Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Kriss Lowrance

Sam Cole @samleecole.bsky.social · 1d

Cops misled journalists about using a powerful surveillance tool to track a woman across state lines because she had an abortion, then tried to cover it up when we found out the truth. Huge story from @jasonkoebler.bsky.social and @josephcox.bsky.social this morning: www.404media.co/police-said-...

Police Said They Surveilled Woman Who Had an Abortion for Her 'Safety.' Court Records Show They Considered Charging Her With a Crime

Court records show that the narrative Flock and a Texas Sheriff's Office has told the public isn't the whole story, and that police were conducting a 'death investigation' into the abortion.

www.404media.co

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Reposted by Kriss Lowrance

Gilbert #NewDeal4Animation @discord12395.bsky.social · 5d

This is a warning to every artists and clients using PayPal: Leave the note blank or send invoices. Apparently even saying "commission" makes them trigger happy. #SaveSpeech #StopPaypros

And continue the pressure by calling PayPal. Helpful link here: anti-censorship-campaign.carrd.co#phonescript

@Inker_comics: I JUST GOT FUCKED UP REAL BAD [shared a screenshot of his suspension from PayPal]

@MrQuessos: [quote tweeting @Inker_comics] If you are going to pay an artist via PayPal, please DO NOT include ANYTHING related to commission or nsfw in the payment description. Whether out of ignorance or innocence, you could screw up someone's job.

Mastercard

Phone (US): 1-800-627-8372
1-800-307-7309
US option selection: 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 1
Phone (outside US): 1-636-722-7111
Aus: +61 1800 120 113
UK: 0-800-96-4767
All region numbers here (and here )

Stripe

California: 888-926-2289
US: 877-887-7815
France: +33 805-11-19-67

Paypal

Phone (US): 1-888-221-1161
Phone (outside US): 1-402-935-2050
UK: +44 (0203)-901-7000

Visa

Phone (US): 1-800-847-2911
US option selection: 1, 1, 2 or 1, 1, 3
Headquarters: +1 (650)-432-3200
Aus: +61 1800 125 440
Phone (outside US): click here

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Reposted by Kriss Lowrance

Mike Stabile @mikestabile.bsky.social · 1d

Discord confirms that government IDs used for age-verification were compromised in a hack with a vendor.

Who could have predicted?

Oh, right.

Discord users suffer the first high-profile age-verification hack – and it's unlikely to be the last

Critics of age verification laws warned this was inevitable

www.tomsguide.com

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Reposted by Kriss Lowrance

Preorder Read This When Things Fall Apart @mskellymhayes.bsky.social · 5d

We need a bigger national spotlight on this building raid, fam. Agents dropped from helicopters onto the roof. Citizens and non-citizens alike were dragged from their homes in the night. People who weren't kidnapped during the raid had their belongings seized after the fact. This is madness.

Preorder Read This When Things Fall Apart @mskellymhayes.bsky.social · 5d

"Jones, 27, is among the residents left at 7500 S. South Shore Drive who are trying to piece together what remains after an early morning, high-powered federal immigration raid led to the arrests of dozens of their neighbors at their South Shore apartment building."

Massive immigration raid on Chicago apartment building leaves residents reeling: 'I feel defeated'

The Department of Homeland Security said federal agents with Border Patrol, the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives arrested 37 people in the raid.

chicago.suntimes.com

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Moira Donegan @moiradonegan.bsky.social · 4d

Do you ever feel overwhelmed by the enormity of the atonement that will be required of us?

Aura Bogado @aurabogado.bsky.social · 5d

Shelters that house unaccompanied minors are bracing for "Freaky Friday," the start of an ICE operation that will first issue letters to children, seeking to pressure them to return to the countries they've fled in exchange for a cash payment. If they decline, their parents will be targeted by ICE.

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Kriss Lowrance @krisslowrance.bsky.social · 4d

People should be just as pissed about this as Kimmel.

