Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Tom Schaller

Jude Nagurney Camwell (Iddybud) @iddybud.bsky.social · 3h

President Lyndon Johnson invoked the insurrection law in Alabama,1965 to PROTECT civil rights activists.

Trump would do so to make war ON Americans for NO GOOD REASON.
abcnews.go.com/amp/Politics...

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Sharon Machlis @smachlis.bsky.social · 1d

This is a professor at Rutgers who teaches a class on the history of anti-fascism. He also teaches about human rights. He has received multiple death threats and been doxed. He is relocating to Europe for his safety. This is where we are in the US now. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 8d

I know we're desensitized, but it's important to note, again, that today's events would have led to the immediate impeachment & removal of any president from at least Truman to at least Obama. We're hundreds of miles on the interstate past Richard Nixon's high school prank-level crimes compared to 👇

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 8d

Trump wraps up a speech to military leaders that represented a major escalation of his effort to weaponize the armed forces into a tool he can use to violently quash domestic dissent. Hard to imagine how anyone with a shred of dignity can keep serving after this, which of course is the point.

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Thomas Brackett “Czar” Reed @czarreed.bsky.social · 4h

Thank God the National Guard will defend us from… [checks notes] … a guy in a dinosaur suit singing a song in the style of Barry McGuire

Jeff (Gutenberg Parenthesis) Jarvis @jeffjarvis.bsky.social · 4h

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Tom Schaller @schaller67.bsky.social · 4h

Not trans—and not trying to insult you bc I presume you already know this—but any time person makes a reference to nature, game over: after all, there are species (eg, wrasses) that change sex mid-life. And if the person making dog/cat cracks believes in god, set&match—bc god created wrasses, no?

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Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 9h

#WarRavagedPortland

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Jeff (Gutenberg Parenthesis) Jarvis @jeffjarvis.bsky.social · 1d

I begged @spiegel.de to translate Jörg Schindler's excellent reporting on America's fall into theocracy and they did. As I keep saying, German journalists are doing a better job covering America's fall than American journalists. 1/
www.spiegel.de/internationa...

Trump's Crusaders: Christian Nationalists Are Gaining a Solid Foothold in Washington

U.S. President Donald Trump has opened the doors of power to far-right Christian nationalists. Their goal: an American theocracy. The separation of church and state in America is at risk.

www.spiegel.de

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Tom Schaller @schaller67.bsky.social · 9h

We’re harassing priests now. Super cool.

John Pfaff @johnpfaff.bsky.social · 18h

Um, ICE just coldly shot an unarmed PRIEST in the head w a pepper ball when he (and everyone around him) clearly posed no threat.

For the crime of … complaining about government policy.

Core 1A speech.

With cameras rolling, they’re sniping priests for sport.

Kurt @flglchicago.bsky.social · 20h

Here’s video of the incident

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Jack Jenkins @jackjenkins.me · 21h

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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Kurt @flglchicago.bsky.social · 20h

Here’s video of the incident

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Raeann M. @annmilernowski.bsky.social · 3d

Targeting more than half the population of the US for a political reason is treason. No elected official or a member of his staff has the right to punish the American people for who they vote for. Withholding money for states that voted for Harris is tyranny and must be stopped now.

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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 2d

If U.S. states have any degree of sovereignty, if there’s any states’ rights at all, it is the right not to be invaded by the armed forces of another U.S. state.

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Melanie D’Arrigo @darrigomelanie.bsky.social · 21h

I feel like this photo of masked, armed men pepper spraying a pastor protecting his community is going to be a defining picture of this moment in America for a long, long time.

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Just Jack @just-jack-1.bsky.social · 1d

The guy who literally incited an insurrection is now threatening to use the Insurrection Act to torment Americans who do not support him.

(…because he literally incited an insurrection)

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Jon Cooper @joncooper-us.bsky.social · 1d

Cartoon by @ivan-ehlers.bsky.social.

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Ida Bae Wells @nhannahjones.bsky.social · 1d

Can’t stop thinking about this and what it says about a person.

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George Conway 👊🇺🇸🔥 @gtconway.bsky.social · 1d

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Tom Schaller @schaller67.bsky.social · 1d

Motion to replace Halligan with SNL’s Cave Man Lawyer or Simpson’s attorney Lionel Hutz.

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Tim Onion @bencollins.bsky.social · 2d

"We're gonna crash some planes if you don't fund ICE."

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 2d

Sean Duffy says the safety of the air traffic control system will start being impacted next Sunday if the shutdown continues

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Tom Schaller @schaller67.bsky.social · 1d

Brilliant:

Sky Marchini @sky.skymarchini.net · 1d

Supreme Court: of course states can regulate, and restrict access to, medical procedures if there’s a compelling public interest

Colorado: (bans conversion therapy for minors)

Supreme Court: no not like that, we only meant abortion

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Sky Marchini @sky.skymarchini.net · 1d

Supreme Court: of course states can regulate, and restrict access to, medical procedures if there’s a compelling public interest

Colorado: (bans conversion therapy for minors)

Supreme Court: no not like that, we only meant abortion

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Tom Schaller @schaller67.bsky.social · 1d

Congrats!

Asha Rangappa @asharangappa.bsky.social · 1d

I have an announcement to make — I’m writing a book!

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Tom Schaller @schaller67.bsky.social · 1d

Wait until they encounter rotary phones and mimeograph machines.

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 1d

About 1 in 3 US Nobel prize winners are immigrants.
About 1 in 4 were government employees at some point.
About 44% of all Nobel prize winners were educated in US higher education.
As Trump demands a Nobel prize, he is destroying the means by which America came to dominate the prizes.

Sources below

Boston Tom Levenson @tomlevenson.bsky.social · 1d

Two things of note in today's announcement of the 2025 Nobel physics prize (besides the work being honored).

1: The US institutional dominance of the prize continues.
2: 2 of the three laureates are immigrants, drawn here decades ago by the then-unmatched opportunities for science here...

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Nobel Prize in Physics Is Awarded for Work in Quantum Mechanics

www.nytimes.com

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Anna Merlan @annamerlan.bsky.social · 1d

NEW: I talked to scholars who study political contagion about how America’s freefall could affect the rest of the world. They are… concerned. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Is America contagious?

Scholars in political extremism are documenting the global spread of right-wing populism.

www.motherjones.com

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