Wake Harper
LightNews LightNews
banner
wbharper.bsky.social
Wake Harper
@wbharper.bsky.social
95 followers 490 following 61 posts
From Aotearoa, living in Utah (Sihivigoi). Minor academic bureaucrat. Classical music, cricket, books.
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Wake Harper
davelevitan.bsky.social
This is what you say when your interview with Isaac Chotiner is going really, really well

www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a...
No, no, no, no, no, no.
April 22, 2025 at 7:55 PM
Reposted by Wake Harper
gwillow.me
A thing that is funny about the moral grandstanding by Repubs re: Christopher Columbus is that nobody knew or cared about him 100 years ago. His "holiday" is barely 50 years old and was pushed through by Italian-American lobby groups in response to...anti-immigrant prejudice.
February 4, 2026 at 5:23 PM
Reposted by Wake Harper
pauleric70.bsky.social
Mary Kostakidis

Long, discursive, brilliant - from a fine mind and a fine writer, on America, grappling with how it got to where it is today.
US Editor of LRB, Adam Schatz concludes ‘what I mostly feel these days, as I look at the disaster unfolding in America
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Adam Shatz · Another Country: Visions of America
America is a ‘battlefield’, Simone de Beauvoir wrote, ‘and you can only become passionate about the battle it is...
www.lrb.co.uk
February 3, 2026 at 5:32 AM
Reposted by Wake Harper
tomscocca.bsky.social
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/24/u...
February 3, 2026 at 10:37 PM
Reposted by Wake Harper
razzball.bsky.social
It's Elmo's birthday
Dr Jordan B Peterson @jordanbpeterson Go to hell you woke Virtue-signaling race-baiting Anti-science postmodern neo-Marxist Clickbait disseminating Bastards Pop Base @PopBase • 12h Today is Elmo's birthday. He turns 3½ years old every year.
February 3, 2026 at 5:58 PM
Reposted by Wake Harper
jamellebouie.net
i think this is exactly right. fascism is the Death Drive as ideology. it's why the catastrophic end of the Nazi Party does not deter people from worshipping Nazis. that the Nazis destroyed Germany along with the rest of Europe is part of the appeal.
ryanlcooper.com ryan cooper @ryanlcooper.com · 11d
disturbingly plausible
Fascism is a literally suicidal ideology, one obsessed with purging the body politic to the point of total self-negation. What’s funny about Suicide Rightism is how direct it is about all this. You don’t need some big theoretical analysis; there’s no level of abstraction to move through. It’s just pretty straightforwardly pro-suicide. I don’t think you have to be a professional psychologist to understand why dramatic, attention-grabbing suicide might be appealing to semi-employed guys who spend 14 hours a day watching Asmongold or whatever. Its promise is that all the pain and frustration you feel can be visited on the people you believe authored it--and then ended. Not to put too fine a point on this, but this is school-shooter ideology. And as the D.H.S. tweet of the penguin meme makes clear, the Suicide Right case for Trump is that he gets this. The reward for supporting him is oblivion. He and I.C.E. and the C.B.P. are the armored bulldozer giving you the chance to kill immigrants and liberal white women and male nurses before you put a gun in your mouth. His administration is the plane, just waiting for you to get inside. I guess 2024 was a Flight 93 election, after all.
January 30, 2026 at 7:54 PM
Reposted by Wake Harper
sifill.bsky.social
I get tired of saying it, but I’ll say it again: the nature of oppression in America is that they workshop it first on Black, Latino, Asian & Native people.

But it is always, in the end, coming for everyone.
sifill.bsky.social Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 11d
The arrests of journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort are a test for every MSM member with a platform. If you are not voicing your outrage at this blatant violation of the First Amendment, you are utterly discredited as a journalist.
January 30, 2026 at 4:46 PM
Reposted by Wake Harper
ndrew.bsky.social
mr president thakn you sir for the last 24 hours of trying to end air travel in this country, attempting to raid the treasury of billions of dollars to line your own pockets and smearing the man your secret police summarily executed in the streets in broad day light
January 30, 2026 at 12:05 PM
Reposted by Wake Harper
trustthetriangle.bsky.social
It's almost as if money is hoarded by the already wealthy and the lower middle to lower class uses it to.... BUY things.
qasimrashid.com Qasim Rashid, Esq. @qasimrashid.com · 12d
2022: Massachusetts enacts a 4% tax on millionaires. Critics predict catastrophe.

2026: MA sees 39%⬆️ in number of millionaires, $5B⬆️ in new revenue, & MA is bottom 10 in poverty.

Taxing the wealthy creates more wealth. Taxing working people creates more poverty: www.qasimrashid.com/p/fixing-the...
Fixing the $12 Billion Lie
How Mayor Mamdani Plans to Fix NYC's Existential Budget Crisis—And Why It Affects Every Single American Nationwide
www.qasimrashid.com
January 29, 2026 at 3:30 PM
Reposted by Wake Harper
leftistwonk.bsky.social
Absolutely incredible sequence from CNN.

