Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Ryan Teague Beckwith

Garrett M. Graff @vermontgmg.bsky.social · 15h

If appropriations bills are not seen as enforceable contracts, why should any Member of Congress vote to fund any part of the federal government under Donald Trump? You're voting to provide money for lawlessness. www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/there-is-n...

There is no budget "deal" to be made

President Trump has so broken the constitutional framework as to make joint normal, responsible government impossible.

www.doomsdayscenario.co

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Ryan Teague Beckwith @ryanbeckwith.bsky.social · 12h

"The Year Without a Santa Claus" (1974)

Pwnallthethings @pwnallthethings.bsky.social · 1d

Tragic news from Canada where the Canadian Supreme Court has gone from the official dress on the left to the one on the right

Canadian Supreme court. Everyone is dressed in bright red wooly gowns, with a beige trim. It looks sort of like a Santa robe

The Canadian Supreme court. Everyone is dressed in black gowns with a bright white kravat, and two thin red vertical lines on the side of the robe

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Vic Brand @recordedvoice.bsky.social · 15h

you know what they say about what you should do when life gives you Lemons...

Kyle Cheney @kyledcheney.bsky.social · 15h

The Justice Department has brought in two AUSAs from out of state to work the Comey prosecution: Tyler Lemons and Gabriel Diaz. Both are detailed from the U.S. Attorney's office in North Carolina.

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Ryan Teague Beckwith @ryanbeckwith.bsky.social · 14h

The corporate interests collectively referred to as Big Sleep

Ariel Edwards-Levy @aedwardslevy.bsky.social · 14h

poll:
is sponsored by company with a vested interest in results and which is clearly using survey as a promotional tool

writeup:
does not link to toplines
no info on question wording
no methods info
confuses "percentage" and "percentage point"

Herb Scribner @herbscribner.bsky.social · 15h

Hack — Sleep on vacation.

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Ryan Teague Beckwith @ryanbeckwith.bsky.social · 14h

An underappreciated aspect of the current era is that so many reporting resources go toward proving obvious facts that would not be up for debate in a more sane political environment www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

The government’s own data rebuts Trump’s claims about wind and solar prices

The Trump administration has targeted renewable energy for driving up electricity prices, but POLITICO’s analysis shows states that are growing their wind and solar power typically have lower power co...

www.politico.com

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Reposted by Ryan Teague Beckwith

Anne Trubek @atrubek.bsky.social · 14h

Had a book published before mid-2021? Take 5 minutes to see if it's listed here and if so another 5 to enter info. And look up your grandma's book, the book of your friend, etc. and let them know

PSA: Get Your AI Money, Authors

The Anthropic settlement has been preliminarily approved, which means people can join in to be a member in this class action suit.

notesfromasmallpress.substack.com

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Reposted by Ryan Teague Beckwith

Martin Austermuhle @maustermuhle.bsky.social · 15h

D.C. MARRIAGES, SAVED! The D.C. Council just passed an emergency bill to let the city to issue marriage licenses. Because of the federal shutdown, D.C. Superior Court's Marriage Bureau has been unable to process marriage licenses since last week. (The court is federally funded.)

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Reposted by Ryan Teague Beckwith

Natalie Weiner @natalieweiner.bsky.social · 14h

lmao a list of the top 20 blues artists of all time where the top 5 are all white guys... hellorayo.co.uk/planet-rock/...

The Top 20 Greatest Blues Artists of All Time

Here at Planet Rock, our resident blues expert Bernard Doherty brings you the...

hellorayo.co.uk

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Reposted by Ryan Teague Beckwith

Jess Zafarris @jesszafarris.bsky.social · 18h

📘 Launch day!!

Useless Etymology: Offbeat Word Origins for Curious Minds arrives today.

It’s full of weird word origins, grammar quirks, surprise portmanteaus, fossilized words, and etymological mysteries, scandals, and silliness.

Get it anywhere books or sold (especially your favorite indie)!

A hand holding a book called useless etymology

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Reposted by Ryan Teague Beckwith

Andy @andyoregon.bsky.social · 1d

Jess Waters recycling the same guy over and over to represent “former” different enemies

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Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1.bsky.social · 20h

New on MSNBC: Trump's new acting U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan has recruited prosecutors from outside her office to take James Comey to trial, after being unable to find any federal prosecutors in her own office willing to pursue the charges, according to two people familiar with the selections.

