Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Christina Lieffring @stinadale.bsky.social · 11h

With ICE wrecking havoc across the country, it’s worth pointing out that one of these men is Puerto Rican (Puerto Ricans are Americans but ICE continues to harass their communities) and the other is French.

UW–Madison @uwmadison.bsky.social · 2d

Two extraordinary UW–Madison professors — nuclear security specialist Sébastien Philippe and atmospheric scientist Ángel F. Adames Corraliza — have been named 2025 MacArthur "genius grant" fellows by @macfound.org.

Congratulations and On, Wisconsin!

Two UW–Madison professors named MacArthur Fellows

Atmospheric scientist Ángel F. Adames Corraliza and nuclear security specialist Sébastien Philippe, professors at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, have been awarded 2025 MacArthur Fellowships.

news.wisc.edu

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Christina Lieffring @stinadale.bsky.social · 7d

Centro Hispano confirmed the first ICE raid in Madison happened yesterday. Seven people taken. So unfortunately @scottgordonwi.bsky.social ‘s words are incredibly relevant.

Tone Madison @tonemadison.bsky.social · 7d

"...Start by taking cues from your constituents, from people who already have experience organizing on the front lines of social movements, from people who need help right now."

@scottgordonwi.bsky.social has an urgent message for Wisconsin's elected officials in this week's Microtones.

Wisconsin's elected officials need to put themselves on the line

Get disruptive, get arrested, get creative, but don't play along with fascism.

tonemadison.com

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Reposted by Christina Lieffring

ACLU @aclu.org · 8d

BREAKING: Our client Mario Guevara, an Emmy-winning journalist detained by ICE in retaliation for livestreaming law enforcement activity, will be deported tomorrow to El Salvador.

Mario and his family are being punished for his reporting. This cruelty is meant to stifle our free press.

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Christina Lieffring @stinadale.bsky.social · 8d

pluralistic.net/2025/09/27/e...

Pluralistic: The real (economic) AI apocalypse is nigh (27 Sep 2025) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow

pluralistic.net

Christina Lieffring @stinadale.bsky.social · 8d

"And you will be long gone, retrained or retired or 'discouraged' and out of the labor market, and no one will do your job. AI is the asbestos we are shoveling into the walls of our society and our descendants will be digging it out for generations."

-Cory Doctorow

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Christina Lieffring @stinadale.bsky.social · 8d

"AI cannot do your job, but an AI salesman can 100% convince your boss to fire you and replace you with an AI that can't do your job, and when the bubble bursts, the money-hemorrhaging 'foundation models' will be shut off and we'll lose the AI that can't do your job..." 1/3

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Tone Madison @tonemadison.bsky.social · 10d

Earlier this morning, former City of Madison Common Council Alder Juliana Bennett announced she's running for the Wisconsin State Assembly in the 76th District. @stinadale.bsky.social talked with Bennett about her decision to run, her policies, and what she's learned from @francescahong.bsky.social.

Juliana Bennett announces run for Francesca Hong's Assembly seat

Bennett promises to be "a real agitator in a space that tries to constrict innovation."

tonemadison.com

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Christina Lieffring @stinadale.bsky.social · 14d

“This diverts attention away from any topical issue Bangstad sets his sights on and funnels it toward MBC’s fabricated role in the solution. The problem here is what is essentially an elaborate marketing campaign consuming all the oxygen.”

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Christina Lieffring @stinadale.bsky.social · 14d

A long overdue dig into Kirk Bangstad’s “playbook of stoking online outrage capitalizes on contention, as he takes on topical issues to find any way to implicate his business as a front for the next trending culture war.”

Tone Madison @tonemadison.bsky.social · 14d

"As calls for community involvement grow in the current climate, we need to be wary of actors who find opportunities to capitalize on that energy."

News and Politics Editor Juan Carlos Garcia Martinez examines the scope of the recent dispute between MBC taproom and Oak Street residents in Madison.

Neighborhood noisemaker

Assessing the local political and social climate through a community dispute.

tonemadison.com

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Reposted by Christina Lieffring

Evil Orc Heart @evanurquhart.bsky.social · 24d

Ta-Nehasi Coates is doing a lot of things with this essay, but one of the most important is fearlessly using examples of anti-trans hate to describe Charlie Kirk's politics.

The contrast between his choices and those of other writers for major legacy outlets is revealing.

Charlie Kirk, Redeemed: A Political Class Finds Its Lost Cause

By ignoring the rhetoric and actions of the Turning Point USA founder, pundits and politicians are sanitizing his legacy.

www.vanityfair.com

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Reposted by Christina Lieffring

Mike Nellis @mikenellis.bsky.social · 29d

WSJ just retracted its report that the shooter’s ammo was engraved with “transgender and anti-fascist ideology.”

It smelled like bullshit from the beginning, and every conservative who ran with it should be shamed into obscurity.

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Reposted by Christina Lieffring

Scott Gordon @scottgordonwi.bsky.social · 29d

Behind the scenes, @stinadale.bsky.social, @nothingunfinished.bsky.social, and @stevenmps.bsky.social have also done a TON of work to take on new leadership roles and manage an ever-challenging budget. The environment for all this is as brutal as ever, financially and otherwise, but they press on!

