Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Lew

Kelsey Atherton @atherton.bsky.social · 2h

When the biblical David composed a song, he was something of a slinger-songwriter

Reposted by Lew

👁🌻🦊⚙️⚓ Bob, Engineer, Pusher of Paper @navmecheng.bsky.social · 12h

> It is 2025 BC. I am a soldier from one of the outlying provinces called to defend the pyramid in Memphis

> It is 2025 AD. I am a soldier from one of the outlying provinces called to defend the pyramid in Memphis

Soldiers at the Bass Pro Shops pyramid in Memphis, TN.

50 2.3K 7.2K

Reposted by Lew

Sharon Murdoch @domesticanimal.bsky.social · 11h

Well, that didn’t go how I hoped it would. To say I’m a little disappointed in the NZ voting public’s decision on Māori wards is an understatement. Here’s a thought about aspiring to the bare minimum (& given our #nitrate problem even that might be too much)
My Stuff #cartoon today #nzpol

Cartoon. Title: “A Traditional Local Body Election Blessing” Image shows a fairy with a wand, dressed in orange, beside a levitating voting box. She’s saying, “May all your municipal dreams come true!” And then, “And if you can’t have that, may your reticulated water be potable”

41 140

Reposted by Lew

Keith Ng @keithng.bsky.social · 6h

We have a solution for this - political parties! They represent a rough set of values and policy directions, an internal vetting and selection system, and a reputational system that makes parties accountable for the candidates the choose (or throw out if they turn out to be shit).

Timothy Gassin @timothygassin.bsky.social · 6h

Voters therefore have little choice but to make their choices based on the statements made by candidates in the booklet provided with their ballot paper. These statements are often pretty generic, give little real idea of candidates' ideology or beliefs, and are pretty tedious to read.

5 16 63

Reposted by Lew

Scott Lemieux @lemieuxlgm.bsky.social · 8h

Are the editors of the New York Times engaged in a violent coup against the government of New York? It depends on the narrator www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2025/10/are-...

Are the editors of the New York Times engaged in a violent coup against the government of New York? It depends on the narrator - Lawyers, Guns & Money

Trump is escalating his authoritarian violence porn fantasies about Portland to an incredibly lurid degree: Please keep making podcasts about how democrats need to stop being so condescending about re...

www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com

15 66

Reposted by Lew

George Cochrane @georgecochrane44.bsky.social · 9h

Posse Comitatus is next.

1 1 2

Reposted by Lew

Stu Fleming @thebasement.nz · 23h

His girlfriend Magna Carta, is still on the run.

John Donegan @donegan.bsky.social · 23h

BREAKING: Antifa leader Habeas Corpus has been arrested in Portland.

8 59 340

Reposted by Lew

Jason Sinclair @jsinclair.bsky.social · 19h

How to *nearly* understand what's going on.

3 11 77

Reposted by Lew

River_Tam @rivertam.bsky.social · 13h

Anyways, life expectancy for slaves at birth in the American South was 22 years, driven by a 50% infant mortality rate so I wish this guy a very happy shut the fuck up

1 2 35

Reposted by Lew

River_Tam @rivertam.bsky.social · 13h

You weren't even better off being a rich white baby born in 1850 than a black baby born today. Cornelius Vanderbilt II had seven kids. One got sick and died at 5. One died at 21yo from typhoid. One died at 37 aboard the Lusitania. One died at 45 from cirrhosis.

Stephen West @stephenwest.bsky.social · 1d

But you shouldn't be too surprised when they say stuff like this:

"You were better off being a Black person in Charleston, S.C., in 1850, when they had an operating slave market than being conceived as a Black baby in New York City or Baltimore today."

I don’t want to take any guidance at all from the secular society around us. And the reason I don’t is they killed 60 million babies. I don’t want to hear any more lectures from these people about slavery. You were better off being a Black person in Charleston, S.C., in 1850, when they had an operating slave market than being conceived as a Black baby in New York City or Baltimore today.

7 24 120

Reposted by Lew

Scott Lemieux @lemieuxlgm.bsky.social · 1d

"I call myself a theocratic libertarian, who wants a limited government that will ban pride parades, prohibit the appearance of trans people in public, force women to carry pregnancies to term, and ban same-sex marriage"

Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 1d

Ross Douthat treats this guy like they're having some deep conversation about the relationship of Christianity and the government, but the dude is a garden-variety dull, shallow, hateful, worthless bigot with nothing interesting to say, just endless riffs on "God hates everything/everyone I do."

