Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

isaac @sevier.io · 8h

Shoutout to an incredible friend i met right here on the internet, @kateschapira.bsky.social, who helped put this together with a group of volunteers over the weekend. I included it in the newsletter just now, and we're hearing about the resource being put to use already 💪

Kate Schapira @kateschapira.bsky.social · 20h

Here's your guide to fighting utility shutoffs this winter. W/o the gov't open, few to no states will have funds for emergency bill payment program LIHEAP. This doc has scripts, state context, contact info for governors & commissions, everything you need. Please call! docs.google.com/document/d/1...

NO UTILITY SHUTOFFS scripts by state

🚨 WE NEED AN EMERGENCY BAN ON UTILITY SHUTOFFS DUE TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN 🚨 TAKE ACTION: ONE E-MAIL OR PHONE CALL! ⚡ Hello! Welcome to our crowdsourced effort to campaign for ending util...

docs.google.com

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isaac @sevier.io · 8h

Feeling so grateful to be in the company of such good comrades, holding me down, and building a vision of a world we deserve and can win. I tried to gush the appropriate, professional amount about everyone in this one, so hope you'll check it out

Public Grids @publicgrids.org · 8h

In this issue we've packed three different ways that you can do something to get involved in the public power movement right now!

The power to make a difference is in your hands

With just a few minutes, using this organizing guide, you can join others and organize locally to protect your neighbors. The guide contains information about the status of protections against shutoff...

buttondown.com

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Reposted by isaac

Matthew Cortland (they) @matthewcort.land · 16h

The majority of SSI and SSDI applications are denied at the initial stage. The majority of those denials are reversed on appeal - a process that takes years.

SOAR trains attorneys to do the kind of initial applications for homeless disabled people that can win at the first stage

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Reposted by isaac

Dr.MRO/ Axel Folio @isasaxonists.bsky.social · 18h

Finished a hat for my uncle to wear to work in the winter. Everything you make w/ your own hands is made w/ extra love.

I used St Maurice & Radiant Golden Brown in DK merino/nylon.

Anyway the message on the hat is loud and clear. We have work to do! 🧶
#showmeyourknits #knitsky #yarnsky #yarnlove

Back of knit hat with skills, and decorative work

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isaac @sevier.io · 17h

I need about nine more hours of daylight today than I will get.

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isaac @sevier.io · 7d

and shoutout to the portland raging grannies who are not, unfortunately for all of us, on bsky, but could not be more thrilled about the idea of public ownership of everything and wrote an original song for us

portland.raginggrannies.org

an illustration of two older women sitting on a park bench. one is knitting something pink and wearing a long brown trenchcoat and the other is wearing a blue overcoat with a red hat while she feeds birds. the text above them says "when i get old i don't want people thinking 'what a sweet old lady'... i want 'em saying 'oh crap! what's she up to now?'" and the pic has been fried at least once

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isaac @sevier.io · 17h

The multigenerational organizing world here in Portland has been inspiring and generous in collaborating with us for public power. Shoutout to the culture Portlanders have made here.

Jake Grumbach @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social · 17h

Shoutout to the Boomers, really showing everybody else up in 2025

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isaac @sevier.io · 19h

Please share, and many many thanks to Kate and a crew of folks who helped organize this info with us

Kate Schapira @kateschapira.bsky.social · 20h

Here's your guide to fighting utility shutoffs this winter. W/o the gov't open, few to no states will have funds for emergency bill payment program LIHEAP. This doc has scripts, state context, contact info for governors & commissions, everything you need. Please call! docs.google.com/document/d/1...

NO UTILITY SHUTOFFS scripts by state

🚨 WE NEED AN EMERGENCY BAN ON UTILITY SHUTOFFS DUE TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN 🚨 TAKE ACTION: ONE E-MAIL OR PHONE CALL! ⚡ Hello! Welcome to our crowdsourced effort to campaign for ending util...

docs.google.com

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isaac @sevier.io · 19h

Thanks for sharing today Kate!

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Reposted by isaac

Kate Schapira @kateschapira.bsky.social · 20h

Here's your guide to fighting utility shutoffs this winter. W/o the gov't open, few to no states will have funds for emergency bill payment program LIHEAP. This doc has scripts, state context, contact info for governors & commissions, everything you need. Please call! docs.google.com/document/d/1...

NO UTILITY SHUTOFFS scripts by state

🚨 WE NEED AN EMERGENCY BAN ON UTILITY SHUTOFFS DUE TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN 🚨 TAKE ACTION: ONE E-MAIL OR PHONE CALL! ⚡ Hello! Welcome to our crowdsourced effort to campaign for ending util...

docs.google.com

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isaac @sevier.io · 21h

Point being that the Public Service Commission was designed *explicitly* to do the thing it is still doing today, and it has been a powerful institution resisting most reforms across the country for over a century.

