Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Richmond Eustis

@reustis.bsky.social

2.8K followers 2.5K following 2.2K posts

Reclusive Swamp Druid. Associate professor, Nicholls State: World Lit, Wilderness, and other "Waste" lands. Senior field & Wilderness Medicine instructor at NOLS. Wilderness EMT. Oud, bees. Fulbright Jordan 2015-17. South Louisiana Sacrifice Zone

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Richmond Eustis @reustis.bsky.social · Nov 9

Obligatory pinned skeet. Behind the scenes with my oud at last year's Arabic Music Retreat.

Point of view shot holding an oud in front of a music stand, with sheet music for a sama'i in maqam hijaz kar kurd.

7 4 60

Reposted by Richmond Eustis

Faine Greenwood @faineg.bsky.social · 1d

I have long believed that we should be WAY more vocal about how police and ICE constantly murder dogs, and I think this is great messaging actually.

The reality is that you can mobilize a whole lot of usually tuned-out Americans around a “someone is being mean to hecking doggos” cause.

42 350 1.8K

Reposted by Richmond Eustis

Dennis Hogan @dennismhogan.bsky.social · 1d

Last week, Public Books published a roundtable that we put together on higher ed under Trump. Six contributors, six essays, six ideas for what those of us in higher education can do now to make the world a little better, a little saner, and a little safer. Read the series here (my intro below):

Public Books @publicbooks.bsky.social · 5d

“Taken together, our roundtable contributors present a suite of ideas that, if enacted, just might make higher education more livable for us all.”
The full series “Higher Ed Under Trump” is live at Public Books. Read all the contributions here:

Toward the Next American University: A Roundtable Discussion on the Future of Higher Ed - Public Books

The path higher education was on before Trump’s reelection was neither certain nor stable. There is not much to go back to now.

www.publicbooks.org

1 15 28

Reposted by Richmond Eustis

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Trump and Bessent clarify that they will only help out Argentina as long as Milei is in power. Trump adds that the same thing goes with NYC, where the White House will hold up funds if Mamdani wins.

190 300 840

Richmond Eustis @reustis.bsky.social · 1d

Ah, well. Nevertheless.

Al Jazeera English @aljazeera.com · 1d

Israeli forces kill several Palestinians in Gaza as the Israel-Hamas ceasefire comes under growing strain.

Israel imposes new Gaza aid restrictions as truce comes under strain

Israeli forces kill several Palestinians in Gaza as the Israel-Hamas ceasefire comes under growing strain.

bit.ly

1 3

Reposted by Richmond Eustis

Bob Mann @robertmannbooks.com · 1d

If you were wondering if the US military leaders would refuse to obey an illegal or unconstitutional order from Trump, I believe we have our answer.

2 5 12

Reposted by Richmond Eustis

The Serfs (youtube.com/theserfstv) @theserfstv.bsky.social · 1d

One of the most messed up parts of the "nazis are sexy and funny now" GQ article about Nick Fuentes is that it doesn't cite a single source or data point. It's all just vibes. I have no idea how something like this made it past an editorial team unless it was clearly a story they wanted to tell

traced this rumor across TikTok and Tumblr. I watched fancam edits, mapped accounts, and interviewed a dozen people in their twenties and early thirties, both people who’d made posts about Fuentes and those whose fandom was more private.

TikTok is where most outsiders misread the signal. Fuentes is extremely shareable — he basically speaks in soundbites. Every other line is a joke, and many of those jokes land. When they don’t, that in itself can be funny. His thick Chicago accent, his cartoonish tone of voice—the man was made for broadcasting, for better or worse.

It’s true that he has inspired a viral “sound” several times, but on TikTok that doesn’t equate to fandom. A sound is just a short audio clip that users layer under their own videos. It might come from a movie, a podcast, or a livestream; it doesn’t matter who said it. What matters is how easily it can be reused to set a mood or deliver a punchline. Popularity here measures remixability, not admiration. Serial killers, pedophiles caught red-handed, and random bystanders could theoretically all go viral this way. Fuentes happens to clip well.

