Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

SecularAZ @secularaz.bsky.social · 14h

The girlfriend

an elderly woman in a green shirt says it 's been 84 years

Alt: an elderly woman in a green shirt says it 's been 84 years

media.tenor.com

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SecularAZ @secularaz.bsky.social · 17h

Join us Saturday evening in Tucson to hear from Mo Goldman and Margot Cowan on immigration issues in #Arizona and beyond. RSVP here: secularaz.org/single-event...

tucson.com/opinion/arti...

Local opinion: ICE detention center in Marana? Not in my back yard!

The Marana prison is only 10 miles from the Pinal Air Park. How can we be sure individuals won’t be swiftly flown to places where they will never be heard

tucson.com

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SecularAZ @secularaz.bsky.social · 18h

The AZGOP tried to pass an "anti-geoengineering" bill this spring. Sigh. Focusing on crazy made-up nonsense while our public schools fail, housing and energy costs skyrocket, healthcare becomes ever-harder to access... but yeah, let's focus on cHeM TrAiLs wheeeeeeeeeeeee

a woman wearing a aluminum foil hat smiles for the camera

Alt: a woman wearing a aluminum foil hat smiles for the camera

media.tenor.com

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Popehat Agitates And Irritates @kenwhite.bsky.social · 1d

These people are evil. Never stop saying so. Don’t be intimidated into shutting up.

Kurt @flglchicago.bsky.social · 1d

Here’s video of the incident

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SecularAZ @secularaz.bsky.social · 19h

Friday Oct. 10 at noon (PST), we welcome scientists Niayesh Afshordi and Phil Halper to discuss their new book, "Battle of the Big Bang: The New Tales of Our Cosmic Origins." Please join us!

Details and resignation here: secularaz.org/single-event...

Battle of the Big Bang: Niayesh Afshordi and Phil Halper - Secular AZ

Let's take another break (we all need it) from "rage Friday" and enjoy a "science Friday" instead! Join us on October 10 at noon (PST) as we welcome Niayesh Afshordi and Phil Halper, authors of Battle...

secularaz.org

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SecularAZ @secularaz.bsky.social · 21h

This IS who ‘we’ are.

“The founding of this country cannot be disentangled from the violence towards Black and indigenous people that colonizers meted out all the while drafting lofty documents about all men being created equal.”

Imani Gandy Corn 🎃 @angryblacklady.blacksky.app · 23h

"Black people are tired. Not metaphorically tired—actually tired. The kind of tired that turns every group chat into a mix of gallows humor and emotional triage."

I write about white ignorance and how exhausting it is to hear white ppl insist "this isn't who we are, when it's ALWAYS who we've been.

White People’s Performative Ignorance Is Exhausting—Opinion

Disbelief over authoritarianism in America isn’t a cutesy personality trait. It’s a confession: You haven’t been paying attention.

rewirenewsgroup.com

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Barred and Boujee aka Madiba Dennie @audrelawdamercy.bsky.social · 22h

yday, when an attorney said 'conversion therapy' falls below professional standards, Justice Alito was like 'but can we trust those standards? the medical consensus used to be pro-eugenics'

like....bruh that injustice is not a license for more injustice, actually
ballsandstrikes.org/scotus/chile...

The Conservative Justices Don't Trust Any Science That Supports LGBTQ Kids

States that want to facilitate discrimination against LGBTQ people have the Court's blessing. States that want to protect LGBTQ people from discrimination do not.

ballsandstrikes.org

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SecularAZ @secularaz.bsky.social · 22h

Disgusting. Tell Mesa/Gateway what you think: docs.google.com/document/d/1...

azmirror.com/2025/10/07/t...

Trump's African deportation operation runs through a Phoenix airport

Arizona's Mesa Gateway Airport serves as hub for Trump's ICE Air deportation flights to Africa as ICE expands operations

azmirror.com

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SecularAZ @secularaz.bsky.social · 1d

Celebrate #Bannedbooksweek by donating a banned book to the Secular AZ library!! bookshop.org/wishlists/60...

Flowers in rainbow colors grow from an open book. Above, the text ban bigots, not books and SecularAZ.org

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SecularAZ @secularaz.bsky.social · 1d

Arizona’s own ADF is behind the SCOTUS conversion therapy case… because of course they are.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/07/u...

What is the Alliance Defending Freedom?

www.nytimes.com

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Barred and Boujee aka Madiba Dennie @audrelawdamercy.bsky.social · 1d

I've written my analysis of today's grim Supreme Court oral argument in the conversion therapy case:

As far as the Court's concerned, imaginary medical uncertainty gives states the authority to hurt queer kids, and takes away states' authority to protect them

ballsandstrikes.org/scotus/chile...

The Conservative Justices Don't Trust Any Science That Supports LGBTQ Kids

States that want to facilitate discrimination against LGBTQ people have the Court's blessing. States that want to protect LGBTQ people from discrimination do not.

ballsandstrikes.org

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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.

