Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Erin S. Pumpkins @erincikanek.bsky.social · 41m

I didn’t yell at the dudes in my undergrad philosophy classes enough, honestly

Sharon @sharonk.bsky.social · 1h

thiel, man, what the fuck are you talking about

He describes the plot of Watchmen, a 1986 graphic novel involving superheroes grappling with moral questions about humanity against the backdrop of impending nuclear war:

The antihero Ozymandias, the antichrist-type figure, is sort of an early-modern person. He believes this will be a timeless and eternal solution – eternal world peace. Moore is sort of a late-modern. In early modernity, you have ideal solutions, ‘perfect’ solutions to calculus. In late modernity, things are sort of probabilistic. And at some point, he asks Dr Manhattan whether the world government is going to last. And he says that ‘nothing lasts forever.’ So you embrace the antichrist and it still doesn’t work.

Thiel later finds biblical meaning in the manga One Piece, discussing how he believes it represents a future where an antichrist-like one-world government has repressed science. He believes that the hero, Monkey D Luffy, represents a Christlike figure.

In One Piece, you are set in a fantasy world, again sort of an alternate earth, but it’s 800 years into the reign of this one-world state. Which, as the story unfolds, gradually gets darker and darker. You sort of realize, in my interpretation, who runs the world and it’s something like the antichrist. There’s Luffy, a pirate who wears a red straw hat, sort of like Christ’s crown of thorns. And then towards the end of the story, transforms into a figure who resembles Christ in Revelation.

Thiel, along with a researcher and writer at Thiel Capital, explored these ideas at greater length in an essay for the religious journal First Things earlier this month.

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Erin S. Pumpkins @erincikanek.bsky.social · 1h

Good morning from Ithaca, where the clouds have filled the lake.

View overlooking Cayuga Lake, but instead of water it appears to be filled with clouds.

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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 1h

“Who was president in 2020?” remains one of the most pertinent questions in American politics—absurd, yes, but here we are—and that extends to “who was president January 1 - 19, 2021?”

Joyce White Vance @joycewhitevance.bsky.social · 2h

That’s a nice trick, since Biden wasn’t the president on Jan 6.

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Joyce White Vance @joycewhitevance.bsky.social · 2h

That’s a nice trick, since Biden wasn’t the president on Jan 6.

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Lisel Hintz @liselhintz.bsky.social · 11h

Adding to the regrettably relevant research.

We explain how authoritarian regimes use local forms of bureaucratic hamstringing and rhetorical vilification to delegitimize opposition actors.

www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1...

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Erin S. Pumpkins @erincikanek.bsky.social · 13h

Icon. Legend.

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David M. Perry @lollardfish.bsky.social · 14h

The end of federal enforcement of special ed laws. Some states - including MN - will likely be ok. But a lot of disabled kids in a lot of states are going to lose the education that federal law and decades of jurisprudence say they are owed.

Education Department wipes out special ed office in shutdown layoffs, union says

The Education Department laid off nearly everyone at the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services.

www.usatoday.com

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Eric Michael Garcia @ericmgarcia.bsky.social · 17h

If you work in the Office of Special Education for the Department of Education and have been RIF'ed or if you work in a school that has been notified about it, please message me. My Signal is emgarcia.85. I'll protect your identity.

Sara Partridge, Ph.D. @sarapartridge.bsky.social · 20h

There are reports that the *entire* office of special education at the US Dept of Education has been cut. These hardworking folks ensure kids with disabilities get equal access to a quality education.

America’s children deserve better than this.

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Erin S. Pumpkins @erincikanek.bsky.social · 14h

A key goal of this administration is to wholly exclude disabled people from society.
They are ghouls.

USA TODAY @usatoday.com · 18h

The Education Department laid off nearly everyone at the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services.

Education Department wipes out special ed office in shutdown layoffs, union says

The Education Department laid off nearly everyone at the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services.

bit.ly

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Erin S. Pumpkins @erincikanek.bsky.social · 15h

K: “Wait this really happened? Are there more Titanics?”

“Yes it sank. there are other cruise ships”

K: “But are there MORE? More Titanics!”

