Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Debi V. Smith

@debivsmith.bsky.social

I hear Jon Stewart is hosting The Daily Show tonight & Maria Ressa is his guest. If you haven't dug into her work/interviews & have access to the show, please watch. I also highly recommend her book, How To Stand Up To A Dictator.

Debi V. Smith @debivsmith.bsky.social · Sep 18

""Don't voluntarily give up your rights, right? ...in the Philippines, where the first newspaper gave up — the television station gave up largest — it lost its franchise or license to operate.

And guess what? It never regained it even after the time of Duterte."
www.pbs.org/newshour/sho...

Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Ressa discusses state of U.S. democracy

Nobel Peace Prize laureate and journalist Maria Ressa has long fought for global press freedom. Her book, "How To Stand Up To A Dictator," detailed her experience running the news site Rappler under t...

www.pbs.org

September 18, 2025 at 8:53 PM

Debi V. Smith

@debivsmith.bsky.social

I wrote the QP yesterday before news broke of Carr threatening the affiliates & ABC/Disney to pull their licenses, then Nexstar pre-empting the show, followed by Sinclair, & then ABC/Disney indefinitely suspending the show.

www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/bus...

September 18, 2025 at 4:42 PM

Debi V. Smith

@debivsmith.bsky.social

A lot of free-speech absolutists are showing that the only absolute is it's only free if we comply & perform their expectations of "etiquette" regardless of the harms they cause us.

September 17, 2025 at 7:20 PM

Debi V. Smith

@debivsmith.bsky.social

I've shared this on my private SM account & I'll try to distill it here w/the caveat that I haven't seen the article he references. In the larger scheme since last Wednesday, I haven't seen anyone "celebrating" his death. /1

Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · Sep 15

In a Hitleresque speech, JD Vance says there can be no unity with the left and vows to use the government to dismantle non-profit NGOs and liberal civil society who he says promote violence and terrorism.

September 15, 2025 at 7:44 PM

Debi V. Smith

@debivsmith.bsky.social

2 hrs ago, a Kroger employee bad at his job gave me the Perpetual Foreigner tx bc I didn't know he was talking to me.

Stating non-undocumented are only briefly ?, when reports state otherwise, is remarkably privileged. This affects more than Latines in LA--outside HI, people think I'm Mexican.

Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · Sep 8

BREAKING: The Supreme Court — over the objection of Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson — allows the Trump administration’s racial profiling of people working certain types of jobs in its immigration raids during litigation.

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
-
No. 25A169
-
KRISTI NOEM, SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, ET AL. U. PEDRO
VASQUEZ PERDOMO, ET AL.
ON APPLICATION FOR STAY
[September 8, 2025]
The application for stay presented to JUSTICE KAGAN and by her referred to the Court is granted. The July 11, 2025 order entered by the United States District Court for the Central District of California, case No. 2:25-cv-5605, is stayed pending the disposition of the appeal in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and disposition of a petition for a writ of certiorari, if such a writ is timely sought. Should certiorari be denied, this stay shall terminate automatically. In the event certiorari is granted, the stay shall terminate upon the sending down of the judgment of this Court.

JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR, with whom JUSTICE KAGAN and
JUSTICE JACKSON join, dissenting.
In early June, the Government launched immigration enforcement raids across Los Angeles and its surrounding counties. During the raids, teams of armed and masked agents pulled up to car washes, tow yards, farms, and parks and began seizing individuals on sight, often before asking a single question.
A Federal District Court found that these raids were part of a pattern of conduct by the Government that likely violated the Fourth Amendment. Based on the evidence before it, the court held that the Government was stopping individuals based solely on four factors: (1) their apparent race or ethnicity; (2) whether they spoke Spanish or English with an accent; (3) the type of location at which they were found (such as a car wash or bus stop); and (4) the type of job they appeared to work. Concluding that stops based on these four factors alone, even when taken together, could not satisfy the Fourth Amendment's requirement of reasonable suspicion, the District Court temporarily enjoined the Government from continuing its pattern of unlawful mass arrests while it considered whether longer-term relief was appropriate.

