Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Meg Smith

@thenurturedway.bsky.social

I’ve been sitting on this one since July. Yet, we need to talk about how our inherited patterns of perception show up in spaces meant for healing—and how we can do better. This is an invitation to examine our practices with conscious curiosity rather than perfect neutrality.

The Patterns We Carry

How Bias Captured My Attention and Why I Can't Look Away

thenurturedway.substack.com

September 20, 2025 at 3:52 PM

Reposted by Meg Smith

Alt National Park Service

@altnps.bsky.social

What a weekend!
Across the U.S., over 100,000 Americans mobilized — including more than 34,000 attendees at the Bernie/AOC rally, marking the biggest political event since Obama. Protests erupted in multiple states to defend Social Security, Tesla takedown protest gained momentum, and so much more!

March 22, 2025 at 7:44 PM

Meg Smith

@thenurturedway.bsky.social

Nobody is safe with this administration. The majority of folks being detained and deported right now do not have anywhere near this level of privilege. NONE OF THIS IS OKAY. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

I’m the Canadian who was detained by Ice for two weeks. It felt like I had been kidnapped

I was stuck in a freezing cell without explanation despite eventually having lawyers and media attention. Yet, compared with others, I was lucky

www.theguardian.com

March 19, 2025 at 10:27 PM

Meg Smith

@thenurturedway.bsky.social

Unreal. 🤯 Shall we send some interesting submissions??? enddei.ed.gov #dei

Department of Education FormLock

enddei.ed.gov

March 4, 2025 at 11:42 PM

Meg Smith

@thenurturedway.bsky.social

I wrote a thing. I keep trying to write things. To offer some counterpoint to the unfolding disaster. Sharing with all of its imperfections and good intentions.

Terms of Endearment

the power of language in connection

open.substack.com

February 15, 2025 at 6:00 PM

Meg Smith

@thenurturedway.bsky.social

Currently feeding myself like a toddler because...wow, it's difficult to eat right now. #nationalcollapse

Photo depicting a slice of sourdough toast with butter, a vertically sliced mini-cucumber, two mandarin oranges, and two hardboiled eggs sprinkled with salt, arranged neatly on a soup plate that rests on a quartz countertop.

February 11, 2025 at 2:35 PM

Reposted by Meg Smith

Domino

@domdeguerre.bsky.social

A lot of trans people have been trying to warn us about this for a while, not the least of which being @margaret.bsky.social

February 10, 2025 at 6:23 PM

Reposted by Meg Smith

News Wire - World 🌎 Independent News Network Pro-Democracy

@democracyblue.bsky.social

February 8, 2025 at 1:53 PM

Reposted by Meg Smith

God

@thegodpodcast.com

Anyone else super exhausted

February 7, 2025 at 12:48 AM

Meg Smith

@thenurturedway.bsky.social

The horrors continue.

February 4, 2025

Shortly after 1:00 this morning, Vittoria Elliott, Dhruv Mehrotra, Leah Feiger, and Tim Marchman of Wired reported that, according to three of their sources, “[a] 25-year-old engineer named Marko Elez...

open.substack.com

February 5, 2025 at 2:23 PM

Reposted by Meg Smith

Alt CDC (they/them)

@altcdc.altgov.info

🤬 It may look like Trump can censor public health and science. He cannot. We use tracked changes around here ya’ll. And duplicates and archives and repositories. We got reporters on speed dial and besties at all the journals. We’re digging in.

#censorship #trollkingdom #digdeep #publichealth

a troll holding a medal that says dig deep on it

Alt: A troll with pink hair yells "dig deep" to encourage the Troll Kingdom to join forces. The troll is holding a medal that says dig deep on it.

media.tenor.com

February 4, 2025 at 6:23 PM

Meg Smith

@thenurturedway.bsky.social

The food preservation post is now live (free). A detailed pantry list is currently being drafted.

In Anticipation of the Possibility of Widespread Food Scarcity

practical tips in uncertain times

thenurturedway.substack.com

February 4, 2025 at 3:33 PM

Reposted by Meg Smith

God

@thegodpodcast.com

Enjoy these last precious moments of relative ‘normalcy’ before the tariffs on Canada and Mexico completely collapse the US economy.

