Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Darcy Conaty

Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 4h

Wrote a thing. www.thenation.com/article/acti...

The CSIS report declares, “Radicals will argue that peaceful politics will inevitably fail and that only violence will make a difference,” but I have no idea who these radicals are because in my 40 years around direct action organizing, I’ve only encountered theoretical enthusiasm for violence from the sidelines and the occasional young hothead (almost always white and male) in movements whose vast majority and leadership are committed to nonviolence. I do know someone who was part of a violent group in the early ’70s and then became wanted fugitive; he’s since become an ardent advocate of nonviolence.

What too often gets described as left-wing violence at protests is property destruction, which can be dangerous and intimidating and is usually opposed by protest organizers, but should be regarded as distinct from harming human life. For example, at the 1999 protests against the World Trade Organization in Seattle, the Black Bloc, a small cadre among the 50,000 protesters smashed a lot of shop windows quite spectacularly. But there are no reports of activists harming human beings. Police, on the other hand, used tear gas; pepper spray; rubber, plastic, and wooden bullets; concussion grenades; and armored vehicles against protesters bystanders resulting in many injuries. Nonetheless, for years afterward, mainstream media outlets portrayed this event as an occasion of shocking activist violence.

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 9h

roberts thinks it is an affront that a community of upstanding citizens can not do as it chooses when it comes to voting. if that means that they might discriminate against a racial minority, he has no problem with that either as long as it is facially neutral.

Jay Willis @jaywillis.net · 1d

Everything about John Roberts's approach to the Voting Rights Act makes sense when you remember that John Roberts has has always been hostile to the Voting Rights Act, never believed it was appropriate, and has spent most of his 45-year legal career working to hollow it out.

One of the Biggest Cases of the Supreme Court’s Term Is John Roberts’ Decadeslong Pet Project

If there’s one thing the Roberts court has been consistent on, it’s this.

slate.com

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W. Keith Tims @wkeithtims.bsky.social · 7h

If you live in the US state of Georgia, early voting is underway for a very boring special election--but it's important that you vote, especially if you want to keep your power bills lower in the future. And your vote really counts.

#election #vote #georgia #georgiapower #utilities #usa

I Need 1% of Georgia to Watch This Video

YouTube video by Hank Green

youtu.be

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Matthew Dowd @matthewjdowd.bsky.social · 8h

From the Declaration of Independence:
"The history of the present King...is a history of repeated injuries/usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world. He has refused his Assent to Laws..

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Darcy Conaty @dconaty.bsky.social · 6h

If you prefer your books in audio format, Copper Script is on sale at Chirp for only $3.99!

Also on sale: "Death in the Spires" ($2.99), "The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen", & "A Nobleman's Guide to Seducing a Scoundrel" ($4.99 each)

www.chirpbooks.com/audiobooks/c...

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The Museum of English Rural Life (MERL) @themerl.bsky.social · 12h

🐏 New Absolute Units 🐏

Same-sex relationships have always been part of rural England, but they've been underrepresented in our collections.

In the first of 2 episodes, @timjerrome.bsky.social shares his work tracing queer rural lives in The MERL archives.

merl.reading.ac.uk/explore/abso...

The Absolute Units art. Three giant sheep hover over the English countryside.

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sea shanty stan account ⛵️ @anarchoshanties.bsky.social · Sep 11

This one's maybe a little on the ling side, but trust me, it's worth it. I've cried reading it multiple times.

(1/3)

mylordshesacactus

Carpathia received Titanic's distress signal at 12:20am, April 15th, 1912. She was 58 miles away, a distance that absolutely could not be covered in less than four hours.

(Californian's exact position at the time is... controversial. She was close enough to have helped. By all accounts she was close enough to see Titanic's distress rockets. It's uncertain to this day why her crew did not respond, or how many might not have been lost if she had been there. This is not the place for what-ifs. This is about what was done.)

Carpathia's Captain Rostron had, yes, rolled out of bed instantly when woken by his radio operator, ordered his ship to Titanic's aid and confirmed the signal before he was fully dressed. The man had never in his life responded to an emergency call. His goal tonight was to make sure nobody who heard that fact would ever believe it.