"Maduro was a paranoid lunatic always lying about the CIA trying to overthrow him. Anyways, now that the CIA has overthrown him..."
It remains to be seen how the Venezuelan people will respond to a more overt CIA presence in the country post-Maduro. For years, Maduro cast the CIA as a convenient boogey man, repeatedly accusing the agency – without evidence – of attempting to topple his regime as he clung to power despite US opposition. Now, the CIA has helped supplant Maduro and is poised to help actively manage the Trump administration’s dealings with Venezuela’s new leadership.
January 28, 2026 at 12:41 PM
Reposted by Wake Harper
jamellebouie.net
it is the same playbook everywhere. “vote for us! we will make you great again by punishing the people you hate! do not pay attention to the fact that we’re also shoveling your money into the pockets of the uber wealthy and building a giant boot to step on your face too (preferably forever)”
ayoub.bsky.social elia ayoub @ayoub.bsky.social · 15d
The UK version of “Project 2025” by the Reform party includes a British ICE, a concentration camp for 24,000 people, mass surveillance and withdrawing from refugee, anti-torture and anti-trafficking conventions.

It’s on their website. That’s how comfortable fascists are in the UK today.
The Legislation Upon winning a general election, a Reform government under Prime Minister Nigel Farage will: 1) Leave the ECHR 2.) Repeal the Human Rights Act and replace it with a British Bill of Rights. 3.) Pass The Illegal Migration (Mass Deportation) Bill: This Bill will: Create a legal duty to remove illegal migrants for the Home Secretary The Bill opens with a blunt obligation for the Home Secretary: "The Secretary of State shall ensure the removal from the United Kingdom of each person who does not have extant leave to remain and is not an Irish citizen or otherwise protected by regulations made under this Act." The following parts of the legislation are introduced on an emergency basis, with an in-built sunset clause after 5 years: Disapply the 1951 Refugee Convention, the UN Convention Against Torture, the Council of Europe Anti-Trafficking Convention (ECAT) Derogation is justified under the Vienna Convention doctrine of state of necessity: Britain faces a national emergency in which uncontrolled illegal migration undermines public order. These treaties will otherwise be used by activist judges to frustrate deportations, even after the repeals of the HRA and ECHR. Create Detention Power Without Hardial Singh Constraints This means illegal migrants can be detained until they are deported. Activist lawyers routinely use Hardial Singh to secure their client's bail, after which the client absconds. If you came to the UK illegally, you are ineligible for asylum. End of story All asylum claims will become inadmissible if made by a person within the Act's scope. If you came to the country illegally, you are ineligible for asylum in the UK. This strips the Home Office, the immigration tribunals and the higher courts of jurisdiction to even consider claims. A claim that cannot be considered cannot suspend removal and therefore, cannot delay a flight. Re-entering after deportation and destroying ID becomes a serious criminal offence Re-entry after deportation will be… The Operational Plan We will create an enforcement unit called UK Deportation Command, including an Illegal Migrant Identification Centre - harnessing cutting edge data fusion A Reform government will create a cutting edge enforcement data centre to relentlessly identify and detain all illegal migrants in the UK. Using powers granted by the new legislation, it will automatically share data between the Home Office, NHS, HMRC, DVLA, banks and the police. It will power bulk warrants, including mandatory biometric capture during any police encounter. Each power addresses a failure mode observed over the past decade - for example, banks and GP surgeries unaware of a customer's status, or overstayers slipping through because a warrant covered only a single property. Secure Immigration Removal Centres (SIRC) will be built rapidly to detain up to 24,000 Detention capacity for up to 24,000 will be created within 18 months. The Home Office will build Secure Immigration Removal Centres. This will be modular accommodation built in remote parts of the country. Conditions are basic but not punitive: prefabricated two-person rooms, canteen catering, on-site medical suites. Robust perimeters and internal movement controls prevent escapes. This enables detention-on-arrest: no more bail. This capacity would allow for up to 24,000 illegal migrants to be deported per month. Initial Voluntary Return Window A six-month Assisted Voluntary Return window precedes large-scale raids. Illegal migrants will be offered a financial incentive to self-deport. An app will be launched to facilitate this. The Deportation Flights The Home Office will scale up charters to 5 flights per day. To guard against last-minute aircraft unserviceability, the RAF will keep one Voyager aircraft on six-hour 'hot-spare' readiness. If a commercial charter breaks down, detainees can still be flown out that night, preserving operational integrity. The legal reset will mean activist lawyers will no longer be able preven…
January 28, 2026 at 12:23 AM
Reposted by Wake Harper
siddharthamitter.bsky.social
One of the nine (9) U.S. Senators at the time who had the courage and insight to oppose the whole, original monstrosity.
January 27, 2026 at 8:51 PM
Reposted by Wake Harper
adamserwer.bsky.social
One thing I found deeply moving about resistance in the Twin Cities was the universalism of loving your neighbor, the philosophy driving the opposition to the ICE/BP invasion. I couldn't help but notice the contrast with the blood and soil-ism of Miller and Vance. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
Trump-administration officials and MAGA influencers have repeatedly called these activists “violent” and said they are involved in “riots.” But the resistance in Minnesota is largely characterized by a conscious, strategic absence of physical confrontation. Activists have made the decision to emphasize protection, aid, and observation. When matters escalate, it is usually the choice of the federal agents. Of the three homicides in Minneapolis this year, two were committed by federal agents. “There’s been an incredible, incredible response from the community. I’ve seen our neighbors go straight from allies to family—more than family—checking in on each other, offering food and rides for kids and all kinds of support, alerting each other if there’s ICE or any kind of danger,” Malika Dahir, a local activist of Somali descent, told me. If the Minnesota resistance has an overarching ideology, you could call it “neighborism”—a commitment to protecting the people around you, no matter who they are or where they came from. The contrast with the philosophy guiding the Trump administration couldn’t be more extreme. Vice President Vance has said that “it is totally reasonable and acceptable for American citizens to look at their next-door neighbors and say, ‘I want to live next to people who I have something in common with. I don’t want to live next to four families of strangers.’” Minnesotans are insisting that their neighbors are their neighbors whether they were born in Minneapolis or Mogadishu. That is, arguably, a deeply Christian philosophy, one apparently loathed by some of the most powerful Christians in America.
January 27, 2026 at 2:38 PM
Reposted by Wake Harper
ndrew.bsky.social
i have just gotten off a productive call with sauron where i laid out our requests

