Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Lorax Horne

@lorax.bsky.social

2.4K followers 650 following 800 posts

Editor and writer. Tech critic. Doing work stuff for my local Center for Migrant Worker Rights (which isn't on Bsky). If you like anything I've posted, donate to this family: https://chuffed.org/project/116311-protect-an-open-source-engineer-and-his-family

chuffed.org

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Lorax Horne @lorax.bsky.social · 6d

It has been a few days since anyone donated to their crowdfund page, but the Abu Matar family is still working on their tent site and making progress, thanks to @raindovemodel.bsky.social and the Safebow team. Donate here: chuffed.org/project/1163... to help the family finish their new home.

A hole for a latrine dug into a sandy ground. A pile of cement bricks is set up nearby under the shade of a red canvas wall.

Wooden framing sticks set up in a rectangular shape on an empty lot with red canvas sheeting laid out on the sandy ground ready to be nailed to the sticks. In the background, other white canvas tents can be seen.

A 30-something man with black jeans and a blue polo shirt with a measuring tape clipped to his belt is standing on a plastic chair so he can reach up to attach a red canvas sheet to a wooden frame. It is a sunny day with blue skies and he is wearing a baseball cap and glasses, and there is a shine of sweat on his brown arms.

A child of about 7 years old wearing a black t-shirt and long pants stands under the shade of a red canvas wall with a relaxed pose, holding their hands together in front. In the background the shape of two people are putting up the red canvas sheet, stretching it out on a wooden frame. On the ground in front of the child, a large red canvas sheet is laid out on the sandy floor, with two hammers and other tools and some sticks lying nearby. It is a sunny day with blue skies and a whisp of cloud.

1 1 1

Lorax Horne @lorax.bsky.social · 11h

a young man is smiling with his eyes closed and his mouth open .

Alt: leonardo dicaprio crying in one of his movies as a young actor

media.tenor.com

Lorax Horne @lorax.bsky.social · 11h

And everything in the story, has probably already happened, to some revolutionaries somewhere, whether in the Argentina dirty war, Chile under Pinochet, in the Black Panthers, or today in Calais or Nauru and other immigrant concentration camps. The movie isn't fanciful, it's brutalist realism.

1 1

Lorax Horne @lorax.bsky.social · 11h

[Spoilers of themes in ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER]

.
.
.
.
.
I would say this story it too romantic, exaggerated, extreme. Except we live in a world of white supremacist cult members conspiring in underground bunkers, billionaires like Peter Thiel / Elon Musk killing USAID, c/o Stephen Miller.

1 1

Reposted by Lorax Horne

Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 15h

The elimination of USAID is a moral atrocity and all involved made a choice to enable, and then lie about, ending the lives of some of the most vulnerable people in the world.

MAE SOT, Thailand (AP) - Mohammed Taher clutched the lifeless body of his 2-year-old son and wept. Ever since his family's food rations stopped arriving at their internment camp in Myanmar in April, the father had watched helplessly as his once-vibrant baby boy weakened, suffering from diarrhea and begging for food.
On May 21, exactly two weeks after Taher's little boy died, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio sat before Congress and declared: "No one has died" because of his government's decision to gut its foreign aid program. Rubio also insisted: "No children are dying on my watch."
That, Taher says, "is a lie."

70 2.2K 4.6K

Lorax Horne @lorax.bsky.social · 11h

Shoutout to the Montreal Convention.

Lorax Horne @lorax.bsky.social · 12h

#Wikimedia is currently electing open positions on its Board of Trustees. Wouldn't you know, two pro-Palestinian candidates have been removed from the ballot under mysterious circumstances. Statement from the Arabic Wikimedia community: meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Objecti... #censorship #fascism

Objection to the removal of Ravan from the Board of Trustees election process 2025/Arab Community - Meta-Wiki

meta.wikimedia.org

7 6

Reposted by Lorax Horne

Amanda Katz @katzish.bsky.social · 18h

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

56 1.3K 2.2K

Lorax Horne @lorax.bsky.social · 1d

So you are a racist who believes one race is superior to others? There's a better word for that.

Reposted by Lorax Horne

Chibdm @chibdm.bsky.social · 2d

Robin Williams' daughter has some quality thoughts on AI slop

130 7.3K 19K

Reposted by Lorax Horne

🎃 Cat-O-Lantern Partsch Conlan 🎃 @catconlan.net · 3d

Incarcerated people are also your community. Tolkkinen out here arguing for Omelas.

The benefit to local communities is undeniable. Using inmate labor, they can build up the supply of sorely needed housing for area families. A few years ago, Alexandria gained two duplexes and a small house for people who are homeless or facing eviction. Single-family, three-bedroom homes sell to nurses or teachers for $100,000 below market rate and stay affordable forever because they’re in a land trust that restricts resale price.
Paying inmates a higher wage could jeopardize the affordability of those homes.

1 7 27

Reposted by Lorax Horne

Rachel Maddow @maddow.msnbc.com · 3d

behold the bold and brave washington post opinion section (under new management), lol

1.3K 3.7K 17K

Reposted by Lorax Horne

Global Voices @globalvoices.org · 3d

“You cannot call civilization a period of time when the wealthiest countries are spending more with weapons to kill, than with initiatives that would save lives.”

For Brazilian writer Frei Betto, the 21st century has a before and after Gaza

“You cannot call civilization a period of time when the wealthiest countries are spending more with weapons to kill, than with initiatives that would save lives.”

globalvoices.org

1 16 29

Reposted by Lorax Horne

KOJAMF🤘🖤🤘 @kojamf.bsky.social · 3d

Dr. Jane Goodall filmed an interview with Netflix in March 2025 that she understood would only be released after her death.

