Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Nicole Pagowsky

Truthout @truthout.org · 13h

Nine former tenants announced their joint refusal to pay back what the Debt Collective calls “immoral sums” of “illegally held” back rent demanded by Equity Residential, the fifth-largest landlord in the United States.

Tenants Launch US’s First Ever Rent Debt Strike Against Corporate Landlord

Nine tenants organized by the Debt Collective are refusing to pay back rent, hoping to inspire others to do the same.

truthout.org

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videotroph @videotroph.bsky.social · 19h

SCOOP: Apple Quietly Made ICE Agents a Protected Class

Internal emails show tech giant used anti-hate-speech rules meant for minorities to block an app documenting immigration enforcement.

migrantinsider.com

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Roland Meyer @bildoperationen.bsky.social · 2d

So-called #genAI means the abolition of the future through the proliferation of endless streams of stochastically rendered generic pasts. Having turned large parts of the cultural archive into training data, it now traps us in a foreverized pastness, a 24/7 nostalgia for a past that never existed

QuoProQuid @quoproquid.bsky.social · 2d

have just come across a YouTube account that has been using Sora to upload reels of fake, AI-generated “90s sitcoms” every few hours

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Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 2d

“.. On closer inspection, however, it turned out that the image was not a photograph of a real event in Portland, but instead a fabrication created by combining two photographs of scenes that unfolded in South America nearly a decade apart ..”

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

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Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 4d

Trey Reed, a student at Delta State University in Mississippi, was found hanging from a noose. Mississippi police ruled the death a suicide. Now an autopsy reportedly concludes that he suffered extensive blunt force trauma across his body before he died, meaning he was beaten before he was lynched.

Kaepernick-Funded Autopsy Reportedly Finds Trey Reed Didn’t Die by Suicide — Family Attorney Ben Crump Hasn’t Confirmed

According to a source who isn't authorized to comment publicly, the autopsy of Trey Reed reveals that his death was not caused by a suicide.

www.blackenterprise.com

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Walker Bragman @walkerbragman.bsky.social · 4d

This is outrageous.

For so much of the world, including for many, many American Jews, Israel has completely and forever lost its credibility.

Not only does the genocide need to end, but Netanyahu and others need to face human rights prosecution and the apartheid must be abolished.

Paul T. Levin @paultlevin.bsky.social · 4d

““They dragged little Greta [Thunberg] by her hair before our eyes, beat her, and forced her to kiss the Israeli flag. They did everything imaginable to her, as a warning to others,” the Turkish activist ErsinÇelik, a participant in the Sumud flotilla, told Anadolu news agency.”+

Israel accused of detaining Greta Thunberg in infested cell and making her hold flags

Activist tells Swedish officials she has been subjected to harsh treatment, including insufficient food and water

www.theguardian.com

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Wagatwe Wanjuki @wagatwe.com · 4d

wild to see a Western president say this after listening to scholars say this for over a decade lol

Justin Hendrix @justinhendrix.bsky.social · 5d

Macron remarks are notable- some quotes: "We have been incredibly naive in entrusting our democratic space to social networks that are controlled either by large American entrepreneurs or large Chinese companies, whose interests are not at all the survival or proper functioning of our democracies."

Defend Democracy @defenddemocracy.bsky.social · 5d

President Macron: “Europeans, let's wake up!

We have been incredibly naive in entrusting our democratic space to social networks.”

defenddemocracy.eu/macron-democ...

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David Graeber Institute @davidgraeberinst.bsky.social · 4d

17th October.

Talk with Michael Hudson, Steve Keen and Ann Pettifor about Debt, Empire and the Future.

It will be streamed on our Youtube channel.

More info here: davidgraeber.institute/debt-empire-...

Debt, Empire, and the Future: Dialogue with Michael Hudson, Steve Keen and Ann Pettifor

David Graeber Institute On October 17th, 2025 Michael Hudson will be joined by Steve Keen and Ann Pettifor as part of our ongoing dialogues on Debt, Empire and the

davidgraeber.institute

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Reposted by Nicole Pagowsky

Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 5d

Journalism, the job where when someone powerful lies you describe it as "not strictly true" because describing facts would be bias bsky.app/profile/atru...

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 5d

DOKOUPIL: Republicans says what you're really fighting for is taxpayer dollars for illegal aliens. I know that's not strictly true--

ELIZABETH WARREN: Excuse me, not strictly true? It is a flat out lie!

