Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Jon Bershad

Gabe Ortíz @tusk81.bsky.social · 5h

$20 BILLION.

Remember that we’re being lied to whenever we’re told that we can’t afford something that helps American families.

The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 6h

The Trump administration confirmed that the U.S. bailed out Argentina.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he had directly bought Argentine pesos in global currency markets in a bid to relieve pressure on the nation’s embattled President Javier Milei, a supporter of President Trump.

The U.S. just bailed out Argentina, Treasury Secretary confirms

The US Treasury has finalized a $20 billion financial rescue of Argentina, including a currency swap arrangement with the country's central bank.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Hunter Walker @hunterw.bsky.social · 10h

This is revolutionary content. www.tiktok.com/t/ZTMAYY8LT/

TikTok video by Adamn WhoDeyWant

www.tiktok.com

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Jon Bershad @jonbershad.bsky.social · 12h

These people read books and never once wonder what the author is saying. They just see words.

They look at paintings and never once wonder what the painter is expressing. They just see colors.

I mean this with all seriousness: I cannot think of anything sadder than living that way.

Truly soulless

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Jon Bershad @jonbershad.bsky.social · 12h

Like, this isn’t hard. Art is human expression. It’s a way for human beings to communicate their feelings, emotions, and experiences.

I truly thought that was like a kindergarten-level idea. But the world is full of tech-brained psychopaths and plain idiots who are somehow baffled by this.

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Jon Bershad @jonbershad.bsky.social · 12h

This quote is from two years ago, the beginning of the AI bullshit cycle. Despite two years of people claiming AI is “getting better and better,” absolutely nothing has changed.

The saddest element to me is the way AI has proven just how many people fundamentally don’t understand the purpose of art

Juno Rylee Schultz @junoryleejournalism.com · 1d

David Simon, creator of ‘The Wire’, being interviewed by Ari Shapiro (NPR)

SHAPIRO: OK, so you've spent your career creating television without Al, and I could imagine today you thinking, boy, I wish I had had that tool to solve those thorny problems...
SIMON: What?
SHAPIRO: ...Or saying...
SIMON: You imagine that?
SHAPIRO: ...Boy, if that had existed, it would have screwed me over.
SIMON: I don't think Al can remotely challenge what writers do at a fundamentally creative level.
SHAPIRO: But if you're trying to transition from scene five to scene six, and you're stuck with that transition, you could imagine plugging that portion of the script into an Al and say, give me 10 ideas for how to transition this.
SIMON: I'd rather put a gun in my mouth.

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Jon Bershad @jonbershad.bsky.social · 17h

Great. Now do the Cybertrucks.

More Perfect Union @moreperfectunion.bsky.social · 18h

There are now one or two of Elon Musk's Starlink satellites falling back to Earth every single day.

According to Smithsonian astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell, that figure is only going to keep climbing.

futurism.com/space/elon-m...

Elon Musk's Satellites Now Constantly Falling Out of the Sky

Multiple Starlink satellites from Elon Musk's SpaceX are falling to Earth every single day, an astronomer warns — and counting.

futurism.com

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James @gravitysra1nbow.bsky.social · 1d

It's difficult at times to hold both "this admin is doing lasting and serious damage to our institutions and the globe" and "this admin is full of the most bafflingly incompetent idiots you've ever seen who fall over themselves like a Vaudeville act constantly."

The duality of man is incredible.

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 1d

have said this before but i am very skeptical about weiss’s vaunted charisma

Raw Story @rawstory.com · 2d

Bari Weiss, the incoming editor in chief of CBS News, once auditioned for a role on the hit daytime television show "The View," but tested so poorly with audiences that she "wasn't invited back," according to a new report.

CBS News' new boss once auditioned for 'The View' — and 'wasn't invited back': report

Bari Weiss, the incoming editor in chief of CBS News, once auditioned for a role on the hit daytime television show "The View," but tested so poorly with audiences that she "wasn't invited back," according to a new report. Variety reported on Tuesday that Weiss auditioned for "The View" when host Me...

bit.ly

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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 1d

Bray is a historian at Rutgers who received death threats after landing on Turning Points USA's Professor Watchlist. As a result, he announced he was moving to Europe. And then this happened.

This kind of harassment and abuse of scholars is Charlie Kirk's legacy and it's only getting worse.

Mark Bray @mark-bray.bsky.social · 1d

“Someone” cancelled my family’s flight out of the country at the last second.

We got our boarding passes. We checked our bags. Went through security. Then at our gate our reservation ‘disappeared.’

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Kieran Healy @kjhealy.co · 1d

Maybe beginning to feel news coverage that either ignores this sort of blather or balances it with a polite “Some experts disagree with the assessment that Portland is a burned-out hellscape under the rule of Antifa warlords” doesn’t really cut it.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Trump: "I don't know what could be worse than Portland. You don't even have stores anymore. They don't even put glass up. They put plywood on their windows."

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Jon Bershad @jonbershad.bsky.social · 1d

The person in that costume is so much cooler than anyone who has ever worked for ICE ever will be.

Danny K @dannykpolitics.bsky.social · 4d

WATCH: ‘Portland Frog’ pepper balled by ICE agents

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Read the book Starting Somewhere @jphillll.bsky.social · 1d

Classic big tech. It’s not enough to destroy the planet, everyone else has to subsidize it too.

More Perfect Union @moreperfectunion.bsky.social · 1d

37 states have passed legislation specifically granting sales tax exemptions for data centers.

Among the beneficiaries of these exemptions are Amazon, Meta and Google, all companies worth over $1 trillion.

