Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

RK @rekesk.bsky.social · 5h

Linkedin desperately wants to blur the borders between it, FB, IG and TWTR.

Benjamin Braun @benbraun.bsky.social · 4d

LinkedIn has become the social media platform of choice for social scientists, hasn't it. Seriously, that sucks.

RK @rekesk.bsky.social · 5h

The whole "obey the will of God" stuff is such bullshit from Vought. Run him off the face of the earth.

Thomas Zimmer @thomaszimmer.bsky.social · 8h

Vought is singularly focused on bending the entire government machine to Trump’s will. He believes that any check on the power of Donald Trump, who Vought literally describes as a “gift of God,” is illegitimate. There is no line he doesn’t feel justified to cross.

Reposted by RK

Physicians for a Healthy Democracy @physiciandemocracy.medsky.social · 6h

@krutikakuppalli.bsky.social

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RK @rekesk.bsky.social · 8h

First I disabled notifications, then deleted the app from my phone and it's been much better sailing since. BSKY isn't perfect, but its better interactions. Are there nuts on here? Sure but nowhere near deranged. Also more ppl are checking Reddit for vibes than Elon's distortion machine.

PPP Grifter @pppgrifter.bsky.social · 10h

Once again, no. Those dorks can do whatever they want. I’m happy here. I don’t work for them.

Jonn Elledge @jonnelledge.bsky.social · 1d

The platform formerly known as Twitter may be horrible, but it is still shaping policy. So were we all wrong to leave?

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RK @rekesk.bsky.social · 9h

"It’s moments like these I realize people will hardly be able to believe this happened generations down the road.

We let a guy with a brain worm dismantle our major disease agency a few years after a pandemic killed millions of citizens.

It doesn’t sound believable. It doesn’t sound real."

Reposted by RK

Mark Histed @markhisted.org · 1d

“Illegal mass firings” yes.

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse @whitehouse.senate.gov · 1d

Before us are illegal and unnecessary Republican mass firings, which they will own; behind us, millions of Americans whose health care Republicans attack, and will own.

We stand our ground.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/u...

Trump’s Shutdown Layoffs Deepen Impasse, Angering Democrats

www.nytimes.com

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RK @rekesk.bsky.social · 21h

He is a massive whiner who needs the engagement for his ego but also as a journalist he needs the traction.

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RK @rekesk.bsky.social · 21h

Can we get anyone to go up to Vought and call him a wuss for not getting the job done? The disruption is effectively part of the strategy however.

Mark Histed @markhisted.org · 22h

So to summarize:

- There is a pattern where Vought makes the RIFs too wide, apparently to flood the zone with sh*t and see who will draw protests.
- They restore some people after outrage and work by us.
- But we are still left with many who remain fired at the end.

Reposted by RK

Jonathan Howard @joho.bsky.social · 21h

👇👇👇👇👇

Mark Histed @markhisted.org · 22h

Seeing a lot of celebration of this as a win.

But at NIH we have seen this exact play before.

It looks like it is the Vought strategy -and to stop the lawless firings we have to see the bigger picture.
A 🧵:

Trump Administration Will Rehire Scores of Experts Fired in Error

www.nytimes.com

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RK @rekesk.bsky.social · 21h

Wow

RK @rekesk.bsky.social · 21h

Part of it is funny and part of it is just to create nuisance for all their targets.

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RK @rekesk.bsky.social · 21h

How do we get this dipshit nerd party to be turned into a battering ram?

Matthew Sheffield @matthew.flux.community · 22h

Democrats use polls to change their positions. Republicans use polls to change the public's positions.

The latter approach is the only one that works.

Politics is about earning permission to enact your opinions; it's not about chasing a data mirage.

Jen Mercieca @jenmercieca.bsky.social · 5d

This is a long, thoughtful, and brilliant post about how to understand political campaigning & strategy from one of the progressive left's most brilliant thinkers and practitioners @anatosaurus.bsky.social. Read it and listen to her: Bringing a Survey to a Gun Fight open.substack.com/pub/michaelp...