- nazgul bodycams
- morgul knife must remain sheathed unless suspect is determined to be carrying the one ring
- shelob will be the new point of contact
January 27, 2026 at 3:15 PM
Reposted by Wake Harper
drsurekhadavies.bsky.social
RT if you would sooner dig your brain out with a fork than open a ChatGPT tab.
helengrantsays.bsky.social Helen Grant @helengrantsays.bsky.social · 20d
RT if you have zero interest in knowing how to open a ChatGPT tab 🙄
danirat.bsky.social Danielle Ryan @danirat.bsky.social · 20d
RT if you don't even know how the hell to open a ChatGPT tab
January 22, 2026 at 9:47 AM
Reposted by Wake Harper
libankerdc.bsky.social
Wise words from WEB DuBois to gird us today: "It would be shame and cowardice to surrender this glorious land and its opportunities for civilization and humanity to the thugs and lynchers, the mobs and profiteers, the monopolists & gamblers who today choke its soul and steal its resources."
January 22, 2026 at 5:00 PM
Reposted by Wake Harper
drewmagary.bsky.social
“The Star Tribune could find only petty misdemeanor convictions like speeding tickets or DWI for roughly a dozen people on the list. Others have criminal histories that are decades old and have completed their sentences.” www.startribune.com/the-trump-ad...
The Trump administration calls them the ‘worst of the worst.’ Here’s what we found.
The federal government has identified only a fraction of the immigrants it has detained. Many have violent criminal records, but few were wanted by police.
www.startribune.com
January 22, 2026 at 4:21 PM
Reposted by Wake Harper
michaelhobbes.bsky.social
Why is crime falling? We asked the worst and dumbest people in America to explain it
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/22/u...
January 22, 2026 at 3:30 PM
Reposted by Wake Harper
edburmila.bsky.social
Hung a guy at Nuremburg for doing this, FYI. Not "a thing like this" but literally this, exactly.
January 21, 2026 at 9:01 PM
Reposted by Wake Harper
ositanwanevu.com
It is fully irresponsible to argue for an American return to global leadership. This country is deeply unwell and has no business leading anything until that's no longer the case. There's a whole world out there capable of tending to the world's problems. We must tend to ours.
September 23, 2025 at 3:08 PM
Reposted by Wake Harper
euthyphro.bsky.social
The Democratic Party is not fit for purpose.
January 16, 2026 at 9:14 PM
Reposted by Wake Harper
mementomorty.bsky.social
One positive thing is not having to hear Charlie Kirk's opinion on any of this
January 15, 2026 at 5:05 PM
Reposted by Wake Harper
rygraham.bsky.social
And there it is.
January 15, 2026 at 3:41 PM
Reposted by Wake Harper
dburbach.bsky.social
Non-protesting dad just trying to hustle his kids, as young as 6mo, out of the neighborhood. ICE threw a flash-bang INTO HIS car, all 6 kids in the hospital now.

If anyone wondered how things turn against occupying armies there's a case study playing out in front of you.
cjzero.bsky.social CJ Fogler @cjzero.bsky.social · 27d
That is what was relayed
January 15, 2026 at 4:27 AM
Reposted by Wake Harper
albertburneko.bsky.social
150 Miles from Minneapolis, Some Nasty Bigots in a Bar Who'll Voice the Opinions We Wanted to Publish
January 15, 2026 at 3:25 PM