Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Ben Stephens

tru @thetrudz.photo · 11h

What D’Angelo said Black Messiah means. It came out at the end of 2014 and it was so needed.

Article (Nolan Feeney; TIME) excerpt reads: “Black Messiah is a hell of a name for an album. It can be misunderstood. Many will think it's about religion. Some will jump to the conclusion that I'm calling myself a Black Messiah. For me, the title is about all of us. It's about the world. It's about an idea we can all aspire to. We should all aspire to be a Black Messiah.

It's about people rising up in Ferguson and in Egypt and in Occupy Wall Street and in every place where a community has had enough and decides to make change happen, D'Angelo writes in a statement about the album It's not about praising one charismatic leader but celebrating thousands of them. Not every song on this album is politically charged (though many are), but calling this album Black Messiah creates a landscape there these songs can live to the fullest. Black Messiah is not one man. It's a feeling that, collectively, we are all that leader.”

“D’Angelo’s First Album in 14 Years Is Finally Here, and It’s Surprisingly Timely” via TIME.

2 400 1.1K

Ben Stephens @stephensben.bsky.social · 3h

The headline should be Young Republicans Surprise Literally No-One

Jared Holt @jaredlholt.bsky.social · 10h

One of the craziest stories I've seen in a long time. If you think Trump and his administration are extreme and depraved, just wait until you learn about the young guns who are positioning themselves to take over the reigns in the next few decades

www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

‘I love Hitler’: Leaked messages expose Young Republicans’ racist chat

Thousands of private messages reveal young GOP leaders joking about gas chambers, slavery and rape.

www.politico.com

1

Ben Stephens @stephensben.bsky.social · 3h

The thing I resent the most is that they’re all such goddam idiots.

1

Ben Stephens @stephensben.bsky.social · 3h

We absolutely cannot allow this rhetoric to become normalized.

They are trying, through repetition and insinuation, to yadda-yadda “Being Against Fascism” into being an enemy of the state. Once that toothpaste is out of the tube, it won’t go back in again, and so many bad things will happen.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 4h

HANNITY: Antifa is working against the American people. What would that be called?

BONDI: It would be called organized crime. And that's what they're doing ... they are no different than MS-13

Reposted by Ben Stephens

Khashoggi's Ghost @urocklive1.bsky.social · 9h

Dr. Phil went full MAGA and tried to reinvent himself as a MAGA media mogul and culture warrior. Now his world is unraveling, his media company is laying off thousands and had to file for bankruptcy, and he's being sued for fraud. The whole plan is collapsing.

www.rawstory.com/dr-phil-trump/

Dr Phil faces 'total collapse' after MAGA alignment backfires massively: report

Dr. Phil McGraw's attempt to transition from daytime television personality to a politically aligned media mogul during Donald Trump's second presidential term has been marked by spectacular failure a...

www.rawstory.com

350 520 2.2K

Ben Stephens @stephensben.bsky.social · 3h

Just speed-running us into full-blown militarized fascism.

“Papers, please.”

4

Reposted by Ben Stephens

David_j_roth @davidjroth.bsky.social · 4h

It's wild that when Trump talks about how they're getting rid of Democrat Programs and keeping Republican Programs he means "public health" and "Sicario Fantasy Camp: Chicagoland." Full polarization, to the point where anything aimed at keeping people alive or alleviating suffering is woke bullshit.

Richard M. Carpiano, PhD, MPH @rmcarpiano.medsky.social · 4h

Ugh... This study has existed for decades, providing valuable health data for all sorts of topics and publications. This is just more awful news. 🛟😷 Sociology medsky

CDC team running top survey on health and nutrition is laid off

NHANES has collected data on eating patterns, diabetes, and other common diseases for decades. The CDC team that runs it has been fired.

www.statnews.com

7 82 320

Ben Stephens @stephensben.bsky.social · 7h

These people tell on themselves all the time – absolutely incapable of believing someone would hold a political position (such as opposition to fascism) without being paid to hold it.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 8h

Trump on protesters: "You see these violent incidents and then you see people holding this gorgeous sign, with beautiful wood and beautiful cardboard wood everything. Everything's perfect. Perfect paint job. And they're all the same. You know that they weren't made in the basement out of love."

Ben Stephens @stephensben.bsky.social · 8h

Been thinking about this a lot — we’re perfecting a mechanized system for generating reams of text at the exact same time people’s willingness to read is going off a cliff. Chicken/egg situation I guess.

1

Ben Stephens @stephensben.bsky.social · 8h

Weird that our president is a serial killer.

Nash Is Here for It @nashishereforit.bsky.social · 11h

The Madman in Chief murdered more fisherman today…

Ben Stephens @stephensben.bsky.social · 8h

This sundowning sex criminal.

11

Ben Stephens @stephensben.bsky.social · 9h

I mean Trump is technically eligible for next year’s Nobel Peace Prize.

Of course, by then he will just be up on the White House roof with a sniper’s rifle and a cigarette, picking off random passersby like Ralph Fiennes in Schindler’s List, so it’ll be a tough sell.

Ben Stephens @stephensben.bsky.social · 9h

It’s spelled “wattle”

Ben Stephens @stephensben.bsky.social · 9h

Just heard @chrislhayes.bsky.social describe the Trump administration’s entire approach to the law as being like someone walking down a hotel hallway and just trying every single doorhandle to see if any of them have been left unlocked, and like holy crap YEP

1 2

Ben Stephens @stephensben.bsky.social · 10h

Would be great if the coverage of Trump’s fuckery could be a little less “This is unprecedented!” and more “This is bad!”

