Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Stathios Ballas

The Barbed Wire @thebarbedwire.com · 10h

Ken Paxton’s showing at a Turning Point USA event hours after announcing “undercover operations” into “leftist terror cells” made one thing clear: Kirk’s death is being used by Republican leaders to justify power grabs.

thebarbedwire.com/2025/10/08/k...

Texas Republicans Are Using Charlie Kirk’s ‘Martyrdom’ to Crush Free Speech

Hours after announcing ‘undercover operations’ into leftist groups, Ken Paxton compared Charlie Kirk to Jesus at a Turning Point USA event.

thebarbedwire.com

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Stathios Ballas @stathiosb.bsky.social · 2h

“Russian asylum-seekers are being deported en masse to their country of origin, where many are imprisoned upon arrival due to their involvement in opposition and anti-war campaigning.”

from @nateschenkkan.bsky.social

foreignpolicy.com/2025/10/08/t...

Trump Is Supporting Transnational Repression

Instead of sheltering pro-democracy dissidents, America is now returning them for arrest.

foreignpolicy.com

Reposted by Stathios Ballas

Institute for the Study of War @thestudyofwar.bsky.social · 3h

NEW: Russian President Vladimir Putin remains committed to his theory of victory, which holds that Russia can outlast the West and Ukraine in a war of attrition, and his demand for Ukraine’s full capitulation. (1/

Read the full update: isw.pub/UkrWar100825

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Reposted by Stathios Ballas

Timothy Snyder @timothysnyder.bsky.social · 8h

Our authoritarianism is run on clichés borrowed from the Eastern Europe of twenty years ago. Paid protestors, disloyal cities, evil Soros, vast conspiracies — it was all tiresome then and there, and now it’s pathetic.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 10h

Trump: "They're, like, insurrectionists, they're terrible people. But you really wonder why. Why are they doing it? What are they gaining? Other than they're obviously paid. They're paid a lot of money."

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Timothy Snyder @timothysnyder.bsky.social · 6h

What Governor Pritzker is doing is right for his state, but it is vital for the Republic.

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TVP World @tvpworld.bsky.social · 12h

A U.S. Air Force spy jet has been spotted circling Russia’s western exclave of Kaliningrad, which borders Poland, as tensions soar between NATO and Moscow.

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Reposted by Stathios Ballas

Kevin Rothrock @kevinrothrock.me · 12h

Russian military court upholds a nuclear physicist's 18-year sentence for donating to two pro-Ukraine paramilitary groups and the draft-dodger assistance organization Get Lost. His family sought mercy by selling off their property & donating the proceeds to the military.

Физика-ядерщика осудили на 18 лет за госизмену и финансирование терроризма

Подробнее на сайте

www.kommersant.ru

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Stathios Ballas @stathiosb.bsky.social · 12h

Interesting, though I would suggest the most urgent concern is regarding immigrant human rights in the United States.

Stathios Ballas @stathiosb.bsky.social · 14h

ICE recruitment may be doing better than previously reported. It may also be outpacing recruitment for any branch of the official military. Looking forward to reviewing more information on this 👇

www.dhs.gov/news/2025/09...

ICE Receives More than 150,000 Applications to Join ICE Law Enforcement to Help Remove Worst of the Worst Criminal Illegal Aliens from U.S. | Homeland Security

DHS today announced ICE received more than 150,000 applications from Americans who want to join U.S. (ICE) to help arrest and remove the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens from America’s stree...

www.dhs.gov

Stathios Ballas @stathiosb.bsky.social · 14h

I suspect many defense & military analysts, historians & commentators are struggling to acknowledge the fact that the President of the United States has raised up his own personal army.
This is no longer Border Enforcement.
The same Pres. openly announced potential arrests of governors & mayors.

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Reposted by Stathios Ballas

The Associated Press @apnews.com · 14h

The military says Pakistani security forces have raided a hideout of the Pakistani Taliban near the Afghan border, triggering a fierce gunbattle that left 11 soldiers and 19 militants dead.

11 Pakistani soldiers, 19 militants killed in clash in northwest near Afghan border

The military says Pakistani security forces have raided a hideout of the Pakistani Taliban near the Afghan border, triggering a fierce gunbattle that left 11 soldiers and 19 militants dead.

bit.ly

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Reposted by Stathios Ballas

Dominic Meagher @dom-ma.bsky.social · 2d

Discovered that www.ecosia.org search gives results that are more like the mid-2000s when the internet still worked. I've started using it as my main search, not for the tree planting thing but because it's the best search.

