Nelson Flores | Lightnews

Nelson Flores @nelsonlflores.bsky.social · 16h

One of the great political con jobs if this era has been that proponents of DEI are somehow the ones lowering standards when what it has done is raised the standard so that nonsense like the OSU student essay gets called out for what it is. It is that raising of standards that MAGA is so mad at.

Nelson Flores @nelsonlflores.bsky.social · 16h

Kudos to this Republican for defending the professor. Unfortunately, despite his claims to the contrary the Republican Party has, indeed, become the party of “participation trophies” for White Christians who feel entitled to never having their ideas challenged.

www.kswo.com/2025/12/05/p...

‘The professor was right’: Oklahoma Republican college leader criticizes essay controversy

The chairman of the Oklahoma Federation of College Republicans is weighing in on controversy surrounding a failed essay submitted by a University of Oklahoma student.

www.kswo.com

Nelson Flores @nelsonlflores.bsky.social · 21h

I do think that distinction is what the headline is trying to get at. But so many words don’t have dictionary definitions ons the rest are used in ways that deviate from these definitions so it feels weird to call 6-7 nihilist unless we think all language is nihilist, which maybe lol

Nelson Flores @nelsonlflores.bsky.social · 21h

How do you differentiate social meaning from literal meaning though? For me, all meaning is produced within specific social contexts and is, therefore, always social.

Nelson Flores @nelsonlflores.bsky.social · 22h

This is a great connection. I remember how much I loved the “Word of the Day” and how excited I got watching the Pee Wee Herman documentary as an adult when they talked about that aspect of the show! Either we were also horrible nihilist or kids are still just kids. Maybe both lol

Nelson Flores @nelsonlflores.bsky.social · 22h

The challenges are coming from within the universities themselves though with the University of Alabama deciding that bans on diversity, equity and inclusion mean that you can no longer create publications targeting specific communities even though this is something you learn to do in Marketing 101.

Southern Poverty Law Center @splcenter.org · 1d

Following #Alabama’s 2024 legislation banning publicly funded diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and so-called “divisive concepts,” campuses across the state are facing significant challenges to maintaining spaces that support marginalized communities.

Campus outrage mounts after the University of Alabama suspends student magazines | Alabama Reflector

Student organizations have put out statements of support and have planned demonstrations following Nineteen Fifty-Six and Alice Magazines were suspended.

alabamareflector.com

Nelson Flores @nelsonlflores.bsky.social · 22h

What does it mean to have “no actual definition” though? I am no expert on Gen Alpha slang but the kids in my life seem to attribute a lot of contextual (albeit shifting) meaning to their use of 6-7. Maybe it is less about nihilism and more about challenging the notion of words having fixed meanings

The Conversation U.S. @us.theconversation.com · 1d

Dictionary.com’s word of the year is “6-7,” a Gen Alpha slang term with no actual definition.

Oxford’s word of the year is “rage bait” and Cambridge picked "parasocial."

Together, they paint a picture of digital nihilism. https://buff.ly/53z5RCh

Nelson Flores @nelsonlflores.bsky.social · 1d

Tbh regardless of the outcome the fact that SCOTUS is even seriously considering this blatantly racist argument is bad for our democracy

Selena M Moon @selenammoon.bsky.social · 1d

So SCOTUS is taking up (parts of?) birthright citizenship. Is there discourse on this yet? Sorry, too tired to look it up. #Skystorians #AcademicSky

The Conversation U.S. @us.theconversation.com · 1d

Dictionary.com’s word of the year is “6-7,” a Gen Alpha slang term with no actual definition.

Oxford’s word of the year is “rage bait” and Cambridge picked "parasocial."

Together, they paint a picture of digital nihilism. https://buff.ly/53z5RCh

Selena M Moon @selenammoon.bsky.social · 1d

So SCOTUS is taking up (parts of?) birthright citizenship. Is there discourse on this yet? Sorry, too tired to look it up. #Skystorians #AcademicSky

Nelson Flores @nelsonlflores.bsky.social · 1d

We live in a political satire

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 1d

The NYT photo desk FTW.

www.nytimes.com/athletic/685...

Southern Poverty Law Center @splcenter.org · 1d

Following #Alabama’s 2024 legislation banning publicly funded diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and so-called “divisive concepts,” campuses across the state are facing significant challenges to maintaining spaces that support marginalized communities.

Campus outrage mounts after the University of Alabama suspends student magazines | Alabama Reflector

Student organizations have put out statements of support and have planned demonstrations following Nineteen Fifty-Six and Alice Magazines were suspended.

alabamareflector.com

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 1d

The NYT photo desk FTW.

www.nytimes.com/athletic/685...