1

Ben Stephens @stephensben.bsky.social · 10h

But please, let’s hear more about how we are supposed to meet these people half way.

Sarah Posner @sarahposner.bsky.social · 10h

"They referred to Black people as monkeys and “the watermelon people” and mused about putting their political opponents in gas chambers. They talked about raping their enemies and driving them to suicide and lauded Republicans who they believed support slavery."

Politico @politico.com · 12h

EXCLUSIVE: Thousands of leaked messages show leaders of Young Republican groups joking about gas chambers, slavery and rape in a private Telegram chat.

Inside rising GOP leaders’ racist chats — obtained by POLITICO and spanning more than 7 months👇

1 2

Reposted by Ben Stephens

Sarah Posner @sarahposner.bsky.social · 10h

"They referred to Black people as monkeys and “the watermelon people” and mused about putting their political opponents in gas chambers. They talked about raping their enemies and driving them to suicide and lauded Republicans who they believed support slavery."

Politico @politico.com · 12h

EXCLUSIVE: Thousands of leaked messages show leaders of Young Republican groups joking about gas chambers, slavery and rape in a private Telegram chat.

Inside rising GOP leaders’ racist chats — obtained by POLITICO and spanning more than 7 months👇

‘I love Hitler’: Leaked messages expose Young Republicans’ racist chat

Thousands of private messages reveal young GOP leaders joking about gas chambers, slavery and rape.

www.politico.com

3 53 120

Ben Stephens @stephensben.bsky.social · 10h

But please, let’s hear more about bipartisanship and uniting not dividing etc.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 10h

After bragging about permanently cutting "Democrat programs," Trump says "we're not closing up Republican programs."

2

Ben Stephens @stephensben.bsky.social · 10h

Right. It’s the same mindset seen in white-majority US communities who cemented over their municipal swimming pools in the 1950s rather than desegregate them.

3

Ben Stephens @stephensben.bsky.social · 11h

Kinda. Many of them have actually problems in their lives — poverty, lack of opportunity, sickness, addiction, etc. — they just prefer having a simple thing to be angry about rather than a complex one. Just as they like to rally around simple slogans (MAGA!) rather than nuanced solutions.

1 6

Ben Stephens @stephensben.bsky.social · 12h

I was listening to Black Messiah just the other day. Incredible stuff.

2

Ben Stephens @stephensben.bsky.social · 12h

What you get from art is proportional with what its creator(s) put into it.

Which means this stuff is all the artistic equivalent of eating styrofoam packing peanuts.

Why should I read something nobody could be bothered to write? Why should I watch a film no-one had the vision or energy to make.

Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 1d

Despite early, and familiar, copyright growing pains, Sora may be the prelude to AI-generated on-demand TV and movies

Want to See Marilyn Monroe in Game of Thrones? AI Could Make It Soon

Despite early, and familiar, copyright growing pains, Sora may be the prelude to AI-generated on-demand TV and movies

www.scientificamerican.com

1

Ben Stephens @stephensben.bsky.social · 12h

I am always struck by the sheer Drunk King emptiness of all this.

“I want to see Spider-Man fighting the Terminator!”

[Instantly sees it, yawns, feels absolutely nothing]

“Maybe if I saw Mickey Mouse fucking Baywatch-era Pam Anderson I would feel something?”

[Instantly sees it]

“Nope.”

Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 1d

Despite early, and familiar, copyright growing pains, Sora may be the prelude to AI-generated on-demand TV and movies

Want to See Marilyn Monroe in Game of Thrones? AI Could Make It Soon

Despite early, and familiar, copyright growing pains, Sora may be the prelude to AI-generated on-demand TV and movies

www.scientificamerican.com

3

Ben Stephens @stephensben.bsky.social · 13h

I am always struck by the sheer Drunk King emptiness of it all.

“I want to see Spider-Man fighting the Terminator!”

[Instantly sees it, yawns, feels absolutely nothing]

“Maybe if I saw Mickey Mouse fucking Baywatch-era Pam Anderson I would feel something?”

[Instantly sees it]

“Nope.”

1

Reposted by Ben Stephens

Michael Hobbes @michaelhobbes.bsky.social · 22h

Thinking fondly of all the pre-election fact-checks that said we couldn’t possibly know whether Republicans wanted to get rid of pre-existing condition protections.

• New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said that Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, "want to ... repeal the Affordable Care Act and elim nate protections for preexisting conditions." It's unclear what Trump would do, since he hasn't released a plan to replace the ACA. He said he would do so, if "we can come up With something that's better."

Schumer, meanwhile, was wrong to
say, as he did on the Senate floor April 28, that the bill goes "back to the day when insurance companies could deny coverage to those with pre-existing conditions."

perorats and Republicans have made
competing claims on whether the latest version of the GOP health care bill maintains protections for people with preexisting medical conditions. President Trump has said, "Pre-existing conditions are in the bill. And I mandate it." Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer has said that
"insurance companies could deny coverage to those with pre-existing conditions."
Neither of those comments quite gets it right. The latest version offers lesser protections than the Affordable Care Act, but it doesn't allow insurers to deny coverage to someone with a health

Who's right? Like everything else in health care, it's complicated.

20 230 1.4K