Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

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Qagggy! @qagggy.bsky.social · 18m

David is a climate reporter with a global scope but this is the best local urbanist interview of a politician or political candidate I have heard.

David Roberts @volts.wtf · 3h

Today on Volts: In a big blue city, a progressive up-and-comer is challenging an establishment Democrat to be mayor, having already scored a surprise win in the primary. Naturally I'm talking about Seattle's Katie Wilson! We talk housing, transit, public order, the threat of Trump, & much more.

Seattle mayoral candidate Katie Wilson on governing a blue city in 2025

NIMBYs below, Trumpies above, oh my.

www.volts.wtf

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Beingsass @beingsass.bsky.social · 33m

Excellent piece...

"You cannot shame people who no longer recognize the legitimacy of shared norms. You cannot debate authoritarians into submission when language itself is treated as a game without stakes. /1

Eric Reinhart @eric-reinhart.com · 1h

Yesterday, Trump awarded Charlie Kirk a Medal of Freedom and named 10/14 a National Day of Remembrance for an unabashed advocate for white supremacy and fascism.

Shame has lost its meaning and power. And so has liberalism. My new essay for The New Republic:
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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Boston Review @bostonreview.bsky.social · 23h

At the Third U.S. Congress against War and Fascism in 1936, Langston Hughes declared: “Fascism is a new name for that kind of terror the Negro has always faced in America. . . . This kind of terrorism is extending more and more to groups of peoples whose skins are not black.”

The Responsibility of Intellectuals in the Age of Fascism and Genocide - Boston Review

Speaking the truth and exposing lies is not enough.

www.bostonreview.net

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Miriam Matthiessen @miriammthsn.bsky.social · 2d

Again, got to be one of the best dig episodes I’ve ever listened to and the bar is *sky* high

Daniel Denvir @danieldenvir.bsky.social · 5d

New @thedigradio.bsky.social: SECOND of two w @melindacooper.bsky.social on Counterrevolution: Extravagance and Austerity in Public Finance. How asset boom and bust drove MAGA’s rise and also revealed powerful monetary tools that could make socialism—that and more www.thedigradio.com/podcast/from...

From Fiscal Austerity to Monetary Abundance w/ Melinda Cooper

Featuring Melinda Cooper on Counterrevolution: Extravagance and Austerity in Public Finance. Balanced budget conservatism and supply side populism engineered a politics of austerity and budget deficit...

www.thedigradio.com

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Matthew Haugen @mjhaugen.bsky.social · 19h

This two-part series is excellent

Daniel Denvir @danieldenvir.bsky.social · 5d

New @thedigradio.bsky.social: SECOND of two w @melindacooper.bsky.social on Counterrevolution: Extravagance and Austerity in Public Finance. How asset boom and bust drove MAGA’s rise and also revealed powerful monetary tools that could make socialism—that and more www.thedigradio.com/podcast/from...

From Fiscal Austerity to Monetary Abundance w/ Melinda Cooper

Featuring Melinda Cooper on Counterrevolution: Extravagance and Austerity in Public Finance. Balanced budget conservatism and supply side populism engineered a politics of austerity and budget deficit...

www.thedigradio.com

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Sacha Hilhorst @sachahilhorst.bsky.social · 3h

Is Melinda Cooper my favourite social theorist producing work today? I think the answer is yes - and you should listen to this two-parter to find out why she should be yours, too.

Daniel Denvir @danieldenvir.bsky.social · 5d

New @thedigradio.bsky.social: SECOND of two w @melindacooper.bsky.social on Counterrevolution: Extravagance and Austerity in Public Finance. How asset boom and bust drove MAGA’s rise and also revealed powerful monetary tools that could make socialism—that and more www.thedigradio.com/podcast/from...

From Fiscal Austerity to Monetary Abundance w/ Melinda Cooper

Featuring Melinda Cooper on Counterrevolution: Extravagance and Austerity in Public Finance. Balanced budget conservatism and supply side populism engineered a politics of austerity and budget deficit...

www.thedigradio.com

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The LPE Project @lpeproject.bsky.social · 1h

"Campuses are demarcated battlegrounds in the struggle for democracy and against fascism. Every day we choose how to show up." 🔥🔥

LPE Blog @lpeblog.bsky.social · 2h

Today, Amna Akbar, @sameer-ashar.bsky.social, and @jocelynsimonson.bsky.social reflect on how legal scholars might act in solidarity with people already resisting state repression, and what they could learn from doing so.

