Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Christy Quirk @cequirk.bsky.social · 4h

@helenlewis.bsky.social tactfully skewers the absurd vulgarity of Saudi Arabia and the comedians whose best defense for performing there is “it’s not selling out it’s buying in.” www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

I Watched Stand-Up in Saudi Arabia

What the surreal Riyadh Comedy Festival foretold about the kingdom’s future

www.theatlantic.com

Reposted by Christy Quirk

Bear Wilner-Nugent @saltlick.bsky.social · 14h

My good friend @deraillieur.bsky.social took this lovely and timely picture.

A string of Barbara Kruger-inspired Portland frog posters, captioned DON’T OBEY, rounding a corner and running down a block of plywood facing out from an abandoned downtown building

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Reposted by Christy Quirk

Stephen Clermont @sjclermont.bsky.social · 1d

Except for that one time

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Mike Johnson: "We've always stood with Capitol police and law enforcement. We've shown that in word and deed."

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Christy Quirk @cequirk.bsky.social · 1d

So wait, France is jailing a former president and barring a presidential candidate from running because she broke the law? This is madness.

Mert Kartal @mertkartal.bsky.social · 1d

🇫🇷 Conseil d’État has rejected Marine Le Pen’s appeal to halt the enforcement of her penalty for misclassifying National Rally staff as European Parliament assistants. As I explain in my @goodauth.bsky.social piece, this bars her from running in the next presidential election: tinyurl.com/2mseb2ad

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Reposted by Christy Quirk

Faine Greenwood @faineg.bsky.social · 1d

“This heckin’ pupperino fucking hates La Migra,” to paraphrase from @weratedogs.com

Rate Dogs & • Follow
...
2h •
This is Chop. He was shot and killed by masked assailants in plain clothes who go by ICE. They showed up at his door "looking for migrants after receiving a tip." The son of the family asked if they could wait before entering the home while he put Chop away in the bathroom, as the dog can be aggressive with strangers.
According to the family, it is at this point that the son went to his pickup truck to retrieve his ID and a Border Patrol agent entered the home, opened the bathroom door, and shot Chop. None of the agents helped the family, who desperately tried to render aid to Chop, as he bled to death on the kitchen floor. Unsurprisingly, the agent who shot their dog then hid from them and refused to give his name. Even more unsurprising, they did not find any evidence of the migrants they were there to terrorize in the first place.
Do not open your door for these fucking losers. Rest easy Chop
14/10
CBP Office of Professional Responsibility:
202-344-1808
JointIntake@cbp.dhs.gov
El Paso Border Patrol Sector:
915-834-8400
fpfelpaso@cbp.dhs.gov
Rep. Veronica Escobar (El Paso):
915-541-1400
veronica.escobar@mail.house.gov
https://kfoxtv.com/news/local/el-paso-family-claims-border-patrol-killed-their-dog-during-search-cbp-

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Chris Terry-Enescu @cjterry.bsky.social · 1d

Honestly given the history of most modern technology it's surprising it took them this long

The Verge @theverge.com · 1d

Sam Altman says ChatGPT will soon sext with verified adults

ChatGPT is about to get flirty.

buff.ly

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Reposted by Christy Quirk

Paul T. Levin @paultlevin.bsky.social · 2d

The people behind the inflated protests are performing a monumental service to democracy & peace in the US. The Regime wants riots, but these animal characters are not only an effective protest, grabbing attention & mocking ICE, they seem to reduce the risk of violent protests. It's perfect.

50501: The People’s Movement ❌👑 @50501movement.bsky.social · 2d

The Portland Frog army has now infiltrated Tulsa, OK and they’ve made an unlikely alliance with the T-Rex infantry and Sharks on Hoverboards mercenary forces.

This is truly terrifying.

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Christy Quirk @cequirk.bsky.social · 2d

Take a stand against the Great Endumbening

pbump.net/who/

Who was the president?

pbump.net

Christy Quirk @cequirk.bsky.social · 2d

Insightful piece about the challenges of Belrus‘ unlikely, awkward power couple, www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/1...

The accidental power couple that is now taking on a dictator and Putin

After five years in prison, Sergei Tikhanovsky leaves to find his wife leading the resistance to Alexander Lukashenko, who is more entrenched than ever.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Reposted by Christy Quirk

Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 2d

Just in case the dramatically low Leni Riefenstahl-style angle was too subtle, they used a word from her most famous movie

Time magazine cover featuring a photo of Trump from a dramatically low angle

HIS
TRIUMPH
by ERIC CORTELLESSA
THE LEADER ISRAEL NEEDED
by EHUD BARAK
HOW GAZA HEALS

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Reposted by Christy Quirk

Matthew Facciani @matthewfacciani.bsky.social · 2d

We’re often told to “think critically” online. But in today’s attention economy, that’s only half the battle. The other half? Knowing what to ignore.
New post on "critical ignoring," a powerful media literacy skill for cutting through the noise.
matthewfacciani.substack.com/p/the-overlo...

The Overlooked Skill We All Need Online: Critical Ignoring

Thinking critically matters, but in today’s attention economy, knowing what to ignore may matter even more.

matthewfacciani.substack.com

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Christy Quirk @cequirk.bsky.social · 2d

“You can hire the biggest idiots you can find, make them transmit your slop from the most important institutions in the world, and as long as it’s as stupid and hateful and ugly as possible, you can trust that the algorithms will do what they’re programmed to.” www.garbageday.email/p/the-great-...

