Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

🦀 Shawn Morris 🦀 @theshawnmorris.bsky.social · 6m

True. I'm objecting to the force him to accept the deal part not that we shouldn't have done it

Reposted by 🦀 Shawn Morris 🦀

J.M. Berger @jmberger.com · 17m

Also in every time, but especially in the age of chattel slavery, there were plenty of people in the dominant in-group who objected to these things. I spent a good bit of time on this point in the first Lawful Extremism paper:

www.middlebury.edu/institute/ct...

Every effort to minimize or absolve the significance of historical racism is grounded in the erasure of racism’s victims. Taney was a man of his time, but he was not the only man of his time, nor was he the only person, nor was he archetypical in any meaningful sense. It would be more accurate, but still grievously incomplete, to say he was a White person of his time, since most Black people from the same period strongly objected to the beliefs and opinions presented in the Scott decision.

As Douglass implies, Taney was also not the only White man of his time, nor was he an especially representative one. Millions of White men and women of the day opposed slavery and opposed the Dred Scott decision’s disenfranchisement of free Black people, even if relatively few of those people could be considered anti-racist in any modern sense.
The “man of his time” framing implies that it is not reasonable to expect someone of Taney’s era to display the necessary moral sophistication and fortitude to oppose the cultural norms under which he lived. But in fact, that is an entirely reasonable expectation, and Taney himself appeared to have displayed such sophistication many years earlier. As a young lawyer, Taney represented both free Black people and White emancipationists. During his arguments defending a radical abolitionist, Taney called slavery “a blot on our national character.” At the age of 41, he made the decision to free his own slaves. There is ample evidence that Taney, at one time, possessed enough moral discernment to understand that chattel slavery was wrong. Yet as he entered his 80s, he unambiguously aligned himself with enslavers.59

1 18 44

Reposted by 🦀 Shawn Morris 🦀

☀️ Starshine @starshine.bsky.social · 10m

fact it didn’t fucking work. It didn’t work electorally, it didnt work geopolitically, it didn’t work for tens of thousands of dead palestinians

how did joe biden spend the lame duck? great question, calling on world leaders to continue supporting israel after the likud coalition helped elect trump

1 8 24

Reposted by 🦀 Shawn Morris 🦀

☀️ Starshine @starshine.bsky.social · 10m

late December 2023 to early 2024 there was pressure to let in humanitarian aid, this is what led to those sanctions in February (which reportedly biden personally removed gvir and smotrich from)

like if you want to convince yourself each step was rational at the time you need to contend with the

1 3 15

Reposted by 🦀 Shawn Morris 🦀

☀️ Starshine @starshine.bsky.social · 10m

way bibi was going to do a ceasefire. he’d spike any attempt as a political gift to trump as he’d been doing. I am suggesting we should have cut off the mk84s and others much much earlier. They ran on our jpl8, theres a 155mm shortage. Their knockoff jdams aren’t produced in significant numbers

1 2 17

Reposted by 🦀 Shawn Morris 🦀

☀️ Starshine @starshine.bsky.social · 10m

biden gave 14,000 mk84’s (the 2000lb bombs). almost all to possibly all of those were given in 2023. this is more than we dropped between 1999-2009 and slightly less than three times what we dropped against saddam in the first 6 weeks of OIF

By the time they were cut off (may, 2024) there was no

rev. howard arson @theophite.bsky.social · 1h

i do not have a lot of tolerance for people whining that Netanyahu fucked Biden over in order to get Trump in office so he could do whatever he wanted. yeah. he absolutely did that. that was obvious before 10/7.

there is no person on Earth more incompetent as a foreign policy thinker than Biden

3 4 26

🦀 Shawn Morris 🦀 @theshawnmorris.bsky.social · 10m

Famine's been occurring over a year and not sure what you mean by "Scheming for control"

1

🦀 Shawn Morris 🦀 @theshawnmorris.bsky.social · 20m

The latter part is fair but Netanyahu /wanted/ to continue the war. He wanted Trump to win. I'm not sure even if you cut off all aid he would have stopped before November

3 1 41

Reposted by 🦀 Shawn Morris 🦀

unraveled @unraveledpress.com · 45m

Turns out most people don't really like being invaded

lumberjack wharfie @lumberjackwharfie.bsky.social · 5h

soooo my Chicagoans, has anyone else's neighborhood facebook group gone from desperately apolitical (regarding federal politics) to at least 40% about ICE/DHS activity and organizing against it? like it's hard to overstate this shift

11 130 550

Reposted by 🦀 Shawn Morris 🦀

BeijingPalmer @beijingpalmer.bsky.social · 2h

I don't understand why U.S. reporters so regularly seem to let politicians get away with 'I haven't seen that' about stuff a) they obviously know and b) is directly relevant to their job. Did they sign some kind of agreement never to ask a follow-up question?

