Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Prof Matt Haggis 🐀 🍉

Denise Shrivell @deniseshrivell.bsky.social · 5h

Another not to be missed episode of #SundayShot drops tomorrow on YouTube at 9am (AEDT) right here #auspol > www.youtube.com/@TheSundayShot

5 37 76

Reposted by Prof Matt Haggis 🐀 🍉

The Mark Thompson Show @themts.bsky.social · 8h

Sarah Kendzior: The Fiction of Antifa, Plus, Answering the Epstein “Files” Question
youtu.be/WtTWKV5NqPk

Sarah Kendzior: The Fiction of Antifa, Plus, Answering the Epstein “Files” Question

YouTube video by The Mark Thompson Show

youtu.be

3 16 61

Reposted by Prof Matt Haggis 🐀 🍉

CrankyGrandma55 @crankygrandma55.bsky.social · 7h

The password for tomorrow's Antifa meeting is Nobel

5 18 96

Reposted by Prof Matt Haggis 🐀 🍉

Sarah Kendzior @sarahkendzior.bsky.social · 14h

New interview! On the fiction of antifa and how it's weaponized against innocent people: www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtTW...

Sarah Kendzior: The Fiction of Antifa, Plus, Answering the Epstein “Files” Question

YouTube video by The Mark Thompson Show

www.youtube.com

14 150 460

Reposted by Prof Matt Haggis 🐀 🍉

Nick Feik @nickfeik.bsky.social · 1d

Ludicrous. The NACC is supposed to be independent but Brereton keeps working for the ADF while overseeing potential corruption investigations about it?
The Kathryn Campbell conflict wasn't enough to demonstrate how costly and damaging this is? That mistake already cost the NACC $1.2m to rectify.

Corruption watchdog head 'consulted' for ADF inspector general 11 times

Paul Brereton and Labor politicians had previously stated he had stepped away from the body and resigned as assistant inspector-general of the ADF prior to taking on the top integrity job.

www.abc.net.au

7 77 180

Reposted by Prof Matt Haggis 🐀 🍉

benjamin @benjamino.bsky.social · 1d

Here's the thing, the whole point of 'sponsoring' these things is you don't have to directly lobby or strong-arm, the appeasement becomes tacit - see also the National Press Club quietly slurping cash from multiple weapons companies and fossil fuel climate crims

The Centre for Public Integrity’s executive director, Catherine Williams, said the club offered “an invaluable opportunity for monied interests to build relationships with members of parliament and their staff”.

“Let’s be real about it: if the access isn’t perceived to be valuable, why is it sold as a benefit of membership?” Williams said.

RWA’s chief executive Kai Cantwell said it did not use the club to lobby politicians.

“RWA’s work on regulation and harm reduction happens through the proper parliamentary and regulatory processes, not on the sporting field,” Kantwell said.

“Like other industries, we occasionally take part simply to enjoy exercise and socialising – something important for all Australians, particularly in high-pressure roles.”

5 26 85

Reposted by Prof Matt Haggis 🐀 🍉

Ebony Bennett @ebonybennett.bsky.social · 23h

This could have been Australia, but thanks to John Howard, Tony Abbott, Scott Morrison, the Minerals Council and the BCA, we wasted nearly 20 years subsidising gas and coal instead. What a waste.

Jan Rosenow @janrosenow.bsky.social · 1d

China ≠ just coal plants and solar exports. The deeper shift: electrifying everything it can. Strategic, because China relies on imported fossil fuels. Coal is still king in the power mix—for now. But the balance is changing year by year.

6 72 170

Reposted by Prof Matt Haggis 🐀 🍉

Dr Monique Ryan @mon4kooyong.bsky.social · 1d

The gambling industry is predatory and insidious.

I quit the Parliamentary Sports Club a few weeks ago, when I discovered it had registered as a lobbyist group and was sponsored by the gambling peak body.

The industry will do anything to wield influence on pollies, and hates being called out.

13 110 350

Reposted by Prof Matt Haggis 🐀 🍉

Ronni🧂Salt @ronnisalt.bsky.social · 20h

The Aust Parliament Sports Club (the one that ditched David Pocock) is now formally registered as a lobby group👇🏽

Anthony Albanese is the President of the Aust Parliament Sports Club.

That means the Prime Minister of Australia is currently the president of a lobby group.

Just utterly unbelievable.

