efficiency" or "cutting waste." They're a direct push to weaken federal agencies perceived as liberal. This was evident from the start, and now the data confirms it: targeted agencies overwhelmingly those seen as more left-leaning.
Empirical Evidence of Ideological Targeting in Federal Layoffs
Agencies seen as liberal are significantly more likely to face DOGE layoffs.
Layoff Status • DOGE Layoffs
No Layoffs
1,000,000 -
Dept. of Veterans Affairs
Agency Size (Number of Staff)
100,000-
HHS
Forest Service
EPA
Ran Health
10,000 -
USAID
Dept. of Education
CFPB
1Nuclear Securiy Administration (DOEP
1,000-l
Perceived Ideological Leaning
(< More Liberal | More Conservative →)
ALT
February 19, 2025 at 6:18 PM
Everybody can reply

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Rob Mickey @robmickey.bsky.social · 6d

………..

The Bulwark @thebulwark.com · 6d

Vance: “I'm sure that Russ [Vought] is heartbroken about the fact that he is unable to give certain things to certain constituencies.”

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Edwin Park @edwincpark.bsky.social · 7d

Brief thread: just a reminder that the budget reconciliation law enacted by President Trump and the GOP Congress (H.R. 1, OBBBA) cut $1.1T/10 yrs in net spending from Medicaid, CHIP & the Marketplaces. That includes $990B in gross #Medicaid cuts: the largest cuts to the program in its history (1/x).

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Anna Bower @annabower.bsky.social · 7d

Young’s opinion, which rules that the Trump admin illegally targeted pro-Palestinian students for deportation, is absolutely scathing.

“In all our history we have never tolerated an armed masked secret police…ICE brings indelible obloquy to this administration and everyone who works in it.”

And there's the issue of masks. This Court has listened
carefully to the reasons given by Öztürk's captors for masking-
up and has heard the same reasons advanced by the defendant Todd
Lyons, Acting Director of ICE. It rejects this testimony as
disingenuous, squalid and dishonorable. ICE goes masked for a
single reason -- to terrorize Americans into quiescence. Small
wonder ICE often seems to need our respected military to guard
them
as they go about implementing our immigration laws. It
should be noted that our troops do not ordinarily wear masks.
Can you imagine a masked marine? It is a matter of honor -- and
honor still matters.
To us, masks are associated with cowardly
desperados and the despised Ku Klux Klan. In all our history we
have never tolerated an armed masked secret police.
Carrying on
in this fashion, ICE brings indelible obloquy to this
administration and everyone who works in it
"We can not escape
history," Lincoln righty said. "[It] will light us down in
honor or dishonor, to the latest generation." Abraham Lincoln,
Second Annual Message to Congress (Dec. 1, 1862) .
Perhaps we're now afraid to stick our necks out. If the
distinguished Homeland Security intelligence agency can be
weaponized to squelch the free speech rights of a small, hapless
group of non-citizens in our midst, so too can the Federal Home
Loan Mortgage Corporation, and the audit divisions of the I.R.s.
and the Social Security Administration be unconstitutionally
[98]

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Ilya Somin @ilyasomin.bsky.social · 7d

My take on today's important - and correct! - federal court decision holding speech-based deportations of non-citizen students and academics violate the First Amendment: reason.com/volokh/2025/...

Federal Court Rules Speech-Based Deportations of Foreign Students and Academics Violate the First Amendment

The decision is the most thorough in a line of recent court decisions reaching similar results.

reason.com

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Rob Mickey @robmickey.bsky.social · 8d

Case # 412 that principled commitments to “states’ rights” are almost always bollocks

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 8d

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry: "Tonight, we're sending the Department of War a request to send the National Guard, asking them to deploy the National Guard here in Louisiana into our cities like New Orleans and Baton Rogue and others."

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Quinta Jurecic @qjurecic.bsky.social · 8d

DOJ’s attempts to charge these cases in DC and LA have been resoundingly unsuccessful. Grand juries have rejected a huge proportion of the attempts to indict. One case in LA that went to trial as a misdemeanor recently ended in acquittal

David S. Bernstein @dbernstein.bsky.social · 8d

“…arrest every person suspected of threatening or assaulting a federal law enforcement officer…”
New memo drop from AG Bondi

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Joel S. @joelhs.bsky.social · 8d

I sure hope the ADL is proud that they stuck up for Elon Musk when he did a Nazi salute back in January.

Tweet from Elon Musk: "The ADL hates Christians, therefore it is is a hate group"

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Financial Times @financialtimes.com · 8d

A liberal Chicago suburb is paying reparations — will others follow? on.ft.com/4gNB1vY | opinion

A liberal Chicago suburb is paying reparations — will others follow?

Evanston set up a fund to compensate Black citizens for residential racism, and has since expanded it

on.ft.com

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Quinta Jurecic @qjurecic.bsky.social · 9d

I have been haunted by this statement all day www.kgw.com/article/news...

Local News
Trump seems to back off Portland military plan: 'Am I watching things on television that are different from what's happening?'

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Perry Bacon @perrybaconjr.bsky.social · 10d

This was revealing. Worth reading. The basic demand is that Coates spend less time thinking/writing his true feelings and more time playing political strategist. Klein asks him over and over him to do Dem strategy; he says no, over and over. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/28/o...

Opinion | Ta-Nehisi Coates on Bridging Gaps vs. Drawing Lines

www.nytimes.com

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Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 10d

While Stephen Miller claims that Democrats calling him a fascist constitutes incitement, there are hundreds of examples of Miller publicly calling Democrats fascists.

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