Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by J. L. Bell

250 Years Ago News @250yearsagonews.bsky.social · 10m

Oct. 14, 1775: Capt. James Montague of the HMS Kingfisher drags a civilian from Norfolk, Va., onto his ship "for some trivial offence" and stages a court martial that sentences him to 39 lashes. Gov. Lord Dunmore voids the punishment, frees the man and "severely reprimanded the tyrant Montague."

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Asawin Suebsaeng @swin24.bsky.social · 15m

We have also been here before, it wasn’t even a year ago that the second trump era began with him declaring how good at making peace he was only for that to predictably not happen at all, and then he helped escalate the war

Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 16m

The many media outlets, politicians, and commentators who rushed to declare “a great peace, glory to the king!” should ask themselves why they did that, and figure out how to not make the same mistake again.

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 1h

(ABC) - The Israel Defense Forces said its troops opened fire on Palestinians, killing five, after they allegedly violated the terms of the ceasefire agreement.

abcnews.go.com/Internationa...

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Karin Wulf @kawulf.bsky.social · 56m

When people tell you that founders as enslavers was something we should see "in the context of their time." Great piece fr @katytelling.bsky.social abt a wealthy 18hc Virginian (and there were others) who thought Washington and co. risked their honor and more. ageofrevolutions.com/2025/10/13/a...

A Great Reputation Among Men: Race and Contested Masculinities in the Early American Republic

By Kathleen Telling In 1785, Robert Pleasants, a wealthy tobacco planter, abolitionist, and prominent member of Henrico County’s Quaker community, penned a letter to Virginia’s most famous son, Geo…

ageofrevolutions.com

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Keith Grant @keithsgrant.bsky.social · 54m

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

No parties, only men voting and no secret ballot. New Brunswick did elections differently in 1785. | CBC News

When it comes to democracy, New Brunswick's first ride was more than a little bumpy. It was 240 years ago this week that politicians first hit the campaign trail in the newly established British colon...

www.cbc.ca

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Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.bsky.social · 3h

This is exactly right: it's real violence, but a performance at the same time

Christopher Webb @cwebbonline.com · 9h

You need to see this:

“The show of force is the point. They want these images to be out…The Department of Homeland Security is walking around Chicago with a film crew.” @jacobsoboroff.bsky.social

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Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan.bsky.social · 1d

"Trump’s Addiction to Watching Fox Is Killing American Democracy"

Our country is falling apart because one old man, Trump advisers and former administration officials say, won’t stop ‘yelling’ at his TV, writes Zeteo's @swin24.bsky.social:

Trump’s Addiction to Watching Fox Is Killing American Democracy

Our country is falling apart because one old man, Trump advisers and former administration officials say, won’t stop ‘yelling’ at his TV.

zeteo.com

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Dave Andress @davidandress.bsky.social · 1h

Already, this morning, the IDF shot dead five Gazans for the crime of "approaching" them.

aje.io/hkwdmc?updat...

Jack Saundrs @jacksaundrs.bsky.social · 1h

No one should be held hostage and I'm glad they're free, but man, the front pages of every newspaper today are galling when you think of the millions of Palestinians, whose suffering has *never* been presented in that urgent, humanising way at any point in the last two years.

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Kathleen Bush-Joseph @kathleenbush.bsky.social · 1h

I told @royalpratt.bsky.social that I hadn't heard of this happening before--if others have, please share & raise awareness!

This is yet another example of the Trump admin's policies creating a nationwide show your papers situation--both for immigrants & for US citizens

Gregory Pratt @royalpratt.bsky.social · 19h

NEWS: ICE gave a Rogers Park man a $130 ticket for not having his papers on him. They rounded him up last week and eventually let him go, but not without a fine that some critics say is un-American. Trump admin enforcing little-used law
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/13/i...

ICE tickets Chicago man with legal residency $130 for not having his papers on him: ‘It’s not fair…I’m a resident’

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement fined Rueben Antonio Cruz $130 for not having his papers with him.

www.chicagotribune.com

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 8h

Oh come on, this is horseshit since we know that Hegseth already includes The Atlantic in his signal chats

The Atlantic Communications @theatlanticpr.bsky.social · 20h

The Atlantic’s journalists will not sign the Pentagon’s press policy. Statement here from editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg:

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Dr. Lynne Elkins @ljelkins.bsky.social · 13h

This is bizarre. What do folks think research is? Exploring a new idea, by reading ~100 articles in chronological order and discovering the holes in their reasoning, is actually really fun IF you like the subject and doing research. (And if you don't, that's ok, it's just not your career path.)

Arrianna Marie Planey, PhD MA @arrianna-planey.bsky.social · 14h

People who say "you can't possibly read everything you cite" are saying a lot about themselves, IMO.

It doesn't have to be a heavy lift. I spend about half an hour a day processing new-to-me papers by organizing them in my reference managers & adding topical tags so I can create bibliographies.

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Karl Jacoby @karl-jacoby.bsky.social · 9h

History faculty at Columbia & Barnard decrying the harassment of @mark-bray.bsky.social: "This is the first case in recent memory of a historian who has fled the country after receiving death threats on account of the history that they teach."

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Republicans Against Trumpism @rpsagainsttrump.bsky.social · 11h

Chris Christie: “Thie is no longer, the Department of Justice, is no longer the premier prosecuting office in America. What it is now is a capo regime who goes out and executes hits when directed by the Don to do so. That’s what it is.”

