Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Michael Munnik

Jack Jenkins @jackjenkins.me · 1d

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.

Michael Munnik @michaelmunnik.bsky.social · 21h

I don't want to give Badenoch's trope too much attention. Really, that's the only purpose for these "policy" proposals anyway.

But Otto's final line below is exactly right: study what interests you, and the rest will follow. You can't know what doors will open and close in your life.

Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 21h

Badenoch and Co see education only as a means to a massive income in some soul destroying career.

Devoid of imagination and the power of knowledge they view life entirely through the prism of the CV.

My advice always is to study what interests you and the rest will follow

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Michael Munnik @michaelmunnik.bsky.social · 21h

God speed.

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Justin Lewis @whenisbirths.bsky.social · 21h

Newspaper editors who will all fall behind this 'what's the point of humanities degrees' bunkum when that's exactly what most of them studied in the first place.

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Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 1d

The Bishop of Birmingham has written to the Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick about his comments about Handsworth

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Mike Sowden @mikeachim.bsky.social · 2d

Damn. This is amazing. £325 per week, paid monthly, for 3 years - and the result was a profit for the Irish economy:
www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employmen...

Post from Threads user rodneyowl: "Ireland has declared the Basic Income for Artists scheme permanent. This will be officially announced in tomorrow’s budget. Details to follow. Congratulations to all who fought for it and the present and future artists of all sorts in Ireland. That includes me 👌We’re just comin to the end of a 3 year pilot scheme. It’s been a roaring success. For every €1 paid out to the 2000 participants, the government got €1.46 back. Can’t argue with that. Other countries are already taking note."

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Elise Wang @elisewang.bsky.social · 2d

One of the more incredible stories out of LA this year has been how a taco review blog became the best on-the-ground coverage of ICE raids in the city.

They do a dispatch every day, follow-up on the kidnapped people (which almost no media outlet has done), and fact-check government claims.

Mother Jones @motherjones.com · 2d

@lataco.bsky.social first began as a blog documenting local Mexican cuisine. Now, it’s an essential reporting powerhouse to the city as Trump’s mass deportation plot unfolds.

Check out the latest from our friends at Reveal: tinyurl.com/4cm2bsdr

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Michael Munnik @michaelmunnik.bsky.social · 1d

Holy shit! That is terrible and feels unthinkable in this day and age, and yet many things I would hope to class as "unthinkable in this day and age"...

Dr Tess Machling @tessmachling.bsky.social · 1d

Update - this is terrible. Clearly meticulously planned.

#Archaeology 🏺
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

St Fagans: Thieves in four-minute raid on museum gold

Two thieves stole 'irreplaceable' gold artefacts in a targeted attack on St Fagans Museum in Cardiff.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Postcard From The Past @pastpostcard.bsky.social · 1d

By the time I arrived, Rob was in love with someone else. He had told me he was seeing someone but that it wasn't important. I have been, as you can imagine, devastated & very unhappy.

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Michael Munnik @michaelmunnik.bsky.social · 1d

These reminders need to be made and made again in public. I know the polarised and hyped political discourse seems uneasy with reasoned arguments and truths like this, but I have to hope that if (enough) people hear it (enough), it will sink in.

The Secret Barrister @barristersecret.bsky.social · 1d

And of course, your reminder that the Conservatives in government enthusiastically approved every single one of the Sentencing Guidelines that they now claim are evidence of the far-right “two tier justice” myth.

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The Secret Barrister @barristersecret.bsky.social · 1d

This is a lie.

There are many criticisms you might sensibly and truthfully make of the Sentencing Council and the Sentencing Guidelines. I’ve been making them for years.

But this is an outright lie. Pure fabrication. A fraud on the public.

