Lisa Karakaya

Touché

Opinion | What Chuck Schumer Can Learn From Bad Bunny

Here’s a gift link to my New York Times piece on what Dems can learn from bad bunny

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/04/o...

Wanna know whose shutdown this is?

Pay attention to who’s enjoying it.

A lot of people think that every international student admitted means one fewer spot for domestic students, when the opposite is more likely true - the tuition revenue international students bring allows public universities to provide substantial discounts to domestic students, improving access.

Pritzker: "People of Illinois, we need your help. Get our your cell phones, record and narrate what you see. Put it on social media. Peacefully ask for badge numbers and identification. Speak up for your neighbors. We need to let the world know that this is happening and that we won't stand for it."

Elle s’appelait Melissa Hortman, élue démocrate, tuée en juin avec son mari pour ses opinions politiques.

Pas de drapeaux en berne... Rien...

J.B. Pritzker: "Mr. President, do not come to Chicago. You are neither wanted here nor needed here."

This is how you stand up to bullies and aspiring tyrants.

The military takeover of Washington is not a “distraction” from Epstein. It’s a military takeover of Washington, which is an even bigger deal, and those of us who kill brain cells reporting on this stuff knows it’s been an explicit goal since before the election.

ICE claims to be going into only tough spots, but the “tough” spots are court hearings and car washes. And now, ICE has a budget larger than the IDF. Despite all that, we are cutting food assistance, SNAP, and health care. It’s outrageous.

Jeffries: "All we need are 4 Republicans to join us in support of their constituents, to have John McCain-level courage, and stand up in defense of the healthcare of the American people. What type of party would bring a bill to the House floor that rips away Medicaid from those in need?"

You are personally ordering the deportation of people because of things they’ve said and op-eds they’ve written. You don’t give a fuck about free speech.

Politics hasn't been this simple in a long time: do you think it's good for one man to exercise unchecked, arbitrary power or not. Those are the two available ideologies right now

Menendez Jr: They feel no weight of the law and no restraint on what they should be doing. And that was shown in broad daylight today when they not just arrested the Mayor of Newark but when they put their hands on two members of congress standing behind me. How is this acceptable?

Almost nobody is ok with it. But was it on your local news today? If not, nobody is going to know about it in order to not be OK with it.

Ppl oppose almost everything this administration is doing, when they’re told what those things are. But most people aren’t!

Congressional delegation visits Mahmoud Khalil and Rumeysa Ozturk in Louisiana detention centers | CNN A delegation of congressional members traveled to Louisiana Tuesday to demand the release of Mahmoud Khalil and Rumeysa Ozturk and inspect conditions at the two Immigration and Customs Enforcement det...

“Rümeysa Öztürk is my constituent, an accomplished scholar, and a valued member of our Massachusetts community. Like Rümeysa, Mahmoud Kahlil has committed no crime and is being punished by Donald Trump simply for exercising his right to free speech,” Pressley said in a statement to CNN.

We must stop this brain drain and defend higher education and our democracy against these authoritarian tyrants.

Now is the time.

Stop calling it deporting, so MAYBE more Americans will get it. "Deporting" is sending someone back, after due process, to the country they came from, where they arrive a free person. This is human trafficking to a foreign torture prison for the rest of their lives. GET THE LANGUAGE RIGHT.

let’s look back at what has happened so far

Cory Booker giving a 25 hour speech: everyone loved it, raised his profile

Van Hollen flies to El Salvador and meets Abrego Garcia: everyone loved it, raised his profile

Schumer publicly caved: everyone hated that

just a general note to Dems

Howard University students launched a solidarity encampment, DC and campus police threaten arrests.

It's a direct attack on peaceful protest and student power.

Howard students demand justice— they’re calling on community to mobilize and defend the encampment.

Show up. Speak out. Stand with them.

Murray Osorio PLLC, counsel for Kilmar Abrego Garcia:

"If the government believes there is a legitimate case to be made, it should present that case in a court of law … not on social media. But that cannot happen until Mr. Abrego Garcia is returned to the United States and given full due process."

The US is losing some of the best thinkers and researchers in the world as our administration revokes the student status of a reported 7000 international students. No matter your theory of the state, this is not good.

1. Condemn the attacks on higher education, even if your own institution has not yet been singled out. 2. Legally contest and refuse to comply with unlawful demands from the federal government. 3. Work with other universities to mount a coordinated opposition of administrators, faculty, and alumni to combat these anti-democratic attacks.

Harvard University - link to sign - 840 signatures so far Stanford University - link to sign 1096 signatures so far Yale University - link to sign - 970 signatures so far Cornell University - link to sign - 505 signatures so far Boston University - link to sign - 502 signatures so far Northwestern University - link to sign - 329 signatures so far Emory - link to sign - 276 signatures so far Tufts - link to sign - 179 signatures so far Brandeis - link to sign - 110 signatures so far Suffolk University - link to sign - 91 signatures so far UW Madison - link to sign - 84 signatures so far University of North Carolina - link to sign - 70 signatures so far Washington University in Saint Louis - link to sign - 33 signatures so far SUNY Albany - link to sign - just started collecting

PROFESSORS ARE INSISTING THEIR CAMPUSES STAND UP FOR DEMOCRACY AND HIGHER EDUCATION.

Today, we are releasing letters - most organized in under a week - with over 5000 signatures calling on campus leadership to stand up to Trump & fight for our values & our students.

bit.ly/CampusLettersTally

As Trump defies the Supreme Court, continuing the torture of a US resident sent to a concentration camp, Schumer is, yet again, silent. One should not contribute to any Senator who does not call for "Do Absolutely Nothing" Schumer to step down.

The president of the United States and the president of El Salvador have conspired to kidnap a man and hold him hostage in an El Salvador prison. This criminality ignores the rule of law and thumbs its nose at a Supreme Court ruling to facilitate his return.

January 30, 1933: Hitler appointed Chancellor

March 22, 1933: First prisoners arrive at Dachau

April 12, 2025 It was just 20 days ago—on March 24—that editor in chief of The Atlantic Jeffrey Goldberg reported that the most senior members of the Trump administration discussed a military strike on the Houthis i...

April 12, 2025

Called my congressman who voted for the SAVE act.

Me: What documents will I need to vote if this passes?
Staffer: a DL and birth certificate.
Me: The documents don’t match
Staffer: Then a marriage certificate.
Me: Will my husband need the marriage certificate too?
Staffer: No
Me: See the problem?

100,000+ people marched at the #HandsOff rally in New York!

New York Warns Trump It Will Not Comply With Public School D.E.I. Order New York’s stance differed from the muted and deferential responses from other major institutions to the administration’s threats.

The New York State Education Department said it will not comply with Trump’s DEI order:
“there are no federal or state laws prohibiting the principles of DEI.” 👏👏👏

www.nytimes.com/2025/04/04/u...

I guarantee by next week, in exchange for tariff relief, Trump will be demanding from companies political donations to far right causes, rollbacks of DEI, purging LGBTQ employees, and cessation of funding to civil society orgs that support progressive causes.