Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Shikha Dalmia @shikhadalmia.bsky.social · 13h

We are officially in a constitutional crisis since Texas National Guard has arrived in Illinois: www.theunpopulist.net/p/trumps-lea...

Trump’s Leaked Plan to Deploy the Texas National Guard Against Illinois Will Tear Apart the Union

If it goes forward, it will plunge the country into an unprecedented constitutional crisis

www.theunpopulist.net

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Reposted by Shikha Dalmia

Berny Belvedere @bernybelvedere.bsky.social · 4d

The level of corruption and frequency of illicit actions emanating from this White House continues to amaze.

It's impossible to read through @tracinski.bsky.social's latest roundup for @theunpopulist.net and think that any of this is within a tolerable range of normal politics.

Trump Hit Brazil With Punitive Tariffs for Prosecuting His Ally But Promised Argentina a $20 Billion Taxpayer Bailout to Help His Other Pal Win Election: An Executive Watch Roundup

Our early-October selection of the president's latest and greatest assaults on the rule of law

www.theunpopulist.net

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Reposted by Shikha Dalmia

Jon Rauch @jonrauch.bsky.social · 2d

Useful podcast explains how the MAGA right has built a durable counter-establishment that has plans and funding to outlast Trump. www.theunpopulist.net/p/from-conse...

From Conservative Civic Nationalism to MAGA White Nationalism: A Conversation with Jason Wilson

The speakers and attendees at the 2025 National Conservatism conference were testimony to this terrifying shift on the right

www.theunpopulist.net

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Shikha Dalmia @shikhadalmia.bsky.social · 1d

It will get worse!

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Shikha Dalmia @shikhadalmia.bsky.social · 1d

Trump has turned America into a war zone. He has declared a war on Americans and peaceful civilians. Right now, the best thing we can do is bear witness so that these goons can eventually be held accountable:
apnews.com/article/chic...

Using helicopters and chemical agents, immigration agents become increasingly aggressive in Chicago

Activists, residents and elected leaders say increasingly combative tactics used by federal immigration agents are sparking violence and fueling neighborhood tensions in the nation’s third-largest cit...

apnews.com

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Shikha Dalmia @shikhadalmia.bsky.social · 1d

Lincoln faced a real insurrection and still didn't claim such unilateral powers. "This is not just unconstitutional action—it is anti-constitutional. Trump is attempting to erase the constitutional order itself." At @theunpopulist.net @chrisedelson.bsky.social
www.theunpopulist.net/p/trump-is-d...

Trump Is Destroying the U.S. Constitution and Amassing Unprecedented Powers by Sending Federal Troops to Invade American Cities

Lincoln faced a real insurrection and still did not go as far as this president

www.theunpopulist.net

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Reposted by Shikha Dalmia

Berny Belvedere @bernybelvedere.bsky.social · 2d

I still think about that exchange. It remains one of the most startling examples of sheer indifference to journalistic integrity that I've come across. That's the team that will now run CBS News. Surreal.

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 2d

perhaps the biggest story TFPever ran was a catastrophically shoddy argument that George Floyd ackshully died of an overdose. When confronted with irrefutable evidence that the piece was simply wrong, Weiss didn’t take it down, she asked her critic, @radleybalko.bsky.social, to come on a podcast.

max tani @maxtani.bsky.social · 2d

David Ellison’s note to staff on Paramount’s acquisition of the Free Press

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Shikha Dalmia @shikhadalmia.bsky.social · 2d

The real sin of American univs is not that they are too "woke," it is that they are putting their financial interests ahead of their values and appeasing authoritarian regimes. At @theunpopulist.net @aaronrosspowell.com talks to @sarahemclaugh.bsky.social

www.theunpopulist.net/p/chinas-aut...

China's Authoritarian Regime Is Censoring American Universities: A Conversation with Sarah McLaughlin

Elite universities with deep pockets have no excuse for putting their financial interests ahead of their values

www.theunpopulist.net

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Reposted by Shikha Dalmia

David Bier @davidjbier.bsky.social · 4d

ICE says I cause assaults on ICE by reciting facts about ICE’s recent shooting but refuses to link to the thread. Only posting a picture. ICE lies and ICE hides. You can read the facts for yourselves

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Reposted by Shikha Dalmia

Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 5d

SCOOP — Pennsylvania prosecutors were alerted to possible voting irregularities by one of MAGA's leading voices against voter fraud. A long paper trail shows Jack Posobiec has been living in Maryland but voting using his parents' PA address for years.

From @jsweetli.bsky.social, @slate.com + me:

MAGA’s “Voter Fraud” Watchdog Votes in a Swing State. He Doesn’t Live There.

A long paper trail shows that Jack Posobiec casts a ballot in one state and lives in another.

slate.com

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Shikha Dalmia @shikhadalmia.bsky.social · 4d

Fascinating conversation with freedom fighters from Serbia, Georgia and Turkey. As I noted, "Our [U.S.'s] fall into autocracy may be more precipitous, but they are ahead of the curve. So we have much to learn from them. "

The Future of Free Speech @futurefreespeech.org · 4d

How do we mobilize dissent in authoritarian states?
@shikhadalmia.bsky.social, chats with @nikolailic.bsky.social, Mariam Southwell, and @tarikbeyhan.com at the #FreeSpeechSummit2025

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Reposted by Shikha Dalmia

Soraya Nadia McDonald @sorayanadiamcdonald.com · 4d

I made a conscious effort to put down my phone and be offline this Yom Kippur, to engage and embrace the spirit of reflection, responsibility, and repair of the holiday.

That stillness, that honesty, that tradition of thoughtfulness, matters. This is such a beautifully Jewish American text. 👇🏽

The UnPopulist @theunpopulist.net · 5d

Don't miss this Yom Kippur reflection why President Trump's attempts to erase America's past sins is so troubling on a deep philosophical and spiritual level.

