Author | Lightnews

Thomas Bartscherer @tbartscherer.bsky.social · 1d

Dylan's "Murder Most Foul" is Duchamp's "Étant Donné"

Reposted by Thomas Bartscherer

Bradley P. Moss @bradmossesq.bsky.social · 2d

If you are a service member or civil servant ordered to perform an operation in spite of concerns you raised about their legality, you have lawful options to blow the whistle. They do not involve leaking to the press.

Consult with qualified counsel. You can honor your Oath without breaking the law.

Ryan Goodman @rgoodlaw.bsky.social · 3d

Boat strikes put US service members in legal jeopardy:

"Some junior officers have asked military lawyers, known as judge advocates general or JAGs, for written sign-off before taking part in strikes .... It does not appear that such memos were furnished, said one of the people."

Top Democrats demand details of spy agencies’ role in boat strikes

Democrats are demanding that Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard share intelligence on lethal operations against alleged narcotics traffickers.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Thomas Bartscherer @tbartscherer.bsky.social · 2d

The good fight.
I do the same, with similar results.

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Timothy Snyder @timothysnyder.bsky.social · 3d

The amount is meaningless — less than one day of salary. But the principle is important: once the armed services are paid by the oligarchs, they become a private militia, and we no longer have a country.
www.nytimes.com/live/2025/10...

Trump Administration Live Updates: Pentagon Accepts $130 Million Donation to Help Pay Troops During Shutdown

www.nytimes.com

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Jack Jenkins @jackjenkins.me · 4d

Update: The Chicago clergy letter decrying ICE's actions and voicing a willingness on the part of clergy to put their "bodies on the line" to protest ICE has reached 250 signatures — and now includes multiple evangelical pastors/leaders of evangelical institutions in the area.

Jack Jenkins @jackjenkins.me · 6d

NEW: 200+ Chicago-area clergy — Protestants, Catholics, and evangelicals — have signed a letter decrying ICE's efforts and voicing a willingness to put their "bodies on the line" for migrants.

"What Kristi Noem and her ICE agents are doing is immoral," they write. religionnews.com/2025/10/21/a...

(RNS) - Last Friday (Oct. 17), the Rev. Hannah Kardon, a United Methodist minister in the Chicago area, stood alongside other protesters demonstrating outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Broadview, Illinois. As a line of Illinois State Police began marching toward her and other demonstrators, gripping wooden batons, footage shows the pastor with her hands raised in prayer.
Officers then pushed into the protesters, forcing them back.
One officer shifted his stance, reared back and began shoving his baton like a battering ram - jamming it repeatedly, Kardon says, into her leg. A few seconds later, the pastor was pulled from the crowd and thrown to the ground.
All the while, Kardon says, she never stopped praying. When officers began to arrest her, they tied her arms behind her back and placed her along the curb.
"I said, 'God, please help these people to know that what they're doing is wrong, and help them to turn around," Kardon, who leads United Church of Rogers Park in Chicago, said in an interview. Her leg, she said, has developed visible bruises.

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The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 4d

Donald Trump is telling his own Justice Department that it owes him $230 million, @qjurecic.bsky.social writes. "The goal is not just dictatorial power, but the ostentatious performance of dictatorial power."

Trump to DOJ: Pay Up

The goal is not just dictatorial power, but ostentatious performance.

bit.ly

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David Corn @davidcorn.bsky.social · 5d

Looks as if Trump is saying no Democrat will be allowed to win another national election—and he will use the FBI, the DOJ, and the CIA to make sure of that. This is a full-scale attack on American democracy, and every Republican, CEO, and conservative mouthpiece who doesn't object is complicit.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 6d

Trump: "We can never let what happened in the 2020 election happen again. We just can't let that happen. I know Kash is working on it, everybody is working on it. And certainly Tulsi is working on it. We can't let that happen again to our country."

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Thomas Bartscherer @tbartscherer.bsky.social · 5d

The revolution eats its children? Who could’ve guessed.

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Ali Velshi @velshi.com · 8d

2026 midterms will be “free but not fair,” warns @garrykasparov.bsky.social. “Look at their actions,” he warns. “They're not afraid of losing power because they don’t intend on losing power.” His advice for Democrats: Be more aggressive. #Velshi

Kasparov’s warning: All signs indicate Trump will not give up power voluntarily

Former Soviet dissident Garry Kasparov says everything about the Trump administration’s behavior suggests it has no intention of giving up power voluntarily. He starkly warns of “free but not fair” midterm elections in 2026. “They’re sharpening this tool that is aimed at the very heart of American democracy.”

www.msnbc.com

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Hannah Arendt Center at Bard College @hannaharendtcenter.bsky.social · 9d

An inspiring conversation! Thank you both for joining us again and again!

