Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Nick Norton @quietwun.bsky.social · 22h

His brain done broke! 🤪

The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 23h

Exclusive: Tech billionaire Peter Thiel warned that Swedish activist Greta Thunberg and critics of AI are “legionnaires of the Antichrist” in private lectures that connected government oversight of Silicon Valley to an apocalyptic future.

Inside billionaire Peter Thiel’s private lectures: Warnings of ‘the Antichrist’ and U.S. destruction

In leaked recordings of private lectures by tech billionaire Peter Thiel he argued that “the Antichrist” is likely to take the form of a critic of technology.

wapo.st

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Adam Schwarz @adamjschwarz.bsky.social · 1d

The Nobel Peace Prize 2025 has been awarded to Venezuelan democracy activist María Corina Machado.

The Nobel Committee recognised her “struggle to achieve a just & peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.”

In other words, exactly the opposite of what Trump is doing to the United States.

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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 1d

It's never the comms. Labour's comms is grey because in the absence of a clear strategy for what the government wants to achieve, no-one can defend or articulate what the government says in an interesting or exciting way.

Lewis Goodall @lewisgoodall.com · 1d

I do wonder if Labour might look at the sorts of people dominating the discourse and dominating the content wars and maybe, just maybe, rethink the sorts of grey figures they routinely put up for interviews, instructed at that to be as cautious as possible. Things have changed. Their comms hasn’t.

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Nick Norton @quietwun.bsky.social · 1d

At least there'll be no-one for Starmer and McSweeney to blame - and they'll have to take full responsibility - when Labour is annihilated at next May's local elections.
And if he doesn't have the decency to resign then and there, hopefully the PLP will finally find the gumption to remove him

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Nick Norton @quietwun.bsky.social · 1d

Robert Jenrick's gone full Nazi then...

Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 1d

Shadow Justice Secretary has made a symbolic gesture of support for Quran burning, both in law & apparently in practice too

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Juno Rylee Schultz @junoryleejournalism.com · 2d

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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Nick Norton @quietwun.bsky.social · 1d

Fun fact: Soy Beans is Sean Bean's older brother...

a close up of a man wearing a black jacket

ALT: a close up of a man wearing a black jacket

media.tenor.com

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Nick Norton @quietwun.bsky.social · 1d

"Ah yes, Mr. Soy Beans and I are gonna have discussions, great discussions, the likes of which Mr. Soy Beans and I have never had before."

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Q: With soybeans, what is the plan to help farmers? Is it direct checks?

TRUMP: What happens with soybeans is uhhh, we're gonna see more and more I think opening up and part of the reason-- he's got things that he wants to discuss with me and I have things I want to discuss with him

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Karl Bode @karlbode.com · 1d

papers like the New York Times actively help right wing propagandists by introducing false claims as something that's open to debate and interpretation, instead of clearly framing them up front as lies pushed by unreliable operators

Turning Point USA is a right wing propaganda op aimed at kids

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Karl Bode @karlbode.com · 1d

you'd think a prominent news outlet like the New York Times might mention that "antifa" isn't an actual organization in a long story about antifa, but nope!

and the subhead helps props up a false claim this professor was up to something seedy as something up for debate

NYT headline: "Rutgers Expert on Antifa Tries to Flee to Spain After Death Threats"

subheadline: "Mark Bray was teaching courses on antifascism. Turning Point USA accused him of belonging to antifa, which he denies. His flight to Spain was canceled abruptly on Wednesday night."

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Richard J @preachypreach.bsky.social · 2d

www.ft.com/content/06fa... yes, it's the B-word that's about 1/3 of this.

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · Jul 5

Incredibly grim to learn that Jeff Bezos and his wife, in addition to hanging out with the Trump family, are huge fans of The Free Press, and see it as the future of media.
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

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Nick Norton @quietwun.bsky.social · 2d

Immediate unfollow. Anyone coming to such a conclusion is not a serious person.

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Glyn Moody @glynmoody.bsky.social · 2d

#labour have learnt nothing

Peter Stefanovic @peterstefanovic.bsky.social · 2d

NHS could cease to function under Labour’s new visa rules, say nurses

Royal College of Nursing says plan to tighten rules for foreign workers is ‘pandering’ to Reform UK

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

NHS could cease to function under Labour’s new visa rules, say nurses

Exclusive: Royal College of Nursing says plan to tighten rules for foreign workers is ‘pandering’ to Reform UK

www.theguardian.com

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David Wearing @davidwearing.bsky.social · 2d

The discourse in the West for the next few days will be e.g. "for all the caveats, let's just be relieved". And no, let's not. That's a feeling for Palestinians, not us.

