Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Rob von Thaden @rvontha.bsky.social · 9h

Blake Leyh @earlofedgecombe.bsky.social · 20h

If you think you know why US newspapers died, this feature documentary now streaming for free on PBS might surprise you. It wasn't the Internet. Newspapers were specifically targeted by vulture capitalists.

I composed the score for the film, which features electric cello & Crowfoot guitars.

Stripped for Parts: American Journalism on the Brink

A handful of journalists rebel against a hedge fund that is gutting newspapers nationwide.

www.pbs.org

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Dave Levitan @davelevitan.bsky.social · 16h

“We can give $20 billion to Argentina but we can’t afford the CDC’s measles experts” is a hell of an argument

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Ed Zitron @edzitron.com · 1d

Premium: The AI Bubble's promises are impossible. NVIDIA's customers are running out of money, GPUs die in 3-5 years, most 1GW data centers will never get built, and OpenAI's Abilene data center doesn't won't have the power it needs before 2028 - if it ever does.
www.wheresyoured.at/the-ai-bubbl...

The AI Bubble's Impossible Promises

Readers: I’ve done a very generous “free” portion of this newsletter, but I do recommend paying for premium to get the in-depth analysis underpinning the intro. That being said, I want as many people ...

www.wheresyoured.at

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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 17h

I know Trump and his minions all have sneering contempt for kids with special needs, but trust me when I say that their parents will absolutely fucking destroy anyone who messes with the special education supports to which they are entitled by law.

Sara Partridge, Ph.D. @sarapartridge.bsky.social · 18h

There are reports that the *entire* office of special education at the US Dept of Education has been cut. These hardworking folks ensure kids with disabilities get equal access to a quality education.

America’s children deserve better than this.

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Joel S. @joelhs.bsky.social · 15h

The trope of the shadowy Jewish puppet master is not just about Jews, but about telling a story that discredits all movements for progressive change as inauthentic and inorganic.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Sen. Roger Marshall: "October 18 is when the protest gets here. This will be a Soros paid-for protest for his professional protesters. The agitators show up. We'll have to get the National Guard out. Hopefully it will be peaceful. I doubt it."

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Rob von Thaden @rvontha.bsky.social · 15h

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Rob von Thaden @rvontha.bsky.social · 15h

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Sonja Drimmer @sonjadrimmer.bsky.social · 19h

The palpable relief of reading a syntactically awkward student paper nevertheless brimming with ideas they’re trying on after having to consume the stale cardboard generalities of a Chat GPT essay.

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 20h

an incontestable fact of the second trump administration is it is actively trying to sicken and kill as many americans as it can

Lena Sun @lenasun.bsky.social · 22h

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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Lindsay Beyerstein @beyerstein.bsky.social · 1d

Their goal is revenge against every scientist who told them something they didn't want to hear or made them feel inferior by knowing more than they do.

Scott Hanselman 🌮 @scott.hanselman.com · 1d

WTF is their goal? Small government means every man for themselves when the next catastrophe hits? What is the point? Government isn’t a business, it’s a service for the people. You’re saving minimal money with these cuts and only hurting literally everyone

Sheryl Gay Stolberg @sherylnyt.bsky.social · 1d

BREAKING: Friday night massacre underway at CDC. Doznes of "disease detectives," high-level scientists, entire Washington staff and editors of the MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) have all been RIFed and received the following notice:

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Sarah E. Bond @sarahebond.bsky.social · 23h

The late antique communion bread find was exciting. And it again came up what the oldest bread known is. As Stephanie Wong and I wrote about, the oldest extant bread appears to be from Jordan—not Turkey. hyperallergic.com/878348/disco...

Discovery of 8,600-Year-Old Bread Gives Rise to Half-Baked Claims

Turkey’s narrative surrounding “the world’s oldest bread” raises questions about how archaeological heritage is used for nationalistic ends.

hyperallergic.com

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amanda moore 🐢 @noturtlesoup17.bsky.social · 17h

Outside of the Broadview ICE facility, a state trooper tells the delegation attempting to have communion with detainees that ICE has denied their request.

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Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 23h

Evidently, President Trump got all the proof he needs that vaccines are safe and effective. He voted with his arm yesterday and got the highly beneficial Covid and flu shots. Amid the sea of confusion RFKJ has generated about vaccines, all Americans should know that Trump is getting vaccinated.

Renée Graham 🏳️‍🌈 @rygraham.bsky.social · 23h

Last month Trump said he wanted proof that COVID vaccines are effective. Yesterday, during his "semiannual" physical, Trump received a COVID vaccine as well as a flu shot.

That's because vaccines — which Trump's administration have made harder to get — work.

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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 19h

“We’ve arrested American citizens for being too close.”

Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 20h

New — Video shared with me shows ICE officers in DC detaining a man on Friday.

Bystander filming asks man for his name. ICE agent lies and says he’s not allowed to speak to him “by law” and another says “We’ve arrested American citizens for being too close…If he gets any closer, put him in cuffs.”

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 18h

a russ vought special

Sara Partridge, Ph.D. @sarapartridge.bsky.social · 18h

There are reports that the *entire* office of special education at the US Dept of Education has been cut. These hardworking folks ensure kids with disabilities get equal access to a quality education.

America’s children deserve better than this.