February 2, 2025 at 1:25 AM

Reposted by Meg Smith

Rebecca Solnit

@rebeccasolnit.bsky.social

Hi that was a coup last night in case no one mentioned that to you. The executive branch seized the power of the purse the Constitution gave to Congress, which is a pretty authoritarian / illegal consolidation of powers move. Time to go yell at your reps, the media, etc.

Hey friends! We're seeing a lot of terrible things. We're not able to cover all of them, but we felt this latest one is a really big deal and needs much more awareness.

Our summary is this: It's an administrative coup. Trump has ordered tens of billions (maybe up to $3 trillion) of budget halted indefinitely in a blatantly illegal move. He's claiming power to halt and potentially redirect funding that's already been authorized by Congress — a classic authoritarian move.

Here's what we know. And we're doing our best to catch up with this story, because it's moving fast.

There's a memo from Matthew Vaeth, the acting head of the Office of Management and Budget. (That's the same government entity who set-up the DEI "snitch" line, that's now been spammed by tens of thousands of our fellow residents.)

In typical Trump-style, the memo gets its facts wrong. It claims in FY2024 the US government spent $10 trillion (actually it was $6.8 trillion). It says money should be used for the administration's priorities — "The use of Federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve." (Again, it's very fact deficient.)

The memo says a pause will begin at 5pm on January 28th where, "Federal agencies must temporarily pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance, and other relevant agency activities that may be implicated by the executive orders, including, but not limited to, financial assistance for foreign aid, nongovernmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology, and the green new deal."

Anyone promised federal grants might have their money at risk, even states. This is Congressional directed spending and Trump is ordering people to not do it. This funding includes universities for education and research programs, nonprofits, local and tribal governments, disaster relief aid, e…

So what can we do?

It's been a lot. And the shock approach of this administration is to overwhelm us with nonsense and a state of paralysis. We continue to believe the best thing is to stay grounded and keep yourself sane amidst insanity.

At this juncture, three actions we suggest that make sense to us:

1) Urge media to cover this story properly

This is not "possibly illegal" — it's "patently illegal." You can read notes on that here.

It's not "temporary" — it's "indefinite." There's no timetable for ending it.

It's not just a memo — it's an administrative coup.

2) Urge your Representatives to act like this is a big deal

If you know us, this isn't a knee-jerk action we suggest. We think this is a strategic because it's Congress that's being violated — their power is being directly undermined.

3) Continue to support ACLU and Democracy Forward

These groups have been preparing litigation for some time. Unless Trump revokes this, this will certainly make its way through the courts. Our read is even the biased courts will have trouble swallowing this — so it may end up being shut down.

Keep breathing. “Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again," Nelson Mandela.

Warmly,

- Choose Democracy

January 28, 2025 at 3:51 PM

Reposted by Meg Smith

Aaron Rupar

@atrupar.com

Schumer: "Last night, President Trump plunged the country into chaos ... "

January 28, 2025 at 3:42 PM

Reposted by Meg Smith

Alt National Park Service

@altnps.bsky.social

While we may face repercussions for this, the truth lies in the metadata. Memos to federal employees are being authored by individuals with ties to Project 2025. You can verify this yourself.

January 28, 2025 at 3:35 AM

Reposted by Meg Smith

Mark Joseph Stern

@mjsdc.bsky.social

Trump and his advisors are high on their own supply after getting away with so much in their first week. But they are going to regret this one. It’ll devastate red states that rely on this money for basic programs that keep people fed, clothed, alive. A huge unforced error politically and legally.

Mark Joseph Stern @mjsdc.bsky.social · Jan 28

Trump is attempting to unilaterally freeze trillions of dollars in federal spending that’s been duly appropriated by Congress. This is completely insane and illegal. He’s seizing unlawful control over the constitutional spending power? Five alarm fire www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

White House pauses all federal grants, sparking confusion

The Trump administration has put a hold on all federal financial grants and loans, affecting tens of billions of dollars in payments.

www.washingtonpost.com

January 28, 2025 at 3:50 AM

Reposted by Meg Smith

Ari Drennen

@aridrennen.bsky.social

No point mincing words: this will kill a lot of people.

January 28, 2025 at 6:49 AM

Reposted by Meg Smith

Andrea Junker

@strandjunker.com

“Terrible things are happening outside. Poor helpless people are being dragged out of their homes. Families are torn apart. Men, women, and children are separated. Children come home from school to find that their parents have disappeared.”

Diary of Anne Frank
January 13, 1943

January 24, 2025 at 8:08 PM