Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Stuart Chambers, PhD @progstu.bsky.social · 18h

MAGA is a cult. It may not be the real Hitchens, but this hits all the right notes: youtu.be/cHkN9GUaFJU

The Greatest ROAST of MAGA Ever Made! (ft. Christopher Hitchens)

YouTube video by Christopher Hitchens Resurrected

youtu.be

Stuart Chambers, PhD @progstu.bsky.social · 22h

Why bother when AI can do all the heavy lifting.

Philipp Heimberger @heimbergecon.bsky.social · 1d

I fear that the decline of reading will have disastrous societal consequences.

Stuart Chambers, PhD @progstu.bsky.social · 22h

Bari Weiss proves you can get more than 15 minutes of fame.

Zeteo @zeteo.com · 22h

“[Bari Weiss] is uniquely unqualified to do this job… other than that, she's super pro-Israel.”

@mehdirhasan.bsky.social and @premthakker.bsky.social discuss the decision to appoint pro-Israel Bari Weiss as editor-in-chief of CBS News.

Watch the full discussion:
zeteo.com/p/dei-for-pr...

Stuart Chambers, PhD @progstu.bsky.social · 1d

Brilliant.

Miranda Yaver @mirandayaver.bsky.social · 1d

New Yorker cartoons nail it again.

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Stuart Chambers, PhD @progstu.bsky.social · 1d

Since fascists hate evidence, they rely on manufactured fantasies to sustain power.

George Takei @georgetakei.bsky.social · 1d

This is like planting evidence and then making an arrest.

The image is an X post by Acyn (@Acyn
) from 13 hours ago, quoting Pritzker: "He's saying that Chicago is a war zone. None of that is true. They're just making this up. And then what do they do? They fire tear gas and smoke grenades, and they make it look like it's a war zone." The post includes a screenshot from CNN's "State of the Union" showing two individuals discussing, with a chyron indicating DHS officers fired at a driver who rammed their vehicle, later determined to be someone trying to storm the Presidential Palace, as the South Caucasus Coalition.

Stuart Chambers, PhD @progstu.bsky.social · 2d

Colonizers have always defined those whom they wish to subjugate as lesser than.

Mondoweiss @mondoweiss.net · 2d

With at least half a million people still left in Gaza City, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz issued a "final warning" for residents to evacuate, saying those who remain will soon be regarded as “terrorists or terrorist supporters.” mondoweiss.net/2025/10/isra...

Israeli Defense Minister says half a million Palestinians in Gaza City will be considered ‘terrorists’ if they don’t evacuate

With at least half a million people still left in Gaza City, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz issued a “final warning” for residents to evacuate, saying those who remain will be regarded as…

mondoweiss.net

Stuart Chambers, PhD @progstu.bsky.social · 3d

As a brand, Bari Weiss is easy to market. Bothsidesing, culture war stoking, and feigning neutrality have been effective methods of garnering a large audience. Too bad hard truths get lost among all the distractions.

Dave Infante @dinfontay.com · 4d

“'The fact that we don't have money to pay journalists, but we have money to pay Bari Weiss between $100 and 200 million is indicative of what the Ellisons' true goal here is,' a network correspondent said. 'And it's not journalism.'"

CBS News staffers are ‘literally freaking out’ about Bari Weiss taking over newsroom

EXCLUSIVE: ‘People are using words like depressing and doomsday – feels like some sort of doomsday,’ one source told The Independent about the mood inside CBS News right now.

www.independent.co.uk

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Stuart Chambers, PhD @progstu.bsky.social · 4d

Charlie Kirk never pursued provisional truths in his entire life. He was a Christian apologist who used every logical fallacy in existence to justify his prejudices. He was just one in a long line of cafeteria Christians who sought to impose his moral worldview on others.

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Stuart Chambers, PhD @progstu.bsky.social · 5d

I would add the same applies to classes. Unless a provincial or federal law is broken, a professor can use any word, text, or idea when imparting knowledge, and administrators or other university lobby groups have no say in the matter.

Emmett Macfarlane 🇨🇦 @emmettmacfarlane.com · 5d

But some workplaces differ. Universities, for instance, have no business punishing faculty for lawful tweets, regardless of how 'controversial' they might.

Frances @frances2023.bsky.social · 5d

Not just political parties. All workplaces have a social media policy. When I worked, and was known to work for a certain employer, I couldn't tweet anything I wanted. If I didn't like that, I could quit working for that employer.

Stuart Chambers, PhD @progstu.bsky.social · 5d

Listening to conservative American news is like listening to grade 9 high school students punch down on the weakest students in their class.

Stuart Chambers, PhD @progstu.bsky.social · 5d

Never missed a shot since they were made available. My next is due in mid-November. Protect yourself and others.

Emmett Macfarlane 🇨🇦 @emmettmacfarlane.com · 5d

Find an indie pharmacy. Go get your shot. No restrictions, beyond what some pharmacists have invented in their heads.

yknot05 @yknot05.bsky.social · 5d

I'm getting conflicting info.
Was told +65 IF HEALTHY had to wait til end of Oct to book.
Yes/No?
Any confirmation of pricing?
You went thru AHS?
Thanks.

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Stuart Chambers, PhD @progstu.bsky.social · 5d

"hiring: radical centrist, polemicist, ideologue on Israel, substance is not a requirement; we'll take the first person with a pulse."

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Stuart Chambers, PhD @progstu.bsky.social · 5d

"Hiring: radical centrist, polemicist, ideologue on Israel, substance is not a requirement; we'll take the first person with a pulse."

Ida Bae Wells @nhannahjones.bsky.social · 5d

In case it wasn’t clear, the anti-DEI crusade has never been about merit. Zero news experience. Never been a reporter. Elevated to Editor in Chief of CBS News, one of the most storied news institutions in the nation. www.mediaite.com/media/news/p...

