Author | Lightnews

Jason Tan @jcastillotan.bsky.social · 12h

Third world country

Reposted by Jason Tan

Edward Luce @edwardluce.bsky.social · 18h

Guess who Hegseth's Pentagon awards its biggest drone contract to....? Naturally one in which Don Trump Jr has a stake and sits on its board. Every goddam conflict of interest law is being vandalised daily by Trump's administration. www.ft.com/content/4ced...

Trump Jr-linked drone company wins Pentagon contract

Unusual Machines secures deal as US military accelerates domestic production of unmanned aircraft

www.ft.com

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Ronan Farrow @ronanfarrow.bsky.social · 16h

The White House just issued a sweeping federal directive transforming how dissent might be policed in the US—here’s why civil liberties groups are so alarmed.

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Techmeme @techmeme.com · 1d

A US judge says Meta lawyers told staff to block or remove parts of internal teen mental health research to limit liability; Meta says no findings were removed (Isaiah Poritz/Bloomberg Law)

Main Link | Techmeme Permalink

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Reposted by Jason Tan

Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 1d

My latest — I wrote about Cuomo’s vile racist speed run in the final days of the mayoral campaign, with gross comments on a right wing radio show, an AI video best suited for 4chan, and his weaponization of white and Jewish grievance to beat the would-be first Muslim Mayor of NYC:

Cuomo goes full gutter racist down the stretch

A deranged AI video and radio comments aimed at Mamdani show his truest colors yet.

www.thehandbasket.co

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Jack McGovan @jackmcgovan.bsky.social · 2d

"In the two years since the state started charging a 4% surtax on incomes over $1 million, the effort has created a $5.7 billion windfall, with the surplus being used to fund bridge repairs, bolster literacy programs and address the transportation system’s budget deficit."

Taxing the rich works!

Millionaire Tax That Inspired Mamdani Fuels $5.7 Billion Haul in Massachusetts

A millionaire levy in Massachusetts that New York City mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani holds up as a model for taxing the rich has generated $3 billion more in revenue than expected without forcing...

www.bloomberg.com

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Zohran Kwame Mamdani @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social · 1d

Just disgusting.

A screenshot of a post on X that reads:

Cuomo, talking to conservative radio host Sid Rosenberg this morning:

"God forbid, another 9/11—can you imagine Mamdani in the seat?" Cuomo asks.

"He'd be cheering," Rosenberg says.

Cuomo paused and chuckled before saying: "That's another problem."

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Gwen C. Katz @gwenckatz.bsky.social · 4d

By popular demand: I've opened a Kickstarter for a HOP T-shirt!

If I get 50 preorders I'll do a print run!

www.kickstarter.com/projects/201...

HOP Shirt

A T-shirt with the legendary Portland frog rendered in the style of Shepard Fairey's iconic Obama HOPE image

www.kickstarter.com

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Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · 2d

Andrew Cuomo’s campaign just posted — and quickly deleted — this AI-generated ad depicting “criminals for Zohran Mamdani.”

Features a Black man in a keffiyeh shoplifting, an abuser, a trespasser, a trafficker, a drug dealer, and a drunk driver all declaring support for Mamdani.

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Molly White @molly.wiki · 2d

he saw Mamdani talking about housing and thought: but what about crypto?

Headline: New York mayor candidate Cuomo pledges crypto innovation with new role

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Techmeme @techmeme.com · 2d

Google says its Willow quantum chip using a new Quantum Echoes algorithm ran computations 13,000x faster than supercomputers, aiding drug and materials research (Cade Metz/New York Times)

Main Link | Techmeme Permalink

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Becky Peterson @beckpeterson.bsky.social · 2d

Confused by Elon's sudden beef with the star of 1997's The Real World: Boston? Let @micahmaidenberg.bsky.social illuminate the matter:

www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

Musk Tosses Barbs at NASA Chief After SpaceX Criticism

The SpaceX CEO took shots at Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy as Duffy and Jared Isaacman position themselves to lead the space agency.

www.wsj.com

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Jason Tan @jcastillotan.bsky.social · 2d

It's the face of fascism

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Motorhead @bradmunchen.bsky.social · 4d

Musk insults Sean Duffy, the US Secretary of the Department of Transportation (DOT) in this tweet.

Few realize how bad this is, as the DOT controls NHTSA, the US traffic safety regulator, which needs to approve Tesla's Cybercab to be produced in 2026 without a steering wheel or gas/brake pedals.

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Jason Tan @jcastillotan.bsky.social · 4d

Blue Lights

Reposted by Jason Tan

Pop Base @popbase.tv · 4d

Rosalía announces new album ‘LUX’ out November 7th.

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Julia Black @juliablack.bsky.social · 4d

By the way... my current fellowship winds down soon-ish, and I'll be back on the market for a full-time reporting role! If you want to do stories like this together, feel free to reach out (:

email/links in bio

Julia Black @juliablack.bsky.social · 5d

While I was reporting this NYT profile of defense tech investor & JD Vance ally Katherine Boyle, a State Department official told me: “If you’re looking at her project as a policy project, you’re not really understanding it. Her project is ultimately civilizational.”

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/19/b...

The Tech Right Gets Its Own Phyllis Schlafly

www.nytimes.com

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Nick Miroff @nickmiroff.bsky.social · 4d

SCOOP: more than a third of new recruits at the ICE training academy have failed the personal fitness test -- so many that the agency has had to start pre-screening new hires to weed out what one official called "athletically allergic candidates" www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

A Third of ICE-Academy Recruits Are Failing Out

Push-ups, sit-ups, and a brisk jog pose a threat to Trump’s deportation campaign.

www.theatlantic.com

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Tara Palmeri @tarapalmeri.bsky.social · 4d

Backstage at MSNBC: Virginia Giuffre’s memoir comes out tomorrow. In it, she writes about the heartbreak she felt on a journey we took together — trying to get someone, anyone, to verify her story of abuse.

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Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 4d

New from 404 Media: the same hackers who doxed hundreds of DHS, ICE, and FBI officials say they have personal data of tens of thousands more government officials, including thousands NSA, more in intel community. They sent me data from a dizzying list of agencies
www.404media.co/hackers-say-...

Hackers Say They Have Personal Data of Thousands of NSA and Other Government Officials

The same hackers who doxed hundreds of DHS, ICE, and FBI officials now say they have the personal data of tens of thousands of officials from the NSA, Air Force, Defense Intelligence Agency, and many ...

www.404media.co

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Jason Tan @jcastillotan.bsky.social · 5d

Thank you to @gilduran.com for nailing this psychotic crusader so succinctly 🙏

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Meredith Whittaker @meredithmeredith.bsky.social · 5d

PSA: we're aware that Signal is down for some people. This appears to be related to a major AWS outage. Stand by.

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Techmeme @techmeme.com · 5d

A profile of Katherine Boyle, an a16z partner and a friend to JD Vance, as Silicon Valley increasingly adopts her views, including embracing defense tech (Julia Black/New York Times)

Main Link | Techmeme Permalink

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Office of Mayor Michelle Wu 吳弭 @mayorwu.boston.gov · 5d

The president is waging war against America's cities, but Boston will not be silent. We stand together against tyranny and injustice just like we have for 250 years. #NoKings

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Julia Black @juliablack.bsky.social · 5d

While I was reporting this NYT profile of defense tech investor & JD Vance ally Katherine Boyle, a State Department official told me: “If you’re looking at her project as a policy project, you’re not really understanding it. Her project is ultimately civilizational.”

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/19/b...

The Tech Right Gets Its Own Phyllis Schlafly

www.nytimes.com

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