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Reposted by Christina Lieffring

Scott Gordon @scottgordonwi.bsky.social · 29d

A few months back I stepped down as publisher of @tonemadison.bsky.social, grateful and relieved to leave it in the hands of three wonderful colleagues. They’ve kept on putting out journalism that no one else in Madison is even trying to do. They need your help, because reader support is everything

Tone Madison @tonemadison.bsky.social · 29d

TWO DAYS LEFT before our fundraising deadline, and we have only raised $1,336 out of $5,000. We need to reach this goal to pay our staff and freelancers so they can continue the arts, music, film, and politics coverage you only find at Tone Madison.

DONATE TODAY! ✨ tonemadison.com/donate/

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Christina Lieffring @stinadale.bsky.social · 29d

Any amount you could give would be deeply appreciated. And most of it will go towards paying the Madison-area writers, artists and editors who make Tone what it is.

Tone Madison @tonemadison.bsky.social · 29d

TWO DAYS LEFT before our fundraising deadline, and we have only raised $1,336 out of $5,000. We need to reach this goal to pay our staff and freelancers so they can continue the arts, music, film, and politics coverage you only find at Tone Madison.

DONATE TODAY! ✨ tonemadison.com/donate/

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Reposted by Christina Lieffring

Seth Cotlar @sethcotlar.bsky.social · 29d

As someone who spent many hours listening to Kirk’s show on AM radio, I would say that he made Rush Limbaugh seem like Walter Cronkite by comparison, in terms of rhetorical tone and empirical rigor. The subtext of every show was “You don’t hate the left enough.”

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Saeed Jones @theferocity.bsky.social · Sep 6

When I see people online, even in jest, suggest that people living in Republican-controlled states should be abandoned because of their politicians, I feel a deep heartache. New York CREATED Donald Trump and none of y’all are ever talk about it the way you disparage Alabama or Mississippi.

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Reposted by Christina Lieffring

Aaron Bady @zunguzungu.bsky.social · Sep 6

Immigrants are a social good, anti-immigrant propaganda is basically all lies, and any approach to the "problem" that doesn't start form those two points is worthless

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Christina Lieffring @stinadale.bsky.social · Sep 4

I'm incredibly proud of the work we do at Tone Madison. Please support us in any way you can.

Tone Madison @tonemadison.bsky.social · Sep 4

We need your help. Tone Madison needs to raise $5,000 by September 12 so we can continue to publish the arts, culture, and politics reporting and commentary you value.

Go to tonemadison.com/donate to support local, independent media.

Reposted by Christina Lieffring

Tone Madison @tonemadison.bsky.social · Sep 4

Check out former Tone Madison Publisher Scott Gordon's thread and reporting on this important issue. The Dane County Board will vote on this proposal at its 7 pm meeting tonight.

Scott Gordon @scottgordonwi.bsky.social · Sep 4

1/ Tonight the Dane County Board will vote on a proposal to introduce mail scanning at the county jail, which would eliminate most paper mail for people incarcerated there. Meeting details, and a short thread on this proposal and the messy discourse around it:

Dane County - Meeting of County Board on 9/4/2025 at 7:00 PM

dane.legistar.com

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Reposted by Christina Lieffring

emily moonlight @threnody.bsky.social · Aug 29

take a look at what these clearings accomplish. they take dentures from people who cannot replace them. they took a woman’s husband’s cremains and urn. identity documents and family history.

if you support any of this, no matter how central “NO MAGA” is to your sense of self, you are a monster.

“I Have Lost Everything”: The Toll of Cities’ Homeless Sweeps

Cities often take belongings — including important documents and irreplaceable mementos — when they conduct sweeps of homeless encampments. ProPublica gave notecards to people across the country so th...

projects.propublica.org

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Reposted by Christina Lieffring

Tone Madison @tonemadison.bsky.social · Aug 24

Tone Madison hopes to raise $5,000 by September 12 to help us stabilize and grow.

Your support allows us to do more high-quality investigations, cultural deep-dives, and biting commentary. Help us build a more-expansive future—with more information, art, and ideas. 🙏

tonemadison.com/donate/

Support us – Tone Madison

A message from Christina Lieffring, Managing Editor We can’t do what we do at Tone Madison without support from our readers—nor do we want to. It is incredibly rewarding (and […]

tonemadison.com

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Reposted by Christina Lieffring

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · Aug 22

incredible that three overpaid consultants in a trench coat can get media play by urging democrats not to use words that literally no one in mainstream politics uses

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Reposted by Christina Lieffring

Timothy Burke @bubbaprog.xyz · Aug 8

500 billion dollars and the robot can't even count to twelve

show me a diagram of the first 12 presidents of the united states
with an image of their face and their name under the image
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$show me a diagram of the past 12 Presidents of the United States with an image of their face and their name under the image Image created (D ~ image.png @aa a ac ®@ Elsle| = — aay ee Richard Gerald R. Ror J y/ eg Harry S. Dwight D. Jehn E. Truman Eisennower Kennedy oOsS j / Y P yi: Ve Mees. 1) \ , \ y Richard Gerald R. Ronald Nixon Ford Reagan h mS ‘ ae George H. George W. George W. Bush Bush Bush$

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Christina Lieffring @stinadale.bsky.social · Aug 6

Cut to me holding up a poster board: Big Balls deserved it.

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