Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Matthew J Kuiper @matthewjkuiper.bsky.social · 24m

A clue can be found in how “news” sources like newsmax are covering this. It is framing this as Dems trying to block trump’s noble efforts to stop deadly cartels, rather than as illegal strikes on random boats with no proof they have anything to do with cartels.

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Matthew J Kuiper @matthewjkuiper.bsky.social · 28m

What the actual heck is wrong with these people. The willingness of gop “lawmakers” to cede their own power and rubber stamp insanity for a manifestly unfit “leader” just continues to be jaw dropping.

Brian Finucane @bcfinucane.bsky.social · 1h

48-51 vote on Schiff-Kaine resolution to block further strikes in the Caribbean.

Resolution does not pass.

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Matthew J Kuiper @matthewjkuiper.bsky.social · 1h

Yeah talk of “phases” in the “deal” reminds of the phases of Biden’s ceasefire deal and how swiftly the first phase was violated and how the subsequent phases never quite happened.

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Reposted by Matthew J Kuiper

Abu Aardvark’s Ghost @abuaardvark.bsky.social · 2h

It’s only a beginning not an ending but anything which stops the slaughter of Gaza is good. Hoping for the best, been around long enough to fear the worst.

abuaardvarkghost.ghost.io/gazas-tomorr...

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Matthew J Kuiper @matthewjkuiper.bsky.social · 2h

A bunch of others I can think of, including of course letting the world know of my own work/publications/etc.

Anyway, it’s a “great” question cause one should always ask, why am I doing this, and should I keep doing it?

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Matthew J Kuiper @matthewjkuiper.bsky.social · 2h

Not necessarily anything great, but an accumulation of smaller good things: Connected with fellow academics, “met” interesting smart people, learned about new articles & books, gotten good ideas for pedagogy, kept in touch good analysis of current events, been strengthened in my resolve about AI…

Conrad Hackett @conradhackett.bsky.social · 20h

Has anything great happened in your life because of social media?

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Matthew J Kuiper @matthewjkuiper.bsky.social · 7h

“That is what this war teaches us: Even suffering has a hierarchy, and even survival has a rank. A room with walls is better than a tent; a proper aid tent is better than a patchwork one stitched together from blankets, nylon, old jeans and empty flour sacks. A tent is better than nothing at all.”

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Matthew J Kuiper @matthewjkuiper.bsky.social · 7h

Powerful, poignant, painful. Read it. Gift article.

The Gaza I Once Knew Is Gone

Opinion | The Gaza I Once Knew Is Gone (Gift Article)

After two years of war, one Gazan tells of what was lost.

www.nytimes.com

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Matthew J Kuiper @matthewjkuiper.bsky.social · 8h

Free donuts and conversation with the awesomest profs in any and every possible dimension, daily.

Or, “the only major or minor that has direct relevance to the afterlife (which concept we will also happily complexify/problematize).”

Reposted by Matthew J Kuiper

Matthew J Kuiper @matthewjkuiper.bsky.social · 16d

One of my kids is taking up guitar. And her fingers were hurting, which, good sign that she’s actually working at it!

But the best part, it gave me the chance to sing out loud in my best dad rocker voice the first lines of Summer of 69. “Played it til my fingers bled…”

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Matthew J Kuiper @matthewjkuiper.bsky.social · 1d

Mighty Mac as seen over the (unseasonably warm) past weekend. Love the gull I captured in the foreground.

The Mackinac Bridge from the south with the blue waters of the Straights of Mackinac and a seagull in flight in the foreground

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Reposted by Matthew J Kuiper

Jolyon Thomas @jolyonbt.bsky.social · 1d

Very proud of Kirby’s work in this open-access article. It marks a novel intervention in the prison religion literature and a unique angle on the “Buddhism in America” lit.

Penn Religious Studies @upennrels.bsky.social · 1d

PhD candidate Kirby Sokolow's latest article, "Buddhist Exceptionalism Behind Bars," has just been published in the journal Pacific World as part of a special section on American Buddhism, Race, and Power.