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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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Tim Onion @bencollins.bsky.social · 5d

Famous words of many Nobel Peace Prize winners.

FinTwitter @fintwitter.bsky.social · 5d

🚨 TRUMP: IF THIS LAST CHANCE AGREEMENT IS NOT REACHED, ALL HELL, LIKE NO ONE HAS EVER SEEN BEFORE, WILL BREAK OUT AGAINST HAMAS.

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doctor eek [free link arc] (alt decorative gourd season) @absolutely-not.bsky.social · 6d

i looked at the methodology for this and it is
a. sex addiction counseling group in texas did a surveymonkey and extrapolated the results to the entire us population which is the sort of research design that earns you an ff on an intro methods class (the extra f is for extra effort), and
b. p-hacked

The Independent @the-independent.com · 6d

Nearly a third of Americans have had a ‘romantic relationship’ with an AI bot, new survey says

1 in 3 Americans have had a ‘romantic relationship’ with an AI bot, new survey says

www.independent.co.uk

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Nicole Pagowsky @nope4evr.bsky.social · 6d

“No self-respecting university should sign on to this proposed compact,” said state Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi (D-Torrance), who chairs the Assembly Education Committee. “Universities will never be able to live down a reputation of selling out…”

Liz Neeley @lizneeley.bsky.social · 6d

The press release is really something www.latimes.com/california/s...

Newsom threatens to cut state funding to universities that sign Trump’s political compact

The White House is asking nine major universities, including USC, to commit to President Trump’s political priorities in exchange for more favorable access to federal money.

www.latimes.com

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Nicole Pagowsky @nope4evr.bsky.social · 6d

Oh cool, we just had a bunch of these installed throughout campus and around town

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 6d

What could go wrong.

Flock’s Gunshot Detection Microphones Will Start Listening for Human Voices

Flock Safety, the police technology company most notable for their extensive network of automated license plate readers spread throughout the United States, is rolling out a new and troubling product ...

www.eff.org

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Arizona Luminaria @azluminaria.org · 6d

The memo asks the UA and the other colleges to commit to a series of policies to get preferential access to federal funds

UA among 9 schools asked to sign "compact" by Trump administration - AZ Luminaria

The Trump administration is offering nine prominent U.S. universities preferential access to federal funds if they pledge to take a series of steps that align with the Republican administration’s goal...

azluminaria.org

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Nicole Pagowsky @nope4evr.bsky.social · 6d

Fascinating re American Eagle "outrage," as it seemed astroturfed on social media. Supposed outcry was strange and laughable

Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 6d

Cracker Barrel American Eagle War on Christmas: the right needs us to loathe them because that's central to their identity and operations, and if we don't they'll just fabricate it. Not news, but here's a new case of that:

Open Measures @openmeasures.bsky.social · 6d

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...

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Nicole Pagowsky @nope4evr.bsky.social · 6d

Do LibGuides rile you up and/or make you want to take a nap? Our article was published in the Sept issue of C&RL: Effectiveness of academic library research guides for building college students’ information literacy skills: A scoping review,
DeFrain, Sult, & Pagowsky crl.acrl.org/index.php/cr...

Effectiveness of Academic Library Research Guides for Building College Students’ Information Literacy Skills: A Scoping Review | DeFrain | College & Research Libraries

Effectiveness of Academic Library Research Guides for Building College Students’ Information Literacy Skills: A Scoping Review

crl.acrl.org

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Salomé Viljoen @salome.bsky.social · 6d

This administration is extorting universities to sign away academic freedom -- nothing meritocratic or "small government" about it www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/u...

Trump Administration Asks Colleges to Sign ‘Compact’ to Get Funding Preference

www.nytimes.com

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Adam "I Was Hoping We Could Keep It" Laats @adamlaats.bsky.social · 9d

Here's a gift link so you can read this fantastic column by @pastpunditry.bsky.social:

Dr. Hemmer nails it: "the modern right in America *emerged* as a censorious movement."

So true--you can see the pattern everywhere--here are a couple more examples: 🧵

Opinion | The Right Didn’t Catch Cancel Culture From the Left

www.nytimes.com

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Temu Tisha Campbell @thatgirlbamz.bsky.social · 8d

People tend to look at my criticisms towards AI as if I am scared of a big monster. As if I’m scared of the growth of technology. No, I love technology. I love learning and understanding it what I don’t like is capitalism cloaked in the idea of innovation.

