Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Dara Kerr @darakerr.bsky.social · 6h

👏👏👏

Dara Kerr @darakerr.bsky.social · 13h

Also please read @adriandaub.bsky.social's searing and hilarious commentary on Thiel.

He's reminded of Apocalypse Now where a character meets a platoon "and asks who’s in charge here. 'Ain’t you?' Ain’t you running the world, Peter? If it isn’t you, who is?"

www.theguardian.com/technology/n...

Peter Thiel’s off-the-record antichrist lectures reveal more about him than Armageddon

Silicon Valley titan desperately tries to detach self from power in amateurish talks attempting to ape his favorite philosopher

www.theguardian.com

2 12 25

Dara Kerr @darakerr.bsky.social · 13h

As the mostly-young and mostly-male crowd lined up for Thiel's last lecture this week, a trio of “satanists” offered attendees a goblet of red liquid saying, “Will you bring our dark lord Peter Thiel this baby’s blood?”

1 7 32

Dara Kerr @darakerr.bsky.social · 13h

Thiel’s talks mingle biblical passages, recent history and philosophy. They often deviate into conspiracy theories. He references video games and TV shows and waxes on about JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. He calls Bill Gates is “a very, very awful person”.

1 1 5

Dara Kerr @darakerr.bsky.social · 13h

We got the audio from Peter Thiel's off-the-record antichrist lectures and... my brain hurts.

But please read what we wrote, it's long, weird, and has Thiel's take on everyone from Musk to Netanyahu to Mamdani. (With @jmbooyah.bsky.social & Nick Robins-Early)

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

Inside tech billionaire Peter Thiel’s off-the-record lectures about the antichrist

The political svengali and investor has been giving lectures on ‘an evil king or tyrant … who appears in the end times’

www.theguardian.com

3 30 39

Reposted by Dara Kerr

Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · 4d

Paramount just paid $150 million for this

Article from The Free Press

My Favorite Actress Is Not Human

“Not everyone is happy about this gorgeous innovation,” writes Tyler Cowen.

Tilly Norwood doesn’t need a hairstylist, has no regrettable posts, and if you wish to see a virgin on-screen, this is one of your better chances. That’s because she’s AI.
By Tyler Cowen
10.02.25

10 38 200

Dara Kerr @darakerr.bsky.social · 6d

Seems Sora is primed to spread misinformation. The app had no problem generating war scenes and mass shootings.

One video, created with only the prompt “Charlottesville rally”, showed a Black protester in a gas mask and helmet yelling: “You will not replace us”

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

OpenAI launch of video app Sora plagued by violent and racist images: ‘The guardrails are not real’

Misinformation researchers say lifelike scenes could obfuscate truth and lead to fraud, bullying and intimidation

www.theguardian.com

2 8 19

Reposted by Dara Kerr

Shana V. White (she/her) @shanavwhite.blacksky.app · 7d

Evergreen

ali alkhatib @ali-alkhatib.com · 7d

bad week

1 6

Dara Kerr @darakerr.bsky.social · 9d

It's so similar!

Dara Kerr @darakerr.bsky.social · 9d

This is a classic tactic Uber and Lyft have used when threatened by things like minimum wage laws for drivers --overlaying their apps and websites with company messaging.

Shocking to see the federal government doing it now

Justice Department website on October 1, 2025, saying "democrats have shut down the government"

Screenshot of Uber app with a message from Uber pushing a ballot measure campaign that restricted drivers' labor rights

3 4 19

Reposted by Dara Kerr

Bill Grueskin @bgrueskin.bsky.social · 10d

Bari Weiss, an opinion writer, running CBS News? A real newsroom? With real reporters covering real beats?

Via @oliverdarcy.bsky.social

www.status.news/p/washington...

82 120 560

Reposted by Dara Kerr

Shannon Bond @shannonbond.bsky.social · 10d

The White House is pinning the shutdown on Democrats, in a message blasted to agencies that's raising ethical questions. HUD & VA blame the "Radical Left"/"radical liberals."

"It basically read like a campaign email," one federal worker told me.

w/ @jennamclaughlin.bsky.social & @stphnfwlr.com

Trump administration uses taxpayer dollars to blame Democrats for government shutdown

Federal employees across the government reported seeing similar messages. Experts say the messages may violate ethics laws meant to keep partisan politics out of day-to-day governing.

www.npr.org

2 9 14

Dara Kerr @darakerr.bsky.social · 10d

this thread!

