Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

wiley sharp @wiley.pink · 2h

names, then, names are what remain when words cannot suffice

www.theguardian.com/world/ng-int...

Young lives cut short on an unimaginable scale: the 18,457 children on Gaza’s list of war dead

Every name on a list compiled by health authorities in Gaza of the child victims of Israel’s offensive

www.theguardian.com

1

Reposted by wiley sharp

wiley sharp @wiley.pink · 5d

the final 2 pieces of the Queering Feminist Geography Collective's report on queer & trans inclusion have been published! thx to all the brilliant members of the collective for persisting through a long and difficult writing & pub process :)

links to all 4 pieces here: wiley.pink/publications...

1 1

wiley sharp @wiley.pink · 5d

the final 2 pieces of the Queering Feminist Geography Collective's report on queer & trans inclusion have been published! thx to all the brilliant members of the collective for persisting through a long and difficult writing & pub process :)

links to all 4 pieces here: wiley.pink/publications...

1 1

Reposted by wiley sharp

AAUP @aaup.org · 8d

BREAKING: WE WON!!!
💥 💥 💥

Federal Judge William G. Young ruled today in our lawsuit against the Trump administration that the policy of arresting, detaining, & deporting noncitizen students & faculty members for their pro-Palestinian advocacy violates the 1st Amendment.

Full ruling here:

Findings of Fact & Conclusions of Law – #261 in American Association of University Professors v. Rubio (D. Mass., 1:25-cv-10685) – CourtListener.com

Judge William G. Young: ORDER entered. FINDINGS OF FACT AND RULINGS OF LAW, PURSUANT TO FED. R. CIV. P. 52(A)(Sonnenberg, Elizabeth) (Additional attachment(s) added on 9/30/2025: # 1 Main Document) (J...

www.courtlistener.com

19 760 2.6K

wiley sharp @wiley.pink · 8d

somehow bechdel has become almost as scary as orwell to the evangelical right lmao

Dan of the Year @downwithdan.bsky.social · 8d

THE ANTIFA LORAX

TOP 10 BOOKS RADICALIZING
THE LEFT
and why they are creating political violence against Patriots
2
LORAX
3
CHUCK PALAHNIUK FIGHT CLUB
1984
GEORGE ORWELL
1984
REASONS:
- Anti-Patriot
- Anti-Authority
- Anti-Conservative
- Pro-Violence
- Pro-Antifa
6
IT CAN'T HAPPEN
HERE
SINCLAIR LEWIS
IT CAN'T HAPPEN HERE REASONS:
- Anti-Patriot
- Anti-Authority
- Pro-Antifa
- Anti-United States
- Pro-Left wing terrorism
WE ARE STARTED
-LIBERTY•
Dr. Seuss
THE LORAX REASONS:
- Pro-Antifa
- Anti-Authority
- Pro-Violence
- Pro-Environment
FIGHT CLUB
REASONS:
- Anti-Masculinity
- Anti-Authority
- Anti-Christian
- Anti-Consumerism
- Pro-Left wing terrorism
7/8
HOWARD ZINN
PEOPLE'S HISTORY
OF THE
UNITED STATES
A PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES REASONS:
- Pro-Radicalism
- Pro-Communism
- Pro-Violence
- Anti-Authority
- Pro-Antifa
9
5
MARGARET
ATWOOD
THE
HANDMAID'S
TALE
A HANDMAID'S TALE REASONS:
- Pro-Feminism
- Anti-Christian
- Anti-Fertility
- Pro-Left wing terrorism
- Pro-Antifa
- Pro-Violence
- Anti-Conservative
10
dalton trumbo
FUN HOME
ALISON BECHDEL
REASONS:
- Pro-LGBT
- Anti-Science
- Anti-Christianity
- Atheistic
- Gender Propaganda
GENDER QUEER
GENDER QUEER REASONS:
- Pornography
- Sexualizing Children
- Pro-LGBT
- Anti-Christianity
- Gender Propaganda
- Pro-Child Confusion
ata
american family association
THE GRAPES OF WEATH
THE GRAPES OF WRATH REASONS:
- Pro-Communism
- Anti-Patriot
- Anti-Authority
- Pro-Violence
- Pro-Antifa
- Anti-United States
- Anti-Christianity
renspect
Johnny got his gun
JOHNNY GOT HIS GUN
REASONS:
- Anti-United States
- Anti-Patriot
- Pro-Communism
- Anti-War
- Anti-Wealth
- Anti-Authority
- Pro-Violence
* CITIZENS
DEFENDING

2

Reposted by wiley sharp

Julia Carrie Wong @joolia.bsky.social · 11d

The rebranding of reactionary gender and biological essentialism as “heterodox and challenging ideas to which liberal students must be exposed” is one of the greatest achievements of our stupid era. Congratulations to the reactionary centrists who helped make it happen - you dupes, you utter dolts.

