Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Andrew Couts

Thomas M. Keck @tmksyracuse.bsky.social · 12h

Weber State administrators told student they couldn't present their research on the state's anti-DEI law at an on-campus conference on censorship(!) unless they removed all mentions of DEI from their slides

www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty...

Weber State Censors, Then Cancels, Censorship Conference

University officials said that several planned presentations violated a Utah state law banning diversity, equity and inclusion at public universities.

www.insidehighered.com

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Reposted by Andrew Couts

kate conger @kateconger.com · 13h

Jonathan Rinderknecht, a white man, was charged with starting the Palisades Fire. But on X, the company's news summary tab shows a photo of a black man.

Screenshot depicting posts on X, one showing the suspect accused of starting the Palisades Fire, a white man. The X news tab reports on the suspect's arrest, but shows a photo of a black man instead.

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Kyle Cheney @kyledcheney.bsky.social · 14h

JUST IN: A federal judge has granted the New York Times’ demand for a list of Elon Musk’s security clearances. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

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Andrew Couts @couts.bsky.social · 2d

Read this Globe piece for the great local reporting, stay for a banger kicker

Several of the people employed there declined to speak with the Globe late last week as they walked from the center to their cars. When a reporter pressed a buzzer on the front door and identified himself, a person on the other end of the line said he would see if anyone was available to talk.

About 15 minutes later, an armed private security contractor exited the building and handed the reporter a sticky note with the phone number for ICE’s Washington-based Office of Public Affairs scrawled on it.

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Andrew Couts @couts.bsky.social · 2d

NEW: Security researchers warn that the rise of vibe coding can lead to dangerous insecurities in the software supply chain. @lhn.bsky.social reports www.wired.com/story/vibe-c...

Vibe Coding Is the New Open Source—in the Worst Way Possible

As developers increasingly lean on AI-generated code to build out their software—as they have with open source in the past—they risk introducing critical security failures along the way.

www.wired.com

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Andrew Couts @couts.bsky.social · 4d

2015: Don’t read the comments

2025: The comments are now in charge

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Reposted by Andrew Couts

Kyle Cheney @kyledcheney.bsky.social · 4d

A WILD ONE: A man broke his leg during an arrest by ICE at a car wash south of L.A.

ICE has held him under 24/7 guard at a hospital, registering him under a pseudonym, for *37 days* without telling him why.

A judge has ordered his immediate release.

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

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Andrew Couts @couts.bsky.social · 4d

There is no single solution to scammers. But taking a breath, scrutinizing the facts and context, and erring toward not sending anyone money goes a long way.

Heather Cox Richardson (TDPR) @hcrichardson.bsky.social · 4d

Folks: I am not on TikTok. Any account there is not me. And I will NEVER ask for money!

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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 5d

SCOOP — Pennsylvania prosecutors were alerted to possible voting irregularities by one of MAGA's leading voices against voter fraud. A long paper trail shows Jack Posobiec has been living in Maryland but voting using his parents' PA address for years.

From @jsweetli.bsky.social, @slate.com + me:

MAGA’s “Voter Fraud” Watchdog Votes in a Swing State. He Doesn’t Live There.

A long paper trail shows that Jack Posobiec casts a ballot in one state and lives in another.

slate.com

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Manisha Krishnan @manishakrishnan.bsky.social · 5d

New deep dive into the world of feuding Luigi Mangione supporters. Some are using alleged crime to push health care reform; others find that offensive, as they believe he's completely innocent. And most of them hate the media's fixation on the "thirsters": www.wired.com/story/inside...

Inside the Contentious World of Luigi Mangione Supporters

As Luigi Mangione is being tried legally and in the court of public opinion, tensions are growing between his supporters pushing health care reform and those who believe he is innocent.

www.wired.com

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Andrew Couts @couts.bsky.social · 5d

NEW: ICE is planning to hire a team of nearly 30 people to surveil social media 24/7, build dossiers on people, and flag them for arrest and deportation. @dell.bsky.social has the scoop: www.wired.com/story/ice-so...

ICE Wants to Build Out a 24/7 Social Media Surveillance Team

Documents show ICE plans to hire dozens of contractors to scan X, Facebook, TikTok, and other platforms to target people for deportation.

www.wired.com

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Andrew Couts @couts.bsky.social · 6d

lol fair. i mean NEW folk music. my bad for not being explicit

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Andrew Couts @couts.bsky.social · 7d

thank you!!

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Reposted by Andrew Couts

dell cameron @dell.bsky.social · 7d

wrote about some of this more broadly in a story w/ @couts.bsky.social last week

The timing is also notable, as federal resources for countering domestic terrorism are being steadily cut back.
The FBI has consistently diverted resources away from domestic terrorism investigations this year, pulling staff from specialized units and discounting tools long used to track extremist cases. By May, agents in field offices had been ordered to devote at least a third of their time to immigration enforcement instead, moving national security specialists into work far outside the bureau's traditional
role. Some counterterrorism agents were abruptly recalled to their posts after a US strike on Iranian nuclear facilities— a reversal that only underscored the chaos created by constant shifts in priorities.

