Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Paul Moorehead @paulmoorehead.bsky.social · 17h

I could not agree more.

I studied both the “M” in STEM and medicine. And I’m here to tell you much literature really matters. If we lose our ability read hard texts, never mind read them intelligently, we’re cooked. We may already be.

www.spectator.co.uk/article/were...

We're all doomed if English literature students can't read books

It’s a whole new cause of gloom to discover that even students who have actively signed up to study English Literature are struggling to read

www.spectator.co.uk

Paul Moorehead @paulmoorehead.bsky.social · 1d

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somethi...

Something Ricked This Way Comes - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

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Paul Moorehead @paulmoorehead.bsky.social · 1d

I’m halfway through “Impossible Creatures”. I think I preferred “Rooftoppers”.

#booksky #yafiction

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Reposted by Paul Moorehead

Nick Harkaway @nickharkaway.com · 1d

disconnect.blog/getting-off-...

Getting off US tech: a guide

I’m in the process of dropping US tech services. Here’s how I did it, and options you should consider.

disconnect.blog

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Paul Moorehead @paulmoorehead.bsky.social · 2d

Disgusting. Unsurprising.

The point of cruelty is cruelty. The point of power is power. The point of this fascist insanity is insanity.

David Dayen @ddayen.bsky.social · 2d

ICE abducts people and then immediately moves them around to prevent access to lawyers and habeas corpus petitions. @emmarjanssen.bsky.social has the story on this consistent game being played to frustrate due process.
prospect.org/justice/2025...

How ICE Hides Detainees From Their Lawyers

‘It seems like cruelty is the point,’ one attorney said.

prospect.org

Paul Moorehead @paulmoorehead.bsky.social · 2d

Frogs too, I think. Man we’re determined to fuck this up as hard as we can.

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Paul Moorehead @paulmoorehead.bsky.social · 2d

:(

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Reposted by Paul Moorehead

George Murray @bookninja.bsky.social · 2d

There's NewPoetry today from Adam Sol (@adamsol.bsky.social).

newpoetry.ca/2025/10/06/c...

Climate Grief Sandwich

Adam Sol It takes seven gallons of oil to make a tire, which means it’s pointless to beg you to love me like you used to. I am wearing thin, like an old tire haha, when the road gets cold I …

newpoetry.ca

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Paul Moorehead @paulmoorehead.bsky.social · 2d

According to the interwebz, it’s a climate change thing….

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Paul Moorehead @paulmoorehead.bsky.social · 2d

Yeah when I was a kid in BC there were grasshoppers all over.

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Paul Moorehead @paulmoorehead.bsky.social · 3d

Now I think about it a moment, I suppose this was actually an unnatural experiment.

Paul Moorehead @paulmoorehead.bsky.social · 3d

What an interesting natural experiment. I had not heard of this before.

Dr Ross Barnett @deepfrieddna.bsky.social · 4d

www.bbc.com/news/article...

The lost Lego still washing up after 28 years

From dragons to wands, pieces lost from a cargo ship in 1997 continue to wash up around the world.

www.bbc.com

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Reposted by Paul Moorehead

Pinhole Poetry @pinholepoetry.bsky.social · 5d

Issue 4.3 is here! Featuring poems & photographs by 18 poets, 3 pinhole photographers & 4 new members of our Chapbook Love Letter Club; we’re so excited to see all this creative work out in the world. Please read & share!

pinholepoetry.ca/current-issue-pinhole-poetry/

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Paul Moorehead @paulmoorehead.bsky.social · 6d

If you’re not watching “Peacemaker” you are missing out on one of the best shows going!

James Gunn @jamesgunn.bsky.social · 6d

Tonight! Let's get to the bottom of this S.O.B. in episode 7 of #Peacemaker on HBO Max at 9 pm EST!

Reposted by Paul Moorehead

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez @aoc.bsky.social · 7d

A bus of Bronx middle schoolers pulled up to the Capitol this morning for a long-planned field trip just a few hours after the government shut down.

All Capitol tours were cancelled as the guides can’t work in shutdown.

So I escorted them in myself and gave them a personal tour. They were great!