800 17K 37K

Reposted by Lorax Horne

Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 4d

According to the City of Paris, in the last 10 years 150K trees have been planted & 45ha of parks created in the already hot city, all intended to not only improve quality-of-life today, but also help the city adapt to & manage summer heatwaves of 50℃ (122F) by 2050.

Just the start.

Common sense.

Paris before and after street transformation

New urban forest planted in front of Paris City Hall

A Paris “School Street” where cars are removed and people space/tree planting are added

13 350 1.4K

Lorax Horne @lorax.bsky.social · 4d

You used to be able to read the news to find things out, but now you have to parse the newspaper of record and factcheck their whole output, to find what they leave out.

Lindsay Beyerstein @beyerstein.bsky.social · 5d

The New York Times doesn't tell you why the alleged murderer said he sent pizzas to the victim's house just before he ran down the girl and her best friend. He said on video that he was getting revenge for social media comments about death of Charlie Kirk.

2 Teen Girls Died In a Hit-And-Run. Another Teen Faces Murder Charges.

www.nytimes.com

3 2

Reposted by Lorax Horne

Al Jazeera English @aljazeera.com · 4d

BREAKING: Since dawn, Israeli attacks across Gaza have killed at least 46 Palestinians, despite US President Trump’s call for Israel to cease its attacks, medical sources told our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic.

🔴 LIVE updates: aje.io/08ph6v

15 260 360

Reposted by Lorax Horne

Eduardo Suárez @eduardosuarez.bsky.social · 5d

What a dark day for press freedom in the United States

The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 5d

Mario Guevara, an Emmy-award winning reporter, was deported to El Salvador — a nation he fled more than two decades ago. He was arrested while covering a protest of the Trump administration in a case that has alarmed free speech groups.

U.S. deports journalist Mario Guevara to El Salvador, family says

Mario Guevara, an independent journalist, was arrested while covering a protest of the Trump administration in a case that has alarmed free speech groups.

www.washingtonpost.com

17 530 1.4K

Reposted by Lorax Horne

flyingrodent @flyingrodent.bsky.social · 5d

Now obviously, the British political/media class have enthusiastically frog-boiled themselves into believing that dragging off two hundred old ladies is just normal, regular centrist moderate politics. But you are not them, you should recognise that this is absolutely deranged authoritarian lunacy.

2 28 140

Reposted by Lorax Horne

Ron Deibert @rondeibert.bsky.social · 6d

Also, @haaretzcom.bsky.social @themarkup.org has an exclusive companion report here, authored by Gur Megido and Omer Benjakob 👇

www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...

The Israeli influence operation in Iran pushing to reinstate the shah monarchy

Citizen Lab Found That an Online Network Pushed Out Deepfake Videos During Israel's Airstrikes on Tehran's Evin Prison. An Investigation by TheMarker and Haaretz Reveals the Persian-language Online Ca...

www.haaretz.com

1 6 8

Reposted by Lorax Horne

Ian Coldwater 👻🌿 @lookitup.baby · 5d

Who needs “cybersecurity” anyway? That shit’s for trans people and furries

12 14 190

Lorax Horne @lorax.bsky.social · 6d

1 1 1

Lorax Horne @lorax.bsky.social · 6d

Canada and the UK's new immigration laws are blatant attempts to suck up to the fascist United States dictator, and it will not end well for us.

Dan Sohege @danielsohege.bsky.social · 6d

Labour has closed existing safe routes for refugees, weakened protections for trafficking victims, is undermining international human rights law, and is now denying people trapped in countries they face persecution the ability to join loved ones. There is nothing defensible about any of this.

Afghan resettlement schemes for those who supported UK suddenly closed by government

Ministers close 'lifeline' sanctuary routes for Afghans who worked with British troops and who fought for democracy and womens' rights

Holly Bancroft Social Affairs Correspondent

Tuesday 01 July 2025 18:50 BST

Shabana Mahmood

UK anti-slavery commissioner condemns Shabana Mahmood's asylum comments

Home secretary's remarks about 'vexatious' claims will have real-life impact on trafficking victims, says Eleanor Lyons

Thu 18 Sep 2025 10.50 BST

The anti-slavery commissioner has criticised the home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, for accusing asylum seekers of making "vexatious last-minute claims" relating to modern slavery.

The commissioner, Eleanor Lyons, said the comments were "deeply concerning" and would have "a real-life impact" on trafficking victims.

He added "we need to look again at the interpretation" of a wide range of international laws by UK courts.

He warned that laws must be "applied in the circumstances as they are now" before adding that countries were experiencing "mass migration in a way that we have not seen in previous years".

To meet this new challenge "we need to look at again at the interpretation of some of these provisions, not tear them down", he said.

He added: "I believe that those genuinely fleeing persecution should be afforded asylum and that is a compassionate act."

Pressed for details about what was blocking deportations of foreign criminals, Sir Keir cited Articles 3 and 8 of the ECHR - which ban torture and protect the right to private and family life respectively.

"But it's more than that," he said, pointing to the UN's Refugee Convention, Torture Convention and Convention on the Rights of the Child as potential barriers.

Starmer to end asylum 'golden ticket' of resettlement and family reunion rights

People granted asylum will have to earn right to invite family in plan charities call 'straight from populist playbook'

Rajeev Syal

Wed 1 Oct 2025 22.30 BST

People granted asylum will no longer be given "the golden ticket" of resettlement and family reunion rights, Keir Starmer said, amid deepening concerns from charities that his words are demonising refugees.

As the prime minister prepared to discuss illegal migration with European leaders, No 10 outlined plans to strip successful claimants of the right to automatically invite spouses and children to join them.

1 4