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Ryan Teague Beckwith @ryanbeckwith.bsky.social · 20h

“Actual residents” doing a lot of work in this sentence

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Ryan Teague Beckwith @ryanbeckwith.bsky.social · 20h

POLL : 79% of D.C. residents oppose Trump taking over the police department and sending in the National Guard www.washingtonpost.com/documents/97...

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Ryan Teague Beckwith @ryanbeckwith.bsky.social · 1d

Consider yourself lucky

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Ryan Teague Beckwith @ryanbeckwith.bsky.social · 1d

Editor in chief, city editor, features editor

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Reposted by Ryan Teague Beckwith

Sandy Ernest Allen @sandyernestallen.bsky.social · 1d

Just sharing again: This new interview with me on how I got started in journalism. Thanks to @ryanbeckwith.bsky.social for asking and including me ...

Sandy Ernest Allen @sandyernestallen.bsky.social · 1d

Just wanted to share this cool thing: A brief interview about how I got started in journalism ... yourfirstbyline.substack.com/p/my-first-b...

My First Byline: Sandy Ernest Allen

Freelance journalist

yourfirstbyline.substack.com

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Ryan Teague Beckwith @ryanbeckwith.bsky.social · 1d

look, I'm also annoyed with the internet but there has to be another alternative

kottke.org @kottke.org · 1d

How to Write in Cuneiform, the Oldest Writing System in the World. "Cuneiform consists of three components — upright, horizontal and diagonal — made by pressing the edge of a reed stylus, or popsicle stick if you prefer, into a clay tablet." www.openculture.com/2025/09/how-...

How to Write in Cuneiform, the Oldest Writing System in the World: A Short Introduction

Teaching child visitors how to write their names using an unfamiliar or antique alphabet is a favorite activity of museum educators, but Dr. Irving Finkel, a cuneiform expert who specializes in ancien...

www.openculture.com

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Ryan Teague Beckwith @ryanbeckwith.bsky.social · 1d

brainstorming: Col. Tom Parker is def on the list

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Ryan Teague Beckwith @ryanbeckwith.bsky.social · 1d

give me your tired, your poor, your silver-tongued charlatans

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Reposted by Ryan Teague Beckwith

Dan Kennedy @dankennedy.net · 1d

New at Media Nation: The @coloradosun.com embraces a democratic nonprofit model that looks a lot like a co-op. dankennedy.net/2025/10/06/t...

The Colorado Sun embraces a democratic nonprofit model that looks a lot like a co-op

For at least 15 years, local-news visionaries have been thinking about ways to build a media organization owned and governed by its staff and members of the community. The idea is to create a news …

dankennedy.net

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Ryan Teague Beckwith @ryanbeckwith.bsky.social · 1d

A real "inside the news media" newsletter would have a whole section about MSNBC being on a new Slack today.

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Ryan Teague Beckwith @ryanbeckwith.bsky.social · 1d

"I always would suggest that anyone who lacks experience and who wants to gain some just start something of your own." yourfirstbyline.substack.com/p/my-first-b...

My First Byline: Sandy Ernest Allen

Freelance journalist

yourfirstbyline.substack.com

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Reposted by Ryan Teague Beckwith

Josh Sternberg @joshsternberg.com · 1d

You work hard as a journalist. You lead with empathy, and you sweat details. You operate in good faith. You believe in honesty and truth. You get yelled at by the president of the United States. You worry that you'll get laid off. Again and again.

And then you see this. www.wsj.com/business/med...

Paramount Buys Bari Weiss’s the Free Press for $150 Million

Weiss, who once said she was done with legacy media, is to take control of CBS News’s editorial vision, aiming for “news that reflects reality.”

www.wsj.com

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Brian Moritz @bmoritz99.bsky.social · 1d

This, right here, should be the mission statement for all of us in journalism education.

"The hard part is having something interesting to say. Get a degree in that!"

Michael Hobbes @michaelhobbes.bsky.social · 3d

Being a podcaster costs $40 for a decent mic and $18 per month for hosting. The hard part is having something interesting to say. Get a degree in that!

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Reposted by Ryan Teague Beckwith

Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · 1d

A riddle for @theguardian.com books page.
p.s. My new book 'Physics for Cats' is out this week in bookshops and online. Details at www.tomgauld.com

Title: One door leads to freedom, the others to certain death. You may ask one question.

Image: Three guards with shields and speard stand in front of three doors. One guard sits at a folding table working at a typewriter, his shield and spear leaning against the wall.

Caption: One guard always tells the truth, one always tells lies, and the third always tells an entrancing story that blends reportage with imagination in an attempt to reach a deeper authenticity by moving beyond the narrow categories of fact and fiction.

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