All of Carpathia's lifeboats were swung out ready for deployment. Oil was set up to be poured off the side of the ship in case the sea turned choppy; oil would coat and calm the water near Carpathia if that happened, making it safer for lifeboats to draw up alongside her.

He ordered lights to be rigged along the side of the ship so survivors could see it better, and had nets and ladders rigged along her sides ready to be dropped when they arrived, in order to let as many survivors as possible climb aboard at once.

I don't know if his making provisions for there still being survivors in the water was optimism or not. I think he knew they were never going to get there in time for that. I think he did it anyway because, god, you have to hope.

Carpathia had three dining rooms, which were immediately converted into triage and first aid stations. Each had a doctor assigned to it. Hot soup, coffee, and tea were prepared in bulk in each dining room, and blankets and warm clothes were collected to be ready to hand out.

By this time, many of the passengers were awake-prepping a ship for disaster relief isn't quiet-and all of them stepped up to help, many donating their own clothes and blankets.

And then he did something I tend to refer to as diverting all power from life support.

Here's the thing about steamships: They run on steam. Shocking, I know; but that steam powers everything on the ship, and right now, Carpathia needed power. So Rostron turned off hot water and central heating, which bled valuable steam power, to everywhere but the dining rooms-which, of course, were being used to make hot drinks and receive survivors.

He woke up all the engineers, all the stokers and firemen, diverted all that steam back into the engines, and asked his ship to go as fast as she possibly could. And when she'd done that, he asked her to go faster.

I need you to understand that you simply can't push a ship very far past its top speed. Pushing that much sheer tonnage through the water becomes harder with each extra knot past the speed it was designed for. Pushing a ship past its rated speed is not only reckless-it's difficult to maneuver-but it puts an incredible amount of strain on the engines. Ships are not designed to exceed their top speed by even one knot. They can't do it. It can't be done.

Carpathia's absolute do-or-die, the-engines-can't-take-this-forever top speed was fourteen knots. Dodging icebergs, in the dark and the cold, surrounded by mist, she sustained a speed of almost seventeen and a half.

No one would have asked this of them. It wasn't expected. They were almost sixty miles away, with icebergs in their path. They had a responsibility to respond; they did not have a responsibility to do the impossible and do it well. No one would have faulted them for taking more time to confirm the severity of the issue. No one would have blamed them for a slow and cautious approach. No one but themselves.

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Yashar Ali 🐘 @yasharali.bsky.social · 21h

BREAKING via WSJ

The Trump administration is planning sweeping changes in criminal division at the IRS.

Full Story: on.wsj.com/3LbVFtK

The Trump administration is preparing sweeping changes at the Internal Revenue Service that would allow the agency to pursue criminal inquiries of left-leaning groups more easily, according to people familiar with the matter.
A senior IRS official involved in the effort has drawn up a list of potential targets that includes major Democratic donors, some of the people said.
The undertaking aims to install allies of President Trump at the IRS criminal-investigative division, or IRS-CI, to exert firmer control over the unit and weaken the involvement of IRS lawyers in criminal investigations, officials said. The proposed changes could open the door to politically motivated probes and are being driven by Gary Shapley, an adviser to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

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Amanda Katz @katzish.bsky.social · 2d

Unbelievable story of Afghan refugee, a highly vetted fluent English speaker who helped the US against the Taliban and now lives here with his US citizen kids, declared “illegal” and perhaps about to be shipped home by the Trump admin to his likely death

The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 2d

He supported America’s war, escaped Afghanistan and started a family in the U.S.

Then ICE arrested him.

If he is deported, he expects the Taliban to kill him.

America saved him from the Taliban. Trump wants to send him back.

He supported America’s war, escaped Afghanistan and started a family in the U.S. Then ICE arrested him. If he is deported, he expects the Taliban to kill him.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 20h

“In some cases, the tool includes duplicative addresses, with the same provider appearing to be simultaneously in-network and out-of-network. In other cases, the tool initially informs users that a provider is covered by a plan but lists that provider as out-of-network on other pages.”

