Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Holly Allen

Derek Powazek @fraying.bsky.social · 1d

You can’t hate fascists and use AI slop generators. They’re the same thing: total destruction of truth at scale.

Reposted by Holly Allen

Jeffrey Tumlin 🏳️‍🌈 🌁 @jeffreytumlin.bsky.social · 14h

Canada for the PR win, offering SFans "vintage red-and-white planes... lovingly maintained since the 1960s" doing acrobatics to replace Blue Angels grounded by GOP. "Of all the places where the team has flown," team captain Brent Handy said, San Francisco is "absolutely in the top three.”

San Francisco Chronicle @sfchronicle.com · 15h

Video taken from Canadian Snowbirds planes shows dramatic views as the pilots loop over San Francisco Bay.

Pilots share stunning bird’s-eye video of S.F. during Fleet Week air show

Video taken from Canadian Snowbirds planes shows dramatic views as the pilots loop over San Francisco Bay.

bit.ly

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Holly Allen @hollyallen.bsky.social · 1d

Defund the billionaires. www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/m...

Marc Benioff says Trump should send National Guard to San Francisco

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said that President Trump should deploy the National Guard to San Francisco to combat crime: “We don’t have enough cops, so if they can be cops, I’m all for it.”

www.sfchronicle.com

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Reposted by Holly Allen

Governor JB Pritzker @govpritzker.illinois.gov · 4d

I will not back down.

Trump is now calling for the arrest of elected representatives checking his power.

What else is left on the path to full-blown authoritarianism?

Donald Trump Truth Social Post: Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect Ice Officers! Governor Pritzker also.

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Indivisible ❌👑 @indivisible.org · 4d

“Never before have we issued a joint public warning like this. But the profound, immediate and unprecedented threat that Kennedy’s policies and positions pose to the nation’s health cannot be ignored.”

Opinion | Six surgeons general: It’s our duty to warn the nation about RFK Jr.

We took an oath to declare dangers when we found them. We’re doing that again today.

wapo.st

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John Pfaff @johnpfaff.bsky.social · 4d

Um, ICE just coldly shot an unarmed PRIEST in the head w a pepper ball when he (and everyone around him) clearly posed no threat.

For the crime of … complaining about government policy.

Core 1A speech.

With cameras rolling, they’re sniping priests for sport.

Kurt @flglchicago.bsky.social · 4d

Here’s video of the incident

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Let the Right Hon In @danhon.com · 4d

Needless to say I think this is brilliant.

theoatmeal.com/comics/ai_art

A cartoonist's review of AI art - The Oatmeal

This is a comic about AI art.

theoatmeal.com

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Reposted by Holly Allen

AG Rob Bonta @agrobbonta.oag.ca.gov · 6d

Breaking: we’ve secured a court order BLOCKING Trump’s unlawful deployment of the California National Guard in Portland.

This fight isn’t over, but today’s rebuke of the President’s illegal actions is a step in the right direction.

The National Guard is not President Trump’s personal police force.

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Reposted by Holly Allen

Joe Stieb @joestieb.bsky.social · 6d

Every retired general and admiral needs to be screaming their heads off about this

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 6d

Trump to the Navy: "We have to take care of this little gnat that's on our shoulder called the Democrats."

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Timothy McBride @mcbridetd.bsky.social · 6d

Judge's $1.5M beachfront home is burned to the ground as her senator husband is rushed to hospital
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...

Top judge's $1.5M beachfront home is burned to the ground

South Carolina Judge Diane Goodstein's home became engulfed in flames, causing three to be rushed to hospital. Police have launched an investigation.

www.dailymail.co.uk

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Reposted by Holly Allen

Colin Peters (Scary Pumpkin) @colinpeters.bsky.social · 7d

Particularly poignant is the realization that, first, this—convincing people they need something that does all these simple little bits of thinking and feeling for them—is being done deliberately to sell a product, and second, that lots of people are getting sucked in by this pitch.

MiMi Aye @meemalee.bsky.social · 8d

Author and filmmaker Justine Bateman on generative AI

"They're trying to convince people they can't do the things they've been doing easily for years - to write emails, to write a presentation. Your daughter wants you to make up a bedtime story about puppies - to write that for you." We will get to the point, she says with a grim laugh, "that you will essentially become just a skin bag of organs and bones, nothing else. You won't know anything and you will be told repeatedly that you can't do it, which is the opposite of what life has to offer. Capitulating all kinds of decisions like where to go on vacation, what to wear today, who to date, what to eat.
People are already doing this. You won't have to process grief, because you'll have uploaded photos and voice messages from your mother who just died, and then she can talk to you via AI video call every day. One of the ways it's going to destroy humans, long before there's a nuclear disaster, is going to be the emotional hollowing-out of people." - author and filmmaker Justine Bateman from a piece by Emine Saner for the Guardian

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Reposted by Holly Allen

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 10d

“.. no modern American president has positioned his family to make so much money while in the White House. Already, since the early days of his reelection campaign, he’s more than doubled his net worth to about $5.4 billion.”

@bloomberg.com
www.bloomberg.com/features/202...

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Clara Jeffery @clarajeffery.bsky.social · 8d

This by @katmabu.bsky.social is the best speech I've heard yet by any politician about what ICE/Trump/Noem is doing and it's not close.

Tim Onion @bencollins.bsky.social · 8d

I am just so fucking proud of her.

