Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

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Jessica Kant @jessdkant.bsky.social · 1d

I wasn’t prepared for most of today’s WH “round table” but I was *most* not prepared for the allegation that there is a secret cabal of homelessness and housing nonprofits who fund leftist “muscle”

Closed captioning: embedded contestion with the
homeless, housing nonprofit

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Richard M. Carpiano, PhD, MPH @rmcarpiano.medsky.social · 2h

RFK Jr.'s confirmation bias strikes again...

FYI: US circumcision rates declining for decades (1 example here) while autism prevalence has increased (likely bc of diagnostic changes & ⬆️ surveillance). Plus, prior circum-autism findings highly problematic... 1/

Graph showing rates of circumcision performed on male newborn infants discharged from short-stay hospitals in the US 1979-2010. The line trends downward (and at points flat) from ~65% in 1979 to ~60% in 2010 and the trend since 2000 has gone from ~63% to ~60%.

Graph showing rise in autism prevalence per 1000 children in US among boys and girls from 2002 to 2022. Trend for boys is higher at 2002 and shows stronger increase over entire period (from ~11% to ~50%) than does the trend for girls (<5% to just under 15%).

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Jessica Kant @jessdkant.bsky.social · 1h

Before public health, my initial training was as a trauma therapist. When I first heard about people doing this it made me genuinely scared. A machine can’t co-regulate with you, it can’t track your affect; it has no way of knowing when you’ve gone past your limit or how to avoid imposing meaning.

Mockingbird, MPH, CHES @amockingbird.bsky.social · 1h

I had dinner last night with a friend who was talking about using ChatGPT to write and process her trauma, and how it was making connections she hadn’t realized. She’s very smart, and has psychosis and DID. And I have no fucking clue how to warn her away from it, it’s everywhere, so it must be safe?

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Paul Konstant @progpk.bsky.social · 52m

@unroll.skywriter.blue unroll please

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Paul Konstant @progpk.bsky.social · 53m

@unroll.skywriter.blue unroll please

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Reposted by Paul Konstant

Costa Samaras @costasamaras.com · 1h

Picture how big the Hoover Dam is. An absolute unit. The Hoover Dam has a power capacity of 2 gigawatts (GW).

The solar farm that the Admin just cancelled could have produces 6.2 GW of power. That's more than 3 Hoover Dams.

jael holzman @jael.bsky.social · 1h

SCOOP: The Bureau of Land Management says the largest solar project in Nevada — the Esmeralda 7 mega-farm — has been canceled

The news was quietly dropped via a sudden website update with no public word from any of the companies involved or a statement from the agency

@heatmap.news

Esmeralda 7 Solar Project Has Been Canceled, BLM Says

It would have delivered a gargantuan 6.2 gigawatts of power.

heatmap.news

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michele collins @michelecollins5411.bsky.social · 15h

www.brusselstimes.com/eu-affairs/1...

Hungary's Viktor Orbán alleged to be spying on EU institutions

The operation allegedly began a decade ago, as tensions escalated between Orbán’s government and the European Commission.

www.brusselstimes.com

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Olga Nesterova @onestpress.onestnetwork.com · 15h

Bombshell investigation shows that Hungary's Russia-alligned Orban regime has been running an espionage network in Brussels, recruiting and infiltrating among the highest levels of foreign governments.

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The New Republic @newrepublic.com · 15h

“We took the freedom of speech away,” President Trump boasted in his opening remarks at his “antifa roundtable” Wednesday.

It was a jarring admission—perhaps a Freudian slip—from a president who is, indeed, evidently intent on eliminating free speech. trib.al/6RZEOqc

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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 15h

But did we avoid dismantling core functions of the federal government? No.

But did we avoid killing millions of people by destroying USAID? Also no.

But did we at least avoid violating all kinds of federal laws & the constitution by letting random guys off the streets do this? Alas, also no.

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 16h

Did DOGE save us $2 trillion?

“Not even close. .. Total spending excluding interest rose $220 billion, or 4%, for the entire fiscal year.” 🤡

@wsj.com
www.wsj.com/economy/tari...

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Dr. Émile P. Torres @xriskology.bsky.social · 15h

Most of us know about Silicon Valley pronatalism--people like Musk having as many kids as possible. But did you know that a peculiar kind of *antinatalism* is also becoming popular in the Valley? In this article, I name the phenomenon: replacement antinatalism. Read below:

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Thomas Zimmer @thomaszimmer.bsky.social · 17h

We need to talk about Russell Vought – But Properly

Why certain mainstream outlets insist on sanitizing Vought as a devout “small government” conservative – and what actually animates his war against pluralistic democracy.

New piece:

We need to talk about Russell Vought – But Properly

Why certain mainstream outlets insist on sanitizing Vought as a devout “small government” conservative – and what actually animates his war against pluralistic democracy

steady.page

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Mother Jones @motherjones.com · 17h

Masked agents snatching people at work, church, their child’s daycare. A return of family separations. States are lining up to run their own detention centers.

Anti-immigrant animus is now being paired with unprecedented funding, manpower, and technology.

We report from inside the American gulag.

American Gulag

The brutal rollout of Trump's police state.

www.motherjones.com

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Mark Bray @mark-bray.bsky.social · 1d

“Someone” cancelled my family’s flight out of the country at the last second.

We got our boarding passes. We checked our bags. Went through security. Then at our gate our reservation ‘disappeared.’

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 1d

Probably just a coincidence, but I had tickets cancelled for an international flight on Friday, after I checked in. Airline said the ticket had been flagged for potential fraud and cancelled. My hosts who bought the ticket purchased it again the next day, and I was able to travel w/o a problem.

