Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Joelle Maslak @jmaslak.bsky.social · 1d

Super excited to go back to one of my thesis advisor's queer theory classes to talk about what I did my senior thesis on (how trans+autistic people demonstrate agency through analysis of their written accounts of their transitions). It's going to be a lot of fun to talk about.

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Joelle Maslak @jmaslak.bsky.social · 1d

I will be at Denver Pride next year protesting loudly every politician who voted to hurt trans folk that dares march.

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Reposted by Joelle Maslak

austin @aparker.io · 4d

I have a modest proposal to address the Bluesky toxicity crisis.

First, we find a big boat.

Second? We get it stuck in a canal.

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Joelle Maslak @jmaslak.bsky.social · 1d

One of the reasons I have a job is because of the National Academy of the Sciences. I won a local competition funded by them as a high school student. Among other things, that meant a partial scholarship to university--something I would never have qualified for on the basis of HS GPA.

Anne Fausto-Sterling @birdlady.bsky.social · 1d

Another report on conditions at the US National academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Turmoil at US science academy as Trump cuts force layoffs

Efforts by leaders of the US national academies to adjust to the new political reality have spurred member concerns about capitulation and censorship.

www.nature.com

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Joelle Maslak @jmaslak.bsky.social · 1d

Also: No, you can't blame autism on the Jews, even through this convoluted way. That's scientific antisemitism.

Joelle Maslak @jmaslak.bsky.social · 1d

This isn't to say cultural/social factors are unimportant. I believe zip code, class, and race are major determinants in who does and doesn't get autism diagnosis. I suspect they connect to circumcision too, with differences between cultural/social groups.

Joelle Maslak @jmaslak.bsky.social · 1d

Circumcision has nothing to do with autism.

I haven't read the 2015 study that seems to be the source of these claims, and maybe it'll persuade me when I do, but it's going to be an incredibly high bar.

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Joelle Maslak @jmaslak.bsky.social · 1d

Circumcision has nothing to do with autism.

I haven't read the 2015 study that seems to be the source of these claims, and maybe it'll persuade me when I do, but it's going to be an incredibly high bar.

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Reposted by Joelle Maslak

Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 1d

With SCOTUS set to legalize conversion therapy, I think it's important for states to get around this decision by implementing new legislation applying private rights of action to practitioners of conversion therapy by their victims with large damages and long statutes of limitations.

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Reposted by Joelle Maslak

Timothy @landbeforetim.bsky.social · 2d

Ken Paxton’s plan

“How Do You Do, Fellow Kids?" is a reaction image commonly used to respond to users pretending to be part of a community that they are clearly unfamiliar with. The image features the actor Steve Buscemi dressed youthfully and holding a skateboard, and is usually subtitled with the tagline. The image is often photoshopped to adapt to a particular subculture, and the phrase is often used in conversation without the image. It’s edited to include random trans symbols including a trans Texas saying “y’all means all” and a badge that says “fuck the cis stem” and a trans hat with the hammer and sickle symbol.

Text reads: How do you do fellow transgenders

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Reposted by Joelle Maslak

The Mercury News @mercurynews.com · 2d

New California law makes Diwali a state holiday starting in 2026 trib.al/iXMXN0L

New California law makes Diwali a state holiday starting in 2026

Starting next year, California schools can close and state employees can take the day off for Diwali.

trib.al

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Reposted by Joelle Maslak

Yashar Ali 🐘 @yasharali.bsky.social · 2d

BREAKING

In a new video, Dolly Parton, the Queen of America, says she’s going to be ok.

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Joelle Maslak @jmaslak.bsky.social · 2d

Sadly I've heard the same on the left. For instance, I know trans people who are opposed to covering surgery for trans prisoners because "If I can't get it, why should they?"

We should be happy when *ANYONE* gets healthcare. And fix the things that keep people from getting it.

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Joelle Maslak @jmaslak.bsky.social · 2d

I think of the made-up "problem" of Islamic law being enforced against Christians in Michigan or Europe or whatever. That didn't happen, and, no, Islamic law shouldn't be enforced against non-Muslims. Just like anti-gay religious beliefs shouldn't be enforced against those not part of the religion.