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Hearing Things @hearingthingsco.bsky.social · 10d

“It can be a little scary,” Hotline TNT frontman Will Anderson says of taking his music off Spotify, “but one of the things we’re trying to do is illustrate that it might not be as scary as you think.”

So You Want to Remove Your Music From Spotify

Artists and labels on the realities of taking their work off the world’s biggest—and most maligned—music streaming service.

www.hearingthings.co

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Mike Sacks @mikesacks.bsky.social · 11d

This rules - @raskin.house.gov straight up called out Roberts to his face.

democrats-judiciary.house.gov/media-center...

Ranking Member Jamie Raskin
Prepared Remarks for the Judicial Conference
September 16, 2025
Thank you, Chief Justice Roberts, for the invitation.
Forgive my directness here but the times are serious, as you know, our time is short. I have just five minutes and don't want to trespass on Senator Cruz's time.
Sometimes these days I feel as if all the foundational principles are being trampled and lost.
Often, I hear my colleagues in the House, and these are fellow Democrats, get up to protest some Executive usurpation of legislative power and they begin their lament with the plaintive cry, "We are a coequal branch of government..."
And I always feel they have lost the argument right there just by repeating that fifth-grade dogma.
First of all, co-equal is not even a word. It's an embarrassing redundancy like "very unique" or
"irregardless.
"

But there's a reason all legislative power is vested in the Congress and there's a reason it's in Article I.
The Founders had a revolution against monarchy and its constant assaults on liberty. In America, the Framers determined, only the representatives of the people would have power to declare wars, pass budgets, impose taxes and tariffs, and so on. Article lis pages and pages of all the powers vested in Congress. Then you get to Article Il, which is tiny.
The key paragraph says a president shall be removed from office upon impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery and other high crimes and misdemeanors. If we are co-equal, why do we have the power to impeach, try, convict, remove and permanently disqualify the president and he doesn't have the power to impeach, try, convict, remove and disqualify us?
The core job of the president is plain: "To Take care that the laws are faithfully executed."
That's it. Not abused, not thwarted, not impounded, not redirected, but faithfully executed.
A lot of the cases entering the federal courts are variations on this theme.

Here's the remarkable thing: Americans have brought over 300 cases in federal district courts against the Administration so far for usurping legislative powers, defying federal laws, or violating the rights of the people. This summer, researchers found that plaintiffs were winning an astonishing 77% of the cases in the district courts. Moreover, they found that President Trump was losing about equally before Republican-appointed judges (72%) and Democratic-appointed judges (80%).
The numbers in the federal circuit courts of appeal are similar, with plaintiffs against the Administration winning overwhelmingly and again without a sharp partisan valence to the appeals courts' voting. A good example is the birthright citizenship case where four district court judges, two appointed by Republican presidents and two appointed by Democratic presidents, all struck down the President's purported negation of birthright citizenship. Then, on appeal, three circuit courts again all ruled against the Administration.
But everything is flipped when the cases come to the Supreme Court.

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Matthew @dlthings.bsky.social · 11d

# of paragraphs for news orgs to mention there's no discernable need to deploy troops to Portland, Oregon

The Guardian: 1st paragraph
BBC: 4th paragraph
AP: 5th paragraph
Time: 6th paragraph
Politico: 8th paragraph
NPR: 9th paragraph
CNN: 10th paragraph
NBC: 12th paragraph
Fox News: never mentions

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Mike "looking for research fellowship" Caulfield @mikecaulfield.bsky.social · 12d

The main reason I am not on X is I know enough about this stuff to know however immune one thinks they are to information ops, propaganda, and algorithmic manipulation it has an impact on the way you see the world. Even when you think you're kicking against it, you're dancing to their tune.

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 12d

🤷🏿‍♂️

Cracker Barrel Outrage Was Almost Certainly Driven by Bots, Researchers Say

Doesn't that make more sense than lots of people caring about Cracker Barrel?

gizmodo.com

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Micah @rincewind.run · 12d

this needs to be hammered into the skulls of every elite individual and institution

on every measure - reputationally, financially, morally - you come out better if you fight the guy

stand up! it’s the right thing to do and better for you in every way! how often does that happen?

Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 12d

A pattern is developing where everyone who fights back against a Trump attack inevitably wins with their reputation much better than before, and everyone who caves to him looks like shit and has Trump coming back for more a month later.

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