Financial Times @financialtimes.com · 1d

Donald Trump said it was 'one of the great honours' of his life to receive Fifa’s inaugural Peace Prize on Friday. on.ft.com/4piJZVf

Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 1d

According to a new study, members of Congressional leadership perform 47% better in stock market trades than their rank-and-file peers, thanks to access to nonpublic information.

Today would be a great day to ban ALL elected officials from trading stock, don't you think?

Nelson Flores @nelsonlflores.bsky.social · 3d

Neurodiversity as a term has such potential in challenging normative framings of human development. Seeking to unpack this diversity by creating a binary between neurotypical and neurodivergent people undercut these efforts. Instead, we could argue that neurodiversity suggests nobody is neurotypical

Nelson Flores @nelsonlflores.bsky.social · 3d

The most obvious solution to poverty of just giving people money with no strings attached has been proven to work again and again. And yet, public policy continues to criminalize poverty as opposed to addressing its roots.

Street Roots @streetroots.bsky.social · 16d

An Oregon pilot program giving cash to homeless youths sees a staggering reduction in homelessness. The program gave participants $1,000 cash payments each month for two years, and at the end of the project's first phase, 91% of participants reported being in stable housing.

Oregon pilot program giving cash to homeless youths sees staggering reduction in homelessness

The state program gave participants $1,000 cash payments each month for two years. At the end of the project's first phase, 91% of participants reported being in stable housing.

www.streetroots.org

Nelson Flores @nelsonlflores.bsky.social · 3d

And even if they were carrying contraband they should have been arrested and tried in a court of law. Let’s not forget that due process is still a thing and the US government doesn’t get to just kill anybody they suspect are committing a crime.

Sanho Tree @sanho.bsky.social · 4d

Rand Paul just posted this letter from the Coast Guard confirming that 1/4 of the boats they stop carry no contraband. The likelihood that Hegseth & Bradley ordered the murder of innocent civilians is very high.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security
United States
Coast Guard
Commandant
United States Coast Guard
2703 Martin Luther King Jr Ave SE
Washington, DC 20593-7000
Staff Symbol: CCG
Phone: (202) 372-4411
5730
31 ост 2025
The Honorable Rand H. Paul
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510
Dear Senator Paul:
In response to your letter dated October 6, 2025, regarding the Coast Guard's efforts to interdict illicit drugs headed towards the United States since September 1, 2024, I offer the following:
1. From September 1, 2024, to October 7, 2025, Coast Guard surface assets, operating under Coast Guard law enforcement authority, interdicted 212 suspected drug-smuggling vessels at sea headed toward the United States. Of the 212 interdictions, 41 vessels had no illicit contraband on board when interdicted; 24 of those 41 vessels without contraband did not appear to commit any federal criminal offense.
2. Of the 212 total vessels interdicted during this period, 69 vessels were interdicted in the Caribbean Sea by Coast Guard surface assets, operating under Coast Guard law enforcement authority. Of these 69 interdictions, 14 had no illicit contraband on board when interdicted; 11 of those 14 vessels without contraband did not appear to commit any federal criminal offense. Of the 69 Caribbean interdictions, 14 vessels were interdicted off the coast of Venezuela. Three of the 14 vessels interdicted near Venezuela had no illicit contraband on board when interdicted, but one of the three violated other U.S. federal criminal statutes.
3. The Coast Guard did not use lethal force against any of the 212 vessels interdicted at sea during this period. The Coast Guard used non-lethal force to warn and/or disable non-compliant vessels suspected of smuggling on 105 occasions during this period.
4. Of the 212 interdictions conducted by the Coast Guard from September 1, 2024, to October 7, 2025,
208 were interdicted in international waters.
5. Of the 212 interdictions conducted by the Coast Gu…

Nelson Flores @nelsonlflores.bsky.social · 3d

Social media has tons of problems but to suggest the before times were somehow more fact based is absurd.

What politicians like HRC are really lamenting is not the increase in fake news but the decline of corporate media that has historically worked in partnership with them to control the masses.

Drew Harwell @drewharwell.com · 4d

It's become normal now for high-level political figures to argue that an entire generation was brainwashed through fake videos into mass anti-Israel political mobilization by TikTok. Complete conspiracy thinking, rooted in zero evidence, based on nothing

Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · 4d

Hillary Clinton blames TikTok and “totally made up” videos for young people’s views on Israel and Palestine.

She says social media influenced “not just the usual suspects” but also “young Jewish Americans who don’t know the history and don’t understand.”

Drew Harwell @drewharwell.com · 4d

It's become normal now for high-level political figures to argue that an entire generation was brainwashed through fake videos into mass anti-Israel political mobilization by TikTok. Complete conspiracy thinking, rooted in zero evidence, based on nothing

Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · 4d

Hillary Clinton blames TikTok and “totally made up” videos for young people’s views on Israel and Palestine.

