Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Barbara Birch @barbarabirch.bsky.social · 1d

Someone on my neighborhood Buy Nothing group is collecting Barbies to make them into zombies for #Halloween. My grandkids have outgrown the ones I had for them to play with so I am regifting them to a new death/life as #zombies. This is a good idea but I am kind of creeped out by it. Are you?

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Reposted by Barbara Birch

Mrs. Betty Bowers @mrsbettybowers.bsky.social · 2d

Thanks, New Yorker

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Empathy1st @empathy1st.bsky.social · 4d

"Immigration authorities are moving to dramatically expand their social media surveillance, with plans to hire nearly 30 contractors to sift through posts, photos, and messages—raw material to be transformed into intelligence for deportation raids and arrests."

#Resist
www.wired.com/story/ice-so...

ICE Wants to Build Out a 24/7 Social Media Surveillance Team

Documents show that ICE plans to hire dozens of contractors to scan X, Facebook, TikTok, and other platforms to target people for deportation.

www.wired.com

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Reposted by Barbara Birch

Jack Tripper @chadstanton.blacksky.app · 4d

The fact they jumped straight to AI actors modeled after women when, if I’m not mistaken, male actors are a higher labor cost kind of says it all doesn’t it,

Dr. Damien P. Williams Wants A Better Sociotechnical Paradigm @wolvendamien.bsky.social · 5d

Like… it's kind of right there, no?

"AI" generated image of woman with dark hair sitting in a chair in front of posters with random shapes and symbols meant to look like images and text on movie posters, all superimposed with a post from k.w.bogen reading
"AI actresses can't negotiate. They can't say they'd prefer their bodies not be shown certgain ways. They can't refuse degrading scenes. They can't express distress about disturbing content. They can't ask the creators :why would you do that to me? Why put any woman through watching that? If AI film winds up being the path, we're about to see an entirely new generation (and more brutal depiction) of media misogyny."

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AAUP @aaup.org · 6d

Say NO to Trump’s loyalty oaths and extortion of our universities!

We will NOT throw our students, faculty, and staff under the bus to comply with undemocratic and partisan ideological agendas.

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Reposted by Barbara Birch

Lisa Cumming @lisacumin.bsky.social · 6d

‘We called ourselves the lifeboat crew’: how fired USAID workers launched a rescue project ‘to save as many babies as we can’.

www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

‘We called ourselves the lifeboat crew’: how fired USAID workers launched a rescue project ‘to save as many babies as we can’

After the Trump administration closed the organisation down, a group of former staff secured new funding for almost 80 programmes, benefiting an estimated 40 million people

www.theguardian.com

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Barbara Birch @barbarabirch.bsky.social · 6d

From the "Shameless Self-Promotion Department"
There's a new review of my book in the Friends Journal
www.friendsjournal.org/book/lectio-...

REVIEWED: Lectio Divina: Revelation and Prophecy

By Barbara Birch. Christian Alternative Books (Quaker Quicks), 2025. 112 pages. $12.95/paperback; $4.99/eBook. Lectio divina, Latin for “divine reading,” is…

www.friendsjournal.org

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Barbara Birch @barbarabirch.bsky.social · 6d

Just an FYI: A new review of my book is out in Friends Journal.
www.friendsjournal.org/book/lectio-...

REVIEWED: Lectio Divina: Revelation and Prophecy

By Barbara Birch. Christian Alternative Books (Quaker Quicks), 2025. 112 pages. $12.95/paperback; $4.99/eBook. Lectio divina, Latin for “divine reading,” is…

www.friendsjournal.org

Reposted by Barbara Birch

Margaret Morgan 🇳🇱🇦🇺🇪🇺 @margaretmorgan.bsky.social · 7d

One reason I donate to #Wikipedia.

More, though, is that without doubt, it's going to hit by a tsunami of suppression very soon, as it's anathema to all that the Trumpist regime and its techbro billionaire fanboys stand for.

Without global support, it will be destroyed.

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Trekkie Bill 🖖🏻 @trekkiebill.bsky.social · 8d

Do you ever think about the fact that Wikipedia is the last good major website on the internet? You aren't bombarded with ads. It doesn't try to push video on you, and it doesn't redirect you to a scam site.

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Reposted by Barbara Birch

Ben Wood /|\🔶️🌿✝️ @cosmichope.bsky.social · 9d

Join me in late October for 'The Shared Quaker Story': What do our words for #God, #discernment, & #community tell us about being Quaker? What words should we recover? And what words might we be losing? This course will be appeal to those who want to explore the riches of early #Quaker #theology.

The Shared Quaker Story: Spirit, Community and Scripture - Woodbrooke

British Quakers are increasingly divided over matters of theology, belonging, and the status of Friends’ Christian past. Unlike earlier decades, many

www.woodbrooke.org.uk

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Reposted by Barbara Birch

🕯️ Crowley Rae Jepsen 🕯️ @mags.colvett.online · 8d

Add “Statue of Liberty shut down” to the “headlines that are also ham-fisted metaphors” file

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Stuart Masters @stuartkmasters.bsky.social · 9d

I'm never surprised by evil, never paralyzed by despair. I am a follower of Jesus.

