Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Khari Johnson

Stephen Totilo @stephentotilo.bsky.social · 20h

SCOOP: Last year, Ubisoft cancelled an Assassin's Creed game set during Reconstruction. Was to feature a Black Assassin who, among other things, fought the rise of the Klan

Sources: Leadership nixed it over concerns re: U.S. political climate, backlash to Yasuke

www.gamefile.news/p/scoop-ubis...

Scoop: Ubisoft cancelled a post-Civil War Assassin’s Creed last year

Company leadership deemed the project too controversial for the moment, sources tell Game File

www.gamefile.news

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Khari Johnson @khari.bsky.social · 1d

Join us Thursday!

Tamara Kneese @tamigraph.bsky.social · 1d

Join @datasociety.bsky.social's Climate, Technology, and Justice program+ Kapor Foundation for a webinar on CA data centers in context, connecting data center buildout + policy interventions to histories of environmental racism + resistance

10/9, 12-1:30 PM PT kaporcenter.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

California Data Centers in Context: Histories, Impacts, Policies with Khari Johnson, Masheika Allgood, and Nicole Merino Tsui. Moderated by Cecilia Marrinan and Tamara Kneese. October 9, 12-1:30 pm. Registration link for Zoom is in the post

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Tamara Kneese @tamigraph.bsky.social · 1d

Join @datasociety.bsky.social's Climate, Technology, and Justice program+ Kapor Foundation for a webinar on CA data centers in context, connecting data center buildout + policy interventions to histories of environmental racism + resistance

10/9, 12-1:30 PM PT kaporcenter.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

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Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 1d

Good job Sora 2 has watermarks on its videos (people have already made tools that instantly remove the watermark)

www.404media.co/sora-2-water...

Sora 2 Watermark Removers Flood the Web

Bypassing Sora 2's rudimentary safety features is easy and experts worry it'll lead to a new era of scams and disinformation.

www.404media.co

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Chibdm @chibdm.bsky.social · 2d

Robin Williams' daughter has some quality thoughts on AI slop

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KEW @kidadaewilliams.com · 5d

How could a man who never set foot in a library until he was in college create what is considered the most extensive online collection of global Black history?

Maybe it had something to do with the story Dr. Quintard Taylor's father told him when he was a young boy.

m.kuow.org/stories/reme...

Remembering Quintard Taylor: Historian of the Black West and beyond

Dr. Quintard Taylor taught history at the University of Washington and created BlackPast.org, an online collection of global Black history. He died Sept. 21, 2025, at the age of 76.

m.kuow.org

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Mississippi Free Press @mississippifreepress.org · 5d

Meta is constructing its largest data center yet: a $10 billion facility in Louisiana, as big as 70 football fields, requiring more than twice as much electricity as the City of New Orleans.

Louisiana has had to greenlight $3 billion in new energy infrastructure to service Meta's facility.

New Meta Data Center Needs Twice as Much Energy as New Orleans

Meta is constructing its largest data center yet: a $10 billion facility in Louisiana requiring more than twice as much electricity as New Orleans.

buff.ly

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CalMatters @calmatters.org · 5d

Gov. Newsom vetoed a bill that would have required regular purges of license plate databases and regularly audited how automated plate readers are used. https://cal.news/4qbr1kz

📝 @khari.bsky.social & Mohamed Al Elew
📸 Courtesy of Flock Safety

The Falcon license plate-reading camera. Photo courtesy of Flock Safety

Hed: Newsom just vetoed a bill to regulate license plate readers — even as fresh evidence of misuse emerges

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Joyce White Vance @joycewhitevance.bsky.social · 6d

As if irony isn’t already dead, the Hatch Act violation on the DOJ website, which blames Democrats for the shutdown, appears on the page advising DOJ employees they are subject to the Hatch Act. joycevance.substack.com/p/a-note-abo...

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Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 6d

“.. Some Republicans estimate they will eventually need to provide $35 billion to $50 billion in aid to farmers hit by Trump’s tariffs.”

[.. That’s roughly half of all the revenue raised from new 2025 tariffs so far this year, notes @ernietedeschi.bsky.social]

www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

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Matthew Guariglia @mguariglia.bsky.social · 6d

Ads reveal that Flock, makers of automated license plate readers and other surveillance technology, are promising to introduce "Distress detection" into their gunshot detection devices which will alert police when it hears human voices in distress, including screaming.

www.eff.org/deeplinks/20...

An add that says "Safety you can see and now hear: Detect sounds of human distress and cover the blind stops that cameras miss with Distress Detection" with an alert that says "screaming" and an address.