The administration previously gutted tens of millions of dollars from federal terrorism-
prevention grants at the same time, shuttering key programs at the Department of Homeland Security's Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships. Senator Dick Durbin, the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, called it a "broad institutional pullback" from investigating domestic terrorism, even as, he noted, "experts continue to warn about intensifying danger."
Other experts say the retreat amounts to abandoning the fight against homegrown extremism altogether-at one of the worst possible moments.

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Reposted by Andrew Couts

Tim Marchman @timmarchman.bsky.social · 7d

Hello! Just a reminder that if you work for or contract with the federal government and have information you'd like to share securely with a @wired.com reporter, you can use a non-work device to contact me on Signal at timmarchman.01 and I can connect you to someone who covers your area.

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Andrew Couts @couts.bsky.social · 8d

i’m terrified to report: folk music is good again.

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Andrew Couts @couts.bsky.social · 8d

The @wired.com crew paid a visit to our mural in Brooklyn.

Me and other wired people in front of our politics issue cover mural

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Reposted by Andrew Couts

City Nolan @ndhapple.bsky.social · 8d

"ICE agents assaulted amNewYork’s own Dean Moses, and allegedly attacked another journalist, on Tuesday morning as they were documenting the ongoing arrests of individuals attending immigration court proceedings at 26 Federal Plaza in Lower Manhattan." -- www.amny.com/immigration/...

ICE agents assault amNewYork reporter at Federal Plaza immigration court; another journalist seriously injured after shove | amNewYork

ICE agents assaulted amNewYork's own Dean Moses, and allegedly attacked another journalist, on Tuesday morning as they were documenting the ongoing arrests of

www.amny.com

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Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 8d

BREAKING: Judge William Young finds that Noem, Rubio, DHS, and State "deliberately" sought to restrict non-citizens' First Amendment rights.

"'No law' means 'no law.' The First Amendment does not draw President Trump’s invidious distinction ...."

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

President Irump here makes clear that, in his view, the First Amendment's
protection of freedom of speech applies to American citizens
alone, and to an unconstitutionally narrow view of citizenship at that.
This case -- perhaps the most important ever to fall within
the jurisdiction of this district court -- squarely presents the
issue whether non-citizens lawfully present here in United
States actually have the same free speech rights as the rest of us. The Court answers this Constitutional question unequivocally "yes, they do." "No law" means "no law." The First Amendment does not draw President Trump's invidious
distinction and it is not to be found in our history ....

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Asha Rangappa @asharangappa.bsky.social · 8d

Rules of engagement is what protects our forces, and American civilians, as well

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 8d

Hegseth: "We unleash overwhelming and punishing violence on the enemy. We also don't fight with stupid rules of engagement. We untie the hands of our warfighters to intimidate, demoralize, hunt, and kill the enemies of our country. No more politically correct and overbearing rules of engagement."

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Andrew Couts @couts.bsky.social · 8d

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has picked a side www.hud.gov#openModal

"The Radical Left are going to shut down the government and inflict massive pain on the American people unless they get their $1.5 trillion wish list of demands. The Trump administration wants to keep the government open for the American people."

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Zoë Schiffer @zoeschiffer.bsky.social · 9d

Scoop with @lmatsakis.bsky.social: OpenAI is about to launch a TikTok-style social app for AI generated videos. We got the deets (and the docs): www.wired.com/story/openai...

OpenAI Is Preparing to Launch a Social App for AI-Generated Videos

The platform appears to closely resemble TikTok and is powered by Sora 2, OpenAI's latest video generation model.

www.wired.com

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Reposted by Andrew Couts

Kim Zetter @kimzetter.bsky.social · 9d

Tile location-finding tags, unlike Apple/Google tags, broadcast MAC address/unique ID unencrypted, letting stalkers, Tile or LE track people/items. Anti-theft feature also undoes anti-stalking feature - any tag in anti-theft mode is invisible to scans looking for stalkers. My story for @wired.com

Tile Tracking Tags Can Be Exploited by Tech-Savvy Stalkers, Researchers Say

A team of researchers found that, by not encrypting the data broadcast by Tile tags, users could be vulnerable to having their location information exposed to malicious actors.

www.wired.com

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Reposted by Andrew Couts

Devon Heinen @devonheinen.bsky.social · 12d

JUST IN via @nbcnews.com's @lawrencehurley.bsky.social:

"#Trump administration on Friday asked #SCOTUS to definitively rule on whether the president’s executive order purporting to end automatic #BirthrightCitizenship is constitutional."
www.nbcnews.com/politics/pol...

Trump administration asks the Supreme Court to rule on its plan to end birthright citizenship

The Justice Department wants the justices to issue a final decision on whether the contentious proposal seeking to reinterpret the Constitution's 14th Amendment is lawful.

www.nbcnews.com

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Andrew Couts @couts.bsky.social · 12d

NEW: The Heritage Foundation is pushing a terrorism designation based on "transgender ideology" on the claim that "50% of major (non-gang) school shootings since 2015" involve a transgender shooter or trans-related motive. @dell.bsky.social and me on why that's false:

www.wired.com/story/herita...

Heritage Foundation Uses Bogus Stat to Push a Trans Terrorism Classification

By inflating numbers and narrowing definitions, Heritage promotes a false link between transgender identity and violence in its push for the FBI to create a new terrorism category.

www.wired.com

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