Instead of allowing the District Court to consider these troubling allegations in the normal course, a majority of
2
NOEM v. VASQUEZ PERDOMO
SOTOMAYOR, J., dissenting
this Court decides to take the once-extraordinary step of staying the District Court's order. That decision is yet another grave misuse of our emergency docket. We should not have to live in a country where the Government can seize anyone who looks Latino, speaks Spanish, and appears to work a low wage job. Rather than stand idly by while our constitutional freedoms are lost, I dissent.

*
*
The Fourth Amendment protects every individual's constitutional right to be "free from arbitrary interference by law officers." Brignoni-Ponce, 422 U.S., at 878. After to-day, that may no longer be true for those who happen to look a certain way, speak a certain way, and appear to work a certain type of legitimate job that pays very little. Because this is unconscionably irreconcilable with our Nation's constitutional guarantees, I dissent.

September 8, 2025 at 5:59 PM

Debi V. Smith

@debivsmith.bsky.social

YouTube keeps giving me OPM recs & I'm not mad about it. Got Sugarfree vibes from this one.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=hk3c...

IV OF SPADES - Nanaman (Official Music Video)

YouTube video by IV OF SPADES

www.youtube.com

August 22, 2025 at 9:59 PM

Debi V. Smith

@debivsmith.bsky.social

I second this. One of El Akkad's statements that remains in my head is: "It is a hallmark of failing societies I've learned, this requirement that one always be in possession of a valid reason to exist."

Greg Pak @gregpak.net · Aug 13

Please read this book.

bookshop.org/p/books/one-...

Cover of ONE DAY, EVERYONE WILL HAVE ALWAYS BEEN AGAINST THIS by Omar El Akkad. Black text on red book cover. Stylized drawing of a silhouetted child standing under a falling bomb.

August 13, 2025 at 6:03 PM

Debi V. Smith

@debivsmith.bsky.social

I didn't go looking for OPM Punk, it found me. Also, this one is reminding me of Tantra Monsters minus the horns. 😍
youtu.be/px016fzWiC4?...

KMKZ - DOO BIDOO

YouTube video by KMKZ TVPH

youtu.be

August 11, 2025 at 8:05 PM

Debi V. Smith

@debivsmith.bsky.social

I go through new music drops every Friday & share the ones I like on my other accounts. This cover popped up on YouTube when I was grabbing video links & I love it---can't get enough of SB19. The original is on my writing playlist for Never Again.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHAX...

[COVER] SB19 STELL & JUSTIN - SHALLOW by Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper

YouTube video by SB19 Official

www.youtube.com

August 8, 2025 at 8:45 PM

Debi V. Smith

@debivsmith.bsky.social

An allegory for the effects of disinformation from individual to institutional to systemic. Masterful.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBkd...

UMAALIGID - Sarah Geronimo & SB19 [Official Music Film]

YouTube video by Sarah Geronimo

www.youtube.com

August 1, 2025 at 8:48 PM

Debi V. Smith

@debivsmith.bsky.social

It's Aloha Friday 🤙
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vgpa...

Iration - Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride (Official Audio)

YouTube video by Iration

www.youtube.com

July 25, 2025 at 9:24 PM

Debi V. Smith

@debivsmith.bsky.social

About to run off and rewatch it!
(link I'm sharing is a gift link for anyone w/o access to WaPo through subscription or their library digital media)
wapo.st/46Zjkq8

July 25, 2025 at 7:47 PM

Debi V. Smith

@debivsmith.bsky.social

Woke up with this song in my head & it won't go away.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tRJ...