Anna Bower @annabower.bsky.social · 10d

Omg. I’ve never seen anything like this in a judicial opinion:

Case 1:25-cv-10685-WGY Document 261
Filed 09/30/25
Page 1 of 161
Post card dated June 19, 2025
(On file in Chambers)
1 9/S UNE 2025
TRUMP HAS PARDONS
AND TANKS..
WHAT DO
You
HAVE?
Dear Mr. or Ms. Anonymous, Alone, I have nothing but my
sense of duty.
Together, We the People of the
United States -- you and me --have our magnificent Constitution.
Here's how that works out in a
specific case --
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS, AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS -- HARVARD FACULTY CHAPTER, AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS AT NEW
YORK UNIVERSITY, RUTGERS AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS-AMERICAN
FEDERATION OF TEACHERS, and
MIDDLE EAST STUDIES ASSOCIATION,
Plaintiffs,
)
CIVIL ACTION NO.
25-10685-WGY
v.
MARCO RUBIO, in his official capacity as Secretary of State, and the DEPARTMENT OF STATE, KRISTI NOEM, in her official
[1]

1 2

Dara Kerr @darakerr.bsky.social · 11d

YouTube is helping to pay for Trump's new Mar-a-lago style White House ballroom, according to these court filings

www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

YouTube agrees to pay Trump $24.5m to settle lawsuit over account suspension

Platform suspended the US president’s YouTube channel in 2021 after the January 6 Capitol riot

www.theguardian.com

4 15 31

Dara Kerr @darakerr.bsky.social · 11d

Trump's 20-step plan for Gaza includes this:

1 1 9

Reposted by Dara Kerr

Kate Klonick @klonick.bsky.social · 14d

Last time he randomly attacked a CEO of a private company it was Intel and three days later they announced they were giving the US govt 10% of the company

47 160 540

Dara Kerr @darakerr.bsky.social · 15d

incredible reporting 🙌

Surya Mattu @suryamattu.com · 15d

NEW: Jeffery Epstein's emails, obtained by Bloomberg news, shine a freshlight on how the disgraced financier's elite network supported him as investigators closed in.
🎁 LINK: www.bloomberg.com/features/202...

Jeffrey Epstein Leaned on His Elite Network for Help as Investigators Closed In

A cache of 18,000 messages shows the elite support the disgraced financier got in his “hour of terror.”

www.bloomberg.com

4

Dara Kerr @darakerr.bsky.social · 15d

busy week in the white house

3

Reposted by Dara Kerr

Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 16d

Internet sleuths on Twitter think they've identified the ICE facility shooter but they have the wrong guy, as often happens. The poor guy has even changed his bio to read "not the ICE shooter."

As he replies "wrong guy," some of the accounts continue to harass him because he's a "pathetic leftist."

38 130 980

Reposted by Dara Kerr

Merriam-Webster @merriam-webster.com · 17d

'Rapture' comes from the Latin 'rapere' meaning "to seize and carry off."

'Raptor' also comes from 'rapere.'

We hope neither carries you off today.

63 510 2.3K

Dara Kerr @darakerr.bsky.social · 18d

“We’ve always known what the tools Palantir built are capable of. We now have the receipts for that.”

Johana Bhuiyan @jmbooyah.bsky.social · 18d

Docs reveal how deeply embedded Palantir’s tools were in
ICE's investigative unit. For example, they used a Palantir app to plan a gang takedown & when a target was not at the expected location they used the same app to find the person at their family's address. www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...

Documents offer rare insight on Ice’s close relationship with Palantir

For years, little was known about the multibillion-dollar company that handles data for the US immigration enforcement agency. Now, a cache of emails, training documents and reports sheds light on how...

www.theguardian.com

2 6

Reposted by Dara Kerr

Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · Sep 10

xAI has a $200 million contract with the Department of Defense to provide... whatever this is.

kate conger @kateconger.com · Sep 10

Grok says that videos of Charlie Kirk being shot are memes and that he's actually fine

30 160 700

Reposted by Dara Kerr

Will Oremus @willoremus.com · Sep 8

A German teen told Meta's child safety researchers his under-10 little brother had been sexually propositioned multiple times on its VR platform.

Meta deleted the evidence.

New internal whistleblower docs indicate that was part of a broader cover-up: www.washingtonpost.com/investigatio...

Meta suppressed research on child safety, employees say

The company’s lawyers intervened to shape research that might have shed light on risks in virtual reality, four current and former staffers have told Congress. Meta denies the allegations.

www.washingtonpost.com

84 1.6K 3.1K

Reposted by Dara Kerr

Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · Sep 7

Darkly amusing that the president who pardoned Ross Ulbricht also says illicit drugs are such a threat to national security that he can use the military to assassinate suspected drug dealers with no due process.

85 930 3.3K

Dara Kerr @darakerr.bsky.social · Sep 6

How is this legal??

edition.cnn.com/2025/09/05/p...

Trump weighs strikes targeting cartels inside Venezuela, part of wider pressure campaign on Maduro, sources say | CNN Politics

President Donald Trump is weighing a multitude of options for carrying out military strikes against drug cartels operating in Venezuela, including potentially hitting targets inside the country as par...

edition.cnn.com

1 1