Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Karen Leick

Kashana @kashana.blacksky.app · 4h

Bookshop has free shipping today, in case you’re looking to pick up the hottest (and also only?) student loan industry heist novel of the year.

The Payback: A Novel

A Novel

bookshop.org

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Haymarket Books @haymarketbooks.org · 4h

No War on Chicago
No War Anywhere

No War on Chicago; No War Anywhere!

“The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to ga...

www.haymarketbooks.org

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Karen Leick @kleick.bsky.social · 4h

Aimee Mann is so great.

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Amanda Katz @katzish.bsky.social · 12h

Horrific reporting from the AP on the Myanmar families watching their kids starve to death from Trump and Musk’s aid cuts apnews.com/article/myan...

Starving children screaming for food as US aid cuts unleash devastation and death across Myanmar

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has repeatedly said “no one has died" because of his government’s decision to gut its foreign aid program.

apnews.com

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C Baker @ccbeta.bsky.social · 23h

I love this paragraph:

“One of the chants that has become ubiquitous at these protests at Broadview is, ‘Love your neighbor, love your God, save your soul and quit your job,’” said Black, who pastors at the First Presbyterian Church of Chicago. “Everybody chants that.”

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Jack Jenkins @jackjenkins.me · 23h

Gonna be thinking about this lede for a minute.

(RNS) — Last month, the Rev. David Black stood in front of a Chicago-area U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility and spread his arms wide. Adorned in all black and wearing a clerical collar, the pastor looked up at a group of masked, heavily armed ICE agents on the roof and began to pray.

“I invited them to repentance,” Black, a minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA), said in an interview. “I basically offered an altar call. I invited them to come and receive that salvation, and be part of the kingdom that is coming.”

But when Black began to lower his arms a few seconds later, the agents responded to his spiritual plea by firing pepper balls, or chemical agents that cause eye irritation and respiratory distress, video footage shows. One struck Black in the head, exploding into a puff of white pepper smoke and forcing him to his knees. Fellow demonstrators rushed to his aid, and as the pastor rubbed his face in pain, the agents continued to fire.

“We could hear them laughing,” Black said.

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Oregon 🕎🎲 @oregonthedm.bsky.social · 1d

Boxes also work on bobcats

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Gabe Ortíz @tusk81.bsky.social · 2d

“… the data out of Montgomery County, Maryland makes one thing unmistakably clear: this crusade is not a mass movement. It’s the obsession of a vanishingly small minority …”

Erin Reed @erininthemorning.com · 2d

1. 4 months ago, The Supreme Court gave families a right to opt out of LGBTQ+ education in schools.

Now, in Montgomery County, Maryland, where the case originated, the results are in.

Only 43 families out of 160,000 students have exercised that new right.

Subscribe to support our journalism.

Only 0.03% Opt Out Of LGBTQ+ Education In Maryland After SCOTUS Gives Them A Right To

After SCOTUS gave families a right to opt out of LGBTQ+ education, Montgomery County, Maryland is reporting only 43 families took them up on it.

www.erininthemorning.com

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Alyson Smith @pedsaly.bsky.social · 2d

supposed to be 81 degrees tomorrow, better lay out clothes

@raygunsite.com ❤️🇺🇸

@raygunsite.com white “Don’t mess with Chicago” t-shirt with a blue band/white star at top and red band with white ‘Bean’ at bottom. (Thanks @gowder.io for the Raygun inspo). Also Cariuma x @Crooked.com “I voted” sneakers, capri jeans, and a sensible Midwest mama crossbody….

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Rebecca Colesworthy @rcolesworthy.bsky.social · 6d

Good news! The full table of contents for THE CAMPUS CRISIS TOOLKIT, edited by @thetattooedprof.bsky.social and Lisa Di Bartolommeo, is now available on the @sunypress.bsky.social website: sunypress.edu/Books/T/The-.... Follow the link or see next post for screenshots. 🤗

The Campus Crisis Toolkit

sunypress.edu

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Dr Delyth Badder @folklorewales.com · 3d

Six weeks ago, I picked up a year-old tawny owl with a broken leg off the main road near our home and dropped him off at our nearest vet.

After a few days, I received one of the most bizarre phone calls I’ve ever had, asking “So when are you coming to pick up your owl?” 🧵

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Music Box Theatre @musicboxtheatre.bsky.social · 3d

ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER is Now Playing at the Music Box, presented in 70MM!

Showtimes & Tickets: musicboxtheatre.com/films-and-ev...

Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 3d

“Woke Movie promotes VIOLENCE against
ICE”

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ProPublica @propublica.org · 5d

NEW: ProPublica obtained records from the Department of Agriculture that detail the millions of pounds of food, down to the number of eggs, that never reached food banks because of the Trump administration’s cuts to an aid program.

Trump Canceled 94 Million Pounds of Food Aid. Here’s What Never Arrived.

ProPublica obtained records from the Department of Agriculture that detail the millions of pounds of food, down to the number of eggs, that never reached food banks because of the administration’s cut...

projects.propublica.org

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Brandy Schillace @bschillace.brandyschillace.com · 7d

Her last appearance was only a few weeks ago—diligent and persevering to the last. You were a real one, Jane Goodall 1934-2025

blockclubchicago.org/2025/09/15/j...

