Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Edward Perez

@eddieperez.bsky.social

19K followers 1.2K following 4.7K posts

Election admin & voting technology. Ex-Twitter director for civic integrity. Lapsed poli-sci academic. I post about democracy & social media. Likes: facts. http://linkedin.com/in/eddie1perez Board of Directors @osetinstitute.org

linkedin.com

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Edward Perez @eddieperez.bsky.social · Oct 12

“Words like ‘freedom,’ ‘justice,’ ‘democracy’ are not
common concepts; on the contrary, they are rare. People are not born knowing what these are. It takes enormous and, above all, individual effort to arrive at the respect for other people that these words imply.”

— James Baldwin

4 97 430

Edward Perez @eddieperez.bsky.social · 12h

fucking fascists

Reposted by Edward Perez

Peter Sterne @petersterne.com · 14h

"(Officers) refuse to recognize local or court authority. A judge says you can’t arrest journalists. Watch us. A judge says we have to wear badges. No. State law says we can’t drive around in unmarked vans? Too bad. Elected officials who want to see what is going on should prepare to be arrested."

Purge, Merge, and Surge

Trump is creating a omniforce of armed loyalists to establish his police state

donmoynihan.substack.com

13 250 680

Reposted by Edward Perez

Edward Perez @eddieperez.bsky.social · 1d

Absolutely insane that the President of the United States has sent militarized secret police to attack multiple American cities, all at the same time.

13 120 470

Edward Perez @eddieperez.bsky.social · 21h

“Those of us engaged in this fight are witnessing a wholesale attack on free and fair elections. From executive orders to budget cuts, the Trump administration is undermining election security and promoting voter disenfranchisement.”

Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 21h

The fight for democracy is the battle of our generation. As SCOTUS said over 60 years ago, “the right to exercise the franchise in a free and unimpaired manner is preservative of other basic civil and political rights.” Let us all ensure we uphold that.
https://bit.ly/3W0PxqE

Why My Law Firm is Litigating 63 Voting Rights Cases

Read here.

bit.ly

1 2 7

Reposted by Edward Perez

Paul Waldman @paulwaldman.bsky.social · 21h

No, the protesters aren’t being paid. Believe it or not, lots of people are genuinely upset about authoritarianism!

paulwaldman.substack.com/p/ahead-of-n...

Ahead of No Kings Protest, Trump and GOP Try to Delegitimize All Dissent

There is no such thing as genuine progressive public opinion, and therefore mass and mobilized opposition to Trump doesn't count.

paulwaldman.substack.com

8 81 300

Edward Perez @eddieperez.bsky.social · 21h

Respectfully, I think you’re being naïve if you believe that you can neatly separate the availability of a very flawed “tool“ from the immorality of the company that produces it.

1 1

Reposted by Edward Perez

Tom Joscelyn @tomjoscelyn.bsky.social · 2d

“I spent three nights and three days in federal custody. During that time, I was never told what I was charged with, was not allowed to shower despite being covered in tear gas and pepper spray, had no phone call to my family, and no access to an attorney.” - George Retes, U.S. citizen and veteran.

I’m a US citizen and a veteran. ICE arrested me for no reason.

Jailed for three days without an explanation or ability to notify anyone, George Retes argues the only path to healing starts with the government taking accountability for its actions.

newsletter.ofthebrave.org

350 6.1K 12K

Edward Perez @eddieperez.bsky.social · 1d

Absolutely insane that the President of the United States has sent militarized secret police to attack multiple American cities, all at the same time.

13 120 470

Edward Perez @eddieperez.bsky.social · 1d

Q: “So why would OpenAI allow this?”

A: Because they are an immoral, parasitic company devoted solely to feeding investors for profit.

Drew Harwell @drewharwell.com · 3d

Fake AI videos mocking dead celebrities are going viral. We talked to their families, and they're horrified.

We break down OpenAI's Sora 2 and the moral and legal problems of "synthetic resurrection."

Gift link: wapo.st/4nNKzd3 w/ @tatumhunter.bsky.social

1 8 23

Reposted by Edward Perez

Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 1d

The 400 richest Americans are now worth a record $6.6 trillion.

The entire bottom 50% of America is worth just $4.2 trillion.

Read that back.

When 400 people control more wealth than half a country’s population, we have a very serious problem.

800 9.1K 24K

Edward Perez @eddieperez.bsky.social · 1d

👏👏👏

Jay Rosen @jayrosen.bsky.social · 1d

I have always loved @propublica.org's mission statement. It speaks to method as much as mission, and does not shrink from describling their journalism as a moral undertaking. www.propublica.org/about/

2 6 15

Reposted by Edward Perez

D. Earl Stephens @dearlstephens.bsky.social · 1d

📌“The fact that I am American means, among other things, people can’t say, like they did about Francis, ‘he doesn’t understand the United States, he just doesn’t see what’s going on.’
“Do you not see the suffering? Is your conscience not disturbed?”

