Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Staṡa M 🦖 🇵🇸

Django Wexler @djangowexler.bsky.social · 2d

My boss: so how's our fourth quarter looking?

Me, the sales manager at the company that makes inflatable frog suits: well, you're never going to believe this, but

140 3.9K 19K

Reposted by Staṡa M 🦖 🇵🇸

Gwendolyn Ann Smith @gwensmith.com · 1d

This seems par for the course, given the Salvation Army 's history of 'helping' LGBTQ+ people.

unraveled @unraveledpress.com · 1d

It’s dinner time for the police. Appears to be pizza from a Salvation Army van.

Broadview’s “free speech” curfew starts soon, at 6pm.

1 1 8

Reposted by Staṡa M 🦖 🇵🇸

kat, ghost of helenruthsghost @chaoskat.bsky.social · 1d

Salvation Army seen feeding ICE today. For anyone who doesn't already know about their bigotry, here is more, No need to give them your money this Christmas, or ever.

unraveled @unraveledpress.com · 1d

It’s dinner time for the police. Appears to be pizza from a Salvation Army van.

Broadview’s “free speech” curfew starts soon, at 6pm.

6 4.5K 7.8K

Reposted by Staṡa M 🦖 🇵🇸

Ebony Elizabeth Thomas @ebonyteach.blacksky.app · 1d

No money in the red kettles. Mutual aid instead.
(And no, I'm not taking questions about this.)

kat, ghost of helenruthsghost @chaoskat.bsky.social · 1d

Salvation Army seen feeding ICE today. For anyone who doesn't already know about their bigotry, here is more, No need to give them your money this Christmas, or ever.

unraveled @unraveledpress.com · 1d

It’s dinner time for the police. Appears to be pizza from a Salvation Army van.

Broadview’s “free speech” curfew starts soon, at 6pm.

360 940

Staṡa M 🦖 🇵🇸 @stasam.bsky.social · 21h

And here's an excellent analysis of this political ad:

www.burnsnotice.com/you-have-to-...

1 2

Reposted by Staṡa M 🦖 🇵🇸

Gwendolyn Ann Smith @gwensmith.com · 1d

Fuck, man. This is water in a desert.

Thank you, @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social. I’m rooting for you.

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.

5 97 600

Reposted by Staṡa M 🦖 🇵🇸

Mark Lemley @marklemley.bsky.social · 4d

Good news: fossil fuels have plateaued and solar is growing by leaps and bounds worldwide

apnews.com/article/clim...

Solar and wind power has grown faster than electricity demand this year, report says

A new analysis of solar and wind power shows its generation worldwide has outpaced electricity demand this year.

apnews.com

81 670 2.8K

Reposted by Staṡa M 🦖 🇵🇸

digby @digby56.bsky.social · 4d

They claim the right to stop anyone and demand their papers based solely on the discretion of masked, cos-playing thugs who've decided you "look scared" or are "gripping the steering wheel tightly."

Miller is telling us, "Brown people today, the rest of you tomorrow." Listen to his words.

Trump Watch @trumpwat.ch · 4d

Border Patrol's Gregory Bovino: "We need reasonable suspicion to make an immigration arrest. Notice I did not say probable cause, nor did I say I need a warrant? Perhaps you look panicked when you see a Border Patrol agent. Perhaps you look scared ..."

So they scare people and then can arrest them.

16 120 290

Reposted by Staṡa M 🦖 🇵🇸

Timothy Snyder @timothysnyder.bsky.social · 4d

Our authoritarianism is run on clichés borrowed from the Eastern Europe of twenty years ago. Paid protestors, disloyal cities, evil Soros, vast conspiracies — it was all tiresome then and there, and now it’s pathetic.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 4d

Trump: "They're, like, insurrectionists, they're terrible people. But you really wonder why. Why are they doing it? What are they gaining? Other than they're obviously paid. They're paid a lot of money."