Reuters @reuters.com · 5d

Apple removes ICE tracking apps after pressure by Trump administration reut.rs/4mIfztt

Apple removes ICE tracking apps after pressure by Trump administration

Apple said on Thursday that it had removed ICEBlock, the most popular ICE-tracking app, and other similar apps from its App Store after it was contacted by President Donald Trump's administration.

reut.rs

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Reposted by Kriss Lowrance

Open Measures @openmeasures.bsky.social · 5d

American Eagle was dragged into an online outrage cycle after conservative media figures claimed that liberals were offended by the clothing company's ads featuring Sydney Sweeney and a denim-themed pun about her "great jeans."

We checked the data. That wasn't true.

openmeasures.io/american-eag...

Outrage Over American Eagle’s ‘Great Jeans’ Ad Was a Conservative Media Creation - Open Measures

Open Measures builds accessible and transparent products to contextualize the spread of harmful online information that impacts public discourse and global events.

openmeasures.io

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Reposted by Kriss Lowrance

Mike Masnick @mmasnick.bsky.social · 5d

Remembering how the media reported that the Trump campaign not only denied intent to follow Project 2025, but insisted that anyone associated would be barred from the administration.

@politico.com had a big piece about it.

Shipwreck @shipwreck75.bsky.social · 6d

President Trump says he is meeting today with Russ Vought, OMB director and "of PROJECT 2025 Fame," to discuss cuts to "Democrat Agencies."

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Kriss Lowrance @krisslowrance.bsky.social · 5d

Wouldn't know. I can't afford to go the ER.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 6d

Vance: "If you're an American citizen & you've been to the hospital in the last few years, you've probably noticed wait times are especially large & very often somebody who's there in the ER is an illegal alien. Why do those people get healthcare benefits at hospitals paid for by American citizens?"

Reposted by Kriss Lowrance

Plenary Popehat Power @kenwhite.bsky.social · 6d

Every few months now I re-read this "Who Goes Nazi?" piece from 1941 and am blown away by how it captures the people we are dealing with 80 years later.

harpers.org/archive/1941...

Who Goes Nazi?, by Dorothy Thompson

harpers.org

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Reposted by Kriss Lowrance

Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock @warnock.senate.gov · 6d

I was sent this by a Georgian this morning. 2025 premiums vs 2026 premiums for someone making $65k a year.

Republicans in Washington did this.

This is what I'm fighting to stop. This is what’s at stake in this shutdown fight.

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Reposted by Kriss Lowrance

Joshua J. Friedman @joshuajfriedman.com · 6d

One of my favorite anecdotes from THE PREHISTORY OF THE FAR SIDE: "That doesn't sound like the Jane Goodall we know."

A few days after this cartoon was published, my syndicate received a very indignant letter from someone representing the Jane Goodall Institute.
Not only did my syndicate and I both get read the Riot Act, there was a vague implication that litigation over this cartoon might be around the corner.
I was horrified. Not so much from a fear of being sued (I just couldn't see how this cartoon could be construed as anything but silly, but because of my deep respect for Jane Goodall and her well-known contributions to pri-matology. The last thing in the world I would have intentionally done was offend Dr. Goodall in any way.
Before I had a chance to write my apology, another complication arose.
The National Geographic Society contacted my syndicate and expressed a

desire to reprint the cartoon in a special centennial issue of their magazine. My editor, aware of what had just occurred, declined, explaining why.
Apparently, whoever it was that sent the inquiry from National Geographic was shocked. They told my editor that "that doesn't sound like the Jane Goodall we know." They did some checking themselves, and an interesting fact was eventually discovered: Jane Goodall loved the cartoon. Furthermore, she was totally unaware that any of this "stuff" was going on. Some phone calls were made, and the cartoon was not only reprinted in the centennial issue of National Geographic, but was also used by her Institute on a T-shirt for fund-raising purposes.
I've since had an opportunity to visit Dr. Goodall at her research facility in Gombe. It's a wonderful place (sort of like right out of National Geographic).
"To refer to Dr. Goodall as a tramp is inexcusable even by a self-described 'loony' as Larson. The cartoon was incredibly offensive and in such poor taste that readers might well question the editorial judgment of running such an atrocity in a newspaper that reputes to be supplying news to persons with a better than average intelligence. The cartoon and its message were absolutely stupid." —Excerpt from the above-mentioned letter that started the ruckus