-Pope Leo in a direct rebuke of the hideous Trump

64 1.2K 4.9K

Edward Perez @eddieperez.bsky.social · 1d

how I miss the halcyon right-wing days of “local control knows best…”

The New Republic @newrepublic.com · 1d

“I … met with the governor, met with the mayor, met with the chief of police, and the superintendent of the highway patrol. They’re all lying, and disingenuous, and dishonest people,” Noem said, because they wouldn’t back up her baseless claims that the streets were overrun with terrorists.

ICE Barbie Says an Entire State’s Worth of Officials Are “Lying”

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is convinced, against all evidence, that Portland is a war zone.

trib.al

1 5 19

Edward Perez @eddieperez.bsky.social · 1d

fucking goons

Gregory Pratt @royalpratt.bsky.social · 1d

ICE / Border Patrol threatening to arrest a cyclist for following and recording in Chicago

2 11

Reposted by Edward Perez

Victor Ray @victorerikray.bsky.social · 1d

Petition to call “anti-DEI campaigners” what they actually are. I propose professional racists, hired bigots, mercenary chauvinists.

BronSays @bronsays.bsky.social · 1d

www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

"A prominent anti-DEI campaigner appointed by Meta in August as an adviser on AI bias has spent the weeks since his appointment spreading disinformation about shootings, transgender people, vaccines, crime, and protests."

Meta AI adviser spreads disinformation about shootings, vaccines and trans people

Critics condemn Robby Starbuck, appointed in lawsuit settlement, for ‘peddling lies and pushing extremism’

www.theguardian.com

3 36 76

Edward Perez @eddieperez.bsky.social · 1d

shocking

Mediaite @mediaite.com · 3d

Ben Shapiro Warns the ‘Conspiratorial Right’ Is Taking Over Social Media

Ben Shapiro is warning that the Jewish people are being regarded as a "conspiratorial force" by a certain faction of right-wing conservatives. The post Ben Shapiro Warns the ‘Conspiratorial Right’ Is Taking Over Social Media first appeared on Mediaite.

dlvr.it

1 9

Edward Perez @eddieperez.bsky.social · 1d

Love the little Suzuki!

Reposted by Edward Perez

Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 2d

Pope Leo quotes Hannah Arendt:

“The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction and the distinction between true and false no longer exist."

www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news...

Pope Leo calls for news agencies to stand as bulwark against "post-truths," lies and manipulation

Pope Leo XIV has encouraged international news agencies to stand firm as a bulwark against the "ancient art of lying" and manipulation.

www.cbsnews.com

170 3.1K 9.4K

Reposted by Edward Perez

Mark Jacob @markjacob.bsky.social · 1d

Just saw an announcement from a kids soccer group that ICE agents have been spotted in the area, so it’s OK to skip today’s games if people are scared.
The MAGA assault on our community is intolerable and has nothing to do with making people’s lives better.

18 200 520

Edward Perez @eddieperez.bsky.social · 1d

👇👇👇

Melissa Gira Grant @melissagiragrant.com · 1d

I think the last few months have shown how describing a particular far right ethos as "anti-government" has kind of fallen apart

Reposted by Edward Perez

Ian Coldwater 👻🌿 @lookitup.baby · 2d

Boss, we’ve got a problem. Users don’t want this stuff! They keep wanting to turn it off, even when we keep turning it back on!

Boss: I have an idea

Pavel @spavel.bsky.social · 2d

bitch what

Onedrive settings. A toggle for using AI to detect and identify faces is set to on. The caption says, you can only turn off this setting 3 times per year.

32 980 2.6K

Edward Perez @eddieperez.bsky.social · 1d

“…large companies have co-opted the language of openness and interoperability to defend monopolistic control.”

Tech Policy Press @techpolicypress.bsky.social · 1d

For this week’s podcast, Justin Hendrix spoke with Mallory Knodel from the Social Web Foundation and the Internet Exchange and Burcu Kilic from CIGI. The conversation revolved around a post they wrote for the Internet Exchange titled “Big Tech Redefined the Open Internet to Serve Its Own Interests."

The Open Internet is Dead. What Comes Next? | TechPolicy.Press

Justin Hendrix spoke to Mallory Knodel and Burcu Kilic about their recent essay, titled "Big Tech Redefined the Open Internet to Serve Its Own Interests."

www.techpolicy.press

7 9

Edward Perez @eddieperez.bsky.social · 3d

He’s such a small, petty, desperate, overweening little man.

1 3

Edward Perez @eddieperez.bsky.social · 3d

Donald Trump is an abuser, and we are all trapped in the house while he rages.

2 18

Edward Perez @eddieperez.bsky.social · 3d

😳

Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · 3d

Huh: TikTok took down my 8-second video featuring this image of Debbie Brockman — the news producer just detained by Trump’s CBP agents — saying it violates the “joy of TikTok”

1 5 9