The Summer Set - "Hard Candy" Official Audio

YouTube video by The Summer Set

www.youtube.com

June 13, 2025 at 5:20 PM

Debi V. Smith

@debivsmith.bsky.social

You’ve been kidnapped. The characters from the last TV show you watched are trying to rescue you. Who is coming to save you?

June 12, 2025 at 2:42 PM

Debi V. Smith

@debivsmith.bsky.social

Found out...last week...this week (? who tf knows w/ADHD wibbly wobbly timey wimey) TSS is dropping Meet Me At The Record Store 8/15. SQUEE! The cover tickles my brain w/nostalgia. A few of their older songs are on my Never Again writing playlist.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UgI...

The Summer Set - ADIDAS (Official Music Video)

YouTube video by The Summer Set

www.youtube.com

June 6, 2025 at 9:19 PM

Debi V. Smith

@debivsmith.bsky.social

Go back & read the 🧵beginning to end. I wanted to share the main message quoted post. The email Alex shares reads like the CEO is seeking sympathy (they are) while exposing their shitty business plan---if one even exists.

Anyway, I found Alex's audiobook on Libby! YAY LIBRARIES!

Alex de Campi @alexdecampi.bsky.social · May 30

Seriously, FUCK Boundless.

Writers, do not publish with them.

Agents, do not submit to them.

Bookstores, do not carry their books.

Any company that thinks torching this many authors will result in being able to “continue publishing and rebuild trust” is delusional and deserves to die.

May 30, 2025 at 9:04 PM

Debi V. Smith

@debivsmith.bsky.social

@defectivemoxie.bsky.social
www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8h4...

Miley Cyrus - Easy Lover (Official Video)

YouTube video by MileyCyrusVEVO

www.youtube.com

May 30, 2025 at 3:31 PM

Debi V. Smith

@debivsmith.bsky.social

I went down a Stell rabbit hole this morning after one of his singles popped up on my YouTube recs as I was looking for some good New Music Friday drops. Filipinos got it all.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeoU...

All By Myself - David Foster with Stell Ajero (HITMAN Tour Manila 2024)

YouTube video by Manila Concert Scene

www.youtube.com

May 23, 2025 at 8:14 PM

Debi V. Smith

@debivsmith.bsky.social

@defectivemoxie.bsky.social
www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6kJ...

SB19 Stell Ajero's performance of Defying Gravity (Wicked) at the Hitman: David Foster and Friends!

YouTube video by Aoishi Shinumura | A'tinomy Gratis

www.youtube.com

May 23, 2025 at 8:11 PM

Debi V. Smith

@debivsmith.bsky.social

My favorite song from their EP.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=alWY...

SB19 - 'Time'

YouTube video by Rappler

www.youtube.com

May 19, 2025 at 8:48 PM

Debi V. Smith

@debivsmith.bsky.social

Happy pub day to @kennedyryan.bsky.social !
www.cbsnews.com/video/author...

Author Kennedy Ryan talks latest romance novel and what she wants readers to know

New York Times bestselling author Kennedy Ryan talks about her new book, "Can't Get Enough," which follows the friendship of three women through love, heartbreak and self-discovery. Ryan has written m...

www.cbsnews.com

May 13, 2025 at 6:34 PM

Debi V. Smith

@debivsmith.bsky.social

April reads

May 3, 2025 at 8:12 PM

Debi V. Smith

@debivsmith.bsky.social

A woman threw greeting cards at me when I was called for backup at the checkout. She wanted to scan them and I said, "I can do it" while holding my hands out for them because she still had them in her hands. I guess throwing them at me was her way of handing them over. /1

Mike Chen @mikechenwriter.bsky.social · May 2

There was the discussion about "did covid infections change people's brains to be more callous, impulsive, and self-serving?"

If you ever worked in retail or food service, you'd know that people were this way all along.

Mike Chen @mikechenwriter.bsky.social · May 2

And the SHIT you have to put up with in retail/food service. People get WEIRDLY ANGRY about stuff.

May 2, 2025 at 8:54 PM