Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

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More Perfect Union @moreperfectunion.bsky.social · 2d

Ireland has approved plans to permanently implement a basic income program that will support up to 2,200 artists.

A cost-benefit analysis found that for every €1 invested, society receives €1.39 back.

Officials from other countries are now expressing interest in the program.

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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 3d

Data centers are receiving billions in state tax exemptions.

These centers, many owned by Big Tech giants, are driving up electric bills and sucking up huge amounts of water.

AI is boosting the stock portfolios of the richest Americans while everyone else pays the price.

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Jenessa @jcdubs.bsky.social · 10d

The point being-- artistic rejection always hurts. Even when you're a 34-year-old woman being rejected by a bunch of gen Z kids. And the work wasn't even relevant anymore because you'd been out of school for 12 years.

Jenessa @jcdubs.bsky.social · 10d

In 2011, after CalArts, I took a semester at a local university while looking for an animation job. While I was there, I submitted artwork to the university literary/art magazine.
In 2023, while at WDAS, after working in animation for 12 years, I received an email rejecting my art from the magazine.

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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 16d

Trump has signed an Executive Order officially approving the sale of TikTok to a group of U.S. companies.

That includes Oracle, owned by billionaire and Trump donor Larry Ellison, whose media company now oversees CBS News and may soon control CNN.

What could go wrong?

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Zohran Kwame Mamdani @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social · 24d

Before he was a Senator, a candidate for President, and our greatest champion in the fight against oligarchy, Bernie Sanders was the four-term Mayor of Burlington, VT.

I sat down with Bernie in Astoria to talk about the lessons he learned—and the work ahead.

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Kat Abughazaleh @katmabu.bsky.social · 24d

Trans rights are human rights.

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Brian (Stuttering Loudly) @stutteringloudly.bsky.social · Aug 27

If you claim to care about marginalized people, but don’t wear a mask in public, you don’t care ab ALL marginalized ppl

The irony is u could become immunocompromised / chronically ill at any time

You’re 1 COVID infection away from being 1 of us

Research shows that COVID damages your immune system

Brian (Stuttering Loudly) @stutteringloudly.bsky.social · Aug 23

“I stopped wearing a mask for my mental health”

COVID informed people: I wear a mask for my mental health as it’s mentally healthy to live according to my values (caring ab marginalized ppl) & COVID infection has been shown to exacerbate MH conditions, including depression, anxiety & ND conditions

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Vicki the cats' mother @catsmother.bsky.social · Aug 30

Covid is airborne: there's no evidence of fomite transmission (i.e. from surfaces). Covid hangs in the air like smoke & lingers in rooms with bad ventilation, hours after infected people have left.
Those baggy blue surgical masks are pretty useless anyway - we've been gaslit from the outset by govt.

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Zachary Berger @zacharyberger.bsky.social · Aug 13

Friends (esp if you live in CA) we REALLY need signatures on this petition supporting Bill AB412 - the AI Copyright Transparency Act.

TLDR = this will require AI corps to be transparent about what is in their datasets!

Signing takes 1 min. Once you sign, PLEASE SHARE!! tinyurl.com/4uxbp963

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Chise @sailorrooscout.bsky.social · Aug 12

GOOD NEWS! Researchers have revealed a synthetic glycosystem -a sugar-coated polymer nanoparticle- that can BLOCK SARS-CoV-2 from infecting human cells, REDUCING infection rates by NEARLY 99%. Acting as a decoy, the molecule BINDS to the spike protein, PREVENTING it from attaching to real cells.

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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · Aug 11

they are murdering the people who tell the truth.

Al Jazeera English @aljazeera.com · Aug 10

Four Al Jazeera staff, including reporter Anas Al Sharif, were killed in an Israeli attack on a tent for journalists outside the main gate of Gaza's al-Shifa hospital aje.io/onll19

Anas al-Sharif among five Al Jazeera journalists killed by Israel in Gaza

Al Jazeera staff killed in targeted Israeli attack on a tent housing journalists near al-Shifa Hospital, Gaza City.

aje.io

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Chris Shehan_Comic Art @chrisshehanart.bsky.social · Aug 2

“It’s just a tool! People used to hate on photoshop too.”

Take away my photoshop, take away my tablets, I can still draw. Take away your plagiarism machine and what are you gonna do? Shout prompts at me?

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Dr. Lucky Tran @luckytran.com · Jul 29

This is why billionaires love AI

"AI doesn't go on strike. It doesn't ask for a pay raise," he added, parroting cliched talking points, much like a certain over-hyped technology. "These things that you don't have to deal with as a CEO."

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Dr. Lucky Tran @luckytran.com · Jul 29

It should never be controversial to speak up about mass starvation. Having regular access to safe and nutritious food is a human right.

