Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Ali Faruk @alifarukrva.bsky.social · 1m

Prioritizing greater investment in dropout prevention & recovery was essential to our efforts. We created family-friendly graduation trackers so everyone is crystal clear about where students stand and what they must accomplish to graduate on time.

Ali Faruk @alifarukrva.bsky.social · 3m

We followed that with significant, investments in alternative offerings, which have allowed students with unique life circumstances to earn credits in flexible settings (e.g., in the evenings, via hybrid learning, and so on).

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Ali Faruk @alifarukrva.bsky.social · 3m

We cleaned up our high school course catalogue, removing classes that didn’t have VDOE approval. We added more rigorous & engaging courses, like AP classes.

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Ali Faruk @alifarukrva.bsky.social · 5m

The Va Dept of Education tracks education data as far back as 2008. Based on that data, our economically disadvantaged students reached an all-time high graduation rate of 84% and our Black students reached an all-time high of 88%!

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Ali Faruk @alifarukrva.bsky.social · 5m

As we shared at the #rva School Board meeting last week, the Richmond Va #publicschools Class of 2025 had an 80.1% graduation rate — the highest since the pandemic!

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Ali Faruk @alifarukrva.bsky.social · 1h

"In spite of this, to oppression, plundering and abandonment, we respond with life. Neither floods nor plagues, famines nor cataclysms, nor even the eternal wars of century upon century, have been able to subdue the persistent advantage of life over death."
- Gabriel García Márquez

Reposted by Ali Faruk

Emissary Of Night | ليلى @diplomatofnight.com · 1h

Ta Nehisi Coates went to a country that imposed a military dictatorship onto five million people on the arbitrary basis of race and came away thinking that that's bad and some people are still angry with him because of that

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Ali Faruk @alifarukrva.bsky.social · 7h

cc @mcclellan.house.gov @markwarner.bsky.social

Middle East Eye (Unofficial) @middleeasteye-rss.bsky.social · 7h

Israeli soldiers opened fire at Palestinians in Gaza - https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/israeli-soldiers-opened-fire-suspects-gaza

Israeli soldiers opened fire at Palestinians in Gaza

<article data-history-node-id="430162" about="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/israeli-soldiers-opened-fire-suspects-gaza" class="live-blog-update default clearfix"> <h2> <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/israeli-soldiers-opened-fire-suspects-gaza" rel="bookmark"> <span class="field field-title">Israeli soldiers opened fire at Palestinians in Gaza </span> </a> </h2> <div class="content"> <div class="field field-field-text"><p style="margin-bottom:11px">The Israeli army issued a statement stating that Israeli soldiers opened fire at Palestinians calling them "several suspects" who came closer to troops stationed in northern Gaza on Tuesday morning.</p> <p>"Attempts were made to distance the suspects. The suspects did not comply and continued approaching the troops, who opened fire to remove the threat," the statement said.</p> </div> </div> </article>

www.middleeasteye.net

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Middle East Eye (Unofficial) @middleeasteye-rss.bsky.social · 7h

Israeli soldiers opened fire at Palestinians in Gaza - https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/israeli-soldiers-opened-fire-suspects-gaza

Israeli soldiers opened fire at Palestinians in Gaza

<article data-history-node-id="430162" about="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/israeli-soldiers-opened-fire-suspects-gaza" class="live-blog-update default clearfix"> <h2> <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/israeli-soldiers-opened-fire-suspects-gaza" rel="bookmark"> <span class="field field-title">Israeli soldiers opened fire at Palestinians in Gaza </span> </a> </h2> <div class="content"> <div class="field field-field-text"><p style="margin-bottom:11px">The Israeli army issued a statement stating that Israeli soldiers opened fire at Palestinians calling them "several suspects" who came closer to troops stationed in northern Gaza on Tuesday morning.</p> <p>"Attempts were made to distance the suspects. The suspects did not comply and continued approaching the troops, who opened fire to remove the threat," the statement said.</p> </div> </div> </article>

www.middleeasteye.net

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الكسندرا ميراي @lexialex.bsky.social · 7h

Too bad Biden didn't have any leverage at all and just had to take "no" for an answer

Israel's dependence on the United States was stated bluntly by retired IDF Maj.
General Yitzhak Brick in an interview earlier this week.
"All of our missiles, the ammunition, the precision-guided bombs, all the airplanes and bombs, it's all from the U.S. The minute they turn off the tap, you can't keep fighting. You have no capability.... Everyone understands that we can't fight this war without the United States. Period."

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Ali Faruk @alifarukrva.bsky.social · 7h

a man in a military uniform salutes with his hand on his hat

ALT: a man in a military uniform salutes with his hand on his hat

media.tenor.com

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Laura Chapin @laurachapin.bsky.social · 1d

@sallyjenx.bsky.social
In which comedian John Oliver does the fact checking journalism you and Caitlyn Flanagan refuse to do and systematically dismantles the imbecilic grift that is Bari Weiss.
Call it a ratio if you like. But it uses Weiss's own words.
youtu.be/gieTx_P6INQ?...

Bari Weiss: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

YouTube video by LastWeekTonight

youtu.be

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Jesse Mermell @jessemermell.bsky.social · 1d

He is 13. A 7th grader w/ a pending asylum case. Being held more than 500 miles from home & housed w/ adults. He called his mom crying, & reported that he’s sleeping on concrete w/ an aluminum blanket.