180 1.2K 3.9K

Reposted by Staṡa M 🦖 🇵🇸

Walter Olson @walterolson.bsky.social · 4d

One of the basic points in my new Dispatch piece on the right to record immigration raids and raiders is that ICE agents are already informally “enforcing” their disapproval of at-the-scene recording by roughing up journalists, freelance photographers, and others with cellphone cameras. /1

Walter Olson @walterolson.bsky.social · 4d

New from me at The Dispatch: DHS says it's illegal to videotape ICE agents. That's not what the courts say. @thedispatchmedia.bsky.social

DHS Says Videotaping ICE Agents Is Illegal. Federal Courts Disagree.

Filming law enforcement serves important goals central to a free republic.

thedispatch.com

10 200 530

Reposted by Staṡa M 🦖 🇵🇸

Harry Litman @harrylitman.bsky.social · 4d

Even apart from the rank lawlessness of a reprisal prosecution, this has to be about the lousiest case I've ever seen. If it gets to trial, US will get its head handed to it.

Prosecutors Warned Main Comey Witness Would Doom Entire Case newrepublic.com/post/201467/... via @newrepublic.com

Prosecutors Warned Main Comey Witness Would Doom Entire Case

There’s a reason federal prosecutors didn’t want this indictment to happen.

newrepublic.com

13 73 270

Reposted by Staṡa M 🦖 🇵🇸

Memento (Spooky) Morty 🌙 @mementomorty.bsky.social · 4d

I am wearing my Monster Mash shirt in the gym because Monster is the Reason for the Season after all

6 2 93

Reposted by Staṡa M 🦖 🇵🇸

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 4d

Temporary Restraining Order to be granted tomorrow in the Chicago case filed by journalists, pastors, and others hit with riot control munitions by ICE!

Dave Byrnes @djbyrnes1.bsky.social · 4d

Ellis rules that the plaintiffs have standing for their case. She cites the "ongoing and sustained record of conduct" by federal agents gathered over the last month.

She further finds the plaintiffs have plausibly shown feds have "frustrated" efforts to "protect journalist safety."

25 720 2.5K

Staṡa M 🦖 🇵🇸 @stasam.bsky.social · 4d

isportlandburning.com#cameras

Is Portland Burning?

No. See real-time Portland cameras, PulsePoint incidents, and sourced fact checks.

isportlandburning.com

1 1

Reposted by Staṡa M 🦖 🇵🇸

George Takei @georgetakei.bsky.social · 7d

I understand this. Please tell me you do, too.

620 6.9K 25K

Reposted by Staṡa M 🦖 🇵🇸

Jacob @jacobaugust.bsky.social · 7d

After years of wearing special contact lenses to deal with my keratoconus, I told my eye doctor I wanted to go ahead with a corneal transplant. He agreed and we scheduled it for a few weeks later. Simple as that. If I can get my corneas swapped out without a fuss, transitioning should be a breeze.

2 41

Reposted by Staṡa M 🦖 🇵🇸

Corinne Green @ket.bsky.social · 7d

there's always someone who needs to read this so i am doing my traditional linking of @nataliereed84.bsky.social's "the null hypothecis" when gatekeeping is on the tl:
freethoughtblogs.com/nataliereed/...

After all, surely if we’re going to risk so much, put so much at stake, in such a monumental “decision”, we should approach it carefully, and make sure to be certain, right? Shouldn’t we be looking for proof that we’re trans before gambling our whole lives on that being the case?

Well, maybe… if proof of being trans was even really something possible, beyond the simple proof of subjectively experiencing your identity and gender as such. But more importantly: we never ask ourselves for “proof” that we’re cis.

Cis is treated as the null hypothesis. It doesn’t require any evidence. It’s just the assumed given. All suspects are presumed cisgender until proven guilty of transsexuality in a court of painful self-exploration. But this isn’t a viable, logical, “skeptical” way to approach the situation. In fact it’s not a case of a hypothesis being weighed against a null hypothesis (like “there’s a flying teapot orbiting the Earth” vs. “there is no flying teapot orbiting the Earth”), it is simply two competing hypotheses. Two hypotheses that should be held to equal standards and their likelihood weighed against one another.