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isaac @sevier.io · 21h

I learned this thanks to some excellent scholarship by @nikki-luke.bsky.social

Powering racial capitalism: Electricity, rate-making, and the uneven energy geographies of Atlanta - Nikki Luke, 2022

In this paper, I bring together scholarship on racial capitalism and critical energy studies to investigate how electrification contributes to racialized uneven...

doi.org

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isaac @sevier.io · 21h

In 1907, the Georgia legislature celebrated the establishment of the state Public Service Commission as a measure that "established white supremacy," structurally guaranteed Black disenfranchisement, and "enthroned" the body to give the appearance of regulating railroads and utilities.

Bolts @boltsmag.org · 21h

A recent controversy over low-turnout runoff elections in Georgia is just one of many problems with fair representation that are coming to a head in the state’s utility commission elections this year.

As Georgia Returns to Electing Its Utility Commission, Worries over Democracy Linger

A pair of races are crystallizing issues with fair representation in Georgia: officials who stay in their seats years past their term, low-turnout runoffs, and the diluted power of Black voters.

boltsmag.org

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isaac @sevier.io · 22h

This sucks

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s. eek smith 👻 @sesmith.lol · 23h

Child labor laws around framework are...flexible. They might be getting more so, and this is an interesting profile on a classic teen job: Corn detassling.

Teens in the Tassels: How Youth Farm Labor Still Powers the Midwest - Offrange

Corn detasseling continues to be a beloved Midwestern tradition, as youth labor regulations progress and migrant workers compete with the young workforce.

ambrook.com

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Seth Cotlar @sethcotlar.bsky.social · 23h

Here’s a thread with some examples of what I’m talking about. In the 1970s it was inconceivable to the illiberal far right that they might ever win control of the federal government via elections. So they assumed these powers would be used against them. bsky.app/profile/seth...

Seth Cotlar @sethcotlar.bsky.social · Aug 13

As Trump exerts ever more dictatorial powers using baseless claims of "emergencies" to do so, I'm reminded of how "America First" far right orgs like Liberty Lobby in the 1970s was obsessed with the idea that Presidents would use EO's to impose full communism on America by declaring emergencies.

preparedness
Sec. 3013. Transfer of Functions. Any emergency
function
under this
order, or parts
thereof, may be transferred from one department or agency to another with the consent of the heads of the organizations involved and with concur-Preparedness.
rence of the Director of the Office of Emergency
United
Under the terms of EO 11490, the President of the
States
exists and can then:
can order that a national emergency
• Take all souls or picer electic, nuclear, pe-
troleum, etc.)
railroads,
inland
facilities
waterways, and storage
• Commandeer all civilians to work under federal supervision
• Control all activities relating to health, education, and welfare
• Register
every man, woman, and
United States
child in the
• Shift any segment of the population from one locality to another
• Control all devices capable of emitting electromagnetic radiation
• Institute EXTRAORDINARY MEASURES with respect to any facility, system, or service essential to national survival
• Take over farms, ranches, or timberland properties so as to protect, manage, and utilize them effectively
• Freeze all wages and prices
• Demand emergency welfare services, (food, cloth-ing, and lodging) in private homes, for those in need
• Regulate the amount of your own money you can withdraw from your bank or savings and loan institution
• Close the stock exchanges and freeze stock and bond prices.
All of these items listed, plus many others clearly enumerated on 32 pages incorporating nearly 200,000 words pertain to every previous Executive Order ever issued unless specifically revoked.
E.O. 11615
Executive Order No. 11615 was issued by President
Nixon on
Aug. 15, 1971. It provides for stabilization
of prices, rents, wages, and salaries. Although the wage-price "freeze" was to last only 90 days, the Order established another bureaucratic agency called the Cost of Living Council.
This Council is almost certain to be with us for a long time, growing in power and size, with concomitant restrictions on…