There is a dedicated and TikTok-native Fuentes fandom, but searching through the misspellings and alternate tags that users reference him with (to avoid the filter TikTok uses to suppress content about him), only a few prolific editors dominate the results. The rest is noise—ephemeral accounts spun up around attention spikes.

The interviews I conducted reflect what the feeds suggested. Several sources said their very online friends, regardless of politics, share Fuentes clips because he’s funny. The same people said no one they know actually watches his multi-hour streams. One woman described him as “weirdly unhateable,” and suggested he’s a bit of a meme—another way of saying the trend is more of a joke than a nascent political shift.

There is, however, a small female fandom orbiting Fuentes, many of whom identify as being on the left. On Tumblr, a community cal…

25 98 480

Reposted by Richmond Eustis

Jack Tripper @chadstanton.blacksky.app · 1d

It’s funny how that works right? How the concepts most closely associated with Black thinkers regularly become a pejorative shorthand when they gain salience among white people.

1 14 51

Reposted by Richmond Eustis

Jack Tripper @chadstanton.blacksky.app · 1d

I mean, we just saw a pretty long Yarvin profile where his usage of racial slurs is framed as a provocative test of how cool someone can be in hearing slurs without reacting.

3 6 35

Reposted by Richmond Eustis

ryan cooper @ryanlcooper.com · 1d

every young Republican staffer is a Nazi, it's that simple www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

‘I love Hitler’: Leaked messages expose Young Republicans’ racist chat

Thousands of private messages reveal young GOP leaders joking about gas chambers, slavery and rape.

www.politico.com

120 1.2K 3.9K

Reposted by Richmond Eustis

Dave Andress @davidandress.bsky.social · 1d

It's funny how TOM CLANCY wrote a whole novel about a President who thought it was a good idea to bomb narcotraficantes, and EVEN HE decided it would end badly.

Philip Bump @pbump.com · 1d

So this time the boat *wasn't even moving*.

2 7 17

Reposted by Richmond Eustis

Patrick Wyman @patrickwyman.bsky.social · 1d

The fundamental problem with "Sapiens" is that Harari doesn't actually know the scholarship he's haphazardly citing. He's a historian of early modernity - his first book was on Renaissance military memoirs - and I'd bet he had grad students doing most of the research for "Sapiens."

Michael Hobbes @michaelhobbes.bsky.social · 2d

"Sapiens" is so normal for the first 70,000 years of human history but then goes absolutely buckwild as soon as it gets to colonialism

Had the Aztecs and Incas shown a bit more interest in the world surrounding them - and had they known what the Spaniards had done to their neighbours - they might have resisted the Spanish conquest more keenly and successfully.

6 19 150

Reposted by Richmond Eustis

Chantal James @chantalalive.blacksky.app · 1d

Things are coming together for my novella FES IS A MIRROR to come your way soon! Check out our first blurb from novelist Robert Jones, Jr. He thinks you will dig this!

On Fes is a Mirror by Chantal James
Out October 28, 2025 from Willow Books

I hate how quiet it's kept that Chantal James is one of the most brilliant writers writing. I read Fes Is a Mirror faithfully, amazed at the level of skill, of world-creation, and of wisdom contained within its pages. James is so careful with her characters, no matter how reckless their situations. She's so intentional with her language and every sentence is delicious. It's the kind of book you throw across the room because it pierces your heart, but you pick back up again and cradle because it's so beautiful. No lie: Fes Is a Mirror is a masterwork.

- Robert Jones, Jr., author of The Prophets, finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction

3 13 22

Richmond Eustis @reustis.bsky.social · 1d

To the Right, education and indoctrination are the same thing.

Richmond Eustis @reustis.bsky.social · 1d

"The emphasis on Christianity is greater than in other popular reading programs, scholars say. It is especially notable as Republican leaders mount campaigns against public school curriculums that they argue indoctrinates children in left-leaning ideologies."

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/14/u...