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Reposted by Kriss Lowrance

Magic: The Gathering @magic.wizards.com · 6d

Wizards of the Coast is hosting a Twitch stream to support Trans Lifeline, a hotline and non-profit organization offering direct support to trans people in crisis – for the trans community, by the trans community.

Tune in to twitch.tv/magic on Oct 4th at 10am PT to play games with us and support!

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Kriss Lowrance @krisslowrance.bsky.social · 6d

Bwhahahaha

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Kriss Lowrance @krisslowrance.bsky.social · 6d

I wish I had always been dead.

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Kriss Lowrance @krisslowrance.bsky.social · 6d

"Holes define who we are and where we are going"

Willow @rockshrimp.bsky.social · 6d

what's the stupidest/randomest Simpsons quote that lives in your head rent free? Mine is the urge to say "you said go to bread" every time I am about to head to bed.

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Reposted by Kriss Lowrance

Charlie Warzel @cwarzel.bsky.social · 6d

feels like we're living through some kind of cultural gas leak

The Verge @theverge.com · 9d

Microsoft launches ‘vibe working’ in Excel and Word

Vibe working is all about Office’s new Agent Mode.

buff.ly

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Kriss Lowrance @krisslowrance.bsky.social · 6d

I've written and deleted like 5 different responses to this, but it boils down to "Fuckin' YIKES"

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Kriss Lowrance @krisslowrance.bsky.social · 7d

Also worth noting: One of CCBill's postback servers is in Arizona.

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Kriss Lowrance @krisslowrance.bsky.social · 7d

Since someone is SURE to say this: Yes, it is technically possible to check the user-agent string and compare that to known lists of search engine crawler user-agent strings, or IPs, etc. and then white list them. It's also a pain in the ass to do and maintain, since those are variables that change.

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Kriss Lowrance @krisslowrance.bsky.social · 7d

Is it a little annoying to turn on a VPN and connect to a server in Canada before hhhwappin' it? Yes. It's also a little annoying to open up a condom and roll it on, but if you refuse to do so when asked I'm allowed to kick you off a moving train.

I think. Haven't asked a lawyer about that last bit

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Kriss Lowrance @krisslowrance.bsky.social · 7d

Are we at a point where I can react to "I don't want to use a VPN" the same way I react to "I don't want to use a condom" yet?

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Kriss Lowrance @krisslowrance.bsky.social · 7d

This is my funny way of saying "you can accidentally pull your own site off Google because a server farm in Arizona got redirected to your Age Verification service."

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Kriss Lowrance @krisslowrance.bsky.social · 7d

A fun thing about doing "age verification" on a region-by-region basis, which is the only way to successfully comply with any given state's AV law, is this: Bots, like the kind Google uses to make your site Googleable, also exist in physical space but, notably, don't have a face and cannot drive.

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Reposted by Kriss Lowrance

Mike Stabile @mikestabile.bsky.social · 7d

The Governor of North Dakota knows the age-verification law he signed doesn't work. He doesn't care.

Porn is still easily accessible online, including to minors. Meanwhile, North Dakotans trying to access Bluesky are forced to show their papers.

But you don't have to take my word for it. Armstrong himself acknowledged that the law isn't working.

"I think the real criticism of that law isn't whether you should be able to do it. I think you should have to, you should be able to prove you're 18 before you can view your porn," he said. "The real criticism of the law is it's almost impossible to effectively implement it because of the vastness."

"Sure, Pornhub's not on in North Dakota right now. That doesn't mean 700 other sites aren't," he continued.

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