Jane Goodall Recalls Chicago's Role In Her Life Of Activism

The renowned ethologist said she switched from "scientist" to "activist" after a 1986 visit to the Lincoln Park Zoo. She returned to the zoo for some special appearances over the weekend.

blockclubchicago.org

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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 9d

YES! THIS on GenAI!

Please read this absolutely splendid piece of writing that had me cheering, a little bit weepy, and writing in the margins:

"An extraordinary amount of money is spent by the AI industry to ensure that acquiescence is the only plausible response. But marketing is not destiny."

Large Language Muddle | The Editors

The AI upheaval is unique in its ability to metabolize any number of dread-inducing transformations. The university is becoming more corporate, more politically oppressive, and all but hostile to the ...

www.nplusonemag.com

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Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 9d

@jessicavalenti.bsky.social is very right that Ezra Klein is very wrong, both morally and strategically, with this argument that throwing half the population under the bus (the half that already leans more Democratic).

Ezra Klein is Wrong About Abortion

Abortion *is* a big tent issue

jessica.substack.com

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Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 10d

My dearest wife,

It is week two of the Siege of Portland, and still these barbarians will not yield to our troops. We have severed the cords of their latte machines but they are making cowboy coffee in their camps, where loud ukulele songs of resistance even now drift in on the breeze.

Letter from the Portland War Front (humor about something deadly serious)

My dearest wife, It is week two of the Siege of Portland, and still these barbarians will not yield to our troops. We have severed the cords of their latte machines but they are making cowboy coffee ...

www.meditationsinanemergency.com

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Hell Ray-ser @sireviscerate.myatproto.social · 11d

Couldn't take Chicago, so he's going after Portland. Like a high school bully that got bodied by a wrestler so he tries to take it out on a theater kid. Pathetic.

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Autopia Furiosa @pierrette1789.bsky.social · 13d

All my best to this FEMA employee, and may they succeed in their mission:

"I'M THE TYPE of person where, like, if you push me I'll push back. I don't like to live in a mindset of despair and negativity. When these people do this shit, it just lights my fire. It makes me more fucking mad. This used to be the best job I've ever had, the best environment I've ever had, the best culture I've ever had-and they fucking ruined it. I will never ever forget how much they ruined it. I'm like, fuck these people. They can't get me scared. I will not give them what they want. I will not just leave. I'm going to make it as difficult as possible for these fuckheads." -FEMA employee

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dan sinker @dansinker.com · 13d

Dave Matthews has the opportunity to do the funniest thing.

Alyssa @alyssad.bsky.social · 13d

Hmmm....

US Border Patrol docks along Chicago Harbor Lock as part of immigration blitz

U.S. Border Patrol is making its presence known on Lake Michigan, the only Great Lake without a foreign border.

www.chicagotribune.com

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Miriam Posner @miriamposner.com · 13d

To read the university’s triumphant all-campus email about restored NIH funding, you’d think UC administrators made it happen. But that’s not true. In fact the UC *Faculty Association* organized the lawsuit; administrators kept their heads down and hoped it’d go away.

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Karen Leick @kleick.bsky.social · 14d

Singer sewing machine. It was one of my parents' wedding gifts (1962).

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Karen Leick @kleick.bsky.social · 14d

Job posting! Assistant Professor in Creative Writing – English Department, University of Illinois - Chicago.

To apply, submit an online application including cover letter, CV, letters of recommendation and a 20-page writing sample by November 1, 2025.

jobs.uic.edu

Position Summary

The Department of English/Program for Writers at the University of Illinois-Chicago seeks a tenure-track Assistant Professor in Creative Writing (prose fiction).

PhD is preferred, though MFA with suitable experience will be considered; degree must be conferred by time of appointment. At least one book published or under contract is expected, as is a demonstrated record of teaching and mentoring.

UIC faculty are expected to carry out their responsibilities in person and onsite as part of a vibrant and collegial on-campus community. Our new colleague will teach courses unless otherwise specified in the fields of Creative Writing and American Literature and will engage in ongoing research in an area of expertise.

Responsibilities include: teaching at the undergraduate and graduate levels (2-2 load); mentoring and advising students; providing service to the university; and actively contributing to the intellectual life of the department and the broader campus.

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Susan Kaye Quinn is Writing Solarpunk 🌞🌱 @susankayequinn.bsky.social · 14d

They've lost the 9yos

JA Westenberg
@Daojoan@mastodon.social

My 9 year old and his classmates have started using “that’s AI” to mean “I don’t believe you.”

Me: we’re having dinosaur meat for dinner

Kiddo: that’s AI
Sep 24, 2025, 07:36 AM

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Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 15d

“The biggest US-listed companies keep talking about artificial intelligence. But other than the ‘fear of missing out,’ few appear to be able to describe how the technology is changing their businesses for the better.”

America’s top companies keep talking about AI — but can’t explain the upsides

FT analysis of hundreds of filings suggest the S&P 500 businesses are clearer about the risks than benefits

www.ft.com

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