Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Spenser A. Warren

Minseon Ku @minseonku.bsky.social · 21d

What a way to make the APEC summit in Korea next month awkward for the 🇺🇸 president.

Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 21d

according to an immigration attorney representing several arrested workers, ICE agents chose to arrest the Korean workers to fulfill the quota of 3,000 daily immigrant arrests set by Stephen Miller www.forbes.com/sites/stuart...

Stephen Miller’s Quota Likely Drove Korean Arrests In Immigration Raid

When ICE agents arrested over 300 Korean workers at a Georgia battery plant, a daily immigrant arrest quota was likely on their minds.

www.forbes.com

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Steve McPherson @steventurous.bsky.social · 27d

Melissa Hortman practiced politics the right way.

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George Conway 👊🇺🇸🔥 @gtconway.bsky.social · 27d

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Vasabjit Banerjee @vasabjit.bsky.social · 27d

As I suspected, Nepal's army is now in-charge: www.msn.com/en-us/news/w...

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Spenser A. Warren @spenserawarren.bsky.social · Sep 7

Our punter has a lower CEP

Spenser A. Warren @spenserawarren.bsky.social · Sep 7

Nuclear weapons and Spartan football expert here:

Yes he does.

Sicko Spartan @cmmatthes.bsky.social · Sep 7

We got a kicker with an ICBM for a leg 👀

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Spenser A. Warren @spenserawarren.bsky.social · Sep 7

This might be the best sports prediction I've ever made.

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Sickos Committee @sickoscommittee.org · Sep 7

D3 ADRIAN TAKES DOWN FCS VALPO 10-7!!!

BEVEL EM

D3 ADRIAN TAKES DOWN FCS VALPO!! @AdrianCollegeFB

BEVEL EM

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Nicole Auerbach @nauerbach.com · Sep 7

What a win for Aidan Chiles and Michigan State.

We just watched a young QB grow up in front of our eyes.

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Sickos Committee @sickoscommittee.org · Sep 7

D3 Adrian has a second half lead against FCS Valpo 👀

RedditFCS @redditfcs.bsky.social · Sep 7

The only teams that can give the Pioneer real games are other non-scholly teams it would seem.

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Jacqueline Sweet @jsweetli.bsky.social · Sep 6

I am constantly saying this but one thing to know is that Vance’s comms team is run by very young, very online and very far right guys. They were a big part of having him push the Haitians cats and dogs thing.

Steven Beschloss @stevenbeschloss.bsky.social · Sep 6

This is an actual exchange from a VP who took an oath to defend the constitution and, as a citizen, is expected to abide by the law.

May we one day have accountability for the grotesque lawlessness of this regime.

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Mark Histed @markhisted.org · Aug 25

As a DC resident I feel like I should say:

This is a complete and utter lie.

My kid, under age 12, walked to school last year into an area close to downtown.
Telling the truth is an important thing.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · Aug 25

Stephen Miller on DC residents: "For the first time in their lives, they can use the parks, they can walk on the streets. You have people who can walk freely at night without having to worry about being robbed or mugged. They are wearing their watches again."

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Nicholas Ross SMITH @nrsmith.bsky.social · Aug 19

1/6 Paul Bacon and I have a new paper out in The Pacific Review.

We tackled a puzzle: how do you analyze something like the "Indo-Pacific" using Regional Security Complex Theory when it's way too big to be a normal region? 🧩

www.tandfonline.com/eprint/NYX5Q...

The Indo-Pacific as a macrosecuritized constellation: revising regional security Complex Theory for the age of the Indo-Pacific

The Indo-Pacific is increasingly talked about as being a region. However, the sheer geographical size of the Indo-Pacific, which on a maximalist definition stretches from the east coast of Africa t...

www.tandfonline.com

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Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · Aug 17

There’s no longer any pretense this has anything to do with crime (there are cities or parts of cities in SC and Ohio that have higher crime rates than DC — send the troops there!). This is about establishing a precedent for Trump seizing control of the nation’s capital when he wants to.

Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · Aug 17

WASHINGTON (AP) — South Carolina, Ohio also sending National Guard troops to DC in further escalation of federal intervention in Dem city.

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NPR @npr.org · Aug 16

Documents with sensitive details about the meeting between President Trump and Russian President Putin were left behind on a public hotel printer.

Government papers found in an Alaskan hotel reveal new details of Trump-Putin summit

Documents with sensitive details about the meeting between President Trump and Russian President Putin were left behind on a public hotel printer.

n.pr

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Stephen Herzog @herzogsm.bsky.social · Aug 4

August 6 and 9 mark the 80th anniversaries of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. I wrote for @us.theconversation.com about their influence in crafting the nuclear nonproliferation regime and on the perils of retreating from their memories.

theconversation.com/the-treaty-m...

The treaty meant to control nuclear risks is under strain 80 years after the US bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

In the wake of the US attacks, the international community asked itself how it could ensure that such horrors were never repeated.

theconversation.com

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Rebecca Fishbein @bfishbfish.bsky.social · Aug 6

I believe one of the new mRNA vaccines was expected to treat colon cancer, and another had the potential to keep pancreatic cancer from recurring. That’s what they’re taking away.