Ecosia - the search engine that plants trees

Ecosia uses 100% of its profits for the planet and produces enough renewable energy to power all searches twice over.

www.ecosia.org

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Stathios Ballas @stathiosb.bsky.social · 15h

“The printed song, “As soon as day began to peep”, was written for a character called Monsieur le Prate, a French fop, in a 1691 play titled Love for Money, which lampooned a girls’ boarding school. Its author was Thomas D’Urfey, a frequent collaborator of Purcell.”
Can’t wait to hear this performed

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Reposted by Stathios Ballas

Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 20h

'A team of musicologists has unearthed the printed score of a previously unknown Purcell song, as well as the original manuscript for various keyboard compositions, partly in the composer’s own hand – the first Purcell autograph to be found for more than 30 years.' 1/3

‘Almost unheard of’: experts find more music by English composer Henry Purcell

Printed score and keyboard manuscript by Purcell, who died in 1695, unearthed in Worcestershire and Norfolk

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Stathios Ballas

Daniel Malmer @malmer.com · 17h

As I've said before, no software should be released without asking "what's the worst thing that someone can do with this technology?" and it's totally believable that never occurred to anyone at OpenAI.

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 17h

Altman claims the company didn’t anticipate people not wanting their deepfakes to say “offensive things or things that they find deeply problematic,” which sounds like a lie but is also indicative of how they recklessly release tech into the world.

OpenAI wasn’t expecting Sora’s copyright drama

It felt “more different to images than people expected.”

www.theverge.com

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Reposted by Stathios Ballas

Katrina Navickas @katrinanavickas.bsky.social · Jul 30

Someone on here compared AI produced material as "digital asbestos " which in a few decades' time we will have to work out how to eradicate from the fabric of research.

Ned Richardson-Little @historyned.bsky.social · Jul 30

From my own academic research, even pre LLMs there was a huge danger of zombie factoids that begin in a respectable publication by mistake and then get reprinted for decades because no one is backtracing to the original source. Once bad info gets into the system it can take years to clear it out.

BeijingPalmer @beijingpalmer.bsky.social · Jul 29

I've seen numerous examples of this in recent days - we're at a point where some reporters are using LLMs as a source and not even remotely properly factchecking, but also where LLM generated material is making its way into other material and being unknowingly reproduced by others.

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Daniel Bellingradt @dbellingradt.bsky.social · Jul 31

I just read a clearly AI-fueled or AI-written book in my academic niche, and while I stumble to finish it, I predict that future historiography will have literature categories and markers like *published post 2024* or *published ante 2024*. Our days will be seen as the barrier between these worlds.

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Stathios Ballas @stathiosb.bsky.social · 17h

For all allies and partners in defence and trade: This is who you are placating when you bow to this regime, when you hesitate to respond to aggression from Russia or China. This 👇 is no ally of democracy.

The Wall Street Journal @wsj.com · 17h

President Trump suggested Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson should be imprisoned for failing to protect ICE officers.

Trump Calls for Jailing of Chicago Mayor and Illinois Governor

The president in a social-media post says Mayor Brandon Johnson and Gov. JB Pritzker have failed to protect ICE.

on.wsj.com

Stathios Ballas @stathiosb.bsky.social · 23h

Dr. Lake is leading a team of psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses, allied health professionals and other stakeholders in the rescue bid to reinstate about $2m in funding.

Reposted by Stathios Ballas

ABC News Bot (unofficial) @abcnewsbot.bsky.social · 1d

The former clinical director of the Hobart Clinic, psychiatrist Dr Hannah Lake, is part of a last-minute push for the institution to be given a reprieve before it closes its doors at the end of next week.

Leading doctor's 11th-hour bid for $2m rescue of Hobart Clinic

The former clinical director of the Hobart Clinic, psychiatrist Dr Hannah Lake, is part of a last-minute push for the institution to be given a reprieve before it closes its doors at the end of next week.

www.abc.net.au

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Reposted by Stathios Ballas

Olga Lautman 🇺🇦 @olgalautman.bsky.social · 1d

Trump Tyranny Tracker: Day 260

The daily tracker documenting the latest in corruption, power consolidation, civil & human rights abuses, and weaponization of government news.

Trump Tyranny Tracker: Day 260

October 6, 2025

open.substack.com

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Reposted by Stathios Ballas

Brian Whitmore @powervertical.bsky.social · 1d

Another must read from JVL open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...

Emergency Triad: The Chicago Rubicon and What Comes Next

We aren’t at the worst-case scenario yet. But if you squint, you can see it looming out there, just over the horizon.

open.substack.com

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Stathios Ballas @stathiosb.bsky.social · 1d

The Increasingly Dangerous Politicization of the U.S. Military
warontherocks.com/2019/06/the-...

The Increasingly Dangerous Politicization of the U.S. Military

The U.S. military has been America’s most trusted institution for decades. It has managed to remain above the partisan political fray that has consumed

warontherocks.com

Stathios Ballas @stathiosb.bsky.social · 1d

Important to remember:
In 2016, Pres.- elect Trump began to speak about “my generals,” placing a personal stamp of ownership and alliance with the Republican Party on senior officers he would command.
He rewarded admirals & generals for their loyalty with appointments in the administration.

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Stathios Ballas @stathiosb.bsky.social · 1d

“When someone in the chain of command expresses support for partisan positions before an audience of subordinates, that audience cannot be sure if it must agree or risk being disobedient or disrespectful.”

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