Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Michael Scherer

David S. Bernstein @dbernstein.bsky.social · 11h

FHfA’s Bill Pulte threatens to demand info from CNN’s Kasie Hunt on the basis of Libs of TikTok tweeting that… oh forget it, I can’t even

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Julie DiCaro @juliedicaro.bsky.social · 13h

Judge Sara Ellis' opinion in IL v. Trump is an absolute banger:

www.courtlistener.com/docket/71559...

The Court therefore must make a credibility assessment as to which version of the facts
should be believed. While the Court does not doubt that there have been acts of vandalism, civil
disobedience, and even assaults on federal agents, the Court cannot conclude that Defendants’
declarations are reliable. Two of Defendants’ declarations refer to arrests made on September 27,
2025 of individuals who were carrying weapons and assaulting federal agents. See Doc. 62-2 at
19; Doc. 62-4 at 5. But neither declaration discloses that federal grand juries have refused to
return an indictment against at least three of those individuals, which equates to a finding of a
lack of probable cause that any crime occurred. See United States v. Ray Collins and Jocelyne
Robledo, 25-cr-608, Doc. 26 (N.D. Ill. Oct. 7, 2025); United States v. Paul Ivery, 25-cr-609
(N.D. Ill.). In addition to demonstrating a potential lack of candor by these affiants, it also calls
into question their ability to accurately assess the facts. Similar declarations were provided by
these same individuals in Chicago Headline Club et. al. v. Noem, 25-cv-12173, Doc. 35-1, Doc.
35-9 (N.D. Ill.), a case which challenged the Constitutionality of ICE’s response to protestors at
the Broadview ICE Processing Center. In issuing its TRO against DHS Secretary Kristi Noem,
the court in that case found that the plaintiffs would likely be able to show that ICE’s actions
have violated protestors’ First Amendment right to be free from retaliation while engaged in
newsgathering, religious exercise, and protest, and Fourth Amendment rights to be free from
excessive force. Id. at Doc. 43. Although this Court was not asked to make any such finding, it
does note a troubling trend of Defendants’ declarants equating protests with riots and a lack of
appreciation for the wide spectrum that exists between citizens who are observing, questioning,

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Barack Obama @barackobama.bsky.social · 1d

My statement on Middle East peace

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Dave Weigel @daveweigel.bsky.social · 1d

[Chuck Schumer voice] For every subscriber we lose in Fairfax County, we'll pick up two in Galt's Gulch.

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Tim Dickinson @timdickinson.bsky.social · 3d

My Very Dear Ones,

I write to you from near the front lines of war ravaged Portland.

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Michael Scherer @michaelscherer.bsky.social · 3d

Does anyone use open ai’s products?

FT Edit @ftedit.ft.com · 3d

Many of the deals are circular and have given an immediate share price boost to the start-up’s partners. For example, Nvidia plans to invest $100bn in OpenAI over the next decade, providing OpenAI with cash to buy Nvidia’s chips.

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Michael Scherer @michaelscherer.bsky.social · 3d

Brain poison.

Caitlin Gilbert @caitlingilbert.bsky.social · 4d

🤳EXCLUSIVE: We analyzed real data from over 800 U.S. TikTok users to reveal how the app transforms casual users into power users.

Extremely proud of this one, over a year in the making w/ @richardsima.bsky.social Leslie Shapiro @asteckelberg.bsky.social @ence.bsky.social

wapo.st/4obueib

Here’s how TikTok ‘power users’ end up scrolling 4 hours a day or more

Washington Post reporters analyzed data from over 800 TikTok users to learn how the app turns people into power users, some of whom spend hours per day scrolling.

wapo.st

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Caitlin Gilbert @caitlingilbert.bsky.social · 4d

🤳EXCLUSIVE: We analyzed real data from over 800 U.S. TikTok users to reveal how the app transforms casual users into power users.

Extremely proud of this one, over a year in the making w/ @richardsima.bsky.social Leslie Shapiro @asteckelberg.bsky.social @ence.bsky.social

wapo.st/4obueib

Here’s how TikTok ‘power users’ end up scrolling 4 hours a day or more

Washington Post reporters analyzed data from over 800 TikTok users to learn how the app turns people into power users, some of whom spend hours per day scrolling.

wapo.st

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Michael Scherer @michaelscherer.bsky.social · 3d

ICE struggling behind the scenes per @nickmiroff.bsky.social www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

As Money Rushed In, ICE’s Rapid Expansion Stalled Out

Immigration arrests have declined and jail overcrowding is worse despite billions in new funds.

www.theatlantic.com

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Yashar Ali 🐘 @yasharali.bsky.social · 10d

We don’t learn until the last second of this video that Joseph Gordon Levitt’s wife was a board member at OpenAI.

Kind of think they should have put that disclaimer towards the beginning.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt: Meta's A.I.
Chatbot Is Dangerous for Kids
Mark Zuckerberg has a vision for how A.I. could be used in Meta's universe. But the actor and filmmaker Joseph Gordon-Levitt is here to point out a flaw in the technologv: an apparent lack of guardrails

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Charlotte Clymer @charlotteclymer.bsky.social · 10d

Joseph Gordon-Levitt: Meta’s A.I. Chatbot Is Dangerous for Kids www.nytimes.com/video/opinio...