Paramount Officially Acquiring The Free Press and Making Bari Weiss CBS News Editor in Chief: Report

Paramount Skydance will be officially acquiring The Free Press and hiring its founder Bari Weiss as editor in chief of its CBS News division, with the deal to be announced this coming Monday, accordin...

www.mediaite.com

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Stuart Chambers, PhD @progstu.bsky.social · 7d

The thought of men like Johnson holding power is cringe-inducing.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 7d

STEPHANOPOULOS: Hold on a second. Answer the question. As Speaker, do you believe it's appropriate to use American cities as training grounds for the military, calling those people 'the enemy within'?

JOHNSON: I'm not comment on your characterization of what the president said.

S: Those are quotes

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Stuart Chambers, PhD @progstu.bsky.social · 7d

Led by Ben Shapiro, the latest crop of conservative provocateurs exploit the fears and insecurities of the voting populace, reinforcing their prejudices to gain more popularity. Now radical centrists, led by Bari Weiss, have joined the club under the guise of independence and common sense.

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Stuart Chambers, PhD @progstu.bsky.social · 7d

The MAGA crowd knows that Trump attempted to overthrow their democracy back January 2021. But they have to keep rationalizing it away rather than address their complicity in political violence.

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Stuart Chambers, PhD @progstu.bsky.social · 7d

What could wrong? A royal deceiver and a narcissist join forces. No biggie.

Emmett Macfarlane 🇨🇦 @emmettmacfarlane.com · 7d

Carney is okay with a plan to put Donald Trump and Tony Blair in charge of Palestine?

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Stuart Chambers, PhD @progstu.bsky.social · 7d

Christian nationalists, like Charlie Kirk, detest other people's moral choices because pluralism is a constant reminder that their theology is one worldview among many. They never stop to think that imposing Christian dogma on others is the problem.

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Stuart Chambers, PhD @progstu.bsky.social · 8d

Christian nationalists were useful idiots in Charlie Kirk's culture wars, and they remain useful idiots in Trump's fascist political agenda: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymRz...

Charlie Kirk and the surge in Christian Nationalism

YouTube video by Sky News

www.youtube.com

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Stuart Chambers, PhD @progstu.bsky.social · 8d

Blair is a lying fraud who should be haunted by his complicity in the disastrous 2003 Iraq War.

Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan.bsky.social · 8d

Tony Blair "should be headed to The Hague, not Gaza."

My latest for Zeteo, on the former British prime minister's "blood drenched" record in the Middle East: "one of repeated failures, brazen bias, and mass slaughter".

Read/share/subscribe:

Tony Blair Should Be on Trial for War Crimes, Not Running Gaza

Donald Trump wants to put the former British prime minister on a new board to manage post-war Gaza. Here’s why that’s a terrible idea.

zeteo.com

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Stuart Chambers, PhD @progstu.bsky.social · 8d

"Jurisprudence? What's that?"

Jonathan Cohn @jonathancohn.bsky.social · 9d

No need for precedent when you just decide your cases based on the highest bidder. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Clarence Thomas says precedent might not determine cases on upcoming supreme court docket

The court is expected to weigh in on same-sex marriage next session, which it legalized in 2015

www.theguardian.com

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Stuart Chambers, PhD @progstu.bsky.social · 8d

The great domestic terror threat in America involves Americans shooting each other.

Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 8d

Mass shootings in the US, per Gun Violence Archive:

2015: 332
2016: 383
2017: 347
2018: 335
2019: 414
2020: 611
2021: 689
2022: 644
2023: 659
2024: 503

So far in 2025...324 mass shootings in just 272 days.

We do not have to keep living like this.

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Stuart Chambers, PhD @progstu.bsky.social · 9d

The job is critical thinking, critical analysis of documents, writing clearly, loving to read, and life-long learning. That's what profs need to instil in their students. We don't need to promote the latest tech bro's favourite toy.

Ted McCormick @tedmccormick.bsky.social · 10d

If you don’t teach your students your subject, you’re not doing your job.

If you teach your students to ask AI first, you’re ensuring they’ll never be *needed* for any job.

You’re also guaranteeing that knowledge of your subject slowly dies.

Asking ChatGPT is gaining neither knowledge nor skills.

matt94250.bsky.social @matt94250.bsky.social · 10d

If you don’t teach your students how to use AI, you’re doing them a huge disservice because they won’t have jobs in the future.

Stuart Chambers, PhD @progstu.bsky.social · 9d

The limits of "bothsidesing." You become so tolerant of interviewing any bad-faith actor that you allow yourself to be used in the process.

Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 9d

"And they are adamantly opposed to recognizing bad faith, so they let themselves be used, over and over, in an endless attempt to find reasonable common ground with political forces bent on division."

Ezra Klein Accidentally Shows How the Media Brought Us Trump

The prominent liberal pundit made up a fake version of Charlie Kirk to praise, laundering his reputation the way a lot of mainstream media launders MAGA

www.arcdigital.media

Stuart Chambers, PhD @progstu.bsky.social · 9d

Therein lies the difference between talking to people as adults and talking to them like they are still children.

Dr. Samantha Hancox-Li @sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com · 10d

it's a great interview, and what's striking is that at the end of the day both klein and coates believe in winning people over. the difference is that coates thinks you do this by telling them the truth, and klein thinks you do it by empathizing with them and recognizing their concerns as Real

Perry Bacon @perrybaconjr.bsky.social · 10d

This was revealing. Worth reading. The basic demand is that Coates spend less time thinking/writing his true feelings and more time playing political strategist. Klein asks him over and over him to do Dem strategy; he says no, over and over. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/28/o...

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