Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Bethany Erickson @shoomer5.bsky.social · 6h

The fact that antifa doesn't exist as a real organization is worse. There are no limits to who can be designated antifa. No actual membership car required.

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jam @socialistboat.dad · 8h

"This website is free" No. This website comes at a terrible cost

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Samantha Michaels @samanthamichaels.bsky.social · 7h

So much tear gas that people who aren't even protesting are getting sick when they leave their homes to run errands: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

ICE is hounding Chicago area locals with excessive chemical munitions

Agents are firing tear gas and pepper balls on lawful protesters, lawsuits say, sickening even uninvolved residents.

www.motherjones.com

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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 10h

The Justice Department had 36 attorneys assigned full-time to investigate corrupt politicians when Trump took office in January.

Today it has two.

See how this works?

Judd Legum @juddlegum.bsky.social · 12h

1. On Monday, Trump delivered a $70 million windfall to his billionaire buddy, John Paulson.

Paulson hosted the biggest fundraiser of Trump's 2024 campaign, raising over $50 million.

This week, Trump returned the favor.

Follow along for details.

Trump approves mining road, delivers $70 million windfall to MAGA billionaire

On April 6, 2024, a procession of Range Rovers, Aston Martins, and Bentleys rolled up to the Palm Beach mansion of billionaire John Paulson. The occasion was a glitzy fundraiser for Donald Trump’s…

popular.info

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 12h

The elimination of USAID is a moral atrocity and all involved made a choice to enable, and then lie about, ending the lives of some of the most vulnerable people in the world.

MAE SOT, Thailand (AP) - Mohammed Taher clutched the lifeless body of his 2-year-old son and wept. Ever since his family's food rations stopped arriving at their internment camp in Myanmar in April, the father had watched helplessly as his once-vibrant baby boy weakened, suffering from diarrhea and begging for food.
On May 21, exactly two weeks after Taher's little boy died, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio sat before Congress and declared: "No one has died" because of his government's decision to gut its foreign aid program. Rubio also insisted: "No children are dying on my watch."
That, Taher says, "is a lie."

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Miami Herald @miamiherald.com · 10h

“Losing him has turned our lives upside-down,” said the man’s wife.

Dad with leukemia in ICE custody is separated from his doctors in MI, suit says

“Losing him has turned our lives upside-down,” said the man’s wife.

bit.ly

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Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 15h

JB Pritzker and Gavin Newsom are doing something new and important: They understand Stephen Miller's theory of fascist power politics, and they've developed a theory on how to combat it. More Dems need to reckon with Miller's understanding of the moment.

New from me:
newrepublic.com/article/2014...

Inside Stephen Miller’s Secret Plan to Normalize Trump’s Dictator Rule

He wants to supercharge searing civil tensions to get low-information voters to embrace their inner authoritarian. Exactly two Democrats appear to fully grasp this.

newrepublic.com

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The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 10h

Sickening.

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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 12h

Fascists are desperate for violent disruption they can use an excuse for state violence and power grabs.

They have trouble with mockery, goofiness, and fun.

That holds across just about every type of authoritarianism. They like being feared for cruelty. They hate being laughed at and humiliated.

Courtney Vaughn @courtneyvaughn.bsky.social · 23h

Streets are still closed off in front of the Portland ICE facility at 8:30pm. Protesters have gathered on a side street. Dance party in progress.

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 12h

i desperately want everyone involved in the destruction of USAID to have to, st the very least, answer to the american people for the suffering and misery they have caused apnews.com/article/myan...

Starving children screaming for food as US aid cuts unleash devastation and death across Myanmar

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has repeatedly said “no one has died" because of his government’s decision to gut its foreign aid program.

apnews.com

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Starfish Who Can’t Think Something Witty @irhottakes.bsky.social · 11h

I will grant that there were always bad things. I will grant that not dealing with the bad things allowed them to get worse. But I refuse to believe everything was always *this* bad, because I remember them being relatively better.

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southpaw @nycsouthpaw.bsky.social · 13h

The situation in America is not great. www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...

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Amanda Katz @katzish.bsky.social · 16h

Horrific reporting from the AP on the Myanmar families watching their kids starve to death from Trump and Musk’s aid cuts apnews.com/article/myan...

Starving children screaming for food as US aid cuts unleash devastation and death across Myanmar

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has repeatedly said “no one has died" because of his government’s decision to gut its foreign aid program.

apnews.com

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Bethany Erickson @shoomer5.bsky.social · 23h

The nondenom schools are also for racists. Historically more so.

