Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

The Sasha @thesasha.bsky.social · 2h

A friend tested daily on rapids and never tested positive but almost definitely had Covid last year. :/ they are cautious and stayed home etc but very frustrating

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Anna Holmes @annabookwriter.bsky.social · 3h

Actually what I really want is to play proper Solitaire again, where the cards bounce at the end as god intended

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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 3h

ICE just arrested a singing giraffe in Portland.

Robby Roadsteamer @roadsteamer.bsky.social · 4h

🚨 *Breaking News* Robby Roadsteamer has been detained by ICE Portland after singing Rod Stewart with the Portland Frog! We need your help!

Please support Robby's campaign and lawyer fees at robbyroadsteamer.com link on bio 💙🦒🦒🦒

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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 5h

A few of my thoughts:

www.thehandbasket.co/p/ice-13-yea...

There is a natural inclination, especially among Americans steeped in our culture of mass incarceration, to judge the propriety of a person’s punishment not based on what they’ve done, but on how deserving one believes they are of receiving justice. On its face, any 13-year-old kid that allegedly made threats and was found to be in possession of a knife should be afforded the rights of due process in the juvenile court system. But because this boy was born in another country, because he and his family were asylum-seekers (authorized to work legally in the US) and not American citizens, and regardless of any piece of his personal story or history that led him to this point, some believe he is not owed those same rights. This boy—this child— deserves to rot in a federal facility, they say, and to be dragged across state lines away from his home. And for some, his mere existence in this country is crime enough.
But it’s important to bust these myths. It’s crucial to remember, as so many speakers at the Everett City Council meeting reminded us, that all of our safety is intertwined. DHS and its many agencies are trying to turn neighbors against one another. But our neighbors are not our enemies—in fact, they are the ones most likely to protect us.

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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 6h

NEW — I dug into the story of ICE abducting a 13-year-old boy in Massachusetts and moving him 500 miles across state lines without notifying his mother, local cop's complicity, and how the federal government's justification for such cruelty is already falling apart:

ICE took a 13-year-old they said had a gun. Local cops say he didn’t.

Now he's detained 500 miles away from his Massachusetts home.

www.thehandbasket.co

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Amy Rae Hill @amyraehill.bsky.social · 21h

Today's #SpacetoberChallenge: Spacecraft.

So here are a few Astronaut Vessels. Each one shows an astronaut traveling in a well-worn craft. I started painting these after a health scare, but they evolved to reflect the marks life makes on our physical and mental state over time.

Angled cup collage featuring a green weathered spacecraft design with a round window and astronaut peering out to see branches wrapping around the craft.

Vase collage featuring a blue weathered spacecraft design with a round window and astronaut looking up. The exterior has impact marks and words etched on a panel "NOT SAFE, GO".

Angled cup collage featuring a spacecraft design painted as if it's made from wood with a round window and two child astronauts playfully sword fighting inside. There are childlike etchings on the wooden exterior.

Angled cup collage featuring a pink weathered spacecraft design with a round window and astronaut resting their head on their arms. The back has a square panel with a smudged smiley face looking aged and worn in the center.

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Amy (in her Jeff the Land Shark era) @spooloflies.bsky.social · 5h

I'm trying not to engage in mask discourse because I find it genuinely enraging but the idea that "masking helps vulnerable people" translates to "mandatory masking at all times or else you're evil" is just blatantly people trying to not feel guilty about their refusal to mask.

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Sam Still Masks 🪉 @theailingwitch.bsky.social · 6h

“Covid has never ended,
Measles and flu abound;
Instead of giving sick days
They’ll put us in the ground.”

My pro-masking lyrics for the classic civil action song “Which Side are You on?” are available on my (FREE) Patreon now!

www.patreon.com/posts/141233...

Lyrics: Put a Mask Back On ("Which Side are You On?") | The Ailing Witch

www.patreon.com

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The Sasha @thesasha.bsky.social · 5h

It’s just badly written I guess. Which. Of course

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Kendra "Gloom is My Beat" Pierre-Louis @kendrawrites.com · 7h

It is 2025 and it is absolutely bullshit that name forms still treat a hyphen like a special character.

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Preeti Chhibber @runwithskizzers.bsky.social · 1d

hey georgia, early voting is happening now -- please vote out the shitty republicans who keep increasing our electricity bills for no reason and show them we can kick them to the curb if they don't work for the people!!!!!!

find your early voting precincts here:

mvp.sos.ga.gov/s/

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Ella Dawson @brosandprose.bsky.social · 1d

Discovering your queerness has no time limit.

Listen to my conversation with Julian Winters, the author of adult rom-coms I THINK THEY LOVE YOU and LAST FIRST KISS: open.spotify.com/episode/5GtU...

“My favorite romantic trope to write is friends-to-lovers, because as a queer person, it has always been the safest space to explore feelings of romance and intimacy. Who is it that I want to date? What are the qualities I'm looking for? What is healthy when it comes to relationships? Why do I feel a certain way towards certain friends? I was able to do that through friendships.” - Julian Winters

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M. Newton @ridelee.bsky.social · 7h

Without getting super precious about it -

The Puppet Kingdom would smell like an old castle: the mustiness of stone and lichen.

