Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

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Rhiannon Giddens @rhiannongiddens.bsky.social · 16h

So glad y'all liked that last video with Seckou! Here’s one with Francesco Turrisi on percussion and an original song by Seckou Keita just for our tour!

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Amanda Katz @katzish.bsky.social · 19h

Horrific reporting from the AP on the Myanmar families watching their kids starve to death from Trump and Musk’s aid cuts apnews.com/article/myan...

Starving children screaming for food as US aid cuts unleash devastation and death across Myanmar

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has repeatedly said “no one has died" because of his government’s decision to gut its foreign aid program.

apnews.com

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Josh Marshall @joshtpm.bsky.social · 18h

I’ve been worried a lot that this is right. Gold is skyrocketing in value because the world is losing faith in the role of US as guarantor/backstop of global economy open.substack.com/pub/paulkrug...

Ingots We Trust

Are soaring gold prices telling us something important?

open.substack.com

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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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Gravel Influencer @gravelinfluencer.bsky.social · 1d

"Since this new administration took office, the unemployment rate for people with disabilities has increased at triple the normal rate of unemployment."

Julia Métraux @juliametraux.bsky.social · 1d

For National Disability Employment Awareness Month at @motherjones.com, I spoke to four disabled federal workers who were laid off about how their old jobs were very accessible—and what the federal government loses out on by having fewer disabled employees. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

The human costs of Trump's war on government

For many disabled workers, federal jobs were decent, human, and accommodating: everything the president hates.

www.motherjones.com

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Mara @mauratwit.bsky.social · 1d

If you’re a Wells Fargo customer, maybe you shouldn’t be.

flipinidaho @flipinidaho.bsky.social · 1d

southsideweekly.com/federal-agen...

The building is in a 27 million dollar foreclosure filed by Wells Fargo. The next day, Wells Fargo filed an emergency motion for receivership. The fascist regime kindly emptied the building for donor Wells Fargo.

Federal Agents Storm South Shore Building, Detaining Families and Children

Families were woken by flashbangs and helicopters as hundreds of federal agents raided their homes. Days later, neighbors are still searching for the missing.

southsideweekly.com

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Joshua Erlich @joshuaerlich.bsky.social · 1d

specifically, a functional CFPB

this is predatory lending like any other

Mrs. Detective PikaBOO, Esq. @clapifyoulikeme.favrd.social · 1d

A functional government that cared about its citizens would do something to address this exploding problem (gift link)
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/07/m...

They Got to Live a Life of Luxury. Then Came the Fine Print.

www.nytimes.com

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Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 1d

“.. Lower population growth as the president presses ahead with mass deportations will knock between 0.5 and one percentage points off America’s GDP growth between mid-2025 and mid-2026, according to S&P Global Ratings.”

@telegraphnews.bsky.social
www.telegraph.co.uk/business/202...

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Rabih Alameddine @rabihalameddine.bsky.social · 2d

A thread of photos

Rabih Alameddine @rabihalameddine.bsky.social · Jan 15

Ferenc Berko, Denture Shop, Rawalpindi, 1946

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Lora Kolodny @lorak.bsky.social · 2d

🧵

Kathleen Romig @kathleenromig.bsky.social · 2d

Alarming news this morning that Social Security head Frank Bisignano has been named “CEO” of IRS, a move that raises 3 major concerns:

www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

Bessent Picks Social Security Chief Frank Bisignano as IRS CEO

The Social Security head will do double duty at the tax agency while Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent retains his formal title as acting IRS commissioner.

www.wsj.com

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ashley fairbanks @ziibiing.com · 2d

this felt too informative not to share

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 2d

If I Ran the Media™
Fewer stories on:
—How Dems Need to Change Their Messaging
—How [event xx] Will Play w [voter bloc YY]
—How 2028 Field Is Shaping Up

More of:
—Which points of resistance are actually working
—What specifically GOP Reps/Sens are so afraid of
—Real-world tariff/immig effects
—ETC

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Chuck Wendig @chuckwendig.bsky.social · 2d

Love living on an island entirely built of a bloating bubble that, when it pops, will plunge us all into the deep

Justin Hendrix @justinhendrix.bsky.social · 2d

"The hundreds of billions of dollars companies are investing in AI now account for an astonishing 40 per cent share of US GDP growth this year... In a way, then, America has become one big bet on AI."