Jonathan Cohn @jonathancohn.bsky.social · 11d

“I’m emotionally shellshocked right now,” said one professor in the Texas Tech system. “What does it say about academic freedom? It says we don’t have it.”

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/26/u...

Texas Tech Moves to Limit Academic Discussion to 2 Genders

www.nytimes.com

49 820 3.4K

Reposted by wiley sharp

Sophie Lewis @reproutopia.bsky.social · 12d

Love is contraband in Hell,
cause love is an acid
that eats away bars.

But you, me, and tomorrow
hold hands and make vows
that struggle will multiply.

Rest in power Assata

7 28

Reposted by wiley sharp

Dr. Johnathan Flowers, Blade Wielding Bisexual (Lordean arc) @shengokai.blacksky.app · 15d

I would add to this that this small group of analytic philosophers continues to enjoy the protection of the field due to how they have leveraged their institutional and academic connections to cast any criticism, any attempt at holding them to account, as a violation of their academic freedom.

Nate O @nateo.bsky.social · 15d

There has never been a reckoning over a small group of analytic philosophers constantly publishing slop dressed up in neutral-sounding academese to push their right-wing political projects. They circumvent peer review, ride off of the prestige of their job titles, and act way outside their AOE

alyson “october” greaves @badambulist.bsky.social · 15d

I love the field of academic philosophy, it sure is producing some top-notch—

[putting a finger to my earpiece]

Oh dear.

2 19 77

wiley sharp @wiley.pink · 19d

anyway, for more on why philosophy is the primary academic field legitimizing the anti-trans backlash in the anglosphere, check out the great zine by the folks at @being.transinphilosophy.org

bsky.app/profile/bein...

1 4

wiley sharp @wiley.pink · 19d

that is to say: when one changes sex, they do, in fact, change sex—in all the ways relevant for the ordinary function of a "natural" category, and also in all the ways relevant for youth sports! it is not some superficial similarity, but a systematic transformation of the human body

2 3

wiley sharp @wiley.pink · 19d

these are not "natural" (i.e. unified) categories! the only way to hold that these groups are homogenous is to a priori deny the capacity to change sex. the authors' persistent misrepresentation of sex transition to semantic "identification" muddies the waters for this antiquated essentialism

1 5

wiley sharp @wiley.pink · 19d

even worse, the argument seems to fail on its own merits! the authors argue that the most natural categories should be used to divide sports, and then propose the following categories: (1) cis boys and trans girls, and (2) cis girls and trans boys

1 4

wiley sharp @wiley.pink · 19d

the examples used in this brief really drive this point home. the last example metaphorically compares trans girls to fool's gold—essentially different despite "superficial visual similarities"—and casts advocacy for trans inclusion as inherently deceitful

1 4

wiley sharp @wiley.pink · 19d

it's hard to understate how ludicrous this breach of professional ethics is. philosophers have no business using their authority to represent scholarly consensus on a subject they have not studied

1 3 9

wiley sharp @wiley.pink · 19d

for some reason analytic philosophers still think it's acceptable to opine about gender while ignoring the last 75 years of research in the philosophy of gender

Peli Grietzer @peligrietzer.bsky.social · 19d

This is virulently anti-trans: not simply arguing that there's a reasonably natural concept of transition-independent biological sex (fine) but also that there is no reasonably natural biological or social concept whose extensions is trans and cis women dailynous.com/2025/09/19/p...

Philosophers File Amicus Brief in Supreme Court Cases on Transgender Athletes - Daily Nous

A group of 24 philosophers has submitted an amicus curiae brief for two US Supreme Court cases concerning laws about the participation of transgender athletes in sports. The two cases are Bradley Litt...

dailynous.com

1 11 20

Reposted by wiley sharp

Erin Fogg says Free Link @criminalerin.bsky.social · 19d

And that's another genociding colonizing failson of England fallen

13 53 200

Reposted by wiley sharp

Dr. Nick Posegay @nposegay.bsky.social · 21d

I'm sorry, worldwide, irrevocable, non-exclusive, transferable permission to my voice and likeness? For what now? In any manner for any purpose???

This is in academia/.edu's new ToS, which you're prompted to agree to on login. Anyway I'll be jumping ship. You can find my stuff at hcommons.org.

By creating an Account with Academia.edu, you grant us a worldwide, irrevocable, non-exclusive, transferable license, permission, and consent for Academia.edu to use your Member Content and your personal information (including, but not limited to, your name, voice, signature, photograph, likeness, city, institutional affiliations, citations, mentions, publications, and areas of interest) in any manner, including for the purpose of advertising, selling, or soliciting the use or purchase of Academia.edu's Services.

