Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Civilian Reader

derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 8h

This two-parter below is exactly why it's hard to make clothes in the United States.

Let's look at how much it costs to produce a button-up shirt in the US. 🧵

Someone on Twitter replies to me: "meh. buy american or stfu."

Two hours later, in a separate thread, the write: "$30 for a single button-up is ridiculous unless it is decent quality silk."

200 2.1K 11K

Civilian Reader @civilianreader.com · 11h

SCOTUS: “It is not our job to resolve legal issues.”

Weird position to work from.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 13h

Amy Coney Barrett defends heavy use of the shadow docket: "If we wrote a long opinion, it might give the impression that we have finally resolved the issue, and in none of these cases have we finally resolved the issue."

1 2

Reposted by Civilian Reader

The Beaverton @thebeaverton.com · 11h

A satirical newspaper headline reads "Pentagon warns Toronto dangerously close' to winning World Series" along with photos of the Toronto Blue Jays and Trump next to Pete Hegseth.

4 64 340

Civilian Reader @civilianreader.com · 2d

I have been very much enjoying this series so far. Can’t wait for more.

youtu.be/dr0q5FHUO1E

Extended First Look at The Vampire Lestat ft. Sam Reid | Premieres 2026 | AMC+

YouTube video by amc+

youtu.be

1

Civilian Reader @civilianreader.com · 2d

I mean, any excuse to re-read? Love the octopuses, too!

Civilian Reader @civilianreader.com · 2d

Private Eye, nailing it once again.

Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 2d

Private Eye offers up an excellently scornful commentary on the relentless polling. It’s become ridiculous and has oversimplified our politics to dangerous levels of stupid and irresponsible.

SHOCK POLL:
NIGEL FARAGE WILL BE PM TOMORROW
IN an amazing poll conducted
by The Pointless Polling Company, it was revealed that voters' intentions
may well change over the next three and a half years and at present it's 100 percent impossible to guess what the next government might look like.
However, 99 percent of journalists
agree that it would be much more fun if we had an election tomorrow and everybody resigned and everything was chaos and Farage had a go at being PM, just for the hell of it, because it was so much fun when
Brexit happened and then the government kept falling every five minutes and we could write endless pieces about (cont. p94)

1

Reposted by Civilian Reader

Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 2d

Private Eye offers up an excellently scornful commentary on the relentless polling. It’s become ridiculous and has oversimplified our politics to dangerous levels of stupid and irresponsible.

110 1.3K 3.7K

Reposted by Civilian Reader

Ram V @therightram.bsky.social · 3d

Just announced at NYCC, my new book with the incredible Mike Perkins at DC Vertigo. Black Tower!

Spies, Spells, London, Magic and Espionage!

8 37 180

Civilian Reader @civilianreader.com · 3d

Heh. Or split it between Obama, Biden, and maybe Hillary Clinton.

His head might actually explode if that happened.

Comfortably Numb @numb.comfortab.ly · 3d

Nobel Committee should just troll Trump, and give Obama a second Peace Prize.

1

Reposted by Civilian Reader

Comfortably Numb @numb.comfortab.ly · 3d

Nobel Committee should just troll Trump, and give Obama a second Peace Prize.

40 54 700

Reposted by Civilian Reader

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 3d

We never incited violence, we just called this guy a member of antifa who funded terrorism and told our followers to pay him a visit ha ha and then a totally unrelated group of people threatened to murder him in front of his students ha ha

"The petition to disband our Turning Point chapter is blatantly defamatory," Ava Kwan, outreach coordinator for the Turning Point USA chapter at Rutgers, told Fox News Digital in a statement.
"The accusations of 'inciting violence' and 'making threats' are complete lies," Kwan said. "The same people claiming we're suppressing their free speech are actively trying to silence us for speaking the truth. It's not just ironic, it's hypocritical and absurd."

tpusa_rutgers Do you want to become a socialist? If so, make sure to pay this professor a visit!!!! All jokes aside help us report this professor who has ties to Antifa which now is designated as a domestic terrorist organization. DO YOUR PART AND HELP MAKE RUTGERS A PLACE FOR ALL STUDENTS TO LEARN WITHOUT BECOMING A RADICAL SOCIALIST

21 400 1.7K

Reposted by Civilian Reader

Colin Smith @colinsmith.bsky.social · 3d

An entirely charming Mary Blair concept painting for the 1952 Walt Disney animated short “The Little House”.

5 24 130

Civilian Reader @civilianreader.com · 3d

Upcoming: THE FRANCHISE by @thomas-elrod.com…

civilianreader.com/2025/10/08/u...

This sounds pretty intriguing.
Due out May 12th, 2026, via @torbooks.bsky.social.