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AFT @aft.org · 1d

Public education is essential to a democracy. We teach kids how to think, not what to think. - @rweingarten.bsky.social

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SecularAZ @secularaz.bsky.social · 12d

Hey southern #Arizona! Secular AZ will be in #Tucson for not one, but TWO events on Oct 11! Join us at 2p for a conversation with the Secular Humanist Jewish Circle, and 5:30 for Ask-A-Lawyer to discuss #immigration and #ICE.

secularaz.org/single-event...

RSVP here: secularaz.org/single-event...

Secular AZ in Discussion With Secular Humanist Jewish Circle of Tucson - Secular AZ

Calling all Tucson secular supporters: Please join us on October 11 at 2pm AZ time for a conversation with Secular AZ's Jeanne Casteen and Eddie Chavez Calderon, hosted by the Secular Humanist Jewish ...

secularaz.org

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Kate Riga @kateriga.bsky.social · 1d

The political right's greatest project is discrediting experts. Only in a "do your own research" world can their cultural preferences - anti-abortion, anti-gender affirming care - claim equal legitimacy to the left's medically-backed positions on those issues. SCOTUS is a full partner in that effort

TPM @talkingpointsmemo.com · 1d

The Supreme Court's conservatives advanced the right's greater project of discrediting experts Tuesday, feigning that there is no medical consensus against conversion therapy.

The Medical Science Is Always ‘Uncertain’ When It Pushes Against Supreme Court’s Bias

If you came into Tuesday’s oral argument over Colorado’s conversion therapy ban...

talkingpointsmemo.com

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Anthea Butler @antheabutler.bsky.social · 1d

So since I'm annoyed let me say a few things today.Some folks have been writing about Christian Nationalism and apocalyptic right wing movements for YEARS here in the US. YEARS. Do we get to have a platform in major mags and newspapers... rarely.

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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Jeffries: "Johnson has to actually answer that Q as to why Republicans have refused to seat Rep.-elect Grijalva. Why?... when it comes to enacting tax breaks for Republican donors, they race to do it...she will be the 218th signature on a petition to force a vote on the release of the Epstein files"

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SecularAZ @secularaz.bsky.social · 1d

Arizona’s education system is in crisis, thanks to vouchers.

azmirror.com/2025/10/06/n...

Neighborhood schools are closing across Arizona. It's because of vouchers.

OPINION: Arizona's $1 billion voucher program is forcing public school closures while subsidizing wealthy families

azmirror.com

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SecularAZ @secularaz.bsky.social · 1d

Buh bye.

Hemant Mehta @friendlyatheist.com · 2d

Ryan Walters used his job to push Christian Nationalism, punish teachers, and turn public schools into culture war battlegrounds.

Now he’s gone—and Oklahoma is racing to undo his damage.

The reckoning has begun. 👇

www.friendlyatheist.com/p/oklahoma-h...

Oklahoma has already started erasing Ryan Walters’ disastrous legacy

The Christian Nationalist superintendent’s resignation has sparked a statewide effort to undo his damage

www.friendlyatheist.com

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SecularAZ @secularaz.bsky.social · 2d

JFC

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SecularAZ @secularaz.bsky.social · 2d

Hey #Arizona! Take action and celebrate #bannedbooksweek!

Here are actions, events, rallies, protests and more for the week ahead:

secularaz.salsalabs.org/oct-6-2025

flowers in a rainbow of colors grow from an open book. Above, the words Ban Bigots Not Books and underneath, secularaz.org

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SecularAZ @secularaz.bsky.social · 2d

Yet another reason to oppose Arizona's out-of-control voucher program: lack of oversight and accountability. And they call us the indoctrinators/groomers.

www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/kirk-ph...

Charlie Kirk-aligned church sued by father of sexual abuse victim

Nathaniel Pineda, an ex-volleyball coach at a Dream City Church-affiliated school, is in prison for grooming a 15-year-old girl.

www.phoenixnewtimes.com

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SecularAZ @secularaz.bsky.social · 2d

Sad. He can nunchuck through the pain.

Brnovitch poses in blue suit with super tough guy expression, while “tears” roll down his face

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Bruno J. Navarro @brunojnavarro.bsky.social · 2d

In the 5 to 10 percent of symptomatic cases where the fungus invades the vital organs, the death rate is as high as 25 percent. The pathogen is so powerful the U.S. army weighed whether to develop it into a bioterrorism weapon in the 1960s.

In Arizona, a fight against a deadly fungus is under threat from Trump’s health policies

What one Arizona doctor’s quest to stop valley fever says about America’s preparedness for climate-driven disease.

grist.org

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SecularAZ @secularaz.bsky.social · 3d

It’s #bannedbooksweek! Help us build our banned books library for distribution at the #Tucson Festival of Books!

bookshop.org/wishlists/60...

Flowers in a rainbow of colors grow from an open book. Above, text “ ban bigots, not books” and SecularAZ.org

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