Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Elliott Kay @elliottkaybooks.bsky.social · 18d

Oh gosh, thank you!

And yeah, I need to post more about book stuff here. :) I'm generally trying to do less social media in general these days, but if I'm gonna post, I should probably remember the fun things.

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Elliott Kay @elliottkaybooks.bsky.social · 20d

This thread. It's all worth reading.

Karl Jacoby @karl-jacoby.bsky.social · 20d

Only an administration intent on committing war crimes in the present and future would stoop to calling Wounded Knee a "battle" rather than what it truly was: a massacre of over 250 Lakotas, mainly women, children, and the elderly. 1/

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Rebecca R Helm @rebeccarhelm.bsky.social · 22d

I get that the news cycle is packed right now, but I just heard from a colleague at the Smithsonian that this is fully a GIANT SQUID BEING EATEN BY A SPERM WHALE and it’s possibly the first ever confirmed video according to a friend at NOAA

10 YEAR OLD ME IS LOSING HER MIND (a thread 🧵)

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Elliott Kay @elliottkaybooks.bsky.social · 28d

(And yes, I mean that both in the broad/abstract for art in general and to you, specifically. I'm speaking from experience. Your art helps me!)

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Elliott Kay @elliottkaybooks.bsky.social · 28d

This has been on my mind for the last year and change.

Your art *is* your contribution. You are, in fact, doing something to help others. And it's important.
Maybe it feels self-indulgent or not like much because you were already doing it, but that just says you were *already doing the work.*

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Elliott Kay @elliottkaybooks.bsky.social · 29d

I think that's great as is. Specific content like suicide, child abuse, and any kind of sexual violence can also be worth flagging. As a broad cautionary note, though, you've done the job.

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Luke M. @geekelite.geekerific.com · Sep 16

I need to put out a request for help.

My wife, a Senior Technical Product Manager with over a decade of experience.... can't seem to get responses to job applications.

Anyone out there know of any PMT (TPM) positions available?

We're running real thin now, and can use any help we can get.

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Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · Sep 12

Speculating, I'd say abstract nihilism.

"Notices bulges" etc is copypasta.

"Uparrow" etc is a large attack in Helldivers 2.

"Bella Ciao" became popular again from Money Heist, lots of TikTok clips.

"Gay lmao" is probably, to him, casual homophobic gamer speak, nothing more.

Depressing brainrot.

Adam @gwaactopus.bsky.social · Sep 12

Is it even clear from the meme references what the motivation would have been? Just that Kirk wasn’t enough far right? Or more abstractly nihilistic

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Elliott Kay @elliottkaybooks.bsky.social · Sep 10

I write for a living and it's often a struggle for me these days, too.

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Elliott Kay @elliottkaybooks.bsky.social · Sep 10

If you think you're going to fix this country with your gun, you're wrong.
You won't make anything better with that. You will instead make things worse for everyone you presumably care about.

Talk to someone. Find therapy. Maybe put that energy toward helping people instead. It works better.

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Courtney Milan @courtneymilan.com · Sep 8

So I want to briefly mention what next steps look like for people who are left out of the loop on this settlement. There are many of you.

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Elliott Kay @elliottkaybooks.bsky.social · Sep 8

Yup. This right here.
Every advice site and opinion everywhere for the last I dunno how many years said you don't really *need* to register copyright, because you automatically have it legally. It would hold up in court in an individual case.

This class action probably screwed countless authors.

Jason Sanford @jasonsanford.bsky.social · Sep 7

Instead of working to include as many writers as possible in the settlement, the plaintiffs instead agreed on arbitrary and minimal definitions of which books would be included. It’s almost like they wanted a quick win – any win – even if they screwed over most authors. 4/

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Bradley P. Moss @bradmossesq.bsky.social · Sep 6

I have read Trump’s “war department” EO.

This is nothing. He changed nothing. He added pretend secondary titles with no power under the law.

He will make the government spend hundreds of millions for vanity labeling purposes.

If you’re in the media and you don’t harp on that, you’re failing.

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Elliott Kay @elliottkaybooks.bsky.social · Sep 5

I have to wonder if these guys couldn't have just fucking split instead of killing some random fishermen. Maybe there's an explanation for that, but could I believe it?

