Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Preston Rudy @pordy24.bsky.social · 17m

The profile of Finland’s former PM Sanna Marin is a reminder that social media distorts reality everywhere, to the benefit of long standing stereotypes that destroy social democracy and equality.

The Prime Minister Who Tried to Have a Life Outside the Office www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

The Prime Minister Who Tried to Have a Life Outside the Office

As the thirtysomething leader of Finland, Sanna Marin pursued an ambitious policy agenda. The press focussed on her nights out and how she paid for breakfast.

www.newyorker.com

Reposted by Preston Rudy

David Borer @daborer.bsky.social · 4h

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Preston Rudy @pordy24.bsky.social · 2h

But in the US it’s utterly impossible because money is permitted to overrule reason and science.

WIRED @wired.com · 5h

The country’s grid operator says shifting from coal to clean power is not only possible but inevitable. The work there could provide a road map for other countries.

Australia’s March Toward 100 Percent Clean Energy

The country’s grid operator says shifting from coal to clean power is not only possible but inevitable. The work there could provide a road map for other countries.

wrd.cm

Preston Rudy @pordy24.bsky.social · 2h

Time to use what soil you have to grow your own vegetables and find out how ‘easy’ it is to do that. In the process abolish alienation

Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 3h

Trump’s immigration crackdown is risking higher food prices for Americans, according to the Trump admin itself.  DOL warned in an obscure document last week that “near total cessation of the inflow of illegal aliens” is threatening “stability of domestic food production and prices for US consumers.”

Trump administration says immigration enforcement threatens higher food prices

U.S. farmers face labor shortages and potential food price hikes due to Trump’s immigration policy, the administration acknowledged in a Federal Registry document.

www.washingtonpost.com

Reposted by Preston Rudy

Liz Neeley @lizneeley.bsky.social · 3h

The specifics of the RIFs I’ve seen in group chats have been staggering. Bracing & reminding myself these are specifically intended to cause fear & distress.

Please share URLs for any good trackers you seen as they emerge. (I want more than OMB’s version) fedscoop.com/trump-federa...

Table of how many federal employees have been laid off in the latest RIF (Reduction in Force). This is from an OMB legal filing from Oct 10. For each agency, it lists number of fired employees, RIF notice date, and whether the administrations has recalled any of those employees to do work. Total headcount is 4,100 across 8 agencies. Treasury (1446) and HHS (1200) are the most affected. EPA (30) had the fewest layoffs this time.

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Lena Sun @lenasun.bsky.social · 3h

NEW: @CDCgov hit hard by massive firings that several staff describe to me as a “bloodbath.”
Among those RIFd:
—leadership of the center for immunization and respiratory diseases;
—leadership of global health center
—leadership of the measles outbreak response; 1/4

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Reposted by Preston Rudy

Louise Seamster @louiseseamster.bsky.social · 5h

Private equity gets its toothhold into firms through economic squeezing, devalues them, then breaks them into parts to sell off. This compact is the squeeze that will simultaneously advantage for-profit ed *and* make it easier to PE-ify non-profit ed. The ideological component is a means to an end.

Louise Seamster @louiseseamster.bsky.social · 5h

an article with more context
www.republicreport.org/2025/billion...

Billionaire Behind Trump Pressure Campaign on Colleges Owns Predatory University of Phoenix - Republic Report

Private equity billionaire Marc Rowan was revealed last week to be the driving force behind a Trump administration campaign pressuring nine major U.S. universities, including Brown, MIT, and the Unive...

www.republicreport.org

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Reposted by Preston Rudy

Suzanne Conklin Akbari @sakbari.bsky.social · 3h

“Private equity billionaire Marc Rowan was revealed last week to be the driving force behind a Trump administration campaign pressuring nine major U.S. universities. Apollo Global Management, which Rowan co-founded in 1990, own[s] the for-profit University of Phoenix.”

Louise Seamster @louiseseamster.bsky.social · 5h

Private equity gets its toothhold into firms through economic squeezing, devalues them, then breaks them into parts to sell off. This compact is the squeeze that will simultaneously advantage for-profit ed *and* make it easier to PE-ify non-profit ed. The ideological component is a means to an end.

Louise Seamster @louiseseamster.bsky.social · 5h

an article with more context
www.republicreport.org/2025/billion...

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Reposted by Preston Rudy

Bill McKibben @billmckibben.bsky.social · 18h

This energy event is going to be, in a word, lit.
Join us
events.zoom.us/ev/At4Eo8n6b...