RK @rekesk.bsky.social · 21h

This was one of the best videos that captured the exact vibes more left leaning people are having right now. Great to hear from @lukethomas.bsky.social, he's grounded and direct which is really refreshing.

RK @rekesk.bsky.social · 21h

Massive self own

RK @rekesk.bsky.social · 21h

Well shame that @adamfeuerstein.bsky.social prefers twitter, but I get it in terms of engagement.

One high-ranking CDC official who just lost their job disputed characterizing the cuts as the natural consequence of a shutdown, instead calling it the weaponization of one.

“The executive branch is using the shutdown as cover for an intentional and targeted dismantling of leadership across the agency. It’s designed to sow chaos, demoralize career staff, and cripple the federal scientific infrastructure that protects Americans’ health,” the official told STAT. “Calling this a budget issue is a lie. It’s an abuse of power — unethical, unlawful, and profoundly dangerous.”

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RK @rekesk.bsky.social · 1d

No

Albert Vilella, PhD. @albertvilella.bsky.social · 1d

www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-... Was the left wrong to leave X for BlueSky?

Was the left wrong to leave X for BlueSky?

The platform formerly known as Twitter may be horrible, but it's still shaping policy

www.newstatesman.com

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Reposted by RK

Don Brown @gettheflick.bsky.social · 1d

""I'm done being afraid of them," Gorman says. She believes many others are too. "They say the best organizer is a bad boss, and we all have the same bad boss.""

That's true too. Reagan firing controllers is fading from memory but few ever realized we started a new union before Reagan left office.

Shut down but not silenced: Federal workers find their voice

After months of layoffs and funding cuts by the Trump administration, the government shutdown has given some federal employees hope that their voices are finally being heard.

www.npr.org

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Mark Joseph Stern @mjsdc.bsky.social · 3d

It is pretty galling that the Supreme Court spent four years telling Biden "you can't do that without Congress" then allowed Trump to seize a once-unthinkable amount of power from Congress within nine months and concentrate law-making authority almost entirely in the executive branch.

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RK @rekesk.bsky.social · 1d

Few are seeing what China is doing. They are positioning themselves such that even if their population declines, the world still runs thru them at our expense.

Ruth Mottram @ruthmottram.bsky.social · 1d

“I think China is using it in a very, very geopolitically savvy way, taking advantage of America’s ... regression back into a petrostate... “China just wins. America has abrogated the playing field.”

The ‘profound’ global impact of China’s rise as an electrostate - on.ft.com/473JgPQ via @FT

The ‘profound’ global impact of China’s rise as an electrostate

The country’s companies now dominate many clean technology industries

on.ft.com

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RK @rekesk.bsky.social · 1d

Would pay to tell him to his face he deserves a 90% marginal tax rate just to see some type of melting

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RK @rekesk.bsky.social · 1d

This admin

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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 1d

This is like disbanding your military during World War Two.

The Trump regime is firing many of the 2,540 employee of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) during the ongoing government shutdown. Why? CISA dismissed Trump’s allegations of voter fraud in the 2020 election.

Cybersecurity agency that clashed with Trump one of the first hit with federal firings due to government shutdown

CISA plans to keep just 889 employees on duty during a shutdown while furloughing 65% of its workforce.

nypost.com

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Bradley P. Moss @bradmossesq.bsky.social · 5d

You voted for all of it.

All of it.

Rolling Stone @rollingstone.com · 6d

“I voted for none of this."

Prominent influencers, including Theo Von, Joe Rogan, and Andrew Schulz, are starting to distance themselves from the president they helped propel to the White House.

Story: www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

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RK @rekesk.bsky.social · 1d

Remember

Jeremy Faust, MD @jeremyfaust.bsky.social · 1d

Russel Vought—the same Project 2025 architect—once said he wanted federal workers to feel traumatized.

Tonight, it appears that mission is being accomplished.

RK @rekesk.bsky.social · 1d

Vought could fire every employee and he will not be a single thing happier.

Adam Kinzinger @adamkinzinger.substack.com · 1d

Just a reminder, the layoffs in govt were just done out of spite, not necessity