Thomas Bartscherer @tbartscherer.bsky.social · 10d

An honor and pleasure to join poet Ann Lauterbach on stage at this year's Hannah Arendt Center conference in New York. @hannaharendtcenter.bsky.social @bardcollege.bsky.social

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Thomas Bartscherer @tbartscherer.bsky.social · 10d

An honor and pleasure to join poet Ann Lauterbach on stage at this year's Hannah Arendt Center conference in New York. @hannaharendtcenter.bsky.social @bardcollege.bsky.social

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Thomas Bartscherer @tbartscherer.bsky.social · 14d

Pretty extraordinary how Diane Keaton totally controls this interview without ever seeming like she's trying to dominate. It all happens on her terms. www.youtube.com/watch?v=bX6g...

Diane Keaton Talks The Godfather, Moving to New York, and Sings "There's a Lull in My Life"

YouTube video by Johnny Carson

www.youtube.com

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Thomas Bartscherer @tbartscherer.bsky.social · 14d

But what should the follow up be? Any rephrasing of the question will get the same answer. Any version of: don’t you think that’s the kind of thing you should know? Will likely get an answer that says: yes, I will look into it. What form of follow up is useful in a situation like this?

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Thomas Bartscherer @tbartscherer.bsky.social · 15d

Wow. Hannah Arendt hits the big time at last.

Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 15d

Pope Leo turned to and quoted extensively from Hannah Arendt in his remarks, endorsing her detailed analysis of the factors that give rise to authoritarianism and totalitarian rule. He made clear that this analysis is again appropriate to developments found around the world, and notably in the US

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

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Thomas Bartscherer @tbartscherer.bsky.social · 20d

"Wonder is not the origin of the need to philosophize for Hegel but what he calls Zerrissenheit, the torn-apartness of the modern world." --Robert Pippin

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Thomas Bartscherer @tbartscherer.bsky.social · 15d

Wow. Hannah Arendt hits the big time at last.

Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 15d

Pope Leo turned to and quoted extensively from Hannah Arendt in his remarks, endorsing her detailed analysis of the factors that give rise to authoritarianism and totalitarian rule. He made clear that this analysis is again appropriate to developments found around the world, and notably in the US

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

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Thomas Bartscherer @tbartscherer.bsky.social · 15d

"Braindead" is good. Arendt called it "thoughtlessness."

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Sheryl Gay Stolberg @sherylnyt.bsky.social · 17d

BREAKING: Friday night massacre underway at CDC. Doznes of "disease detectives," high-level scientists, entire Washington staff and editors of the MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) have all been RIFed and received the following notice:

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Thomas Bartscherer @tbartscherer.bsky.social · Apr 8

Check out Larry Bogad on "radical ridicule" and "tactical performance" www.lmbogad.com/writing

Writing — L.M. Bogad

www.lmbogad.com

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The Guardian @theguardian.com · 18d

Venezuelan politician María Corina Machado wins Nobel peace prize

Leader of country’s opposition receives award after intense public and private campaign by Donald Trump

www.theguardian.com

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Thomas Bartscherer @tbartscherer.bsky.social · 18d

“There use to be…”

Reposted by Thomas Bartscherer

Michael J. Stern @michaeljstern.bsky.social · 18d

What people do not understand is that there are federal prosecutorial guidelines. Even if Leticia James violated the law (and we don't know she did), federal prosecutors would not bring a case for $18,000. I indicted cases for DOJ. This is a vindictive prosecution.

www.cnn.com/2025/10/09/p...

Letitia James, the New York attorney general who defeated Trump in court, indicted by Justice Department | CNN Politics

New York Attorney General Letitia James was indicted Thursday in Alexandria, Virginia, as President Donald Trump’s Justice Department continues to pursue charges against his political opponents, two s...

www.cnn.com

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Henry Farrell @himself.bsky.social · 19d

"It wanted to signal strength. Instead, it’s revealing its weakness. The administration’s need to break the academy is forcing it to make a desperately risky gamble." www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/o...

Opinion | You Beat Trumpism by Banding Together. It’s as Hard and as Simple as That.

www.nytimes.com

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Philip N Cohen @philipncohen.com · 24d

Chemerinsky: The Trump extortion demands are unconstitutional as well as odious (gift link). Me: Any school that signs must be shunned, faculty affected must walk. No room for this.

Opinion | Trump’s ‘Compact’ With Universities Is Just Extortion

www.nytimes.com

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Alondra Nelson @alondra.bsky.social · 19d

"It is not hyperbole to say that the future of higher education in America requires that every university reject it. If any schools capitulate, the pressure will be enormous on all to fold. The only solution is solidarity and collective action against this effort at federal control over higher" ed.

Philip N Cohen @philipncohen.com · 24d

Chemerinsky: The Trump extortion demands are unconstitutional as well as odious (gift link). Me: Any school that signs must be shunned, faculty affected must walk. No room for this.

Opinion | Trump’s ‘Compact’ With Universities Is Just Extortion

www.nytimes.com

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