She says social media influenced “not just the usual suspects” but also “young Jewish Americans who don’t know the history and don’t understand.”

Nelson Flores @nelsonlflores.bsky.social · 4d

Clearly this is why I am not in fundraising lol

Nelson Flores @nelsonlflores.bsky.social · 4d

The fact that I literally received an email from pretty much every nonprofit that I have ever had any interaction with today asking for donations for Giving Tuesday make me wonder how successful these efforts could possibly be in fundraising

Sanho Tree @sanho.bsky.social · 4d

Rand Paul just posted this letter from the Coast Guard confirming that 1/4 of the boats they stop carry no contraband. The likelihood that Hegseth & Bradley ordered the murder of innocent civilians is very high.

Nelson Flores @nelsonlflores.bsky.social · 4d

Perhaps ironically because third world was originally connected to Cold War geopolitics it also became a term of solidarity. Some have tried this with Global South but it doesn’t work as well since it is based on literal geography as opposed to a specific geopolitics. We need a new solidarity term.

Dani✨ @danisdiary.bsky.social · 4d

The term “third world country” is a vestige of racists, colonial and imperialist societies. If you don’t know what I am talking about, it’s okay. This term has long been used and misused. But contemporary governments should know better than to add it to their vocabulary.

www.npr.org/sections/goa...

Memo To People Of Earth: 'Third World' Is An Offensive Term!

TV correspondents and pundits spoke it, Twitter users typed it. They said the insurrection in the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday was what happens in "Third World" countries. There's a problem with that.

www.npr.org

Nelson Flores @nelsonlflores.bsky.social · 4d

These same people supposedly concerned about fairness in sports also celebrate the biological advantages of cis men like Michael Phelps as “the perfect swimmer’s body”

www.biography.com/athletes/mic...

Nelson Flores @nelsonlflores.bsky.social · 4d

Interestingly enough what the author seems to be critiquing is heteronormativity and advocating for the queering of classrooms.

Queer communities have certainly not solved misogyny but we have certainly done a better job at imagining alternatives in both theory and practice worth looking at.

Jess Calarco @jessicacalarco.com · 4d

"the issue isn’t that we need more 'boy-friendly' reforms. It’s that boys are socialized to compete only with boys and to read girls’ success as illegitimate or emasculating. The result is dissonance, resentment, and disengagement for boys—and hostile climates for girls."

time.com/7335723/auto...

The Real Way Schools are Failing Boys

“If we really want boys to succeed, we need to ensure that they know how to both beat—and lose— to girls."

time.com

Dani✨ @danisdiary.bsky.social · 4d

The term “third world country” is a vestige of racists, colonial and imperialist societies. If you don’t know what I am talking about, it’s okay. This term has long been used and misused. But contemporary governments should know better than to add it to their vocabulary.

www.npr.org/sections/goa...

Memo To People Of Earth: 'Third World' Is An Offensive Term!

TV correspondents and pundits spoke it, Twitter users typed it. They said the insurrection in the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday was what happens in "Third World" countries. There's a problem with that.

www.npr.org

Jess Calarco @jessicacalarco.com · 4d

"the issue isn’t that we need more 'boy-friendly' reforms. It’s that boys are socialized to compete only with boys and to read girls’ success as illegitimate or emasculating. The result is dissonance, resentment, and disengagement for boys—and hostile climates for girls."

time.com/7335723/auto...

The Real Way Schools are Failing Boys

“If we really want boys to succeed, we need to ensure that they know how to both beat—and lose— to girls."

time.com

Nelson Flores @nelsonlflores.bsky.social · 5d

Tbh a self proclaimed anarchist who is actually besties with the corrupt elites he complains about having a hegemonic hold on linguistics actually makes a lot of sense

Allison @schwadevivre.bsky.social · 5d

Several instances of correspondence w/ Chomsky & his wife in the Epstein files. Here's one where they discuss word meaning, obliquely alluding to Trump's rhetoric. There are also some where JE reminds them that they're "always welcome in the Caribbean." #linguistics

jmail.world/thread/HOUSE...

Noam Chomsky: Re: — Epstein Emails

Email from Noam Chomsky in [email protected]: I read what his ghost-writer said about him. Pretty scary. Reminds me of something I was told by Jo

jmail.world

Nelson Flores @nelsonlflores.bsky.social · 5d

There is a rightwing student network targeting faculty who engage in research and teaching or simply exist in ways that contradicts their political views and we have to develop strategies to avoid falling into their traps while collectively organizing to protect academic freedom from their attacks

Jacqueline Antonovich @jackiantonovich.bsky.social · 5d

If you are a chair of a department or supervise grad students, it might be important to collaborate with your colleagues on ways to strategize when a "problem essay" comes down the pike. It's one small way of protecting each other.

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