Palestinians are human beings who deserve much better than the choice we've given them between genocide or colonial subjugation

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David Wearing @davidwearing.bsky.social · 2d

Palestinians will feel understandable relief. The West should feel nothing but shame. Gaza has been obliterated. The territory rendered uninhabitable. Tens of thousands murdered in cold blood. The entire population subjected to starvation tactics. And now, colonial subjugation under Trump and Blair

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Keith W. Dickinson @keithwdickinson.bsky.social · 3d

Today is a day when arts degrees are worthless, but the product of those degrees is so valuable it would kill an entire industry if they were made to pay for it.

The Verge @theverge.com · May 26

Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry

Paul McCartne, Elton John and others signed an open letter.

buff.ly

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Nick Norton @quietwun.bsky.social · 2d

The psychopathy of Starmer and Reeves at this point is certifiable.

There'll be no growth on a dead planet...

Shoaib M Khan @shoaibmkhan.bsky.social · 2d

UK national security is under severe threat from the climate crisis and the looming collapse of vital natural ecosystems, with food shortages and economic disaster potentially just years away, a report by the UK’s intelligence chiefs is due to warn. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

National security threatened by climate crisis, UK intelligence chiefs due to warn

Report by joint intelligence committee delayed, with concerns expressed that it may not be published

www.theguardian.com

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Amee Vanderpool @girlsreallyrule.bsky.social · 3d

Josh Hawley and Yale Law School, ladies and gentlemen.

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Will Cooling @willcooling.bsky.social · 2d

Worth remembering that Labour MPs sat on their hands as the British Government basically did the same to our international development ministry at around the same time - what little money is still in the "international aid" budget is overwhelmingly spent in the UK

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 2d

i desperately want everyone involved in the destruction of USAID to have to, st the very least, answer to the american people for the suffering and misery they have caused apnews.com/article/myan...

Starving children screaming for food as US aid cuts unleash devastation and death across Myanmar

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has repeatedly said “no one has died" because of his government’s decision to gut its foreign aid program.

apnews.com

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Nick Norton @quietwun.bsky.social · 2d

This is simply Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves robbing Peter to pay Paul.
Any boost to the economy will be swallowed up by the cost to the NHS and local services of dealing with the outcome of encouraging people to drink themselves stupid into the early hours.
www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Pubs to stay open until early hours in push for UK growth

Exclusive: Plans for England and Wales would help the ailing hospitality sector but have attracted criticism from health experts

www.theguardian.com

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Nick Norton @quietwun.bsky.social · 2d

Apple already banned an app that shared reports of ICE patrols' locations at the request of the Trump administration, and now this.

Make no mistake: Tim Cook and Apple are collaborators. Never forget this.

Nick Norton @quietwun.bsky.social · 2d

Apple already banned an app that shared reports of ICE patrols' locations at the request of the Trump administration, and now this.

Make no mistake: Tim Cook and Apple are collaborators. Never forget this.

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Nick Norton @quietwun.bsky.social · 2d

Apple already banned an app that shared reports of ICE patrols' locations at the request of the Trump administration, and now this.

Make no mistake: Tim Cook and Apple are collaborators. Never forget this.

Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 2d

New: Apple banned an app that simply archived videos of ICE abuses. Rather than other apps that record ICE official's real-time location, Eyes Up is to "preserve evidence until it can be used in court." Videos from TikTok etc. Every submission manually reviewed

www.404media.co/apple-banned...

Apple Banned an App That Simply Archived Videos of ICE Abuses

Eyes Up's purpose is to "preserve evidence until it can be used in court." But it has been swept up in Apple's crackdown on ICE-spotting apps.

www.404media.co

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Justin Baragona @justinbaragona.bsky.social · 5d

Just imagine the thermonuclear reaction -- not just from Fox News, but the legacy media sphere -- if any Democratic president said this about the GOP during a speech to a military branch.

Meanwhile, this won't even stay in the news cycle 24 hours, if at all.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 5d

Trump to the Navy: "We have to take care of this little gnat that's on our shoulder called the Democrats."

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