Movement Law Under Fascism

As fascist tendencies intensify across the United States, social movements continue to organize against the forces of state repression. Legal scholars must stand with these movements…

lpeproject.org

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Amy Sundberg @amysundberg.bsky.social · 1h

My latest on last week's Seattle school board vote on whether to bring a police officer back to Garfield, the results of which surprised me! Some interesting complexities at play here.

The Urbanist @theurbanist.org · 1h

NEW // Seattle School Board Rejects Bringing Police Officer Back to Garfield

Story by @amysundberg.bsky.social via @theurbanist.org www.theurbanist.org/2025/10/15/s...

Seattle School Board Rejects Bringing Police Officer Back to Garfield » The Urbanist

# Last week, the Seattle School Board rejected a year-long pilot program to install a police officer inside Garfield High School in a 5-2 vote. School board directors cited a chaotic process, communit...

www.theurbanist.org

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Ian B @benedziktau.bsky.social · 1h

As a Belarusian, watching videos like this, I don't understand why the Americans think there would be any more elections?! Are you serious?

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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 1h

Very straightforwardly detained by secret police for speech. I honestly don't know what establishment figures are telling themselves any more to avoid cognitive dissonance over this shit.

Jeff Yang @originalsp.in · 3h

ICE arrested comedian Robby Roadsteamer for singing a parody of Rod Stewart’s “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy” in a Jeffrey Epstein the Giraffe costume outside their facility.

He sings “If you hate brown people / and you are a Nazi” and ICE thugs grab him and drag him into detention. No violence—just speech.

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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 3h

Today on Volts: In a big blue city, a progressive up-and-comer is challenging an establishment Democrat to be mayor, having already scored a surprise win in the primary. Naturally I'm talking about Seattle's Katie Wilson! We talk housing, transit, public order, the threat of Trump, & much more.

Seattle mayoral candidate Katie Wilson on governing a blue city in 2025

NIMBYs below, Trumpies above, oh my.

www.volts.wtf

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Zoë Yunker @zoeyunker.bsky.social · 1h

For over a century, major companies liquidated forests from First Nations’ territories without consent. Now they're leaving.

In their wake, First Nations are working to reshape the industry that long excluded them, but it won't be easy.

My latest for @thenarwhal.ca

What does First Nations ownership mean for B.C. forestry? | The Narwhal

More First Nations are buying B.C. forestry tenures. With old growth dwindling, can they nudge the industry to a more sustainable future?

thenarwhal.ca

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KUOW Public Radio @kuow.org · 1h

Republicans in Washington state are eyeing a couple legislative races this year that could help them claw back a little power from Democrats, who currently hold majorities in both the state House and Senate.

Candidates for WA's 5th Legislative District discuss parental rights, taxes, bipartisanship

Republicans in Washington state are eyeing a couple legislative races this year that could help them claw back a little power from Democrats, who currently hold majorities in both the state House and ...

www.kuow.org

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Tech Policy Press @techpolicypress.bsky.social · 3d

For this week’s podcast, Justin Hendrix spoke with Mallory Knodel from the Social Web Foundation and the Internet Exchange and Burcu Kilic from CIGI. The conversation revolved around a post they wrote for the Internet Exchange titled “Big Tech Redefined the Open Internet to Serve Its Own Interests."

The Open Internet is Dead. What Comes Next? | TechPolicy.Press

Justin Hendrix spoke to Mallory Knodel and Burcu Kilic about their recent essay, titled "Big Tech Redefined the Open Internet to Serve Its Own Interests."

www.techpolicy.press

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Kevin Anderson @kevinclimate.bsky.social · Aug 22

New piece on Carbon Colonialism, net-zero nonsense, and how the UK Government's climate advisors (and many experts) shy away from speaking truth to power. We need a fundamental reboot of climate policy; - physics doesn't care about political sensibilities. theconversation.com/the-uks-year...