THE FEDERAL REGISTER
The Federal Register is one
States today. Its notification of
dential actions assumes the power of law. No is no review
Congressional authorization is required. There
by the judiciary. All Executive
Orders (EO's) are laws made by one man-the
President of the United States.
Through existing EO's it is possible for one man to ignore the Constitution, the Congress,
ship can be imposed,
and the will of the people. A complete dictator-
under the veil of law,
on the American people.
EXECUTIVE ORDER 11490
The most damaging of all the EO's is 11490, the
consolidated 23
so-called "omnibus" Emergency Preparedness order that signed on Oct. 28, 1969.
previous EO's, which President Nixon
By virtue of EO 11490 President Nixon declared a national emergency to exist on Aug. 15, 1971, in con-
economy. At first glance,
most of the EO's seem to be steps needed to enable the United States to prepare for and strike back in the event of a nuclear attack.
blanket every conceivable facet of today's gigantic and complex American society and
of events no part of it will ever
supervision from Washington.
More frightening than all its contents is the omission of a definition of the phrase "national emergency." The decision as to what constitutes a
"national emergency"
President, whoever he might be.
EFFECT OF EXECUTIVE ORDERS
Although there are
Presidential memorandums and not specifically
listed in this brochure,
LIBERTY LOBBY feels those excerpts referred to are the essential orders that must be studied by all Americans if they are to acquaint themselves with this sword of Damocles" hanging over all our heads. established the machinery
dent and his advisers to take control of every significant factor of the private sector of our society!
The Office of Emergency
Preparedness (OEP) is re-President in all emergency
sponsible for assisting the preparedness activities.
Its director is a member of the
subversive Council on Foreign Relations! The OEP has eight regional offices …

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Seth Cotlar @sethcotlar.bsky.social · 23h

A common talking point in far right publications in the 1970s had to do with a bunch of Cold War executive orders laying out a range of “emergency powers” a POTUS could temporarily take on in a crisis. They used to say this was the blueprint for communist takeover. Turns out they were just jealous.

Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 1d

Trump's tweet that Portland is "war ravaged" just backfired. A Trump-picked judge cited it in blocking National Guard deployment to Portland, declaring him "untethered from facts."

On the pod, Oregon AG Dan Rayfield illuminatingly explains the ruling and what's next:
newrepublic.com/article/2014...

Trump’s Own Tweet on Portland Backfires as Judge Deals Him Harsh Loss

As a judge’s blunt ruling blocks Trump from deploying troops in Portland, Oregon’s Attorney General tells us in an interview that Trump’s lawless threats are working against him—and discusses what com...

newrepublic.com

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isaac @sevier.io · 23h

I know this is the least of problems but it's a hell of a week to hope dozens of people can get across the country to be together.

More Perfect Union @moreperfectunion.bsky.social · 23h

Twelve Federal Aviation Administration facilities saw staffing shortages Monday night.

Burbank, Phoenix and Denver had the worst staffing problems.

Newark, Jacksonville, Chicago, DC, and Indianapolis and other locations were also short staffed due to the government shutdown.

Government shutdown hits air travel, closing a control tower and causing delays across the country | CNN

The impact of the government shutdown hit travelers across the United States Monday, as air traffic controllers called out sick, closing a control tower and leading to delays at major airports.

www.cnn.com

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Dan Greene @dmgreene.bsky.social · 23h

Mark Poster had a line, 20 or 30 years ago, that the Internet was less of a tool like a hammer and more of a territory like Germany and that still seems to be the basic dividing line in how we think about politics on the computer: hammer or Germany.

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ryan cooper @ryanlcooper.com · 23h

"As we can see all around us today—from crypto scams, to fake or counterfeit goods being sold online, to abusive microtransaction-laden mobile games, to gambling apps—cheating and lying require much, much less toil than building a quality product or service." prospect.org/economy/2025...

The Socialist Case for Antitrust

Markets need regulating. Always have, always will.

prospect.org

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isaac @sevier.io · 23h

Sorry to hear this Jason.

Reposted by isaac

Jason Dinh @byjasonpdinh.bsky.social · 23h

I’ll leave it with this: There has never been a more urgent time to stand with journalists, especially journalists of color, and especially those who cover science and the environment.

Freedom of the press is under attack. Journalist Mario Guevara was just deported to El Salvador for his work.

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Emissary Of Night | ليلى @diplomatofnight.com · 1d

Traditional news media coverage has been near uniformly pro Israel, Democratic establishment uniformly pro Israel, Republican establishment uniformly pro Israel, and yet the public keeps growing more and more skeptical of this position.

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isaac @sevier.io · 1d

Makes me optimistic in the middle of all of this

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isaac @sevier.io · 1d

Works every time

trick van treat @derek.bike · 1d

lots of people know Łink from what he did to promote alt text usage here. this tip about pretending you’re describing an image over the phone has been burned in my brain since i saw it

bluesky post from
@knilirabaj.bsky.social that says

It's pretty cool you're using that alt text accessibility feature. It's not cool that you're not really describing the image though. Nice and simple is a good start. Descriptive and accurate is the way to go. You'll get the hang of it. Try pretending you're describing the picture over the phone.

July 1, 2023 at 10:33 PM Everybody can reply

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