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Matthew O'Brien @historydude1963.bsky.social · 10h

Bruni is correct. Bondi diverted attention last week from the real crimes committed on 1/6/21. At the urging of the then POTUS a rabble of racists, election deniers & malcontents sought to subvert the rule of law. Prosecute the real criminals not the investigators.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/13/o...

Opinion | The Appalling Campaign to Erase Jan. 6 Never Ends

www.nytimes.com

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Jim Carroll @jtccarroll.bsky.social · 9h

My latest at @flux.community: There is no beating the president and MAGA without a strategy for defeating the political violence they are inflicting on American society. 1/x
plus.flux.community/p/democrats-...

Democrats must transform Trump's threats and violence against Americans into a decisive cudgel against him

There is no beating the president and MAGA without a strategy for defeating the political violence they are inflicting on American society

plus.flux.community

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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 13h

I asked ICE why they couldn’t comment on their own arrest. The agent said to direct questions to DHS. And it appears DHS is making accusations via X to justify the abduction of a child.

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George Conway 🇺🇸🚫👑🐸 @gtconway.bsky.social · 2d

Robert De Niro: “Now we have a would-be king — King Donald the First. Fuck that. I’m Robert De Niro and I’m asking you to stand up and be counted in the nationwide No Kings protest on October 18th”

👉👉 nokings.org

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The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 12h

ICYMI — with electricity rates already skyrocketing, Trump just canceled the largest solar project in North America.

Utah’s Republican governor seems to understand this is probably not the best idea: “This is how we lose the AI/energy race with China” 👇🏽

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Victor Ray @victorerikray.bsky.social · 18h

Between this, the resegregation of the military, and the retooling of the Department of Justice to focus on (fake) discrimination against white Christians, and eviscerating Civil Rights Act enforcement, they have nearly erased the structural legacy of the Civil Rights Movement.

Barred and Boujee aka Madiba Dennie @audrelawdamercy.bsky.social · 19h

Wednesday is gonna be a rough day:

The Supreme Court will be hearing oral argument in a pair of cases that threaten what little remains of the federal government’s ability to protect voters from racial gerrymandering under the Voting Rights Act

ballsandstrikes.org/scotus/louis...

Louisiana v Callais: The Republicans Justices Are Getting Ready to Finish Off the Voting Rights Act

In Louisiana v Callais, John Roberts will have the chance to finish his decades-long war on. voting rights.

ballsandstrikes.org

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Matthew Segal @segalmr.bsky.social · 14h

Demonstrating once again that, by holding that partisan gerrymandering is a nonjusticiable “political question,” SCOTUS set up a situation in which voters and their representatives are essentially punished in Congress if they choose to run their own states fairly.

Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · 17h

North Carolina Republicans announced today they’re going to pass a new congressional map to draw a Dem out of Congress; they already did last cycle, going from 7-7 to 10-4. Thus would be 11-3. t.co/XLJIhe8vZn

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David Sirota @davidsirota.com · 14h

🚨NEW: A case at the Supreme Court cites Trump reportedly promising oil donors favors as proof that pay-to-play influence is so pervasive that bribery laws must be narrowed so pay-to-play is no longer a prosecutable crime.

The case is represented by a Trump-connected law firm.

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Wajahat Ali @wajali.bsky.social · 17h

What did Tom Homan do with the $50K he took in a CAVA bag from undercover FBI agents?

Just keep asking this everyday. Its a big scandal they can't escape because Pam Bondi and her DOJ killed the investigation. They're cornered on this and the Epstein Files.

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Robert Kelchen @robertkelchen.com · 14h

After getting zero firm commitments to this point from the first nine invitees, the Trump administration is extending its proposed compact to all colleges. Expect some red-state publics to say yes.

Trump Offers All Colleges Preferential Funding Plan Rejected by MIT

The Trump administration is inviting all US colleges to participate in a compact — initially rejected by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology — that would grant preferential federal funding in re...

www.bloomberg.com

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Ruth Delgado @heylookitsruth.bsky.social · 16h

A mom in Houston reported her 15-year-old son with autism missing. She spent 6 days terrified, searching for him. The whole time, Houston police knew exactly where he was since they helped ICE place him in a refugee facility.

This is beyond cruel.
www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston...

Missing teen with autism transferred to refugee facility by HPD

He is currently being held at an Office for Refugee Resettlement facility.

www.houstonchronicle.com

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Senator Chris Van Hollen @vanhollen.senate.gov · 15h

These are the same kind of weasels who would’ve called George Washington & America’s revolutionaries “terrorists.” They spend their days sucking up to King Trump & demonizing peaceful protest just as some in America sought to appease King George III.

Looking forward to No Kings Day.

Johnson describes planned No Kings rally as ‘hate America,’ ‘pro-Hamas’ gathering

Organizers largely blew off the rhetoric, but some Democrats online criticized the tone.

www.politico.com

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J Bogart @jonathanbogart.net · 15h

Comic fiction in English of the late 19th and early 20th century was a cohering genre as formalized, diverse, and inventive as the contemporary mystery, sci-fi, horror, western and romance that were then consolidating into discrete genres, but it petered out post-WWII for a variety of reasons.

Rachel Feder @rachelfeder.bsky.social · 1d

Tell me your most unhinged literary opinion, as a little treat

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