Author | Lightnews

Dr. Ashok Karra

@akarra.bsky.social

4.8K followers 4.1K following 5.3K posts

Political philosophy and ethics. Currently working on Nietzsche, Heidegger, and problems of freedom & authenticity. I teach community college & you'll hear plenty about it. Let me know how you are and how I can help. http://encouragement.ghost.io

encouragement.ghost.io

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Dr. Ashok Karra @akarra.bsky.social · Nov 21

while we're doing introductions, i'm dr. karra. i think about how political philosophy works for us -- what do we do with words like "freedom," "authenticity," or "nobility?" i also read a lot of lyric poetry because that tends to illustrate philosophical problems in miniature. links below:

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Prisonculture @prisonculture.bsky.social · 1h

"It's absolutely illegal." - you can absolutely feel the impotence through the screen.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 19h

Chris Murphy: "There's a lot of history that has taken place in the East Wing & it was just destroyed without any conversation in the public, without any consent of Congress. It's absolutely illegal. That visual is powerful b/c you're watching destruction of the rule of law as those walls come down"

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Russ Frankenstein (no relation) @russ41.bsky.social · 8h

Let's try something new.

If you donate to a food bank and tell me how much and which one, I'll match your donation.

If it's less than $50, I'll round up.

Tag me, reply here, or DM if you prefer.

Why food banks? Because if we want to survive a general strike, we need to keep people fed.

Kendra "Gloom is My Beat" Pierre-Louis @kendrawrites.com · 9h

Now is a really good time to donate to food banks, and do food runs for mutual aid groups. Also, do menstrual product runs.

Matt @swirlyball.bsky.social · 9h

I wonder how much food theft spikes with desperate people just trying to feed their families. I'm sure there will be a media panic about it.

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 13h

absolutely shameful that the university has embraced the administration’s demand that it discriminate against its students. this is the board of visitors telling UVA students that if they aren’t white and cisgendered then they don’t belong.

mady castigan✨ 🏳️‍⚧️ @madycast.com · 13h

The University of Virginia has capitulated to Trump on transgender and race (affirmative action) issues.

The details are currently sparse, but reporting suggests they've agreed to define trans people out of existence and ban trans students from facilities.
www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

That includes any race-based scholarships and programs, including any promotion of external scholarships that consider race, and DEI trainings and workshops. Institutions were also told they should no longer prioritize “underrepresented groups” for admissions or hiring, and they must prohibit transgender students from playing on sports teams and using facilities designated for women and girls.

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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

It's my birthday today and if you're appreciated my coverage over all these years, please considering subscribing to my newsletter. I'm really proud of the reporting and commentary we're publishing at PN every day and paid subscribers make my work possible. Thanks.

Subscribe to Public Notice

Sign up for independent, incisive coverage of US politics and media, right in your inbox five times a week. Click to read Public Notice, by Aaron Rupar, a Substack publication with hundreds of thousan...

www.publicnotice.co

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Joshua Weishart @joshuaweishart.bsky.social · 19h

Not to diminish law review articles & law school committee work, but right now law professors should be working collectively on an intellectual & service project of immense, existential importance: building consensus around a revolutionary constitutional framework-of a Reconstruction 2.0 magnitude.

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Gregory Pratt @royalpratt.bsky.social · 1d

NEWS: ICE arrests Chicago man whose teenage daughter is fighting cancer: “He belongs with her.” I spent yesterday afternoon with Ofelia Torres and her mother, Sandibell, talking about Ruben Torres. Here’s the story www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/21/i...

ICE arrests Chicago man whose teenage daughter is fighting cancer: ‘He belongs with her’

Ofelia Torres has spent almost every day of the past month at Lurie Children’s Hospital, where the 16-year-old Lake View High School student is fighting cancer.

www.chicagotribune.com

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 11h

you can’t really call this anything other than cowardice

All In with Chris Hayes @allinwithchris.bsky.social · 12h

WATCH: @chrislhayes.bsky.social asks Rep. Hakeem Jeffries who he plans to vote for in the NYC mayoral election.

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Dr. Ashok Karra @akarra.bsky.social · 10h

i'm away from video games for a bit because i have a group that wants to play dnd. so i'm reading modules and getting prepared. it's really an awesome experience, just sitting and thinking "hey that'd be a neat encounter they'd enjoy"

Reposted by Dr. Ashok Karra

unraveled @unraveledpress.com · 18h

For folks asking if they've made it *inside* a Home Depot yet as the business has clearly just continued letting agents do whatever they want in their lots, the answer is yes. This is from yesterday in Evanston.

Threads post from julieceye

At my local Home Depot today in Evanston, IL. They abducted 5 people in my immediate area.

