Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Matt Bellis

Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 37m

TFW when you realize you're about to fail the Lando test: "Harvard officials have since discussed internally the possibility of seeking additional assurances from the admin. that the university will not be subject to further demands once an agreement has been signed"

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/09/u...

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TracketPacer @tracketpacer.bsky.social · 1h

what happens if u cut 4 wires out of an ethernet cable & then plug it into yr PC

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Heather Cox Richardson (TDPR) @hcrichardson.bsky.social · 21m

20 paragraphs down in the NBC News story that broke the information that the administration is considering invoking the Insurrection Act is the report that Stephen Miller is driving the issue.

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Bob Cesca @bobcesca.bsky.social · 22m

From the memory hole: There was a hostage release and ceasefire deal in place by the Biden administration 10 months ago. It was allowed to expire in March, under Donald Trump, and now it's been revived and rebranded, with Donald taking full credit like always.

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Kat Abughazaleh @katmabu.bsky.social · 22h

I can’t believe I have to say this, but historically, masked men who kidnap families in the middle of the night are usually not the good guys.

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Robert “The Bobby Yaga” McNees @mcnees.bsky.social · 21h

Astronomer Ejnar Hertzsprung was born #OTD in 1873. 🧪 🔭

H-R diagram:

🔵 🟦 🟥
🔵 🟧
⚪️ 🟨
⚪️
🟡🟡
⚬ ⚬ 🟠🟠
⚬ ⚬ ⚬ 🔴
⚬ 🔴
⚫️

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NightMar on Hicks Street, Part 4: The Rabbit’s Revenge @histoftech.bsky.social · 1d

doomscroll break

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Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 1d

#WarRavagedPortland

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Melanie D’Arrigo @darrigomelanie.bsky.social · 1d

I feel like this photo of masked, armed men pepper spraying a pastor protecting his community is going to be a defining picture of this moment in America for a long, long time.

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Amy @lolennui.bsky.social · 1d

George Orwell’s Animal Crossing

Someone in a frog costume facing down a line of police in riot gear

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Randall Munroe @xkcd.com · 1d

Window Screen

xkcd.com/3151/

4-panel comic. (1) [person in front of window, shaped like a trapezoid with a curved top] This weekend, I had to make an oversized screen for a porch window. (2) [person sitting with hands on head surrounded by images of assorted equations and measurements] It involved countless tiny problems, each somehow way harder than it should be. Oblique angles. Curved edges. Noncoplanarity. (3) [person in front of window with screen on it, with building detritus strewn on the ground] ...I solved them all. I measured precisely. I did trigonometry. I made custom parts. And it fit *perfectly.* No gaps, no ripples. (4) [person typing at computer] I know that your foundation normally limits its purview to physics, medicine, peace, chemistry, and literature. However, if you review the attached photos showing how well the screen fits into the...

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Leah McElrath @leahmcelrath.bsky.social · 1d

Mark Bray and his family are being forced to move to Europe because of incitement by right-wing operatives because he wrote a book about antifascism.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Rutgers professor moving to Europe after threats over antifa accusations

Mark Bray says threats intensified after a Turning Point USA petition accused him of promoting political violence

www.theguardian.com

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Zohran Kwame Mamdani @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social · 2d

My statement on the two year anniversary of October 7, 2023.

“Two years ago today, Hamas carried out a horrific war crime, killing more than 1,100 Israelis and kidnapping 250 more. I mourn these lives and pray for the safe return of every hostage still held and for every family whose lives were torn apart by these atrocities.

In the aftermath of that day, Prime Minister Netanyahu and the Israeli government launched a genocidal war: adeath toll that now far exceeds 67,000; with the Israeli military bombing homes, hospitals, and schools into rubble. Every day in Gaza has become a place where grief itself has run out of language. I mourn these lives and pray for the families that have been shattered. Our government has been complicit through it all.

This must end. The occupation and apartheid must end. Peace must be pursued through diplomacy, not war crimes, and our government must act to end these atrocities and hold those responsible to account.

These last two years have demonstrated the very worst of humanity. We must answer it by modeling the very best: a relentless pursuit of our higher ideals and an unwavering commitment to universal human rights.”

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Matt Bellis @mattbellis.bsky.social · 2d

🤝 Pushing back on grifters and ghouls is a team effort.

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SNOLAB @snolabscience.bsky.social · 2d

Congratulations to John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret and John M. Martinis 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

The 2025 #NobelPrize in Physics was awarded this morning “for the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantisation in an electric circuit.”

Learn more: www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physi...

Nobel Prize in Physics 2025

The Nobel Prize in Physics 2025 was awarded to John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret and John M. Martinis “for the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantisation in an electri...

www.nobelprize.org

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Matt Bellis @mattbellis.bsky.social · 2d

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Megan Greenwell @greenwell.bsky.social · 2d

gotta say I don't think it's a great sign for society that the top editor of a major American news outlet thinks we're in a "fight for the West." (against WHOM, Bari?)

Julia Carrie Wong @joolia.bsky.social · 2d

bellissima

We're thrilled to announce that Anduril founder Palmer Luckey will join Bari Weiss live in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, October 8, at 7:00 p.m. for a conversation on the future of American power-and the fight for the West.
Tickets are LIVE- get them here!

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Ian Gordon @idgordon.bsky.social · 2d

If you'd like to delight in a side-by-side comparison, here's Bari Weiss' reported note to CBS staffers (left) and the one I cooked up on ChatGPT with a quickly dashed-off prompt (right). Looking forward to hearing from you in the days and weeks ahead!

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Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 2d

The NYC Bar has issued an opinion concluding that the Trump-ordered attacks on Venezuelan fishing boats constitute unlawful summary executions. This is a very big deal. And it explains why the DOD can't find lawyers to say the attacks are lawful. www.nycbar.org/press-releas...

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patrick @redford.bsky.social · 2d

I wrote about Bari Weiss as the grim future of mainstream media under billionaire control: defector.com/bari-weiss-s...

Bari Weiss Signs Huge Deal To Usher CBS News Into Its Vichy Era | Defector

On Monday, newly appointed Paramount CEO David Ellison announced that his company had acquired the Free Press, the smirking blood-and-soil blog founded and run by former New York Times hall monitor Ba...

defector.com

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Defector @defector.com · 3d

Bari Weiss signs huge deal to usher CBS News into its Vichy era: defector.com/bari-weiss-s...

Bari Weiss Signs Huge Deal To Usher CBS News Into Its Vichy Era | Defector

On Monday, newly appointed Paramount CEO David Ellison announced that his company had acquired the Free Press, the smirking blood-and-soil blog founded and run by former New York Times hall monitor…

defector.com

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Brandy Jensen @brandyjensen.bsky.social · 3d

“Even in the most generous reading—where her entire career and indeed life might reflect anything more than the cold calculus of a pure cynic who wants the approval and patronage of the world's richest and vainest reactionaries—Weiss's entire worldview is in the negative.”