How is this anything other than sick & shameful? www.bostonglobe.com/2025/10/12/m...

Everett 13-year-old arrested by ICE and sent to Virginia detention facility - The Boston Globe

The boy’s mother, Josiele Berto, was called to pick her son up from the Everett Police Department on Thursday, the day he was arrested.

www.bostonglobe.com

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Ali Faruk @alifarukrva.bsky.social · 9h

I remember my Dem US senator @markwarner.bsky.social refusing to support a public option.

Reposted by Ali Faruk

Dan Mihalopoulos @dmihalopoulos.bsky.social · 14h

This version is confirmed, by Hoffman Estates police, puncturing the official DHS statement.

At this point, there is a statement from DHS re 🧊 activities in the Chicago area that’s refuted in similar fashion on nearly a daily basis at a minimum over the past week

Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi @congressmanraja.bsky.social · 16h

Despite what some, including at DHS, are claiming, this video isn’t from a year ago in Chicago. It was Friday in Hoffman Estates, in my district, a street I’ve walked myself. It appears to show a child being violently detained by ICE. It’s real, and I’m demanding accountability.

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Ali Faruk @alifarukrva.bsky.social · 15h

I nominate @rvadirt.bsky.social

Matthew Gillikin @mtgillikin.bsky.social · 17h

There should be a Pulitzer Prize for live tweeting public meetings

Rachel Feder @rachelfeder.bsky.social · 1d

Tell me your most unhinged literary opinion, as a little treat

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Stephen West @stephenwest.bsky.social · 21h

How W. E. B. Du Bois responded to government policing of "anti-American" sentiment during the 1910s:

"I took great satisfaction in being able to sit back in my chair and answer blandly, 'We are seeking to have the Constitution of the United States thoroughly and completely enforced.' ”

Federal agents invaded even the offices of The Crisis and the National Association for the advancement of colored people and asked searching questions: " just what, after all, were our objects and activities?” I took great satisfaction in being able to sit back in my chair and answer blandly, “We are seeking to have the constitution of the United states thoroughly and completely enforced.” It took some ingenuity, even for Southerners, to make treason out of that.

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Christopher Wiggins @cwnewser.bsky.social · 17h

Breaking: Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, the legendary transgender activist and veteran of the Stonewall uprising who dedicated her life to the liberation of trans people, especially Black trans women, has died at 78.

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Last Week Tonight with John Oliver @lastweektonight.com · 1d

Here’s last night’s story about Bari Weiss, CBS News, Paramount Skydance, and why the Upper West Side is a lot more than just “Seinfeld territory.” youtu.be/gieTx_P6INQ

Bari Weiss: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

YouTube video by LastWeekTonight

youtu.be

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🎃🦇👻 Michael Scare-anicolas 👻🦇🎃 @karanicolas.bsky.social · 18h

I am also struck by the lack of attention paid to how Israel fired tear gas and rubber bullets *today* at Palestinians waiting for the release of their loved ones.

This kind of brutality is just priced in, and therefore deemed unimportant to report on.

Jonathan Cohn @jonathancohn.bsky.social · 1d

Very jarring how the media treats some lives as inherently and others not.

I am happy for hostages and their families to be reunited, but it’s shocking how little media attention is given to “how do Gazans grapple with the utter destruction of their homes, vast loss of lives, and ongoing famine.”

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Jonathan Cohn @jonathancohn.bsky.social · 1d

Very jarring how the media treats some lives as inherently and others not.

I am happy for hostages and their families to be reunited, but it’s shocking how little media attention is given to “how do Gazans grapple with the utter destruction of their homes, vast loss of lives, and ongoing famine.”

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Ali Faruk @alifarukrva.bsky.social · 17h

a man with long hair and a beard is talking to another man while holding a sword .

Alt: a man with long hair and a beard is talking to another man while holding a sword .

media.tenor.com

Reposted by Ali Faruk

Robin (she/he-ella/él) @merryrobin.bsky.social · 20h

Today, a thread to honor and celebrate #IndigenousPeoplesDay.
The world is so big, so there will be a second and maybe a third part.
We will begin with Zuni weaver We’wha (1849-1896).

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Robin (she/he-ella/él) @merryrobin.bsky.social · Aug 27

We’wha (1849-1896), a notable weaver and potter Lhamana (Zuni Two Spirit), took on both masculine and feminine tasks as a Zuni cultural ambassador and pottery and textile artist.
Also a spiritual leader, We’wha endeavored to preserve the history, traditions, and knowledge of the Zuni people.

A black and white, full body portrait of We'wha, a highly respected cultural figure in Zuni culture, known as a "lhamana" (two spirits). We'wha is standing, looking at the camera, wearing traditional Zuni attire, with patterned clothing, woven belts, a long beaded necklace, and earrings. The hair is styled with side buns adorned with ribbons.

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Ali Faruk @alifarukrva.bsky.social · 17h

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Ruth Delgado @heylookitsruth.bsky.social · 20h

A mom in Houston reported her 15-year-old son with autism missing. She spent 6 days terrified, searching for him. The whole time, Houston police knew exactly where he was since they helped ICE place him in a refugee facility.

This is beyond cruel.
www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston...

Missing teen with autism transferred to refugee facility by HPD

He is currently being held at an Office for Refugee Resettlement facility.

www.houstonchronicle.com

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