Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Zoe Storm

Katelyn Boo-urns @katelynburns.com · 2d

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 · 2d

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

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Sydney Bauer @sydney-bauer.com · 12h

I used to explain to my friends how growing up in a Jewish synagogue in an area of New Jersey where there were not a lot of Jews how rabbis who taught Hebrew school used to instruct us how to spot very subtle antisemitic dog whistles that were plentiful back in the early 2000s.

Anyway, here we are.

Politico @politico.com · 13h

EXCLUSIVE: Capitol Police are investigating a swastika found in GOP Rep. Dave Taylor’s office.

“The content of that image does not reflect the values or standards of this office, my staff, or myself, and I condemn it in the strongest terms," Taylor said in a statement.

Capitol Police called to investigate swastika in GOP congressional office

An American flag altered to include an image of a swastika was found in Rep. Dave Taylor’s office.

www.politico.com

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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 15h

I experience a very special and intense kind of irritation whenever I see recently-built buildings with *decorative gas lamps* which are not only wasting natural gas but also aren't even producing useful light.

Just a fancy flame burning because fancy.

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Micah @rincewind.run · 17h

yeah this is a Problem if people ever stop believing

if Google or Meta never gets AI revenue to the level they expect they’re still tied to the advertising money faucet, they’ll be fine

if OpenAI’s profits never materialize we are in some shit

(xAI is, well, tied into the Elon Bullshit Machine)

Michael Caley @michaelcaley.bsky.social · 17h

this is one of the best articulations of the AI bear case I've read

most of the AI companies are also massively wealthy and profitable hypercorps, but OpenAI specifically is a bomb planted at the heart of the American stock market helpfully labeled "this is a bomb"
prospect.org/power/2025-1...

The AI Ouroboros

Nvidia and other companies are paying startups to buy their products.

prospect.org

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Katelyn Boo-urns @katelynburns.com · 17h

c'mon man

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 17h

Mike Johnson: "They berated a Capitol police officer, screamed at him. He was merely standing his post. It shows, again, their disdain for law enforcement, the Democrats, screaming, assaulting officers."

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Beedok/Fern 🏳️‍⚧️🇨🇦 @beedokfern.bsky.social · 17h

If you're not on tumblr, I will say that you're missing out on my Ranma ask blog. It's very silly.
www.tumblr.com/askranma12

Ranma's feelings on the song 'Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting': cats should not be fast as lightning, that's very frightening.
Shampoo and Mousse are busy being funky.

Ranma admitting she's not built for Sumo while Akane blushes about how cute she'd be with that build. And then getting flustered about how guy mode Ranma would also have boobs in Ranma were that big.

Ranma saying that she doesn't really know much about Sailor Moon crossovers, but that cat-fist mode might have feelings. Neko-fist Ranma then wants to know if there's any AUs where she's one of the mascot cats.

Ranma cosplaying as Giovanni from Guilty Gear admitting that she was thinking about a Baiken cosplay, but then Shampoo convinced Ranma's mother to dress as the katana wielding and kimono wearing character.
We then see Nodoka in her cosplay, talking about how much fun she's had and how everyone loves her costume.

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Haus of Decline @hausofdecline.bsky.social · 17h

A woman says "hi, I'm here for the Magic: The Gathering tournament." A man at the registration booth says "of course. and ma'am I hope it's not too presumptious of me to say that your transition is going incredible." The woman says 'uh... I'm cis actually." Another man comes up and says "hi... wow ma'am your transition..." The first man interrupts him shouting "Tony! No!"

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Typewriter Skeleton @tpwrtrmnky.bsky.social · 17h

Oh yeah? You think capitalism is bad? Here are some inventions you can thank capitalism for:

[Tech that was developed through publicly funded research and then packaged as a Product by people who didn't invent it, and gets worse each year to increase profit]

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Alice Chizita @chizita.bsky.social · 4d

To own the Libs - Zoe Storm (zoestorm.bsky.social)

This book was kind of exactly what I was looking for! A fantastic romance novel with a sapphic trans woman mc!!

And the "postscript epilogue" added just the little extra!

Highly recommended!

This also marks my 100th book/audiobook this year!

The cover for To own the libs by Zoe Storm!

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Annette Gordon-Reed @agordonreed.bsky.social · 23h

1)You may remember the articles criticizing liberal students for their hesitancy to make friends with conservative students—alleging that they were less open-minded than their conservative counterparts.

Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 1d

Here are the little darlings they’ve created. Horrifying.

www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

‘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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Osaka: None/bun - A sack of nuns @osakanone.bsky.social · 1d

remigrate is not a dog whistle, and is open nazi language

Remigration

Not to be confused with Return migration.
Remigration is an originally European far-right proposal of ethnic cleansing[1] via the mass deportation of non-white immigrants and their descendants, sometimes including those born in Europe, to their place of racial ancestry.[2][3] It is popular especially within the Identitarian movement.[4][5] Some proponents of remigration suggest excluding some persons with non-European background from such a mass deportation, based on a varyingly defined degree of assimilation into European culture.[6][7][8]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remigration

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Zoe Storm @zoestorm.bsky.social · 18h

I'm in this picture and I don't like it

AzulCrescent @azulcrescent.bsky.social · 1d

Every now and then

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Otacat ➡️ PRGE #724 @otacat.bsky.social · 1d

Honestly, best illustration so far of the remake, hands down. Love the track suit delivery outfits and the energy of each character. 11/10 need all the merch. Obsessed!

Rumic World @furinkan.com · 1d

The announcement for the Ranma 1/2 Cafe opening in November, with a new official illustration for the Martial Arts Delivery Race.

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Bad Medical Takes @badmedicaltakes.bsky.social · 18h

Twitter user snackbottledesu: Drinking water is unhealthy. It has no protein, no peptides, no aminoacids, no nutrients, and multiplies the effects of carbohhdrates. Your body naturally reuses the necessary amount of fluids necessary to keep you alive.

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The Verge @theverge.com · 1d

"Every essay, every tweet, every moment of vulnerability I shared in the name of progress. Did I paint a target on my own back?"

Read more from @parkermolloy.com in the first of our special series, The Future of Being Trans on the Internet: www.theverge.com/cs/features/...

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Free Łink - Matthew R Francis @bowlerhatscience.org · 2d

OK there's my Unhinged Literary Opinion: Pratchett is the greatest humanist/philosophical writer of our era.

Micah @rincewind.run · 2d

and since he really does have a quote for everything, in the wise words of Sir Terry Pratchett: “Susan hated Literature. She’d much prefer to read a good book.”

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Unexplainable Finomenon @filamena.bsky.social · 2d

It is normal to support your fellow persons. Hate and ignorance are weird and abnormal.

Authors Against Book Bans @authorsabb.bsky.social · 2d

Some good news! After all that, only O.03% of families opted out of LGBTQ+ Education in Maryland after the Supreme Court gave them the ability to do so. Not just a majority, not just most families, nearly all families want their kids to have access to this education. We are the majority

Only 0.03% Opt Out Of LGBTQ+ Education In Maryland After SCOTUS Gives Them A Right To

After SCOTUS gave families a right to opt out of LGBTQ+ education, Montgomery County, Maryland is reporting only 43 families took them up on it.

www.erininthemorning.com

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Peter @notalawyer.bsky.social · 3d

the actual story here, which the media never talks about, is that police in this country have become a discrete right-wing political operation. the story isn't about cops leaving (they're lying about that), it's about the police trying to exert influence over elections.

Mark Misoshnik 🏴 @misoshnik.bsky.social · 4d

Lmao is this supposed to be a bad thing?

A tweet from Bari Weiss that says “"It's shaken me to my core," a lieutenant said of Mamdani's unexpected victory in June. "The absolute dread I feel is palpable.
"
Today in @TheFP our @Olivia_Reingold talks to the cops who say they will walk if Zohran Mamdani is elected in November:”

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Jubilee 🔞 @jethanded-wyvern.bsky.social · 3d

Fucking banger article from Julia Serano.

Julia Serano @juliaserano.bsky.social · 5d

apparently the new Netflix show Monster: The Ed Gein Story invented an "autogynephilia" backstory for their serial killer (because of course they did!). so time to re-up my collection of writings on this pseudoscientific zombie theory...
juliaserano.medium.com/autogynephil...

Autogynephilia, Junk Science, and Pseudoscience

plus links to my academic articles, online essays, and explainers on the topic

juliaserano.medium.com

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flyingrodent @flyingrodent.bsky.social · 2d

Everyone fully understands this government is a catastrophe and that it’s setting us up for much worse. There will be an attempt to roll it in glitter next year, after they get annihilated in several elections, but the horrible politics are mandatory and non-negotiable, and they will not change.

Kathy O'Donnell @kathyodonnell.... • 22m
That energy and those skills are mostly coming from what Labour might consider its hinterland - and they won't be coming back.
Polanski has been in place a month.
In Scotland, Labour has collapsed.
At council level, Reform are a disaster.
Four years ahead, the McSweeney folly will be clear.
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Kathy O'Donnell @kathyodonnell.bs... • 4m
Then there's the eleven trade unions affiliated to the Labour Party. There's widespread dissatisfaction and criticism from union grassroots and leadership over the rightwards lurch of the Parliamentary party.
What if they decide Starmer's Labour does not represent their interests and ethics?