Erin S. Pumpkins @erincikanek.bsky.social · 15h

Awful. Hope it’s mild and no one else gets it.

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Erin S. Pumpkins @erincikanek.bsky.social · 15h

My house is entering a new era today: the kindergartner brought home a very large library book about the Titanic.

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Erin S. Pumpkins @erincikanek.bsky.social · 15h

You may not like it, but this is what peak performance looks like.

An excellent catto

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Rich Raho @richraho.bsky.social · 16h

Chicago priest Fr. Larry Dowling describes procession to ICE facility: “No one had the courage to speak directly to us. No one from Homeland Security could stand in the presence of the Monstrance holding the Blessed Sacrament. No wonder. Evil is repelled, recoils in the presence of Christ.”

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Chrissy Wiley @chrissyone.bsky.social · 19h

Never give up hop 🐸

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☠️mawls slaughter☠️ @oddletters.bsky.social · 20h

look i dont want to get all historian/art history/journalism posty about AI videos but we *have* ways of autheticating recorded/archival material, its chains of custody and provenance research, and you shouldn't have been trusting random videos on the internet to begin with???

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Erin S. Pumpkins @erincikanek.bsky.social · 20h

Ithaca as well!

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Erin S. Pumpkins @erincikanek.bsky.social · 20h

New conference swag just dropped

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Erin S. Pumpkins @erincikanek.bsky.social · 23h

The ideal conference outfit doesn’t exi-

A still from a Thom Browne runway show of a person with an alien mask on holding up a little sign with a green bar on. They are dressed in a gray outfit with a white button down and tie, where the jacket has multiple arms and the pants have multiple legs, wearing platform heeled shoes that look like saddle shoes.

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Zohran Kwame Mamdani @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social · 1d

UNTIL IT’S DONE, Ep. 4: Sylvia Rivera

In the 1970s, queer New Yorkers had been pushed to the margins of NYC. Our trans neighbors faced immense cruelty. But in Sylvia Rivera, they found a champion.

As we combat Trump’s politics of darkness, her legacy can light the path forward.

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Erin S. Pumpkins @erincikanek.bsky.social · 1d

The party atmospheres of North Halsted and Greek Town also cannot be beaten.

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Erin S. Pumpkins @erincikanek.bsky.social · 1d

I used to live above part of the route, so I’d get up early to watch the elites and then make my way down to cheer for everyone else.
One of the best days to be a Chicagoan

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Erin S. Pumpkins @erincikanek.bsky.social · 1d

They used to hand out tequila shots in Pilsen, and I hope they still do!

John Carpenter’s ‘Halloran’ @profhalloran.bsky.social · 1d

The Chicago Marathon will take more than 50,000 runners through 29 neighborhoods where more than a million people will come out to cheer them on.

More media should be covering this event as a counterpoint to Trump’s chaos narrative.

Chicago Marathon looks to defy Trump's

Nearly 2 million spectators are expected to line Chicago streets to watch the marathon on Sunday, providing a stark contrast to the Trump administration's negative messaging about the city.

apple.news

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John Carpenter’s ‘Halloran’ @profhalloran.bsky.social · 1d

The Chicago Marathon will take more than 50,000 runners through 29 neighborhoods where more than a million people will come out to cheer them on.

More media should be covering this event as a counterpoint to Trump’s chaos narrative.

Chicago Marathon looks to defy Trump's

Nearly 2 million spectators are expected to line Chicago streets to watch the marathon on Sunday, providing a stark contrast to the Trump administration's negative messaging about the city.

apple.news

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Reposted by Erin S. Pumpkins

Adam Keiper @adamkeiper.com · 1d

You would not fire these people—including the staff of the hugely, HUGELY important 'Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report'—if you cared at all about public health, if you wanted people to live.

And you would not let your thuggish henchmen fire people like this if you were a responsible president.

Sheryl Gay Stolberg @sherylnyt.bsky.social · 1d

BREAKING: Friday night massacre underway at CDC. Doznes of "disease detectives," high-level scientists, entire Washington staff and editors of the MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) have all been RIFed and received the following notice:

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