Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Jessica Silbey @jessicasilbey.bsky.social · Aug 19

Mayor Michelle Wu speaking truth to power. A fabulous example.

Office of Mayor Michelle Wu 吳弭 @mayorwu.boston.gov · Aug 19

Last week, Boston received a letter from AG Bondi threatening to prosecute officials and withhold funds unless we cooperate with carrying out mass deportations.

The US Attorney General asked for a response by today, so here it is: stop attacking our cities to hide your administration’s failures.

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Office of Mayor Michelle Wu 吳弭 @mayorwu.boston.gov · Aug 19

Last week, Boston received a letter from AG Bondi threatening to prosecute officials and withhold funds unless we cooperate with carrying out mass deportations.

The US Attorney General asked for a response by today, so here it is: stop attacking our cities to hide your administration’s failures.

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Leah Stokes @leahstokes.bsky.social · Dec 5

The United States is now producing enough domestic solar to cover nearly all annual deployment. That's what policy can do, folks! And a majority of these jobs are in Republican districts.

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Emory Law Journal @emorylawjournal.bsky.social · Jul 20

It features pieces from @orlylobel.bsky.social, @ariezra.bsky.social, Aleksander Goranin, @matthewsag.bsky.social, Peter K. Yu, @jessicasilbey.bsky.social, @nicholson.bsky.social, and @saragerke.bsky.social!

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Boston University School of Law @bulaw.bsky.social · Jul 15

A sweet moment gone viral or an invasion of privacy #BULawProf @jessicasilbey.bsky.social & @hartzog.bsky.social join @comatbu.bsky.social Prof. Kathryn Coduto to discuss a public marriage proposal shared online and the privacy questions it raises in the social media age. www.bu.edu/articles/202...

A Viral Marriage Proposal Raises Privacy Questions in the Social Media Age

BU professors from COM and LAW on the debate sparked by a bystander-captured video of a private moment along the Charles River

www.bu.edu

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Boston University School of Law @bulaw.bsky.social · Jun 30

"What I see in this decision is the court’s attempt to buy time, through procedural mechanisms, to avoid deciding a question that it would rather see decided by the political process," says @jessicasilbey.bsky.social.

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Boston University School of Law @bulaw.bsky.social · Jun 30

#BULawProf @jessicasilbey.bsky.social, @robertltsai.bsky.social, and @jedshug.bsky.social discuss SCOTUS' ruling limiting nationwide injunctions and its deferred decision on the constitutionality of the effort to end birthright citizenship.

Read more ➡️ www.bu.edu/articles/202...

BU Legal Scholars Assess Supreme Court Ruling Limiting Nationwide Injunctions

Justices defer decision on the constitutionality of effort to end birthright citizenship

www.bu.edu

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Mark McKenna @markpmckenna.bsky.social · Apr 23

@jessicasilbey.bsky.social and I have a new paper that draws on our empirical research into designers and focuses on how designers conceive of and solve design problems. Feedback welcome.

Design Problems

This Essay draws on our empirical research into designers and their work to investigate the limits of intellectual property law for achieving its goal of progre

papers.ssrn.com

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Jessica Silbey @jessicasilbey.bsky.social · Feb 19

I'm wondering if pilots and flight attendants are considering a national day(s) of walk out in protest of the FAA layoffs?

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Jessica Silbey @jessicasilbey.bsky.social · Feb 14

If no lawyer within earshot of the President is willing to give him that advice, then I expect you will eventually find someone who is enough of a fool, or enough of a coward, to file your motion. But it was never going to be me."

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Jessica Silbey @jessicasilbey.bsky.social · Feb 14

"But any assistant U.S. attorney would know that our laws and traditions do not allow using the prosecutorial power to influence other citizens, much less elected officials, in this way.

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Jessica Silbey @jessicasilbey.bsky.social · Feb 14

s3.documentcloud.org/documents/25...

AUSA resignation letter.

s3.documentcloud.org

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Rebecca Ingber @becingber.bsky.social · Feb 9

Let’s not pretend this is some complex legal question only special elites like JD Vance can understand. Everyone can see what Trump and Musk are claiming power to do — raze the federal bureaucracy to the ground in contravention of the congressional statutes that build, regulate, and protect it.

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Jessica Silbey @jessicasilbey.bsky.social · Jan 18

www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle-co...

Séamas O'Reilly: The world is an objectively worse place because of tech-bro oligarchs

As Zuckerberg pontificates about masculinity and traditional values, he does so in soundbites as lifeless as his former paeans to gender and racial equality

www.irishexaminer.com

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Jessica Silbey @jessicasilbey.bsky.social · Jan 17

We have a 28th amendment? www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-roo...

Statement from President Joe Biden on the Equal Rights Amendment | The White House

I have supported the Equal Rights Amendment for more than 50 years, and I have long been clear that no one should be discriminated against based on their

www.whitehouse.gov

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Jessica Silbey @jessicasilbey.bsky.social · Jan 16

www.youtube.com/live/gMwqdDz...

This made me cry.

YouTube

Share your videos with friends, family, and the world

www.youtube.com

Jessica Silbey @jessicasilbey.bsky.social · Jan 16

www.nytimes.com/2025/01/15/o...

Opinion | Are We Sleepwalking Into Autocracy?

What we can learn from countries that have pushed back on threats to democracy.

www.nytimes.com

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Jessica Silbey @jessicasilbey.bsky.social · Jan 10

www.bostonglobe.com/2025/01/09/o...