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · Jul 26

when RFK says he wants to “end chronic disease,” what people hear is “he wants to cure us” but what he means is “i want to cull the weak”

Brian Beutler @brianbeutler.bsky.social · Jul 26

Republicans are waging a generalized war on science, but I think many of them don’t fully grok that RFK isn’t at war with science alone or per se: he’s at war with sick people, and of the view that only the lucky should be allowed to survive into old age. They are know nothings, he is Mengele.

Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD @elizabethjacobs.bsky.social · Jul 25

RFK Jr. has now officially stated that he will dismantle the United States Preventive ServicesTask Force (USPSTF).

This is an independent body of expert scientists who volunteer their time to review data and provide guidance to Americans on important things like cancer screenings.

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Josh Sternberg @joshsternberg.com · Jul 22

“Since AFP was founded in 1944, we have lost journalists in conflicts, some have been injured, others taken prisoner.

But none of us remember witnessing colleagues die of hunger"

Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · Jul 21

A horrifying statement published today by the Editorial Committee of the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency.

"Without immediate intervention, the last reporters in Gaza will die"

Translation from French to English by @cnorristrent.bsky.social:

Without immediate intervention, the last reporters in Gaza will die
July 21, 2025

AFP has been working with 1 writer, 3 photographers and 6 videographers, all freelance, in the Gaza Strip since its staff journalists left in 2024.

Along with a few others, they are now the only ones left to report what is happening in the Gaza Strip. The international press has been banned from entering the territory for nearly two years.

We refuse to watch them die.

One of them, Bashar, has been working with AFP since 2010, first as a fixer, then freelance photographer, and since 2024, as lead photographer. On July 19th he managed to post a message on Facebook: “I no longer have the strength to work for the media. My body is thin and I can’t work anymore.”

Bashar, 30, works & lives in the same conditions as all Gazans, moving from one refugee camp to another under Israeli bombings. For > a year he’s lived in utter destitution, working at extreme risk to his life. Hygiene is a major issue for him, with recurring bouts of severe intestinal illness.

Since Feb, Bashar’s been living in the ruins of his home in Gaza City with his mother, 4 brothers & sisters and the family of one of his brothers. Their house is devoid of any furnishings, except a few cushions. On Sunday morning, he reported that one of his brothers had “fallen, due to hunger.”

Even though these journalists receive a monthly salary from AFP, it’s no longer enough to buy food, or they have to pay completely exorbitant prices. The banking system has collapsed, and those who exchange money via online bank accounts charge a commission of up to 40%.

AFP no longer has the ability to provide them with a vehicle and there is not enough fuel to allow these journalists to travel for their reporting. Driving a car means becoming a target for Israeli airstrikes. AFP reporters therefore travel on foot or by donkey cart. (alt txt continued in next post)

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Patton Oswalt @pattonoswalt.bsky.social · Jul 11

“Superman is too woke!”

Literally the first page of the first ever appearance of Superman:

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derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · Jul 7

This organza dress from Iris Van Herpen’s couture show yesterday is amazing

Video via Vanessa Friedman at the NYT (Twitter handle VVFriedman)

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Kelly @broadwaybabyto.bsky.social · Jul 6

Pandemics and mass disabling events have historically given rise to fascism.

Why? People are terrified of the disabled.

They don’t want to see or think about it.

Pandemics force them to consider their own mortality.

So when governments start labeling us as “expendable”, folks jump on board.

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Black Aziz Anansi @blackazizanansi.blacksky.app · Jul 6

I knew we were cooked as a society when everyone just sorta decided they were sick of dealing with Covid and everyone just decided to pretend like it wasn't a thing anymore.

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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez @aoc.bsky.social · Jul 3

I don’t think anyone is prepared for what they just did w/ ICE.

This is not a simple budget increase. It is an explosion - making ICE bigger than the FBI, US Bureau of Prisons, DEA,& others combined.

It is setting up to make what’s happening now look like child’s play. And people are disappearing.

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Dr. Lucky Tran @luckytran.com · Jul 3

They vowed to “Make America Healthy Again.”

Instead, they:

Kicked millions of people off health insurance

Closed hundreds of hospitals, nursing homes, and reproductive health clinics

Cut billions of dollars from science research

Fired government scientists and replaced them with antivaxxers

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More Perfect Union @moreperfectunion.bsky.social · Jul 3

BREAKING: The House just passed the massive budget bill.

This legislation will gut health care, food assistance, clean energy and more to fund massive tax cuts for the super-rich.

It now goes to Trump's desk.

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Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan.bsky.social · Jul 2

BREAKING: Zeteo has released, globally, the film the BBC so controversially refused to air.

"Gaza: Doctors Under Attack" is now available to watch in full at gazadoctors.film and zeteo.com.

Here's the trailer:

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