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 4h

REPORTER: We know the president moved forward with mass layoffs. We're also learning there were significant cuts to staff at special education services. Are you comfortable with those cuts?

MIKE JOHNSON: I haven't seen the specifics of that and I don't know

140 520 2.5K

Reposted by 🦀 Shawn Morris 🦀

Steve Herman @newsguy.bsky.social · 42m

WaPo joins NYT, CNN, The Atlantic, Guardian and others, according to @ScottNover, in announcing it won't sign the Pentagon's controversial new press policy.

37 250 790

Reposted by 🦀 Shawn Morris 🦀

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 1h

Wow, wow, wow. This has always been legally possible but the law has virtually never been enforced — and now this is the SECOND case I've heard of in the last month (first involving a person with a green card) of a noncitizen being charged for failure to carry their papers.

Gregory Pratt @royalpratt.bsky.social · 2h

NEWS: ICE gave a Rogers Park man a $130 ticket for not having his papers on him. They rounded him up last week and eventually let him go, but not without a fine that some critics say is un-American. Trump admin enforcing little-used law
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/13/i...

ICE tickets Chicago man with legal residency $130 for not having his papers on him: ‘It’s not fair…I’m a resident’

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement fined Rueben Antonio Cruz $130 for not having his papers with him.

www.chicagotribune.com

41 470 920

Reposted by 🦀 Shawn Morris 🦀

Oregon 🕎🎲 @oregonthedm.bsky.social · 44m

In things being made worse that you didn't know were a thing being made worse

www.404media.co/what-happene...

What Happened When AI Came for Craft Beer

A prominent beer competition introduced an AI-judging tool without warning. The judges and some members of the wider brewing industry were pissed.

www.404media.co

2 6 10

Reposted by 🦀 Shawn Morris 🦀

Charles Ghoul-ba ✡️ @charlesgaba.com · 6h

So basically this is Iranian Hostage Crisis 2.0, just with a 9-month delay in the payoff for no particular reason.

Il Pomodoro @dabenner.bsky.social · 7h

This seems like confirmation

Then Mr. Trump won the presidency back, and the Biden administration was determined to get a cease-fire in place by January, before it left office. It drafted a peace plan, much of which was quite similar to the “20 point plan” Mr. Trump recently issued. There was slow progress: More than 130 hostages had been released by the time the January cease-fire took place.

“We handed over a cease-fire that silenced the guns, had hostages coming out and aid going in, along with a day-after plan to make it permanent,” Mr. Blinken said. But when the new administration took over, “the moment was squandered,” he added. “Israel and Hamas went back to war for eight months.”

Israeli officials tell a different story. Mr. Biden was a lame duck, they noted, and disengaged. Mr. Trump was a known entity, less likely to lecture Mr. Netanyahu in private or public. They put their money on a new president, and a new negotiating team

51 420 1.4K

Reposted by 🦀 Shawn Morris 🦀

dr. kirk hamilton III, esq. @kirkofdoom.bsky.social · 2d

Saw this stump in Ghost of Yōtei and knew what I had to do.
@erikaishii.bsky.social

Screenshot from the game Ghost of Yōtei. Atsu (played by Erika Ishii) is crouching on a stump like a little bisexual gargoyle.

Screenshot from Game Changer with Erika Ishii crouching on a stump like a little bisexual gargoyle (as noted in the closed captions on screen)

3 140 800

Reposted by 🦀 Shawn Morris 🦀

Micah @rincewind.run · 4h

a foundational belief of the modern right is that there is no such thing as organic disagreement with their policies, it’s all directed from the top down

they just can’t conceive that ordinary people find them horrifying

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 6h

Sean Duffy: "The No Kings protest, Maria, really frustrating. This is part of antifa, paid protesters. It begs the question who's funding it."

45 400 2.1K

Reposted by 🦀 Shawn Morris 🦀

Katelyn Boo-urns @katelynburns.com · 6h

yeah man, trans reporters, whom the ny times derogatorily calls "trans activists" so that normies won't listen to them, have been reporting on ADF activity in the UK since 2018.

bigotry in journalism makes you late to the story.

