Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Matthew J. Cressler

@mjcressler.bsky.social

1.7K followers 1.2K following 130 posts

🤖 chief of staff for CPIT: https://www.cpitpbc.com/ ✍🏼 rogue scholar & writer 4 hire on Catholics + anti/racism, sex abuse, horror(s), pop culture, & more: https://matthewjcressler.com/ 💥 comix creator: https://badcatholics-comics.org/

www.cpitpbc.com

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Matthew J. Cressler @mjcressler.bsky.social · Nov 12

Allow me to reintroduce myself! I'm a scholar, writer, & comics creator. I write on Catholics, racism, racial justice, and, increasingly, horror(s). And, I'm chief of staff for a public interest tech start up. But if Imma pin something, it's gotta be #BadCatholicsGoodTrouble: badcatholics-comics.org

BAD CATHOLICS | GOOD TROUBLE

badcatholics-comics.org

2 11

Reposted by Matthew J. Cressler

Contingent Magazine @contingent-mag.bsky.social · 10d

Our new CFP is up and it is monstrous.

CFP: A Time of Monsters

The monster has been here all along. It is a historical constant that manifests in wildly different ways across time, place, and culture. Whatever form it takes, the monster claws at categories; it un...

contingentmagazine.org

3 63 88

Matthew J. Cressler @mjcressler.bsky.social · 10d

lol.

Matthew J. Cressler @mjcressler.bsky.social · 29d

Everything that needed saying, and then some. Thank you @jamellebouie.net 🙏🏼 | Charlie Kirk Didn’t Shy Away From Who He Was. We Shouldn’t Either. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/13/o...

Opinion | Charlie Kirk Didn’t Shy Away From Who He Was. We Shouldn’t Either.

www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Matthew J. Cressler

hannah gais @hannahgais.bsky.social · Sep 9

"Unlike prominent right-wing influencers like Mr. Bannon, Charlie Kirk and Laura Loomer, he has no ties to the Trump White House."

Well, that's just flat out wrong. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/09/u...

Nick Fuentes: A White Nationalist Problem for the Right

www.nytimes.com

27 73 440

Reposted by Matthew J. Cressler

Amy Siskind @amysiskind.com · Sep 6

Yes DC!

240 3.5K 11K

Reposted by Matthew J. Cressler

CajunBlueAZ ⚜️🇺🇸 🇺🇦 @cajunblue.bsky.social · Sep 6

D.C. is pounding pavement! ✊🏼 Power to the People ✊🏼

120 2.1K 7.1K

Matthew J. Cressler @mjcressler.bsky.social · Aug 29

Guess I never announced this (rather exciting) news publicly. Along with my ongoing work for @cpitco.bsky.social, not to mention varied and sundry other projects, I'll now be working officially as a Writer™. 🥳🎉🤨

1 2 8

Reposted by Matthew J. Cressler

Denise Wheeler @denisedwheeler.bsky.social · Aug 19

In Middleton, NY.

This guy probably saved his neighbors from Trump's masked thugs.

This is how you firmly assert your rights and stand up for our communities.

180 1.5K 5K

Reposted by Matthew J. Cressler

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · Aug 19

Let them know you're filming them and keep asking the key questions:

"Do you have a warrant signed by a judge? Show me."

"Do you have a badge? Show me."

"Do you know how pathetic you are? You showed me."

Denise Wheeler @denisedwheeler.bsky.social · Aug 19

In Middleton, NY.

This guy probably saved his neighbors from Trump's masked thugs.

This is how you firmly assert your rights and stand up for our communities.

120 1.5K 5.3K

Reposted by Matthew J. Cressler

hannah gais @hannahgais.bsky.social · Aug 12

DHS is recruiting using a not-so-subtle reference to a 1978 book from white nationalist William Gayley Simpson, Which Way Western Man?

Simpson's book was released under an imprint associated with the National Alliance, founded by Turner Diaries author William Luther Pierce.

Homeland Security
@DHSgov
Which way, American man?

http://JOIN.ICE.GOV

photo of uncle sam with his hat off at a crossroads with title "America Needs You, Join ICE Now"

280 2.1K 4.9K

Matthew J. Cressler @mjcressler.bsky.social · Aug 11

(p.s. Yes. I used Claude to help me craft this thread. And I could write a whole nother thread about that process.)