Powering Forward: Defending and Delivering Clean Energy in Every Community

events.zoom.us

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Preston Rudy @pordy24.bsky.social · 16h

Listen to the workers because management is in bed with the Repugs who hate gov’t institutions, with the exception of the forces of violent repression: military and police in all their institutional forms.

AFA-CWA, The Flight Attendant Union @afacwa.org · 18h

“In safety, we know that the first role is to remove all distractions in order to keep things safe. What could be more of a distraction than not getting a paycheck?”

Two crises, one vote. End the shutdown. Open the government today. www.usatoday.com/story/travel...

Is it safe to fly during the government shutdown? What you should know.

The air travel system was strained before the government shutdown, but the lack of funding is stressing it even more. Here's what it means for you.

www.usatoday.com

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Reposted by Preston Rudy

Libération @liberation.fr · 1d

⚫ Figure du cinéma expérimental underground outre-Atlantique dès les années 60, le réalisateur Ken Jacobs est mort, le 5 octobre à l’âge de 92 ans à Manhattan, d’une insuffisance rénale.

➡️ bit.ly/3IZtiOI

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Preston Rudy @pordy24.bsky.social · 1d

If everything is private property, elections are subject to the owners of that property. Defend democracy, insist on public institutions and the resources for democracy. Tax the rich.

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Preston Rudy @pordy24.bsky.social · 1d

Another sign that incompetence in government is the new normal. Ideologues of market efficiency might wake up to their dependence on gov’t competence & efficiency. Remember, the football team owners prevented Trump from purchasing a team: too chaotic and incompetent.

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 1d

“I’ve never seen anything like this before,” Matthew Wasserbach, brokerage manager of Express Customs Clearance, said of the UPS backlog. “It’s totally unprecedented.”

@cnbc.com $UPS
www.nbcnews.com/business/bus...

UPS is 'disposing of' U.S.-bound packages over customs paperwork problems

Shifting Trump tariffs have created a nightmare for UPS, as thousands of packages from overseas pile up at its hubs while they await customs clearance.

www.nbcnews.com

Reposted by Preston Rudy

Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 1d

MIT President Sally Kornbluth just issued a statement to the campus community saying NO to Trump’s authoritarian compact

“And fundamentally, the premise of the document is inconsistent with our core belief that scientific funding should be based on scientific merit alone.”

Dear Madam Secretary,
I write in response to your letter of October 1, inviting MIT to review a "Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education." I acknowledge the vital importance of these matters.
I appreciated the chance to meet with you earlier this year to discuss the priorities we share for American higher education.
As we discussed, the Institute's mission of service to the nation directs us to advance knowledge, educate students and bring knowledge to bear on the world's great challenges. We do that in line with a clear set of values, with excellence above all. Some practical examples:
• MIT prides itself on rewarding merit.
Students, faculty and staff succeed here based on the strength of their talent, ideas and hard work. For instance, the Institute
was the first to reinstate the SAT/ACT requirement after the pandemic. And MIT has never had legacy preferences in admissions.

• MIT opens its doors to the most talented students regardless of their family's finances. Admissions are need-blind. Incoming undergraduates whose families earn less than $200,000 a year pay no tuition. Nearly 88% of our last graduating class left MIT with no debt for their education. We make a wealth of free courses and low-cost certificates available
to any American with an internet
connection. Of the undergraduate degrees we award, 94% are in STEM fields. And in service to the nation, we cap enrollment of international undergraduates at roughly
10%.
• We value free expression, as clearly described in the MIT Statement on Freedom of Expression and Academic Freedom. We must hear facts and opinions we don't like - and engage respectfully with those with whom we disagree.

These values and other MIT practices meet or exceed many standards outlined in the document you sent. We freely choose these values because they're right, and we live by them because they support our mission - work of immense value to the prosperity, competitiveness, health and security of the United States. And of course, MIT abides by the law.
The document also includes principles with which we disagree, including those that would restrict freedom of expression and our independence as an institution. And fundamentally, the premise of the document is inconsistent with our core belief that scientific
funding should be based on scientific merit alone.
In our view, America's leadership in science and innovation depends on independent thinking and open competition for excellence. In that tree marketplace of ideas, the people of MIT gladly compete with the very best, without preferences.
Therefore, with respect, we cannot support the proposed approach to addressing the issues facing higher education.

