Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Randall Stephens @randalljstephens.bsky.social · 1d

"the court's docket: a case that could end what's left of the landmark Voting Rights Act; a case that could do away w/ one of the few remaining laws that limits campaign fundraising; a challenge to the Trump tariffs; a challenge to his firing of independent agency commissioners...& much much more."

Supreme Court term will tackle executive power, executive power and executive power

The term promises to be hugely consequential and focused in large part on how much power the Constitution gives to the president.

www.npr.org

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Randall Stephens @randalljstephens.bsky.social · 1d

“One of the Nobel prize awarding bodies has warned that academic freedom is under threat in the US and elsewhere, with political interference risking long-lasting negative effects – as scientists get ready for next week’s award announcements.“ www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Trump casts shadow over Nobels as prize-awarding body warns academic freedom at risk

US president has proposed measures that Royal Swedish Academy of Science VP says will ‘have devastating effects’

www.theguardian.com

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Randall Stephens @randalljstephens.bsky.social · 1d

I did an interview yesterday with a journalist at Dagsavisen about Trump's threats to American cities, etc, etc.
www.dagsavisen.no/nyheter/trum...

Guvernør raser mot Trumps ultimatum: Skandaløst og uamerikansk!

Trump sender nasjonalgarden til Chicago. Guvernør Pritzker nekter å gi etter for presset.

www.dagsavisen.no

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Randall Stephens @randalljstephens.bsky.social · 2d

Is this Trump’s Gettysburg Address? “That’s the one thing with Obama, I had zero respect for him as a president, but he would bop down those stairs, I’ve never seen – da da da da da da, bop, bop, bop, he’d go down the stairs, wouldn’t hold on. I said, it’s great, I don’t want to do it.”

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Randall Stephens @randalljstephens.bsky.social · 3d

Nano-nutrients will help you build up your pleeb and delb energy reserves. It also eliminates wakeagens, but may cause foot fatening.

Randall Stephens @randalljstephens.bsky.social · 4d

Those are perfect

Randall Stephens @randalljstephens.bsky.social · 4d

Going through some Dust Bowl oral histories that Oklahoma State University holds. A sampling of 1930s names: Bessie, Fern, Merle, Velma, Opal, Vernal, Aline, Louella, Garnett, Faye, Orin.

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Randall Stephens @randalljstephens.bsky.social · 4d

Great Plains population density, 2000 US census and 1991 Canada census. (Wishart, ed., Encyclopedia of the Great Plains.)

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Randall Stephens @randalljstephens.bsky.social · 4d

Thomas Hart Benton, Pop and the Boys (1963)

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Randall Stephens @randalljstephens.bsky.social · 5d

“Todd Arrington’s resignation came shortly after Arrington refused to relinquish one of Pres Eisenhower’s swords from the museum’s collection. Pres Trump’s administration wanted to give one of the artifacts as a gift to King Charles III on Trump’s most recent state visit to the United Kingdom.”

Director of Eisenhower Library in Kansas ousted after refusing to give Trump administration a sword

The director of the presidential library and museum in Abilene, Kansas, said he was suddenly told to resign or be fired. He refused to give the Trump administration a historic sword from the museum’s ...

www.kcur.org

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Randall Stephens @randalljstephens.bsky.social · 5d

“Who do you think is mainly responsible for the federal government partially shutting down?”

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Randall Stephens @randalljstephens.bsky.social · 5d

“Modern English Usage was an immediate success….it acquired many enthusiasts…One was Winston Churchill, who, having received a memo about plans for the invasion of Normandy, responded, ‘Why must you write intensive here? Intense is the right word. You should read Fowler’s Modern English Usage’…”

The Autocrat of English Usage

Henry W. Fowler believed he knew how sentences should read—and his judgments have shaped The New Yorker’s style for a century.

www.newyorker.com

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Randall Stephens @randalljstephens.bsky.social · 5d

One of my PhD mentors, the labor historian Bob Zieger, always encouraged his students to be “which” hunters. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

The Autocrat of English Usage

Henry W. Fowler believed he knew how sentences should read—and his judgments have shaped The New Yorker’s style for a century.

www.newyorker.com

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Randall Stephens @randalljstephens.bsky.social · 5d

Paul Szep on Newt Gingrich and the November 1995 government shutdown.

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Randall Stephens @randalljstephens.bsky.social · 6d

“Scientists have created human eggs containing genes from adult skin cells, a step that someday could help women who are infertile or gay couples have babies with their own genes but would also raise difficult ethical, social and legal issues.”

Scientists create human eggs in the lab, using skin cells

Scientists created the eggs using DNA from adult skin cells, a step that could someday potentially lead to new ways to treat infertility and enable gay couples to have genetically related children.

www.npr.org

Randall Stephens @randalljstephens.bsky.social · 7d

“Armando Iannucci has revealed that he has been having trouble funding a Donald Trump project. According to Deadline, the creator of Veep has been trying to launch an untitled work based on the US president’s speeches but has claimed that he is struggling to secure interest.”

Veep creator Armando Iannucci struggling to fund Trump project due to scared buyers

Iannucci has been trying to start project involving Trump speeches but has been told to expect retribution

www.theguardian.com

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Randall Stephens @randalljstephens.bsky.social · 7d

“There does not seem to be a clear point or purpose in Pres Trump’s address…he’s talking about tariffs, Joe Biden & the autopen, the southern border, CNN, his personal feelings about Pres Vladimir V. Putin of Russia & his anxieties that he won’t be given a Nobel Peace Prize he feels he deserves.”

Trump Administration Live Updates: President Tells Top Brass U.S. Cities Should Be Military ‘Training Grounds’

www.nytimes.com

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Randall Stephens @randalljstephens.bsky.social · 7d

Retired Army Maj. General Paul D. Eaton: “Pete Hegseth spent millions to fly in all of our generals and admirals to rant about facial hair and brag about how many pull-ups he can do, and have Donald Trump sleepwalk through a list of partisan gripes.”

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Randall Stephens @randalljstephens.bsky.social · 7d

A penny for your thoughts

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Randall Stephens @randalljstephens.bsky.social · 7d

Fall colors on campus today

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Randall Stephens @randalljstephens.bsky.social · 7d

H. M. Talburt's comment on Hitler and the new state religion, July 1935.

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Reposted by Randall Stephens

Dagsavisen @dagsavisen.bsky.social · 16d

– Vi lever i en tid som ligner angsten og terroren under 1950-tallets «Red Scare», sier professor.

Disse har Trump hevnet seg mot

Mange har stått opp mot USAs president Donald Trump. Og mange har fått smake hans hevn etter at han kom tilbake til makten.

www.dagsavisen.no

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Randall Stephens @randalljstephens.bsky.social · 9d

“Among these is that we don’t really understand how generative AI works….That’s a problem, because it means that AI will inevitably generate its own quirky preferences and ways of doing things, and these alien predilections are unlikely to be aligned with ours.” www.theguardian.com/books/2025/s...

If Anyone Builds it, Everyone Dies review – how AI could kill us all

If machines become superintelligent we’re toast, say Eliezer Yudkowsky and Nate Soares. Should we believe them?

www.theguardian.com

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Randall Stephens @randalljstephens.bsky.social · 10d

We can all agree that a one-time payment to an extortionist will solve your problems.

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Randall Stephens @randalljstephens.bsky.social · 11d

Buzzing noises and trumpet fanfare?

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