Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Brian “Enemy Within” Alexander @brianralexander.bsky.social · 10h

The Bear. Faulkner.

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Brian “Enemy Within” Alexander @brianralexander.bsky.social · 10h

The human trafficking scare has been solved.

Elizabeth Joh @elizabethjoh.bsky.social · 10h

🚨A quarter of all FBI agents have been assigned to immigration enforcement www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

A quarter of FBI agents are assigned to immigration enforcement, per FBI data

Nearly a quarter of FBI agents are currently assigned to immigration enforcement, with the number climbing above 40 percent in the bureau’s largest field offices.

www.washingtonpost.com

Reposted by Brian “Enemy Within” Alexander

AL.com @al.com · 12h

🔗: https://www.al.com/politics/2025/10/everyone-up-in-arms-about-montgomery-gun-violence-but-nobody-puts-arms-on-the-table.html
"When it comes to gun violence and crime in Alabama red state politics, 'all options' on the table always means everything but guns," writes @Crowejam.bsky.social.

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David Dayen @ddayen.bsky.social · 13h

Private equity firms and and giant insurers like Delta Dental have been rolling up dental practices. On Organized Money we talked to a dentist who has been fighting this, and why it should matter to anyone with teeth. Check it out wherever you get podcasts.
www.organizedmoney.fm/p/who-contro...

Who Controls Your Dentist?

Welcome to the podcast Organized Money.

www.organizedmoney.fm

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Brian “Enemy Within” Alexander @brianralexander.bsky.social · 12h

Awww!
Gurdon was a giant and I was a nobody reporter when we sat down in his office for an interview, but he treated me with the kind of kindness and respect that I still remember and try to model.

Leigh Turner @leighturner.bsky.social · 13h

"In a scathing note to him, the teacher wrote: 'I believe Gurdon has ideas about becoming a scientist. On present showing, this is quite ridiculous.' Dr. Gurdon kept the note throughout his life & a copy is posted on his biographical page of the Nobel Prize website." www.nytimes.com/2025/10/07/s...

John B. Gurdon, 92, Dies; Nobelist Paved Way for Cloning of Animals

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Brian “Enemy Within” Alexander

Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 14h

Fascists are desperate for violent disruption they can use an excuse for state violence and power grabs.

They have trouble with mockery, goofiness, and fun.

That holds across just about every type of authoritarianism. They like being feared for cruelty. They hate being laughed at and humiliated.

Courtney Vaughn @courtneyvaughn.bsky.social · 1d

Streets are still closed off in front of the Portland ICE facility at 8:30pm. Protesters have gathered on a side street. Dance party in progress.

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Reposted by Brian “Enemy Within” Alexander

ryan cooper @ryanlcooper.com · 15h

if blue state governors and mayors aren't already thinking about the reliability of various police forces nominally under their control, they should start immediately

southpaw @nycsouthpaw.bsky.social · 16h

The situation in America is not great. www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...

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Sharon Machlis @smachlis.bsky.social · 1d

This is a professor at Rutgers who teaches a class on the history of anti-fascism. He also teaches about human rights. He has received multiple death threats and been doxed. He is relocating to Europe for his safety. This is where we are in the US now. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

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Reposted by Brian “Enemy Within” Alexander

Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 13h

The Justice Department had 36 attorneys assigned full-time to investigate corrupt politicians when Trump took office in January.

Today it has two.

See how this works?

Judd Legum @juddlegum.bsky.social · 15h

1. On Monday, Trump delivered a $70 million windfall to his billionaire buddy, John Paulson.

Paulson hosted the biggest fundraiser of Trump's 2024 campaign, raising over $50 million.

This week, Trump returned the favor.

Follow along for details.

Trump approves mining road, delivers $70 million windfall to MAGA billionaire

On April 6, 2024, a procession of Range Rovers, Aston Martins, and Bentleys rolled up to the Palm Beach mansion of billionaire John Paulson. The occasion was a glitzy fundraiser for Donald Trump’s…

popular.info

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Brian “Enemy Within” Alexander @brianralexander.bsky.social · 13h

That's known as Andreessen logic.

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Brian “Enemy Within” Alexander @brianralexander.bsky.social · 13h

Here ya go, young'un.
niemanstoryboard.org/2017/02/14/a...

Annotation Tuesday! Ron Rosenbaum and "The Secrets of the Little Blue Box" - Nieman Storyboard

The writer talks about his eerily prescient 1971 Esquire classic about "phone phreaks," and how it inspired Steve Jobs (who later said, “If we hadn’t made blue boxes, there would have been no Apple.”)

niemanstoryboard.org

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Reposted by Brian “Enemy Within” Alexander

More Perfect Union @moreperfectunion.bsky.social · 14h

Microsoft has withdrawn its proposal for a data center in a Milwaukee suburbs after community pushback.