America is now one big bet on AI

It’s seen as the magic fix for every threat to the US economy

www.ft.com

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Aatish Bhatia @aatishb.bsky.social · 2d

The number of international students arriving in the U.S. in August fell by 19 percent this year compared with last year — the largest decline on record outside of the pandemic.

Nearly 20 Percent Fewer International Students Traveled to the U.S. in August (Gift Article)

The data shows the steepest decline in August international student arrivals since the pandemic.

www.nytimes.com

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Stacy Surla @stsurla.bsky.social · 3d

Ian McKellen giving this speech www.williamlanday.com/2017/02/28/s...

Shakespeare’s speech on immigrants

www.williamlanday.com

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Penelope Wang @pennywriter.bsky.social · 3d

❤️ 🙏

KOJAMF🤘🖤🤘 @kojamf.bsky.social · 3d

Dr. Jane Goodall filmed an interview with Netflix in March 2025 that she understood would only be released after her death.

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Penelope Wang @pennywriter.bsky.social · 3d

Trump is preparing to eliminate age as a factor in Social Security disability claims. The change could cause hundreds of thousands of people to lose benefits. (gift link)
wapo.st/4qa8yoq

Trump plan would limit disability benefits for older Americans

Trump administration officials are considering eliminating age as a factor in deciding whether someone is capable of working.

wapo.st

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Mark Chadbourn @chadbourn.bsky.social · 4d

The US is now four months away from losing its measles elimination status.

1544 confirmed cases reported by the CDC.

Where is measles spreading? Here's what to know.

The country is four months away from possibly losing its measles elimination status.

www.nbcnews.com

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Penelope Wang @pennywriter.bsky.social · 4d

One way the "beautiful bill" does touch Medicare
open.substack.com/pub/retireme...

One way the "beautiful bill" does touch Medicare

Millions of poor seniors lost an easier path to help with costs

open.substack.com

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Angus Hervey @angushervey.com · 4d

Energy jobs are cleaning up.

Clean energy roles accounted for 82% of all new American energy jobs last year, expanding three times faster than the overall workforce. The growth underscores the sector’s rising role as an employment engine.

https://f.mtr.cool/kmcccrbsgg

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Monica Maalouf, MD @maaloufmd.bsky.social · 5d

Juan has recently been released. Without charge.

He was detained, all day in a cell, simply for standing at a protest.

Thank you everyone for your overwhelming support and thank you to my senators for your support.

I will post more tomorrow but need to be with family tonight 🙏

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David Hull 胡大衛 @hushuo.bsky.social · 4d

Every member of this administration is incompetent from top to bottom. Every policy is broken, illegal, just bribery, or all of the above. That the nation is still more or less standing is just momentum.

Bruno J. Navarro @brunojnavarro.bsky.social · 4d

According to a photo of a private text on the phone of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Argentina responded to the treasury secretary’s $20 billion bailout by turning around and removing its export taxes on soybeans and striking a huge new deal with China.

Leaked texts on Scott Bessent’s phone suggest the White House got played bailing out Argentina—and U.S. soybean farmers are the casualties

“This is highly unfortunate,” the text said. “Soy prices are dropping further because of it. This gives China more leverage on us.”

finance.yahoo.com

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Steve Herman @newsguy.bsky.social · 4d

One of the delights of working for the Voice of America in the Cohen Federal Building was the New Deal era frescoes and murals. Along with VOA and its staff, it now appears these treasured American works of art are to be a DOGE casualty. newrepublic.com/article/20120... #SaveVOA

There Was a Plan to Save These New Deal Masterpieces. Then Trump Won.

A feasibility study was underway about restoring the ailing federal building that houses important Ben Shahn frescoes, Philip Guston murals, and other FDR-era artwork. But the Trump administration put a stop to it.

newrepublic.com

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Eladio Bobadilla @eladiobobadilla.com · 5d

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Rabih Alameddine @rabihalameddine.bsky.social · 5d

Virna Haffer, Swirl, c. 1940

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