Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Christy Quirk @cequirk.bsky.social · 14h

Have to wonder what Hungary‘s winemakers are trying to accomplish by that intrusive pop up sponsored post that’s impossible to get rid of.

Christy Quirk @cequirk.bsky.social · 14h

“Speaking with reverence, as if stepping into a Georgian church and lighting a candle for her ancestors, she told me everything I needed to know about the future: “I will honor the grapes with full-on skin contact.” Want to book a ticket. www.saveur.com/wine/georgia...

How Women Are Breathing New Life Into Georgia’s 8,000-Year Wine Tradition

Tethered to its ancestral past, Georgian wine is now a global force with a forward-thinking vision led by women winemakers.

www.saveur.com

1 1

Reposted by Christy Quirk

Kieran Healy @kjhealy.co · 18h

White House staff should just make and show him an AI-generated video where he wins, fly him to Duluth and tell him it’s Oslo, and dare the New York Times to say anything more than “Experts disagree about whether Mr Trump was awarded the Nobel Prize”.

53 620 3K

Christy Quirk @cequirk.bsky.social · 16h

New Ukraine survey with interesting data about the electoral prospects of potential challengers to Zelenskyy (in an election that isn’t scheduled): There are only two (Zaluzhnyy and Zelenskyy). The rest, including a lot of old familiar faces, don’t break double digits. www.wfd.org/news/wfds-la...

WFD's latest poll in Ukraine shows democratic resilience amid war fatigue

www.wfd.org

Reposted by Christy Quirk

Matt Steinglass @mattsteinglass.bsky.social · 17h

Incredible vision on Alfred Nobel’s part to use the money he earned inventing dynamite to create the world’s greatest trolling opportunity

4 24 170

Christy Quirk @cequirk.bsky.social · 18h

The inflatable revolution

dr. caitlin m. green @caitlinmoriah.bsky.social · 23h

bubble dance party

a person in an inflatable unicorn costume and a person in an inflatable peacock costume dance as a person holds a bubble gun shooting lots of small bubbles over them

1

Reposted by Christy Quirk

Timothy Snyder @timothysnyder.bsky.social · 2d

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 · 2d

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 Christy Quirk

Carpetblogger @carpetblogger1.bsky.social · 1d

No one:

Me: But what I’m really trying to capture is an Under the Tuscan Sun vibe.

open.substack.com/pub/carpetbl...

Ask Carpetblogger: What's It Like to Go to the Dump?

Can you believe this content is free?

open.substack.com

1

Reposted by Christy Quirk

Tim Onion @bencollins.bsky.social · 1d

Autism antibodies are stored in the foreskin.

Justin Baragona @justinbaragona.bsky.social · 1d

Besides linking Tylenol in pregnant women to autism, RFK Jr. now says circumcision is part of the reason why kids are autistic.

"Children who are circumcised early have double the rate of autism, and it's highly likely because they're given Tylenol. None of this is positive..."

700 1.1K 6.7K

Christy Quirk @cequirk.bsky.social · 1d

Then, to try and figure out which thing he’s embarrassed about

1

Reposted by Christy Quirk

Alex Finley @alexzfinley.bsky.social · 1d

Reminder: Patrick Byrne is a former lover of convicted Russian agent Maria Butina.

Josh Gerstein @joshgerstein.bsky.social · 2d

JUST IN: Overstock founder Patrick Byrne formally defaulted by court in libel suit Hunter Biden brought against him. Biden lawyers to propose size of default judgment in coming weeks. Earlier: www.politico.com/news/2025/09...

Hunter Biden seeks arrest of former Overstock.com CEO in defamation case

Attorneys for the ex-president’s son ask a federal judge to issue a bench warrant against defendant Patrick Byrne for failing to respond to court orders.

www.politico.com

1 5 17

Reposted by Christy Quirk

Olga Onuch @oonuch.bsky.social · 1d

NEW Harris & Harvard CAPS Poll shows Americans (Replicans + Democrats alike) want President Trump to punish Russia & support Ukraine.