The Great Dumbening

Read to the end for it’s Tronin’ time

www.garbageday.email

Reposted by Christy Quirk

Szabolcs Panyi @szabolcspanyi.bsky.social · 3d

💥Viktor Orbán in trouble: a new 21 Research Center (a reliable pollster) survey shows opposition leader Péter Magyar’s TISZA party leading Orbán’s Fidesz 53–35—an 18-point gap. Even the main govt-paid pollster (Nézőpont) admits to the @nytimes.com that smear campaigns against Magyar are failing.

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Reposted by Christy Quirk

Carole Cadwalladr @carolecadwalla.bsky.social · 3d

My colleagues & I have taken a huge gamble to set up @thenerve.news We’re trying to build a new independent publication from the ground up. Social media is our only distribution for now.

Sharing this article in your networks would make a huge difference. Thank you! 🙏🙏🙏

Carole Cadwalladr @carolecadwalla.bsky.social · 4d

NEW: The British politician, his Russian intelligence handler & a Kremlin plot against the US & Ukraine.

My new piece about Nathan Gill and Nigel Farage for @thenerve_news in which we ask:

Why, even now, is no-one asking questions?

t.co/BUTtpK9C4S

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Reposted by Christy Quirk

Zselyke Csaky @zecsaky.bsky.social · 3d

A reminder for the times we live in: once you break the rule of law, there is no easy way of fixing it again.

POLITICO Europe @politico.eu · 4d

Poland’s centrist government is pushing to restore the rule of law undermined by the previous populist administration — but the country’s divided politics mean the chances of success are slim.

Poland tries to restore rule of law in the face of a hostile president

Polish President Karol Nawrocki is vowing to scuttle any effort to change the legal system set up by the previous Law and Justice party government.

www.politico.eu

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Christy Quirk @cequirk.bsky.social · 6d

Have to wonder what Hungary‘s winemakers are trying to accomplish by that intrusive pop up sponsored post that’s impossible to get rid of.

Christy Quirk @cequirk.bsky.social · 6d

“Speaking with reverence, as if stepping into a Georgian church and lighting a candle for her ancestors, she told me everything I needed to know about the future: “I will honor the grapes with full-on skin contact.” Want to book a ticket. www.saveur.com/wine/georgia...

How Women Are Breathing New Life Into Georgia’s 8,000-Year Wine Tradition

Tethered to its ancestral past, Georgian wine is now a global force with a forward-thinking vision led by women winemakers.

www.saveur.com

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Reposted by Christy Quirk

Kieran Healy @kjhealy.co · 6d

White House staff should just make and show him an AI-generated video where he wins, fly him to Duluth and tell him it’s Oslo, and dare the New York Times to say anything more than “Experts disagree about whether Mr Trump was awarded the Nobel Prize”.

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Christy Quirk @cequirk.bsky.social · 6d

New Ukraine survey with interesting data about the electoral prospects of potential challengers to Zelenskyy (in an election that isn’t scheduled): There are only two (Zaluzhnyy and Zelenskyy). The rest, including a lot of old familiar faces, don’t break double digits. www.wfd.org/news/wfds-la...

WFD's latest poll in Ukraine shows democratic resilience amid war fatigue

www.wfd.org

Reposted by Christy Quirk

Matt Steinglass @mattsteinglass.bsky.social · 6d

Incredible vision on Alfred Nobel’s part to use the money he earned inventing dynamite to create the world’s greatest trolling opportunity

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Christy Quirk @cequirk.bsky.social · 6d

The inflatable revolution

dr. caitlin m. green @caitlinmoriah.bsky.social · 6d

bubble dance party

a person in an inflatable unicorn costume and a person in an inflatable peacock costume dance as a person holds a bubble gun shooting lots of small bubbles over them

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Timothy Snyder @timothysnyder.bsky.social · 7d

Our authoritarianism is run on clichés borrowed from the Eastern Europe of twenty years ago. Paid protestors, disloyal cities, evil Soros, vast conspiracies — it was all tiresome then and there, and now it’s pathetic.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 7d

Trump: "They're, like, insurrectionists, they're terrible people. But you really wonder why. Why are they doing it? What are they gaining? Other than they're obviously paid. They're paid a lot of money."

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Carpetblogger @carpetblogger1.bsky.social · 6d

No one:

Me: But what I’m really trying to capture is an Under the Tuscan Sun vibe.

open.substack.com/pub/carpetbl...

Ask Carpetblogger: What's It Like to Go to the Dump?

Can you believe this content is free?

open.substack.com

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Reposted by Christy Quirk

Tim Onion @bencollins.bsky.social · 6d

Autism antibodies are stored in the foreskin.

Justin Baragona @justinbaragona.bsky.social · 7d

Besides linking Tylenol in pregnant women to autism, RFK Jr. now says circumcision is part of the reason why kids are autistic.

"Children who are circumcised early have double the rate of autism, and it's highly likely because they're given Tylenol. None of this is positive..."

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Christy Quirk @cequirk.bsky.social · 6d

Then, to try and figure out which thing he’s embarrassed about

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