Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Bob Neer @bobneer.com · 12h

🤖 An argument for nuance. www.vox.com/future-perfe...

“AI will kill everyone” is not an argument. It’s a worldview.

How rational is Eliezer Yudkowsky’s prophecy?

www.vox.com

Bob Neer @bobneer.com · 3d

🇨🇳 China's economy is about 30% larger than the US economy on a PPP basis ($40 TRN and $30 TRN respectively). How Trump Is Making China Great open.substack.com/pub/paulkrug...

How Trump Is Making China Great

Why we’re going to lose the trade war, and much more besides

open.substack.com

Bob Neer @bobneer.com · 4d

💵 Rogoff stresses the links between politics and economics. It is interesting to read this May 2025 analysis six months later. The dollar, indeed, continues to weaken. www.economist.com/by-invitatio...

This time really is different for the dollar, writes Kenneth Rogoff

The greenback was already in decline. Donald Trump will accelerate the process

www.economist.com

Reposted by Bob Neer

Universal Hub @universalhub.com · 6d

MIT declares it's not bowing down before the convicted felon in chief and his toadies
www.universalhub.com/2025/mit-dec...

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Reposted by Bob Neer

Randi Weingarten 🖇️📚✊🇺🇸 @rweingarten.bsky.social · 6d

New study shows COVID vaccines:
💉Reduced people’s risk of ER by 29%
💉Reduced risk of hospitalizations by 39%
💉Reduced the risk of death by 64%
💉Vaccination was effective in all age groups and “in persons with or without major chronic conditions.”
www.scientificamerican.com/article/new-...

Annual COVID Vaccines Save Lives, New Study Shows

A new study shows that receiving an updated COVID vaccine reduced people’s risk of severe disease and death in all age groups, regardless of immunity from prior infection or vaccination

www.scientificamerican.com

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Bob Neer @bobneer.com · 6d

🤖 Interesting. And highly speculative. The A.I. Prompt That Could End the World www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/o...

Opinion | The A.I. Prompt That Could End the World

www.nytimes.com

Bob Neer @bobneer.com · 6d

🗽 A historian offers a suggestion. "Americans need a revitalized age of Roosevelt to counter the age of Trump." @mbrenes.bsky.social What If the Political Pendulum Doesn’t Swing Back? newrepublic.com/article/1975... via
@newrepublic.com

newrepublic.com

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Bob Neer @bobneer.com · 6d

🇺🇸 "[Th]e U.S. military budget has nearly doubled this century, increasing 99% since 2000." Helpful report from the @quincy.bsky.social and Brown University Costs of War project. watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/f...

watson.brown.edu

Bob Neer @bobneer.com · 7d

🍺 A new addition to the "relatively young field of alcohol studies," in the words of reviewer Gina Hames: Jeffrey M. Pilcher. Hopped Up: How Travel, Trade, and Taste Made Beer a Global Commodity url: academic.oup.com/ahr/article-...

Jeffrey M. Pilcher. Hopped Up: How Travel, Trade, and Taste Made Beer a Global Commodity

The relatively young field of alcohol studies is witnessing a growth in scholarship with a global scope. Truly global coverage is particularly scarce as vi

academic.oup.com

Bob Neer @bobneer.com · 7d

💧An interesting new book, fresh from the latest American Historical Review: Corey Ross. Liquid Empire: Water and Power in the Colonial World url: academic.oup.com/ahr/article-...

Corey Ross. Liquid Empire: Water and Power in the Colonial World

Liquid Empire is a wide-ranging and sweeping book covering the length and breadth of European colonial engagement with water. In Corey Ross’s words, the bo

academic.oup.com

Bob Neer @bobneer.com · 9d

🪖 "[A] monument to both good intentions and folly." #EmpireOfLiberty @columbiauniversity.bsky.social Dispatches From Afghanistan Show How the U.S. Lost Its Way — and the War www.nytimes.com/2025/08/12/b...

Dispatches From Afghanistan Show How the U.S. Lost Its Way — and the War

www.nytimes.com

Bob Neer @bobneer.com · 12d

🗽 Great news for news service and metropolis! @carrollbogert.bsky.social THE CITY Appoints Carroll Bogert as CEO of Award-Winning NYC News Nonprofit www.thecity.nyc/2025/09/30/c...