Dan Diamond @ddiamond.bsky.social · 20h

New: Trump officials unveiled a tool intended to help millions of Medicare patients pick their plans, as open enrollment begins today.

But the tool — a directory that was intended to match providers with their plans — was rife with errors, The Post found.

More here w/Akilah Johnson

Medicare doctor directory, a Trump team priority, launches with errors

The directory, intended to help older Americans navigate Medicare Advantage open enrollment, produces conflicting responses about which providers are covered by health plans.

www.washingtonpost.com

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alison says reinstate Link! @alisonborealis.bsky.social · 20h

To all the new arrivals, I thought I'd re-share my guidelines for being on Bluesky.

Whether you choose to use any of them is up to you, but your experience here depends entirely on how you set up your feed and how you interact with people.

... you know, just like in-person life.

alison says reinstate Link! @alisonborealis.bsky.social · Nov 10

Hello newskies!

I've seen a number of these things go around, and I've finally decided to jump on the bandwagon...

So here we are: alison's rules of Bluesky:

(It's a short list with many (hopefully) straight-forward explanatory sub-points)

Use Alt-Text
- We are making an inclusive space here.
- Alt text loads even when images don’t load (so people can still understand what’s going on during low bandwidth episodes)
- Disabled people (including blind, vision-impaired, and folks with reading glasses) deserve to be included.
- Many people won’t like or share non-alt-texted image posts
- Use alt-text to describe the image not to post links, credits, jokes or other stuff

Block early and often
- Do not quote dunk, do not engage the trolls, just block.
- Block people who annoy you.
- Block reply guys.
- Block anybody you want; this is YOUR social media experience.
- Join as many blocklists as you want!
- Do not try to evade a block.

Gas people up
- Want to have a positive experience here? BE a positive experience here.
- Cheer people on!
- Support them in challenging times!
- Tell them why you think they’re awesome!
- Compliment the things they’re sharing (like if they made a cake and post photos, etc)
- Say the things you wish others told you - they’ll probably return the favour!

Don’t be a reply guy
- Treat people with respect
- Assume that no advice is wanted unless advice is specifically asked for
- Do not assume other people you’re talking with lack expertise just because you’ve never heard of them before.

Amplify others
- See a post you think is awesome? Repost it!
- Quote-post your support for others and their ideas or concerns.
- Help increase the reach of other people’s posts and projects (particularly help marginalized voices reach more people)
- Do not copy, screenshot, or empty-quote-post people just to get your name on the material instead. Don’t take credit for other people’s work. Bluesky doesn’t do analytics; you don’t have engagement stats.

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Darcy Conaty @dconaty.bsky.social · 1d

As a graduate of the law school, I am appalled. Not, mind you, surprised.

If they still have access to the online edition, maybe they can post the "allowed" items & fill in the rest with white blocks labeled CENSORED marking where they would have published actual news.

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Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 1d

BREAKING: Marco Rubio's State Department announces publicly that it is exercising unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination in revoking people's visas based on comments about the killing of Charlie Kirk.

Department of State v
@StateDept
g..
The United States has no obligation to host foreigners who wish death on Americans.
The State Department continues to identify visa holders who celebrated the heinous assassination of Charlie Kirk. Here are just a few examples of aliens who are no longer welcome in the U.S.:
5:55 PM • Oct 14, 2025 • 34.1K Views

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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 1d

Why would the cartels want to stop ICE and CBP activities that have been diverting resources away from drug interdiction?

MFordTheRiver @prynnford.bsky.social · 1d

Of all the things that didn’t happen

Screen shot of ABC article with the headline “cartels issuing bounties up to 50k for hits on ICE and CBP agents, DHS says.”

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John Pfaff @johnpfaff.bsky.social · 8d

Feel like in light of ... everything ... right now, probably worth it to re-up this. Constant dooming is counter-productive, and the occasional burst of something uplifting can be essential.

John Pfaff @johnpfaff.bsky.social · Sep 16

At a time when everything seems terrible, I was checking in w one of my kids abt what he’s watching on-line, and apparently it’s inspirational edits like this one, which was … actually pretty uplifting at a time when uplift sometimes seems in short supply.

