Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Robert Rath @robertrath.bsky.social · 10h

Had no idea the Taipei Zoo was considered the best in Asia—and for good reason!

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Robert Rath @robertrath.bsky.social · 18h

And of course in my haste I forgot to mention this is at Taipei 101.

Robert Rath @robertrath.bsky.social · 18h

Mass Damper or “Gravity Ball” to reduce swaying due to wind. It’s 66 metric tons and on the 88-89th floors, and is the only one in the world open to the public.

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Robert Rath @robertrath.bsky.social · 18h

Mass Damper or “Gravity Ball” to reduce swaying due to wind. It’s 66 metric tons and on the 88-89th floors, and is the only one in the world open to the public.

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Robert Rath @robertrath.bsky.social · 20h

Party of Christian values supports shooting pastors as they pray and cackling about it.

Jack Jenkins @jackjenkins.me · 22h

Gonna be thinking about this lede for a minute.

(RNS) — Last month, the Rev. David Black stood in front of a Chicago-area U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility and spread his arms wide. Adorned in all black and wearing a clerical collar, the pastor looked up at a group of masked, heavily armed ICE agents on the roof and began to pray.

“I invited them to repentance,” Black, a minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA), said in an interview. “I basically offered an altar call. I invited them to come and receive that salvation, and be part of the kingdom that is coming.”

But when Black began to lower his arms a few seconds later, the agents responded to his spiritual plea by firing pepper balls, or chemical agents that cause eye irritation and respiratory distress, video footage shows. One struck Black in the head, exploding into a puff of white pepper smoke and forcing him to his knees. Fellow demonstrators rushed to his aid, and as the pastor rubbed his face in pain, the agents continued to fire.

“We could hear them laughing,” Black said.

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Robert Rath @robertrath.bsky.social · 1d

Honestly the biggest tip I have for international travel with young kids is this:

AirTag your children.

Seriously.

Put. AirTags. On. Your. Kids.

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Reposted by Robert Rath

Mike Sowden @mikeachim.bsky.social · 1d

Damn. This is amazing. £325 per week, paid monthly, for 3 years - and the result was a profit for the Irish economy:
www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employmen...

Post from Threads user rodneyowl: "Ireland has declared the Basic Income for Artists scheme permanent. This will be officially announced in tomorrow’s budget. Details to follow. Congratulations to all who fought for it and the present and future artists of all sorts in Ireland. That includes me 👌We’re just comin to the end of a 3 year pilot scheme. It’s been a roaring success. For every €1 paid out to the 2000 participants, the government got €1.46 back. Can’t argue with that. Other countries are already taking note."

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Robert Rath @robertrath.bsky.social · 2d

Explaining to my Hong Kong-born children that, please, for the love of God, people are not this loud in Taiwan.

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Robert Rath @robertrath.bsky.social · 2d

I actually saw the National Guard in DC late at night a couple weeks back.

Blocks of no soldiers, then eight standing around Farragut West station in teams of two, doing nothing and looking bored.

Blurry picture of two National Guard in DC.

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Reposted by Robert Rath

Anise K. Strong @anisekstrong.bsky.social · 2d

Also, @amayor.bsky.social points out that this may be a mythologizing of inventions from Ptolemy II's court being sent as diplomatic gifts to India: theconversation.com/robots-guard... If true, that would make this a wonderful Reverse Mechanical Clock/Abul-Abbas the Elephant to Charlemagne story.

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Robert Rath @robertrath.bsky.social · 2d

HOLLYWOOD GOES TO WAR!

Robert Sherman and his brother composed some of the most optimistic songs of the Disney canon, including “It’s a Small World.”

But his war experience was not a rosy one, experiencing heavy combat and being one of the first Americans inside Dachau.
youtube.com/shorts/eV21H...

Disney's Soldier Songwriter | Hollywood Goes to War

YouTube video by Extra History

youtube.com

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Reposted by Robert Rath

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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Deanna Kreisel 🌱 @doctorwaffle.substack.com · 6d

In honor of National Poetry Day, the greatest parody rewrite of all time:

Screen cap of parodic version of William Blake's "The Tyger" that begins:
Tyger! Tyger! Burning bright
(Not sure if I spelled that right)
What immortal hand or eye
Could fashion such a stripy guy?
What the hammer that hath hewn it
Into such a chonky unit?
Did who made the lamb make thee,
Or an external franchisee?

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Robert Rath @robertrath.bsky.social · 4d

This is absolutely incredible.

www.instagram.com/reel/DPSmL14...

tandaworkshop on Instagram: "Still working on the bloggage about the Trazyn build. In the meantime, here's a little video clip...#trazyntheinfinite #necron #war…"

Still working on the bloggage about the Trazyn build. In the meantime, here's a little video clip...#trazyntheinfinite #necron #warhammer40k #grandnarrative

www.instagram.com

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Robert Rath @robertrath.bsky.social · 5d

I don’t know exactly why I find this answer particularly offensive.

I guess because it’s *so obviously* not true that it highlights how normalized it’s become to lie to the public with zero consequences or pushback.

Robert Rath @robertrath.bsky.social · 5d

JOURNALISTS: NEVER LET A POLITICIAN OF ANY PARTY GET AWAY WITH “I HAVE NOT SEEN IT.”

It’s a transparent lie. You know it, they know it, we know it.

IF THEY CLAIM THAT, ASK IF THEY ARE TELLING THE TRUTH. IF THEY SAY YES, ASK WHY THEY ARE CHECKED OUT OF CURRENT EVENTS AND NOT DOING THEIR JOB.

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Robert Rath @robertrath.bsky.social · 5d

JOURNALISTS: NEVER LET A POLITICIAN OF ANY PARTY GET AWAY WITH “I HAVE NOT SEEN IT.”