Joelle Maslak @jmaslak.bsky.social · 2d

This isn't about religious freedom, either. Religious freedom is you being able to believe whatever religious beliefs you believe. You can hate queers. But when you try pushing that hate on others NOT part of your religion, that is the issue.

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Joelle Maslak @jmaslak.bsky.social · 2d

These bigots want to proselytize. That's what this is: a visible message saying that God hates queers. If any message to the contrary exists, that being queer might not be bad, it must be destroyed. It's forced religion.

Eli Erlick @handle.invalid · 2d

Republicans just removed Miami Beach's famous pride crosswalks. They could have painted them, but instead used bulldozers to destroy the bricks. Pride crosswalks are a tiny, symbolic gesture. But they are still important symbols of the political climate.

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Joelle Maslak @jmaslak.bsky.social · 2d

I wonder what it is like to see a windmill and immediately freak out about how awful it is, and to think, amidst everything going on in the world, that this is a top problem to solve.

So fucking weird.

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Reposted by Joelle Maslak

Princess Rebecca Frizzle 🏳️‍⚧️💕🦕👸🐱 @rebeccabluestone.bsky.social · 2d

all of this. keep telling your stories, keep expressing and spreading joy, and pointing out the fash at every chance you get.

FreeLinkophant sHELLey B Woke - Living Saint of Purity🏳️‍⚧️🖤💜🤍 💛 @shelleybwoke.bsky.social · 2d

The first rule of Trans Club is you do not shut up about Trans Club.

Because genitally-obsessed bigots are eagerly attempting to erase us from history and society, and nobody in the corporate media are going to tell our stories.

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Reposted by Joelle Maslak

Sheryl Weikal and the colorful Parrotlegals @leftistlawyer.com · 4d

Conversion therapy destroys you. It's torture. I was waterboarded with vinegar until I said I was a boy and wanted to be a boy. I still have nightmares about it to this day.

That's what they want SCOTUS to protect.

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Joelle Maslak @jmaslak.bsky.social · 3d

If I was a professional engineer and said "You can leave the rebar out of that bridge when you build it," would that also be free speech? Would Colorado be barred from taking my PE license away?

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Joelle Maslak @jmaslak.bsky.social · 3d

For reference, there are 1.5 *BILLION* cars in the world. I.E. "equivalent to 500,000 cars" is 0.03% of the pollution of cars.

Maybe we should focus on the cars... I bet it's not that hard to get rid of say 0.04% of cars if we had a desire to do so.

CNN @cnn.com · 4d

The people who are most vulnerable to the hard-to-breathe air that comes with climate change may inadvertently be adding to the problem, new research finds. https://cnn.it/4pWQMoh

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Joelle Maslak @jmaslak.bsky.social · 3d

While the SCOTUS may think there is first amendment rights to use words to directly hurt kids in the conversion therapy case, somehow I suspect there wouldn't be first amendment rights for someone who met privately with kids to teach them to subvert their parents' wishes about transition.

Reposted by Joelle Maslak

Python New Zealand @python.nz · 4d

Kiwi PyCon 2025 in 45 Days

he days are getting warmer, tickets are selling, and it’s time to let you in on our second keynote for Kiwi PyCon 2025: Benno Rice 🎉 Benno is widely known as someone with opinions and a (possibly over-)willingness to share them. He has been working with computers…

Kiwi PyCon 2025 in 45 Days

he days are getting warmer, tickets are selling, and it’s time to let you in on our second keynote for Kiwi PyCon 2025: Benno Rice 🎉 Benno is widely known as someone with opinions and a (possibly over-)willingness to share them. He has been working with computers professionally for over 30 years (unprofessionally for longer) and takes particular joy in examining how computers, the Internet, and all that surrounds all of these intersects with the humanity that it is meant to help.

python.nz

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Joelle Maslak @jmaslak.bsky.social · 4d

As you may know, if you use LLMs to generate code, you should completely and accurately specify your requirements and procedures.

Of course you could use another technology to do that: programming languages. They have the benefit of not just making up shit you didn't tell it.

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Joelle Maslak @jmaslak.bsky.social · 4d

Schools are more accommodating of parents who hate LGBT people than they are for disabled kids.

That's wrong.

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Joelle Maslak @jmaslak.bsky.social · 5d

I have a page of all the apps that have the letter "P" as their icon.

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