Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by you're not steampunk and i'm telling everyone

Melissa Gira Grant @melissagiragrant.com · 22h

What we’re seeing now is not people “[beginning] to view their own government’s security forces as an occupying army”—the federal agents are becoming an occupying army, and the violence is theirs. The violence is already here.

Caleb Crain @calebcrain.bsky.social · 22h

Chilling insight by @barbarafwalter.com: "Once citizens view their own government’s security forces as an occupying army, violence becomes inevitable. Trump’s team knows this… They’re trying to trigger the very unrest that would justify further crackdowns."

via www.nytimes.com/2025/10/07/o...

Screenshot from a NYT article by Thomas Edsall, quoting Barbara Walter of UC-San Diego: "The quickest way to piss people off is to send soldiers into their neighborhoods especially when there’s no reason for them to be there. It’s inherently provocative, and Trump and his team understand this. Research by the political scientist Robert Pape shows that the single most powerful predictor of suicide terrorism is the presence of foreign troops on local soil. People hate, hate, hate that. They hate the humiliation, the powerlessness, the feeling of being occupied.

"Once citizens begin to view their own government’s security forces as an occupying army, violence becomes inevitable. Trump’s team knows this. In fact, that’s the point. They are not trying to restore order; they’re trying to trigger the very unrest that would justify further crackdowns. In the end, violence serves their ultimate end: They want to create the illusion of disorder so they can tighten control and stay in power indefinitely."

6 100 300

you're not steampunk and i'm telling everyone @homarus.bsky.social · 2h

most people got wise to Worcester, so now I'd say Haverhill, probably

Merriam-Webster @merriam-webster.com · 3h

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

you're not steampunk and i'm telling everyone @homarus.bsky.social · 4h

I reserve all of my ire for media organizations and not for individual posters. And it's certainly not just you, lots of people, including myself, have been using "less than lethal". It's natural when it's what is written in practically every article.

1

you're not steampunk and i'm telling everyone @homarus.bsky.social · 4h

If I had to venture a guess--and that's all it is, a guess--this language comes straight out of LEO and military PR, and media is just rehashing the words that were given to them, AKA the process that gave us the "officer involved shooting". Same shit, different day.

you're not steampunk and i'm telling everyone @homarus.bsky.social · 4h

Maybe there are specific definitions for each of these terms in law enforcement and military circles, I don't know. But I've seen this change in the way the media talks about this kind of ammunition, and I don't think it's because they're trying to use the correct technical jargon.

1

you're not steampunk and i'm telling everyone @homarus.bsky.social · 4h

Not a critique of the OP, just a thought:
The phrase "less than lethal" bothers me. We moved from "non-lethal" to "less lethal" in acknowledgement that this kind of ammunition can kill a person. Since then, it's slipped to "less than lethal", which again has a false implication of non-lethality.

Willow @rockshrimp.bsky.social · 4h

one thing I learned during 2020 is that "less than lethal" munitions are explicitly designed to be shot into the ground so they lose velocity and bounce up into people and the reason I didn't know that before is literally NO ONE has ever deployed them that way.

Jack Jenkins @jackjenkins.me · 5h

Reporter's notebook: I actually began working on this story shortly after footage of the incident showed up last month.

But by the time I finally got ahold of folks, the story grew: 2 *other* faith leaders I spoke with *also* reported being shot w/pepper balls while protesting this ICE facility.

2 1

you're not steampunk and i'm telling everyone @homarus.bsky.social · 6h

it bothers me more than it should that he uses all caps for these and not the Truly Trumpian Randomly Capitalized Words

1

you're not steampunk and i'm telling everyone @homarus.bsky.social · 6h

we can't afford to lose Stavvy in a time like this

Reposted by you're not steampunk and i'm telling everyone

Cheryl Lynn Eaton @cheryllynneaton.bsky.social · 7h

Trans rights are civil rights. If you aren't willing to die on the hill of trans rights, then you aren't willing to die on the hill of Black rights. Of Jewish rights. Of disabled rights. Of gay rights. Of anyone's rights. Human rights.

the tallest stone @talleststone.bsky.social · 8h

I hate to say it but the majority of the country is not going to die on the hill of trans rights. We can’t protect ANY groups if we can’t win a national election, so purity tests only serve to make specific groups feel triumphant. That’s not “erasing” them; it’s long-horizon strategy.