Max Colbert @mc00.bsky.social · 7h

Really important NYT investigation finds that the ADF has been working with Reform, 'courting the party since at least 2024' and that the British arm 'orchestrated Mr Farage’s appearance in Congress, reaching out to ask if he would like to give evidence on censorship'
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/13/w...

They Helped Topple Roe v. Wade. Now Their Sights Are Set on Britain.

www.nytimes.com

3 450 1.4K

Reposted by 🦀 Shawn Morris 🦀

KedricKillian @kedrickillian.bsky.social · 5h

The idea that there are activists and citizens who attend protests because it’s what they believe in is completely foreign to them. If it isn’t a personal grift, they don’t understand the motivation.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 6h

Sean Duffy: "The No Kings protest, Maria, really frustrating. This is part of antifa, paid protesters. It begs the question who's funding it."

65 260 1.3K

Reposted by 🦀 Shawn Morris 🦀

Tauriq Moosa @tauriq.bsky.social · 10h

As much as I love Last Week Tonight, may I never have an episode dedicated to me like this. I literally said "oh my god" when it popped up on my YouTube

Bari Weiss: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

YouTube video by LastWeekTonight

youtu.be

2 2 17

Reposted by 🦀 Shawn Morris 🦀

ae @aelkus.bsky.social · 14h

yeah this is on the level of the iraq war casus belli coverage

choo choo choose anger @ralphtheewiggum.bsky.social · 14h

The difference bet the way the press handled Biden’s vs Trump’s health issues, as well as the standard to which they hold his conduct is one of the greatest scandals in the history of journalism.

Their conduct, and the knowledge they’ve done tremendous damage to their profession, should shame them.

ae @aelkus.bsky.social · 15h

he has been talking obsessively about the afterlife for some time, he is missing for chunks of time, his aides are trying harder than usual to show he’s fit, his public appearances show someone in visible physical decline, and jd vance talked impromptu about being prepared to assume office

4 94 610

Reposted by 🦀 Shawn Morris 🦀

☀️ Starshine @starshine.bsky.social · Feb 27

Irs agent says fuck the rules take my ledger and badge before commandeering one of the many IRS apache helicopters to chase after a billionaire’s yacht headed towards international waters

6 23 200

Reposted by 🦀 Shawn Morris 🦀

Veldrin @veldrin.bsky.social · 15h

They finished it! 😊

A town CBD traffic intersection with a large unity pride flag painted on the ground in the centre.

2 25 96

Reposted by 🦀 Shawn Morris 🦀

MplsShLee @shannaleehorvik.com · 15h

Do you have room in your heart for a great big chonky cat?

This big boi is Frogger. He's so soft, cuddly and chatty.

He's looking for his forever home and will be available for adoption later this month in North Saint Paul at Caring for Cats.

A woman holds a very fluffy, large tabby cat with a white belly, face, and legs, the cat is as large as the woman's upper body

A gorgeous large tabby cat white legs, face and belly lays on the ground looking chunky and perfect. Frogger is written on the photo.

8 20

Reposted by 🦀 Shawn Morris 🦀

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 18h

Someone in my mentions is upset because these people haven’t suffered the worst at ICE’s hands and therefore they shouldn’t be praised for being out on the streets?

Yeah, no. To push back on these people we need everyone — especially those with relative privilege — to get up and get involved.

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 21h

Portland, you magnificent weirdos

Tim Dickinson @timdickinson.bsky.social · 21h

Live from the Emergency Naked Bike Ride 🚲 where the crowd hase just erupted in cheers with the arrival of the Unipipier

91 590 4.6K

Reposted by 🦀 Shawn Morris 🦀

Faine Greenwood @faineg.bsky.social · 15h

Mods are asleep post brassicas

You either die a brassica or you live long enough to see yourself become a crab.

CAP'N
CRUNCH'S
DOPSIAll
NATURALLY &
ARTIFICIALLY
Brassica oleracea
otened
cer

What vegetable are you?
I'm brassica oleracea
Do you have the slightest idea how little that narrows it down?

Brassica oleracea

Ladies, get you a fella who can do it all

Selection for terminal buds
Selection for lateral buds
Selection for stem
Selection for leaves
Selection for stems and flowers
Selection for flower clusters
Cabbage
Brussels sprouts
Kohlrabi
Kale
Broccoli
Cauliflower

46 610 1.9K