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Blair Hodges @blairhodges.bsky.social · 16h

I want truth and reconciliation hearings with actual consequences

LongTime🤓FirstTime👨‍💻 @longtimehistory.bsky.social · 20h

ICE secretly kidnap autistic boy during bathroom break—never notify parents.

Mother reported him missing a week ago—turns out ICE had him detained the whole time.

He was helping sell fruit and asked to go to the restroom—by the time she was done helping a customer he was gone.

Houston, Texas

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Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 19h

This is what Orwell describes as "prolefeed," politically dictated propaganda with little factual base, inflected from time to time with what is essentially pornography designed to capture the attention of uneducated and intellectually atrophied viewers. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Why is this Fox News host speculating about AOC’s sex life? | Arwa Mahdawi

Even his colleague has dubbed Jesse Watters’s claim about Ocasio-Cortez and Stephen Miller ‘creepy’

www.theguardian.com

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Drew McKevitt @drewmckevitt.bsky.social · 21h

The generous reading is they believe there is no limit to the money worth dumping into any project that could lead to a future AGI, because the AGI will be essentially invaluable. But this is the equivalent of building the world's largest economy around the expectation that the rapture is imminent

John Warner @biblioracle.bsky.social · 21h

We know that LLMs struggle with math. Apparently the people involved in delivering the data centers that power LLMs do too. There's no way that investments will pay off. The bubble of bubbles. futurism.com/future-socie...

AI Data Centers Are an Even Bigger Disaster Than Previously Thought

An investment manager realized he made a crucial mistake — and that his grim prediction about AI investments may not have been cynical enough.

futurism.com

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Joel S. @joelhs.bsky.social · 1d

I realize we're all distracted by a lot of other things right now, but I was still shocked by just how little coverage this got. I hardly saw any other media sources write about it. So I had to write about it myself.

Religion Dispatches @religiondispatches.org · 1d

Joel Swanson on VPOTUS' casual, horrifying antisemitism

religiondispatches.org/jd-vance-tri...

JD Vance Trivializes Jewish History by Referring to ICE Criticism as 'Blood Libel' — But Reveals What this Admin Thinks of Jews

Last week, in an interview with Fox News host Laura Ingraham, Vice President JD Vance accused critics of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) of committing “blood libel” against ICE agents. As Va...

religiondispatches.org

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Jack Jenkins @jackjenkins.me · 1d

This Newsmax host compares the ordination of a PC(USA) pastor to a Universal Life Church online ordination.

PC(USA) ordination requires a three-year masters of divinity, passing an ordination exam, and a host of presbytery requirements.

The Presbyterian tradition is older than the U.S.

Media Matters for America @mmfa.bsky.social · 1d

A Newsmax host defended ICE agents shooting a minister in the head with a pepper ball by falsely claiming he was “actually an antifa member masquerading as a pastor.”

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🎃👻 John BrooOoooOOOOooOoks 👻🎃 @johnbrooks.bsky.social · 1d

Oh interesting has anything like this ever happened and been diaried about anywhere at any point in history?

Sophie Sherry @sophiesherry.bsky.social · 1d

During a military-style raid on a building in Chicago’s South Shore, one resident heard a knock on his door.   It wasn’t the feds — it was a mom and her 7-year-old daughter, pleading for help.

He let them hide in his unit for the next 3 days.

chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...

Neighbor shielded 7-year-old during South Shore federal raid: ‘I didn’t want them to take her’

During the Sept. 30 raid one tenant protected a terrified girl and her mom. Remnants at the complex, including a detailed map of all the units, offer clues to what authorities may have known before th...

chicago.suntimes.com

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Rob von Thaden @rvontha.bsky.social · 1d

www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/david...

When the English Fall

A riveting and unexpected novel that questions whether a peaceful and non- violent community can survive when civilization falls apart.Again, all are asleep,...

www.hachettebookgroup.com

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 1d

We live in a country where the government honors insurrectionists who sacked the Capitol, and defines peaceful protest, even before it occurs, to be terrorism.
They know their position is weak, they know they are unpopular, which is why they are seeking to stamp out dissent.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Mike Johnson: "We're so angry about it. I mean, I'm a very patient guy, but I've had it with these people. The theory we have right now -- they have a hate America rally that's scheduled for October 18 on the National Mall. It's the pro-Hamas wing and antifa people ... "

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Rob von Thaden @rvontha.bsky.social · 1d

🤣🤣🤣

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Sarah Bakker Kellogg @sbakkerkellogg.bsky.social · 1d

Someone asked me what my research might say about conversion into an ethnic church. The question prompted a reflection on Christianity, culture, and political life that turned into a three part series!

The next installments will be published throughout October.

publicorthodoxy.org/2025/10/10/b...

Being vs. Becoming Christian: Letters to a Convert in an Ethnic Church (#1)

One of the many beauties of Orthodox Christianity is the insight that this world is not spiritually debased....rather, this world is filled to the brim with divine love.

publicorthodoxy.org

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Rob von Thaden @rvontha.bsky.social · 1d

h/t @ichatterjea.bsky.social

Charles Louis Richter @richterscale.bsky.social · 1d

"Mark Bray was teaching courses on the early modern witch craze. Turning Point USA accused him of being a witch, which he denies."

Karl Bode @karlbode.com · 2d

you'd think a prominent news outlet like the New York Times might mention that "antifa" isn't an actual organization in a long story about antifa, but nope!

and the subhead helps props up a false claim this professor was up to something seedy as something up for debate