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Sean Eric Fagan @kithrup.bsky.social · 2d

The Fifth Season by @nkjemisin.bsky.social is also on US ebook sale for $3, and I got 6 copies of that for random giveaway.

Sunshine by Robin McKinley is also on US Kindle sale for $3, and I got 6 of those for random giveaway. Sunshine is probably my favorite vampire book.

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Prof Caroline Mala Corbin @carolinemalacorbin.bsky.social · 2d

I urge everyone to show up to a local No Kings protest.

Bring an American flag.
After all, we are the true patriots.

Jen Bendery @jbendery.bsky.social · 2d

The Oct. 18th "No Kings Day of Peaceful Action" has now surpassed 2,500 community events across all 50 states, per No Kings organizers.

All of these events were "organized by average Americans across personal, political, and geographic demographics."

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Milan Markovic @profmarkovic.bsky.social · 2d

This blatant corruption also means that the regime needs to hold on to power--hence, wave after wave of gerrymandering, largely blessed by the courts.

Judd Legum @juddlegum.bsky.social · 2d

1. Nations that have bestowed lavish gifts to President Trump — or enriched Trump and his family by striking business deals with Trump-connected companies — have later received extraordinary benefits from the Trump administration.

Quid Pro Presidency

Nations that have bestowed lavish gifts to President Trump — or enriched Trump and his family by striking business deals with Trump-connected companies — have later received extraordinary benefits…

popular.info

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Alt CDC (they/them) @altcdc.altgov.info · 2d

🚨ATTN FEDS!🚨

The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) has sued over firings on 10/10

CDC, join our local (AFGE2883) to support and get represented: www.afge2883ga.org. See below for RIF guidance & resources

Other feds, check if AFGE covers your agency: www.afge.org/about-us/age...

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🎃 Fiona "Fi" Webster 🎃 @fiona-webster22.bsky.social · 2d

47’s allies are raging over the Oct 18 "No Kings” protests. The unanimity of messaging ("terrorists") means it’s almost certainly coordinated by Stephen Miller. Yet it’s backfiring: Dems & rally organizers are using it to galvanize attendance, which will likely succeed.

Free link: archive.ph/dTtxD

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Darcy Conaty @dconaty.bsky.social · 2d

It's not just judicial resources. The defendant's resources are also involved. Even if represented pro bono, *someone* is paying for the defense. Minimizing that cost is a valid goal.

I hope they demand the DoJ pay fees & expenses when this gets thrown out.

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Marc Elias @marcelias.bsky.social · 2d

For context, Democracy Docket first launched a paid membership 18 months ago and already has more than 50,000 paid members (and nearly 500,000 free subscribers).

Yes, the 100k number is only WaPo's print subscribers, but it is still a shocking decline given the interest in democracy and elections.

karl rove knausgård @uhactually.bsky.social · 3d

Lmao WaPo has fewer than 100K circulation now. It turns out “alienate your liberal subscriber base” is not a good strategy when the Republicans also hate you. www.forbes.com/sites/andyme...

The Washington Post Is Running Out Of Readers Willing To Pay

Once a titan of American journalism, The Washington Post now struggles to reach even 100,000 print subscribers most days.

www.forbes.com

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Sexy Henry Kissinger Costume @mightygodking.com · 3d

reading how foxes are self-selecting now, on an evolutionary basis, for "sociable with humans" and then seeing a flood of "this fox decided to be fwiends with me" videos and it's like foxes finally decided that that one particular group of wolves had the right idea when they decided to become dogs

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Dr. Earhart Sampson, PhD🌎 @earhart.bsky.social · 2d

Fascism is not "lawless" but is a state that systematically dismantles the rule of law and replaces it with a legal system that enforces the will of the leader and the ruling party.

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dr. caitlin m. green @caitlinmoriah.bsky.social · 2d

the representative from PIRC said the agents have made it hard for them to work, they move their table even though they have a permit. they are in need of volunteers here and at the courthouse, especially if you speak spanish

pircoregon.org

Home | Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition

Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition (PIRC) support immigrant rights through direct assistance, education, legal support, advocacy, and community organizing.

pircoregon.org

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