80 320 770

Prof Matt Haggis 🐀 🍉 @matthaggis666.bsky.social · 1d

Yes. No.

Prof Matt Haggis 🐀 🍉 @matthaggis666.bsky.social · 1d

Albo on the wrong side of this, as usual.

2 4

Reposted by Prof Matt Haggis 🐀 🍉

Guardian Australia @australia.theguardian.com · 1d

Former Wallabies star David Pocock booted from parliamentary sports club

Exclusive: Senator accused of bringing social club into disrepute after raising concerns about its association with betting lobby Independent ACT senator David Pocock – a former Wallabies captain – been banned from attending parliament house’s social sports club after raising concern about its sponsorship by the gambling industry. The former rugby star was on Thursday night told he was no longer welcome at Australian Parliament Sports Club events, and accused of politicising the organisation. He has been removed from group chats discussing its events. Continue reading...

www.theguardian.com

32 36 82

Reposted by Prof Matt Haggis 🐀 🍉

Ed Zitron @edzitron.com · 1d

Every single AI data center is a toxic investment, with most of its value tied up in GPUs that will be multiple generations behind by the time these things turn on - and then die in 3-5 years.

All to build for AI demand that doesn't exist.
edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo...

Actually, wait - how long do GPUs last, exactly? Four years for training? Three years? The A100 GPU started shipping in May 2020, and the H100 (and the Hopper GPU generation) entered full production in September 2022, meaning that we’re hurtling at speed toward the time in which we’re going to start seeing a remarkable amount of chips start wearing down, which should be a concern for companies like Microsoft, who bought 150,000 Hopper GPUs in 2023 and 485,000 of them in 2024.
Alright, let me just be blunt: the entire economy of debt around GPUs is insane.
Assuming these things don’t die within five years (their warranties generally end in three), their value absolutely will, as NVIDIA has committed to releasing a new AI chip every single year, likely with significant increases to power and power efficiency. At the end of the five year period, the Special Purpose Vehicle will be the proud owner of five-year-old chips that nobody is going to want to rent at the price that Elon Musk has been paying for the last five years. Don’t believe me? Take a look at the rental prices for H100 GPUs that went from $8-an-hour in 2023 to $2-an-hour in 2024, or the Silicon Data Indexes (aggregated realtime indexes of hourly prices) that show H100 rentals at around $2.14-an-hour and A100 rentals at a dollar-an-hour, with Vast.AI offering them at as little as $0.67 an hour.
This is, by the way, a problem that faces literally every data center being built in the world, and I feel insane talking about it. It feels like nobody is talking about how impossible and ridiculous all of this is - it’s one thing that OpenAI has promised one trillion dollars to people - it’s another that large swaths of that will be spent on hardware that will, by the end of these agreements, be half-obsolete and generating less revenue than ever.
Think about it - let’s assume we live in a fantasy land where OpenAI is somehow able to pay Oracle $300 billion over 5 years. Said money is paying for access to Blackwell…

13 280 1K

Reposted by Prof Matt Haggis 🐀 🍉

Denise Shrivell @deniseshrivell.bsky.social · 1d

I was so naive to assume that if a fascist took over the largest supposed democracy in the world - then media, politicians (inc our own), business leaders, judiciary etc etc - would do something about it - instead of bending the knee. #auspol

3 11 44

Prof Matt Haggis 🐀 🍉 @matthaggis666.bsky.social · 1d

Pls note: Labor could have done this their first day in office. #auspol

Prof Matt Haggis 🐀 🍉 @matthaggis666.bsky.social · 1d

I will vote for anyone who throws AUKUS in the bin and lifts the 3m+ Australians out of poverty. #auspol

3 3 14

Prof Matt Haggis 🐀 🍉 @matthaggis666.bsky.social · 1d

I will vote for anyone who throws AUKUS in the bin and lifts the 3m+ Australians out of poverty. #auspol

9 25

Reposted by Prof Matt Haggis 🐀 🍉

Greg Jericho @grogsgamut.bsky.social · 1d

Always noteworthy those journalists who even now are focusing all their energy on the Liberal Party.

12 23 170

Reposted by Prof Matt Haggis 🐀 🍉

Robert Cruickshank @robertcruickshank.com · 1d

This would literally be like giving Hitler the Nobel peace prize after Munich.

Trump is killing Venezuelan fishermen and violating the human rights of immigrants while trying to wage a war against blue cities.