Upcoming: THE FRANCHISE by Thomas Elrod (Tor)

“The Truman Show meets Game of Thrones in this epic tale of a studio-owned Fantasy world.” While the cover is arresting (that green…), that pitch is what hooked my attention. Long…

civilianreader.com

Civilian Reader @civilianreader.com · 4d

Easy one from where I live: “Toronto”

Merriam-Webster @merriam-webster.com · 4d

What’s the word where you’re from that, when pronounced exactly as it looks, identifies a tourist immediately?

Reposted by Civilian Reader

Paul Waldman @paulwaldman.bsky.social · 4d

I feel like I'm seeing this all the time now: A Reddit post, a YouTube video, etc. lamenting the dire effects of the proliferation of AI (in this case a teacher talking about their students being rendered unable to think and learn) followed directly by an ad for an AI product

Reddit post from a teacher lamenting that AI is making their students unable to learn, followed directly by an ad for Microsoft's AI product

2 14 44

Reposted by Civilian Reader

MiMi Aye @meemalee.bsky.social · 8d

Author and filmmaker Justine Bateman on generative AI

"They're trying to convince people they can't do the things they've been doing easily for years - to write emails, to write a presentation. Your daughter wants you to make up a bedtime story about puppies - to write that for you." We will get to the point, she says with a grim laugh, "that you will essentially become just a skin bag of organs and bones, nothing else. You won't know anything and you will be told repeatedly that you can't do it, which is the opposite of what life has to offer. Capitulating all kinds of decisions like where to go on vacation, what to wear today, who to date, what to eat.
People are already doing this. You won't have to process grief, because you'll have uploaded photos and voice messages from your mother who just died, and then she can talk to you via AI video call every day. One of the ways it's going to destroy humans, long before there's a nuclear disaster, is going to be the emotional hollowing-out of people." - author and filmmaker Justine Bateman from a piece by Emine Saner for the Guardian

20 1.8K 3.9K

Civilian Reader @civilianreader.com · 4d

Upcoming: CHILDREN OF STRIFE and GREEN CITY WARS by @aptshadow.bsky.social

civilianreader.com/2025/10/08/u...

Really looking forward to both of these - due to be pub'd by @torbooks.bsky.social @torbooksuk.bsky.social & @orbitbooks.bsky.social.

Upcoming: CHILDREN OF STRIFE and GREEN CITY WARS by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Adrian Tchaikovsky has to be one of the hardest-working authors in SFF. Not only that, his novels are consistently excellent and varied — he writes across seemingly all speculative genres, of…

civilianreader.com

2 9 64

Civilian Reader @civilianreader.com · 4d

Really looking forward to this.

David Swinson @dswinson.bsky.social · 4d

1 1

Reposted by Civilian Reader

Keith W. Dickinson @keithwdickinson.bsky.social · 4d

Today is a day when arts degrees are worthless, but the product of those degrees is so valuable it would kill an entire industry if they were made to pay for it.

The Verge @theverge.com · May 26

Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry

Paul McCartne, Elton John and others signed an open letter.

buff.ly

420 9.8K 26K

Reposted by Civilian Reader

Phil Nobile Jr. @philnobilejr.bsky.social · 5d

You don’t need AI; AI is not “inevitable.” That’s a lie being fed to you by companies who are going to lose a fuckton of money if they don’t convince you that AI is something you can’t live without.

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 5d

NVIDIA and OpenAi:

Concerns that their “increasingly complex and interconnected web of business transactions is artificially propping up the trillion-dollar AI boom.“

@bloomberg.com $NVDA 👀
www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

4 110 280

Civilian Reader @civilianreader.com · 4d

If your business model requires exploitation of others, you don’t have a valid business model.

The Verge @theverge.com · May 26

Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry

Paul McCartne, Elton John and others signed an open letter.

buff.ly

1

Reposted by Civilian Reader

Jonathan Coe @jonathancoe.bsky.social · 4d

This morning I turned on my phone only to find that it had changed my user name to Shirley, and when I tried to enter a simple Google query it came out as "Do you like gladiator movies?"

Then I realised it was in Airplane! mode.

1 140 660

Reposted by Civilian Reader

Ian Dunt @iandunt.bsky.social · 4d

Calling English a 'rip-off degree' is one of the most blatant exhibitions of personal barbarism I've ever seen. You've demonstrated nothing but the poverty of your own mind.

190 640 3.5K

Reposted by Civilian Reader

Li Chen @exocomics.com · 4d

candy

3 150 1.2K

Reposted by Civilian Reader

Plashing Vole @plashingvole.bsky.social · 4d

In a woodcut released today the Guild of Thieves and Cutpurses declared that enforcement of regulations against Thieving and Pursecutting would ‘devastate a growth industry’ and damage the economy.

The Verge @theverge.com · May 26

Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry

Paul McCartne, Elton John and others signed an open letter.

buff.ly

10 140 390