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Paul Moorehead @paulmoorehead.bsky.social · 7d

Shame never went anywhere, has always been a powerful determinant of human behaviour, usually harmfully. I’m suspicious of the idea of “constructive shame”. The shame cops of every era have thought their shame was constructive. In the end, it’s just “be ashamed of what I want you to be ashamed of.”

Paul Moorehead @paulmoorehead.bsky.social · 7d

“Green” spotted at a well-known chain bookstore and at a public library!

Guess which sighting made me feel better!

Book with green cover, entitled “green”, and library stickers displayed on a shelf.

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Reposted by Paul Moorehead

MJ @bstnboy.bsky.social · 9d

Completely missed this. So did much of the lame-ass media.

US added to Human Rights Watchlist due to sustained attacks on civil liberties.

And the fucker thinks he deserves a Nobel Peace Prize.

😡😡😡

time.com/7306493/us-h...

U.S. Highlighted on International Human Rights Watchlist

The watchlist cited "sustained attacks on civil freedoms" during the first six months of Trump's second term.

time.com

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Paul Moorehead @paulmoorehead.bsky.social · 10d

Yeah, it would be hard to outdo, in terms of being avowed or effective neoliberals, Mulroney or Chrétien or Trudeau Jr, but Carney seems well on the way. So weird: all
The neolib talking points — austerity, trickle down, PPP, etc — have been very throughly discredited. Yet, here we are.

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Paul Moorehead @paulmoorehead.bsky.social · 11d

Arendt: “Totalitarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their sympathies, with those crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty.”

It’s nice to know someone has collected corroborating data.

Brooke Harrington @ebharrington.bsky.social · 11d

tl;dr: Fascism, in a very literal sense, is for dead-end losers.

tim frye @timfrye.bsky.social · 11d

So many echoes from this article for US politics....

Paul Moorehead @paulmoorehead.bsky.social · 14d

Amazing!

ryan cooper @ryanlcooper.com · 14d

a new mRNA therapy apparently can cut the rate of Huntington's disease progression by ~75%. yet more miracle shit www.bbc.com/news/article...

Huntington's disease successfully treated for first time

One of the most devastating diseases finally has a treatment that can slow its progression and transform lives, tearful doctors tell BBC.

www.bbc.com

Paul Moorehead @paulmoorehead.bsky.social · 15d

Bonkers.

My advice: stop letting governments — any government, but especially this insane kleptocracy — decide what facts are facts. Governments are very bad at that task.

Timothy Snyder @timothysnyder.bsky.social · 15d

These people will bring suffering and death to Americans.
www.cnn.com/2025/09/22/h...

Trump links autism to acetaminophen use during pregnancy, despite decades of evidence it’s safe | CNN

President Donald Trump announced Monday that the US Food and Drug Administration will be notifying physicians that the use of acetaminophen during pregnancy “can be associated with a very increased ri...

www.cnn.com

Reposted by Paul Moorehead

Timothy Snyder @timothysnyder.bsky.social · 15d

These people will bring suffering and death to Americans.
www.cnn.com/2025/09/22/h...

Trump links autism to acetaminophen use during pregnancy, despite decades of evidence it’s safe | CNN

President Donald Trump announced Monday that the US Food and Drug Administration will be notifying physicians that the use of acetaminophen during pregnancy “can be associated with a very increased ri...

www.cnn.com

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Paul Moorehead @paulmoorehead.bsky.social · 16d

Interesting poll.

Don’t be surprised. In the 20th century, the rise of right-wing totalitarianism pushed many on the left even farther to the left.

Too little, too late? The Dems are at least three elections too late in figuring out that lifelong political insiders aren’t appealing to many voters.

August J. Pollak @augustjpollak.bsky.social · 16d

To be clear: this entire “we’ve got to run more pro-lifers” insanity is because literally a week ago polling showed that Democrats would prefer politicians like AOC and Mamdani over Jefferies and Schumer by, let me emphasize this, a 20 point fucking margin.

www.politico.com/news/2025/09...

Poll: Capitalism is out … and socialism is in

The movement is gaining popularity among Democrats, a left-leaning group found.

www.politico.com

Reposted by Paul Moorehead

Matthew Hollett @matthewhollett.bsky.social · 16d

A little dose of light in Beaches Path, Witless Bay, Newfoundland.

Dappled light shining through two red berries on a small plant, the camera peering closely across the forest floor.

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