So no, he doesn’t deserve the fucking Nobel peace prize.

Chris Cillizza @chriscillizza.bsky.social · 1d

What if...Donald Trump actually deserves the Nobel Peace Prize?

13 30 200

Reposted by Prof Matt Haggis 🐀 🍉

Michael E. Mann @michaelemann.bsky.social · 7d

Right wing think tank (AEI) employee Roger Pielke Jr. has formed a cozy relationship with the Murdoch media as he spreads climate disinformation in Australia.

It's right out of #ScienceUnderSiege (and yes, Roger is prominently mentioned in the book): www.theguardian.com/environment/...

News Corp embraces fantasy genre by turning climate crisis into ‘laughable’ science fiction | Temperature Check

The National Climate Risk Assessment is attacked in the Daily Telegraph, while wind turbines became a frightening obstacle for firefighting planes and solar panels a source of mountains of landfill wa...

www.theguardian.com

10 140 260

Reposted by Prof Matt Haggis 🐀 🍉

Michael West @michaelwestbiz.bsky.social · 1d

"There is a strong public interest in not releasing the information" FOI response to @mrrexpatrick.bsky.social

We pay politicians and they are refusing to tell how much of our money they are spending to bury nuclear waste for the US & UK

#AUKUS #auspol
michaelwest.com.au/aukus-nuclea...

AUKUS nuclear waste costs? Government: we know but we're not saying - Michael West

The Government has calculated preliminary costs for the treatment and storage of high-level radioactive waste from AUKUS submarines.

michaelwest.com.au

11 42 84

Reposted by Prof Matt Haggis 🐀 🍉

Greg Jericho @grogsgamut.bsky.social · 1d

"The green paper argues Australia’s heavy reliance on income tax revenue is placing an unfair and growing burden on younger working Australians."

Except...err we are not overly reliant on taxing income
www.smh.com.au/politics/fed...

Graph showing Australia is the 7th least reliant on personal income taxes in the OECD

Chart showing Australia is at the avge in the OECD for reliance on personal and company income taxes.

9 23 97

Reposted by Prof Matt Haggis 🐀 🍉

Elizabeth Warren @warren.senate.gov · 1d

The President of the United States is openly seeking revenge on his political opponents.

First Jim Comey. Now Tish James. Anyone who seeks to hold Donald Trump accountable could be next.

Trump is ripping a page right out of the authoritarian handbook.

The New York Times @nytimes.com · 1d

Breaking News: Letitia James, New York’s attorney general, is said to have been indicted after President Trump pushed the Justice Department to seek charges against her. James, who is accused of committing mortgage fraud, brought a civil case against Trump in 2022. www.nytimes.com/live/2025/10...

Attorney General Letitia James of New York is in front of a microphone. A headline reads: "New York Attorney General Letitia James Indicted After Pressure From Trump."

80 370 1.5K

Reposted by Prof Matt Haggis 🐀 🍉

The Australia Institute @australiainstitute.org.au · 2d

Allowing unrestricted gas exports from the east coast of Australia has resulted in domestic wholesale gas prices more than tripling and electricity prices doubling, our research found.

Read:

Gas exports have tripled Australian gas prices and doubled electricity prices

New Australia Institute research reveals that gas exports have led to the tripling of wholesale east coast gas prices and doubling of electricity prices, since exports began in 2015.

australiainstitute.org.au

2 30 66

Prof Matt Haggis 🐀 🍉 @matthaggis666.bsky.social · 2d

😂 Labor are fucking useless. #auspol

Guardian Australia @australia.theguardian.com · 2d

4chan unlikely to be included in Australia’s under-16s social media ban, eSafety commissioner says

Julie Inman Grant says message board will need to comply with other codes which will also include age assurance for sites hosting violent and adult content * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast The eSafety commissioner is not expected to block children from accessing 4chan as part of the under-16s social media ban, despite it being labelled one of the “darker” places on the internet. The eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, was asked by independent senator Fatima Payman in Senate estimates on Wednesday night whether 4chan, the message board often referred to as the engine room of the internet, would be considered one of the sites required to prevent under-16s when the social media ban comes into effect from 10 December. Continue reading...

www.theguardian.com

4

Prof Matt Haggis 🐀 🍉 @matthaggis666.bsky.social · 2d

Journo Matthew Knott fellating Trump is not a good look. #auspol

1 3