US Navy Seals killed North Korean civilians in botched 2019 mission, report says

New York Times says Trump authorized mission to plant listening device; team killed fishers they encountered

www.theguardian.com

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💀 🎃 ThemBOO! 🎃 💀 @thembo.bsky.social · Sep 4

I sincerely hope Newsom's weird fans and liberals at large are starting to understand why you can't budge a single solitary inch on a single solitary issue for a single solitary marginalized group.

ICE must be destroyed 🏳️‍⚧️🏴 @miawong.bsky.social · Sep 4

Banning trans people from owning guns is a really REALLY significant escalation and I think the scariest part about it that's not being discussed at all is that the plan is to declare that trans people are mentally ill

Moreover, ICE must be destroyed

edition.cnn.com/2025/09/04/p...

Trump DOJ is looking at ways to ban transgender Americans from owning guns, sources say | CNN Politics

Senior Justice Department officials are weighing proposals to limit transgender people’s right to possess firearms, according to two officials familiar with the internal discussions.

edition.cnn.com

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Elliott Kay @elliottkaybooks.bsky.social · Sep 3

Huh. First post here to gain any real traction.
Not like I'm trying super hard, because I've felt icky about social media for a good while now... but man, I really wish it was for something happy or funny and not "oh hey I guess we're just murdering people in international waters now."

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Tabatha Southey 🇨🇦 @tabathasouthey.bsky.social · Sep 3

It’s not just that the President of the United States posted a video of eleven people being murdered in international waters it’s that the President of the United States ordered the murder of eleven people in international waters so he could post a video of it.

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Pwnallthethings @pwnallthethings.bsky.social · Sep 2

Like this is just not acceptable, sorry

Asked by CNN about the legal authority for militarily targeting the cartels, Rubio said, "I'm not going to answer for the White House counsel, suffice it to say that all of those steps were taken in advance."

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Elliott Kay @elliottkaybooks.bsky.social · Sep 2

Everyone knows, but I'll say it anyway: the US Coast Guard and also the Navy have decades of experience in stopping and searching boats for drugs.

Which, y'know, proves or disproves the presence of drugs. Without blowing anyone up.
If any of that is the actual goal.

Signed, a former Coastie

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Elliott Kay @elliottkaybooks.bsky.social · Sep 2

Just backed this!
Dear My Readers: if you like my Good Intentions books and you like comics, this is for you!

It's smutty and funny, the characters rock, the world building constantly jumps from silly to magical and inspiring, and the art is great. (Also filthy. Don't say I didn't warn you.)

Alexis Flower @alexisflower.bsky.social · Sep 2

the I Roved Out print edition campaign is live!! Publishing Tome 3 for the first time, reprinting Tome 1 & 2 with new covers! Tell your friends, check it out!! 🍃🍑🔪🔥🌙❄️☠️🧝‍♀️💦 zoop.gg/c/irovedoutinsearchoftruthandlove

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Michael Clemens @mclem.org · Aug 28

This is a real photograph of Washington, DC this week, where the United States president has ordered military occupation in peacetime, and ordered the display of colossal portraits of himself.

www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

Washington, DC under military occupation in last August 2025, with banners proclaiming the absolute power of the primus inter pares

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Nute @nutedawn.bsky.social · Aug 25

Co-signed times a thousand. “Other people have no interiority” is, fundamentally, a deeply evil belief to hold which will lead you exclusively to terrible places

Starfish Who Can’t Think Something Witty @irhottakes.bsky.social · Aug 24

One of my most moral panic style opinions is the use of “NPC” as a slur is a symptom of a societal sociopathy epidemic.

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Elliott Kay @elliottkaybooks.bsky.social · Aug 22

It's anecdote over (pretty sparse) data, but enough friends & acquaintances have gotten covid lately to keep me wearing that mask in busy indoor places until my next booster.

I'm not consistent. It still seems better than not bothering at all.

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Kai Ryssdal @kairyssdal.bsky.social · Aug 21

What Danielle said.

According to the Yale Budget Lab, the average effective tariff rate in this economy right now is 18.2%

Let me put that another way.

President Trump has raised taxes on American businesses and consumers by -- on average -- 18.2%

Danielle Kurtzleben @titonka.bsky.social · Aug 21

A thing I really need people to keep in mind: 15% tariffs are high, historically speaking. 10% tariffs are high.

The average effective tariff rate before this term was just over 2%. Anything double-digits is high!

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Elliott Kay @elliottkaybooks.bsky.social · Aug 21

On another chat, I had shifted from talking about chicken to talking about chocolate, so this wasn't *quite* the weird jump to me that it might have seemed!

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