59 870 1.7K

wiley sharp @wiley.pink · 21d

i tried to ship something from canada... had to download an app and submit 2 online forms to confirm that the package was in fact a gift and exempt from duties. the whole thing made me want to scream. im sure the company behind the app is profiting nicely from this extortion though :/

Vicky ACAB @vickyacab.bsky.social · 21d

It is basically impossible to ship packages into the US right now, which is very cool and normal and not at all an economic and social disaster of unhinged proportions

A quote and screenshot from an article on Market Watch with the following text highlighted: the Universal Postal Union — a U.N. agency that tries to facilitate cooperation among the world’s postal carriers — said that postal traffic to the U.S. from its 192 member nations dropped by 81% on Aug. 29 when compared with Aug. 22, as postal operators struggled to adapt to new collection rules.

3

Reposted by wiley sharp

Manan Ahmed @sepoy.bsky.social · 25d

Judith Butler: "It is important to refuse the notion that this is just how things are right now, invoking a feckless realpolitik that justifies complicity with a brutal and rising authoritarianism."

Opinion | When Universities Become Informants

A practice from the McCarthy era makes an ugly return.

www.chronicle.com

180 520

Reposted by wiley sharp

Julia Carrie Wong @joolia.bsky.social · 26d

“Did you consider not complying with this request?”

Judith Butler spoke to @samtlevin.bsky.social about being reported to the feds by UC Berkeley for supposed antisemitism

UC Berkeley shares 160 names with Trump administration in ‘McCarthy era’ move

Prominent professor Judith Butler among students and faculty investigated for ‘alleged antisemitic incidents’

www.theguardian.com

21 260 700

Reposted by wiley sharp

Peter Sagal @petersagal.bsky.social · 29d

If you click through to the video, you’ll hear a young woman repeatedly telling a college professor that President Trump has declared that what the Professor had been teaching is illegal and she’ll be meeting with the head of the university about it.

It’s chilling and scary.

100 490 3K

Reposted by wiley sharp

Julia Carrie Wong @joolia.bsky.social · Sep 8

“What shocked me, when I was kidnapped [by US immigration], was just how reminiscent that was to cases I witnessed in Syria. You would have plainclothed officers without any warrant come and take you just because of your political speech.”

@oliverlaughland.bsky.social interviews Mahmoud Khalil

Mahmoud Khalil on exile, liberation and Ice detention: ‘It was a clear act of cruelty’

His grandparents survived the Nakba and he fled Assad’s Syria. Khalil is no stranger to political persecution, but not even Trump’s crackdown can silence him

www.theguardian.com

2 160 340

Reposted by wiley sharp

Shannon Mattern @shannonmattern.bsky.social · Sep 8

"The academic career is framed as a privileged but high-risk venture that ppl knowingly choose to embark on so they must endure the consequences or find a way to cope, thus obscuring deliberate adoption of biz models that [deprioritize] investment in staff + render large sections of the workforce 🗑️"

‘You just have to learn to play the game’: survival, resentment and resignation in women academics’ narratives of precarity

This paper discusses precarious academic labour and its implications for gender and interrelated inequalities, drawing on narrative interviews with temporarily employed UK women academics. It ident...

www.tandfonline.com

6 78 190

Reposted by wiley sharp

Prisonculture @prisonculture.bsky.social · Aug 22

Ann Friedman's newsletter reminded me of this Graeber essay that I've read many times. If you haven't encountered it, it's worth reading: davidgraeber.org/articles/a-p...

A practical utopians guide to the coming collapse

What is a revolution? We used to think we knew. Revolutions were seizures of power by pop- ular forces aiming to transform the very nature of the political, social, and economic system in the country ...

davidgraeber.org

7 58 150

Reposted by wiley sharp

Jessica Ellis @baddestmamajama.bsky.social · Aug 20

Oh hey it turns out another thing Covid cautious people have been saying nonstop for several years is true: lockdowns did not cause “immunity debt,” and Covid infections DO cause immune disruptions that make you more vulnerable to other illnesses.

Michael Olesen @molesen.bsky.social · Aug 20

As I and others have been saying for some time now. Please read this. It might make you be more cautious.

www.bmj.com/content/390/...

Why scientists are rethinking the immune effects of SARS-CoV-2

“Immunity debt,” a theory to explain the global surge in non-covid infections since pandemic restrictions were lifted, is increasingly being challenged by emerging evidence. Nick Tsergas reports Myco...

www.bmj.com

10 290 670