Tom Vásquez
LightNews LightNews
tomvasquez.bsky.social
Tom Vásquez
@tomvasquez.bsky.social
490 followers 1.4K following 760 posts
Dad, progressive, troublemaker, grandson of Mexican immigrants, storyteller. All opinions expressed here are my own. Tigers/Mariners fan. He/him.
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Tom Vásquez
chanda.blacksky.app
A nice obituary for Alice, who was going to be recognized as one of The Post 50.

I hate that we now have to live without this phenomenal woman.

#GiftLink

wapo.st/49WOdx1
Alice Wong, disability rights advocate and wordsmith, dies at 51
Alice Wong, a transformational leader for disability rights and justice, who founded the Disability Visibility project to magnify disabled culture, died Nov. 14.
wapo.st
November 16, 2025 at 12:22 AM
Reposted by Tom Vásquez
mskellymhayes.bsky.social
Please stop using language that suggests that people with criminal records are appropriate targets for this administration's violence. One in three adults has a criminal record. Stop playing sacrifice games with fascists. Stop surrendering entire categories of people in your own mind.
November 15, 2025 at 11:09 PM
Reposted by Tom Vásquez
wolfiesmom.bsky.social
This is me at 15. I’m a child.
I’m a CHILD.
November 15, 2025 at 2:17 PM
Reposted by Tom Vásquez
drwambsgans.bsky.social
This is important context from Julie K. Brown.

With alt text.
julie k. brown @jkbjournalist Dershowitz, who helped Jeffrey Epstein get this sweetheart deal, knows full well that there were almost three dozen dozen girls, ages 13 to 17, who were named in a list that accompanied this plea deal. The final plea PAPERWORK was manipulated to pick just one victim -- and his lawyers made sure they chose the oldest one so that it didn't look so bad. But the girl who came forward first to police was 14 -- and the list of other victims attached to that deal included many young girls.
November 15, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Reposted by Tom Vásquez
measuredandslow.bsky.social
I got to “honored to be your ancestor” and started sobbing. I don’t even know what to say. It’s cliche to say that someone was a light, but Alice was, in both the sense of being a warm glow to find your way home and bright sun to burn the fuck out of the unwary. I hope we can honor her legacy.
November 15, 2025 at 6:24 AM
Reposted by Tom Vásquez
annabower.bsky.social
A real loss. Rest in power, Alice Wong.
Instagram post: This is Alice's friend Sandy Ho, posting. Per Alice's wishes, this message is being shared at the time of her passing. Hi everyone, it looks like I ran out of time. I have so many dreams that I wanted to fulfill and plans to create new stories for you. There are a few in progress that might come to fruition in a few years if things work out. I did not ever imagine I would live to this age and end up a writer, editor, activist, and more. As a kid riddled with insecurity and internalized ableism, I could not see a path forward. It was thanks to friendships and some great teachers who believed in me that I was able to fight my way out of miserable situations into a place where I finally felt comfortable in my skin. We need more stories about us and our culture. You all, we all, deserve the everything and more in such a hostile, ableist environment. Our wisdom is incisive and unflinching. I'm honored to be your ancestor and believe disabled oracles like us will light the way to the future. Don't let the bastards grind you down. I love you all.
November 15, 2025 at 6:16 AM
Reposted by Tom Vásquez
finchfrii.bsky.social
Dear Mayor-elect Katie Wilson:

I have a new and innovative idea to improve pedestrian safety.
November 14, 2025 at 5:24 AM
Reposted by Tom Vásquez
sosomanysarahs.bsky.social
Thinking today how homelessness runs through this story, through Epstein's (Virginia Guiffre had been homeless before meeting him), and even through Gaiman's (his nanny was sleeping on the beach when Palmer recruited her, and he used threats of homelessness against another victim).
jaywillis.net Jay Willis @jaywillis.net · 3d
The woman whom the House Ethics Committee determined Matt Gaetz paid for sex when she was 17 years old was living in a homeless shelter, working at McDonald's, and needed the money for braces www.nytimes.com/2025/11/13/u...
She was 17 and a high school junior in Florida. She was working at McDonald’s. And she was living in and out of a homeless shelter. Hoping to save up to buy braces to fix her teeth, she falsely advertised herself in 2017 as 18 years old on a website that matches men looking for “companionship” with young women looking to make money. What followed would set off a chain of events that would have a dramatic impact on her life and help upend the political career of one of the men she would encounter, Representative Matt Gaetz, the Florida Republican.
November 13, 2025 at 6:56 PM
Reposted by Tom Vásquez
johndavidfraley.bsky.social
Congratulations to Aaron Judge on this participation trophy for almost hitting 60 homers, almost playing a demanding defensive position and almost winning your division
November 13, 2025 at 10:08 PM
Reposted by Tom Vásquez
seattlesports710.bsky.social
A season #Mariners fans will never forget.

Thank you, Cal. 💪
November 14, 2025 at 12:54 AM
tomvasquez.bsky.social
MLB Network: Hey it's Aaron Judge! And Cal Raleigh!

And oh yeah, that other guy!

Cal deserves it, but José Ramirez doesn't deserve the disrespect.
November 14, 2025 at 12:41 AM
Reposted by Tom Vásquez
nwprogressive.org
Thursday, November 13th drop: Katie Wilson now leads Bruce Harrell by 2,018 votes.

Neither condition for a mandatory recount is satisfied anymore. There won't be a recount. Also, Harrell conceded today. He knows he's done.

#seaelex

11/13
Katie Wilson
138,673
50.20%

Bruce Harrell
136,655
49.47%
November 13, 2025 at 11:59 PM
Reposted by Tom Vásquez
brooklynmarie.bsky.social
Rough day to be any sort of survivor of sexual violence. Solidarity to all of you, please be kind to yourselves
November 13, 2025 at 3:19 AM
Reposted by Tom Vásquez
kromandavid.bsky.social
Katie Wilson has been elected Seattle's next mayor
www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...
Katie Wilson elected Seattle’s next mayor
Wilson took a 1,976-vote lead over Bruce Harrell. With a maximum of 1,320 ballots remaining, it is mathematically impossible for Harrell to catch up.
www.seattletimes.com
November 12, 2025 at 11:46 PM
tomvasquez.bsky.social
I skeeted myself today
To see if I still feel
I focus on the skeet
The only thing that's real
November 12, 2025 at 8:07 PM
Reposted by Tom Vásquez
neorsd.org
if you can’t see the aurora borealis tonight, here is a sewer tunnel which is a wonder in itself.
large 20-foot tall concrete lined sewer tunnel. in the distance three people stand with head lamps on their hard hats, looking toward the camera as they stand in ankle-deep water.
November 12, 2025 at 3:58 AM
Reposted by Tom Vásquez
lukesteuber.com
This is what bullies want you to think, and it's why they get stronger
“Standing up to Donald Trump didn’t work,” said Senator Angus King, independent of Maine who caucuses with the Democrats, said on MSNBC Monday. “It actually gave him more power.”
November 11, 2025 at 3:38 AM
Reposted by Tom Vásquez
edroso.bsky.social
In a rare case of Substack notes usefulness, I just learned that Sarah Kendzior (author of They Knew and a brilliant writer) got bounced from Bluesky. What the hell? new @sarahkendzior.bsky.social
Sarah Kendzior • 4m I've been suspended from BlueSky. I don't know why. I wasn't online much today, and the last things I posted were excerpts from my substack newsletter articles. The suspension followed without explanation. It seems there's a crackdown. If you enjoy my work and want to make sure you can access it, subscribe! It's free - I would never paywall in times of peril — and voluntary paying subscribers keep it going. It would be great to have your support at this time. Thanks!
November 11, 2025 at 4:09 AM
Reposted by Tom Vásquez
drandrewthaler.bsky.social
In the century leading up to 1975, nearly 6000 freighters went down in the Great Lakes.

The Edmund Fitzgerald was the last.

The last. In 50 years, not a single commercial freighter has been lost in the Great Lakes.

Why?

It's NOAA. Of course it's NOAA.
November 11, 2025 at 1:50 AM
Reposted by Tom Vásquez
bgrueskin.bsky.social
Kyle Kingsbury is not a journalist. He is not an op-ed writer.