The UK’s year of climate U-turns exposes a deeper failure

Breaking free of the dangerous pretence that current efforts suffice demands a fundamental rethink of the UK’s climate policy consensus.

theconversation.com

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The New York Review of Books @nybooks.com · Aug 23

“What is distinctive about the inflation aversion of bankers and the rich is how unconditional it tends to be.” — @brettchristophers.bsky.social

Whose Fed? | Brett Christophers

For the past twenty years, central banks have rarely been out of the news. Called upon to stabilize the global financial system when it appeared at risk

buff.ly

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Housing, Theory and Society @housingtheory.bsky.social · Sep 4

We have fresh paper out on digitalization and neighbourhood belonging, and the connection between urban social life and online communities by Nerea Viana Alzola and Maxime Felder

➡️ "'You Know You’re from Le Lignon If … ' Negotiating Neighbourhood Belonging on Social Media"

“You Know You’re from Le Lignon If … ” Negotiating Neighbourhood Belonging on Social Media

This article examines how social media shapes expressions of belonging through the analysis of a neighbourhood-based Facebook group as an online local community. While the group’s title suggests an...

www.tandfonline.com

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Brett Christophers @brettchristophers.bsky.social · Sep 5

Trevor Jackson's review of ABUNDANCE (Klein/Thompson) alongside OVERSHOOT (Malm/Carton) is very, very good.

How to Blow Up a Planet | Trevor Jackson

What happened to the future? When did we lose it, and what has taken its place? Political scientists have found a continual decline in visions of a shared

www.nybooks.com

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The New York Review of Books @nybooks.com · Sep 8

“The mood of Abundance is that of a chirpy regional sales manager giving a PowerPoint; Overshoot’s is a wild-eyed buccaneer swinging onto a burning frigate with a cutlass in his teeth.” —Trevor Jackson

How to Blow Up a Planet | Trevor Jackson

What happened to the future? When did we lose it, and what has taken its place? Political scientists have found a continual decline in visions of a shared

buff.ly

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Antipode @antipodeonline.bsky.social · Sep 8

Antipode volume 57, number 5 -- our September 2025 issue -- out now, including a seven-article Symposium, "A Global Era of Disposability: The Anthropocene, The Apotheosis of Waste" antipodeonline.org/2025/09/08/v...

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Prof Katherine Brickell @kbrickell.bsky.social · Sep 9

First book talk of many done! Fantastic to engage with industry professionals @ #HousingCommunitySummit

"Debt Trap Nation: Family Homelessness in a Failing State" is now available to order - with all royalties going to the charity Surviving Economic Abuse.

Hive: www.hive.co.uk/Product/Kath...

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Adrienne Buller @adriennebuller.bsky.social · Sep 10

A short intro for Issue 2 of The BREAK—DOWN from me & @johnmerrick.bsky.social

The issue takes many approaches to "the frontier", but always with a core question: which compromises for a sustainable future unavoidable, & which should we resist at all costs?

www.break-down.org/on-frontiers/

Introducing Issue #2: Frontiers

In the trade-offs between decarbonization and human and ecological impact, how do we determine which costs are bearable, or inescapable, even necessary—and who gets to make these decisions?

www.break-down.org

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Kate Mackenzie @katemac.bsky.social · Sep 11

We finally FINALLY finished the big insurance piece. There's a LOT that is not in there. But I think we've got a few of the important bits.
TL;DR insurance is extremely interesting, but it's neither the climate problem nor the solution.
www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/ins...

Insurance in the Polycrisis | Kate Mackenzie & Tim Sahay

The future is triage on an uninsurable earth.

www.phenomenalworld.org

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Albert Pinto @70sbachchan.bsky.social · Sep 10

A dramatic climate-insurance breakdown that shocks the financial system of entire national economies
.....is not going to happen.

Why not? NEW: @phenomenalworld.bsky.social @katemac.bsky.social
www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/ins...

Insurance in the Polycrisis | Kate Mackenzie & Tim Sahay

The future is triage on an uninsurable earth.

www.phenomenalworld.org

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Housing, Theory and Society @housingtheory.bsky.social · 27d

We have some new online publications, great readings on home ownership, rentierism, and decarbonized living!

🔸 Susan Smith and Gavin Wood discusses the edges of owner occupation and rentier capitalism
➡️ www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

The Edges of Owner-Occupation versus Rentier Capitalism

Over the past half century, housing systems have been reconfigured through processes variously labelled financialization, assetization and rentierization. Unevenly advanced by successive rounds of ...

www.tandfonline.com

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