Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted

Sara Luterman @slooterman.bsky.social · 10h

“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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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 5h

“the constitution forbids race conscious remedies” would be news to the people who wrote the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments

Michael Li (李之樸) @mcpli.bsky.social · 5h

Griem goes there, arguing in response to Justice Jackson that there can be no race-conscious remedy absent a finding of intentional discrimination.

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Tao Leigh Goffe | 道 | PhD @taoleighgoffe.bsky.social · 4h

Our founder and Hunter College, CUNY associate professor, Dr. Tao Leigh Goffe, is seeking an academic research fellow to help with the bibliography and citations for her upcoming non-fiction book.

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Tao Leigh Goffe | 道 | PhD @taoleighgoffe.bsky.social · 4h

Hiring 🚨 Part-time position 🚨 Remote - Research Fellow @ Dark Lab. Here’s your chance to build your experience as a humanities researcher while supporting my Lab’s mission of environmental justice & storytelling, centering the crossroads of stolen life & stolen land. 🧵

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ElieNYC @elienyc.bsky.social · 7h

Locking in for oral arguments on the big voting rights case at the Supreme Court.

The next two hours or so will be... incredibly bad.

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Citizen.Coping @propcazhpm.bsky.social · 6h

This is a mf thread. 💜📚🧵🔥

Also, I have ordered speculative fiction from @atthisarts.com

Highly recommend
#Lit #BookSky #SpecFiction #Afrofuturism #SpeculativeFiction

Atthis Arts @atthisarts.com · 14d

All October, Atthis Arts is celebrating Black Speculative Fiction Month, and we hope you'll join us! We're going to start with a *spark*. This one is a must-read. Go get it. Incendiary by Gerald L. Coleman.

Incendiary: Poems & Essays

Poems & Essays

bookshop.org

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Atthis Arts @atthisarts.com · 14d

All October, Atthis Arts is celebrating Black Speculative Fiction Month, and we hope you'll join us! We're going to start with a *spark*. This one is a must-read. Go get it. Incendiary by Gerald L. Coleman.

Incendiary: Poems & Essays

Poems & Essays

bookshop.org

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Eric Reinhart @eric-reinhart.com · 9h

The celebration of Charlie Kirk exposes a fundamental shift that defines our era: While shame once bound society together, it has lost the ground that gave it power—and there’s no going back.

In conversation with @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social & @ezraklein.bsky.social:
newrepublic.com/article/2015...

Why Shame No Longer Works in American Politics

While it once played a role in binding society, shame has lost its power—and so have the liberal tools that depend on it.

newrepublic.com

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Anna O. Law @unlawfulentries.bsky.social · 22h

Just returned from SF where I went with my cousins & their kids to explain the history of Angel Island immigrant landing depot. It's an island off of SF, look how close it is to SF, yet for detained immigrants who were there, it was a world away to getting to the US. Was in operation 1910-1941. 1/

Angel Island in the distance in the water, photo taken from a San Francisco scenic point with a few other tourists.

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Clint Smith @clintsmithiii.bsky.social · 4d

Thirty-one years ago, there was a slave auction reenacted at Colonial Williamsburg.

Some thought it powerful, many thought it insulting.

This summer, I traveled to Williamsburg myself to see how the country’s largest living history museum today tells the story of Black life at America’s founding.

What Is Colonial Williamsburg For?

Telling the full story of the town’s past is an easy way to make a lot of people mad.

www.theatlantic.com

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Garrett M. Graff @vermontgmg.bsky.social · 10h

It’s incredible that the VT State Senator wrapped up in this hasn’t resigned yet — every major GOP leader in the state has called for his resignation. Fixing democracy requires restoring shame to public life. And accountability. Lots of accountability. vtdigger.org/2025/10/14/v...

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Ebony Elizabeth Thomas @ebonyteach.blacksky.app · 18h

Yes, yes, *yes*... I was 18 in 1995; 21 in 1998.

We grew up with 70s and 80s soul/R&B, R&B, 80s and 90s golden age hip hop... then New Jack Swing and gangsta rap... R&B hooks as features on hip hop tracks....

So proud that we gave them their flowers. Soul thrived and was beloved under our watch.

𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐜𝐚 ★ @mjfinesselover.bsky.social · 19h

1995 — D’Angelo, Brown Sugar
1996 — Maxwell, Urban Hang Suite
1997 — Erykah Badu, Baduizm
1998 — Lauryn Hill, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

Four years. Four timeless albums.
Neo Soul wasn’t just a genre — it was a revolution

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Naima Cochrane @stillnaima.bsky.social · 23h

I got the call around 10am, then spent the next hour and change texting with the folks I knew who also got word, and the thing that kept circling in my mind was that I couldn't think of a single comparable artist loss for Black Gen X.

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Ana Marie Cox @anamariecox.bsky.social · 23h

To everyone who says, "But this won't matter": *MAKE IT MATTER.*

You have that power! This is not inside baseball and your friends and neighbors will likely be appalled. And if they're *not* appalled, don't be cynical yourself. Take the lead, give the cue.

Politico @politico.com · 1d

EXCLUSIVE: Thousands of leaked messages show leaders of Young Republican groups joking about gas chambers, slavery and rape in a private Telegram chat.

Inside rising GOP leaders’ racist chats — obtained by POLITICO and spanning more than 7 months👇

‘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

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Orion🌈&sm9eb @sm9eb.bsky.social · 20h

My dad--a runner!--also died unexpectedly at 51 while I was in high school, with no life insurance, bc who needs it then? I think about that constantly now. And my ex-boyfriend died suddenly at 42. I keep urging my male friends to *go to the doctor* & take life insurance seriously.

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The Oregonian @oregonian.com · 21h

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson calls Sunday's naked bike ride in protest of the Portland ICE facility and and Trump troop deployment "the most threatening thing I’ve seen yet"

www.oregonlive.com/portland/202...

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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 22h

"A key aspect of the way we lived with each other before these self-styled epochal developments [post-2020] involved exactly the “social shame and cultural pressure” that Klein and other influential voices now come to condemn"

tapping the 'bring back shame' sign
www.bostonreview.net/articles/how...

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Rabih Alameddine @rabihalameddine.bsky.social · Aug 30

I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag.
-Molly Ivins

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bleary @bleary.off-the-records.com · 2d

If anyone needs me I will be in the museum, lying down next to the bog bodies.

Did people really memorize phone numbers before cell phones, or is that just a movie thing?
2? Questions
I was watching some old shows from the 90s and noticed people would just dial numbers from memory - like they'd call their friends or family without looking anything up.
Made me wonder if that was actually normal back then? Did people genuinely have all their important numbers memorized, or did most folks keep a little address book or written list nearby?

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Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 21h

So much for all the noble missions and transformations; Altman's AI is down to talking dirty now. Pretty sure it's a massive lie that they've "mitigated the serious mental health issues" and seems likely this new porn feature will generate lots more of them. Bubble, please pop.

Sam Altman

@sama
·
7h
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.

Christopher Hale
@chrisjollyhale
I'm asking in good faith here as a premium user — what's the difference between adult erotica and the sexbots you said you wouldn't introduce to the platform this past July?

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Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 20h

And the bubble: "In financial markets, a bubble occurs when the level of investment in an asset becomes persistently detached from the amount of profit that asset could plausibly generate... A.I. investment fits that pattern."

Opinion | Warning: Our Stock Market Is Looking Like a Bubble

www.nytimes.com

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The Real McCoy @rippermd41.bsky.social · 1d

Most people aren’t asking you mask at all times.

They ask that you mask in essential places: public transit, hospitals, doctors’ offices, pharmacies etc.

Places high risk people can’t avoid.

But if you hate wearing masks? Then advocate for indoor air quality: ventilation, filtration, etc.

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 1d

yeah, i think a commitment to public health obligates you to get vaccinated and, when you are sick, do what you can to avoid spreading that to other people. the demand that one mask at all times in public spaces is, i think, unreasonable.

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What’s the Hold Up Pod Dan @jacketdan.bsky.social · 1d

He did it again for the 5 year anniversary

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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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alonsonichols.bsky.social @alonsonichols.bsky.social · 1d

Damn

The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 1d

Breaking news: D’Angelo, the visionary singer and musician who blended R&B and soul in landmark albums such as “Brown Sugar” and “Voodoo,” died Oct. 14. He was 51.

The cause was cancer, according to a statement from his family.

D’Angelo, R&B visionary and godfather of neo soul, dies at 51

The singer-songwriter was known for the acclaimed albums “Brown Sugar,” “Voodoo” and “Black Messiah.”

www.washingtonpost.com

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