The Future Second by Second would smell like leather and fresh-baked bread.

And *coughcoughsecretscough* would smell like honey, vinegar, and a snap of phosphor.

L. D. Lewis, Peach Jolly Rancher 🍬 @ldlewiswrites.blacksky.app · 17h

What would *your* book smell like if you engaged in a mega weirdo scented pages promotional campaign?

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The Sasha @thesasha.bsky.social · 6h

In addition to everything else here, I feel like there is a weird ableist comment about sexual predators and mental health here? Or something else I am missing. I’m genuinely not seeing the connection between resolving concerns for mental health and allowing porn.

Matt Burgess (WIRED) @mattburgess1.bsky.social · 1d

Oh good, ChatGPT is getting "erotica for verified adults" later this year

We made ChatGPT pretty restrictive to make sure we were being careful with mental health issues. We realize this made it less useful/enjoyable to many users who had no mental health problems, but given the seriousness of the issue we wanted to get this right.

Now that we have been able to mitigate the serious mental health issues and have new tools, we are going to be able to safely relax the restrictions in most cases.

In a few weeks, we plan to put out a new version of ChatGPT that allows people to have a personality that behaves more like what people liked about 4o (we hope it will be better!). If you want your ChatGPT to respond in a very human-like way, or use a ton of emoji, or act like a friend, ChatGPT should do it (but only if you want it, not because we are usage-maxxing).

In December, as we roll out age-gating more fully and as part of our “treat adult users like adults” principle, we will allow even more, like erotica for verified adults.

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Melissa Gira Grant @melissagiragrant.com · 7h

All I can add to the “we reject universal masking” discourse is that it’s not about masks. You aren’t rejecting universal masking, which never happened; you’re rejecting having to think about wearing a mask, and maybe feeling badly about thinking about masks. Can’t help you there.

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Katelyn Boo-urns @katelynburns.com · 6h

I've met these two wonderful parents before. i was reporting on a roundtable discussion of trans parents held at the HRC HQ and then we all went out for dinner afterwards. after dinner Keisha and Sean insisted on walking me all the way to the metro stop to make sure i made it okay.

Sara Luterman @slooterman.bsky.social · 9h

“Keisha and Sean became determined to fill this resource gap. They’re among a growing group of Black parents who are building a support network.”

No one was helping Black transgender youth. So these parents stepped in.

A new nonprofit provides resources to Black families of transgender and nonbinary youth at a moment of heightened political hostility.

19thnews.org

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Sara Luterman @slooterman.bsky.social · 9h

“Keisha and Sean became determined to fill this resource gap. They’re among a growing group of Black parents who are building a support network.”

No one was helping Black transgender youth. So these parents stepped in.

A new nonprofit provides resources to Black families of transgender and nonbinary youth at a moment of heightened political hostility.

19thnews.org

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Jesse Dollemore @dollemore.com · 22h

Currently on a flight to Japan watching a Pentagon Assistant Press Secretary (Riley Podleski) work on a document in the open on her laptop. She spent the last hour copy and pasting headlines from articles critical of the Administration’s hostility toward the 1st amendment.

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Alon (they/them) @alonlevy.bsky.social · 6h

1. I finally finished Old Skies, and my previous skeets about it, coming from just early game, weren't effusive enough. It's a deeply moving game and I especially recommend it to urbanists and New Yorkers for how it covers the social history of the city, 1870s-2060s. @wadjeteyegames.bsky.social

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The Sasha @thesasha.bsky.social · 14h

I am so delighted by the Soap fans in the replies.

“Mickey Mouse had a gay dog???”

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TV's Adam, whispering into a teacup, @tvsadam.bsky.social · 1d

i actually really like this comparison and wish i hadn't buried it

when i go outside i don't see evidence i'm living in a fascist dystopia; i've yet to see unidentified masked men abducting people off *my own street*

but the evidence is out there, readily accessible, if i care enough to look

TV's Adam, whispering into a teacup, @tvsadam.bsky.social · 1d

if someone insisted we were safe from the threat of fascism in 2025 because trump lost the 2020 election we would correctly identify that person as an uninformed dolt drawing sweeping conclusions from deliberately limited and woefully outdated information

but with covid it's just...what happens

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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

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TV's Adam, whispering into a teacup, @tvsadam.bsky.social · 1d

"it's enough to vaccinate and stay home when you're sick"

*vaccine effectiveness wanes quickly and people are actively discouraged from getting them, end-stage capitalism makes staying home a luxury, asymptomatic infection/transmission and long covid carry on existing*

"ah, well. nevertheless"

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TV's Adam, whispering into a teacup, @tvsadam.bsky.social · 1d

i wish it didn't bother me so much whenever a prominent account i follow takes time out of their day to point and laugh at covid-conscious people but it really, really does

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Faine Greenwood @faineg.bsky.social · 2d

PSA: if you quote post me first, you have formally invited me in

i abide by poster’s vampire rules

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