Political Triumphalism Is Contrary to the Spirit of Yom Kippur

The Jewish holiday’s emphasis on repentance requires confronting our past sins, not burying them

www.theunpopulist.net

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Reposted by Shikha Dalmia

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 6d

Of which there was none, obviously not, because the entire idea that the situation was going to end up like The Raid is a fantasy.

Ashley Huebner @ahuebner.bsky.social · 6d

Chicago: “The Border Patrol official said that snipers rappelled down from helicopters on top of the apartment complex, as a precaution from potential violence.”

Trump’s Chicago ICE Crackdown Intensifies With Drones, Helicopters and Trucks

www.nytimes.com

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Shikha Dalmia @shikhadalmia.bsky.social · 7d

Are we going to become Egypt where the military becomes the political arbiter of our liberties and way of life: Will it be for the regime or for the people?
(Meanwhile, Dems are haggling over health care subsides with a fascist regime instead of shutting it down.)

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Shikha Dalmia @shikhadalmia.bsky.social · 7d

As they say, first, they came for the criminal aliens, and I said nothing; then they came for aliens....; then they came for criminals; then they came for Democrats....; and now...Where will this end?

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Shikha Dalmia @shikhadalmia.bsky.social · 7d

He did not even bother to limit himself to criminal aliens or foreign gangs, this time. It was basically all Americans who do not support him.

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Shikha Dalmia @shikhadalmia.bsky.social · 7d

So many of us were accused of having TDS for warning that he was going to decimate our institutions and rule like an authoritarian. But even then we did not imagine that he'd so openly and brazenly declared war on the "enemy within" aka American people.

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Reposted by Shikha Dalmia

The UnPopulist @theunpopulist.net · 9d

In a world that has moved beyond the post-Cold War international order, under which various countries agreed to respect universally-recognized human rights within their own borders and pursued their mutual interests through multilateral institutions, what might replace it?

@ismapolicy.bsky.social

What Would the Consequences of the Liberal International Order Collapsing Into Sovereigntist Nation States Be? A LibCon2025 Panel Discussion

Human rights, peaceful co-existence, and robust commerce might be casualties

www.theunpopulist.net

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Reposted by Shikha Dalmia

Jason Wilson @jasonaw.bsky.social · 9d

Was great to talk with Berny for @theunpopulist.net

Berny Belvedere @bernybelvedere.bsky.social · 9d

My convo with @jasonaw.bsky.social for @theunpopulist.net is excellent and you should read it/listen to it.

From Conservative Civic Nationalism to MAGA White Nationalism: A Conversation with Jason Wilson

The speakers and attendees at the 2025 National Conservatism conference were testimony to this terrifying shift on the right

www.theunpopulist.net

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Shikha Dalmia @shikhadalmia.bsky.social · 8d

This is a really informative and chilling conversation about how the worst have reached the top in the MAGA world. We all have a sense of this but tracking the trajectory of utterly retrograde figures from the fringe to the most influential positions is still eye popping

José Marichal @josemarichal.bsky.social · 9d

Must listen from @theunpopulist.net podcast ZoomingIn where they summarize the 2025 National Conservativism Conference

My takeaway after listening -- "It's hard to engage in reasonable dialogue with someone who thinks you are a demon... "

www.theunpopulist.net/p/from-conse...

From Conservative Civic Nationalism to MAGA White Nationalism: A Conversation with Jason Wilson

The speakers and attendees at the 2025 National Conservatism conference were testimony to this terrifying shift on the right

www.theunpopulist.net

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Shikha Dalmia @shikhadalmia.bsky.social · 9d

We'll need to rebuild our institutions in a post-authoritarian/Trump world using building blocks from our constitution. @theunpopulist.net calls it The Reconstruction Agenda. Here is one bold but practical reform to restore sense to our immigration system. www.theunpopulist.net/p/restoring-...

Restoring Sanity and Humanity to the Immigration System Requires Putting Enforcement Under Article I Congressional Courts

Leaving it to the executive-controlled Justice Department has led to politicization, instability, and the erosion of due process

www.theunpopulist.net

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Shikha Dalmia @shikhadalmia.bsky.social · 14d

At @theunpopulist.net, @jonrauch.bsky.social's
superb review of Bill Galston's
new "masterpiece" insists that the fault, Dear Brutus, is not in liberalism if the American experiment is in trouble, it's in us that we are such underlings. You'll want to read it.
www.theunpopulist.net/p/why-is-the...

Why Is the American Experiment in Trouble? Simple: A Demagogue Has Ignited the ‘Dark Passions’ of the People

Liberalism’s real failure is that it assumes far too sunny a view of human nature, three recent books suggest

www.theunpopulist.net

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Shikha Dalmia @shikhadalmia.bsky.social · 15d

I talked to a Latino friend I had not been in touch with in a while. She said there was fear everywhere in her community. They all feel helpless about what's happening. Churches are praying, because "it's all in God's hands," she said. "We thought America was the safest country to be in."

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Shikha Dalmia @shikhadalmia.bsky.social · 15d

@donmoyn.bsky.social

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Shikha Dalmia @shikhadalmia.bsky.social · 15d

Can't tell you how much this means coming from someone whose rigor and brilliance is matched only by his integrity!

Walter Olson @walterolson.bsky.social · 15d

I’m happy to be quoted saluting @shikhadalmia.bsky.social’s brilliant brainchild as “uniquely trenchant reading during the crisis,” uncompromising and uncompromised. “It isn’t trying to promote some alternative kind of illiberalism—nor does it seek to flatter the popular errors of the day.”

The UnPopulist @theunpopulist.net · 15d

It's our birthday!

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