77% of American voters support additional sanctions on Russia

68% believe the Trump administration should continue to arm Ukraine + impose sanctions

13 23

Reposted by Christy Quirk

Nate Schenkkan @nateschenkkan.bsky.social · 2d

Everyone interested in democracy should get familiar with the details of the DSA

Tech Policy Press @techpolicypress.bsky.social · 2d

Last week, a Dutch court ordered Meta to let Facebook and Instagram users set a chronological feed by default, a first test of the EU’s Digital Services Act in civil court.
Tech Policy Press spoke with Bits of Freedom’s Rejo Zenger on the ruling’s significance.

What a Dutch Court Ruling Against Meta Signals for Private DSA Enforcement | TechPolicy.Press

Tech Policy Press spoke with Rejo Zenger, Policy and Advocacy Lead at Bits of Freedom, to better understand the significance of the ruling.

www.techpolicy.press

1 9 22

Reposted by Christy Quirk

Ukrainska Pravda 🇺🇦 @pravda.ua · 2d

‼️ Former commander-in-chief Zaluzhnyi reportedly forming parliamentary list with eye on presidential elections

Former commander-in-chief Zaluzhnyi reportedly forming parliamentary list with eye on presidential elections

www.pravda.com.ua

2 11 48

Christy Quirk @cequirk.bsky.social · 2d

This story is 🍌 www.theguardian.com/books/2025/o...

The Pushkin job: unmasking the thieves behind an international rare books heist

The long read: Between 2022 and 2023, as many as 170 rare and valuable editions of Russian classics were stolen from libraries across Europe. Were the thieves merely low-level opportunists, or were bi...

www.theguardian.com

2

Reposted by Christy Quirk

Oekraïne Vandaag @oekrainevandaag.bsky.social · 3d

🌿🇺🇦🏆

10 39

Reposted by Christy Quirk

Jakub Jaraczewski @jakubjaraczewski.bsky.social · 3d

There's just way too much of the current rule of law crisis in the US that's a copy-paste of something that happened before elsewhere (with some local American variations) yet a lot of reaction boils down to a combination of "I can't imagine it could happen here/it has never happened before" 2/

1 5 27

Reposted by Christy Quirk

Laurence @laurence1084.bsky.social · 4d

His approval rating is in the mid-to-low 40s. Remind yourself of this whenever the incumbent government tries to lie to you.

Source: https://www.gelliottmorris.com/p/data

2 11 70

Reposted by Christy Quirk

Darth Putin @darthputinkgb.bsky.social · 4d

Told Trump a "colossal landslide" is when you get 146% of the vote.

He seemed to think it was a challenge.

5 49 480

Reposted by Christy Quirk

More Perfect Union @moreperfectunion.bsky.social · 4d

New CBS polling shows that voters have soured on Trump's handling of economic issues.

60% of voters now disapprove of his overall handling of the economy.

On inflation it's even worse for Trump, with 65% disapproving.

30 170 770

Reposted by Christy Quirk

Howard Eissenstat @heissenstat.bsky.social · 4d

I see a lot of "what did you expect?!?" posts on bluesky this week regarding the American electorate and Trump.

I'll be honest with you. I study authoritarianism elsewhere and I expected much of this. I did not expect any of it to happen so quickly or for institutions to surrender so abjectly.

7 28

Christy Quirk @cequirk.bsky.social · 4d

We all knew it was our big blowout of the year. Glad we did it.

1

Reposted by Christy Quirk

Stanley Pignal @spignal.bsky.social · 4d

If Liz Truss was a lettuce, Sebastien Lecornu was, what, a gently simmering pint of unpasteurised milk?

7 2 24

Reposted by Christy Quirk

Thomas I-G @thomasig.bsky.social · Dec 4

Macron now his July election has backfired

7 76 440

Christy Quirk @cequirk.bsky.social · 4d

The Steve McCurry exhibit as part of the government sponsored Culture Walk deserves more shade than Jen gave it. She’s a nice person.

1 1