Inside a New Bible-Infused Texas English Curriculum

www.nytimes.com

1 1

Reposted by Richmond Eustis

Elana Levin @levin.bsky.social · 1d

D'Angelo speaking out about the physical and emotional burden of maintaining a nearly unobtainable physique and sexy image as a Black male artist should be taught in labor studies. It absolutely impacted how I analyze pop culture.

GQ Profile Of D'Angelo Explores The Perils Of Being Sexy

Visit the post for more.

uproxx.com

9 360 970

Richmond Eustis @reustis.bsky.social · 1d

There is no such thing as intelligence without the body. You can have a brain in a jar, but not a mind.

Furthermore, Butlerian Jihad Now.

Richmond Eustis @reustis.bsky.social · 2d

Ah. Well. Nevertheless.

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 2d

(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...

Israel-Gaza live updates: 5 Palestinians killed in Gaza City for alleged ceasefire violation, IDF says

Israel on Tuesday identified two of the people whose remains were returned.

abcnews.go.com

1 2

Reposted by Richmond Eustis

Tom the Dancing Bug, by Ruben Bolling @rubenbolling.bsky.social · 3d

5 100 240

Reposted by Richmond Eustis

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 2d

The entire incident is infuriating and terrifying. She’s a Latina woman who was working a service job. On her way home late at night, with her headphones in, she was detained for an hour by masked federal agents who wouldn’t give her their names.

Maria Greeley, 44, had just finished working a double shift at the Beach Bar on Ohio Street
earlier this month when she said she was surrounded by three federal agents who grabbed her, forced her hands behind her back and zip tied her.
Headphones in, Greeley had been focused on getting home to her two dogs for a walk.
Instead, she said she was detained by masked agents who did not answer when she asked for names. They questioned her for an hour, she said.

200 2.4K 6.2K

Reposted by Richmond Eustis

Aparna Nair @disabilitystor1.bsky.social · 2d

So do White people in the west just believe it’s okay to resurrect the dead to make them dance and perform for your pleasure?
Is this a cultural difference?
Because where I come from, disturbing the dead usually comes with consequences.
Bad ones.

29 45 270

Reposted by Richmond Eustis

News Eye @newseye.bsky.social · 2d

These are mostly indigenous communities in Alaska that have been slammed by the storm.

The local manager of a small airline fleet says he is the only one doing evacuations right now!

Defund FEMA and people are abandoned. Defund public media and no-one knows.

FYI, today is Indigenous Peoples Day.

Flooding seen with water up to the crash barriers of local roads

Sheds and debris lie scattered in the storm

A small blue house has been blown onto its roof

49 1.7K 3.5K

Reposted by Richmond Eustis

Kieran Healy @kjhealy.co · 2d

It’s great to be paid for protesting and everything but let me tell you the whole antifa reimbursement process is just terrible

180 360 3.2K

Richmond Eustis @reustis.bsky.social · 2d

Oh, and Johnny Cash's Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down

Richmond Eustis @reustis.bsky.social · 2d

SInead and The Clash for sure

Also:
Guns 'N' Roses: Live and Let Die
Yo La Tengo: You Can Have It All
Mary J. Blige: Sweet Thing
Cowboy Junkies: Sweet Jane
The Bangles: Hazy Shade of Winter
Elliott Smith: Waterloo Sunset
Linda Ronstadt: Poor Poor Pitiful Me
Neko Case: Rated X
Tina: Proud Mary

Robin Hermann @tudorstuart.bsky.social · 2d

Pet Shop Boys, I Started a Joke
Metallica, Green Hell/Last Caress
David Bowie, It's Hard to Be a Saint In the City
Emmylou Harris, Pancho and Lefty
Devo, Satisfaction
Pixies, Winterlong
Tin Machine, Working Class Hero
Sinead O'Connor, Nothing Compares 2 U
The Clash, I Fought the Law

Sophia_Nyx 🏳️‍⚧️ @sophianyx.bsky.social · 2d

Without saying Hurt, fav Cover Song?

2 1

Reposted by Richmond Eustis

derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 2d

gene kelly is antifa

260 1.7K 11K