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Khari Johnson @khari.bsky.social · 6d

Hahahaha

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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 7d

The crowd chants: “From New York to Palestine, Journalism is not a crime.”

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Data & Society @datasociety.bsky.social · 7d

Join us on Oct 9 @ 12pm PT for a webinar on the histories, impacts & policies of California’s data centers. This talk will feature @khari.bsky.social, Masheika Allgood & Nicole Merino Tsui, moderated by Cecilia Marrinan of Kapor Foundation & @tamigraph.bsky.social kaporcenter.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

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Khari Johnson @khari.bsky.social · 9d

This is like the only good news in my timeline RN

Mychal Threets @mychal3ts.bsky.social · 10d

🎶 Take a look, it's in a book 🎶

🥹 After nearly 20 years... Reading Rainbow is returning to motivate, help, and encourage kids to become avid readers with new episodes, new friends, new projects, and of course... new books! Make sure to follow the rainbow 📚🌈

#FollowTheRainbow

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Mississippi Free Press @mississippifreepress.org · 10d

The Mississippi Museum of Art now owns the only two known portraits of enslaved Mississippians that were painted before the Civil War.

Rare Portraits of Enslaved Mississippians Displayed at Art Museum

The Mississippi Museum of Art now owns the only two known portraits of enslaved Mississippians that were painted before the Civil War.

buff.ly

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Reposted by Khari Johnson

Dr. Damien P. Williams Wants A Better Sociotechnical Paradigm @wolvendamien.bsky.social · 10d

Regular reminder that behind damn near every large-scale "Automated" "AI" system is a team of underpaid and otherwise exploited humans. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

How thousands of ‘overworked, underpaid’ humans train Google’s AI to seem smart

Contracted AI raters describe grueling deadlines, poor pay and opacity around work to make chatbots intelligent

www.theguardian.com

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Khari Johnson @khari.bsky.social · 10d

Eric Adams is out days after the rat czar resignation and a day after release of this rat wars video that gives me so much joy? Wild.

daryl "shut down, ass up'" b 🏳️‍⚧️ @hypercubexl.bsky.social · 12d

this is a real video eric adams posted today.. not sure he remembers he's running for mayor or what at this point

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Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 11d

George Hardy, last of the Tuskegee Airmen's World War II combat pilots, dies at 100

Hardy, a lieutenant colonel, became the youngest Tuskegee fighter pilot at 19, and was among the first Black military pilots in the United States.

www.nbcnews.com

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The Associated Press @apnews.com · 12d

BREAKING: The FBI has fired agents photographed kneeling during a 2020 racial justice protest that followed the death of George Floyd, AP sources say.

FBI fires agents photographed kneeling during 2020 racial justice protest, AP sources say

The FBI has fired agents who were photographed kneeling during a racial justice protest in Washington that followed the 2020 death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers.

bit.ly

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Khari Johnson @khari.bsky.social · 12d

thank you for your continued focus on how tech has real impact on people’s lives today

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Khari Johnson @khari.bsky.social · 12d

Much thx to Brian for appreciating my coverage of tech policy in California 🤘🏾🙏🏾

Brian Merchant @bcmerchant.bsky.social · 12d

This has been pushed to the background, but pay attention:

Right now, a stack of bills aimed at reining in AI companies and big tech sits on Gavin Newsom's desk in California. These are the bills Silicon Valley and the GOP tried to ban outright. Now they await Newsom's signature—or veto.

We're about to find out if Silicon Valley owns Gavin Newsom

A guide to the AI and tech bills that have passed the California legislature, and await the governor's signature — or veto.

www.bloodinthemachine.com

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Justin Hendrix @justinhendrix.bsky.social · 13d

"California lawmakers started the year signaling they were ready to get tough on data centers, aiming to protect the environment and electricity ratepayers. Nine months later, they have little to show for it." - @khari.bsky.social calmatters.org/environment/...

California lawmakers wanted to get tough on data centers. Here's what survived

Lawmakers were mostly thwarted this year in trying to crack down on data centers to protect water supplies and California electricity rates

calmatters.org

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Dhruv Mehrotra @dmehro.bsky.social · 13d

NEW: The latest story from the 18,000+ emails in Jeffrey Epstein’s Yahoo inbox: beyond his ties to the elite, a quieter circle proved crucial as state and federal investigations began.

Insane reporting from @suryamattu.com, Max Abelson, and team.

Free link:

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Chantal James @chantalalive.blacksky.app · 15d

Black journalist starter pack on bluesky! More Black folks who know what they're talking about!
go.bsky.app/FVsDa69

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