Congratulations, Kirby!

pwj.shin-ibs.edu/2025/7191

Buddhist Exceptionalism behind Bars

Part of a special section on American Buddhism, Race, and Power. Many Buddhist programs in US prisons focus on reforming incarcerated people. Often the leaders of these programs celebrate their inc…

pwj.shin-ibs.edu

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Reposted by Matthew J Kuiper

Marijn van Putten @phdnix.bsky.social · 1d

This chapter has now been out for more than six months and thus magically becomes #OpenAccess:
scholarlypublications.universiteitleiden.nl/handle/1887/...

Ṯamūd: Reading traditions | Scholarly Publications

scholarlypublications.universiteitleiden.nl

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Matthew J Kuiper @matthewjkuiper.bsky.social · 1d

Both Israelis & Palestinians have suffered terribly. All deserve compassion & concern. And…one can’t ignore (although many of today’s 2-yr commemorations will try) the history, diff in scale, or power dynamics at work, nor the disastrously failed leadership which brought us & keeps us here.

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Matthew J Kuiper @matthewjkuiper.bsky.social · 1d

Decades of occupation & failed/sabotaged “peace processes”, a divide/rule policy which helped create/support H*mas, the horrors of Oct 7 itself, & the now 2-yrs-running genocidal obliteration of Gaza (& further tightening of deadly grip on WB) since - all deserve historically truthful commemoration.

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Matthew J Kuiper @matthewjkuiper.bsky.social · 1d

The horror of Oct 7, 2023 was an unspeakable tragedy. And…we must beware of “commemorations” which decontextualize that horrific day and/or ignore the catastrophic, exponential magnitudes of death and destruction unleashed since.

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Reposted by Matthew J Kuiper

Shaun Keegan @shaunkeegan.bsky.social · 2d

These wonderful creatures have been successfully reintroduced to Scotland in recent years - I couldn't be happier! More enigmatic, natural ecology on this island please!

Matthew J Kuiper @matthewjkuiper.bsky.social · 2d

Check out this cool encounter I had with a beaver the other morning. Beavers, clumsy on land but smooth in water, live in family groups and look out for each other. Watch to the end. Their tail slaps warn their mates of danger, which in this case was… me. I had never seen a tail slap so close up.

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Matthew J Kuiper @matthewjkuiper.bsky.social · 2d

Not to force a lesson or moral from this beaverish practice, but we need a whole lot more tail slapping to warn neighbors, esp the most vulnerable, of the many dangers descending upon us. Let’s look out for each other.

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Matthew J Kuiper @matthewjkuiper.bsky.social · 2d

And since the fishing pole is in the frame, no, I didn’t catch anything. I had packed up all the fishing gear and saw the beaver on my way back to shore.

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Matthew J Kuiper @matthewjkuiper.bsky.social · 2d

Check out this cool encounter I had with a beaver the other morning. Beavers, clumsy on land but smooth in water, live in family groups and look out for each other. Watch to the end. Their tail slaps warn their mates of danger, which in this case was… me. I had never seen a tail slap so close up.

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Matthew J Kuiper @matthewjkuiper.bsky.social · 2d

The words are right, and right to the point.

But now, words let’s see if words are matched with actions.

Matthew J Kuiper @matthewjkuiper.bsky.social · 3d

(And I do see that; I have some very good writers. I’m mostly, but not entirely, kidding🤔)

Matthew J Kuiper @matthewjkuiper.bsky.social · 3d

I mean they obviously understood that I didn’t mean it *has* to be room-for-improvement/bad, right? That I’d most rather see good them writing?

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Matthew J Kuiper @matthewjkuiper.bsky.social · 3d

Told my classes at the start of the semester, “I’d rather see room-for-improvement genuinely ‘human-you’ writing than inauthentic vague over-polished AI slop writing.”

And so far, I’m, um, pleased to say they took me seriously.

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Matthew J Kuiper @matthewjkuiper.bsky.social · 3d

This is how you do it.

“I…will always defend [Dartmouth’s] fierce independence.

You have often heard me say that higher education is not perfect and that we can do better. At the same time, we will never compromise our academic freedom and our ability to govern ourselves.”

Daniel P. Moriarity @dpmoriarity.bsky.social · 4d

Dartmouth response to the Trump Administration Compact

president.dartmouth.edu/news/2025/10...

Response to the ‘Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education’ | Office of the President

president.dartmouth.edu

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