THE CITY Appoints Carroll Bogert as CEO of Award-Winning NYC News Nonprofit

Experienced media and nonprofit leader begins role on October 8.

www.thecity.nyc

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Bob Neer @bobneer.com · 12d

🗺️ Africa is bigger that it looks on most maps. www.voronoiapp.com/other/How-Ma...

How Many Countries Fit in Africa? Visualizing the Continent's True Size

Key Takeaways The continent of Africa covers 11.7 million mi² (30.4 million km²), roughly equal to the size of 30 countries. These 30 include some of t…

www.voronoiapp.com

Bob Neer @bobneer.com · 12d

🗽“If I can make it, then just don’t put a ‘do not enter sign’ in front of my path and make me have to not enter because I may have committed the mortal sin of being born female,” Colonel Wilder said." What Women Heard in Hegseth’s Remarks About Physical Standards www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/u...

What Women Heard in Hegseth’s Remarks About Physical Standards

www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Bob Neer

Universal Hub @universalhub.com · 13d

Appeals court rules children born here are citizens
www.universalhub.com/2025/appeals...
#Boston #lawsuits

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Bob Neer @bobneer.com · 27d

People will likely still try. We Can No Longer Tell Ourselves This Isn’t Really Happening www.nytimes.com/2025/09/19/o...

Opinion | We Can No Longer Tell Ourselves This Isn’t Really Happening

www.nytimes.com

Bob Neer @bobneer.com · 29d

📉 Time will tell. The Trump Fantasy Is Unraveling www.nytimes.com/2025/09/17/o...

Opinion | The Trump Fantasy Is Unraveling

www.nytimes.com

Bob Neer @bobneer.com · Sep 16

🗳️ NY's governor makes the case: "Mr. Trump has killed jobs and dragged down our economy with tariff tax hikes that make life more expensive for working families. He’s gutted Medicaid and food assistance …" Kathy Hochul: Why I Am Endorsing Zohran Mamdani www.nytimes.com/2025/09/14/o...

Opinion | Kathy Hochul: Why I Am Endorsing Zohran Mamdani

www.nytimes.com

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Bob Neer @bobneer.com · Sep 15

🪖 War is changing. Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/14/w...

Russia Made Drone Production a Supreme Priority. Now It Swarms the Skies.

www.nytimes.com

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Bob Neer @bobneer.com · Sep 15

📜 The dead hand of the past. Jill Lepore Thinks the U.S. Constitution Might Break America www.nytimes.com/2025/09/14/b...

Jill Lepore Thinks the U.S. Constitution Might Break America

www.nytimes.com

Bob Neer @bobneer.com · Sep 14

😷 Save money, stay healthy: vaccinate. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

Opinion | Not vaccinating comes at an exorbitant cost

Agony and death are not all that shots prevent.

www.washingtonpost.com

Reposted by Bob Neer

Jeff Asher @jeffasher.bsky.social · Sep 13

Change in DC seated diners per month compared to same month the previous year, Aug 2024 - Sep 2025 (per OpenTable):

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Reposted by Bob Neer

JB Pritzker @jbpritzker.bsky.social · Sep 13

RFK Jr. is working to single-handedly dismantle the CDC. He’s ignoring decades of research and science to advance his own anti-vaccine agenda. He’s unqualified for the role, and his positions are deadly. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/07/u...

Kennedy, Rejecting Data, Fuels Distrust of His Own Agencies

www.nytimes.com

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Bob Neer @bobneer.com · Sep 10

🎓 Keep the US strong. p2a.co/08Euvjp

Take Action for International Education!

I just took action to increase funding for Title VI and Fulbright-Hays! Join me and take action here.

p2a.co

Bob Neer @bobneer.com · Sep 8

🇧🇷 "I’m hopeful that a multipolar world will give us candidates in the Global South that can end up, paradoxically, being the saviors of liberalism from those who have stood for its ideals in the last couple of centuries." @samuelmoyn.bsky.social www.stimson.org/2025/samuel-...

Samuel Moyn: Can Multipolarity Save Liberalism? • Stimson Center

Samuel Moyn, the Chancellor Kent Professor of Law and History at Yale University, joins us to discuss the philosophical underpinnings of liberalism, its role in international relations, and the possib...

www.stimson.org

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