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Meredith Shiner @meredithshiner.com · 3d

It’s impossible to overstate how much “abolish ice” is the normie position now here in chicago — just countless random moms at toddler soccer on a park district field asking me where I bought my anti-ice t-shirt. average people don’t like our neighborhoods being terrorized.

laura olin @lauraolin.bsky.social · 3d

A friend ran the Chicago marathon today and said he couldn’t count the number of FUCK ICE signs along the way.

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ICE must be destroyed 🏳️‍⚧️🏴 @miawong.bsky.social · 3d

We are going to Win

Moreover, ICE must be destroyed

Meredith Shiner @meredithshiner.com · 3d

It’s impossible to overstate how much “abolish ice” is the normie position now here in chicago — just countless random moms at toddler soccer on a park district field asking me where I bought my anti-ice t-shirt. average people don’t like our neighborhoods being terrorized.

laura olin @lauraolin.bsky.social · 3d

A friend ran the Chicago marathon today and said he couldn’t count the number of FUCK ICE signs along the way.

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Jeff VanderMeer @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social · 4d

This heartfelt and meaningful statement by Portland resident and author Cristina Breshears on another social media platform bears reposting here. I don't think the intent is to idealize Portland but to remind all of us what is important and why. (Posted here with permission.)

For nine nights now, the steady thrum of Black Hawk helicopters has circled over Portland. The sound is constant, invasive; a low mechanical beating above our homes. It’s expensive. It’s intimidating. And it’s unnecessary.

Our protests have been largely peaceful. There is no insurrection here. Yet this federalized military presence makes us feel like we are living in a war zone (the very kind of chaos this administration claims to be protecting us from).

The irony is painful: it is only this occupation that makes Portland feel unsafe.

Each hour of helicopter flight costs taxpayers between $2,000 and $4,000, depending on crew, fuel, and maintenance. Multiply that by multiple aircraft over multiple nights, and you’re looking at hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of dollars burned into the sky.

Meanwhile, the Woodstock Food Pantry at All Saints Episcopal Church — which feeds working families, elders, and people with disabilities — has seen its federal funding slashed by 75%. How can we justify pouring public money into intimidation while cutting aid to those who simply need to eat?

This is waste, fraud, and abuse in plain sight:
* Waste of public resources on military theatrics.
* Fraud in the name of “public safety.”
* Abuse of the communities that federal agencies claim to protect.

Portland is a Sanctuary City. A sanctuary city is not a fortress. It’s a promise — a living vow that a community will protect the dignity and safety of everyone who calls it home. It means that local governments and ordinary people alike will refuse to criminalize survival. That schools, clinics, churches, and shelters will remain safe spaces no matter who you are or where you were born. But the term reaches far beyond policy. It’s an ethic of belonging; a refusal to criminalize need, difference, or desperation.

Sanctuary isn’t weakness. It’s courage. It takes moral strength to meet suffering with care instead of punishment, to believe that our neighbors’ safety is bound up in our own, to insist that safety is not achieved through force but through community, inclusion, and trust. It is living Matthew 25:40 out loud and in deed. It is an act of moral imagination and moral defiance. To hold sanctuary is to say: you belong here.

When we hold space for the most vulnerable — refugees, the unhoused, the undocumented, the disabled, the working poor, the displaced — we become something larger than a collection of individuals. We become a moral body. We do more than offer charity. We offer witness. We declare that the measure of a nation is found not in its towers or tanks, but in its tenderness.

Sanctuary cities are not lawless; they are soulful. They represent the conscience of the nation, a place where the laws of empathy still apply. To make sanctuary is to affirm that the United States is not merely a geographic territory, but a moral experiment: a republic that must constantly choose between fear and compassion, between domination and democracy.

A nation’s soul is measured not by the might of its military, but by the mercy of its people. When helicopters circle our skies in the name of order, while food pantries struggle to feed the hungry, we are forced to ask: What are we defending, and from whom? The soul of a nation survives only when we make sanctuary for one another. Not through walls or weapons, but through compassion and collective will. If we allow intimidation to replace compassion, we will have traded our conscience for control.

Please know that despite the hum of war machines overhead, the conscience of our city — whimsical, creative, stubbornly kind — can still be heard.

Portland is not the problem. Portland is the reminder. A reminder that a city can still choose to be sanctuary. That a people can still choose to be human.

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Zoe Storm @zoestorm.bsky.social · 3d

For romance, the best fit would be Performative Masculinity. Alex, The Transition Zone, and To Own the Libs also have a romance in it, but it's not the main focus.

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Wil Wheaton @wilwheaton.net · 3d

"To be a Republican in 2025 represents a clear public confession that you either don't know the difference between good and evil and you're so morally empty that you can't be bothered to begin to try, or that you do know the difference, and you prefer evil." Great essay from @juliusgoat.bsky.social

The Crime of Human Virtue

Sometimes it really is as simple as good vs. evil. This is one of those times. Human virtue is our great crime against the fascist project; it's also our great weapon against it.

www.the-reframe.com

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