Matthew J. Cressler @mjcressler.bsky.social · Aug 11

They defend the unique value of historical (and humanistic) methods. They offer concrete guidance on how educators can navigate the world as it is. Not too bad imo. And fwiw, as someone in public interest tech, we could stand to have more folks trained w/ those skills in our sector. 9/9

Matthew J. Cressler @mjcressler.bsky.social · Aug 11

Are these principles perfect? No. Do they sidestep critical questions about corporate power, environmental costs, and surveillance capitalism. Yes. (Tho tbh it's hard to imagine any list ready to meet this moment that everyone would deem "perfect.") 8/

Matthew J. Cressler @mjcressler.bsky.social · Aug 11

This sums it up for me: "Students ... already rely on genAI tools and will continue to do so. Some ... have chosen to reject genAI for its ethical, environmental, and economic consequences, but ignoring it will neither halt its spread nor shield our discipline and students from its reach." 7/

Matthew J. Cressler @mjcressler.bsky.social · Aug 11

Fwiw from my POV, some activities need to ban AI in order to cultivate certain skills and methods, while others should strategically encourage use w/in clear parameters. The key is intentionality. We need to help students learn when, where, how, and why AI can be useful, and when it's a problem. 6/

Matthew J. Cressler @mjcressler.bsky.social · Aug 11

On the actual policy front, the emphasis on experimentation over rigid prohibition is sound. The principles acknowledge that "no single generative AI policy will be perfect" and call for pedagogical agility, i.e. trying new approaches, gathering feedback, revising as tech evolves. 5/

Matthew J. Cressler @mjcressler.bsky.social · Aug 11

The encouragement for historical educators to cultivate AI literacy is generative (see what I did there) and important. Teaching students to detect bias, evaluate sources, identify knowledge gaps? These are things we already do and excel at in our teaching. Now they're MORE valuable, not less. 4/

Matthew J. Cressler @mjcressler.bsky.social · Aug 11

The principles avoid both technophobia and techno-utopianism. They don't treat AI as magic or as an impending apocalypse. They offer a clear-eyed sense of what generative AI *actually* is and does (at this point), as well as the limits and risks of use that result from that. 3/

1 1

Matthew J. Cressler @mjcressler.bsky.social · Aug 11

For starters, they get at the highest level point: historical thinking is MORE urgent than ever! Our critical skills and sensibilities as historians (and as humanists) is absolutely essential in this brave new AI world, not to mention passing on those skills and sensibilities to our students. 2/

Matthew J. Cressler @mjcressler.bsky.social · Aug 11

*whispers* I think the @historians.org "guiding principles for AI in history education" are actually pretty good (and I say this as an historian and a public interest tech professional). 🧵

www.historians.org/resource/gui...

Guiding Principles for Artificial Intelligence in History Education

These 14 foundational principles are meant to assist educators and administrators in crafting AI policies suited to local circumstances and the specific needs of students.

www.historians.org

1 1 3

Reposted by Matthew J. Cressler

Tim Onion @bencollins.bsky.social · Aug 7

From this month's edition of The Onion.

ICE is hiring!

US immigration and Customs Enforcement is looking for highly motivated, morally indifferent individuals to join our team.

Open positions include:
Senior Goon
Racism Enforcement Office
Unmarked Van Driver (Part-Time)

Experience with children a plus

usajobs.gov

680 6.2K 28K

Reposted by Matthew J. Cressler

Senator Chris Van Hollen @vanhollen.senate.gov · Jul 27

Families in Gaza are starving to death. Meanwhile, Trump & Netanyahu are using US taxpayer dollars to replace international aid orgs in Gaza with mercenaries — leading to even more deaths.

ENOUGH.

I led 20 Senators in calling on Trump to stop supporting this barbarity:

Senate Democrats urge U.S. to stop funding GHF, resume support for U.N. food distribution in Gaza as more starve

Senate Democrats told the secretary of state they have "grave concerns" about the U.S. role in financing GHF, the main group distributing aid in Gaza.

www.cbsnews.com

190 1.2K 4.6K

Reposted by Matthew J. Cressler

Power At Work @poweratwork.bsky.social · Jul 27

Catholic institutions preach justice—but are they practicing it when it comes to workers’ rights? Ken Homan dives into the clash between faith values & labor organizing in Catholic spaces in her piece for @poweratwork.bsky.social. Read now at poweratwork.us/faith-labor-...!

4 4

Reposted by Matthew J. Cressler

Musa Okwonga @okwonga.bsky.social · Jul 27

Wait. Chloe Kelly has scored the winner in two Euro Finals. Has any footballer ever done that?

15 30 210

Reposted by Matthew J. Cressler

Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · Jul 23

Good piece by @jamellebouie.net taking apart JD Vance's reprehensible immigration worldview on the substance. I'd add that JD seems to cast our admission of immigrants purely as an act of benevolence on our part, when of course that's not the story at all

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/23/o...

29 250 1K