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Dr. Ashok Karra @akarra.bsky.social · 10h

oh this is beautiful

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Ben K. @benjaminkabak.com · 21h

So White House construction companies:

ACECO (demolition): Deleted LinkedIn and Instagram profiles, took down their website with contact information entirely

Clark Construction (construction): Limiting Insta comments and hiding or deleting critical ones.

Do these companies think we'll all forget?

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Jonathan Ladd @jonmladd.bsky.social · 12h

This. The president can't extort corporations to pay essentially taxes to him personally so that he can use that money at his personal discretion to do government work.

Ryan Enos @ryanenos.bsky.social · 12h

It flies under the radar because it is overwhelmed by the sheer repulsiveness of the physical destruction of the east wing, but there is no way that a president should be allowed to use private money to change public property. It circumvents the power of the purse.

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Zohran Kwame Mamdani @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social · 12h

In the audience tonight is Charlotte Bennett, one of the 13 women that Andrew Cuomo is credibly alleged to have sexually harassed while they worked in his government.

She can't speak for herself because Cuomo's lawyers have hounded her.

So I confronted him.

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Dr. Ashok Karra @akarra.bsky.social · 12h

Got a student with some academic challenges to be more motivated to continue school. read poetry with some students and celebrates their work. Helped a colleague create a drow wizard dnd character. Today will be complete if I get research done.

Dr. Ashok Karra @akarra.bsky.social · 12h

A good day at work. gave a lecture walking through how different ideas about freedom match up with different types of federalism; explained how social capital can be a useful concept and still raise questions when applied to measuring the health of a democracy.

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Bobby Silverman @robertsilverman.bsky.social · 14h

Let’s remember the time when the mayor was at half court for the MLK Day game at MSG and said, “When the civil rights battle was on the line Dr. King wanted the ball in his hand.”

Then a fan yelled “shut the fuck up” loud enough for the whole arena to hear it.

Not the Guy @notnotnuanced.bsky.social · 14h

greatest city in the world

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Hunter Walker @hunterw.bsky.social · 13h

Protesters have blocked the westbound side of Canal. They are chanting "ICE out of New York now!" and "Liberation, not deportation!"

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People’s Parity Project @peoplesparity.bsky.social · 17h

Seven million people marched and this is just the beginning. So what's next?
Lawyers & legal professionals are organizing to protect our Constitution & the vulnerable individuals at risk.
Join us ✊

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tamara nopper @tamaranopper.bsky.social · 18h

Regarding the question “Well, what can I do?“ Ruth Wilson Gilmore said, “Go into something that already exists, and do that work towards the end of helping to tip it away from reinforcing the system towards weakening the system. That’s infiltrating. Or innovate. If something doesn't exist, make it."

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Prisonculture @prisonculture.bsky.social · 17h

Saw this posted by a friend on FedBook. [more examples of how we can help and support each other]

I'm sure many of you know this, but we are days away from the possibility (probability) of 42 million people losing SNAP benefits because of this government shut down. Food pantries and banks are already feeling the impact in anticipation of this alongside the uptick in requests for aid from people who are furloughed from work.
If you're someone in my network who relies on SNAP, I want to help connect you to resources if you don't receive your benefits.
DM me with 1) amount of $ you will lose if SNAP is not paid out and/or 2) a grocery list, and 3) contact information. I will try to connect each person/family to someone who willing to cover the gap.
I don't have everything but I have more than enough, and I'm well connected to others for whom that is true too. Now is as good a time as ever to share resources.
....and if you're a person with resources to share, comment here or DM!

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Athens Grease @athensgrease.bsky.social · 17h

absolutely flawless fall day outside

A row of brownstones in Park Slope with a row of trees hanging over the sidewalk

The sun peeking through the trees over the loop around Prospect Park

Another townhouse decorated for Halloween

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The New Republic @newrepublic.com · 18h

Journalists reported the records disappeared practically in front of their eyes. newrepublic.com/post/202130/...

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Prisonculture @prisonculture.bsky.social · 21h

By the way, identity politics are politics. Only some people seem not to understand this. They also misread Combahee because they don't take the intellectual work of Black women seriously. It's too bad for them because they'd be better for that engagement.

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MSNBC @msnbc.com · 20h

WATCH LIVE: Senator Merkley hits hour 18 of marathon speech to 'protest Trump’s threats to Democracy'

www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1VL...

LIVE: Senator Merkley holds floor to 'protest Trump’s threats to Democracy'

YouTube video by MSNBC

www.youtube.com

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jenn m. jackson @jennmjacksonphd.bsky.social · 1d

I want more people to care that SNAP benefits are being cut off on November 1. 40% of SNAP beneficiaries are children. This is callous and vile.

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