22 470 1.5K

Reposted by you're not steampunk and i'm telling everyone

Sophia Babai @swingingstorm.bsky.social · 8h

Eternally disturbed by the number of Democrats who seem to see “affirming everyone’s basic right to freedom and safety is just too radical” as a reasonable argument.

3 43 160

you're not steampunk and i'm telling everyone @homarus.bsky.social · 7h

Fuck off outta here with this garbage. Trans rights are non-negotiable. Liberation means all of us, not just some of us.

the tallest stone @talleststone.bsky.social · 8h

I hate to say it but the majority of the country is not going to die on the hill of trans rights. We can’t protect ANY groups if we can’t win a national election, so purity tests only serve to make specific groups feel triumphant. That’s not “erasing” them; it’s long-horizon strategy.

2

you're not steampunk and i'm telling everyone @homarus.bsky.social · 7h

man i gotta get back before they do this.

1

you're not steampunk and i'm telling everyone @homarus.bsky.social · 8h

there's not an AI that exists that could accurately recreate the faces he's making

Crazy Ass Moments in LatAm Politics @asslatam.bsky.social · 1d

President Javier Milei of Argentina had a rock show to celebrate his new book, called "La Construcción del Milagro" (The Construction of the Miracle).

you're not steampunk and i'm telling everyone @homarus.bsky.social · 8h

Swan Boy is one of the best things on the internet, bar none.

Branson Reese @bransonreese.bsky.social · Sep 17

swanboy.com

4 23

you're not steampunk and i'm telling everyone @homarus.bsky.social · 23h

"There never should've been Die Hard sequels" is a frankly deranged opinion, and I reject it wholesale.

1 8

Reposted by you're not steampunk and i'm telling everyone

Patrick Cosmos @veryimportant.lawyer · 23h

We are bringing back “Sphincter Boy” as an insult. We are growing waynepilled and we are garthmaxxing

16 21 180

Reposted by you're not steampunk and i'm telling everyone

Corey Atad @coreyatad.com · 9d

a few small beers

6 270 1.1K

you're not steampunk and i'm telling everyone @homarus.bsky.social · 1d

Don't threaten me with a good time!

you're not steampunk and i'm telling everyone @homarus.bsky.social · 1d

I ultimately like the s/t better but Toxicity is great. Going to have to put it on today.

2

you're not steampunk and i'm telling everyone @homarus.bsky.social · 2d

First one of these I've ever seen that almost perfectly aligns with my boundaries. It's the partial states that take it from "correct" to "extremely correct".

1 13

you're not steampunk and i'm telling everyone @homarus.bsky.social · 2d

While "potential constitutional crisis" isn't in any way wrong, I think it may be understating the potential ramifications of this

Bradley P. Moss @bradmossesq.bsky.social · 2d

Texas proudly invading Illinois.

It’s hard to describe the level of potential constitutional crisis here.

1

you're not steampunk and i'm telling everyone @homarus.bsky.social · 2d

what really gets to me is how lazy this is. you could create these background photos with a digital camera and ten minutes in Photoshop.

2

you're not steampunk and i'm telling everyone @homarus.bsky.social · 3d

In for OBAA round 2, this time in 70mm

you're not steampunk and i'm telling everyone @homarus.bsky.social · 3d

This is such a dim view of humanity that it almost feels like I'm being insulted.

Shrikant Joshi @shrikant.bsky.social · 3d

That's a very dismissive construct of LLMs, IMHO. Yes they are stochastic and yes they are 'robotic' but here's a sentence for you to ponder:

Humans are just advanced language output algorithms that spit out returns based on input and their reference library.

you're not steampunk and i'm telling everyone @homarus.bsky.social · 3d

Oh nice I didn't know AMC even did 70mm IMAX anywhere. Seeing it for a second time today, this time in regular 70mm. First viewing was in VistaVision.

1