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I'm Margaret! I'm the best! Blah Blah Blah! @vt-vagabond.bsky.social · 1d

There’s a lot in here that deserves a pull quote, but this is the most egregious. I need people to recognize the gravity of the situation here in Chicago;

SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY
Donate

"The ones that are getting out are coming home to no home," Watson said.
According to her, after the raid occurred, building management stole or threw out residents belongings, including visas and important documents.

ICIRR is still trying to determine the identities of all the people detained in the raid. Castro said that the organization usually can do that by following up with family members or loved ones. "In this instance, there was nobody left to work with," she said. The only detainee name they're sure of is that of a person who passed their Venezuelan passport to a neighbor as they were being taken away.

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Daniel Knowles @dlknowles.bsky.social · 1d

Good reporting on the South Shore raid from South Side weekly here.

Confirms one thing I was told but didn't put in my own piece because I didn't have a second source and it seemed too insane: border agents segregated arrested residents by race

southsideweekly.com/federal-agen...

Federal Agents Storm South Shore Building, Detaining Families and Children

Families were woken by flashbangs and helicopters as hundreds of federal agents raided their homes. Days later, neighbors are still searching for the missing.

southsideweekly.com

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Jon M. Sweeney @jonmsweeney.bsky.social · 7d

"The rich man in the Gospel has no name, he is simply 'a rich man.' Material things, his possessions, are his face; he has nothing else."

Pope Francis, from a Sept. 29, 2013 homily

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abby (sports) @stabbyabby.bsky.social · 1d

I’m pulling out phrases I haven’t used in years to pray for Dolly. It’s “hedge of protection” time

rax ‘levon honkers’ king @raxkingisdead.bsky.social · 1d

listen. when dolly parton’s sister says it’s time for us all to be prayer warriors for dolly. you fucking pray for dolly

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Bethany Erickson @shoomer5.bsky.social · 1d

Yeah, that's why they shot him

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The People's Fabric @peoplesfabric.com · 1d

This facility has no showers, no kitchen, and was never designed to hold people longer than twelve hours. Yet ICE data and family members of those detained have shown people are held in there for days. Sometimes a full week.

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Bruno J. Navarro @brunojnavarro.bsky.social · 1d

free link archive.ph/besFb

By law, to question somebody, immigration officers must have reason to think they could be an illegal immigrant.
To arrest somebody, they need probable cause. Ms Brooks, who is black, with an American accent, says she repeatedly asked officers why she was being arrested, and pointed out her citizenship. Nobody asked her any questions. When she continued to object to her arrest, an officer knocked her to the ground, removed the zip-ties and replaced them with handcuffs, locked as tightly as they would go. By the time she was released, together with several other citizens, she says the sun was coming up.

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Melanie D’Arrigo @darrigomelanie.bsky.social · 1d

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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Amano Jack @amano-jack.bsky.social · 1d

Just in case someone missed this detail:
Wells Fargo used the ICE orks to clear out a building of lawful residents to make a buck

Again, a military terror purge was carried out with naked children in handcuffs for the benefit of Wells Fargo execs

A corrupt corp that will bleat at any reciprocity

flipinidaho @flipinidaho.bsky.social · 1d

southsideweekly.com/federal-agen...

The building is in a 27 million dollar foreclosure filed by Wells Fargo. The next day, Wells Fargo filed an emergency motion for receivership. The fascist regime kindly emptied the building for donor Wells Fargo.

Federal Agents Storm South Shore Building, Detaining Families and Children

Families were woken by flashbangs and helicopters as hundreds of federal agents raided their homes. Days later, neighbors are still searching for the missing.

southsideweekly.com

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Jenn Budd @jennbudd.bsky.social · 1d

Please don’t say he is not trained. Border Patrol agents do this on the border all the time. Agents at my station used to throw rocks into car windows that sometimes made them crash. They think it us funny. It’s not training in the academy, but in the field.

Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · 1d

I fear if things don’t change right now, this image is going to come back to haunt us

Laura Rodriguez, on Twitter:

A federal agent points a weapon at a woman who was recording them.

Jess, a U.S. citizen and member of a neighborhood patrol team that documents and shares ICE activity across the city, was filming when the incident occurred earlier today in the Berwyn area.

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ACLU @aclu.org · 6d

BREAKING: Our client Mario Guevara, an Emmy-winning journalist detained by ICE in retaliation for livestreaming law enforcement activity, will be deported tomorrow to El Salvador.

Mario and his family are being punished for his reporting. This cruelty is meant to stifle our free press.

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