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Michael Munnik @michaelmunnik.bsky.social · 2d

I had a horn section for the night, which happens never, so after folding them into a couple of my own tunes near the end, I fulfilled a life-long dream and led them through Paul Simon's "Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes". Video captured here! youtu.be/8Wo-AdcqWS4

Michael Munnik "Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes" (Paul Simon cover) Live at St John's Church

YouTube video by Michael Munnik

youtu.be

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Michael Munnik @michaelmunnik.bsky.social · 2d

Whoa-ho! It's been two years since I released my album Driving through America at Night in Cardiff. A memorable, magical gig. Here are some pics, including me singing with my eldest two kids! Thank to the band and everyone who came for a special night. michaelmunnik.bandcamp.com/album/drivin...

Four men lined up on stage at a gig. To left, a bearded bespectacled man in white t-shirt holding a red Fender Jaguar guitar. Next, visible under the guitar neck, a bearded man in flannel shirt sitting atop a cajon drum and smacking it with his left hand while shaking an egg in his right. Next, a bespectacled man in a black t-shirt playing a tobacco sunburst electric bass. At right, a bespectacled man in a dark shirt and jeans holding a tenor saxophone.

A bearded bespectacled man in a green fedora playing an acoustic guitar is to the left, singing into a microphone. The remainder of the image is dark negative space, though faintly you can see the windows and a pillar of the church hall where the gig is happening.

Live concert footage. A young man in glasses and a red plaid shirt over a dark t-shirt sings into a microphone, shared with a young woman in a dark shirt and green trousers, who sings while playing a ukulele. To their right, a bearded bespectacled man in brown jacket and green fedora sings into a microphone and plays an acoustic guitar.

Image from behind the band at a concert. The backs of several musicians are visible, seen in highlit accents at various levels as they play their instruments. Before them, the arched columns supporting a church hall, with peaky windows to the sides and a large one at the back, central to the image. It is atmospherically lit.

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Michael Munnik @michaelmunnik.bsky.social · 2d

"Este pueblo no tiene piscinas!"

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Michael Munnik @michaelmunnik.bsky.social · 2d

I submit!

Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 2d

4 months.

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Michael Munnik @michaelmunnik.bsky.social · 2d

I had a horn section for the night, which happens never, so after folding them into a couple of my own tunes near the end, I fulfilled a life-long dream and led them through Paul Simon's "Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes". Video captured here! youtu.be/8Wo-AdcqWS4

Michael Munnik "Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes" (Paul Simon cover) Live at St John's Church

YouTube video by Michael Munnik

youtu.be

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Michael Munnik @michaelmunnik.bsky.social · 2d

Whoa-ho! It's been two years since I released my album Driving through America at Night in Cardiff. A memorable, magical gig. Here are some pics, including me singing with my eldest two kids! Thank to the band and everyone who came for a special night. michaelmunnik.bandcamp.com/album/drivin...

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Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 2d

BBC accused of 'extraordinary' anti-Green bias after party say the Laura Kuenssberg Show scrapped a promised interview with @zackpolanski.bsky.social on Sunday.

Green sources say the show also refused to interview Polanski after he was elected as leader last month

bylinetimes.com/2025/10/06/b...

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Michael Munnik @michaelmunnik.bsky.social · 2d

I see you've approached this problem from the wrong direction. Though I was going to ask how certain we are we want two Stillses and only one Nash and not the other way around.

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Michael Munnik @michaelmunnik.bsky.social · 2d

🫣🫣🫣🫣🫣

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Michael Munnik @michaelmunnik.bsky.social · 2d

You mean it doesn't end when they hit 18?

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Lottie @sellottie.bsky.social · 2d

It’s happened again

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Michael Munnik @michaelmunnik.bsky.social · 2d

Yup.

Nina Markl 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈 @ninamarkl.bsky.social · 2d

also, last thought, the other way unis get away with underpaying staff is that a) wages in this country are so abysmal that anything approaching 40k looks good, b) anything looks like plenty after a phd, and c) it’s not like you’ve got much choice if you want this career in this country

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G. Willow Wilson @gwillow.me · 6d

In all seriousness, publishers are going to have to figure out how to market books in the post-social-media landscape. That should be an implicit part of their job. What authors/artists can do on their own is increasingly limited and siloed.

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Michael Munnik @michaelmunnik.bsky.social · 4d

There's a colourful four-page comic spread with various agitated forest animals in this, I'm sure.

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