Laura Weiss @lauralew105.bsky.social · Aug 5

WHAT, WHAT, WHAT ARE WE DOING!!!
“Vaccine experts and people steeped in pandemic preparedness expressed horror at the news.” www.statnews.com/2025/08/05/m...

Health secretary RFK Jr. shuts door on U.S. investment in mRNA vaccine research

Vaccine experts and people steeped in pandemic preparedness expressed horror at the news that RFK Jr. has shut the door in U.S. investment in mRNA vaccine research.

www.statnews.com

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Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · Aug 5

Every reputable expert I know considers mRNA vaccine technology to be one of the most revolutionary advances in medicine in our lifetimes. Its inventors won the Nobel Prize in 2023. Shutting it down now is pointless self-harm to humanity.

Eric Michael Garcia @ericmgarcia.bsky.social · Aug 5

Release from HHS: HHS will wind down its development of the mRNA vaccine development activities under the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).

HHS Winds Down mRNA Vaccine Development Under BARDA

WASHINGTON, DC—AUGUST 5, 2025—The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today announced the beginning of a coordinated wind-down of its mRNA vaccine development activities under the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), including the cancellation and de-scoping of various contracts and solicitations. The decision follows a comprehensive review of mRNA-related investments initiated during the COVID-19 public health emergency.

“We reviewed the science, listened to the experts, and acted,” said HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. “BARDA is terminating 22 mRNA vaccine development investments because the data show these vaccines fail to protect effectively against upper respiratory infections like COVID and flu. We’re shifting that funding toward safer, broader vaccine platforms that remain effective even as viruses mutate.”

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Spenser A. Warren @spenserawarren.bsky.social · Aug 5

Wanted to catch the Nats before leaving DC, so I bought tickets to the cheapest game I could find, tonight against the A's.

I wanted to see the Red Sox at Fenway next month, but all of the games were $50+... except the A's at $22.

So guess who's following the A's around the East Coast?

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David Burbach 🌹 @dburbach.bsky.social · Aug 4

Lol at the 😲 reaction to this. Thoughts:

1. This is not crazy as it sounds, but

2. Unsurprising given admin's bad / missing mesaging

3. This is why it's useful to have agency heads with credibility

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Politico @politico.com · Aug 4

EXCLUSIVE: Sean Duffy will announce expedited plans to build a nuclear reactor on the moon, his first major action as interim NASA administrator.

Duffy to announce nuclear reactor on the moon

This is the first major agency effort by the interim NASA administrator, who is also the Transportation secretary and a former Fox News host.

www.politico.com

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Spenser A. Warren @spenserawarren.bsky.social · Aug 1

Implications of IRBM forward deployment aside, VP is playing fast and loose with the definition of "Hypersonic Weapon" again.

amp.cnn.com/cnn/2025/08/...

Putin says Russia’s hypersonic missile has entered service and will be deployed in Belarus | CNN

Russia’s missile forces chief has declared that Oreshnik, which can carry conventional or nuclear warheads, has a range allowing it to reach all of Europe.

amp.cnn.com

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Pavel Podvig @russianforces.org · Aug 1

The idea of moving US ballistic missile submarines around for signaling purposes is not exactly new. Just a year ago, in July 2024, a perfectly Nuclear Submarine USS Tennessee made a very visible visit to the Norwegian Sea (link below) 1/

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Spenser A. Warren @spenserawarren.bsky.social · Jul 31

In a new blog post for @ucigcc.bsky.social, I summarize my recent articles in Parameters and Comparative Strategy on Russian novel nuclear weapons and their impacts on regional warfighting and strategic nuclear deterrence.

ucigcc.org/blog/what-ne...

What New Russian Nuclear Weapons Mean - IGCC

ucigcc.org

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Opal @opalescentopal.bsky.social · Jul 27

With Tom Lehrer's passing, I suppose this is a moment to share the story of the prank he played on the National Security Agency, and how it went undiscovered for nearly 60 years.

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Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · Jul 25

The first rule of homelessness policy is that it must be cruel.

The second rule is that it must be expensive.

The current GOP idea is to move from "spend a lot so cops, paramedics, and ERs can shuffle them around" to "spend a lot to put them in jail."

God forbid we just provide basic shelter.

Michael Hobbes @michaelhobbes.bsky.social · Jul 25

Again we see the incoherence of right-wing policy. Rounding up homeless people and imprisoning them *is* housing them! Punitive solutions to this problem also cost a shitload and require a massive bureaucracy.

They are fine with providing housing, but only if it is ineffective and dehumanizing.

Evan Bernick, a finite mode with a smol hooman and a lorg floof @evanbernick.bsky.social · Jul 25

This is the line of thinking. Prevent states and localities from being more protective of the unhoused than SCOTUS. Do it through financial coercion.

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