As you know, MIT's record of service to the nation is long and enduring. Eight decades ago, MIT leaders helped invent a scientific partnership between America's research universities and the
U.S. government that has delivered extraordinary benefits for the American people.
We continue to believe in the power of this partnership to serve the nation.
Sincerely,
Sally Kornbluth
CC
Ms. May Mailman
Mr. Vincent Haley

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Preston Rudy @pordy24.bsky.social · 1d

When all your written assignments in college are products of machine intelligence, you become incoherent. Add alcohol and the brain turns to mush.

Preston Rudy @pordy24.bsky.social · 1d

When everything is run as private property, our elections are also the private property of concentrated private wealth.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Dominion, voting firm targeted by false 2020 election claims, sold to new owner

Company, which reached $787.5m defamation settlement with Fox News, becomes new entity called Liberty Vote

www.theguardian.com

Preston Rudy @pordy24.bsky.social · 2d

Turning public lands into private pollution generating property because to these market fundamentalists nothing has meaning if it does not have a price.

Wes Siler @wessiler.bsky.social · 2d

The Senate just voted to invalidate every permit written on public land since 1996. wessiler.substack.com/p/the-senate...

The Senate Just Voted To Break Public Lands

Every permit written on public lands since 1996 may have be rendered invalid

wessiler.substack.com

Preston Rudy @pordy24.bsky.social · 2d

The promise of machine intelligence is to create an individual cubbyhole for each individual in which to isolate, because crowds and solidarity are the enemy of Taylorism, tech wealth concentration and silicon political power.

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 3d

“One of the negative consequences AI is having on students is that it is hurting their ability to develop meaningful relationships with teachers, the report finds. Half of the students agree that using AI in class makes them feel less connected to their teachers.”

Rising Use of AI in Schools Comes With Big Downsides for Students

A report by the Center for Democracy and Technology looks at teachers' and students' experiences with the technology.

www.edweek.org

Reposted by Preston Rudy

Tom Athanasiou @tathanasiou.bsky.social · 2d

Dave Roberts is right (again). Also, this is USEFUL work. There are so many details to keep straight. Best to keep our eyes on the BIG ones

David Roberts @volts.wtf · 2d

A new Nature study on the four horsemen of the climate-tipping-points apocalypse: "the Greenland Ice Sheet, the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, the South American monsoon system and the Amazon rainforest."

Destabilization of Earth system tipping elements - Nature Geoscience

A review of observation-based evidence suggests that four interconnected Earth system tipping elements have moved towards their critical thresholds, highlighting the need for better monitoring and increased mitigation efforts.

www.nature.com

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Preston Rudy @pordy24.bsky.social · 3d

One more reason for the US to invest in fracking and coal mining

Euronews @euronews.com · 3d

Solar energy is now so cheap it costs as little as €0.023 to produce one unit of power, a new study has found.

Solar power named the world’s cheapest energy source

Solar energy is now so cheap it costs as little as €0.023 to produce one unit of power, a new study has found.

l.euronews.com

Reposted by Preston Rudy

David Dayen @ddayen.bsky.social · 3d

So this is funny.
The administration just issued a rule slashing foreign agricultural worker wages. And to justify it, in a public filing, Trump's Labor Department alleges that Trump's immigration enforcement has devastated the Ag workforce and caused a "risk of supply shock-induced food shortages."

Trump Labor Department Says His Immigration Raids Are Causing a Food Crisis

In a filing in the Federal Register, the Labor Department argues there are “immediate dangers to the American food supply” due to a lack of migrant agricultural workers.

prospect.org

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Preston Rudy @pordy24.bsky.social · 3d

Grandpa Trump? Old man Trump? Wrinkly Trump? Stained old man Trump? Hair Furor is my favorite, though perhaps it distracts.

Preston Rudy @pordy24.bsky.social · 3d

Why not say Old Man Trump? Or Grandpa Trump?

Reposted by Preston Rudy

ACLU @aclu.org · 5d

Read more about your rights when interacting with military troops or federal agents at aclu.org/deployment_kyr

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Reposted by Preston Rudy

Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 4d

For the London tabloids, Trump's mental illness is a major, front-page issue. For the US media, it's something that urgently needs to be swept under the rug. www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...

New conspiracies over Trump’s health swirl after CNN text interview

The president famously does not use email and is not known to frequently use text messages

www.independent.co.uk

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