Cornel West

The image includes the quotation below, along with a picture of Cornel West (an older African-American man in a dark jacket and tie, gesticulating):

I'm never surprised by evil, never paralyzed by despair. I am a follower of Jesus.

Cornel West

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Reposted by Barbara Birch

Ben Wood /|\🔶️🌿✝️ @cosmichope.bsky.social · 8d

On #Halloween night I'm offering a session exploring #Quaker attitudes to the supernatural, then and now. You can sign up here. 🎃

Quakers and the Supernatural - Woodbrooke

The Liberal theologian Rudolf Bultmann once observed: ‘We cannot use electric lights and radios and, in the event of illness, avail ourselves of modern

www.woodbrooke.org.uk

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Reposted by Barbara Birch

Quakers in Britain @quaker.org.uk · 8d

In our new blog, Rhiannon discusses the meanings behind this year's Quaker Week theme and explores how different Quakers might think about its Biblical origins.

Love Your Neighbour, but struggle with Scripture?

Within the Quaker community in Britain, there are a wide range of perspectives on the Bible.

www.quaker.org.uk

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Barbara Birch @barbarabirch.bsky.social · 8d

It’s frightening to know beyond any doubt that the POTUS views me and ppl like me as the enemy to be exterminated.

Is this the country that MAGA wants?

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Reposted by Barbara Birch

Raw Story @rawstory.com · 9d

A tiny Pete Hegseth preaches to America's military giants

Cartoon by @andertoon.bsky.social for Raw Story

#PoliticalCartoon #EditorialCartoon #Trump #USPolitics #Hegseth

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Barbara Birch @barbarabirch.bsky.social · 8d

ghost malone ergo propter malone @proptermalone.bsky.social · 9d

btw I don’t think Hegseth is trying to make Trump a dictator. I think Hegseth is trying to make Hegseth a dictator

Reposted by Barbara Birch

Penncat @pennicat.bsky.social · 8d

“A strong nation, like a strong person, can afford to be gentle, firm, thoughtful, and restrained. It can afford to extend a helping hand to others. It is a weak nation, like a weak person, that must behave with bluster and boasting and rashness and other signs of insecurity.“ -Jimmy Carter

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Barbara Birch @barbarabirch.bsky.social · 9d

My dad, a lifelong Republican, is spinning in his grave. Oh and by the way, his name was John.

Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 9d

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Barbara Birch @barbarabirch.bsky.social · 9d

I love it when the pope says what I have been saying all along because no one listens to me but now people may have ears to hear

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 9d

What a line from the Pope! I am so pleased he is carrying on Pope Francis’ advocacy for immigrants.

More pointedly, the pope said, "Someone who says, I'm against abortion, but is in favor of the death penalty is not really pro-life. Someone who says, I'm against abortion but I'm in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States, I don't know if that's pro-life."

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Barbara Birch @barbarabirch.bsky.social · 9d

I hope and pray

Don Comer @doncomer.bsky.social · 9d

The polite, calm
response by our
military leadership
to Trump's incoherent
speech was heartening.
Contrast w/ the passage
in Solzhenitsyn's
Gulag Archipelago
in which Russia's military
command gave a
loud, standing ovation for
Stalin & then couldn't
stop w/o being traitors.

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Reposted by Barbara Birch

Thee Quaker @theequaker.bsky.social · 9d

Quakers have a long tradition of worshipping in silence, but what really happens when the room gets quiet?

Listen Now: quakerpodcast.com/why-do-quake...

Why Do Quakers Worship in Silence?

Quakers have a long tradition of worshipping in silence, but what really happens when the room gets quiet?

quakerpodcast.com

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Friends Journal @friendsjournal.org · 9d

Many of the men and women in the first generations of the Religious Society of Friends spent time imprisoned for challenging the intertwined religious and political power structures of England.

When you take on the world’s ruling powers, persecution comes with the job.

quaker.org/2025/09/29/s...

A portrait of John Perrot, a 17th-century Friend who was held in an insane asylum by the Vatican for several years after he tried to convince the pope to abandon Catholicism. (Since he spoke no Italian, and the pope spoke no English, the meeting went poorly.)

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Quake It Up @quakeitup.bsky.social · 9d

On the wish list!!

History Rage Podcast @historyrage.bsky.social · 9d

🚨 BOOK LAUNCH🚨
Think Quakers = porridge & pacifism? 🥣✋ Think again. @ericanela.bsky.social takes us through the dramatic, law-breaking, miracle-attempting origins of Quakerism.

🎧 pod.fo/e/333c3b
📖 Buy the book: uk.bookshop.org/a/10...

#17thCentury #History #Podcast #Booklaunch

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History and Heritage Yorkshire @handhyorkshire.bsky.social · 9d

Joseph Pease (1799–1872), a prominent Quaker, MP and businessman, was the son of Edward Pease, one of the founders of the Stockton & Darlington Railway. He played a key role in its success, drafting the first prospectus, managing the company, and extending the line to the River Tees. In 1/3

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