And of course the entire gatekeeping procedure is an extreme externalization of this entrenched cisnormativity, the assumption that cis is so incredibly “normal” that it’s the null hypothesis, that the burden of proof falls entirely on the hypothesis that the patient is trans, that she must meet a number of strict criteria before her claims to her gender identity will be accepted as true. At no point in the conventional gatekeeping model is the doctor ever expected to provide any evidence proving the contrary position, that the patient is really cis. And if a doctor or therapist suggests some possible theory for why a cis patient would become “duped” into believing himself transgender, again the burden of proof falls to the patient to falsify their assertion rather than for them to falsify her’s.

This whole idea that your subjective identity can’t be legitimate unless you’re somehow able to back it up with objective evidence is a pretty awful situation to be put in, especially when you’re inflicting it on yourself, given how any “proof” of being trans is entirely dependent on subjective experience. What proves that you’re trans is only to understand yourself as trans. When dealing with gatekeepers and family and the numerous external forces that would deny us our identities, it’s not such a crippling situation, because at least we know, and we are the proof, and beyond that it’s simply a matter of figuring out what they think would count as “proof” and what exactly they need to see or hear to believe you (if anything). But when imposing this situation on yourself, when the only possible actual certainty is in accepting and understanding yourself as trans, but you refuse to accept and understand yourself as such until you have that certainty… you’ve created an impossible situation for yourself.

20 64

Reposted by Staṡa M 🦖 🇵🇸

⚡🧟‍♀️ MAD DOCTOR IMPOSSIBLE!! 🧟‍♀️⚡ @impossiblephd.bsky.social · 7d

Honestly, I'd go a step or two further--gatekeeping our care was always intended, from the very first moment, to artificially reduce the number of trans people.

Which is a sanitized way of saying "to kill us."

Anyone who wants to bring it back doesn't understand history or is just plain monstrous.

1 2 17

Reposted by Staṡa M 🦖 🇵🇸

Charlie Jane "Lessons in Magic and Disaster" Anders 🏳️‍⚧ @charliejane.bsky.social · 7d

The logic of severe gatekeeping is inseparable from pervasive violence.

You don't gatekeep that much unless you think of transitioning as a last resort, something terrible that we should try to avoid at all costs.

The violence and gatekeeping both share the same goal: keeping our numbers down.

3 29 220

Reposted by Staṡa M 🦖 🇵🇸

Charlie Jane "Lessons in Magic and Disaster" Anders 🏳️‍⚧ @charliejane.bsky.social · 7d

I say this because a lot of folks will claim they want the gatekeeping but they deplore the violence. They don't hate trans people! They just want to make sure we're *really serious* about this. (They don't have similar concerns for other semi-irreversible medical procedures.)

I don't trust them.

6 30 280

Reposted by Staṡa M 🦖 🇵🇸

Charlie Jane "Lessons in Magic and Disaster" Anders 🏳️‍⚧ @charliejane.bsky.social · 7d

Not long ago -- in my lifetime -- all trans people faced unspeakable violence, including state-sponsored violence, for simply existing

And self-appointed gatekeepers made it as tough as possible for a person to transition.

Anyone who wants to bring back the gatekeeping also wants the violence back

2 240 980

Reposted by Staṡa M 🦖 🇵🇸

azteclady @azteclady.bsky.social · 7d

"Colleges weigh how to react to Trump's "nice university you have there, it would be a shame if something happened to it" threat" (fixed it for you, WaPo)

John Schwartz @jswatz.bsky.social · 9d

“No self-respecting university could ever accept something like this,” said Lee Bollinger, a First Amendment scholar and former Columbia University president. “Trying to protect conservative ideas against being ‘belittled’ — that’s about as violative of the First Amendment interests as you can get.”