Video: Opinion | Joseph Gordon-Levitt: Meta’s A.I. Chatbot Is Dangerous for Kids

Mark Zuckerberg has a vision for how A.I. could be used in Meta’s universe. But the actor and filmmaker Joseph Gordon-Levitt is here to point out a flaw in the technology: an apparent lack of guardrai...

www.nytimes.com

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Michael Scherer @michaelscherer.bsky.social · 10d

Orwell more helpful on the term in a political context.

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Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 14d

This graf does so much work.

@nytimes.com #Comey
@jamescomey.bsky.social
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/25/u...

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David Gilbert @davidgilbert.bsky.social · 16d

NEW

WIRED led the way in reporting on Elon Musk's efforts to dismantle the US government. My colleagues and I spoke to 100s of employees at dozens of agencies to understand what happened.

This is the definitive story of DOGE as told by those who experienced it

www.wired.com/story/oral-h...

The Story of DOGE, as Told by Federal Workers

WIRED spoke with more than 200 federal workers in dozens of agencies to learn what happened as the Department of Government Efficiency tore through their offices.

www.wired.com

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Nicholas Thompson @nxthompson.bsky.social · 16d

Social media tried to keep us infinitely engaged through their algorithms. Chatbots are now trying through asking infinite questions and nudging us to stay engaged. It's now called "chatbait," it's taking over the Internet, and there's a lot that can go wrong.

Chatbait Is Taking Over the Internet

How chatbots keep you talking

www.theatlantic.com

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Michael Scherer @michaelscherer.bsky.social · 16d

What?

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Jacqueline Sweet @jsweetli.bsky.social · 16d

Feds ask to dismiss another DC case — this is the woman accused of spitting at an officer at the zoo and then mistakenly held in jail for a week.

www.cbsnews.com/news/after-f...

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Frog and Toad Bot @frogandtoadbot.bsky.social · 16d

They swam all afternoon. Frog swam fast and made big splashes. Toad swam slowly and made smaller splashes.

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Pascal Mamassian @mamassian.bsky.social · 16d

A nice shift in perceived colour between central and peripheral vision. The fixated disc looks purple while the others look blue.

The effect presumably comes from the absence of S-cones in the fovea.

From Hinnerk Schulz-Hildebrandt:
arxiv.org/pdf/2509.115...

An array of 9 purple discs on a blue background. Figure from Hinnerk Schulz-Hildebrandt.

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Jimmy Kimmel @jimmykimmel.com · 17d

Missing this guy today

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Ryan Mac 🙃 @rmac.bsky.social · 18d

This is horrific and feels like it should be a bigger deal. Business Insider reports that people who have worked at xAI have seen Grok create images and written material with child sex abuse material.

www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-gr...

Behind Grok's 'sexy' settings, workers review explicit and disturbing content

Workers say they've faced sexually explicit content while xAI has marketed Grok to be deliberately provocative. Experts say the company should be cautious.

www.businessinsider.com

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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 18d

Not a denial

Acyn @acyn.bsky.social · 18d

Ingraham: They said you took $50,000 in cash in a bag from an undercover FBI agent…

Homan: I did nothing criminal or illegal.

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Jose Pagliery @josepagliery.bsky.social · 18d

So, about that team of public integrity prosecutors who investigated Tom Homan, the guy who accepted a $50k bribe in a sting operation last year...

The Trump DOJ has cut it down to 2 lawyers: a boss who oversees a single attorney.

@notus.com exclusive:

www.notus.org/courts/doj-p...

The Justice Department Had 36 Lawyers Fighting Corruption Full-Time. Under Trump, It’s Down to Two.

The Public Integrity Section is the latest casualty in the administration’s attacks on Nixon-era good-government reforms.

www.notus.org

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Dave Itzkoff @ditzkoff.bsky.social · 20d

it was literally in a bag

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/20/u...

Tom Homan, who was later named President Trump’s border czar, was recorded in September 2024 accepting a bag with $50,000 in cash in an undercover F.B.I. investigation, according to people familiar with the case, which was later shut down by Trump administration officials.

The cash payment, which was made inside a bag from the food chain Cava, grew out of a long-running counterintelligence investigation that had not been targeting Mr. Homan, according to the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the case.

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Renee DiResta @noupside.bsky.social · 18d

Douthat moderated a panel I was on w/Walter Kirn and sat there like a log while Kirn literally pulled out his phone on stage & read Taibbi Twitter Files tweets accusing me of censoring *22M tweets*. He lost control of the panel in the first 5min and apparently is still not interested in the facts.😂

Ross Douthat
@DouthatNYT • Sep 19
Replying to @DouthatNYT
It would be extremely healthy for a figure like Obama to acknowledge what became obvious in 2019-2021 - that a distributed, public-private form of speech policing can actually feel as oppressive as any FCC warning. That would actually be a useful intervention right now.

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