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George Conway 👊🇺🇸🔥 @gtconway.bsky.social · Jan 4

“‘Not every editorial judgment is a reflection of a malign force,’ [The Post’s opinions editor David] Shipley said in [a] statement.”

(ɴᴀʀʀᴀᴛᴏʀ: ᴛʜɪꜱ ɪꜱ *ɴᴏᴛ* ᴀ ᴘᴀʀᴛɪᴄᴜʟᴀʀʟʏ ʀᴇᴀꜱꜱᴜʀɪɴɢ ᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴛᴏ ꜱᴀʏ.)

www.nytimes.com/2025/01/03/b...

Washington Post Cartoonist Quits After Jeff Bezos Cartoon Is Killed (Gift Article)

The cartoon, by Ann Telnaes, depicted the owner of The Post, Jeff Bezos, and other billionaires genuflecting toward a statue of President-elect Donald Trump.

www.nytimes.com

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Jessica Silbey @jessicasilbey.bsky.social · Jan 4

anntelnaes.substack.com/p/why-im-qui...

Why I'm quitting the Washington Post

Democracy can't function without a free press

anntelnaes.substack.com

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Prof Michael Meredith 🌊🧪🥼❄️ @oceanandice.bsky.social · Jan 4

The densest water in the world ocean forms around Antarctica, and then spreads out to flood the global abyss. We’ve seen the production of this water dwindle over the past few decades, a change that is now impacting the North Atlantic. 🌊🧪❄️

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Weakening of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation abyssal limb in the North Atlantic - Nature Geoscience

Mooring observations and hydrographic data suggest the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation abyssal limb has weakened over the past two decades in the North Atlantic, most likely due to reduced...

www.nature.com

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☠️mawls slaughter☠️ @oddletters.bsky.social · Jan 4

update: here is the AI policy i wrote for my doc seminar this term (i have already located the typo and fixed it, which tbh is like 60% of the point of posting it in public)

I have adopted the following policy on the use of generative Al systems, which is adapted from one originally written by Prof. Susannah Paletz.

There are two primary goals of this doctoral seminar. The first is to familiarize you with Science and Technology Studies as a literature, through its intellectual history and breadth of critical considerations. The second goal is to train you in the scholarly practices of reading large amounts of textual material quickly and effectively, synthesizing and discussing that material accurately and in detail, and then using the insights, methods, theories, and approaches of those texts in your own intellectual work. My expectation is that you will not use any generative artificial intelligence systems (like ChatGPT, Claude, etc) to complete your work in this class. Any use of Al-generated work to brainstorm, outline, write, edit, etc, your work will be considered an academic integrity violation. These systems are often inaccurate, are bad at summarizing complex materials, and relying on them will make your work worse and less interesting. The use of these programs does not serve your development as a thinker, writer, and scholar.

To quote Professor Andrew Perfors, "As a teacher, what I want to teach, and what I want people to practice doing, is the process of creation itself. I don't give a single goddamn flying fuck what ChatGPT thinks about the essay prompt. The purpose of having students write an essay is not to fill the world with yet more words on the topic of the essay: the point is to find out what my students think about the topic. Actually, the point is even deeper - it is to make them go through the process of figuring out for themselves what they think, and to wrestle with putting those thoughts into words so that they can clarify things to themselves and improve their ability to share those thoughts clearly. This process cannot be short-circuited by outsourcing it to Al; to do so removes the entire fucking point."
…

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Josh Kaplan @josh-kaplan.bsky.social · Jan 4

The infiltrator’s name is John Williams.

To learn what he revealed about the paramilitary movement — and how a mole managed to become a senior leader in a major American militia — read the full story here: www.propublica.org/article/ap3-...

A Mole Infiltrated the Highest Ranks of American Militias. This Is What He Found.

Outraged by the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, a wilderness survival trainer spent years undercover climbing the ranks of right-wing militias. He didn’t tell police or the FBI. He didn’t tell family or friends....

www.propublica.org

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Your Internet Friend Tom Tomorrow @tomtomorrow.bsky.social · Jan 4

This is, or should be, a big deal -- Ann Telnaes, an absolute legend, quitting WaPo due to censorship of a cartoon criticizing billionaires

anntelnaes.substack.com/p/why-im-qui...

Why I'm quitting the Washington Post

Democracy can't function without a free press

anntelnaes.substack.com

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Jessica Silbey @jessicasilbey.bsky.social · Dec 20

www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Eliot Weinberger · Incoming! They Came from Fox News

They vow to cut two trillion dollars from the federal budget – five times the combined annual salaries of all federal...

www.lrb.co.uk

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Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.bsky.social · Dec 19

Luigi Mangione fan art, merch, and photos are getting hit with bogus copyright takedown requests all over the internet. Artists and journalists affected. Very difficult to tell who is doing it, but one company says they received a request from United Healthcare: www.404media.co/copyright-ab...

Copyright Abuse Is Getting Luigi Mangione Merch Removed From the Internet

Artists, merch sellers, and journalists making and posting Luigi media have become the targets of bogus DMCA claims.

www.404media.co

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Jessica Silbey @jessicasilbey.bsky.social · Dec 11

www.rollingstone.com/music/music-...

Kathleen Hanna, Tegan and Sara, More Back Internet Archive in $621 Million Copyright Fight

Over 300 musicians signed an open letter backing the Internet Archive as it fights a copyright suit brought over its preservation of 78rpm records.

www.rollingstone.com

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Jessica Silbey @jessicasilbey.bsky.social · Nov 24

We may need to give up some of its "benefits" if we're to survive as apex species on the planet. Of course, our demise may mean we're exactly not that.