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 1d

really can’t say enough about how mike johnson is a sniveling little coward of a man. a bayou-bred pushover with a dignity deficit that would embarrass renfield

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Q: Do you agree that the mayor of Chicago and governor of Illinois should be in prison?

MIKE JOHNSON: Should they be in prison? I'm not the attorney general. I'm not following the day to day on that

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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson: "This president is unstable, unhinged, a double-minded individual that quite frankly is a threat to our democracy. It's certainly not the first time that Donald Trump has called for the arresting of a Black man unjustly."

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Matthew Brian Cohen @matthewbriancohen.com · 2d

Osama Bin Laden bucks tradition by flying planes into buildings in Democratic-led cities like New York

NPR @npr.org · 2d

President Trump is bucking tradition and legal precedent in pushing to deploy the National Guard to Democratic-led cities like Portland, Oregon, and Chicago due to what he says is rampant crime and to support his crackdown on illegal immigration.

Trump's power to deploy National Guard, explained

President Trump is bucking tradition and legal precedent in pushing to deploy the National Guard to Democratic-led cities like Portland, Oregon, and Chicago due to what he says is rampant crime and to support his crackdown on illegal immigration.

n.pr

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Andrew Lawrence @ndrew.bsky.social · 2d

we gotta stop using “democratic run” or “blue cities” and start saying donald trump is invading “american cities”

NPR @npr.org · 2d

President Trump is bucking tradition and legal precedent in pushing to deploy the National Guard to Democratic-led cities like Portland, Oregon, and Chicago due to what he says is rampant crime and to support his crackdown on illegal immigration.

Trump's power to deploy National Guard, explained

President Trump is bucking tradition and legal precedent in pushing to deploy the National Guard to Democratic-led cities like Portland, Oregon, and Chicago due to what he says is rampant crime and to support his crackdown on illegal immigration.

n.pr

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Kurt @flglchicago.bsky.social · 2d

Here’s video of the incident

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Jack Jenkins @jackjenkins.me · 2d

Gonna be thinking about this lede for a minute.

(RNS) — Last month, the Rev. David Black stood in front of a Chicago-area U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility and spread his arms wide. Adorned in all black and wearing a clerical collar, the pastor looked up at a group of masked, heavily armed ICE agents on the roof and began to pray.

“I invited them to repentance,” Black, a minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA), said in an interview. “I basically offered an altar call. I invited them to come and receive that salvation, and be part of the kingdom that is coming.”

But when Black began to lower his arms a few seconds later, the agents responded to his spiritual plea by firing pepper balls, or chemical agents that cause eye irritation and respiratory distress, video footage shows. One struck Black in the head, exploding into a puff of white pepper smoke and forcing him to his knees. Fellow demonstrators rushed to his aid, and as the pastor rubbed his face in pain, the agents continued to fire.

“We could hear them laughing,” Black said.

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mother dysnomia 🌚 @mamatried.bsky.social · 2d

lol it’s this guy

Tweet from 11/2/24 showing Harry Sisson and his 4 friends in a car that reads “we’re Gen Z voters and we all PROUDLY voted for Kamala Harris! Real men support Harris”

Robert J O’Neill quotes it with

“You're not men. You're boys. If there was no social media, you would be my concubines.”

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Jon Bershad @jonbershad.bsky.social · 2d

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Hamilton Nolan @hamiltonnolan.bsky.social · 2d

It takes no special technical expertise to know that
1) AI's main value proposition today is automating labor,
2) AI is going to supercharge economic inequality, and
3) If we do not get out in front of that policy-wise, we are fools.

www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/thinking-o...

Thinking of AI as a Social Problem

No need to know the unknowable. The knowable is bad enough.

www.hamiltonnolan.com

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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 3d

Trump has never sounded guiltier than this and that's a high bar

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 3d

COLLINS: Pardoning Ghislaine Maxwell -- is that something you're open to doing?

TRUMP: Who are we talking about?

C: Ghislaine Maxwell

T: I haven't heard the name is so long. I can say this -- I'd have to take a look at it ... I will speak to the DOJ

C: She's convicted of child sex trafficking

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Jon Bershad @jonbershad.bsky.social · 3d

How America/the world punishes Stephen Miller when this is all done will say a lot about whether or not we care to survive this.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 3d

CNN: Isn't that hyperbolic to call them terrorists?

STEPHEN MILLER: No. If anything I'm understating the severity of the situation

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Jon Bershad @jonbershad.bsky.social · 3d

Can’t wait to ask Grok which of my kids I can afford to feed.

Justin Hendrix @justinhendrix.bsky.social · 3d

"The hundreds of billions of dollars companies are investing in AI now account for an astonishing 40 per cent share of US GDP growth this year... In a way, then, America has become one big bet on AI."

America is now one big bet on AI

It’s seen as the magic fix for every threat to the US economy

www.ft.com

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Protik Islam-Jakobsson @protik.bsky.social · 3d

I hope journalists who've been aggressively dismissive of these claims take this opportunity to redeem themselves by bringing the report to their readers' attention. And I hope fellow physicians who gleefully carried water for child-killers are confronted with the testimony of the bravest of us.

Hunter Walker @hunterw.bsky.social · 4d

In a world where my industry wasn't so fucked this might win a Pulitzer. As is, I doubt it will. Please listen to these brave doctors and this phenomenal piece of journalism. revealnews.org/podcast/gaza...

US doctors in Gaza find evidence that kids are being targeted by the Israeli military

American doctors volunteering in Gaza report a disturbing pattern of children shot by Israeli forces. Now they’re pushing for accountability.

revealnews.org

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