He is a computer safety researcher.

And he has written one of the most compelling, comprehensive accounts of the ongoing hell in Chicago that you could possibly imagine.

In under 1600 words.

aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...
I Want You to Understand Chicago Politics Chicago 2025-11-08 I want you to understand what it is like to live in Chicago during this time. Every day my phone buzzes. It is a neighborhood group: four people were kidnapped at the corner drugstore. A friend a mile away sends a Slack message: she was at the scene when masked men assaulted and abducted two people on the street. A plumber working on my pipes is distraught, and I find out that two of his employees were kidnapped that morning. A week later it happens again. An email arrives. Agents with guns have chased a teacher into the school where she works. They did not have a warrant. They dragged her away, ignoring her and her colleagues’ pleas to show proof of her documentation. That evening I stand a few feet from the parents of Rayito de Sol and listen to them describe, with anguish, how good Ms. Diana was to their children. What it is like to have strangers with guns traumatize your kids. For a teacher to hide a three-year-old child for fear they might be killed. How their relatives will no longer leave the house. I hear the pain and fury in their voices, and I wonder who will be next. Understand what it is to pray in Chicago. On September 19th, Reverend David Black, lead pastor at First Presbyterian Church of Chicago, was praying outside the ICE detention center in Broadview when a DHS agent shot him in the head with pepper balls. Pepper balls are never supposed to be fired at the head because they can seriously injure, or even kill. “We could hear them laughing as they were shooting us from the roof,” Black recalled. He is not the only member of the clergy ICE has assaulted. Methodist pastor Hannah Kardon was violently arrested on October 17th, and Baptist pastor Michael Woolf was shot with pepper balls on November 1st. Understand what it is to sleep in Chicago. On the night of September 30th, federal agents rappelled from a Black Hawk helicopter to execute a raid on an apartment building on the South Sho…
November 9, 2025 at 8:49 PM
Reposted by Tom Vásquez
adamserwer.bsky.social
Not a political consultant but I’m not sure “standing up to trump doesn’t work” is the best midterm message, even if if accurately represents senate dems position. Not much point in putting you in power then bsky.app/profile/atru...
atrupar.com Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 6d
Sen. Angus King: "Standing up to Donald Trump didn't work"
November 10, 2025 at 2:12 PM
Reposted by Tom Vásquez
bobbylewis.bsky.social
some good news: kim davis publicly ate shit, again
mjsdc.bsky.social Mark Joseph Stern @mjsdc.bsky.social · 6d
New: The Supreme Court DENIES Kim Davis' request to overturn Obergefell, the marriage equality decision. No noted dissents. www.supremecourt.gov/orders/court...
DAVIS, KIM V. ERMOLD, DAVID, ET AL. The motion of Foundation for Moral Law for leave to file a brief as amicus curiae out of time is denied. The petition for a writ of certiorari is denied.
November 10, 2025 at 2:37 PM
Reposted by Tom Vásquez
samd.bsky.social
idk which possibility is more damning for Schumer

either

A) he helped orchestrate the fold

OR

B) he genuinely opposed the fold but was so incompetent that he was unable to stop the splinter group from folding
November 10, 2025 at 4:44 AM
Reposted by Tom Vásquez
amutepiggy.bsky.social
SINCERE POST™️: you might be very angry tonight. don't let that anger eat you. that doesn't mean "don't be angry." just don't let it turn you to despair. anger in an energy, and you can use it as fuel for actions. As the saying goes, let this radicalize you
November 10, 2025 at 5:22 AM
tomvasquez.bsky.social
With all due respect (which is none), this is a lie. You have rolled over, you engineered a surrender and then pretended your dirty hands were clean. Shame on you.
schumer.senate.gov Chuck Schumer @schumer.senate.gov · 6d
Democrats have been fighting for months to address America's healthcare crisis

For the millions who will lose coverage
For people with cancer who won't get the care they need
For working families who can't afford to pay $25K more a year for healthcare

We will keep fighting
November 10, 2025 at 5:20 AM