Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by C Baker

ProPublica @propublica.org · 12h

Kristi Noem, while governor of South Dakota, supplemented her roughly $130,000 salary by secretly accepting $80,000 donated to a political nonprofit she was affiliated with, records show.

She never disclosed this income on federal ethics forms.

(Published June)

Kristi Noem Secretly Took a Cut of Political Donations

A dark money group paid $80,000 to Noem’s personal company when she was governor of South Dakota. She did not include this income on her federal disclosure forms, a likely violation of ethics requirem...

www.propublica.org

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jael holzman @jael.bsky.social · 10h

SCOOP: The Bureau of Land Management says the largest solar project in Nevada — the Esmeralda 7 mega-farm — has been canceled

The news was quietly dropped via a sudden website update with no public word from any of the companies involved or a statement from the agency

@heatmap.news

Esmeralda 7 Solar Project Has Been Canceled, BLM Says

It would have delivered a gargantuan 6.2 gigawatts of power.

heatmap.news

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C Baker @ccbeta.bsky.social · 14h

Very well-written and moving; I only just got to it today (too many tabs open...).

Reposted by C Baker

derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 4d

😭

IG newberlinlibrary

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C Baker @ccbeta.bsky.social · 1d

Antiphibian 😆

SilverMoon FAFO 💙🦋💙 @silvermoonfafo.bsky.social · 2d

The Antiphibian of Portland is gearing up to be an iconic symbol of resistance

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bendwalsh.bsky.social @bendwalsh.bsky.social · 1d

He’ll never pay for a cup of single origin pour over again

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ProPublica @propublica.org · 1d

Texas AG Ken Paxton hired a former staffer to work on a recent case. As a state employee, her labor would have cost taxpayers $641.

As a private attorney, Paxton allowed her to bill $3,780 an hour, so that day of work cost taxpayers $24,570.

(Published July with @texastribune.org)

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton Is Outsourcing More of His Office’s Work to Costly Private Lawyers

Despite having an office of hundreds of attorneys, Ken Paxton is frequently opting for private lawyers — many to whom he has personal or political ties — to argue on behalf of Texas. One attorney cost...

www.propublica.org

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derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 1d

“A second inflatable frog has now been spotted wiggling through Portland.”

Marco Rubio whispers into Donald Trump's ear.

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C Baker @ccbeta.bsky.social · 1d

They probably would have gotten yelled at more for saying "San RaFELL" that far from the bay :D

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C Baker @ccbeta.bsky.social · 1d

don't forget Koenig Lane!

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C Baker @ccbeta.bsky.social · 1d

I only know the correct pronunciation on account of the 11:00pm news.

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C Baker @ccbeta.bsky.social · 1d

this was fun : )

Jessica Price @delafina777.bsky.social · 2d

Hey all, I'm trying to get a baseline for how good people are at detecting whether fiction is AI-generated or human-written (most of the research on this is for nonfiction and my hypothesis is we're better with fiction).

If you have time, give it a try?

jlp-experiment.github.io/ai-detection...

AI vs Human Fiction Detection Test

jlp-experiment.github.io

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Ghostly Bree @mostlybree.kitrocha.com · 1d

this feels like the corollary to we need Mamdani in NYC and an oyster fisherman in Maine and a midwestern dad in Minnesota.

we're supposed to be the party that embraces the fact that we're a diverse and chaotic nation, stop test-polling yourself to generic national oatmeal!!!

Constant Scream @ajaxsinger.bsky.social · 1d

It's interesting seeing the different ways resistance has formed in different cities. Los Angeles Organized, Chicago Radicalized, and Portland Got Weird as Fuck. All 3 have had success unifying their respective cities.

I guess my point is there are multiple paths to ungovernability.

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XaiaX (spooky ̆̈) @xaiax.net · 1d

If they come to San Francisco it’s gonna be 50% people dressed as Santa and 50% people being fully nude.

Constant Scream @ajaxsinger.bsky.social · 1d

It's interesting seeing the different ways resistance has formed in different cities. Los Angeles Organized, Chicago Radicalized, and Portland Got Weird as Fuck. All 3 have had success unifying their respective cities.

I guess my point is there are multiple paths to ungovernability.

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C Baker @ccbeta.bsky.social · 1d

not a stretch to imagine people just repurposing their Bay to Breakers costumes (many of which were literal bananas, at least this year)

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C Baker @ccbeta.bsky.social · 1d

same

TallFroGuy [🔜critterposting hours] @tallfroguy.bsky.social · 2d

saw people's pets

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C Baker @ccbeta.bsky.social · 2d

A concise list of all of the questions Bondi dodged today.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 2d

"This is supposed to be an oversight hearing" -- Schiff helpfully ticks through all of the incriminating questions -- and there are many of them -- that Bondi refused to answer during today's hearing

C Baker @ccbeta.bsky.social · 2d

His spiel includes what I would call "performative self-awareness" - pretending to acknowledge that he is a dweeb and a windbag without actually believing he should make any corrections.

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C Baker @ccbeta.bsky.social · 2d

"you don't want to take life advice from me"

by jove, I think he's onto something!

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The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 2d

CNN: “An older couple making $85K/year will see their yearly insurance premiums jump from $7K to $25,000 — 30% of their income.” 😳#TrumpShutdown #TrumpHealthCareTax

This is what Dems are drawing attention to and want fixed. Now, not later.

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dredecopp.bsky.social @dredecopp.bsky.social · 3d

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C Baker @ccbeta.bsky.social · 2d

I love this paragraph:

“One of the chants that has become ubiquitous at these protests at Broadview is, ‘Love your neighbor, love your God, save your soul and quit your job,’” said Black, who pastors at the First Presbyterian Church of Chicago. “Everybody chants that.”

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C Baker @ccbeta.bsky.social · 2d

if it's the Eric I'm thinking of (he of the too-prominent gums), then I would wager no, he can't

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Amy @lolennui.bsky.social · 2d

George Orwell’s Animal Crossing

Someone in a frog costume facing down a line of police in riot gear

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C Baker @ccbeta.bsky.social · 2d

love it!

Esther Schindler @estherschindler.bsky.social · 3d

I just saw someone use the abbreviation “AI;DR” and I’ll be laughing for a while.