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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 1d

Bray is a historian at Rutgers who received death threats after landing on Turning Points USA's Professor Watchlist. As a result, he announced he was moving to Europe. And then this happened.

This kind of harassment and abuse of scholars is Charlie Kirk's legacy and it's only getting worse.

Mark Bray @mark-bray.bsky.social · 1d

“Someone” cancelled my family’s flight out of the country at the last second.

We got our boarding passes. We checked our bags. Went through security. Then at our gate our reservation ‘disappeared.’

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Quinta Jurecic @qjurecic.bsky.social · 1d

I wrote legal editorials for the Post for a hot minute many years ago, and I was constantly anxious about making sure I got the details right. This editorial is just humiliating for everyone involved

Philip Bump @pbump.com · 1d

I spent more than a decade at The Post. It was good to me and I was proud to work there. I’ve largely refrained from being critical since I left. But this framing of the special counsel probe is embarrassing and flatly wrong. Stunning, but not. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

Opinion | Jack Smith’s lawfare and James Comey’s arraignment on pathetically weak charges

Good people will be deterred from public service if they see a meaningful risk of winding up in jail afterward.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Will Bunch @willbunch.bsky.social · 17h

Senator whose wife is from South America votes to murder South Americans

The Intercept @theintercept.com · 17h

Republican Senators, with an assist from Sen. John Fetterman, voted down an attempt to block the Trump administration’s missile strikes on alleged Venezuelan drug boats. interc.pt/4o9CBur

A photo of Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., sits on the steps of the U.S. Capitol on Oct. 1, 2025, in Washington, overlaid with the headline, "Fetterman Is Sole Democrat to Vote Against Blocking Caribbean Drug Boat Attacks," and the DEK, "It was the first time members of Congress were put on record about whether they supported or opposed the president’s war in the Caribbean."

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Matthew Gertz @mattgertz.bsky.social · 17h

In which the editorial board of the Washington Post effectively endorses President Nixon's claim that "when the president does it, that means it is not illegal."

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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 19h

Annals in sane-washing. When I checked NYT, WSJ, Politico, and WaPo for a story abt how Trump invited PizzaGate guy to the White House and declared an end to the First Amendment, this single story that mentioned it was on top of WaPo. Now it's buried.

www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

A story headlined, Trump builds case for deploying National Guard to Chicago, Portland The president said he would pursue designating antifa a "foreign terrorist organization" and called for Democratic officials in Chicago to be jailed.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday looked to bolster his public case for deploying the National Guard to Chicago and Portland, Oregon, cities where he claims Democrat politicians have failed to protect journalists and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from people whom he sees as left-wing domestic terrorists.

Trump said during a televised meeting at the White House that he would pursue designating antifa as a “foreign terrorist organization” — a label that would allow for key financial and legal penalties because foreign entities are not protected by the First Amendment. Proponents of antifa — a political protest movement composed of unaffiliated groups — militantly oppose fascism, right-wing ideologies and are often anti-capitalist or anti-state.

Trump also repeated a call he had made earlier in the day for Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, both Democrats, to be jailed, accusing them without evidence of “failing to protect” ICE officers who have been sent to the city.

His statements and other remarks given by top aides during a 2½-hour event laid out a legal and moral case for the administration’s push to send National Guard troops into U.S. cities. Designated foreign terrorist groups can face financial sanctions imposed by the Treasury Department. The Justice Department can prosecute supporters under enhanced charges of providing “material support” to a terrorist group.

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Mueller, She Wrote @muellershewrote.com · 1d

Merrick Garland green-lit the search of Mar-a-Lago. It happened in August 2022 three months before Jack Smith was appointed. Jack Smith was in the Netherlands at the Hauge prosecuting Kosovo war crimes when Mar-a-Lago was searched. Eric should have listened to my podcast.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Eric Trump accuses Jack Smith of "planting classified documents at Mar-a-Lago"

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Josh Sternberg @joshsternberg.com · 1d

It truly is. From eliminating USAID and the amount of lives that will kill/upend, to the ongoing support of Netanyahu, to global game of economic chicken he’s playing with tariffs that will puts downward pressure on all of us… all wrapped around your four big threats. Not great!

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badivad.bsky.social @badivad.bsky.social · 1d

Destroying USAID has already killed over 540,000 people, mostly children.
www.impactcounter.com/dashboard?vi...

Impact Dashboard - Impact Counter | Impact Counter

Visualize the human impact of funding changes for aid and support organizations.

www.impactcounter.com

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David M. Perry @lollardfish.bsky.social · 1d

I really believe that huge majorities of Americans don’t want masked soldiers shooting priests in the street. They don’t want naked children ripped out out of their apartments in the middle of the night and handcuffed. We win by making sure these stories get told.

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 1d

The same people who insisted devout Catholic Joe Biden was leading a “war on Christianity” are now cheering Trump on as his armed goons assault clergymen.

The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 1d

WATCH: Trump’s lawless Ice goons shoot an unarmed priest in the head with a pepper ball. Completely out of control.

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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 1d

It's clear by now that the Democrats won't press this case as aggressively as it needs to be pressed, and the media won't do that unless they have Democrats' quotes to use as a springboard either.

They won't do this work, so it's even more important that we circulate these stories ourselves.

David M. Perry @lollardfish.bsky.social · 1d

I really believe that huge majorities of Americans don’t want masked soldiers shooting priests in the street. They don’t want naked children ripped out out of their apartments in the middle of the night and handcuffed. We win by making sure these stories get told.

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 1d

The same people who insisted devout Catholic Joe Biden was leading a “war on Christianity” are now cheering Trump on as his armed goons assault clergymen.

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