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Reposted by Holly Allen

Walter Olson @walterolson.bsky.social · 10d

“ABC7 spoke to Pertissue Fisher, a woman who lives in the building. She said ICE agents took everyone in the building, including her, and asked questions later….’They was bringing the kids down, too, had them zip tied to each other.’”

It can’t happen here, you say. But it is happening.

ICE agents raid South Shore apartments; Trump says Chicago could become military training ground

ICE agents raided a South Shore apartment building overnight as the city braces for a possible military deployment.

abc7chicago.com

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Holly Allen @hollyallen.bsky.social · 10d

“I wish there were a secret playbook with all the answers — but there never has been. The only thing that has ever worked — time and time again — is solidarity: binding together, finding bravery in numbers too big to ignore, and standing up for one another." www.npr.org/2025/10/01/n...

Hundreds of celebrities relaunch a McCarthy-era committee to defend free speech

The Committee for the First Amendment first launched in the 1940s, when the House Un-American Activities Committee accused Hollywood actors, directors and writers of being communists or sympathizers.

www.npr.org

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Reposted by Holly Allen

America's Voice @americasvoice.bsky.social · 12d

Groceries costing more? It’s not just inflation.

"You can blame the admin's chaotic and destructive policies for the pain in your wallet," writes @tusk81.bsky.social

These mass deportation raids are gutting the farmworker workforce, leaving crops unharvested, and prices soaring.

Your Wallet Is Taking A Hit This Year. Blame Mass Deportation

The rapid growth in daily expenses for working Americans has been fueled in part by the administration’s cruel and chaotic mass detention and deportation agenda.

americasvoicecnn.substack.com

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Reposted by Holly Allen

Julian Sanchez @normative.bsky.social · 11d

"We're going to pass another statute that say he has to follow all the statutes he's already disregarding. And if he ignores that one, we'll pass a SECOND statute ordering him to obey the FIRST one. And if that fails, we have a THIRD bill..."

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Reposted by Holly Allen

Julian Sanchez @normative.bsky.social · 11d

It's not clear to me what such concessions would be worth. If Trump has no qualms about disregarding federal law (and he clearly doesn't), what's the value of getting him to say he'll do what he's already required to?

Lawfare @lawfaremedia.org · 11d

"The one tool [Democrats] do have is refusing their consent to keep the government open and funded unless they get some basic concessions not merely on Medicaid but also on executive branch compliance with federal statutes,” writes @benjaminwittes.lawfaremedia.org in The Situation.

The Situation: What a Shutdown Has to Accomplish

It’s not just about Medicaid funding.

www.lawfaremedia.org

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Reposted by Holly Allen

Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.bsky.social · 11d

Pfizer "secured a three-year grace period from President Donald Trump’s promised tariffs on pharmaceuticals" and in return will "sell some drugs at a 50% average discount on a direct-to-consumer website called TrumpRx"

looks like state capitalism to me

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Pfizer Gets Three-Year Reprieve From Trump Pharma Tariffs

Pfizer Inc. Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla said the company secured a three-year grace period from President Donald Trump’s promised tariffs on pharmaceuticals in a deal that would lower some o...

www.bloomberg.com

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Reposted by Holly Allen

Maia @maiamindel.bsky.social · 12d

The "liberals have to learn how to live with people we diagree with" line kinda stops making sense in a world where the central disagreement is whether disagreeing with them should be allowed at all

Michael Clemens @mclem.org · 12d

“We are under invasion from within, no different than a foreign enemy, but worse—they don’t wear a uniform.”

This is the President of the United States, who ordered the entire leadership of our military to sit and listen to him, speaking a few minutes ago.

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Reposted by Holly Allen

Michael Clemens @mclem.org · 12d

The US Administration’s all-out war on our university system is intensifying.

The cost in terms of lost research, lost innovation, lost global competitiveness — is beyond comprehension.

This sneering, reckless vandalism will harm all Americans, Conservative and Liberal.

Timothy McBride @mcbridetd.bsky.social · 12d

HHS Moves to Block Harvard From Future Research Grants www.nytimes.com/2025/09/29/u...

Health Department Moves to Block Harvard From Future Research Grants

www.nytimes.com

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Holly Allen @hollyallen.bsky.social · 12d

Congressional Democrats: Shut down the government. Don’t negotiate with Trump, just wield every ounce of power you have and shut him down by any means necessary. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Trump talks with Democrats fail to yield breakthrough as US shutdown nears

Democrats strike optimistic tone after high-stakes meeting but Republicans accuse rivals of ‘hostage-taking’

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Holly Allen

Tim Onion @bencollins.bsky.social · 12d

This is it.

Coach Finstock @coachfinstock.bsky.social · 12d

If you're wondering why they don't go to court with their high paid lawyers for an easy win, it's because this allows Google to bribe Trump.

All the big players are way over their skis on AI investment and are sure they will need a bailout at some point. It's 2009 but for tech instead of housing

Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 12d

Today’s capitulation. www.wsj.com/us-news/law/...

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Molly Jong-Fast @mollyjongfast.bsky.social · 12d

Appeasing Trump doesn’t work

Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 12d

Back to back “free speech” headlines this afternoon.

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Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 12d

@jessicavalenti.bsky.social is very right that Ezra Klein is very wrong, both morally and strategically, with this argument that throwing half the population under the bus (the half that already leans more Democratic).

Ezra Klein is Wrong About Abortion

Abortion *is* a big tent issue

jessica.substack.com

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