Douthat: So that’s the first purpose of your political project, for America to stop making God angry.

Wilson: Yes. And most people think that when they are confronted with that project, they think that we want to get our tentacles into everything and start controlling everything. I actually think we need limited government. The government should be significantly smaller than it is, and we need to curtail a lot of the busybodyness that we have. That’s why I would call myself a theocratic libertarian. There is a true libertarian element in this, and yet, the transcendent grounding for what we’re talking about means that we acknowledge the authority of God.

We have racked up quite a body count of awful crimes, and I believe the only way out is for us to repent and turn to Christ. This would be things like no more Pride parades, no more drag queen story hours, no more abortion on demand, no more legalized same-sex unions — all of that, done. That’s the repentance part.

12 29 130

Reposted by Lew

Moose Allain @mooseallain.bsky.social · 3d

The sort of cartoon you'd expect to see from me

www.worldofmoose.com/products/con...

Cartoon showing a man reading from a dictionary to another. He says "So, it turns out confirmation bias means exactly what I expected it to mean|"

6 110 510

Reposted by Lew

Christopher Webb @cwebbonline.com · 1d

Not today, Satan‼️

330 2.3K 10K

Reposted by Lew

Elliot 🥕 @nameoftheyear.bsky.social · 1d

LOSING MY MIND AT THE PHONE NUMBER ON THIS BUS IN FRONT OF ME

50 1.4K 4.3K

Reposted by Lew

The Press @thepress.co.nz · 23h

Westland could get New Zealand’s oldest and second transgender mayor if businesswoman Jacquie Grant can hold on to her slim majority.

Contender for ‘oldest tranny’ mayor in the world takes 64-vote lead

Westland could get New Zealand’s oldest and second transgender mayor if businesswoman Jacquie Grant can hold on to her slim majority.

dlvr.it

2 8 38

Lew @lewsos.bsky.social · 23h

Jules Radich had a solid gold opportunity to unite Dunedin on the one issue that literally everyone in this town agrees about: making the govt's life hell over the hospital rebuild

He did his ambulance stunt and it sank without a trace

So we've elected Sophie Barker www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin...

Barker claims Dunedin mayoralty by close margin

Sophie Barker has been provisionally elected Dunedin mayor by a narrow margin. As at 4.05pm Ms Sophie Barker (12,782 votes) is the mayor-elect with...

www.odt.co.nz

1 2 15

Reposted by Lew

Nora Reed (they/them ze/hir) @nora.zone · 1d

cry havoc and let slip the frogs of war

13 1.8K 6.7K

Reposted by Lew

Joel MacManus @joelmacmanus.bsky.social · 1d

Despite opposition to "party politics" being a major theme of the campaign, voters opted for more party politics.

2 2 33

Reposted by Lew

Joel MacManus @joelmacmanus.bsky.social · 1d

The new Wellington City Council will include 5 Labour councillors and 4 Green councillors, plus Andrew Little, giving the two party "coalition" an increased governing majority - 10 out of 16 votes, compared to 8 under the previous council.

6 32 150

Reposted by Lew

Jessica de Heij @jdeheij.bsky.social · 1d

It’s between Simms and Barker now…..

Radich loses Dunedin mayoralty

The results for the Dunedin mayoralty are imminent and Jules Radich has confirmed he did not win a second term. Meanwhile Lee Vandervis also...

www.odt.co.nz

2 2 5

Reposted by Lew

Leonard Pierce @leonardpierce.bsky.social · 1d

The liberal determination that the use of force is forbidden to all only ensures that the people with the least respect for liberalism can or will employ force and no one else will allow it, engage in it, or even know how to do it. This misunderstanding of power is how we got to where we are today.

2 10 79

Reposted by Lew

Leonard Pierce @leonardpierce.bsky.social · 1d

The reason is the same as the reason cops shoot unarmed black teenagers instead of going after gangbangers, even though everyone knows who and where the gangbangers are.

It is also the same reason that the IDF snipes children in the head instead of engaging with Hamas fighters.

1 11 92

Reposted by Lew

Leonard Pierce @leonardpierce.bsky.social · 1d

I keep seeing people ask, "Why does ICE go after harmless people like little kids and old tamale vendors instead of the hardened criminals they say they are trying to get?"

Allow me to clear this up for you.

8 44 210

Lew @lewsos.bsky.social · 2d

Singaporeans: famously very obsessed with politeness to the exclusion of much else that is good, like having opposition parties

1

Lew @lewsos.bsky.social · 2d

I've only had that once as a kid, but I liked it

1