It’s a transparent lie. You know it, they know it, we know it.

IF THEY CLAIM THAT, ASK IF THEY ARE TELLING THE TRUTH. IF THEY SAY YES, ASK WHY THEY ARE CHECKED OUT OF CURRENT EVENTS AND NOT DOING THEIR JOB.

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Acyn @acyn.bsky.social · 5d

Sanders: These projects have been appropriated. They were signed by a president. It is illegal to rescind them. And to say to people in Vermont, in New York and California, oh, you didn't vote for Donald Trump, we're going to take away funding that was supposed to go to your state… illegal

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Rep. Rob Menendez @menendez.house.gov · 5d

We’ve said from Day One that someone high up in the Admin made the call to arrest Mayor Baraka & now the receipts are here: it was Trump’s personal attorney Todd Blanche.

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Reposted by Robert Rath

Adam Keiper @adamkeiper.com · 5d

Very nice scoop by @pabloreports.bsky.social—sure seems like Lutnick just lied about having a thousand "Trump Gold Card" signups out of the gate.

Pablo Manríquez @pabloreports.bsky.social · 6d

SCOOP: Lutnick’s $5 Billion in Gold Card Sales Has Gone Missing migrantinsider.com/p/scoop-lutn...

SCOOP: Lutnick’s $5 Billion in Gold Card Sales Has Gone Missing

Trump’s commerce chief bragged of selling 1,000 Gold Cards in a day. Treasury can’t find the money.

migrantinsider.com

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Robert Rath @robertrath.bsky.social · 5d

FWIW Hong Kong loves Halloween and has really embraced the holiday. Usually my local grocery stores at this time would be full of Halloween stuff imported from the US.

There’s nothing. No decorations, no costumes, no candy. Rumor is we won’t get pumpkins this year.

USA lost all that business.

Robert Rath @robertrath.bsky.social · 6d

This year Ocean Park Hong Kong jumped on the Labubu craze and made blind-boxes its theme for the 2025 Halloween season, with each of its six haunted houses matching to a blind box figure (which yes, you can buy).

One haunted attraction, The Hatred Box, is explicitly about a possessed Labubu store.

The Hatred Box, a haunted attraction themed after blind box stores.

All six haunted houses in the blind box theme.

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Reposted by Robert Rath

The Fig Economy @figgityfigs.bsky.social · 6d

This is kind of why it makes me crazy to see people on the left essentially say democrats should do the same as Trump except in reverse. Trump’s actions more or less do not recognize that we inhabit a nation. They are attempting a soft secession and servitude of Dem states, and we are the unionists.

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 6d

all presidential administrations are partisan, but trump and the people in his white house are partisans bordering on sectarians, and one result is that they see nothing of actions that strain and weaken the union itself

Trump targets states that voted for Harris in shutdown fight

The Office of Management and Budget is withholding billions in energy and infrastructure money in more than a dozen states that voted against Trump.

www.politico.com

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Robert Rath @robertrath.bsky.social · 6d

This year Ocean Park Hong Kong jumped on the Labubu craze and made blind-boxes its theme for the 2025 Halloween season, with each of its six haunted houses matching to a blind box figure (which yes, you can buy).

One haunted attraction, The Hatred Box, is explicitly about a possessed Labubu store.

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Reposted by Robert Rath

Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 6d

PM of Albania having a good laugh with President of Azerbaijan and Macron about Trump repeatedly claiming that he ended the war between their two countries which were not at war with each other.

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Anjali Enjeti @anjalienjeti.bsky.social · 6d

My god.

“Watson said she saw agents dragging residents, including kids, out of the building without any clothes on and into U-Haul vans. Kids were separated from their mothers…’It was heartbreaking to watch…seeing kids coming out buck naked and taken from their mothers, it was horrible.’”

Massive immigration raid on Chicago apartment building leaves residents reeling: 'I feel defeated'

The Department of Homeland Security said federal agents with Border Patrol, the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives arrested 37 people in the raid.

chicago.suntimes.com

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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 6d

What DHS pulled in Chicago on Tuesday is wildly unconstitutional. They smashed down almost every door in the building, dragged entire families into the street, and detained people for hours ("Kavanaugh stops").

Ms. Fisher was held for five hours and another senior citizen was held for three hours.

Rodrick Johnson, 67, is one of many residents who were detained by federal agents during the South Shore raid. A U.S. citizen, he said agents broke through his door and dragged him out in zip ties.

Johnson said he was left tied up outside the building for nearly three hours before agents finally let him go.

“I asked [agents] why they were holding me if I was an American citizen, and they said I had to wait until they looked me up,” Jones said. “I asked if they had a warrant, and I asked for a lawyer. They never brought one.”

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Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 6d

This is illegal, plain and simple, with penalties including removal from federal service, debarment from federal employment for five years, and a fine of $1000. 5 U.S.C. § 7326.

A country which valued the rule of law would enforce its laws.

Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 6d

NEW—US Department of Education sent out standard Out of Office language to employees on Wednesday in light of shutdown. Later yesterday, workers tell me they found someone had updated their auto-responses without consent to a new one blaming Democrats.

Version of original on left, updated on right:

Thank you for your email. There is a temporary shutdown of the U.S. government due to a lapse in appropriations. I will respond to your message as soon as possible after the temporary shutdown ends. Please visit ED.gov for the latest information on the
Department's operational status.
Thank you.

Thank you for contacting me. On September 19, 2025, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 5371, a clean continuing resolution. Unfortunately, Democrat Senators are blocking passage of H.R. 5371 in the Senate which has led to a lapse in appropriations. Due to the lapse in appropriations I am currently in furlough status. I will respond to emails once government functions resume.

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