After opposition from area residents and elected officials the 244 acre Caledonia project will not proceed.

Microsoft drops Caledonia data center after facing opposition. Company looking for new site

Outcry from residents and elected officials caused Microsoft to drop the Caledonia plan. But the company is seeking an alternative site.

www.jsonline.com

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Brian “Enemy Within” Alexander @brianralexander.bsky.social · 13h

I mean, the Renfield reference.
Slays.

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 14h

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 · 15h

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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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 14h

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 · 15h

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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Brian “Enemy Within” Alexander @brianralexander.bsky.social · 14h

Buckeye mafia!

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Karl Bode @karlbode.com · 16h

twice a year the entire U.S. press becomes a marketing extension of a single billionaire-owned retailer, and nobody in any position of editorial power thinks it's weird or gross

photo of Google News search results for Amazon Prime Day (the second this year)

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Brian “Enemy Within” Alexander @brianralexander.bsky.social · 14h

I haven't had a chance to read @bethmacy.bsky.social new book yet, but you know I will and I know it'll be good.

David DeWitt @daviddewitt.bsky.social · 14h

An excellent new book by my friend Beth Macy called Paper Girl is out yesterday. The book reflects on Beth's childhood in Urbana, what's happened to the city since, and the modern journey of a young person growing up there now. Please check out her book! www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/o...

Opinion | Why Can’t Working-Class Kids Make Their Way Out of Ohio?

Silas’s future seemed bright except for at least one detail. He didn’t have a car.

www.nytimes.com

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Brian “Enemy Within” Alexander @brianralexander.bsky.social · 14h

If you can read this story, note how Google and others are racing to make quantum computers. Long ago, I did a story for Wired on NIST and foundational work on quantum computers. These Nobelists worked at public universities. But the tech oligarchs hate government.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/07/s...

Nobel Prize in Physics Is Awarded for Work in Quantum Mechanics

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Brian “Enemy Within” Alexander

David Dayen @ddayen.bsky.social · 15h

Minnesota allowed the sale of one of its electric utilities to a consortium led by BlackRock. Our James Baratta was there to witness the proceeding, and he explains how it's the beginning of a private equity roll-up to cash in on the AI data center boom.
prospect.org/environment/...

BlackRock Just Bought a Minnesota Utility

On Friday, state regulators voted unanimously in favor of allowing private equity to take a Duluth-based utility holding company private. The Prospect takes you inside the room where it all went down.

prospect.org

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Reposted by Brian “Enemy Within” Alexander

Anna Clark @annaleighclark.bsky.social · 15h

"Asked what percentage of children she imagines should be in public schools going forward, Justice told ProPublica: 'I hope zero. I hope to get to zero.'”

by @megomatz.bsky.social / @jsmithrichards.bsky.social

These Activists Want to Dismantle Public Schools. Now They Run the Education Department.

Under Trump, the Department of Education has been bringing in activists hostile to public schools. It could mean a new era of private and religious schools boosted by tax dollars — and the end of publ...

www.propublica.org

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Brian “Enemy Within” Alexander @brianralexander.bsky.social · 16h

Good. Let it die. This prick with 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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Keith W. Dickinson @keithwdickinson.bsky.social · 19h

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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Brian “Enemy Within” Alexander @brianralexander.bsky.social · 16h

A 🧵 that mirrors what I, no economist and no expert, see in my reporting of the past decade. The Great Recession really was the last nail in the coffin under construction since Reagan.

Diane Swonk @dianeswonk.bsky.social · 16h

More on inequality to come.

Some recent studies worth thinking about.

The age group with the most wealth over time is those over 75. A compounding of financial market returns and the equity in their homes are the primary reason.

nber.org/papers/w34131#…

The Extraordinary Rise in the Wealth of Older American Households

Founded in 1920, the NBER is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to conducting economic research and to disseminating research findings among academics, public policy makers, an...

https://nber.org/papers/w34131#…

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Diane Swonk @dianeswonk.bsky.social · 16h

The US hit a Gini coefficient of 41.8 in 2023, the second highest year on record to 1963 and inequality has pooled more since then.

The post WWII era of declining income inequality ended in 1979.

Since then, inequality increased w/a brief pause in the 1990s boom & post pandemic. It was fleeting.

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Reposted by Brian “Enemy Within” Alexander

AFP News Agency @en.afp.com · 1d

"It is going to be disastrous if this continues"

Nobel Prize physics laureate John Clarke says Trump cuts will 'cripple' US scientific research

u.afp.com/SmAy

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